The Statue Of Liberty
This was written by Rosemary LaBonte to the editors of a California newspaper in response to an article written by Ernie Lujan who suggests we should tear down the Statue of Liberty because the immigrants of today aren’t being treated the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of entry. The paper never printed this response, so her husband sent it out via internet.
Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr. Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of Europe to come to the United States , people had to get off a ship and stand in a long line in New York and be documented.
Some would even get down on their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to uphold the laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made learning English a primary rule in their new American households and some even changed their names to blend in with their new home.
They had waved goodbye to their birth place to give their children a new life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate into one culture. Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity.
Most of their children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought along side men whose parents had come straight over from Germany , Italy , France and Japan . None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought about what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United States of America as one people.
When we liberated France , no one in those villages were looking for the French American, the German American or the Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we carried one flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their parents who had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it meant to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white and blue bowl.
And here we are with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that for all the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to create a land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better life. I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by those waving foreign country flags.
And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it happens to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.
KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING. FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL, THE RIGHTFUL MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET.
LET THIS NEVER HAPPEN!
I sincerely hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!
KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING. FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL, THE RIGHTFUL MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET.
LET THIS NEVER HAPPEN!
I sincerely hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!
"...SURELY NO NATION HAD EVER LESS OCCASION TO BE ASHAMED OF ITS ANCESTRY..."
Lyman Beecher, 1775-1863, a famous Congregational minister wrote the following:
THE MEMORY OF OUR FATHERS
THE MEMORY OF OUR FATHERS
We are called upon to cherish with high veneration and grateful recollections, the memory of our fathers. Both the ties of nature and the dictates of policy demand this. And surely no nation had ever less occasion to be ashamed of its ancestry, or more occasion for gratulation in that respect; for while most nations trace their origin to barbarians, the foundations of our nation were laid by civilized men, by Christians. Many of them were men of distinguished families, of powerful talents, of great learning and of preeminent wisdom, of decision of character, and of most inflexible integrity. And yet not unfrequently they have been treated as if they had no virtues; while their sins and follies have been sedulously immortalized in satirical anecdote.
The influence of such treatment of our fathers is too manifest. It creates and lets loose upon their institutions, the vandal spirit of innovation and overthrow; for after the memory of our fathers shall have been rendered contemptible, who will appreciate and sustain their institutions? “The memory of our fathers” should be the watchword of liberty throughout the land; for, imperfect as they were, the world before had not seen their like, nor will it soon, we fear, behold their like again. Such models of moral excellence, such apostles of civil and religious liberty, such shades of the illustrious dead looking down upon their descendants with approbation or reproof, according as they follow or depart from the good way, constitute a censorship inferior only to the eye of God; and to ridicule them is national suicide.
The doctrines of our fathers have been represented as gloomy, superstitious, severe, irrational, and of a licentious tendency. But when other systems shall have produced a piety as devoted, a morality as pure, a patriotism as disinterested, and a state of society as happy, as have prevailed where their doctrines have been most prevalent, it may be in season to seed an answer to this objection.
The persecutions instituted by our fathers have been the occasion of ceaseless obloquy upon their fair fame. And truly, it was a fault of no ordinary magnitude, that sometimes they did persecute. But let him whose ancestors were not ten times more guilty, cast the first stone, and the ashes of our fathers will no more be disturbed. Theirs was the fault of the age, and it will be easy to show that no class of men had, at that time, approximated so nearly to just apprehensions of religious liberty; and that it is to them that the world is indebted for the more just and definite views which now prevail.
The superstition and bigotry of our fathers are themes on which some of their descendants, themselves far enough from superstition, if not from bigotry, have delighted to dwell. But when we look abroad, and behold the condition of the world, compared with the condition of New England, we may justly exclaim, “Would to God that the ancestors of all the nations had been not only almost, but altogether such bigots as our fathers were.”
The influence of such treatment of our fathers is too manifest. It creates and lets loose upon their institutions, the vandal spirit of innovation and overthrow; for after the memory of our fathers shall have been rendered contemptible, who will appreciate and sustain their institutions? “The memory of our fathers” should be the watchword of liberty throughout the land; for, imperfect as they were, the world before had not seen their like, nor will it soon, we fear, behold their like again. Such models of moral excellence, such apostles of civil and religious liberty, such shades of the illustrious dead looking down upon their descendants with approbation or reproof, according as they follow or depart from the good way, constitute a censorship inferior only to the eye of God; and to ridicule them is national suicide.
The doctrines of our fathers have been represented as gloomy, superstitious, severe, irrational, and of a licentious tendency. But when other systems shall have produced a piety as devoted, a morality as pure, a patriotism as disinterested, and a state of society as happy, as have prevailed where their doctrines have been most prevalent, it may be in season to seed an answer to this objection.
The persecutions instituted by our fathers have been the occasion of ceaseless obloquy upon their fair fame. And truly, it was a fault of no ordinary magnitude, that sometimes they did persecute. But let him whose ancestors were not ten times more guilty, cast the first stone, and the ashes of our fathers will no more be disturbed. Theirs was the fault of the age, and it will be easy to show that no class of men had, at that time, approximated so nearly to just apprehensions of religious liberty; and that it is to them that the world is indebted for the more just and definite views which now prevail.
The superstition and bigotry of our fathers are themes on which some of their descendants, themselves far enough from superstition, if not from bigotry, have delighted to dwell. But when we look abroad, and behold the condition of the world, compared with the condition of New England, we may justly exclaim, “Would to God that the ancestors of all the nations had been not only almost, but altogether such bigots as our fathers were.”
Politics as Usual or Spiritual Warfare?
Well-meaning statesmen and politicians strive mightily for political solutions such as an Israel-Palestine accord - or moving the Muslim Brotherhood to whatever the world calls democracy are living in a fool's paradise. Islam's hatred of Israel is not political, it's spiritual at its very core. Political solutions have yet to work, but like insanity, we keep doing the same thing over again.
The West has stupidly dug itself a hole by denying Christianity, creating an enormous spiritual vacuum. It denies what created its beauty and prosperity. Russia is trying to sort out its renaissance. China has found itself the largest beneficiary of American companies selling out their customers by removing their opportunities to learn, innovate, work and earn - trading "Yankee ingenuity" for a "Yangtze ingenuity" that is devoid of human or environmental stewardship.
While the West plays politics, it's spiritual vacuum is being filled with two competing yet complicit forces - Islam, which rules of law are an absolute counter to the world's most free and successful economic/human accomplishment system. Islam only evangelizes by the edge of the scimitar, the bomb vested jihadist who seeks an eternal reward, and a highly developed spiritual depravity of lying. Its masses wallow in poverty and fear while the rulers live grand lifestyles.
"Eugenic progressivism" which has no care or concern for the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. Its extremes look to a world population reduced to 500 million, human experimentation in the lab and new ways to abort a child even beyond birth. The current scandals at the Veterans Administration hospitals are not just poor administration, but part of the intended spiritual corruption of our political system to achieve eugenic goals.
Our only hope is to regain the spiritual roots so beautifully given us in the US Declaration of Independence coupled with the Ethics of her Constitution and the protective Logic of her Bill of Rights. Adherents of nearly all the world's races and religions have found a safe home in the United States with its predominantly Christian foundations. Far from perfect, but nowhere on earth can such can be found on a broad scale.
The war against these foundations has been waged for over 100 years by "eugenic progressivism." In recent years the war has been joined by Islamic radicals with their jihad against all they see as infidels - including competing Islamic sects, but especially "The Great Satan" of individual liberty and Israel. They compete for which form of one world government they envision - fascist/communist or supreme caliphate. Neither bodes well for the human race.
If complete lack of respect for human life and the hope of eternal reward for murdering innocents isn't spiritual warfare, please explain what political strategy will drive out the demons of the culture of death? Just ask your local jihadist or eugenicist. They can both be found crawling around the halls of government wearing suits and ties living grand lifestyles. The very halls where freedom once rang.
Gerald V. Todd
Bakersfield, CA
The West has stupidly dug itself a hole by denying Christianity, creating an enormous spiritual vacuum. It denies what created its beauty and prosperity. Russia is trying to sort out its renaissance. China has found itself the largest beneficiary of American companies selling out their customers by removing their opportunities to learn, innovate, work and earn - trading "Yankee ingenuity" for a "Yangtze ingenuity" that is devoid of human or environmental stewardship.
While the West plays politics, it's spiritual vacuum is being filled with two competing yet complicit forces - Islam, which rules of law are an absolute counter to the world's most free and successful economic/human accomplishment system. Islam only evangelizes by the edge of the scimitar, the bomb vested jihadist who seeks an eternal reward, and a highly developed spiritual depravity of lying. Its masses wallow in poverty and fear while the rulers live grand lifestyles.
"Eugenic progressivism" which has no care or concern for the sanctity of human life from conception to natural death. Its extremes look to a world population reduced to 500 million, human experimentation in the lab and new ways to abort a child even beyond birth. The current scandals at the Veterans Administration hospitals are not just poor administration, but part of the intended spiritual corruption of our political system to achieve eugenic goals.
Our only hope is to regain the spiritual roots so beautifully given us in the US Declaration of Independence coupled with the Ethics of her Constitution and the protective Logic of her Bill of Rights. Adherents of nearly all the world's races and religions have found a safe home in the United States with its predominantly Christian foundations. Far from perfect, but nowhere on earth can such can be found on a broad scale.
The war against these foundations has been waged for over 100 years by "eugenic progressivism." In recent years the war has been joined by Islamic radicals with their jihad against all they see as infidels - including competing Islamic sects, but especially "The Great Satan" of individual liberty and Israel. They compete for which form of one world government they envision - fascist/communist or supreme caliphate. Neither bodes well for the human race.
If complete lack of respect for human life and the hope of eternal reward for murdering innocents isn't spiritual warfare, please explain what political strategy will drive out the demons of the culture of death? Just ask your local jihadist or eugenicist. They can both be found crawling around the halls of government wearing suits and ties living grand lifestyles. The very halls where freedom once rang.
Gerald V. Todd
Bakersfield, CA
GALATIAN REBUKE
This article is based on fact from the chronicles of Saul of Tarsus, known today as St. Paul or Paul the Apostle.
Paul was born and raised in a medium sized sea port town of Tarsus on the under belly of Asia Minor. The Port had been under Roman control for about a century at the time of Paul's birth. The port was used as a staging area for Roman Legions in their conquest of Asia Minor, and was at one time, used as the Headquarters by Gaius Julius Caesar and his Legions. Tarsus was also predominately populated by Jews.
Several hundred miles north and east of Tarsus, was a region then known as Galatia. The capital of the region was Ancyra, known today as Ankara, Turkey. The region had been a Roman Province since Caesar Augustus, and had officially become Galatia Providence under Roman Rule. I am not certain who first occupied this region, but around 270 B.C. (before candles) a migration of Celtics settled here. This band was one of three, which plundered and pillaged from their original homeland in Northern and Central France to Galatia. The Romans called them Gaels, however Gaels were of the same tribe, but those called Celts were the religious leaders. (as defined in Julius Caesar's Commentaries).
As the three tribes went through Macedon, two split off and went south through Thrace and tried to conquer Greece. These tribes then became known as Thracians, and still reside in Northern Thrace and Macedonia. Eventually however, splinter groups of these twos tribe migrated further east and settled with their brother tribesmen in the region of Galatia.
Paul knew of the Galatians and their reputation as mercenaries and also as religiously devout to the worship according to tradition of the Ancient Celtic gods. Paul, it is assumed, probably established several churches on his first missionary journey through this area, and also established some type of teaching or leadership structure.
The common practice by Paul was to start small churches during his journeys, then later write letters to the leadership that remained there, giving them instructions and encouragement. Places such as Corinth and Ephesia were ancient trading centers, and the converts in those cities would spread the word of God along the trading routes. However, the Galatians never received a letter of encouragement from Paul. We will get to that later in this article, before that, I have another story to tell you.
About 10 years back, I managed a little country store that was, and still is the Mecca of Sport Fishing in Southern Washington along the Columbia River. Between the months of March and October the store was very, very busy. Salmon, Steelhead and Sturgeon being the primary game fish, literally many people would come from all over the world to fish this stretch of the Columbia River. I met, and helped some very interesting people I can assure you.
This little store is also located in the Middle of the Cascade Mountain Range. Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood are within a 40 minute drive. The foothills are minutes away, abundant with plant and wildlife. It is...My Garden of Eden.
I usually always worked alone during the busiest part of the day, in the busiest part of the week. I sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of fishing tackle and beer; hmmm imagine that, beer-fishing combo, what a concept? There were times when I even gave casting lessons in the parking lot...sober of course, and the free lessons came with the purchase of any Rod and tackle to the novice fisherman.
One day during a lapse of busyness, in walked a very attractive woman. Right off, I knew she was not a fisher (man) and single, that was unusual, but there was also something just 'different' about her...aside from her good looks. She had an aura of assurance - not haughty, clean and reserved - but not shy, respectful but not familiar, sensual but not sexual, and she had clear and sparkling eyes. Two bags of peanuts later....and for some distinct reason I felt an attachment other than a male/female social-business/customer/relationship... interest. My brain didn't go thumpety-thump, but I got sort of a goose bumps/tingly sensation. A strange reaction for me to have at that time, but it was the same feeling I used to get long ago, when I had a spiritual reaction to something said, felt, or seen.
During this time in my life I was pretty screwed up, there is no other way of putting it. I drank heavily, smoked, had stress blackouts and was mostly angry all of the time. I just was not dealing with reality on most levels. I had a string of bad relationships with a variety of women, and wasn't looking for another one; I lived alone, in my mid-fifties in age, and thought I was happy... I thought I had it mostly figured out....I was about to learn one of the biggest and most important lessons in my life...from this little dark haired beauty...maybe I didn't know it all?
Well, she saunters up to the counter and lays her money down, and then just kinda hangs around, wandering a little....looking at the products. Finally, (I'm beginning to sweat now), some conversation is struck and she reveals she has just moved into the area and lives just up the road. Well, this became a daily routine, always in the mid-afternoon, two bags of peanuts, wander a bit, casual conversation and off she goes. She did tell me her name though, and I'll call her 'Native' in this story.
On the third day or so, in walks another regular customer...and her three small children. After buying some candy for her kids, out of the blue she says to me "Why don't you ask my mother out on a date?" "And who is your mother?" I asked. "Native, the one that comes in every day to buy peanuts, she just moved in with me," she says. I'm stunned...and almost speechless but I reply to her, "Sorry, I'm not interested in dating right now." I blurted it out and it was a LIE,LIE,LIE....(The Lawman lied).
She left with her children and not five minutes later the phone rings and guess who it is..?, yep, it's Native and she proceeds to tell me that she is not interested in dating either, she had just moved here because her ex-husband was giving her a really bad time, and her daughter didn't have the right to say that I needed to ask her out......!!! I assured her that I was also, not interested in dating (there I go again with the lie), and made every excuse possible, stating all the reasons imaginable to not see her again. That lasted about ten minutes...when she came in for her daily two bags of peanuts. So instead, we decided on a walk in the park across the road, on her day off would be nice....and it was.
An unforeseen and spirited romance.
I always thought of myself as somewhat of a romantic, but since that one moment in zillions of moments in a lifetime, there is no comparison to anything tangible or mental (meaning brain) feelings that can be grasped, or a papered scientific explanation, for affection. Let me explain further.
We walked from the store across the road and the railroad track into the park area. When we arrived at the grassy area, she immediately took off her shoes and explained that she really needed to "ground" herself; it had been a tough week at work. Native went on to explain that she really needed to get out in the woods soon so she could get close to a clean running stream, and maybe even hug a tree. Before I could even say anything about eco-terrorists she advised me, that no, she was not an environmentalist, nor an animal rights advocate, nor a left wing radical hippie chick.
By this time, my brain is on over-load and I needed a shot or two of that good Kentucky bourbon, but I restrained myself and continued to be polite. This woman was making me nervous and I don't mean the "look over your shoulder type" of nervous. The goose bumps were back and I had a severe attack of self- consciousness. I was in trouble, deep dark trouble, the kind 'momma don't want you in'.
And with that, the rest of the story.....
(Saul did not write a letter of encouragement to the Galatians...why? What does this woman see when she looks deeply into me?)
GALATIAN REBUKE-Part II
As time passed, Native would talk about the importance of the human spirit being connected to the earth and human spirits connecting to each other. Our walks in nature reconnected me with my childhood. The days of freedom and spiritual independence. She taught me many things that I had forgotten or misplaced in my heart. I soon realized that 'the head' didn't like this reconnection very much. Allow me to explain the difference between a heart connection and a head connection to the human spirit, and the battles that take place between the two.
Let us journey back to Paul of Tarsus and his ministry to the Galatians. Historians are not sure when Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians, but we can have some certainty as to why it was written.
A group, called the Judaizers, a Christian sect advocating that the teaching of Paul was inadequate, mainly speaking to the point that Paul was not one of the original Twelve Apostles, and was only teaching part of the Truth about Salvation.
Paul's letter is in response to those accusations. Of course, Paul could not just drop everything he had going on and travel for months to deliver a sermon to them, or pick up the telephone and make that CEO directive call to the 'board members' he had left there. So he sent Barnabas, (Barnabas is Paul’s Assistant) with a letter containing a definitive outline of spiritual growth, strength and application of our Godly Gifts, affirmative principles. The down side of this letter also outlined the pitfalls of Godlessness, and the results of such actions, The Rebuke.
Galatians 5:12
"But the Fruit of the Spirit is;
Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance;
against such there is no law".
Nine Fruits, described in words that we very seldom hear today, more less even practice, and many do not speak of or even know the definition of.
These fruits start in our heart, our soul's center, and no other place.
Much depends on our relationship with God whether these fruits ripen or not. However; being human, and as none of us are perfect, it is a daily exercise, as well as a conscience choice to practice these fruits. When we step out the front door, the practice becomes even more difficult, now we are stepping into the arena of humanity, leaving the security of our personal shelter. The Humanity Arena seldom agrees with our spiritual beliefs. So the battle is defined...and begins, spirit versus intellect, a mighty battle it is.
The other night, Native and I discussed the childlike nature of our heart spirit. Native related to me that many of the North American Indians (some still practice this) believed that the first 7 years of a child's life was their "spirit life", and after that they became children of the tribe as a whole. The practical meaning that at that point, everyone in the tribe participated in raising the child. This belief "system" makes perfectly good sense to me. First I think when a child is born, they have no imperfections, nor prejudice, nor bias or other worldly characteristics that will sway any future life style choices they will make, or beliefs they will come to embrace.
Truly, a newborn is innocent of all worldly influence. They do however; have a pure spirit and their selves abound in the Fruits Paul describes so well. From the time of birth forward, what will impact the child's life will be imperfect older human influence, whether that person be a Mom or Dad, Aunt or Uncle, Brothers or Sisters, they all participate in what that child will learn and will determine who they will become as an adult.
God warns us many times about how we treat our children, and He means all children, not just your own. During this process, we as adults can light the spark of either the heart spirit or the worldly intellect, only later on when that child reaches the age of maturity will free choice kick in. But that choice will be based on what he/she has been impressed with; by and during their formative years.
So you may now wish to ask the age old question; "Where you going with this Lawman?"
I have mentioned at the beginning of this story that during our walks together, Native was taking me back to my childhood, which was causing a conflict within my spirit. My worldly intellect hated it. Native, unknown by her, was guiding me to confront my intellect, and re-awakening my heart spirit. She was doing what Paul all those many years ago was telling the Galatians.
The Fruits of the spirit should be your guide, your conscience, and the process by which we should make all the choices in our lives. In Spiritual Reality, we must actually go back to the innocence of our childhoods, to be re-taught and remember, seek our guidance, and replenish and grow with the influence of our Spiritual Father.
Jesus says, and I am paraphrasing here, Salvation is reverting to a childlike nature, being re-born to a new childlike spirit. I was being reborn. I still am. It is not a process that stops at a certain level, no, it is on-going. I keep on learning and becoming more sensitive to worldly intellect, and the impact and influence it causes toward the separation of my heart spirit from God. My mind as found a new intelligence and it has reversed itself, my intellect hates it, but my heart loves it.
I'm re-connected to my heart spirit and the foundation and strength of my spirit is my faith, love and my hope in God's Grace.
Psalm 1:1-3 ESV / 13
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Galatian Rebuke Part III
At last, the Rebuke.
Galatians 5:19-21;
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I tell you before, as also told you in the time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God."
Paul had warned the Galatians several times about certain acts of the flesh or in terms of the intellect, I propose have the same meaning. Simply put, the matter of choice takes place in two arenas, the heart spirit or in the intellectual mind. I'm going to take another step and propose that the mind or intellect does not know God, nor love, nor have faith nor hope in God.
In another Letter by Paul, he warns that if people continue in the works of the flesh they will be turned over to a reprobate mind.
By definition; one who is morally unprincipled, and/or rejected by God and has no hope of salvation (1) one who is predestined to damnation. He even says that God will "spew them up" but in literal translation it means to puke or vomit. In other words, not digestible, making Him sick to the point that He pukes these type of people into eternal judgment.
Now, having explored the internal workings of both the heart spirit and intellectual mind, I will move to an outward manifestation of both, and how all those that believe in God in this country are spiritually connected.
On July 4, 1776 a new Nation's birth was being announced, not only by decree of physical Independence but of Spiritual Independence in the form of "Laws of Nature and of Nature's Laws" but "inalienable rights" given to us by God.
Almost every single man or woman involved in the struggle for this Country's Independence were God fearing individuals. Hundreds of documents remain establishing that fact. The founding belief that God is our Spiritual guide and Foundation of this Country's greatness started with this birth announcement; The Declaration of Independence.
This is not to say those folks were stupid of worldly tricks and Godless men, the opposite is true, they were very much aware of the evil man is capable of.
Our birth certificate is the restrictive Articles of the Constitution.
These articles of birth assure the rights of all the people and restricts the formation and powers of government. I liken this to the spiritual childhood of this Nation and these Articles prevented the application of the evils of men in government. By various different methods possible it prevents the abuse or the enslavement of those "children". These Articles also include the ways and means to correct an abusive government and the people involved in such abuse.
With the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the maturing stage of this Nation's growth began. These rights apply to the children/citizens and to no one else, with the exception of the 10th amendment which gives the States certain rights over the central government.
At this stage of development, the babes are starting to school and learning how to apply their new freedoms. There is still a strong belief in God, and many manifestations of the Fruits are being seen. Our Country becomes known as a strong, healthy and compassionate Nation.
Not ever in the course of recorded history, has such a diversified people joined together both physically and spiritually to form a Nation with God as the foundation of governance.
A Nation where every man, woman and child has the freedom of choice, self -determination and individual rights according to God's Law. At the pinnacle of this country's Greatness, the Fruits of the Spirit were paramount in direction and the common idealism of every person that believed in God.
So what happened? Well, evil men and women that had no belief in God and in the course of many electoral cycles came into power. Pretty simple but it took many years to accomplish.
All the wiles of the devil were used, lying, cheating, stealing, all those "manifestations of the flesh" by self-professed intellectual giants and spiritually heartless people. At the post adolescence of our growth, I'm going to call our evolution to the degree of socialism.
There is one thing I know about socialism, it has no belief in God, and thus has no belief in a spiritual identity. If the psychology does not believe in God they don't believe in God’s Law or "unalienable rights", and promote actions that can do anything 'intellect' deems capable of doing.
With no belief in God, nor a spiritual identity, socialists have no spiritual connection to one another. It's kinda of a cannibalistic environment. As history proves, Socialism consumes itself with greed, corruption and those seeking power in their quests. The unfortunate aspect is that it comes and goes in cycles, usually after only a generation or two. In our Country today we are nearing the end of the 'generations of coming' and their zenith...waning to the 'going' and to where...?
I have taken the individual God-fearing person and projected such as our Nation. In reality, our Nation is a projection of our common personal beliefs. Our Nation's heart is from its birth, has been spiritually connected with God.
He and He alone, is the foundation and base of our internal and national structure. That is the truth that each and every one of us that believe in God knows is our primary connection. From heart to soul, from dinner table out the doors of our town halls, county seats and our State Capitals...we are connected.
The battle starts in each of our spiritual hearts, connected through God one to each other, joined in the belief of God and His Divine Founding of this Great Country. We all may have different views on the specific "religious" levels, but there is no division in our acceptance, hope, faith and love of God.
The battle front stretches from your front door to Washington D.C. Fear not, because the spiritual America that we all love has more power in its little finger than all the evils that man can do, or has done.
When we go out into our communities, and get involved in politics, become aware of what that politician standing before you is projecting. Are they the words and the promises of the Fruits of the Spirit, or are they the manifestations of the flesh?
Assess them and the direction they want to take you and the community. You can determine that by listening to your own heart spirit, it will never lie to you, ever. The changes we need to make to save our Country will come at the local level, which will impact and determine the state level to follow, and finally the national level to conclude. But we all have to stay connected and re-affirmed in our daily beliefs. The worldly divisiveness is a constant barrage. We need to uplift each other in prayer, and seek God's guidance in all things.
In conclusion, Native and I are still together. The credit for what I have written goes to her and her alone. I took her wisdom and spiritual insight, let it reawaken and replenish my heart and my mind, and applied it in ink, so I might share her gift with you. Every day I learn something from her, a process that I hope never ends. She is truly my friend.
I Pray and pray again..thankful.
In your heart it begins,
The spirit, It cannot hide
It will lie quiet, silent..
When the worldly noise becomes too loud.
I Pray, pray to Him.
Be eternally on our side
We cannot loose,
If we can be Worthy.
I Pray, pray again...
I choose,
To be of Spirit Heart and Mind.
Well so much for my poetry...
The Lawman
Paul was born and raised in a medium sized sea port town of Tarsus on the under belly of Asia Minor. The Port had been under Roman control for about a century at the time of Paul's birth. The port was used as a staging area for Roman Legions in their conquest of Asia Minor, and was at one time, used as the Headquarters by Gaius Julius Caesar and his Legions. Tarsus was also predominately populated by Jews.
Several hundred miles north and east of Tarsus, was a region then known as Galatia. The capital of the region was Ancyra, known today as Ankara, Turkey. The region had been a Roman Province since Caesar Augustus, and had officially become Galatia Providence under Roman Rule. I am not certain who first occupied this region, but around 270 B.C. (before candles) a migration of Celtics settled here. This band was one of three, which plundered and pillaged from their original homeland in Northern and Central France to Galatia. The Romans called them Gaels, however Gaels were of the same tribe, but those called Celts were the religious leaders. (as defined in Julius Caesar's Commentaries).
As the three tribes went through Macedon, two split off and went south through Thrace and tried to conquer Greece. These tribes then became known as Thracians, and still reside in Northern Thrace and Macedonia. Eventually however, splinter groups of these twos tribe migrated further east and settled with their brother tribesmen in the region of Galatia.
Paul knew of the Galatians and their reputation as mercenaries and also as religiously devout to the worship according to tradition of the Ancient Celtic gods. Paul, it is assumed, probably established several churches on his first missionary journey through this area, and also established some type of teaching or leadership structure.
The common practice by Paul was to start small churches during his journeys, then later write letters to the leadership that remained there, giving them instructions and encouragement. Places such as Corinth and Ephesia were ancient trading centers, and the converts in those cities would spread the word of God along the trading routes. However, the Galatians never received a letter of encouragement from Paul. We will get to that later in this article, before that, I have another story to tell you.
About 10 years back, I managed a little country store that was, and still is the Mecca of Sport Fishing in Southern Washington along the Columbia River. Between the months of March and October the store was very, very busy. Salmon, Steelhead and Sturgeon being the primary game fish, literally many people would come from all over the world to fish this stretch of the Columbia River. I met, and helped some very interesting people I can assure you.
This little store is also located in the Middle of the Cascade Mountain Range. Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Hood are within a 40 minute drive. The foothills are minutes away, abundant with plant and wildlife. It is...My Garden of Eden.
I usually always worked alone during the busiest part of the day, in the busiest part of the week. I sold hundreds of thousands of dollars of fishing tackle and beer; hmmm imagine that, beer-fishing combo, what a concept? There were times when I even gave casting lessons in the parking lot...sober of course, and the free lessons came with the purchase of any Rod and tackle to the novice fisherman.
One day during a lapse of busyness, in walked a very attractive woman. Right off, I knew she was not a fisher (man) and single, that was unusual, but there was also something just 'different' about her...aside from her good looks. She had an aura of assurance - not haughty, clean and reserved - but not shy, respectful but not familiar, sensual but not sexual, and she had clear and sparkling eyes. Two bags of peanuts later....and for some distinct reason I felt an attachment other than a male/female social-business/customer/relationship... interest. My brain didn't go thumpety-thump, but I got sort of a goose bumps/tingly sensation. A strange reaction for me to have at that time, but it was the same feeling I used to get long ago, when I had a spiritual reaction to something said, felt, or seen.
During this time in my life I was pretty screwed up, there is no other way of putting it. I drank heavily, smoked, had stress blackouts and was mostly angry all of the time. I just was not dealing with reality on most levels. I had a string of bad relationships with a variety of women, and wasn't looking for another one; I lived alone, in my mid-fifties in age, and thought I was happy... I thought I had it mostly figured out....I was about to learn one of the biggest and most important lessons in my life...from this little dark haired beauty...maybe I didn't know it all?
Well, she saunters up to the counter and lays her money down, and then just kinda hangs around, wandering a little....looking at the products. Finally, (I'm beginning to sweat now), some conversation is struck and she reveals she has just moved into the area and lives just up the road. Well, this became a daily routine, always in the mid-afternoon, two bags of peanuts, wander a bit, casual conversation and off she goes. She did tell me her name though, and I'll call her 'Native' in this story.
On the third day or so, in walks another regular customer...and her three small children. After buying some candy for her kids, out of the blue she says to me "Why don't you ask my mother out on a date?" "And who is your mother?" I asked. "Native, the one that comes in every day to buy peanuts, she just moved in with me," she says. I'm stunned...and almost speechless but I reply to her, "Sorry, I'm not interested in dating right now." I blurted it out and it was a LIE,LIE,LIE....(The Lawman lied).
She left with her children and not five minutes later the phone rings and guess who it is..?, yep, it's Native and she proceeds to tell me that she is not interested in dating either, she had just moved here because her ex-husband was giving her a really bad time, and her daughter didn't have the right to say that I needed to ask her out......!!! I assured her that I was also, not interested in dating (there I go again with the lie), and made every excuse possible, stating all the reasons imaginable to not see her again. That lasted about ten minutes...when she came in for her daily two bags of peanuts. So instead, we decided on a walk in the park across the road, on her day off would be nice....and it was.
An unforeseen and spirited romance.
I always thought of myself as somewhat of a romantic, but since that one moment in zillions of moments in a lifetime, there is no comparison to anything tangible or mental (meaning brain) feelings that can be grasped, or a papered scientific explanation, for affection. Let me explain further.
We walked from the store across the road and the railroad track into the park area. When we arrived at the grassy area, she immediately took off her shoes and explained that she really needed to "ground" herself; it had been a tough week at work. Native went on to explain that she really needed to get out in the woods soon so she could get close to a clean running stream, and maybe even hug a tree. Before I could even say anything about eco-terrorists she advised me, that no, she was not an environmentalist, nor an animal rights advocate, nor a left wing radical hippie chick.
By this time, my brain is on over-load and I needed a shot or two of that good Kentucky bourbon, but I restrained myself and continued to be polite. This woman was making me nervous and I don't mean the "look over your shoulder type" of nervous. The goose bumps were back and I had a severe attack of self- consciousness. I was in trouble, deep dark trouble, the kind 'momma don't want you in'.
And with that, the rest of the story.....
(Saul did not write a letter of encouragement to the Galatians...why? What does this woman see when she looks deeply into me?)
GALATIAN REBUKE-Part II
As time passed, Native would talk about the importance of the human spirit being connected to the earth and human spirits connecting to each other. Our walks in nature reconnected me with my childhood. The days of freedom and spiritual independence. She taught me many things that I had forgotten or misplaced in my heart. I soon realized that 'the head' didn't like this reconnection very much. Allow me to explain the difference between a heart connection and a head connection to the human spirit, and the battles that take place between the two.
Let us journey back to Paul of Tarsus and his ministry to the Galatians. Historians are not sure when Paul wrote his letter to the Galatians, but we can have some certainty as to why it was written.
A group, called the Judaizers, a Christian sect advocating that the teaching of Paul was inadequate, mainly speaking to the point that Paul was not one of the original Twelve Apostles, and was only teaching part of the Truth about Salvation.
Paul's letter is in response to those accusations. Of course, Paul could not just drop everything he had going on and travel for months to deliver a sermon to them, or pick up the telephone and make that CEO directive call to the 'board members' he had left there. So he sent Barnabas, (Barnabas is Paul’s Assistant) with a letter containing a definitive outline of spiritual growth, strength and application of our Godly Gifts, affirmative principles. The down side of this letter also outlined the pitfalls of Godlessness, and the results of such actions, The Rebuke.
Galatians 5:12
"But the Fruit of the Spirit is;
Love, Joy, Peace, Longsuffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith, Meekness, Temperance;
against such there is no law".
Nine Fruits, described in words that we very seldom hear today, more less even practice, and many do not speak of or even know the definition of.
These fruits start in our heart, our soul's center, and no other place.
Much depends on our relationship with God whether these fruits ripen or not. However; being human, and as none of us are perfect, it is a daily exercise, as well as a conscience choice to practice these fruits. When we step out the front door, the practice becomes even more difficult, now we are stepping into the arena of humanity, leaving the security of our personal shelter. The Humanity Arena seldom agrees with our spiritual beliefs. So the battle is defined...and begins, spirit versus intellect, a mighty battle it is.
The other night, Native and I discussed the childlike nature of our heart spirit. Native related to me that many of the North American Indians (some still practice this) believed that the first 7 years of a child's life was their "spirit life", and after that they became children of the tribe as a whole. The practical meaning that at that point, everyone in the tribe participated in raising the child. This belief "system" makes perfectly good sense to me. First I think when a child is born, they have no imperfections, nor prejudice, nor bias or other worldly characteristics that will sway any future life style choices they will make, or beliefs they will come to embrace.
Truly, a newborn is innocent of all worldly influence. They do however; have a pure spirit and their selves abound in the Fruits Paul describes so well. From the time of birth forward, what will impact the child's life will be imperfect older human influence, whether that person be a Mom or Dad, Aunt or Uncle, Brothers or Sisters, they all participate in what that child will learn and will determine who they will become as an adult.
God warns us many times about how we treat our children, and He means all children, not just your own. During this process, we as adults can light the spark of either the heart spirit or the worldly intellect, only later on when that child reaches the age of maturity will free choice kick in. But that choice will be based on what he/she has been impressed with; by and during their formative years.
So you may now wish to ask the age old question; "Where you going with this Lawman?"
I have mentioned at the beginning of this story that during our walks together, Native was taking me back to my childhood, which was causing a conflict within my spirit. My worldly intellect hated it. Native, unknown by her, was guiding me to confront my intellect, and re-awakening my heart spirit. She was doing what Paul all those many years ago was telling the Galatians.
The Fruits of the spirit should be your guide, your conscience, and the process by which we should make all the choices in our lives. In Spiritual Reality, we must actually go back to the innocence of our childhoods, to be re-taught and remember, seek our guidance, and replenish and grow with the influence of our Spiritual Father.
Jesus says, and I am paraphrasing here, Salvation is reverting to a childlike nature, being re-born to a new childlike spirit. I was being reborn. I still am. It is not a process that stops at a certain level, no, it is on-going. I keep on learning and becoming more sensitive to worldly intellect, and the impact and influence it causes toward the separation of my heart spirit from God. My mind as found a new intelligence and it has reversed itself, my intellect hates it, but my heart loves it.
I'm re-connected to my heart spirit and the foundation and strength of my spirit is my faith, love and my hope in God's Grace.
Psalm 1:1-3 ESV / 13
Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Galatian Rebuke Part III
At last, the Rebuke.
Galatians 5:19-21;
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these;
Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I tell you before, as also told you in the time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God."
Paul had warned the Galatians several times about certain acts of the flesh or in terms of the intellect, I propose have the same meaning. Simply put, the matter of choice takes place in two arenas, the heart spirit or in the intellectual mind. I'm going to take another step and propose that the mind or intellect does not know God, nor love, nor have faith nor hope in God.
In another Letter by Paul, he warns that if people continue in the works of the flesh they will be turned over to a reprobate mind.
By definition; one who is morally unprincipled, and/or rejected by God and has no hope of salvation (1) one who is predestined to damnation. He even says that God will "spew them up" but in literal translation it means to puke or vomit. In other words, not digestible, making Him sick to the point that He pukes these type of people into eternal judgment.
Now, having explored the internal workings of both the heart spirit and intellectual mind, I will move to an outward manifestation of both, and how all those that believe in God in this country are spiritually connected.
On July 4, 1776 a new Nation's birth was being announced, not only by decree of physical Independence but of Spiritual Independence in the form of "Laws of Nature and of Nature's Laws" but "inalienable rights" given to us by God.
Almost every single man or woman involved in the struggle for this Country's Independence were God fearing individuals. Hundreds of documents remain establishing that fact. The founding belief that God is our Spiritual guide and Foundation of this Country's greatness started with this birth announcement; The Declaration of Independence.
This is not to say those folks were stupid of worldly tricks and Godless men, the opposite is true, they were very much aware of the evil man is capable of.
Our birth certificate is the restrictive Articles of the Constitution.
These articles of birth assure the rights of all the people and restricts the formation and powers of government. I liken this to the spiritual childhood of this Nation and these Articles prevented the application of the evils of men in government. By various different methods possible it prevents the abuse or the enslavement of those "children". These Articles also include the ways and means to correct an abusive government and the people involved in such abuse.
With the ratification of the Bill of Rights, the maturing stage of this Nation's growth began. These rights apply to the children/citizens and to no one else, with the exception of the 10th amendment which gives the States certain rights over the central government.
At this stage of development, the babes are starting to school and learning how to apply their new freedoms. There is still a strong belief in God, and many manifestations of the Fruits are being seen. Our Country becomes known as a strong, healthy and compassionate Nation.
Not ever in the course of recorded history, has such a diversified people joined together both physically and spiritually to form a Nation with God as the foundation of governance.
A Nation where every man, woman and child has the freedom of choice, self -determination and individual rights according to God's Law. At the pinnacle of this country's Greatness, the Fruits of the Spirit were paramount in direction and the common idealism of every person that believed in God.
So what happened? Well, evil men and women that had no belief in God and in the course of many electoral cycles came into power. Pretty simple but it took many years to accomplish.
All the wiles of the devil were used, lying, cheating, stealing, all those "manifestations of the flesh" by self-professed intellectual giants and spiritually heartless people. At the post adolescence of our growth, I'm going to call our evolution to the degree of socialism.
There is one thing I know about socialism, it has no belief in God, and thus has no belief in a spiritual identity. If the psychology does not believe in God they don't believe in God’s Law or "unalienable rights", and promote actions that can do anything 'intellect' deems capable of doing.
With no belief in God, nor a spiritual identity, socialists have no spiritual connection to one another. It's kinda of a cannibalistic environment. As history proves, Socialism consumes itself with greed, corruption and those seeking power in their quests. The unfortunate aspect is that it comes and goes in cycles, usually after only a generation or two. In our Country today we are nearing the end of the 'generations of coming' and their zenith...waning to the 'going' and to where...?
I have taken the individual God-fearing person and projected such as our Nation. In reality, our Nation is a projection of our common personal beliefs. Our Nation's heart is from its birth, has been spiritually connected with God.
He and He alone, is the foundation and base of our internal and national structure. That is the truth that each and every one of us that believe in God knows is our primary connection. From heart to soul, from dinner table out the doors of our town halls, county seats and our State Capitals...we are connected.
The battle starts in each of our spiritual hearts, connected through God one to each other, joined in the belief of God and His Divine Founding of this Great Country. We all may have different views on the specific "religious" levels, but there is no division in our acceptance, hope, faith and love of God.
The battle front stretches from your front door to Washington D.C. Fear not, because the spiritual America that we all love has more power in its little finger than all the evils that man can do, or has done.
When we go out into our communities, and get involved in politics, become aware of what that politician standing before you is projecting. Are they the words and the promises of the Fruits of the Spirit, or are they the manifestations of the flesh?
Assess them and the direction they want to take you and the community. You can determine that by listening to your own heart spirit, it will never lie to you, ever. The changes we need to make to save our Country will come at the local level, which will impact and determine the state level to follow, and finally the national level to conclude. But we all have to stay connected and re-affirmed in our daily beliefs. The worldly divisiveness is a constant barrage. We need to uplift each other in prayer, and seek God's guidance in all things.
In conclusion, Native and I are still together. The credit for what I have written goes to her and her alone. I took her wisdom and spiritual insight, let it reawaken and replenish my heart and my mind, and applied it in ink, so I might share her gift with you. Every day I learn something from her, a process that I hope never ends. She is truly my friend.
I Pray and pray again..thankful.
In your heart it begins,
The spirit, It cannot hide
It will lie quiet, silent..
When the worldly noise becomes too loud.
I Pray, pray to Him.
Be eternally on our side
We cannot loose,
If we can be Worthy.
I Pray, pray again...
I choose,
To be of Spirit Heart and Mind.
Well so much for my poetry...
The Lawman
An email between the children of the Greatest Generation.
Lawman,
I have been trying for days to complete this piece. I cannot. Can you help me with this. The three words I want to use work, I think ...catalyst, cacophony, and catharsis. My thoughts and my heart need focus and direction. Please look it over and let me know your thoughts.
Email Content:
I learned as a child, the meaning...starkly, living the effect of a true catalyst and jarring change.
The 24 hour news cycle, today, has destroyed the immediacy of emergency. It was not always so. I grew up in a time, when you lived through the day, and you tuned in from real life to one hour of the news, presented in a unique box with black and white pictures. Huntley-Brinkley and Walter Cronkite.
It fit in a time; it had its limited place. It did not intrude in the majority of hours. You could spend most of the waking passage, living your very own life. There were many games and running joyous times outside, picnics in the yard or park, and a barbecues and building clubhouses with the neighbors. Great chunks of time where you could leave the reports from the box behind you, because this was REAL life, the one we were living.
I would watch the evening news program, more my grandfather's face contemplating the news as he watched. I watched him. Our worlds were wonderfully connected and had healthy lines of demarcation. He worked, he shouldered the responsibility for the family, and he left as much ugliness as he could outside, scraped off, like the mud from his shoes. He let only snippets slip inside, just like the dust mites that floated on the invisible air, in the sunlight, that flashed when you opened the door.
His furrowed brow, the shake of his head, the occasional smile, and although I little understood the implications of what I was watching along with him, I assimilated and interpreted the emotional response as it played on his features and transferred when we looked at each other. The news played itself out on my grandfather's face.
Reported for 60 minutes-the news hour, volume up sometimes down...it came to us then, in measured segments, off and then on, and he controlled the box. In those days, you did turn it off, you changed the channel, and there were only 3.
"Grampa, how come you watch, most of its bad." And he told me there were things in the world that would make other things happen, and even though they may be far away, in other places, sometimes the things that mattered there, would matter where we were. Catalysts.
My grandpa had awaked one harsh morning, to the news that nature had buried his son and daughter-in-law and their three children under a mountain that slid to bury them under tons of dirt and rock, in the valley where they slept. I have always remembered it as 'the night the earth shook'. They were never found. Everyone who was left, were never the same. I knew there was bad news that did not always come from the box, sometimes it knocked on the front door.
Yes,.....Catalysts, I knew what they were long before I ever knew what they were called.
So he watched the news for us, comforted those he had left, and deciphered and filtered it all, shouldering the job of staving off the harshness outside - from the wounded inside. He protected the world of his children, and he tried to keep the ugliness in a box...in 'the box'. Amazing strength....from a broken man.
The largeness of the news was significant. The walk on the moon, the assassination of his president, the war and its numbers, and when he watched he chose the pieces of the world he wanted to let in, and did not share those really best left outside of our window.
I would patiently wait for it to be over; MY interest in the box was reserved for after the news hour, and the nightly showing of Lawrence Welk. That was our deal. I would watch his news with him and he would watch me twirl to Lawrence Welk.
A-one-a-and-a-two-a....blessedly.... when the news was over, I would dance to the music, and the bubbles, and the man with a funny accent, little wand in his hand, directing a stage full of musicians, that I pretended were playing just for me. I would twirl like a ballerina in my stocking feet on tiptoes across the living room, dressed in a homemade tutu my mother had sewn on my grandmother's old sewing machine; we were too poor for the store-bought kind.
At the time, I thought the nightly ritual was mostly focused on me, as children do, thinking the world revolves around their orb, and maybe it was. I think my childish innocence helped him live with his news. I know the news hour, provided me with a captive audience after, and I thought it helped him practice his ability to study....me better.
He would smile and tell me to be a dancer for a long as I could dance. "Go ahead little girl, and twirl until you are dizzy, lose yourself in pretend for as long as it lasts, one day 'pretend' will be gone." He was always sad when he said that....wrap...wrap..wrap....and within the din of the cacophony today, there rings the truth of his words from long ago.
Noise.....a cacophony of noise, how much is/where is 'truth'? It used to be that you COULD NOT/DID NOT PUBLICLY LIE. Beyond consequences, there was NO honor in falsehood.
Today, in this time....lies, told as truth, are promoted to the point of constant repetition, such repeated volume in print-program-scripted talking point-and our supposed entertainment, is designed to transform lie to truth. Make the filthy...clean. They call it 'messaging', new meaning, telling the untruth in such a way that will make it invert, if the lie is not working...lie it better.
Today's truth....has sadly become reporting, repeating, and propagandizing....without honor. The declining 'Fourth Estate' has married itself to 'progressive' theft, and the ideal of Liberty has been sacrificed on their alter. Anointed upon their self-styled throne, colored and stained with the blood of the American Soul, the 'progressive' saber celebrates.
Sometimes Truth is too harsh, too stark, too painful to be born completely...just let it in, in manageable increments, I grew up watching this personal struggle. The truth did not change, those who bore it did, we did not bastardize or twist it, or collapse under its burden, we made the best of it, and sought after what was worthy and rejected and turned away from all that was ignoble.
When Truth was erased from the grand scale of public conversation, the bedrock of the public trust our forefathers set our foundation upon, the massive breach became epically tragic. UnTruth is now carelessly, negligently, and deliberately told, it has become its own cacophony of acceptance.
Muted beyond the measured noise, the convoluted noise, there are still many beautiful notes.....they are mixed with the screech and the scream, the whispers and the dishonest hiss. Thank God for that.
I know there is still truth, gasping for air-for voice-for the heartbeat that will raise it up again. It can scarcely be found in the Fourth Estate and the professional public servant.
In my heart there is an aching question....WHERE IS THE HONOR, WHERE IS TRUE TRUTH....I FEAR IT HIDES IN THE SHADOW OF LITTLE MEASURABLE PRINCIPLED INTEGRITY.
Our windows....many times, in more than one room 'the box' is flat and half the size of our walls, the pictures broadcasting in vibrant color and high definition. Open and on all day long, does this window block out the sunlight and blue of the sky? Our constant window to the world, once opened has become so much a part of our lives; it has faded all of the wonder and solved all mystery.
I came across a thought the other day, by Aristotle.
It was about catharsis, and the concept that perhaps it is mainly intellectual. Not theatrical in the sense, that bad men eventually come to bad ends, though in all honesty, many times it is exactly what I want to wish for.
There is so much bad in 'the box'...can only a bad end bring justice for all the 'progressive players'? My upbringing demands that I not wish for that,....so instead I will hope that all the bad things that they cause and effect will end badly, and then we can build back, and up from there. Yes, that is what I shall wish for.
And pray for. Pray that it will not have to end badly for everyone. In that hoped for result, may we find our soul's relief in the discovery that God's Laws do operate invisibly, it can and will be, a catharsis is every sense of the word.
The cacophony will once again be honest and honorable, the catalyst dynamic and lasting....will we make it-can we make it so? With God's Grace, may we join substantive and determined, to achieve that goal.
I Pray for Constitutional catharsis. Restored constitutional governance, and the return of the proper checks and balances are the original and required truth needed today to re-establish the Republic of America. I pray for the united action of my fellow citizens and our own states that will REPLACE THE CHAINS OF THE CONSTITUTION. It is all that can save us from the destruction dancing inside...and outside of 'the box'....
I wish my Grandfather was still here....
Send........waiting....
We have friends in our life who are for us, 'that deep well'....and when we are lacking, or empty or thirst...it is from them and the rich source that is their soul, which we reach to replenish. The piece needed a conclusion, my friend gave me that.
The Reply....
Lady Boots,
Being the legacy, born of the Greatest Generation, is most difficult at times, to say the least.
That generation combined the fighting spirit, the free spirit and the Spirit of God into the very best that the Spirit of America has ever seen, or in all probabilities will ever see.
Sometimes, and I'm thinking, more often than not, that the catalyst of greatness we are waiting for, will come from the despotism of evil men and women.
And when I do wonder about these things, I ask myself, will the legacy of that Great Generation have the courage, the will, the natural God given Spirit to rise up by any means and repeat your story? Tell the same to their own children that you tell to your own, a same story, that you write with such passion about?
I'm of the mind, that the courage of a few will always triumph over the craven acts of the many, as our fathers and grandfathers demonstrated. What gives us that kind of courage, that spirit that now I think this country so desperately needs? My truth, and I know many that also believe this way, comes from the heart and not from the head.
News be damned, all of that 'media' appeals to the 'intellect' many times deliberately presented to cause confusion and despair. That is planned intent. It is designed to defeat our Spirit, damage the natural searching of our souls, which is at the very heart of what made this country so great.
Your grandfather protected you from that because he knew that the spirit of a child is most precious to God and the influences that "news" can have on the child’s mind, misunderstood might be damaging. He wanted you to think with your heart, act with your heart and relate with your heart. Live your life with your heart as your guide.
He never wanted you to see or have to do what he did or saw, that is the legacy he meant to hand down to you.
'If' I talk news with anyone it is only with adults, and never with children. I have no t.v. dish or any way to allow the news to influence me on a 24 hours basis. We need to cleanse ourselves of that garbage, or I do, so that my heart can speak, and feel the truth.
Evil people, people devoid of a nurtured spiritual nature, have in many ways created a war of both intellectual and spiritual wills. They may have succeeded in the intellectual realm but have not a clue as to what the Spiritual will and can do. That is where the battles and finally the war will be won, in the Spiritual arena and nowhere else.
That is what your grandfather taught you and the greatest gift he could have ever given you.
p.s. .......get rid of the tv.
Hope this helps
Always your friend,
The Lawman & Ladyboots
We thank you for reading.
I have been trying for days to complete this piece. I cannot. Can you help me with this. The three words I want to use work, I think ...catalyst, cacophony, and catharsis. My thoughts and my heart need focus and direction. Please look it over and let me know your thoughts.
Email Content:
I learned as a child, the meaning...starkly, living the effect of a true catalyst and jarring change.
The 24 hour news cycle, today, has destroyed the immediacy of emergency. It was not always so. I grew up in a time, when you lived through the day, and you tuned in from real life to one hour of the news, presented in a unique box with black and white pictures. Huntley-Brinkley and Walter Cronkite.
It fit in a time; it had its limited place. It did not intrude in the majority of hours. You could spend most of the waking passage, living your very own life. There were many games and running joyous times outside, picnics in the yard or park, and a barbecues and building clubhouses with the neighbors. Great chunks of time where you could leave the reports from the box behind you, because this was REAL life, the one we were living.
I would watch the evening news program, more my grandfather's face contemplating the news as he watched. I watched him. Our worlds were wonderfully connected and had healthy lines of demarcation. He worked, he shouldered the responsibility for the family, and he left as much ugliness as he could outside, scraped off, like the mud from his shoes. He let only snippets slip inside, just like the dust mites that floated on the invisible air, in the sunlight, that flashed when you opened the door.
His furrowed brow, the shake of his head, the occasional smile, and although I little understood the implications of what I was watching along with him, I assimilated and interpreted the emotional response as it played on his features and transferred when we looked at each other. The news played itself out on my grandfather's face.
Reported for 60 minutes-the news hour, volume up sometimes down...it came to us then, in measured segments, off and then on, and he controlled the box. In those days, you did turn it off, you changed the channel, and there were only 3.
"Grampa, how come you watch, most of its bad." And he told me there were things in the world that would make other things happen, and even though they may be far away, in other places, sometimes the things that mattered there, would matter where we were. Catalysts.
My grandpa had awaked one harsh morning, to the news that nature had buried his son and daughter-in-law and their three children under a mountain that slid to bury them under tons of dirt and rock, in the valley where they slept. I have always remembered it as 'the night the earth shook'. They were never found. Everyone who was left, were never the same. I knew there was bad news that did not always come from the box, sometimes it knocked on the front door.
Yes,.....Catalysts, I knew what they were long before I ever knew what they were called.
So he watched the news for us, comforted those he had left, and deciphered and filtered it all, shouldering the job of staving off the harshness outside - from the wounded inside. He protected the world of his children, and he tried to keep the ugliness in a box...in 'the box'. Amazing strength....from a broken man.
The largeness of the news was significant. The walk on the moon, the assassination of his president, the war and its numbers, and when he watched he chose the pieces of the world he wanted to let in, and did not share those really best left outside of our window.
I would patiently wait for it to be over; MY interest in the box was reserved for after the news hour, and the nightly showing of Lawrence Welk. That was our deal. I would watch his news with him and he would watch me twirl to Lawrence Welk.
A-one-a-and-a-two-a....blessedly.... when the news was over, I would dance to the music, and the bubbles, and the man with a funny accent, little wand in his hand, directing a stage full of musicians, that I pretended were playing just for me. I would twirl like a ballerina in my stocking feet on tiptoes across the living room, dressed in a homemade tutu my mother had sewn on my grandmother's old sewing machine; we were too poor for the store-bought kind.
At the time, I thought the nightly ritual was mostly focused on me, as children do, thinking the world revolves around their orb, and maybe it was. I think my childish innocence helped him live with his news. I know the news hour, provided me with a captive audience after, and I thought it helped him practice his ability to study....me better.
He would smile and tell me to be a dancer for a long as I could dance. "Go ahead little girl, and twirl until you are dizzy, lose yourself in pretend for as long as it lasts, one day 'pretend' will be gone." He was always sad when he said that....wrap...wrap..wrap....and within the din of the cacophony today, there rings the truth of his words from long ago.
Noise.....a cacophony of noise, how much is/where is 'truth'? It used to be that you COULD NOT/DID NOT PUBLICLY LIE. Beyond consequences, there was NO honor in falsehood.
Today, in this time....lies, told as truth, are promoted to the point of constant repetition, such repeated volume in print-program-scripted talking point-and our supposed entertainment, is designed to transform lie to truth. Make the filthy...clean. They call it 'messaging', new meaning, telling the untruth in such a way that will make it invert, if the lie is not working...lie it better.
Today's truth....has sadly become reporting, repeating, and propagandizing....without honor. The declining 'Fourth Estate' has married itself to 'progressive' theft, and the ideal of Liberty has been sacrificed on their alter. Anointed upon their self-styled throne, colored and stained with the blood of the American Soul, the 'progressive' saber celebrates.
Sometimes Truth is too harsh, too stark, too painful to be born completely...just let it in, in manageable increments, I grew up watching this personal struggle. The truth did not change, those who bore it did, we did not bastardize or twist it, or collapse under its burden, we made the best of it, and sought after what was worthy and rejected and turned away from all that was ignoble.
When Truth was erased from the grand scale of public conversation, the bedrock of the public trust our forefathers set our foundation upon, the massive breach became epically tragic. UnTruth is now carelessly, negligently, and deliberately told, it has become its own cacophony of acceptance.
Muted beyond the measured noise, the convoluted noise, there are still many beautiful notes.....they are mixed with the screech and the scream, the whispers and the dishonest hiss. Thank God for that.
I know there is still truth, gasping for air-for voice-for the heartbeat that will raise it up again. It can scarcely be found in the Fourth Estate and the professional public servant.
In my heart there is an aching question....WHERE IS THE HONOR, WHERE IS TRUE TRUTH....I FEAR IT HIDES IN THE SHADOW OF LITTLE MEASURABLE PRINCIPLED INTEGRITY.
Our windows....many times, in more than one room 'the box' is flat and half the size of our walls, the pictures broadcasting in vibrant color and high definition. Open and on all day long, does this window block out the sunlight and blue of the sky? Our constant window to the world, once opened has become so much a part of our lives; it has faded all of the wonder and solved all mystery.
I came across a thought the other day, by Aristotle.
It was about catharsis, and the concept that perhaps it is mainly intellectual. Not theatrical in the sense, that bad men eventually come to bad ends, though in all honesty, many times it is exactly what I want to wish for.
There is so much bad in 'the box'...can only a bad end bring justice for all the 'progressive players'? My upbringing demands that I not wish for that,....so instead I will hope that all the bad things that they cause and effect will end badly, and then we can build back, and up from there. Yes, that is what I shall wish for.
And pray for. Pray that it will not have to end badly for everyone. In that hoped for result, may we find our soul's relief in the discovery that God's Laws do operate invisibly, it can and will be, a catharsis is every sense of the word.
The cacophony will once again be honest and honorable, the catalyst dynamic and lasting....will we make it-can we make it so? With God's Grace, may we join substantive and determined, to achieve that goal.
I Pray for Constitutional catharsis. Restored constitutional governance, and the return of the proper checks and balances are the original and required truth needed today to re-establish the Republic of America. I pray for the united action of my fellow citizens and our own states that will REPLACE THE CHAINS OF THE CONSTITUTION. It is all that can save us from the destruction dancing inside...and outside of 'the box'....
I wish my Grandfather was still here....
Send........waiting....
We have friends in our life who are for us, 'that deep well'....and when we are lacking, or empty or thirst...it is from them and the rich source that is their soul, which we reach to replenish. The piece needed a conclusion, my friend gave me that.
The Reply....
Lady Boots,
Being the legacy, born of the Greatest Generation, is most difficult at times, to say the least.
That generation combined the fighting spirit, the free spirit and the Spirit of God into the very best that the Spirit of America has ever seen, or in all probabilities will ever see.
Sometimes, and I'm thinking, more often than not, that the catalyst of greatness we are waiting for, will come from the despotism of evil men and women.
And when I do wonder about these things, I ask myself, will the legacy of that Great Generation have the courage, the will, the natural God given Spirit to rise up by any means and repeat your story? Tell the same to their own children that you tell to your own, a same story, that you write with such passion about?
I'm of the mind, that the courage of a few will always triumph over the craven acts of the many, as our fathers and grandfathers demonstrated. What gives us that kind of courage, that spirit that now I think this country so desperately needs? My truth, and I know many that also believe this way, comes from the heart and not from the head.
News be damned, all of that 'media' appeals to the 'intellect' many times deliberately presented to cause confusion and despair. That is planned intent. It is designed to defeat our Spirit, damage the natural searching of our souls, which is at the very heart of what made this country so great.
Your grandfather protected you from that because he knew that the spirit of a child is most precious to God and the influences that "news" can have on the child’s mind, misunderstood might be damaging. He wanted you to think with your heart, act with your heart and relate with your heart. Live your life with your heart as your guide.
He never wanted you to see or have to do what he did or saw, that is the legacy he meant to hand down to you.
'If' I talk news with anyone it is only with adults, and never with children. I have no t.v. dish or any way to allow the news to influence me on a 24 hours basis. We need to cleanse ourselves of that garbage, or I do, so that my heart can speak, and feel the truth.
Evil people, people devoid of a nurtured spiritual nature, have in many ways created a war of both intellectual and spiritual wills. They may have succeeded in the intellectual realm but have not a clue as to what the Spiritual will and can do. That is where the battles and finally the war will be won, in the Spiritual arena and nowhere else.
That is what your grandfather taught you and the greatest gift he could have ever given you.
p.s. .......get rid of the tv.
Hope this helps
Always your friend,
The Lawman & Ladyboots
We thank you for reading.
OUR FOUNDATIONAL CONCEPT FOR THIS SECTION...
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof;....." Amendment I, in part, ratified December 15, 1791.
We believe that the Founder/Framers and Ratifiers of our Great Constitution listed the first 10 amendments in order of importance. Does it not indeed resonate, that religion is first on that list?
Is it not odd that, in part, it says "respecting an establishment" in their language; what in the world does that mean? Consider the phrase, "or prohibiting the free exercise…": does that mean inclusive of all or particular to a specific religion?
Our steadfast faith in, hope of, and love for our God, is an intrinsic component of the American Spirit that has bound us historically together. It has manifested itself in our fighting spirit, our benevolent spirit, our patriotic spirit, and our self-determination. "IT" is what has always set us apart from other nations.
We do not wish to articulate or present toward any particular practicing faith. The first amendment supports the individual right for all of us to practice our own faiths as we wish to practice them, an enumerated right - upon which cannot be infringed.
We seek to articulate and present material that supports the spiritual force, and recognizes rightfully, the importance of God in our government and our society: The importance as it has always been; the importance of the removal of ALL SPIRITUALITY, which it is becoming.
Being spiritual - in all of our different independent practices and faiths, automatically and intimately connects us. It binds us to emotions that join us in common. United in this regard, we must turn and face the separate battle and battlefield. We will speak to the grave importance of winning the spiritual war, that whether we want to face it, or have been deeply involved in before, we all must recognize how profoundly important it is that we win it.
I am 'The Lawman" and I am going to attempt to write about why this amendment is first on the list. Why I see the importance of why. It is the First Amendment and should remain there, as the first line of defense of an over-authoritative central government.
Strange as it may seem to many, I personally, do not believe in any particular established religion. I believe in the spirit of God within me, and how that Spirit is empowered by my own Faith in God.
I am also of the mind that, the first clause of the First Amendment is about 'my Spirit and your Spirit'.
How do some of the concepts within 'organized religions' often times get mistaken for a socially or culturally forced belief system? How do/can they be sanctioned by 'some defined God' that perhaps none of our own five senses recognize. I will further this questioning more, and expand my thoughts, in the writings that follow.
Basically, to begin, the 1st clause of the First Amendment is about Spiritual Faith and nothing less..... but a whole lot more, as I begin my examination.
When I last looked at a poll dealing with American belief in God the rating was around 80%. It included the point of view of those that at least, acknowledged there is a God or a Higher Power.
However this section of our study site is not about “preaching”, per se. It is about the testing, the limiting and the diminishing of our Spiritual Faith. Whether the testing is in the form for many; of our belief that there is a God, or for others; the acknowledgement that there is the existence of a Spiritual Nature as a basic element that exists in the higher intelligence known as 'mankind'.
We believe that the Founder/Framers and Ratifiers of our Great Constitution listed the first 10 amendments in order of importance. Does it not indeed resonate, that religion is first on that list?
Is it not odd that, in part, it says "respecting an establishment" in their language; what in the world does that mean? Consider the phrase, "or prohibiting the free exercise…": does that mean inclusive of all or particular to a specific religion?
Our steadfast faith in, hope of, and love for our God, is an intrinsic component of the American Spirit that has bound us historically together. It has manifested itself in our fighting spirit, our benevolent spirit, our patriotic spirit, and our self-determination. "IT" is what has always set us apart from other nations.
We do not wish to articulate or present toward any particular practicing faith. The first amendment supports the individual right for all of us to practice our own faiths as we wish to practice them, an enumerated right - upon which cannot be infringed.
We seek to articulate and present material that supports the spiritual force, and recognizes rightfully, the importance of God in our government and our society: The importance as it has always been; the importance of the removal of ALL SPIRITUALITY, which it is becoming.
Being spiritual - in all of our different independent practices and faiths, automatically and intimately connects us. It binds us to emotions that join us in common. United in this regard, we must turn and face the separate battle and battlefield. We will speak to the grave importance of winning the spiritual war, that whether we want to face it, or have been deeply involved in before, we all must recognize how profoundly important it is that we win it.
I am 'The Lawman" and I am going to attempt to write about why this amendment is first on the list. Why I see the importance of why. It is the First Amendment and should remain there, as the first line of defense of an over-authoritative central government.
Strange as it may seem to many, I personally, do not believe in any particular established religion. I believe in the spirit of God within me, and how that Spirit is empowered by my own Faith in God.
I am also of the mind that, the first clause of the First Amendment is about 'my Spirit and your Spirit'.
How do some of the concepts within 'organized religions' often times get mistaken for a socially or culturally forced belief system? How do/can they be sanctioned by 'some defined God' that perhaps none of our own five senses recognize. I will further this questioning more, and expand my thoughts, in the writings that follow.
Basically, to begin, the 1st clause of the First Amendment is about Spiritual Faith and nothing less..... but a whole lot more, as I begin my examination.
When I last looked at a poll dealing with American belief in God the rating was around 80%. It included the point of view of those that at least, acknowledged there is a God or a Higher Power.
However this section of our study site is not about “preaching”, per se. It is about the testing, the limiting and the diminishing of our Spiritual Faith. Whether the testing is in the form for many; of our belief that there is a God, or for others; the acknowledgement that there is the existence of a Spiritual Nature as a basic element that exists in the higher intelligence known as 'mankind'.
The 104th Psalm by John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams - 09/10/1841
John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States was well known for his use of words. This handwritten poem, which was transcribed from the 104th Psalm, below is a wonderful example of not only his appreciation for the Word of God, but also of his firm conviction and faith in God.
*The spellings have been updated.
John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the United States was well known for his use of words. This handwritten poem, which was transcribed from the 104th Psalm, below is a wonderful example of not only his appreciation for the Word of God, but also of his firm conviction and faith in God.
*The spellings have been updated.
To Miss Mary Talbot
from
John Quincy Adams
Oh! Lord, my God! How great art Thou!
With honor, and with glory crown'd
Lights dazzling splendors veil thy brow,
And gird the universe around.
Beneath the deep, above the skies
Thy mansion boundless space we find.
Thy Spirit in the Tempest flies
And spreads the pinions of the wind.
From the 104th Psalm
Washington 10 Sept. 1841
http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=146142
from
John Quincy Adams
Oh! Lord, my God! How great art Thou!
With honor, and with glory crown'd
Lights dazzling splendors veil thy brow,
And gird the universe around.
Beneath the deep, above the skies
Thy mansion boundless space we find.
Thy Spirit in the Tempest flies
And spreads the pinions of the wind.
From the 104th Psalm
Washington 10 Sept. 1841
http://www.wallbuilders.com/LIBissuesArticles.asp?id=146142
A Story of The 'earth child' who found God's Law in the New World
Part 1
"Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching." ~ Thomas Jefferson
Let us begin with the Laws of Man to establish a stark contrast.
According to "The Corner", a new Federal Law is passed every 2.33 hours. Three Thousand one hundred and eighty six (3,186) final rules were published in the Federal Register so far this year. At this rate by year's end, 3604 new final rules will have been registered on 68,313 pages. The biggest year yet has been 2010 with 81,405 pages.
Does this not leave you dealing with feeling the 'stun gun effect' and standing shocked with the 'deer in the headlight look'? JUST HOW MANY LAWS DO WE HAVE? Has the legalistic mind of man woven an ever increasing web of criminal traps and enslavements?
Imagine the amount of laws that this Congress, as well as past Congresses have passed. Thousands of vague and/or misleading guides to imprison our fellow man; if the whim may direct those who have the power or the inclination to implement them. Lawyers spending days and even months working out just the right wording, so the injured party will have recourse, to battle the wrongs committed against them or theirs, and other lawyers working the opposite side, to figure out inescapable language.
Corporate law, civil law, contract law, real estate law, property law, criminal law, court law, administrative law, animal husbandry law, Air Traffic law, vehicle laws, business laws, etc., etc., .....STOP !!!! I'm going “ crazy law”....and I have spent 25 years as a Law Enforcement officer, this is my area of expertise.
One of the more recent concerns coming out of the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare, as is commonly called, is the presidential authority to organize and train a secret police.
Just recently, House Representative Louie Gohmert from the 1st District of the State of Texas voiced his concerns over this hidden aspect within the health care law. He stated that it provided for the President to use commissioned and non-commissioned officers to be used for protection, in the event of International Health Emergencies, however; it does not use the word "health" when describing a National health emergency.
Gohmert goes on to state that, the day that Obama signed the ACA into law, the Department of Health and Human Resources hired 1,814 new employees under the "immediate hiring authority" order.
Even if, you are a creature of, and a true Believer in, the absolute Law of Man Political Theory, you may wish to define this as your Stun-gun Effected - standing dumbstruck with a ' Deer-in-the-head-light look'...secular moment of truth.
Every government in history, every civilization, founded, grounded, and governed by no higher authority than the laws that man can devise - has failed. EVERY ONE.
Stories of such - each can be told from beginning, through middle, to end, exactly the same way. Only the names and the details differ. This is the whole story of the children who believed with dedicated heart and trust, in the changing truths and broken promises of the Laws of Man.
Now, if you will indulge me, let me tell the rest of this story, the contrasted tale.
It is of the 'earth child' and his seeking of God's Law. .
Always the best place to begin is at the beginning.
Thou Shalt not have any other gods before Me.
Thou shalt not make graven images, or any likeness of Anything that is in Heaven above.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.
Honor they father and mother.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, or wife, nor man servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbors.
In comparison, I can absolutely guarantee there is NO illegal act, in the thousands of laws made by Congress, which is not covered by the Ten Commandments. The set-in-stone-written-in-stone, by the Finger of God - 5 or 6 thousand years ago.
God required the service of NO LAWYERS. These legal minds had anything to do with this writing. God handed His Laws to Moses, personally. No secretaries typed it up, no inter-office memo was distributed, and no CEO approval was necessary. These Commandments are the ultimate of Executive Orders.
I call myself the Lawman.
I was born in a remote wilderness in the State of Oregon. I was the last of three children, and the only child to ever have been born there. I was born in one county but my birth is registered in another. I went to a one room schoolhouse, first through eighth grade until I was thirteen.
I was a Cub Scout, then a Boy Scout, and ran wild in the woods, went fly-fishing when I pleased and hunted deer and elk with my father. I could then, and still can, identify the many different varieties of plants, tree, and animal. I can tell you their habits and track the beasts across barren rock if necessary. I've survived by harvesting natures garden, built habitats from its resources, and drank the clear cold waters from its mountain streams.
I've hunkered down and watched bears mate, beaver play and eagles hunt their prey. The greatest peace I will, or can ever find, is being in God's Nature. What better habitat could I find than this, where I can go to restore my spirit and feel love for all that God has created?
My Creator, the Creator of this earth, the Creator of Heaven causes my senses to become awestruck and my face to still, in a frozen gaze of absolute wonder. Being a fellow 'earth child' and Believer in the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God...God's Law.....this is my 'deer in the head light moment, stunning -silent - humble admiration.
I firmly believe that there is a direct connection between our spiritual nature and God's Nature. I believe, from all I have read of our Founding Fathers, Framers and Ratifiers, as well as the common citizen living in that time, that they also believed the same way. The foremost advocate of Nature's Laws was Thomas Jefferson. In fact, John Locke was the author on his top five of "most favorite" list of reading material. At the end of TJ's life he had left over 75,000 pages of a journal he kept on agriculture.
"Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God....his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue."
Thomas Jefferson Notes on the State of Virginia.
Thomas Jefferson was an "earth child" in his upbringing. Even though his father passed when Thomas was 15, he inherited his most beloved mountain, Monticello. Here at Monticello, Jefferson started the first American Vineyard, it had vast orchards of a variety of fruit trees, and acres of experimental gardens for vegetables and herbs.
Thomas Jefferson took notes every day as to weather, temperature, moisture...etc...EVERY SINGLE DAY he did this. When he was not there his slave, Robert Hemings (Sally Hemings brother), whom Jefferson had taught to read and write, took notes for him.
In later years, while Jefferson was in France as Ambassador, he took extensive tours of both France and England's Show Case Gardens. On a four month hiatus (he was really on a secret mission) in his tour of Southern France into Northern Italy, he continued to take notes on plants, fruit trees, and private gardens, in a never ending plan to improve his own gardens and orchards at Monticello.
In Milan, Italy, Jefferson literally stole, by filling his coat pockets with the seed of Piedmont Rice. The penalty, if caught smuggling this rice, would have been a death sentence. He also stood in the middle of the rice husking room and hand-sketched the husking machine and later had one built for himself, from his drawings. Jefferson wanted the more hardy Piedmont rice to introduce into the Southern States, so he took great risk and care to acquire it.
Thomas Jefferson, daily, was involved in the advancement of agriculture. In fact, he established agriculture, as the basic trading commodity of the United States to foreign and in our domestic markets. A fact that is still intricate in our economy, to this very day. The United States market is known as the "food basket" of the world because of Thomas Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson’s deep love for the earth and its bounty went beyond just gardening. Because of this connection, he also was very much in tune with the Nature's Law and the independent spiritual character of man that it developed. This spiritual character, he believed, was not found in the Church of England, nor independence established religion.
Thomas Jefferson despised the Church of England, and only belonged to it because it was required of him being a Virginia Assemblyman, Crown Law set the rules. The Church of England clergy were also paid out of tax monies and many considered themselves as equal to the gentry and only subject to the King's dictates.
Jefferson, as were many Colonials, was tired of having the King's Laws preached to them on Sundays, instead of having their 'spiritual natures' fed. The Church of England also failed to recognize that each person could have the ability and right of individual free choice, the basic principle of God's Law.
By the mid-18th century most European Nations, including Czarist Russia, had been ruled by monarchs for many centuries. Large numbers of populace of these countries were now living in over-crowded and unhealthy cities.
London, Rome, and Paris boasted populations of over a million people. Hunger caused by famine or inability to buy food and disease were common. In jolly ole' England, if one were caught stealing a loaf of bread, the sentence meant a life time on the prison barges, where most died in the first year.
Some Nations supported plans to export the lower class of their citizenry to the New World as one solution to the over-crowding, and also to rid their own country of those less desirable persons. Most of these immigrants sold themselves into voluntary slavery in exchange for their passage to America. They were owned for their first 7 years here, by the sponsors who had paid for their ticket; this hard labor was called indentured servitude. They were provided for at the mercy of, and many times poor care of the master who owned their paper.
The life expectancy, for the many people of the poor class, was short, the years of servitude were hard, unless they were fortunate enough to be born in to the upper class in these monarchies, and your lot in life was at the mercy of the upper class. They either paid for your service, owned your means of livelihood, or you were at the mercy of their kindness and generosity. Serfs and peasants did not expect an easy life, nor were they in a position where they could demand better living conditions or health care.
Enter into the discussion, established religion. The Catholic and Protestant churches continued their religious conquest of the new world. Jesuits, the enforcement arm of the Catholic Church, had embassies in the Brazilian Basin and as far west as Idaho by the early 1700's.
The Pope had divided the world into two parts, doing so to appease the Spanish and Portuguese Monarchs. Santa Fe was established as a Mission in 1509, and by mid-1700 was a thriving community. All establishment was achieved at the expense of enslaving the native populace.
The Russian Empire had reached the Russian River in Northern California, and had advanced the Russian Orthodox Church to a primary station on Sitka Island, Alaska. The Church of England dominated the American Colonies, requiring every English subject to be a member.
Islam ruled Northern Africa, and demanded tribute from European Nations to trade on the Mediterranean Sea, and the Pirate-Nations, led by emirs who had vast wealth and influence. Islamic Arabs controlled the slave trade from the east coast of Africa to the very gates of Charleston harbor. All of the advancing and advocating that God was on their particular side was proselytized, and the enslavement of the native peoples was proclaimed to be of His will.
On September 11 and 12th of 1683, the combined forces of the upstart House of Hapsburg and the Kingdom of Poland, led by Jan III Sebieski, defeated the Ottoman Army in the numbers of 300,000 men at the besieged city of Vienna.
King Jan leading the largest cavalry charge ever broke the back of the Ottoman Army in the 17th hour of combat, stopping a certain conquest of Europe, by the Ottoman Empire. This is singularly, the most important battle in history to mark the stopping of the advancement of the Islamic faith on the European Continent and the Western end of the Asian continent. The Ottoman Empire over the course of the next 20 years ceased to exist.
As for King Jan and his heroism, a newly discovered constellation was named after him; Scutum Sobieski, meaning the shield of Sobieski. Pope Innocent XI extended the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary to the Universal Church, in honor of King Jan who had entrusted his Kingdom to the Blessed Virgin, to all Catholic lands. Prior to this victory, this feast had only been celebrated in Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. The Constellation is still named after King Jan to this day, and remains the only such constellation named after a non-astronomer.
The Nations of Europe, Africa, Asia, the Continent Nation of Australia, South America, Central America and the Northern part of North America have no religious freedom clause in their Constitutions. They are all subject to the whims and dictates of the leader of their country, or a Church Chief Executive Officer that may be thousands of miles away.
Imagine, all those millions of people have no choice in their "religious" belief system. Every single Nation on this planet, to date, has a form of "soft socialism" in place within their government structure, in the name of the recognized state religion. Socialism as a political ideology does not recognize a supreme deity or that there is the reality of such a God, therefore; there is no God's Law. Absent that fundamental fact, mankind has no right to free will or free choice.
The Islamic belief system is purely conversion by the sword, in other words, you confess that Allah is your "one true god" or you are beheaded. If you do convert, you kept your head but you were usually enslaved. Most of the time, you are not given the chance to "convert". With the rise of modern terrorism, the populations of countries historically as well as present day, are subjected to Islamic laws.
Oh, and by the way...Islam makes no distinction between women or children, in their righteous requirements. No person is protected from the brutality of Islamic rule. For women it is a particularly brutal faith. Although, I will confess, the "Christian" religious movement also has a harsh history of slaying or enslaving anyone that did not convert to religious dogma. There is extensive historical study of these conquests, of which I am only giving an over-all and shortened version of, I do so to point out the profound effect that religion has had on the social and culture structure of the world.
This continent was first settled by religious refugees, not Pilgrims. Thousands of people fled to this continent to escape religious persecution from their governments. William Penn may be the lone exception, he was after all a Lord of England, and was granted a large portion of land to allow his Quaker following to immigrate to. Today, we call it the State of Pennsylvania. In fact! Ben Franklin was a Quaker.
Those that survived the voyage found a lush and green land. They also found that life was not to be easy, hacking a living out of the wilderness. Those that survived changed over a period of time. They discovered that every day they made their own choices. They valued the freedom they found in choosing what they could do.
"Whenever you do a thing, act as if all the world were watching." ~ Thomas Jefferson
Let us begin with the Laws of Man to establish a stark contrast.
According to "The Corner", a new Federal Law is passed every 2.33 hours. Three Thousand one hundred and eighty six (3,186) final rules were published in the Federal Register so far this year. At this rate by year's end, 3604 new final rules will have been registered on 68,313 pages. The biggest year yet has been 2010 with 81,405 pages.
Does this not leave you dealing with feeling the 'stun gun effect' and standing shocked with the 'deer in the headlight look'? JUST HOW MANY LAWS DO WE HAVE? Has the legalistic mind of man woven an ever increasing web of criminal traps and enslavements?
Imagine the amount of laws that this Congress, as well as past Congresses have passed. Thousands of vague and/or misleading guides to imprison our fellow man; if the whim may direct those who have the power or the inclination to implement them. Lawyers spending days and even months working out just the right wording, so the injured party will have recourse, to battle the wrongs committed against them or theirs, and other lawyers working the opposite side, to figure out inescapable language.
Corporate law, civil law, contract law, real estate law, property law, criminal law, court law, administrative law, animal husbandry law, Air Traffic law, vehicle laws, business laws, etc., etc., .....STOP !!!! I'm going “ crazy law”....and I have spent 25 years as a Law Enforcement officer, this is my area of expertise.
One of the more recent concerns coming out of the Affordable Health Care Act, or Obamacare, as is commonly called, is the presidential authority to organize and train a secret police.
Just recently, House Representative Louie Gohmert from the 1st District of the State of Texas voiced his concerns over this hidden aspect within the health care law. He stated that it provided for the President to use commissioned and non-commissioned officers to be used for protection, in the event of International Health Emergencies, however; it does not use the word "health" when describing a National health emergency.
Gohmert goes on to state that, the day that Obama signed the ACA into law, the Department of Health and Human Resources hired 1,814 new employees under the "immediate hiring authority" order.
Even if, you are a creature of, and a true Believer in, the absolute Law of Man Political Theory, you may wish to define this as your Stun-gun Effected - standing dumbstruck with a ' Deer-in-the-head-light look'...secular moment of truth.
Every government in history, every civilization, founded, grounded, and governed by no higher authority than the laws that man can devise - has failed. EVERY ONE.
Stories of such - each can be told from beginning, through middle, to end, exactly the same way. Only the names and the details differ. This is the whole story of the children who believed with dedicated heart and trust, in the changing truths and broken promises of the Laws of Man.
Now, if you will indulge me, let me tell the rest of this story, the contrasted tale.
It is of the 'earth child' and his seeking of God's Law. .
Always the best place to begin is at the beginning.
Thou Shalt not have any other gods before Me.
Thou shalt not make graven images, or any likeness of Anything that is in Heaven above.
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.
Honor they father and mother.
Thou shalt not kill.
Thou shalt not commit adultery.
Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not bear false witness.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, or wife, nor man servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbors.
In comparison, I can absolutely guarantee there is NO illegal act, in the thousands of laws made by Congress, which is not covered by the Ten Commandments. The set-in-stone-written-in-stone, by the Finger of God - 5 or 6 thousand years ago.
God required the service of NO LAWYERS. These legal minds had anything to do with this writing. God handed His Laws to Moses, personally. No secretaries typed it up, no inter-office memo was distributed, and no CEO approval was necessary. These Commandments are the ultimate of Executive Orders.
I call myself the Lawman.
I was born in a remote wilderness in the State of Oregon. I was the last of three children, and the only child to ever have been born there. I was born in one county but my birth is registered in another. I went to a one room schoolhouse, first through eighth grade until I was thirteen.
I was a Cub Scout, then a Boy Scout, and ran wild in the woods, went fly-fishing when I pleased and hunted deer and elk with my father. I could then, and still can, identify the many different varieties of plants, tree, and animal. I can tell you their habits and track the beasts across barren rock if necessary. I've survived by harvesting natures garden, built habitats from its resources, and drank the clear cold waters from its mountain streams.
I've hunkered down and watched bears mate, beaver play and eagles hunt their prey. The greatest peace I will, or can ever find, is being in God's Nature. What better habitat could I find than this, where I can go to restore my spirit and feel love for all that God has created?
My Creator, the Creator of this earth, the Creator of Heaven causes my senses to become awestruck and my face to still, in a frozen gaze of absolute wonder. Being a fellow 'earth child' and Believer in the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God...God's Law.....this is my 'deer in the head light moment, stunning -silent - humble admiration.
I firmly believe that there is a direct connection between our spiritual nature and God's Nature. I believe, from all I have read of our Founding Fathers, Framers and Ratifiers, as well as the common citizen living in that time, that they also believed the same way. The foremost advocate of Nature's Laws was Thomas Jefferson. In fact, John Locke was the author on his top five of "most favorite" list of reading material. At the end of TJ's life he had left over 75,000 pages of a journal he kept on agriculture.
"Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God....his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue."
Thomas Jefferson Notes on the State of Virginia.
Thomas Jefferson was an "earth child" in his upbringing. Even though his father passed when Thomas was 15, he inherited his most beloved mountain, Monticello. Here at Monticello, Jefferson started the first American Vineyard, it had vast orchards of a variety of fruit trees, and acres of experimental gardens for vegetables and herbs.
Thomas Jefferson took notes every day as to weather, temperature, moisture...etc...EVERY SINGLE DAY he did this. When he was not there his slave, Robert Hemings (Sally Hemings brother), whom Jefferson had taught to read and write, took notes for him.
In later years, while Jefferson was in France as Ambassador, he took extensive tours of both France and England's Show Case Gardens. On a four month hiatus (he was really on a secret mission) in his tour of Southern France into Northern Italy, he continued to take notes on plants, fruit trees, and private gardens, in a never ending plan to improve his own gardens and orchards at Monticello.
In Milan, Italy, Jefferson literally stole, by filling his coat pockets with the seed of Piedmont Rice. The penalty, if caught smuggling this rice, would have been a death sentence. He also stood in the middle of the rice husking room and hand-sketched the husking machine and later had one built for himself, from his drawings. Jefferson wanted the more hardy Piedmont rice to introduce into the Southern States, so he took great risk and care to acquire it.
Thomas Jefferson, daily, was involved in the advancement of agriculture. In fact, he established agriculture, as the basic trading commodity of the United States to foreign and in our domestic markets. A fact that is still intricate in our economy, to this very day. The United States market is known as the "food basket" of the world because of Thomas Jefferson.
Thomas Jefferson’s deep love for the earth and its bounty went beyond just gardening. Because of this connection, he also was very much in tune with the Nature's Law and the independent spiritual character of man that it developed. This spiritual character, he believed, was not found in the Church of England, nor independence established religion.
Thomas Jefferson despised the Church of England, and only belonged to it because it was required of him being a Virginia Assemblyman, Crown Law set the rules. The Church of England clergy were also paid out of tax monies and many considered themselves as equal to the gentry and only subject to the King's dictates.
Jefferson, as were many Colonials, was tired of having the King's Laws preached to them on Sundays, instead of having their 'spiritual natures' fed. The Church of England also failed to recognize that each person could have the ability and right of individual free choice, the basic principle of God's Law.
By the mid-18th century most European Nations, including Czarist Russia, had been ruled by monarchs for many centuries. Large numbers of populace of these countries were now living in over-crowded and unhealthy cities.
London, Rome, and Paris boasted populations of over a million people. Hunger caused by famine or inability to buy food and disease were common. In jolly ole' England, if one were caught stealing a loaf of bread, the sentence meant a life time on the prison barges, where most died in the first year.
Some Nations supported plans to export the lower class of their citizenry to the New World as one solution to the over-crowding, and also to rid their own country of those less desirable persons. Most of these immigrants sold themselves into voluntary slavery in exchange for their passage to America. They were owned for their first 7 years here, by the sponsors who had paid for their ticket; this hard labor was called indentured servitude. They were provided for at the mercy of, and many times poor care of the master who owned their paper.
The life expectancy, for the many people of the poor class, was short, the years of servitude were hard, unless they were fortunate enough to be born in to the upper class in these monarchies, and your lot in life was at the mercy of the upper class. They either paid for your service, owned your means of livelihood, or you were at the mercy of their kindness and generosity. Serfs and peasants did not expect an easy life, nor were they in a position where they could demand better living conditions or health care.
Enter into the discussion, established religion. The Catholic and Protestant churches continued their religious conquest of the new world. Jesuits, the enforcement arm of the Catholic Church, had embassies in the Brazilian Basin and as far west as Idaho by the early 1700's.
The Pope had divided the world into two parts, doing so to appease the Spanish and Portuguese Monarchs. Santa Fe was established as a Mission in 1509, and by mid-1700 was a thriving community. All establishment was achieved at the expense of enslaving the native populace.
The Russian Empire had reached the Russian River in Northern California, and had advanced the Russian Orthodox Church to a primary station on Sitka Island, Alaska. The Church of England dominated the American Colonies, requiring every English subject to be a member.
Islam ruled Northern Africa, and demanded tribute from European Nations to trade on the Mediterranean Sea, and the Pirate-Nations, led by emirs who had vast wealth and influence. Islamic Arabs controlled the slave trade from the east coast of Africa to the very gates of Charleston harbor. All of the advancing and advocating that God was on their particular side was proselytized, and the enslavement of the native peoples was proclaimed to be of His will.
On September 11 and 12th of 1683, the combined forces of the upstart House of Hapsburg and the Kingdom of Poland, led by Jan III Sebieski, defeated the Ottoman Army in the numbers of 300,000 men at the besieged city of Vienna.
King Jan leading the largest cavalry charge ever broke the back of the Ottoman Army in the 17th hour of combat, stopping a certain conquest of Europe, by the Ottoman Empire. This is singularly, the most important battle in history to mark the stopping of the advancement of the Islamic faith on the European Continent and the Western end of the Asian continent. The Ottoman Empire over the course of the next 20 years ceased to exist.
As for King Jan and his heroism, a newly discovered constellation was named after him; Scutum Sobieski, meaning the shield of Sobieski. Pope Innocent XI extended the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary to the Universal Church, in honor of King Jan who had entrusted his Kingdom to the Blessed Virgin, to all Catholic lands. Prior to this victory, this feast had only been celebrated in Spain and the Kingdom of Naples. The Constellation is still named after King Jan to this day, and remains the only such constellation named after a non-astronomer.
The Nations of Europe, Africa, Asia, the Continent Nation of Australia, South America, Central America and the Northern part of North America have no religious freedom clause in their Constitutions. They are all subject to the whims and dictates of the leader of their country, or a Church Chief Executive Officer that may be thousands of miles away.
Imagine, all those millions of people have no choice in their "religious" belief system. Every single Nation on this planet, to date, has a form of "soft socialism" in place within their government structure, in the name of the recognized state religion. Socialism as a political ideology does not recognize a supreme deity or that there is the reality of such a God, therefore; there is no God's Law. Absent that fundamental fact, mankind has no right to free will or free choice.
The Islamic belief system is purely conversion by the sword, in other words, you confess that Allah is your "one true god" or you are beheaded. If you do convert, you kept your head but you were usually enslaved. Most of the time, you are not given the chance to "convert". With the rise of modern terrorism, the populations of countries historically as well as present day, are subjected to Islamic laws.
Oh, and by the way...Islam makes no distinction between women or children, in their righteous requirements. No person is protected from the brutality of Islamic rule. For women it is a particularly brutal faith. Although, I will confess, the "Christian" religious movement also has a harsh history of slaying or enslaving anyone that did not convert to religious dogma. There is extensive historical study of these conquests, of which I am only giving an over-all and shortened version of, I do so to point out the profound effect that religion has had on the social and culture structure of the world.
This continent was first settled by religious refugees, not Pilgrims. Thousands of people fled to this continent to escape religious persecution from their governments. William Penn may be the lone exception, he was after all a Lord of England, and was granted a large portion of land to allow his Quaker following to immigrate to. Today, we call it the State of Pennsylvania. In fact! Ben Franklin was a Quaker.
Those that survived the voyage found a lush and green land. They also found that life was not to be easy, hacking a living out of the wilderness. Those that survived changed over a period of time. They discovered that every day they made their own choices. They valued the freedom they found in choosing what they could do.
A Principle of the Traditional American Philosophy
The Spiritual is Supreme
". . . all men are created . . . endowed by their Creator . . ."
(Declaration of Independence)
The Principle
1. The fundamental principle underlying the traditional American philosophy is that the Spiritual is supreme--that Man is of Divine origin and his spiritual, or religious, nature is of supreme value and importance compared with things material.
Religious Nature
2. This governmental philosophy is, therefore, essentially religious in nature. It is uniquely American; no other people in all history have ever made this principle the basis of their governmental philosophy. The spiritual brotherhood of men under the common fatherhood of God is a concept which is basic to this American philosophy. It expresses the spiritual relationship of God to Man and, in the light thereof, of Man to Man. To forget these truths is a most heinous offense against the spirit of traditional America because the greatest sin is the lost consciousness of sin.
The fundamentally religious basis of this philosophy is the foundation of its moral code, which contemplates The Individual's moral duty as being created by God's Law: the Natural Law. The Individual's duty requires obedience to this Higher Law; while knowledge of this duty comes from conscience, which the religious-minded and morally-aware Individual feels duty-bound to heed. This philosophy asserts that there are moral absolutes: truths, such as those mentioned above, which are binding upon all Individuals at all times under all circumstances. This indicates some of the spiritual and moral values which are inherent in its concept of Individual Liberty-Responsibility.
An Indivisible Whole
3. The American philosophy, based upon this principle, is an indivisible whole and must be accepted or rejected as such. It cannot be treated piece-meal. Its fundamentals and its implicit meanings and obligations must be accepted together with its benefits.
The Individual's Self-respect
4. The concept of Man's spiritual nature, and the resulting concept of the supreme dignity and value of each Individual, provide the fundamental basis for each Individual's self-respect and the consequent mutual respect among Individual's. This self-respect as well as this mutual respect are the outgrowth of, and evidenced by, The Individual's maintenance of his God-given, unalienable rights. They are maintained by requiring that government and other Individuals respect them, as well as by his dedication to his own unceasing growth toward realization of his highest potential--spiritually, morally, intellectually, in every aspect of life. This is in order that he may merit maximum respect by self and by others.
Some Things Excluded
5. This concept of Man's spiritual nature excludes any idea of intrusion by government into this Man-to-Man spiritual relationship. It excludes the anti-moral precept that the end justifies the means and the related idea that the means can be separated from the end when judging them morally. This concept therefore excludes necessarily any idea of attempting to do good by force--for instance, through coercion of Man by Government, whether or not claimed to be for his own good or for the so-called common good or general welfare.
It excludes disbelief in--even doubt as to the existence of--God as the Creator of Man: and therefore excludes all ideas, theories and schools of thought--however ethical and lofty in intentions--which reject affirmative and positive belief in God as Man's Creator.
The Truly American Concept
6. Only those ideas, programs and practices, regarding things governmental, which are consistent with the concept that "The Spiritual is supreme" can justly be claimed to be truly American traditionally. Anything and everything governmental, which is in conflict with this concept, is non-American--judged by traditional belief.
This applies particularly to that which is agnostic, or atheistic--neutral about, or hostile to, positive and affirmative belief in this concept based upon belief in God as Man's Creator. There is not room for doubt, much less disbelief, in this regard from the standpoint of the traditional American philosophy. Its indivisible nature makes this inescapably true. This pertains, of course, to the realm of ideas and not to any person; it is the conflicting idea which is classified as non-American, according to this philosophy.
America a Haven For All Religions
7. The traditional American philosophy teaches that belief in God is the fundamental link which unites the adherents of all religions in a spiritual brotherhood. This philosophy allows for no differentiation between them in this unifying conviction: ". . . all men are created . . . endowed by their Creator . . ." This philosophy is all inclusive as to believers in God. Although America was originally colonized predominantly by adherents of the Christian religion, and principally by Protestants, the Founding Fathers steadfastly conformed to this all-embracing character of the approach of the American philosophy to religion. This was expressly and affirmatively indicated in the proclamation of 1776 of the fundamental American philosophy, of its basic principles, in the Declaration of Independence. This was further indicated, negatively, in 1787-1788 by the Framers and Ratifiers of the Constitution--as a "blueprint" for the structure of the then proposed Federal government, with strictly limited powers--by not permitting it to possess any power with regard to religion. This implied prohibition against the Federal government was reinforced by the addition of the First Amendment expressly prohibiting it, through the Congress, from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."--the words "an establishment of religion" being intended to mean, specifically and only, a church or religious organizationwhich is established, supported and preferred by the government, like the Church of England establishments then existing in some of the States.
The Conclusion
8. Belief in Man's Divine origin is the foundation of the fundamental American principle which controls his relationship to government: that Man--The Individual--is of supreme dignity and value because of his spiritual nature.
Quotes from The American Ideal of 1776 supporting this Principle
". . . all men are created . . . endowed by their Creator . . ."
(Declaration of Independence)
The Principle
1. The fundamental principle underlying the traditional American philosophy is that the Spiritual is supreme--that Man is of Divine origin and his spiritual, or religious, nature is of supreme value and importance compared with things material.
Religious Nature
2. This governmental philosophy is, therefore, essentially religious in nature. It is uniquely American; no other people in all history have ever made this principle the basis of their governmental philosophy. The spiritual brotherhood of men under the common fatherhood of God is a concept which is basic to this American philosophy. It expresses the spiritual relationship of God to Man and, in the light thereof, of Man to Man. To forget these truths is a most heinous offense against the spirit of traditional America because the greatest sin is the lost consciousness of sin.
The fundamentally religious basis of this philosophy is the foundation of its moral code, which contemplates The Individual's moral duty as being created by God's Law: the Natural Law. The Individual's duty requires obedience to this Higher Law; while knowledge of this duty comes from conscience, which the religious-minded and morally-aware Individual feels duty-bound to heed. This philosophy asserts that there are moral absolutes: truths, such as those mentioned above, which are binding upon all Individuals at all times under all circumstances. This indicates some of the spiritual and moral values which are inherent in its concept of Individual Liberty-Responsibility.
An Indivisible Whole
3. The American philosophy, based upon this principle, is an indivisible whole and must be accepted or rejected as such. It cannot be treated piece-meal. Its fundamentals and its implicit meanings and obligations must be accepted together with its benefits.
The Individual's Self-respect
4. The concept of Man's spiritual nature, and the resulting concept of the supreme dignity and value of each Individual, provide the fundamental basis for each Individual's self-respect and the consequent mutual respect among Individual's. This self-respect as well as this mutual respect are the outgrowth of, and evidenced by, The Individual's maintenance of his God-given, unalienable rights. They are maintained by requiring that government and other Individuals respect them, as well as by his dedication to his own unceasing growth toward realization of his highest potential--spiritually, morally, intellectually, in every aspect of life. This is in order that he may merit maximum respect by self and by others.
Some Things Excluded
5. This concept of Man's spiritual nature excludes any idea of intrusion by government into this Man-to-Man spiritual relationship. It excludes the anti-moral precept that the end justifies the means and the related idea that the means can be separated from the end when judging them morally. This concept therefore excludes necessarily any idea of attempting to do good by force--for instance, through coercion of Man by Government, whether or not claimed to be for his own good or for the so-called common good or general welfare.
It excludes disbelief in--even doubt as to the existence of--God as the Creator of Man: and therefore excludes all ideas, theories and schools of thought--however ethical and lofty in intentions--which reject affirmative and positive belief in God as Man's Creator.
The Truly American Concept
6. Only those ideas, programs and practices, regarding things governmental, which are consistent with the concept that "The Spiritual is supreme" can justly be claimed to be truly American traditionally. Anything and everything governmental, which is in conflict with this concept, is non-American--judged by traditional belief.
This applies particularly to that which is agnostic, or atheistic--neutral about, or hostile to, positive and affirmative belief in this concept based upon belief in God as Man's Creator. There is not room for doubt, much less disbelief, in this regard from the standpoint of the traditional American philosophy. Its indivisible nature makes this inescapably true. This pertains, of course, to the realm of ideas and not to any person; it is the conflicting idea which is classified as non-American, according to this philosophy.
America a Haven For All Religions
7. The traditional American philosophy teaches that belief in God is the fundamental link which unites the adherents of all religions in a spiritual brotherhood. This philosophy allows for no differentiation between them in this unifying conviction: ". . . all men are created . . . endowed by their Creator . . ." This philosophy is all inclusive as to believers in God. Although America was originally colonized predominantly by adherents of the Christian religion, and principally by Protestants, the Founding Fathers steadfastly conformed to this all-embracing character of the approach of the American philosophy to religion. This was expressly and affirmatively indicated in the proclamation of 1776 of the fundamental American philosophy, of its basic principles, in the Declaration of Independence. This was further indicated, negatively, in 1787-1788 by the Framers and Ratifiers of the Constitution--as a "blueprint" for the structure of the then proposed Federal government, with strictly limited powers--by not permitting it to possess any power with regard to religion. This implied prohibition against the Federal government was reinforced by the addition of the First Amendment expressly prohibiting it, through the Congress, from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."--the words "an establishment of religion" being intended to mean, specifically and only, a church or religious organizationwhich is established, supported and preferred by the government, like the Church of England establishments then existing in some of the States.
The Conclusion
8. Belief in Man's Divine origin is the foundation of the fundamental American principle which controls his relationship to government: that Man--The Individual--is of supreme dignity and value because of his spiritual nature.
Quotes from The American Ideal of 1776 supporting this Principle
A Story of The 'earth child' who found God's Law in the New World
Part 2
There was no King's Sheriff looking over their shoulder, no government troops raiding their gardens or raping their daughters. They were entitled to as much land as they could clear, claim, and work. They depended on themselves and the communities they established, made up of the people who were their trusted neighbors.
They came and went as they pleased, spoke their mind as they pleased, and were subject to no man, nor the requirements of any man's religion. They worked the rich and good soil of the earth. They developed in this fellowship a direct connection to the earth that was their sustenance and God's precious Creation. This is the beginning of the origin of the concept, that we will later call.....The American Spirit.
Thomas Jefferson was very much aware of the Church of England's impact on the political spectrum in the Colonies. If the King could not control the populace through military force, regiments which he placed here, he an ocean away, and then he could/would through "spiritual" source.
However, many citizens felt the Church was not supporting their spiritual needs. The Kings Clergy were preaching the Kings politics, and restricting the right of choice for each of them as individuals. Jefferson understood that for the spirit of each man-woman-child of America to grow, government needed to be left out of the equation.
In my readings of many of Jefferson's papers and biography, I am led to believe that he didn't even want any of the established churches involved in the freedom of choice. During the Revolution, and while Jefferson was Governor of Virginia, he made several attempts to expel religious influences in the government. He failed in this attempt, because many of the Assemblymen were still deeply attached to the Church of England.
It was only several years before his death, that Virginia actually wrote a freedom of religion clause in its Constitution.
James Madison, author of the Articles (7) in the Constitution, was a lifelong friend and protégé to Thomas Jefferson. Many of Madison's ideas come from Jefferson. Both were anti-Federalists. Anti-Federalists believed that individual State "Rights" supersede Federal "rights". Capital 'R' and small 'r' are deliberate and illustrative. Both men also believed that God 's Law was the Law of the Land and that this Nation has the Blessing of God, because of our foundational belief that the individual has unalienable rights.
These rights of every person are not just physical rights, most important, are the spiritual rights of each individual. Rights that are so profound, even God cannot, or will not violate them or take them away. No other Nation in the history of the world has ever had such freedom.
Connecting the Spirit of America....how?
In a word: Prayer.
You have all heard that old saying about the power of the written word...well it's hogwash, as far as measure able power is concerned. If you want to consider real power, considered this....if 75-80% of the American population claims to believe in God, and if only 5% of that total number, took five minutes every day to pray for this country.....Wow!! how powerful would that energy be? How powerful would that message be?
That's all God is waiting for, you know. If you are a Believer, if you believe that God hears our prayers, and you pray, each sincere offering sent to Him....makes the connection. It is my conviction that when this prayer chain becomes a reality...A SPIRITUAL ATOMIC EXPLOSION will happen in politics. Those elected and appointed officials won't know what hit them.
Our SPIRIT is what we all have in common. It is what connects us. It is what this country was founded on. It's faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to go through capitol building walls, and it is not weakened by any political Kryptonite. It is the glue that binds us all.
Five minutes, each day, turn the renewed blessings of God loose upon this Great Nation once again. Pray with sincere and gentle respect, ask for unity and healing. The good book says to pray for our enemies and in spite of all of our differences, to love them. On a secular note, It really confuses them.
I am one of a growing many who believe we war on many fronts. I would ask you to consider, we are not only in physical-realistic forms of warfare - but most importantly we are in a spiritual war. Not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and angels of darkness, to paraphrase scripture.
We must not wish ill on the people following these doctrines, perhaps they really don't know the truth behind what they are following, or fully understand the implications. I believe that The Power of Prayer will change that for them. We need to help our brothers and sisters lost in this psychology and help them awaken their own 'spirit', so it in turn, can be manifested outwardly. Educate with patience and kindness, to help them see the direction they are taking and question whether it is a worthy one.
Talents.
Each and everyone one of us have a talent, and to be even more specific, a God given talent. Use it, don't be shy. He gave it to you for a reason. It's needs to be discovered and then exercised. Don't think it's trivial, because it's not. Every talent plays an important role in the overall scheme of things. If you don't use it, God can't help you use what you will not grasp, and He needs all of our talents, working together and playing an active role, to take this Nation back.
I have to make a statement before I close this article:
If our Congress allows amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens it will destroy the "Spirit of America". Not because our Nation does not welcome new citizens, but because these people, fine as they all may individually be, have come to this country by illegal means. Having gained illegal entry into this Country, they demand citizenship by illegal methods.
The spirit they carry with them is not the same spirit that the American Patriot has. An American Patriot lives by, and respects the definition of their citizenship. If born here, it is a heritage given to them by an ancestor who earned it first. If coming here from another country, and having already played by the rules established for lawful immigration, they have fulfilled every requirement-paid the personal price of conviction and sworn their oath to their new Nation, many have sacrificed greatly to do so, they have earned their right to be called citizen.
One who cheats or diminishes these sacrifices, by unlawfully seeking to gain what others have sacrificed for the right to become, is an insult to the definition of American Citizenship. It is a privilege, not a stolen property.
Their 'theft' is selfish, self-serving, self-taking. Spiteful, in the context that they spite the law, they have manipulated or contrived an action or means of non-compliance, in order to get here. Their roots are not planted in the soil of America; they are rooted without honor or truth, in the shallow soil of shadow, shouting for a right to the sun.
They have stolen their place here, and have not sacrificed or declared Any oath or loyalty to this land. They have not studied, they bring with them their own allegiances and anthems, they salute other flags. True understanding of what this country was founded on or represents to freedom loving people, is beyond the understanding or appreciation of those who have 'secreted' their place here.
Will Congress dare to put us in further financial and spiritual bondage by legitimizing these defacto criminals? In a free nation of free citizens, none should be seen under the law, as persons not required to/of compliance and lawful activity. We do not get to pick and choose the laws we will or will not recognize, and/ or whom they will or will not apply to. The law, any law is only as good or as bad as how it is made and kept.
In closing:
I believe that The First Amendment is not so much about religion, as it is about spiritual freedom. The key word is "respecting" an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;.....In fact, by disrespecting our individual spiritual freedoms, such is in violation of the 1st amendment.
Thomas Jefferson passionately disliked the political impact the Church of England had on the Colonies. But it went beyond that; it was the restrictions that it forced upon independent and free thinking American Spirit, that he despised.
Government oversight into the spiritual needs of any people has never worked. The government needs the spiritual support of the people, not the other way around.
Thomas Jefferson is buried at Monticello. Before he died, he was deeply in debt. The Federal Government tried to buy it; fortunately a private family bought the property instead. It is still owned by a private cooperation. Thomas Jefferson died on July 4th, 1826. He left an astounding legacy. He wrote his own engraving for his headstone, take note, he did not mention his two terms as president:
"Here was buried Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
of the State of Virginia for religious freedom
and Father of the University of Virginia."
He was a Great Man, a spirit never forgotten as long as there is a Spirit of America."
He was an 'earth child' who found God's Laws in the New World, he penned them and committed them to paper, with them he helped design the most perfect government in the history of the world.
Please pray with me for this Country; let us pray for each other. Let's get connected.
Lawman
There was no King's Sheriff looking over their shoulder, no government troops raiding their gardens or raping their daughters. They were entitled to as much land as they could clear, claim, and work. They depended on themselves and the communities they established, made up of the people who were their trusted neighbors.
They came and went as they pleased, spoke their mind as they pleased, and were subject to no man, nor the requirements of any man's religion. They worked the rich and good soil of the earth. They developed in this fellowship a direct connection to the earth that was their sustenance and God's precious Creation. This is the beginning of the origin of the concept, that we will later call.....The American Spirit.
Thomas Jefferson was very much aware of the Church of England's impact on the political spectrum in the Colonies. If the King could not control the populace through military force, regiments which he placed here, he an ocean away, and then he could/would through "spiritual" source.
However, many citizens felt the Church was not supporting their spiritual needs. The Kings Clergy were preaching the Kings politics, and restricting the right of choice for each of them as individuals. Jefferson understood that for the spirit of each man-woman-child of America to grow, government needed to be left out of the equation.
In my readings of many of Jefferson's papers and biography, I am led to believe that he didn't even want any of the established churches involved in the freedom of choice. During the Revolution, and while Jefferson was Governor of Virginia, he made several attempts to expel religious influences in the government. He failed in this attempt, because many of the Assemblymen were still deeply attached to the Church of England.
It was only several years before his death, that Virginia actually wrote a freedom of religion clause in its Constitution.
James Madison, author of the Articles (7) in the Constitution, was a lifelong friend and protégé to Thomas Jefferson. Many of Madison's ideas come from Jefferson. Both were anti-Federalists. Anti-Federalists believed that individual State "Rights" supersede Federal "rights". Capital 'R' and small 'r' are deliberate and illustrative. Both men also believed that God 's Law was the Law of the Land and that this Nation has the Blessing of God, because of our foundational belief that the individual has unalienable rights.
These rights of every person are not just physical rights, most important, are the spiritual rights of each individual. Rights that are so profound, even God cannot, or will not violate them or take them away. No other Nation in the history of the world has ever had such freedom.
Connecting the Spirit of America....how?
In a word: Prayer.
You have all heard that old saying about the power of the written word...well it's hogwash, as far as measure able power is concerned. If you want to consider real power, considered this....if 75-80% of the American population claims to believe in God, and if only 5% of that total number, took five minutes every day to pray for this country.....Wow!! how powerful would that energy be? How powerful would that message be?
That's all God is waiting for, you know. If you are a Believer, if you believe that God hears our prayers, and you pray, each sincere offering sent to Him....makes the connection. It is my conviction that when this prayer chain becomes a reality...A SPIRITUAL ATOMIC EXPLOSION will happen in politics. Those elected and appointed officials won't know what hit them.
Our SPIRIT is what we all have in common. It is what connects us. It is what this country was founded on. It's faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, able to go through capitol building walls, and it is not weakened by any political Kryptonite. It is the glue that binds us all.
Five minutes, each day, turn the renewed blessings of God loose upon this Great Nation once again. Pray with sincere and gentle respect, ask for unity and healing. The good book says to pray for our enemies and in spite of all of our differences, to love them. On a secular note, It really confuses them.
I am one of a growing many who believe we war on many fronts. I would ask you to consider, we are not only in physical-realistic forms of warfare - but most importantly we are in a spiritual war. Not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and angels of darkness, to paraphrase scripture.
We must not wish ill on the people following these doctrines, perhaps they really don't know the truth behind what they are following, or fully understand the implications. I believe that The Power of Prayer will change that for them. We need to help our brothers and sisters lost in this psychology and help them awaken their own 'spirit', so it in turn, can be manifested outwardly. Educate with patience and kindness, to help them see the direction they are taking and question whether it is a worthy one.
Talents.
Each and everyone one of us have a talent, and to be even more specific, a God given talent. Use it, don't be shy. He gave it to you for a reason. It's needs to be discovered and then exercised. Don't think it's trivial, because it's not. Every talent plays an important role in the overall scheme of things. If you don't use it, God can't help you use what you will not grasp, and He needs all of our talents, working together and playing an active role, to take this Nation back.
I have to make a statement before I close this article:
If our Congress allows amnesty for 11 million illegal aliens it will destroy the "Spirit of America". Not because our Nation does not welcome new citizens, but because these people, fine as they all may individually be, have come to this country by illegal means. Having gained illegal entry into this Country, they demand citizenship by illegal methods.
The spirit they carry with them is not the same spirit that the American Patriot has. An American Patriot lives by, and respects the definition of their citizenship. If born here, it is a heritage given to them by an ancestor who earned it first. If coming here from another country, and having already played by the rules established for lawful immigration, they have fulfilled every requirement-paid the personal price of conviction and sworn their oath to their new Nation, many have sacrificed greatly to do so, they have earned their right to be called citizen.
One who cheats or diminishes these sacrifices, by unlawfully seeking to gain what others have sacrificed for the right to become, is an insult to the definition of American Citizenship. It is a privilege, not a stolen property.
Their 'theft' is selfish, self-serving, self-taking. Spiteful, in the context that they spite the law, they have manipulated or contrived an action or means of non-compliance, in order to get here. Their roots are not planted in the soil of America; they are rooted without honor or truth, in the shallow soil of shadow, shouting for a right to the sun.
They have stolen their place here, and have not sacrificed or declared Any oath or loyalty to this land. They have not studied, they bring with them their own allegiances and anthems, they salute other flags. True understanding of what this country was founded on or represents to freedom loving people, is beyond the understanding or appreciation of those who have 'secreted' their place here.
Will Congress dare to put us in further financial and spiritual bondage by legitimizing these defacto criminals? In a free nation of free citizens, none should be seen under the law, as persons not required to/of compliance and lawful activity. We do not get to pick and choose the laws we will or will not recognize, and/ or whom they will or will not apply to. The law, any law is only as good or as bad as how it is made and kept.
In closing:
I believe that The First Amendment is not so much about religion, as it is about spiritual freedom. The key word is "respecting" an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;.....In fact, by disrespecting our individual spiritual freedoms, such is in violation of the 1st amendment.
Thomas Jefferson passionately disliked the political impact the Church of England had on the Colonies. But it went beyond that; it was the restrictions that it forced upon independent and free thinking American Spirit, that he despised.
Government oversight into the spiritual needs of any people has never worked. The government needs the spiritual support of the people, not the other way around.
Thomas Jefferson is buried at Monticello. Before he died, he was deeply in debt. The Federal Government tried to buy it; fortunately a private family bought the property instead. It is still owned by a private cooperation. Thomas Jefferson died on July 4th, 1826. He left an astounding legacy. He wrote his own engraving for his headstone, take note, he did not mention his two terms as president:
"Here was buried Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of American Independence
of the State of Virginia for religious freedom
and Father of the University of Virginia."
He was a Great Man, a spirit never forgotten as long as there is a Spirit of America."
He was an 'earth child' who found God's Laws in the New World, he penned them and committed them to paper, with them he helped design the most perfect government in the history of the world.
Please pray with me for this Country; let us pray for each other. Let's get connected.
Lawman
'DOGMA’ DAYS OF SUMMER
A Series on Spiritual Nature and Belief Purpose of/in the First Amendment.
When I last looked at a poll dealing with American belief in God the rating was around 80%. It included the point of view of those that at least, acknowledged there is a God or a Higher Power.
However this section of our study site is not about “religious preaching”, per se. It is about the testing, limiting and diminishing our Spiritual Faith. Whether the testing is for many: our belief that there is in fact a God; or for others; that there is an acknowledgement of the existence of a Spiritual Nature which is a basic element that exists in the higher intelligence known as 'mankind'.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof;....." Amendment I, in part, ratified December 15, 1791.
We believe that the Founder/Framers and Ratifiers of our Great Constitution listed the first 10 amendments in order of importance. Does it not indeed resonate, that religion is first on that list?
Is it not odd that, in part, it says "respecting an establishment" in their language and what in the world does that mean? Consider the phrase, "or prohibiting the free exercise" does that mean inclusive of all or particular to a specific religion?
I am 'The Lawman" and I am going to attempt to write about why this amendment is first on the list. Why I see the importance of why - It is the First Amendment/and should remain there, as the first line of defense of an over-authoritative central government.
Strange as it may seem to many, I personally, do not believe in any particular established religion. I believe in the spirit of God within me, and how that Spirit is empowered by my own Faith in God.
I am also of the mind that, the first clause of the First Amendment is about 'my Spirit and your Spirit'. How do some of the concepts within 'organized religions' often times get mistaken for a socially or culturally forced belief system? How do/can they be sanctioned by 'some defined God' that perhaps none of our own five senses recognize. I will further this questioning more, and expand my thoughts, in the writings that follow.
Basically, to begin, the 1st clause of the First Amendment is about Spiritual Faith and nothing less..... but a whole lot more, as I begin my examination.
When I last looked at a poll dealing with American belief in God the rating was around 80%. It included the point of view of those that at least, acknowledged there is a God or a Higher Power.
However this section of our study site is not about “religious preaching”, per se. It is about the testing, limiting and diminishing our Spiritual Faith. Whether the testing is for many: our belief that there is in fact a God; or for others; that there is an acknowledgement of the existence of a Spiritual Nature which is a basic element that exists in the higher intelligence known as 'mankind'.
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or the free exercise thereof;....." Amendment I, in part, ratified December 15, 1791.
We believe that the Founder/Framers and Ratifiers of our Great Constitution listed the first 10 amendments in order of importance. Does it not indeed resonate, that religion is first on that list?
Is it not odd that, in part, it says "respecting an establishment" in their language and what in the world does that mean? Consider the phrase, "or prohibiting the free exercise" does that mean inclusive of all or particular to a specific religion?
I am 'The Lawman" and I am going to attempt to write about why this amendment is first on the list. Why I see the importance of why - It is the First Amendment/and should remain there, as the first line of defense of an over-authoritative central government.
Strange as it may seem to many, I personally, do not believe in any particular established religion. I believe in the spirit of God within me, and how that Spirit is empowered by my own Faith in God.
I am also of the mind that, the first clause of the First Amendment is about 'my Spirit and your Spirit'. How do some of the concepts within 'organized religions' often times get mistaken for a socially or culturally forced belief system? How do/can they be sanctioned by 'some defined God' that perhaps none of our own five senses recognize. I will further this questioning more, and expand my thoughts, in the writings that follow.
Basically, to begin, the 1st clause of the First Amendment is about Spiritual Faith and nothing less..... but a whole lot more, as I begin my examination.
NEVER AGAIN - le-olam lo od
Sometimes it takes a view of the history of other nations to understand the struggles this country confronts today. The nation I will write about is the Nation of Israel and the lessons they have learned in their struggles to survive in a hostile world.
This nation of Israel is really only a race of people with a common belief. They started out as a nomadic tribe, wandering from oasis to oasis lead by Patriarchs of renowned faith and vision. This people believe in One God and the Laws of their God affect their everyday life. The times when these people disobeyed God's Laws their nomadic ways ended in bondage, and sometimes this bondage lasted 400 to 500 years. Yet they still maintained their common beliefs and national identity.
This nation of Israel is really only a race of people with a common belief. They started out as a nomadic tribe, wandering from oasis to oasis lead by Patriarchs of renowned faith and vision. This people believe in One God and the Laws of their God affect their everyday life. The times when these people disobeyed God's Laws their nomadic ways ended in bondage, and sometimes this bondage lasted 400 to 500 years. Yet they still maintained their common beliefs and national identity.
Eventually a warrior king along with an out numbered group of fellow warriors conquered and occupied and settled a piece of land that had been deeded to them by their God thousands of years before. Eventually this kingdom grew and prospered. They became world renowned for their prowess in battle, their wealth and devotion and faith to their God.
But in the due course of time the nation deteriorated with internal government corruption and external pressures quietly decayed, and once again becoming a nation-less race of people. Soon thereafter the Romans occupied their lands. And as any freedom loving people will do; rebelled against their masters. The final blow of rebellion to the Roman empire came at Masada around the year 74 A.D. at which time Roman Emperor Caesar Vespasian ordered disbandment of the tribes and exiled the race to the four corners of the world.
What is interesting about these tribes is no matter where they went they stayed together, whether they numbered ten or two hundred, they settled as a group, keeping their race and beliefs alive. As time progressed these people once again gained a national pride and identity, and even though separated by thousands of miles were still united. This tribe will also assume the title of "Jew", not always used or treated with respect or compassion by other nations or religions.
Around 1095 many people in Central Europe began a movement to restore Christianity in the Holy Lands. This movement today is called the First Crusade but referred to in that day as the Peoples Crusade. Whether inspired by Pope Urban for religious purposes or the expansion of the political arena for the bored and wealthy princes is open to debate, the fact is; it is part of history. This Crusade was not organized, and leaderless with many separate mobs plundering their way south to the Holy Lands. During the years of 1095 and 1096 the "Crusaders" attacked and murdered the Jews of Speyer, Worms, Cologne, Trier, Metz and many other Jewish settlements. These Crusaders believed in killing the "non-believing Christians" while they were in route to purify the non-believing Moslems from the Holy Land. Many of these Jews were under the protection of the local Churches who had established separate areas of the cities for the Jews to live in, easy targets for these mobs. This Crusade of purification is referred to as the "First Holocaust" of the Jewish people. This Crusade never reached the Holy Land, and untold thousands of Jews were murdered, yet they survived although lesser in number but stronger in faith.
Fast forward to 1721; Germany is formed as a new Nation from the Hapsburg Empire, and as part of the bargain an area is set aside near the Czech border for the settlement of displaced Jews. Fast forward to 1934 and the rising political power of the National Socialist Party of Germany and an Austrian Citizen named Adolf Hitler. Hitler is a disgruntled, starving, German World War I veteran, twice decorated with the Iron Cross, political activist. He is also a convicted felon for a failed push to over throw the German government in the 1920's. While in prison Hitler writes a book telling the world of his ambitions, and his plans for the Jews of the world, no one pays attention.
There are however some very famous people in the United States that did pay attention to what Hitler had written and amazingly agreed with him. Charles Lindberg for one even travels to German to meet Mr. Hitler, Henry Ford writes a book on anti-Semitism and even though not widely read was an accepted belief of many Americans. American Bankers financially support Hitler and even politicians publically agree with Mr. Hitler and his agenda for the Jews. The American Nazi Party was a growing organization that still exists today.
Between the dates of 1933 to 1945 an estimated 50 million people died in a worldwide war that touched the citizens on five continents. An estimated 6,000,000 Jews were murdered at the orders of Adolf Hitler. These Jews were starved to death, beaten to death, shot to death, gassed to death, experimented to death and tortured to death. Wherever or whenever these Jews were found whole families or individually, murdered for no other reason than being a Jew. And to make it even more amazing, is the Allied leadership knew it, and did nothing to stop it. In fact they kept the information from the public until the very first extermination camp was discovered. Over one fifth of the total death count was a tribe of displaced, disenfranchised, nation-less, and peaceful people. This was the second Holocaust.
le-olam lo od: Hebrew for "never again".
Between 1945 and 1948 surviving Jews from many nations moved to the Middle East in expectations of forming a new nation. Some countries actually expelled the Jews and provided transportation to the new Promised Land. By 1948 an estimated 800,000 Jews had chosen to settle in the area with the hopes of forming their own Nation.
On May 15, 1948 the State of Israel was founded by U.N. resolution. Never before in History and never since has any Country been declared a "State" in one day. On May 16, 1948 a three front attack was waged by the Arab League Armies against the new nation. Outnumbered, out gunned, standing alone and fighting a defensive war against an army of Jew haters, the Israeli rag tag forces won the war. But it did not stop there, and the State of Israel on a daily basis fights for her survival against enemies that hate and despise them; The Arab League of Palestinians, once led by a notorious terrorist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Yasser Arafat. A little point of interest about these Palestinians; There is no record of their existence in Roman, Syrian, or Egyptian records as far back as 100 B.C. Julius Caesar mentions several tribes of Hebrews in the area, and Cleopatra VIII used these Hebrews as mercenaries in her fight against the Alexandrians, but no mention of any "Palestinians" or claims of that tribe to any territory. Caesar mentions a nomadic tribe of "Arabs" that were very good in the trading business but not much good for anything else....
The State Israel has no National motto but if it did I believe it would be; le-olam lo od, Never Again. Never again would they be put into bondage, never again would they be murdered by the millions, and never again would they be conquered and disbursed to the four corners of the world. But most importantly; Never Again would they be subject to any god or law but only to their Own God and His Laws.
Here is why I tell this tale of the most dynamic people ever to walk this earth.
The Israeli people in their 6000 years of recorded history never denied their God. They may have been disobedient, defiant, murdered, dispelled, hated, rejected, outcast and downcast but they never stopped believing in God or God’s Law. Israel is the only other Nation in the world history that has established their government on God’s Law and the freedom and rights of self will. Everything that man and man’s laws have thrown at the State of Israel has failed. They are still there, still fighting and they will survive. Want to know why? The people and leaders still believe in God as a Nation and believe in God’s Law.
So let me tie this all together and how it applies to our Nation and the lessons that Israel can teach us.
This Nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Christian beliefs are rooted from the Hebrew faith. Their God is the Christian God; Their God’s Law is our God’s Law. Jesus the Christ was a Hebrew from the Tribe of Judah, the “blessed” as a ruling tribe from the 12 Tribes of Israel. Jesus obeyed Jewish Law which has its base in God’s Law. Jesus said that God’s Law will set us free, and "if you love me, do as I do." God’s Law needs three things to work; Faith, Hope and Charity, the greatest of these is Charity, or Love. Lose anyone of these, the Law is lost.
Part of God’s Law is being responsible, both as an individual but as a Nation. God’s Law also requires the leadership of the Nation to be responsible as well and to acknowledge that God and God’s Law are part of governance. Each is responsible to the other, citizens to the leadership and the leadership to the citizens in acknowledging and practicing this belief.
When the Hebrew leadership from their past history became disobedient to God’s Law, what did God do; put them in bondage. When the people worshiped false gods, what did God do; put them in bondage. Who was responsible to correct this; both parties? The citizens' responsibility is to replace the non-believers; and the leaders' responsibility is to set the example of God’s Law, and vice versa according to God’s Law.
A major malfunction:
In this Country the process of removing God from our government started almost from the very creation of this Nation. Even though the dark shadow of non-believe didn't take a foothold until the mid-1930's. In the late 1970 and early 1980's the progressive push to remove God from our government became a national movement with U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions in the removal of God from government and even the public display of God’s Laws. We as citizens said a few things but it was not enough to prevent the movement. And yes, we are responsible for not stopping it, as much so as the leadership is responsible in not listening and promoting a Godless Nation.
One thing I have noticed in my life time, especially in today’s affairs with leadership that march to Man’s Laws or what we call socialist progressive; they only have faith, hope and charity for themselves and the power they can acquire in their short and meaningless life. This is what the advancement of Man’s Law does. It not only binds that person but binds everyone else to a conflicting standard of selfishness and lawlessness.
With God’s Law we have a Constitutional Republic. Let's take responsibility with our faith, hope and charity (love) and be accountable as a Nation. With Faith, Hope and Charity (Love), invite God back into this Country. When we do, we will be amazed at what will happen.
It took 6000 years for the Israeli to learn that lesson. How long will it take us?
le-olam lo od
NEVER AGAIN
Lawman
But in the due course of time the nation deteriorated with internal government corruption and external pressures quietly decayed, and once again becoming a nation-less race of people. Soon thereafter the Romans occupied their lands. And as any freedom loving people will do; rebelled against their masters. The final blow of rebellion to the Roman empire came at Masada around the year 74 A.D. at which time Roman Emperor Caesar Vespasian ordered disbandment of the tribes and exiled the race to the four corners of the world.
What is interesting about these tribes is no matter where they went they stayed together, whether they numbered ten or two hundred, they settled as a group, keeping their race and beliefs alive. As time progressed these people once again gained a national pride and identity, and even though separated by thousands of miles were still united. This tribe will also assume the title of "Jew", not always used or treated with respect or compassion by other nations or religions.
Around 1095 many people in Central Europe began a movement to restore Christianity in the Holy Lands. This movement today is called the First Crusade but referred to in that day as the Peoples Crusade. Whether inspired by Pope Urban for religious purposes or the expansion of the political arena for the bored and wealthy princes is open to debate, the fact is; it is part of history. This Crusade was not organized, and leaderless with many separate mobs plundering their way south to the Holy Lands. During the years of 1095 and 1096 the "Crusaders" attacked and murdered the Jews of Speyer, Worms, Cologne, Trier, Metz and many other Jewish settlements. These Crusaders believed in killing the "non-believing Christians" while they were in route to purify the non-believing Moslems from the Holy Land. Many of these Jews were under the protection of the local Churches who had established separate areas of the cities for the Jews to live in, easy targets for these mobs. This Crusade of purification is referred to as the "First Holocaust" of the Jewish people. This Crusade never reached the Holy Land, and untold thousands of Jews were murdered, yet they survived although lesser in number but stronger in faith.
Fast forward to 1721; Germany is formed as a new Nation from the Hapsburg Empire, and as part of the bargain an area is set aside near the Czech border for the settlement of displaced Jews. Fast forward to 1934 and the rising political power of the National Socialist Party of Germany and an Austrian Citizen named Adolf Hitler. Hitler is a disgruntled, starving, German World War I veteran, twice decorated with the Iron Cross, political activist. He is also a convicted felon for a failed push to over throw the German government in the 1920's. While in prison Hitler writes a book telling the world of his ambitions, and his plans for the Jews of the world, no one pays attention.
There are however some very famous people in the United States that did pay attention to what Hitler had written and amazingly agreed with him. Charles Lindberg for one even travels to German to meet Mr. Hitler, Henry Ford writes a book on anti-Semitism and even though not widely read was an accepted belief of many Americans. American Bankers financially support Hitler and even politicians publically agree with Mr. Hitler and his agenda for the Jews. The American Nazi Party was a growing organization that still exists today.
Between the dates of 1933 to 1945 an estimated 50 million people died in a worldwide war that touched the citizens on five continents. An estimated 6,000,000 Jews were murdered at the orders of Adolf Hitler. These Jews were starved to death, beaten to death, shot to death, gassed to death, experimented to death and tortured to death. Wherever or whenever these Jews were found whole families or individually, murdered for no other reason than being a Jew. And to make it even more amazing, is the Allied leadership knew it, and did nothing to stop it. In fact they kept the information from the public until the very first extermination camp was discovered. Over one fifth of the total death count was a tribe of displaced, disenfranchised, nation-less, and peaceful people. This was the second Holocaust.
le-olam lo od: Hebrew for "never again".
Between 1945 and 1948 surviving Jews from many nations moved to the Middle East in expectations of forming a new nation. Some countries actually expelled the Jews and provided transportation to the new Promised Land. By 1948 an estimated 800,000 Jews had chosen to settle in the area with the hopes of forming their own Nation.
On May 15, 1948 the State of Israel was founded by U.N. resolution. Never before in History and never since has any Country been declared a "State" in one day. On May 16, 1948 a three front attack was waged by the Arab League Armies against the new nation. Outnumbered, out gunned, standing alone and fighting a defensive war against an army of Jew haters, the Israeli rag tag forces won the war. But it did not stop there, and the State of Israel on a daily basis fights for her survival against enemies that hate and despise them; The Arab League of Palestinians, once led by a notorious terrorist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Yasser Arafat. A little point of interest about these Palestinians; There is no record of their existence in Roman, Syrian, or Egyptian records as far back as 100 B.C. Julius Caesar mentions several tribes of Hebrews in the area, and Cleopatra VIII used these Hebrews as mercenaries in her fight against the Alexandrians, but no mention of any "Palestinians" or claims of that tribe to any territory. Caesar mentions a nomadic tribe of "Arabs" that were very good in the trading business but not much good for anything else....
The State Israel has no National motto but if it did I believe it would be; le-olam lo od, Never Again. Never again would they be put into bondage, never again would they be murdered by the millions, and never again would they be conquered and disbursed to the four corners of the world. But most importantly; Never Again would they be subject to any god or law but only to their Own God and His Laws.
Here is why I tell this tale of the most dynamic people ever to walk this earth.
The Israeli people in their 6000 years of recorded history never denied their God. They may have been disobedient, defiant, murdered, dispelled, hated, rejected, outcast and downcast but they never stopped believing in God or God’s Law. Israel is the only other Nation in the world history that has established their government on God’s Law and the freedom and rights of self will. Everything that man and man’s laws have thrown at the State of Israel has failed. They are still there, still fighting and they will survive. Want to know why? The people and leaders still believe in God as a Nation and believe in God’s Law.
So let me tie this all together and how it applies to our Nation and the lessons that Israel can teach us.
This Nation was founded on Judeo-Christian principles. Christian beliefs are rooted from the Hebrew faith. Their God is the Christian God; Their God’s Law is our God’s Law. Jesus the Christ was a Hebrew from the Tribe of Judah, the “blessed” as a ruling tribe from the 12 Tribes of Israel. Jesus obeyed Jewish Law which has its base in God’s Law. Jesus said that God’s Law will set us free, and "if you love me, do as I do." God’s Law needs three things to work; Faith, Hope and Charity, the greatest of these is Charity, or Love. Lose anyone of these, the Law is lost.
Part of God’s Law is being responsible, both as an individual but as a Nation. God’s Law also requires the leadership of the Nation to be responsible as well and to acknowledge that God and God’s Law are part of governance. Each is responsible to the other, citizens to the leadership and the leadership to the citizens in acknowledging and practicing this belief.
When the Hebrew leadership from their past history became disobedient to God’s Law, what did God do; put them in bondage. When the people worshiped false gods, what did God do; put them in bondage. Who was responsible to correct this; both parties? The citizens' responsibility is to replace the non-believers; and the leaders' responsibility is to set the example of God’s Law, and vice versa according to God’s Law.
A major malfunction:
In this Country the process of removing God from our government started almost from the very creation of this Nation. Even though the dark shadow of non-believe didn't take a foothold until the mid-1930's. In the late 1970 and early 1980's the progressive push to remove God from our government became a national movement with U.S. Supreme Court’s opinions in the removal of God from government and even the public display of God’s Laws. We as citizens said a few things but it was not enough to prevent the movement. And yes, we are responsible for not stopping it, as much so as the leadership is responsible in not listening and promoting a Godless Nation.
One thing I have noticed in my life time, especially in today’s affairs with leadership that march to Man’s Laws or what we call socialist progressive; they only have faith, hope and charity for themselves and the power they can acquire in their short and meaningless life. This is what the advancement of Man’s Law does. It not only binds that person but binds everyone else to a conflicting standard of selfishness and lawlessness.
With God’s Law we have a Constitutional Republic. Let's take responsibility with our faith, hope and charity (love) and be accountable as a Nation. With Faith, Hope and Charity (Love), invite God back into this Country. When we do, we will be amazed at what will happen.
It took 6000 years for the Israeli to learn that lesson. How long will it take us?
le-olam lo od
NEVER AGAIN
Lawman
Finding God's Signature in Washington
* caveat'edited
WASHINGTON -- The United States has a very rich and substantial Judeo-Christian heritage. The nation's Founding Fathers believed the Bible to be the Word of God, and it shows.
Washington D.C. is a city of power and influence, but it is also a city sparkling with the Christian heritage of this nation.
As a matter of fact, 17th and Constitution Ave. is a good place to start. Literally, within a few minute’s walk, so many references to God appear.
At 17th and Constitution, The Bible prophet Daniel, is tucked behind bushes on the property of the Organization of American States building, which is partly funded by Congress. Made from concrete, and falling apart from weathering the statue is inscribed with the inscribed word "liberty."
At the Daughters of the American Revolution building, is featured the following quote from President George Washington at the Constitutional Convention in 1787:
"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. The event is in the hands of God." There is also an inscription from Proverbs 22:28.
"Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set."
At the Department of the Interior, behind one of the corner walls is a time capsule. Archaeologists placed a Bible in the capsule years ago.
The statue of General Jose Artigas sits in the middle of the busy intersection on Constitution Ave., on federal government property. The statue is adorned with cross-loops of gold braid décor-on Artigas' boot, it can be seen as being a "cross" a Christian emblem.
At the Korean Veterans' Memorial, the cross and the star of David are displayed on the Korean wall.
Walking into the Rotunda (of the U.S. Capitol), there are four paintings hanging on the wall. In those four paintings, you will see depiction of two prayer meetings, a Bible study, and a baptism.
There are references to God in the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the Lincoln Memorial, God's name is mentioned at the National Archives, Senate and House Office Buildings, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Library of Congress.
In the main reading room of the Library of Congress, there is a bronze statue of Moses holding The Ten Commandments.
On the ceiling, a painting called "Judea," showed a young Israeli woman raising her hands in prayer to God. There were also Bible quotes on the walls.
"The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork," it reads. And, down the hallway in the main lobby, two Gutenberg Bibles are on display.
In the National Archives, there is a bronze medallion on the floor, and at the top of it are The Ten Commandments, front and center.
At the Jefferson Memorial, God's name is mentioned numerous times, including the famous Jefferson quote, "God Who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?"
At the Lincoln Memorial, words like "Nation Under God", "Bible" and "Pray" are inscribed everywhere in the building stones.
In the Senate and House Office Buildings there is a plaque that read "In God We Trust."
At the Washington Monument, hung in the stairway stand almost 200 carved plaques, donated by the states, Many of them display scripture verses from the Bible and quotes such as, "Search the Scriptures" and "Holiness to the Lord."
On the outside aluminum tip, a Latin phrase is inscribed, "Laus Deo," which means "Praise Be To God."
At the U.S. Supreme Court Building, The Ten Commandments are located in several different places including on the carved stone frieze on the front of the building. The statue shows Moses leaning his arm on The Ten Commandments. The commandments are also on the wall above the judge's courtroom bench.
Considering these references to God in the federal buildings, and the movements to try to remove God from the public square, the undeniable fact that they can't remove is the fact that the U.S. was born on the principles of Almighty God and the pictures are there to prove it. (1)
The first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said, "Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers." John Jay, one of the framers of the Constitution, was appointed by George Washington in 1789 to be the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (and later served two terms as governor of New York). He wrote, in a private letter (1816) to Pennsylvania House of Representatives member John Murray:
'It certainly is very desirable that a pacific disposition should prevail among all nations. The most effectual way of producing it is by extending the prevalence and influence of the gospel. Real Christians will abstain from violating the rights of others, and therefore will not provoke war.
Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.'
Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher...whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1789.
Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies.
They had diverse beliefs and religiosity and the issue of America's Founding Fathers and their own personal convictions is a complex subject, but their deliberate inclusion of religious comment and deference to the Higher Power of God, can be found throughout their many writings. (2)
* (all personal commentary edited-factual information only presented)
(1)The entirety of this un-edited article-with personal references was originally published July 2, 2004. At the following link you will find it in totality.
There are some who say God and government do not go together.
David Burton, president of The Christian Heritage Group, Wallbuilders agreed.
"You have judges that say 'We don't believe that,'" Barton said. "And we don't like that 'religion in politics. So we're going to stop this.' And that's what we have today. That's why nearly every decision of the court will break down between whether they believe that the Constitution really means something it says, or whether they rewrite it according to their will." (1)
(1) http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/shows/morning/2009/July/Finding-Gods-Signature-in-Washington-/
A video report by David Brody
CBN Chief Political Correspondent
July 2009 is also available at this link.
(2) http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/capital.asp
Their investigative report on a popular email that circulated on the internet. Their corrections appear in this article. The other information contained therein is not presented here.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES FOR YOUR STUDY SPIRITUAL VS. NON-SPIRITUAL:
http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=105
http://www.increasinglearning.com/the-christian-belief-of-james-madison.html
http://ourfoundingtruth.blogspot.com/2007/09/james-madison-believed-united-states.html
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/john_murphy/jamesmadison.html
http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/05/23/james-madison-on-established-christianity-superstition-bigotry-and-persecution/
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/The_United_States_as_a_Christian_nation
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/05/why-america-is-not-a-christian-nation-andrew-cort/
http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_JMadison.htm
Washington D.C. is a city of power and influence, but it is also a city sparkling with the Christian heritage of this nation.
As a matter of fact, 17th and Constitution Ave. is a good place to start. Literally, within a few minute’s walk, so many references to God appear.
At 17th and Constitution, The Bible prophet Daniel, is tucked behind bushes on the property of the Organization of American States building, which is partly funded by Congress. Made from concrete, and falling apart from weathering the statue is inscribed with the inscribed word "liberty."
At the Daughters of the American Revolution building, is featured the following quote from President George Washington at the Constitutional Convention in 1787:
"Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair. The event is in the hands of God." There is also an inscription from Proverbs 22:28.
"Remove not the ancient landmark which thy fathers have set."
At the Department of the Interior, behind one of the corner walls is a time capsule. Archaeologists placed a Bible in the capsule years ago.
The statue of General Jose Artigas sits in the middle of the busy intersection on Constitution Ave., on federal government property. The statue is adorned with cross-loops of gold braid décor-on Artigas' boot, it can be seen as being a "cross" a Christian emblem.
At the Korean Veterans' Memorial, the cross and the star of David are displayed on the Korean wall.
Walking into the Rotunda (of the U.S. Capitol), there are four paintings hanging on the wall. In those four paintings, you will see depiction of two prayer meetings, a Bible study, and a baptism.
There are references to God in the Washington Monument, the Capitol, and the Lincoln Memorial, God's name is mentioned at the National Archives, Senate and House Office Buildings, the U.S. Supreme Court, the Jefferson Memorial, and the Library of Congress.
In the main reading room of the Library of Congress, there is a bronze statue of Moses holding The Ten Commandments.
On the ceiling, a painting called "Judea," showed a young Israeli woman raising her hands in prayer to God. There were also Bible quotes on the walls.
"The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth His handiwork," it reads. And, down the hallway in the main lobby, two Gutenberg Bibles are on display.
In the National Archives, there is a bronze medallion on the floor, and at the top of it are The Ten Commandments, front and center.
At the Jefferson Memorial, God's name is mentioned numerous times, including the famous Jefferson quote, "God Who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?"
At the Lincoln Memorial, words like "Nation Under God", "Bible" and "Pray" are inscribed everywhere in the building stones.
In the Senate and House Office Buildings there is a plaque that read "In God We Trust."
At the Washington Monument, hung in the stairway stand almost 200 carved plaques, donated by the states, Many of them display scripture verses from the Bible and quotes such as, "Search the Scriptures" and "Holiness to the Lord."
On the outside aluminum tip, a Latin phrase is inscribed, "Laus Deo," which means "Praise Be To God."
At the U.S. Supreme Court Building, The Ten Commandments are located in several different places including on the carved stone frieze on the front of the building. The statue shows Moses leaning his arm on The Ten Commandments. The commandments are also on the wall above the judge's courtroom bench.
Considering these references to God in the federal buildings, and the movements to try to remove God from the public square, the undeniable fact that they can't remove is the fact that the U.S. was born on the principles of Almighty God and the pictures are there to prove it. (1)
The first Supreme Court Justice, John Jay, said, "Americans should select and prefer Christians as their rulers." John Jay, one of the framers of the Constitution, was appointed by George Washington in 1789 to be the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (and later served two terms as governor of New York). He wrote, in a private letter (1816) to Pennsylvania House of Representatives member John Murray:
'It certainly is very desirable that a pacific disposition should prevail among all nations. The most effectual way of producing it is by extending the prevalence and influence of the gospel. Real Christians will abstain from violating the rights of others, and therefore will not provoke war.
Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.'
Every session of Congress begins with a prayer by a paid preacher...whose salary has been paid by the taxpayer since 1789.
Fifty-two of the 55 founders of the Constitution were members of the established orthodox churches in the colonies.
They had diverse beliefs and religiosity and the issue of America's Founding Fathers and their own personal convictions is a complex subject, but their deliberate inclusion of religious comment and deference to the Higher Power of God, can be found throughout their many writings. (2)
* (all personal commentary edited-factual information only presented)
(1)The entirety of this un-edited article-with personal references was originally published July 2, 2004. At the following link you will find it in totality.
There are some who say God and government do not go together.
David Burton, president of The Christian Heritage Group, Wallbuilders agreed.
"You have judges that say 'We don't believe that,'" Barton said. "And we don't like that 'religion in politics. So we're going to stop this.' And that's what we have today. That's why nearly every decision of the court will break down between whether they believe that the Constitution really means something it says, or whether they rewrite it according to their will." (1)
(1) http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/shows/morning/2009/July/Finding-Gods-Signature-in-Washington-/
A video report by David Brody
CBN Chief Political Correspondent
July 2009 is also available at this link.
(2) http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/capital.asp
Their investigative report on a popular email that circulated on the internet. Their corrections appear in this article. The other information contained therein is not presented here.
ADDITIONAL SOURCES FOR YOUR STUDY SPIRITUAL VS. NON-SPIRITUAL:
http://www.wallbuilders.com/libissuesarticles.asp?id=105
http://www.increasinglearning.com/the-christian-belief-of-james-madison.html
http://ourfoundingtruth.blogspot.com/2007/09/james-madison-believed-united-states.html
http://www.infidels.org/library/modern/john_murphy/jamesmadison.html
http://blog.skepticallibertarian.com/2013/05/23/james-madison-on-established-christianity-superstition-bigotry-and-persecution/
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/The_United_States_as_a_Christian_nation
http://www.elephantjournal.com/2012/05/why-america-is-not-a-christian-nation-andrew-cort/
http://atheism.about.com/library/quotes/bl_q_JMadison.htm
VIDEO TOURS THAT SPEAK TO THE RICH AND SPIRITUAL HISTORY IN OUR NATION'S CAPITOL
http://dc.about.com/od/communities/tp/WashingtonDCHistoricBuildings.htm
http://video.about.com/philadelphia/Visiting-the-Liberty-Bell.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/Tips-for-Visiting-Arlington-National-Cemetery.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/A-Tour-of-Mount-Vernon.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/Tips-for-Touring-the-National-Museum-of-Natural-History.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/5-Best-Museums-in-Washington--D-C-.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/Walking-Tour-of-the-National-Mall.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/Tips-for-Touring-the-Bureau-of-Engraving-and-Printing.htm
http://video.about.com/philadelphia/Visiting-the-Liberty-Bell.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/Tips-for-Visiting-Arlington-National-Cemetery.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/A-Tour-of-Mount-Vernon.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/Tips-for-Touring-the-National-Museum-of-Natural-History.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/5-Best-Museums-in-Washington--D-C-.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/Walking-Tour-of-the-National-Mall.htm
http://video.about.com/dc/Tips-for-Touring-the-Bureau-of-Engraving-and-Printing.htm
THE QUOTATIONS YOU CAN FIND AROUND THE CAPITOL
Cox Corridors
"The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value." — Theodore Roosevelt
"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day." — Thomas Jefferson
"He that invents a machine augments the power of a man and the well being of mankind." — Henry Ward Beecher
"Labor is discovered to be the grand conqueror enriching and building up nations more surely than the proudest battles." — William Ellery Channing
"We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all mankind." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"Whenever a free man is in chains we are threatened also. Whoever is fighting for liberty is defending America." — William Allen White
"Freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in matters of conscience direct their course to this happy country." — Samuel Adams
"We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." — Louis D. Brandeis
"Let us build broad and wide these foundations. Let them abut only on the everlasting seas." — Ignatius Donnelly
"Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech."
— Benjamin Franklin
"When tillage begins other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization." — Daniel Webster
"I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience." — Patrick Henry
"Our government conceived in freedom and purchased with blood can be preserved only by constant vigilance." — William Jennings Bryan
"Whenever a people or an institution forget its hard beginnings, it is beginning to decay." — Carl Sandburg
"Man is not made for the State but the State for man and it derives its just powers only from the consent of the governed." — Thomas Jefferson
"This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, has a just claim to your confidence and support."
— George Washington
"We have built no temple but the Capitol. We consult no common oracle but the Constitution." — Rufus Choate
"Here, sir, the people govern." — Alexander Hamilton
"You are the rulers and the ruled." — Adlai E. Stevenson
"Liberty and union, one and inseparable." — Daniel Webster
"One country, one Constitution, one destiny." — Daniel Webster
"America! God shed his grace on Thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!" — Katharine Lee Bates
"A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful Land, traversing all the seas with the rich production of their Industry." — Thomas Jefferson
"Americans are westward pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that great mass of arts, science, vigour and industry." — Hector St. John de Crevecoeur
"Go west, young man, and grow up with the country." — Horace Greeley
"To venture into the wilderness, one must see it, not as it is, but as it will be." — Carl Becker House Chamber
"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." — Preamble of the Constitution of the United States
"In God we trust."
"Let us develope the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests and see whether we also in our day and generation may not perform something worthy to be remembered." — Daniel Webster
Front of first tier: "Union, Justice, Tolerance, Liberty, Peace." On Rostrum
Above flag behind speaker (on gallery): "E PLURIBUS UNUM" (One out of many) Over Rostrum
Prayer Room "Annuit coeptis" (God has favored our undertakings)
"Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust." — Psalm 16:1 Senate Chamber
Over east doorway: "Annuit coeptis" (God has favored our undertakings)
Over south entrance: "In God we trust"
Over west doorway: "Novus ordo seclorum" (A new order of the ages [is born])
Panel behind vice president's chair: "E pluribus unum" (One out of many)
Dirksen Senate Office Building
On entablature beneath the pediment on the First Street facade of building: "THE SENATE IS THE LIVING SYMBOL OF OUR UNION OF STATES"
link: http://www.aoc.gov/facts/quotations
ADDITIONAL Information Sources:
Jefferson Memorial: God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever. - Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson Memorial: "The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man." - Thomas Jefferson
FDR: said this about the Bible in an address on October 6, 1935: "We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic."
"Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity."
Martin Luther King Memorial: "We are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs 'down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Montgomery, Alabama, December 5, 1955. Here, King borrows a verse from the Bible, the Book of Amos, which he frequently reused in speeches.
Lincoln Memorial: Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. (Matthew 18:7) - Abraham Lincoln
http://www.meetup.com/The-Christian-Outdoors-Group/events/140724642/
"The nation behaves well if it treats the natural resources as assets which it must turn over to the next generation increased, and not impaired, in value." — Theodore Roosevelt
"Enlighten the people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day." — Thomas Jefferson
"He that invents a machine augments the power of a man and the well being of mankind." — Henry Ward Beecher
"Labor is discovered to be the grand conqueror enriching and building up nations more surely than the proudest battles." — William Ellery Channing
"We defend and we build a way of life, not for America alone, but for all mankind." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"Whenever a free man is in chains we are threatened also. Whoever is fighting for liberty is defending America." — William Allen White
"Freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in matters of conscience direct their course to this happy country." — Samuel Adams
"We must remember that any oppression, any injustice, any hatred, is a wedge designed to attack our civilization." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding." — Louis D. Brandeis
"Let us build broad and wide these foundations. Let them abut only on the everlasting seas." — Ignatius Donnelly
"Without Freedom of Thought, there can be no such Thing as Wisdom; and no such Thing as publick Liberty, without Freedom of Speech."
— Benjamin Franklin
"When tillage begins other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization." — Daniel Webster
"I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience." — Patrick Henry
"Our government conceived in freedom and purchased with blood can be preserved only by constant vigilance." — William Jennings Bryan
"Whenever a people or an institution forget its hard beginnings, it is beginning to decay." — Carl Sandburg
"Man is not made for the State but the State for man and it derives its just powers only from the consent of the governed." — Thomas Jefferson
"This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, has a just claim to your confidence and support."
— George Washington
"We have built no temple but the Capitol. We consult no common oracle but the Constitution." — Rufus Choate
"Here, sir, the people govern." — Alexander Hamilton
"You are the rulers and the ruled." — Adlai E. Stevenson
"Liberty and union, one and inseparable." — Daniel Webster
"One country, one Constitution, one destiny." — Daniel Webster
"America! God shed his grace on Thee, and crown thy good with brotherhood from sea to shining sea!" — Katharine Lee Bates
"A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful Land, traversing all the seas with the rich production of their Industry." — Thomas Jefferson
"Americans are westward pilgrims, who are carrying along with them that great mass of arts, science, vigour and industry." — Hector St. John de Crevecoeur
"Go west, young man, and grow up with the country." — Horace Greeley
"To venture into the wilderness, one must see it, not as it is, but as it will be." — Carl Becker House Chamber
"We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." — Preamble of the Constitution of the United States
"In God we trust."
"Let us develope the resources of our land, call forth its powers, build up its institutions, promote all its great interests and see whether we also in our day and generation may not perform something worthy to be remembered." — Daniel Webster
Front of first tier: "Union, Justice, Tolerance, Liberty, Peace." On Rostrum
Above flag behind speaker (on gallery): "E PLURIBUS UNUM" (One out of many) Over Rostrum
Prayer Room "Annuit coeptis" (God has favored our undertakings)
"Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust." — Psalm 16:1 Senate Chamber
Over east doorway: "Annuit coeptis" (God has favored our undertakings)
Over south entrance: "In God we trust"
Over west doorway: "Novus ordo seclorum" (A new order of the ages [is born])
Panel behind vice president's chair: "E pluribus unum" (One out of many)
Dirksen Senate Office Building
On entablature beneath the pediment on the First Street facade of building: "THE SENATE IS THE LIVING SYMBOL OF OUR UNION OF STATES"
link: http://www.aoc.gov/facts/quotations
ADDITIONAL Information Sources:
Jefferson Memorial: God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that His justice cannot sleep forever. - Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson Memorial: "The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man." - Thomas Jefferson
FDR: said this about the Bible in an address on October 6, 1935: "We cannot read the history of our rise and development as a nation, without reckoning with the place the Bible has occupied in shaping the advances of the Republic."
"Where we have been the truest and most consistent in obeying its precepts, we have attained the greatest measure of contentment and prosperity."
Martin Luther King Memorial: "We are determined here in Montgomery to work and fight until justice runs 'down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.” Montgomery, Alabama, December 5, 1955. Here, King borrows a verse from the Bible, the Book of Amos, which he frequently reused in speeches.
Lincoln Memorial: Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh. (Matthew 18:7) - Abraham Lincoln
http://www.meetup.com/The-Christian-Outdoors-Group/events/140724642/
The article below is the beginning of a series of articles written by our Contributor, the Lawman. We believe you will be inspired by these writings. More of this series will be added just below this post.
OMG INSURANCE PLAN
I recently was paid a visit by an insurance broker. He was not the usual run of mill salesman that offered cut rate deals or high end dividends of investments, or borrowing clauses. No papers to sign, back ground checks, agents or secret underwriters to deal with. There is NO government involvement, taxes, political parties, monetary investments or secret passwords. Anyone can join at anytime. No pre pays or opt outs, no deductibles and no paper trail.
Sound interesting, well let me tell you the rest of the story.
I'm not going to lie to you about this. You can't keep your current policy if you accept this plan. This plan will not cost you one single penny, just a portion of your time each day. The choice will be yours as to amount of time and when that time will be. It's totally free, offered only for the asking.
This plan comes with a multidude of options: All structured to meet you individual desire.
Single plan
Family Plan
Community Plan.
State and National Plans available at no extra cost.
Once you ask for this plan there is no dropping you from coverage by the Owner.
Pre-existing conditions are a must.
All your time investred has a high percentage of return, guaranteed by Owner.
No need to make appointments, Owner is available 24/7 for your questions and answers.
Acts of God are covered automaticly.
All past illness is covered from first day of coverage.
Faith is required
Hope is required
Love is required
Patriotism is a must.
Prayer or meditation for any time of your choosing on a daily basis.
This insurance coverage is for the Spiritual Warriors.
This policy may be against the law in certain progressive states. however you will still be covered for any acts of violence that they may commit against you for acting of your own free will.
It is also guaranteed that all prayers and meditations will promptly answered.
And Jesus said; "If you love me, do as I do".
Time for a group hug....and prayer...
Thank you Father for this insurance policy. I freely and willing accept your plan.
Lawman
Sound interesting, well let me tell you the rest of the story.
I'm not going to lie to you about this. You can't keep your current policy if you accept this plan. This plan will not cost you one single penny, just a portion of your time each day. The choice will be yours as to amount of time and when that time will be. It's totally free, offered only for the asking.
This plan comes with a multidude of options: All structured to meet you individual desire.
Single plan
Family Plan
Community Plan.
State and National Plans available at no extra cost.
Once you ask for this plan there is no dropping you from coverage by the Owner.
Pre-existing conditions are a must.
All your time investred has a high percentage of return, guaranteed by Owner.
No need to make appointments, Owner is available 24/7 for your questions and answers.
Acts of God are covered automaticly.
All past illness is covered from first day of coverage.
Faith is required
Hope is required
Love is required
Patriotism is a must.
Prayer or meditation for any time of your choosing on a daily basis.
This insurance coverage is for the Spiritual Warriors.
This policy may be against the law in certain progressive states. however you will still be covered for any acts of violence that they may commit against you for acting of your own free will.
It is also guaranteed that all prayers and meditations will promptly answered.
And Jesus said; "If you love me, do as I do".
Time for a group hug....and prayer...
Thank you Father for this insurance policy. I freely and willing accept your plan.
Lawman
THE CALL TO SERVE SOMETHING GREATER
'In God We Trust’. Put that penny in your pocket. How many times have we all done that? Read the words and, beyond the engraving, really stop and consider that they have tremendous meaning. Whether we personally embrace belief in a Higher Being, whether we hold to a specific religion or practice of our Faith, whether we find our spiritual fulfillment in an inspirational concept; the Founders-Framers and Ratifiers did believe. The predicated, ordained, and proclaimed this faith in all of the Founding documents of our Nation. They answered a call to serve their Nation, in their own time of destiny; we are being called to do the same in ours.
The Call to serve Something so Much Greater than yourself. It is a core belief - it is unselfish - it goes beyond all personal thought or aspiration. The stories of persons jumping in to save a drowning child - placing their own safety at risk - they jump in anyway. It is the donations of those who can little afford - and they go without in order to help provide for one more in need than they. It is the family who gives in a time of great sorrow to the transplant recipient hoping for the gift of life. It is the Navy seal who disobeys orders to save fellow Americans whose lives are in peril and in doing so sacrifices his own.
Fellow Americans - the conditions developing in our Nation today are shouting for our attention. Each on its own has value, and merit, and urgency. Combined - the noise is deafening. Combined efforts and causes are powerful beyond measure. The 'call' that we all need to hear, and find the conviction to act and pledge an answer to is this: 'In whatever capacity and to the greatest degree each and every one of us can give - are we willing to give, as the citizens that forged our Nation gave so long ago?
America is the whole of who we all are and what we as a Nation aspire to be. One-by-one-by-one by one…. America is Greater than we as individuals stand and America is calling us to unite and serve. We must find the best and most successful option available to us. The option that is lawful and peaceful and perfect. There is one solution to complete this task. There is one method that is perfect to answer the problems of this time in America. The solution comes from the Constitution - the process provided in the Constitution - and the method is given freely to the people of America to find the wisdom to do so. The Founders gave us this Country. It is up to 'We The People' to find the will and the desire to unite.
A Dear Friend recently remarked to me..."I'm just a patriot warrior amidst other patriot warriors fighting a war to gain our Republic back. I see all we are trying to do it in a different light. Not so much in words or deeds, but as a spiritual conflict. If God is for us, who can be against us? Or another way of putting it is this, If this we are trying to achieve be of God and His Inspiration as we have prayed for, then it will succeed and it last, if it be of man it will pass away. They may be able to take my flesh suit but they will never conquer or take my spirit...
We War on many fronts...for the soul of our Nation, for the soul of principle and tradition, for the soul of Liberty that we honor and cherish. We must ignore the confusion, in spite of all the 'noise' know what 'army' we will stand.
We War for our personal integrity in trying times...the soul of conservative values in the public action we must choose. War does provide clarity. It draws the battle lines, it chooses sides. The 'noise' seeks to blur both. See the War...do not allow the 'noise' to confuse you.
We War today between two very distinct and dramatically opposite choices. What we as a people, what we as a united people, will determine to be the direction we will take at this the fork in the road. This decade long War, the longest in the history of our Nation, has brought America to this place - in this time.
The 'noise' pays lip service to feigned concern for the people. If the lips are moving-beware. No matter the party, or those many labels they stamp on us, and/or the terms they use to divide. What it comes down to has become beautifully honest and very simple.
IT IS US AGAINST THEM.
'The 'progressive' policies and politicians-who have become very powerful vs. Constitutional citizens who will no longer tolerate their tyranny.
THE CHOICE IS OURS.
Our government is broken. The leaders of our country no longer serve us. The government today increasingly makes servants of us. The slave has now become the master; and if we do not act imperatively with the liberties we still have - those liberties will disappear and the chains will become immovable. We must choose. Do we accept the yoke of government bondage? Or do we insist on reigning in a government out-of-control that is unable and unwilling to restrict itself. Look at the elephant in the room - its name is 'TYRANNY'. WE NO LONGER HAVE THE LUXURY OF TIME OR ANOTHER ELECTION to ignore this fact.
May we begin the work that needs to be done together? Listen closely in the still of an evening - safe and secure in your home or neighborhood. When you think of the value of the feelings in your heart and the hope of your thoughts and imagination...the sound you hear that breaks the peace of your comfort is Lady Liberty begging for her citizens to unite and remember what being an American really means and knowing her fear that we all stand to lose the dream that has always been hers.
There is No week, Nor day, Nor Hour...
When Tyranny may not enter Upon this Country.
If 'The People' lose their Roughness and Spirit of Defiance...
The Genius of the United States,
Is not the best or most in its executives or legislatures,
Nor it's ambassadors, or colleges, or churches,
Or it's parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors...
But always most...IN THE COMMON PEOPLE...
The UNITED STATES THEMSELVES...
Are Essentially the GREATEST POEM...
~Walt Whitman
The Call to serve Something so Much Greater than yourself. It is a core belief - it is unselfish - it goes beyond all personal thought or aspiration. The stories of persons jumping in to save a drowning child - placing their own safety at risk - they jump in anyway. It is the donations of those who can little afford - and they go without in order to help provide for one more in need than they. It is the family who gives in a time of great sorrow to the transplant recipient hoping for the gift of life. It is the Navy seal who disobeys orders to save fellow Americans whose lives are in peril and in doing so sacrifices his own.
Fellow Americans - the conditions developing in our Nation today are shouting for our attention. Each on its own has value, and merit, and urgency. Combined - the noise is deafening. Combined efforts and causes are powerful beyond measure. The 'call' that we all need to hear, and find the conviction to act and pledge an answer to is this: 'In whatever capacity and to the greatest degree each and every one of us can give - are we willing to give, as the citizens that forged our Nation gave so long ago?
America is the whole of who we all are and what we as a Nation aspire to be. One-by-one-by-one by one…. America is Greater than we as individuals stand and America is calling us to unite and serve. We must find the best and most successful option available to us. The option that is lawful and peaceful and perfect. There is one solution to complete this task. There is one method that is perfect to answer the problems of this time in America. The solution comes from the Constitution - the process provided in the Constitution - and the method is given freely to the people of America to find the wisdom to do so. The Founders gave us this Country. It is up to 'We The People' to find the will and the desire to unite.
A Dear Friend recently remarked to me..."I'm just a patriot warrior amidst other patriot warriors fighting a war to gain our Republic back. I see all we are trying to do it in a different light. Not so much in words or deeds, but as a spiritual conflict. If God is for us, who can be against us? Or another way of putting it is this, If this we are trying to achieve be of God and His Inspiration as we have prayed for, then it will succeed and it last, if it be of man it will pass away. They may be able to take my flesh suit but they will never conquer or take my spirit...
We War on many fronts...for the soul of our Nation, for the soul of principle and tradition, for the soul of Liberty that we honor and cherish. We must ignore the confusion, in spite of all the 'noise' know what 'army' we will stand.
We War for our personal integrity in trying times...the soul of conservative values in the public action we must choose. War does provide clarity. It draws the battle lines, it chooses sides. The 'noise' seeks to blur both. See the War...do not allow the 'noise' to confuse you.
We War today between two very distinct and dramatically opposite choices. What we as a people, what we as a united people, will determine to be the direction we will take at this the fork in the road. This decade long War, the longest in the history of our Nation, has brought America to this place - in this time.
The 'noise' pays lip service to feigned concern for the people. If the lips are moving-beware. No matter the party, or those many labels they stamp on us, and/or the terms they use to divide. What it comes down to has become beautifully honest and very simple.
IT IS US AGAINST THEM.
'The 'progressive' policies and politicians-who have become very powerful vs. Constitutional citizens who will no longer tolerate their tyranny.
THE CHOICE IS OURS.
Our government is broken. The leaders of our country no longer serve us. The government today increasingly makes servants of us. The slave has now become the master; and if we do not act imperatively with the liberties we still have - those liberties will disappear and the chains will become immovable. We must choose. Do we accept the yoke of government bondage? Or do we insist on reigning in a government out-of-control that is unable and unwilling to restrict itself. Look at the elephant in the room - its name is 'TYRANNY'. WE NO LONGER HAVE THE LUXURY OF TIME OR ANOTHER ELECTION to ignore this fact.
May we begin the work that needs to be done together? Listen closely in the still of an evening - safe and secure in your home or neighborhood. When you think of the value of the feelings in your heart and the hope of your thoughts and imagination...the sound you hear that breaks the peace of your comfort is Lady Liberty begging for her citizens to unite and remember what being an American really means and knowing her fear that we all stand to lose the dream that has always been hers.
There is No week, Nor day, Nor Hour...
When Tyranny may not enter Upon this Country.
If 'The People' lose their Roughness and Spirit of Defiance...
The Genius of the United States,
Is not the best or most in its executives or legislatures,
Nor it's ambassadors, or colleges, or churches,
Or it's parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors...
But always most...IN THE COMMON PEOPLE...
The UNITED STATES THEMSELVES...
Are Essentially the GREATEST POEM...
~Walt Whitman
God vs. Science
Our parents often offered this sound advice. Do not mix politics, science, and religion into your peaceful conversations...unless you want them to become at worst-combative and at best uncomforatably-debatable. We are not to relate any one to the other - for separation is crucial in a peaceful society.
The understanding of this 'rule' is to produce a quiet social conversation. Our purpose is not to be either quiet or non-provacative. In fact, we encourage loudly the concept Learn, Speak, and most importantly, THINK FOR YOURSELF. Whether you personally agree with any or all of the above, to deny them study - to deny the inter-relationship - to deny that one lends support or robs and diminishes from another in our society today...would be a lie.
Increasingly our societal attitude is becoming purely secular. No more God - don't speak of that. No more history that tells of the Founders love and respect for their religious beliefs. We no longer teach in many of our learning institutions that they established our government soundly upon Faith. In fact they continually credited the inspiration for our Founding documents to that God in the written text of those same documents.
We do not propose which belief you should or should not claim...but we do ask that you consider this....BELIEVE IN SOMETHING GREATER THAN YOURSELF- KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE - AND WHY YOU BELIEVE IT.
Our admiration of Albert Einstein is as a man who married each of these aspects of himself, his belief - his intelligence - and his spiritual nature almost perfectly. With that introduction we offer the following writing. The setting for this conversation is a university classroom:
Science
"Let me explain the problem science has with religion."The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'
'Yes sir,' the student says.
'So you believe in God?'
'Absolutely '
'Is God good?'
'Sure! God's good.'
'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'
'Yes'
'Are you good or evil?'
'The Bible says I'm evil.'
The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible! He considers for a moment. 'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'
'Yes sir, I would.'
'So you're good...!'
'I wouldn't say that.'
'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.'
The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?'
The student remains silent. 'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. 'Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?'
'Er..yes,' the student says.
'Is Satan good?'
The student doesn't hesitate on this one.. 'No.'
'Then where does Satan come from?'
The student falters. 'From God'
'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'
'Yes'
'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything,then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'
Again, the student has no answer. 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'
The student squirms on his feet. 'Yes.'
'So who created them ?'
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. 'Who created them?' There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. 'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'
The student's voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.'
The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'
'No sir. I've never seen Him.'
'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?'
'No, sir, I have not.'
'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?'
'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.'
'Yet you still believe in him?'
'Yes'
'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist... What do you say to that, son?'
'Nothing,' the student replies.. 'I only have my faith.'
'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.'
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat? '
' Yes'
'And is there such a thing as cold?'
'Yes, son, there's cold too.'
'No sir, there isn't.'
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. 'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'
Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.
'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'
'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?'
'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'
'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'
The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'
'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.' 'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.' 'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'
'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.'
'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.
'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. 'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.' The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter. 'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so... So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.' 'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'
Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I guess you'll have to take them on faith.'
'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?' Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see it Everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in The multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'
To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'
The professor sat down.
PS: The student was Albert Einstein.
Albert Einstein wrote a book titled 'God vs. Science' in 1921....
Thank you for Reading,
Mimi and lady boots
The understanding of this 'rule' is to produce a quiet social conversation. Our purpose is not to be either quiet or non-provacative. In fact, we encourage loudly the concept Learn, Speak, and most importantly, THINK FOR YOURSELF. Whether you personally agree with any or all of the above, to deny them study - to deny the inter-relationship - to deny that one lends support or robs and diminishes from another in our society today...would be a lie.
Increasingly our societal attitude is becoming purely secular. No more God - don't speak of that. No more history that tells of the Founders love and respect for their religious beliefs. We no longer teach in many of our learning institutions that they established our government soundly upon Faith. In fact they continually credited the inspiration for our Founding documents to that God in the written text of those same documents.
We do not propose which belief you should or should not claim...but we do ask that you consider this....BELIEVE IN SOMETHING GREATER THAN YOURSELF- KNOW WHAT YOU BELIEVE - AND WHY YOU BELIEVE IT.
Our admiration of Albert Einstein is as a man who married each of these aspects of himself, his belief - his intelligence - and his spiritual nature almost perfectly. With that introduction we offer the following writing. The setting for this conversation is a university classroom:
Science
"Let me explain the problem science has with religion."The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.
'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'
'Yes sir,' the student says.
'So you believe in God?'
'Absolutely '
'Is God good?'
'Sure! God's good.'
'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'
'Yes'
'Are you good or evil?'
'The Bible says I'm evil.'
The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible! He considers for a moment. 'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'
'Yes sir, I would.'
'So you're good...!'
'I wouldn't say that.'
'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.'
The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Can you answer that one?'
The student remains silent. 'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax. 'Let's start again, young fella. Is God good?'
'Er..yes,' the student says.
'Is Satan good?'
The student doesn't hesitate on this one.. 'No.'
'Then where does Satan come from?'
The student falters. 'From God'
'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'
'Yes'
'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything,then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'
Again, the student has no answer. 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'
The student squirms on his feet. 'Yes.'
'So who created them ?'
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. 'Who created them?' There is still no answer. Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom. The class is mesmerized. 'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'
The student's voice betrays him and cracks. 'Yes, professor, I do.'
The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'
'No sir. I've never seen Him.'
'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?'
'No, sir, I have not.'
'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?'
'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.'
'Yet you still believe in him?'
'Yes'
'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist... What do you say to that, son?'
'Nothing,' the student replies.. 'I only have my faith.'
'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.'
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat? '
' Yes'
'And is there such a thing as cold?'
'Yes, son, there's cold too.'
'No sir, there isn't.'
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. 'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat, white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that. There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees. Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'
Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.
'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'
'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?'
'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word. In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'
'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'
The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'
'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.' 'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.' 'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'
'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.'
'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where the argument is going. A very good semester, indeed.
'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided. 'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.' The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter. 'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain, felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so... So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.' 'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'
Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable. Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I guess you'll have to take them on faith.'
'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?' Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see it Everyday. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in The multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'
To this the student replied, 'Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'
The professor sat down.
PS: The student was Albert Einstein.
Albert Einstein wrote a book titled 'God vs. Science' in 1921....
Thank you for Reading,
Mimi and lady boots
|
Billy Graham's final sermon: 'I've wept' for America
|
Graham spent his career leading revivals around the globe, following a long tradition of evangelists who have traveled far and wide to urge sinners to accept Christ. But his birthday guest list shows that he is no ordinary preacher. He is a cultural icon, the most famous face of traditional Protestant Christianity.
“We need Billy Graham's message to be heard, I think, today more than ever," ~ former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin told the crowd.
What, exactly, is that message—and what accounts for its mass appeal? Now that Billy is 95, I wonder: is there anyone who can fill his shoes?
Graham rose to success in the God-fearing years of the early Cold War. In 1949, the year of Graham’s first big revival in Los Angeles, President Harry Truman told Americans that “the basic source of our strength as a nation is spiritual. ... Religious faith and religious work must be our reliance as we strive to fulfill our destiny in the world.”
Five years later, Congress added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. By the end of the decade, 65% of Americans belonged to a religious institution, and 90% told pollsters they believed in God and the power of prayer: they were ready to hearken to Graham’s call.
Tall, handsome, “like Gabriel in a gabardine suit” according to Time magazine, Graham appealed to Americans’ hunger for spiritual direction.
His sermons contained just the right mix of patriotism and reproof. He urged Americans to stand strong against “godless communism” but also criticized American hubris.
“We have an idea that we Americans are God's chosen people, that God loves us more than any other people, and that we are God's blessed,” he told an audience in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1958. “I tell you that God doesn't love us any more than He does the Russians.”
Graham urged his listeners to acknowledge their sins and embrace Christ; to quit making excuses and go to church. But he abandoned the strict fundamentalism of his youth for a less doctrinaire theology.
His crusades mobilized hundreds of volunteers from local churches—not just evangelical churches, but liberal Protestant and Roman Catholic parishes as well.
Graham had plenty of theological quarrels with these collaborators.
He accepted the assistance of New York Catholics during his crusade there in 1957, but three years later he helped organize Protestant ministers to oppose John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign.
However, when it came to evangelism, he was a broad-minded pragmatist - outraging hard-line fundamentalists, who demanded strict separation from other Christians.
He replied to his critics: “The one badge of Christian discipleship is not orthodoxy but love. Christians are not limited to any church. The only question is: are you committed to Christ?"
One member of Graham’s circle coined the term “neo-evangelical” to describe this attitude. They were all conservative evangelicals who had left fundamentalism to lead a revival of both the soul and the mind. They formed the National Association of Evangelicals to unite conservative Protestants. In 1956 they founded the magazine Christianity Today, an “evangelical, theologically oriented” alternative to liberal periodicals, Graham wrote.
Secular journalists quoted Graham as a capable spokesman for the evangelical point of view. Graham’s visits to the White House gave the impression that he was a Protestant pope, possessing Christian wisdom and a valuable imprimatur. Graham seemed to represent an American evangelical consensus.
But from the beginning, this consensus was more apparent than real.
Far more conservative Protestants stayed out of the National Association of Evangelicals than joined up. They thought of themselves as Baptists or Mennonites first, and “evangelical” second, if at all.
Some evangelicals rejected the idea that Christians must experience the radical “born-again experience” at the heart of Graham’s crusades: they believed that conversion is sometimes slow and incremental. Others objected to the conservative politics of Graham and his colleagues.
I have spent the past few years researching the stories of these different evangelical communities, ranging from pacifist Mennonites to tongues-speaking Pentecostals. I found that even if they disagreed with Billy Graham, they had no choice but to take him seriously.
They often defined their own beliefs against his ministry. Graham and other neo-evangelicals helped other Christians understand themselves more clearly. As a result, the fissures and tensions that have always divided the evangelical world are deeper than ever.
Billy Graham has no successor.
In today’s age of fragmented evangelicalism and social media-savvy churches, there is no individual who can represent American evangelicalism to the world. Every believer has his own favorite Christian blog, her own like-minded Twitter network. And evangelicalism’s golden age seems to be ending. The biggest denominations, booming during the height of Graham’s career, are now stagnating or losing members.
Graham’s career ranged well beyond American shores, and conservative Protestantism is flourishing in the Global South. Some evangelists there command crowds that rival or exceed Graham’s biggest crusades. For more than 50 years, the German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke has preached throughout Africa to audiences that range in the hundreds of thousands.
But evangelists making their careers in non-Western societies face different challenges than Graham did. They are trying to reach people who worry not about the threat of secular liberalism, but the fate of their unbaptized ancestors or witchcraft in their villages. In the Global South, the label “evangelical” implies similarities to American religion that don’t exist.
Billy Graham may be an icon of an era that has passed, a Christian coalition that was never as harmonious as it seemed.
His own message, however, remains the same. In his message on Thursday —perhaps his final sermon — he warned that “our country is in great need of a spiritual awakening.”
Molly Worthen is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of "Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism."
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/09/how-billy-graham-became-an-american-icon/
“We need Billy Graham's message to be heard, I think, today more than ever," ~ former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin told the crowd.
What, exactly, is that message—and what accounts for its mass appeal? Now that Billy is 95, I wonder: is there anyone who can fill his shoes?
Graham rose to success in the God-fearing years of the early Cold War. In 1949, the year of Graham’s first big revival in Los Angeles, President Harry Truman told Americans that “the basic source of our strength as a nation is spiritual. ... Religious faith and religious work must be our reliance as we strive to fulfill our destiny in the world.”
Five years later, Congress added the words “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance. By the end of the decade, 65% of Americans belonged to a religious institution, and 90% told pollsters they believed in God and the power of prayer: they were ready to hearken to Graham’s call.
Tall, handsome, “like Gabriel in a gabardine suit” according to Time magazine, Graham appealed to Americans’ hunger for spiritual direction.
His sermons contained just the right mix of patriotism and reproof. He urged Americans to stand strong against “godless communism” but also criticized American hubris.
“We have an idea that we Americans are God's chosen people, that God loves us more than any other people, and that we are God's blessed,” he told an audience in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1958. “I tell you that God doesn't love us any more than He does the Russians.”
Graham urged his listeners to acknowledge their sins and embrace Christ; to quit making excuses and go to church. But he abandoned the strict fundamentalism of his youth for a less doctrinaire theology.
His crusades mobilized hundreds of volunteers from local churches—not just evangelical churches, but liberal Protestant and Roman Catholic parishes as well.
Graham had plenty of theological quarrels with these collaborators.
He accepted the assistance of New York Catholics during his crusade there in 1957, but three years later he helped organize Protestant ministers to oppose John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign.
However, when it came to evangelism, he was a broad-minded pragmatist - outraging hard-line fundamentalists, who demanded strict separation from other Christians.
He replied to his critics: “The one badge of Christian discipleship is not orthodoxy but love. Christians are not limited to any church. The only question is: are you committed to Christ?"
One member of Graham’s circle coined the term “neo-evangelical” to describe this attitude. They were all conservative evangelicals who had left fundamentalism to lead a revival of both the soul and the mind. They formed the National Association of Evangelicals to unite conservative Protestants. In 1956 they founded the magazine Christianity Today, an “evangelical, theologically oriented” alternative to liberal periodicals, Graham wrote.
Secular journalists quoted Graham as a capable spokesman for the evangelical point of view. Graham’s visits to the White House gave the impression that he was a Protestant pope, possessing Christian wisdom and a valuable imprimatur. Graham seemed to represent an American evangelical consensus.
But from the beginning, this consensus was more apparent than real.
Far more conservative Protestants stayed out of the National Association of Evangelicals than joined up. They thought of themselves as Baptists or Mennonites first, and “evangelical” second, if at all.
Some evangelicals rejected the idea that Christians must experience the radical “born-again experience” at the heart of Graham’s crusades: they believed that conversion is sometimes slow and incremental. Others objected to the conservative politics of Graham and his colleagues.
I have spent the past few years researching the stories of these different evangelical communities, ranging from pacifist Mennonites to tongues-speaking Pentecostals. I found that even if they disagreed with Billy Graham, they had no choice but to take him seriously.
They often defined their own beliefs against his ministry. Graham and other neo-evangelicals helped other Christians understand themselves more clearly. As a result, the fissures and tensions that have always divided the evangelical world are deeper than ever.
Billy Graham has no successor.
In today’s age of fragmented evangelicalism and social media-savvy churches, there is no individual who can represent American evangelicalism to the world. Every believer has his own favorite Christian blog, her own like-minded Twitter network. And evangelicalism’s golden age seems to be ending. The biggest denominations, booming during the height of Graham’s career, are now stagnating or losing members.
Graham’s career ranged well beyond American shores, and conservative Protestantism is flourishing in the Global South. Some evangelists there command crowds that rival or exceed Graham’s biggest crusades. For more than 50 years, the German evangelist Reinhard Bonnke has preached throughout Africa to audiences that range in the hundreds of thousands.
But evangelists making their careers in non-Western societies face different challenges than Graham did. They are trying to reach people who worry not about the threat of secular liberalism, but the fate of their unbaptized ancestors or witchcraft in their villages. In the Global South, the label “evangelical” implies similarities to American religion that don’t exist.
Billy Graham may be an icon of an era that has passed, a Christian coalition that was never as harmonious as it seemed.
His own message, however, remains the same. In his message on Thursday —perhaps his final sermon — he warned that “our country is in great need of a spiritual awakening.”
Molly Worthen is an assistant professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and the author of "Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism."
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2013/11/09/how-billy-graham-became-an-american-icon/
Jon McNaughton – Prestigious Artist
We admire the art of, and the messages spoken by, the art of Mr. James (Jon) McNaughton. We pay tribute to him and his patriotism in this forum. Every citizen patriot must seek to promote the spirit of liberty and the soul of America in their own unique talent, actions, and voice.
We thank Mr. McNaughton for his extraordinary talent in doing so. We do not 'borrow or steal' his work in this showcase, we simply pay gratitude and quiet tribute to his work.
All rights and protections for this work belong to the artist and THERE IS NO PERMISSION GRANTED TO REPRODUCE OR RE-DISTRIBUTE HIS WORK. ALL LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR HIS ARTWORK APPLY.
We thank Mr. McNaughton for his extraordinary talent in doing so. We do not 'borrow or steal' his work in this showcase, we simply pay gratitude and quiet tribute to his work.
All rights and protections for this work belong to the artist and THERE IS NO PERMISSION GRANTED TO REPRODUCE OR RE-DISTRIBUTE HIS WORK. ALL LEGAL PROTECTIONS FOR HIS ARTWORK APPLY.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Jon McNaughton is an established artist from Utah whose new paintings have attracted the international attention of millions over the last few years. Highly detailed religious and patriotic subjects are the focus of his paintings. The artist’s experiences and faith are the inspiration for his work.
“I have traveled to many places around the world to know my subjects, but when I work on a painting with many figures I will usually pose models and photograph them and then paint them as I see them in my mind. I choose to paint from the heart and evoke my personal vision into each painting.”
I prefer to paint pictures that I believe have relevance to what is going on in the world, that make a statement, that stand for something. I hope people will study the paintings and try to understand the deeper meaning. Some of the themes are controversial, but I feel strongly about what is happening in our world today.
There are three kinds of people who view my paintings: Those who like it, those who hate it, and those who simply don’t understand. I am especially interested in this last category. I hope my work will create conversation and reach people on a deeper level. I like to use metaphor and multiple levels of meaning to reach my viewer. If it makes them think and feel, then it is successful.”
Some of McNaughton's Artist notes:
"I started painting patriotic art because I could express my frustrations in paint, better than I could in words.
I want to be remembered as a man who loved his God and his country more than himself.
Somebody once told me that if you mix politics with painting, that is not art.
I told them that is exactly what art is, if it makes you think and feel, it is the greatest art of all.
I think about it, I pray about it, I paint about it.
First you become a beacon of hope for the word by your examples and conviction, then you change the world one person at a time."
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oRxMQhn0WAg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DoRxMQhn0WAg
For more information about painting workshops: http://www.jonmcnaughton.com
Jon McNaughton is an established artist from Utah whose new paintings have attracted the international attention of millions over the last few years. Highly detailed religious and patriotic subjects are the focus of his paintings. The artist’s experiences and faith are the inspiration for his work.
“I have traveled to many places around the world to know my subjects, but when I work on a painting with many figures I will usually pose models and photograph them and then paint them as I see them in my mind. I choose to paint from the heart and evoke my personal vision into each painting.”
I prefer to paint pictures that I believe have relevance to what is going on in the world, that make a statement, that stand for something. I hope people will study the paintings and try to understand the deeper meaning. Some of the themes are controversial, but I feel strongly about what is happening in our world today.
There are three kinds of people who view my paintings: Those who like it, those who hate it, and those who simply don’t understand. I am especially interested in this last category. I hope my work will create conversation and reach people on a deeper level. I like to use metaphor and multiple levels of meaning to reach my viewer. If it makes them think and feel, then it is successful.”
Some of McNaughton's Artist notes:
"I started painting patriotic art because I could express my frustrations in paint, better than I could in words.
I want to be remembered as a man who loved his God and his country more than himself.
Somebody once told me that if you mix politics with painting, that is not art.
I told them that is exactly what art is, if it makes you think and feel, it is the greatest art of all.
I think about it, I pray about it, I paint about it.
First you become a beacon of hope for the word by your examples and conviction, then you change the world one person at a time."
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=oRxMQhn0WAg&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DoRxMQhn0WAg
For more information about painting workshops: http://www.jonmcnaughton.com
A Principle of the Traditional American Philosophy
1. The Spiritual is Supreme ". . . all men are created . . . endowed by their Creator . . ." (Declaration of Independence)
The Principle
1. The fundamental principle underlying the traditional American philosophy is that the Spiritual is supreme--that Man is of Divine origin and his spiritual, or religious, nature is of supreme value and importance compared with things material.
Religious Nature
2. This governmental philosophy is, therefore, essentially religious in nature. It is uniquely American; no other people in all history have ever made this principle the basis of their governmental philosophy. The spiritual brotherhood of men under the common fatherhood of God is a concept which is basic to this American philosophy. It expresses the spiritual relationship of God to Man and, in the light thereof, of Man to Man. To forget these truths is a most heinous offense against the spirit of traditional America because the greatest sin is the lost consciousness of sin.
The fundamentally religious basis of this philosophy is the foundation of its moral code, which contemplates The Individual's moral duty as being created by God's Law: the Natural Law. The Individual's duty requires obedience to this Higher Law; while knowledge of this duty comes from conscience, which the religious-minded and morally-aware Individual feels duty-bound to heed. This philosophy asserts that there are moral absolutes: truths, such as those mentioned above, which are binding upon all Individuals at all times under all circumstances. This indicates some of the spiritual and moral values which are inherent in its concept of Individual Liberty-Responsibility.
An Indivisible Whole
3. The American philosophy, based upon this principle, is an indivisible whole and must be accepted or rejected as such. It cannot be treated piece-meal. Its fundamentals and its implicit meanings and obligations must be accepted together with its benefits.
The Individual's Self-respect
4. The concept of Man's spiritual nature, and the resulting concept of the supreme dignity and value of each Individual, provide the fundamental basis for each Individual's self-respect and the consequent mutual respect among Individual's. This self-respect as well as this mutual respect are the outgrowth of, and evidenced by, The Individual's maintenance of his God-given, unalienable rights. They are maintained by requiring that government and other Individuals respect them, as well as by his dedication to his own unceasing growth toward realization of his highest potential--spiritually, morally, intellectually, in every aspect of life. This is in order that he may merit maximum respect by self and by others.
Some Things Excluded
5. This concept of Man's spiritual nature excludes any idea of intrusion by government into this Man-to-Man spiritual relationship. It excludes the anti-moral precept that the end justifies the means and the related idea that the means can be separated from the end when judging them morally. This concept therefore excludes necessarily any idea of attempting to do good by force--for instance, through coercion of Man by Government, whether or not claimed to be for his own good or for the so-called common good or general welfare.
It excludes disbelief in--even doubt as to the existence of--God as the Creator of Man: and therefore excludes all ideas, theories and schools of thought--however ethical and lofty in intentions--which reject affirmative and positive belief in God as Man's Creator.
The Truly American Concept
6. Only those ideas, programs and practices, regarding things governmental, which are consistent with the concept that "The Spiritual is supreme" can justly be claimed to be truly American traditionally. Anything and everything governmental, which is in conflict with this concept, is non-American--judged by traditional belief.
This applies particularly to that which is agnostic, or atheistic--neutral about, or hostile to, positive and affirmative belief in this concept based upon belief in God as Man's Creator. There is not room for doubt, much less disbelief, in this regard from the standpoint of the traditional American philosophy. Its indivisible nature makes this inescapably true. This pertains, of course, to the realm of ideas and not to any person; it is the conflicting idea which is classified as non-American, according to this philosophy.
America a Haven For All Religions
7. The traditional American philosophy teaches that belief in God is the fundamental link which unites the adherents of all religions in a spiritual brotherhood. This philosophy allows for no differentiation between them in this unifying conviction: ". . . all men are created . . . endowed by their Creator . . ." This philosophy is all inclusive as to believers in God. Although America was originally colonized predominantly by adherents of the Christian religion, and principally by Protestants, the Founding Fathers steadfastly conformed to this all-embracing character of the approach of the American philosophy to religion. This was expressly and affirmatively indicated in the proclamation of 1776 of the fundamental American philosophy, of its basic principles, in the Declaration of Independence. This was further indicated, negatively, in 1787-1788 by the Framers and Ratifiers of the Constitution--as a "blueprint" for the structure of the then proposed Federal government, with strictly limited powers--by not permitting it to possess any power with regard to religion. This implied prohibition against the Federal government was reinforced by the addition of the First Amendment expressly prohibiting it, through the Congress, from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."--the words "an establishment of religion" being intended to mean, specifically and only, a church or religious organization which is established, supported and preferred by the government, like the Church of England establishments then existing in some of the States.
The Conclusion
8. Belief in Man's Divine origin is the foundation of the fundamental American principle which controls his relationship to government: that Man--The Individual--is of supreme dignity and value because of his spiritual nature.
Quotes from The American Ideal of 1776 supporting this Principle.
Thank you for reading.
Mangus Colorado
The Principle
1. The fundamental principle underlying the traditional American philosophy is that the Spiritual is supreme--that Man is of Divine origin and his spiritual, or religious, nature is of supreme value and importance compared with things material.
Religious Nature
2. This governmental philosophy is, therefore, essentially religious in nature. It is uniquely American; no other people in all history have ever made this principle the basis of their governmental philosophy. The spiritual brotherhood of men under the common fatherhood of God is a concept which is basic to this American philosophy. It expresses the spiritual relationship of God to Man and, in the light thereof, of Man to Man. To forget these truths is a most heinous offense against the spirit of traditional America because the greatest sin is the lost consciousness of sin.
The fundamentally religious basis of this philosophy is the foundation of its moral code, which contemplates The Individual's moral duty as being created by God's Law: the Natural Law. The Individual's duty requires obedience to this Higher Law; while knowledge of this duty comes from conscience, which the religious-minded and morally-aware Individual feels duty-bound to heed. This philosophy asserts that there are moral absolutes: truths, such as those mentioned above, which are binding upon all Individuals at all times under all circumstances. This indicates some of the spiritual and moral values which are inherent in its concept of Individual Liberty-Responsibility.
An Indivisible Whole
3. The American philosophy, based upon this principle, is an indivisible whole and must be accepted or rejected as such. It cannot be treated piece-meal. Its fundamentals and its implicit meanings and obligations must be accepted together with its benefits.
The Individual's Self-respect
4. The concept of Man's spiritual nature, and the resulting concept of the supreme dignity and value of each Individual, provide the fundamental basis for each Individual's self-respect and the consequent mutual respect among Individual's. This self-respect as well as this mutual respect are the outgrowth of, and evidenced by, The Individual's maintenance of his God-given, unalienable rights. They are maintained by requiring that government and other Individuals respect them, as well as by his dedication to his own unceasing growth toward realization of his highest potential--spiritually, morally, intellectually, in every aspect of life. This is in order that he may merit maximum respect by self and by others.
Some Things Excluded
5. This concept of Man's spiritual nature excludes any idea of intrusion by government into this Man-to-Man spiritual relationship. It excludes the anti-moral precept that the end justifies the means and the related idea that the means can be separated from the end when judging them morally. This concept therefore excludes necessarily any idea of attempting to do good by force--for instance, through coercion of Man by Government, whether or not claimed to be for his own good or for the so-called common good or general welfare.
It excludes disbelief in--even doubt as to the existence of--God as the Creator of Man: and therefore excludes all ideas, theories and schools of thought--however ethical and lofty in intentions--which reject affirmative and positive belief in God as Man's Creator.
The Truly American Concept
6. Only those ideas, programs and practices, regarding things governmental, which are consistent with the concept that "The Spiritual is supreme" can justly be claimed to be truly American traditionally. Anything and everything governmental, which is in conflict with this concept, is non-American--judged by traditional belief.
This applies particularly to that which is agnostic, or atheistic--neutral about, or hostile to, positive and affirmative belief in this concept based upon belief in God as Man's Creator. There is not room for doubt, much less disbelief, in this regard from the standpoint of the traditional American philosophy. Its indivisible nature makes this inescapably true. This pertains, of course, to the realm of ideas and not to any person; it is the conflicting idea which is classified as non-American, according to this philosophy.
America a Haven For All Religions
7. The traditional American philosophy teaches that belief in God is the fundamental link which unites the adherents of all religions in a spiritual brotherhood. This philosophy allows for no differentiation between them in this unifying conviction: ". . . all men are created . . . endowed by their Creator . . ." This philosophy is all inclusive as to believers in God. Although America was originally colonized predominantly by adherents of the Christian religion, and principally by Protestants, the Founding Fathers steadfastly conformed to this all-embracing character of the approach of the American philosophy to religion. This was expressly and affirmatively indicated in the proclamation of 1776 of the fundamental American philosophy, of its basic principles, in the Declaration of Independence. This was further indicated, negatively, in 1787-1788 by the Framers and Ratifiers of the Constitution--as a "blueprint" for the structure of the then proposed Federal government, with strictly limited powers--by not permitting it to possess any power with regard to religion. This implied prohibition against the Federal government was reinforced by the addition of the First Amendment expressly prohibiting it, through the Congress, from making any law "respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . ."--the words "an establishment of religion" being intended to mean, specifically and only, a church or religious organization which is established, supported and preferred by the government, like the Church of England establishments then existing in some of the States.
The Conclusion
8. Belief in Man's Divine origin is the foundation of the fundamental American principle which controls his relationship to government: that Man--The Individual--is of supreme dignity and value because of his spiritual nature.
Quotes from The American Ideal of 1776 supporting this Principle.
Thank you for reading.
Mangus Colorado
|
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army; another had two sons captured. Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War. They signed and they pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor. What kind of men were they? |
Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists. Eleven were merchants, nine were farmers and large plantation owners; men of means, well educated. But they signed the Declaration of Independence knowing full well that the penalty would be death if they were captured.
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.
Spirit or America Quotes from the Founding Fathers
"Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety." ~ Benjamin Franklin
"... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive.
If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.
The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." ~Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C.J. Boyd, Ed., 1950)
"If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained _ we must fight!" Patrick Henry
"(T)he foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality; ...the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained..." ~ George Washington, First Inaugural, April 30 1789
"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams
"Political interest [can] never be separated in the long run from moral right."
"Can the liberties of a nation be sure when we remove their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people, that these liberties are a gift from God?" ~ Thomas Jefferson
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." ~
Patrick Henry
"The citizens of the U.S. are responsible for the greatest trust ever confided to a political society."
"We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government." ~ James Madison
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." ~ Thomas Jefferson
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." ~ George Washington
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves." ~ William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783
"We must all hang together, or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately." ~ Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity." ~ Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address.
PATRICK HENRY
"The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun."
"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?"
March 23, 1775:
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
http://www.dojgov.net/Liberty_Watch.htm
Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British Navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts, and died in rags. Thomas McKeam was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family almost constantly. He served in the Congress without pay, and his family was kept in hiding. His possessions were taken from him, and poverty was his reward.
Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Dillery, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge, and Middleton. At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. noted that the British General Cornwallis had taken over the Nelson home for his headquarters. He quietly urged General George Washington to open fire. The home was destroyed, and Nelson died bankrupt.
Francis Lewis had his home and properties destroyed. The enemy jailed his wife, and she died within a few months. John Hart was driven from his wife's bedside as she was dying. Their 13 children fled for their lives. His fields and his gristmill were laid to waste. For more than a year he lived in forests and caves, returning home to find his wife dead and his children vanished. A few weeks later, he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.
Norris and Livingston suffered similar fates. Such were the stories and sacrifices of the American Revolution. These were not wild-eyed, rabble-rousing ruffians. They were soft-spoken men of means and education. They had security, but they valued liberty more.
Spirit or America Quotes from the Founding Fathers
"Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety." ~ Benjamin Franklin
"... God forbid we should ever be twenty years without such a rebellion. The people cannot be all, and always, well informed. The part which is wrong will be discontented, in proportion to the importance of the facts they misconceive.
If they remain quiet under such misconceptions, it is lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.... And what country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time, that this people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.
The remedy is to set them right as to the facts, pardon and pacify them. What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." ~Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C.J. Boyd, Ed., 1950)
"If we wish to be free, if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending, if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained _ we must fight!" Patrick Henry
"(T)he foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality; ...the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained..." ~ George Washington, First Inaugural, April 30 1789
"Our constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John Adams
"Political interest [can] never be separated in the long run from moral right."
"Can the liberties of a nation be sure when we remove their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people, that these liberties are a gift from God?" ~ Thomas Jefferson
"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government." ~
Patrick Henry
"The citizens of the U.S. are responsible for the greatest trust ever confided to a political society."
"We base all our experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government." ~ James Madison
"Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God." ~ Thomas Jefferson
"Government is not reason; it is not eloquence. It is force. And force, like fire, is a dangerous servant and a fearful master." ~ George Washington
"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is argument of tyrants. It is the creed of slaves." ~ William Pitt in the House of Commons November 18, 1783
"We must all hang together, or, assuredly, we shall all hang separately." ~ Benjamin Franklin at the signing of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776
"A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity." ~ Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address.
PATRICK HENRY
"The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able may have a gun."
"Are we at last brought to such humiliating and debasing degradation that we cannot be trusted with arms for our defense? Where is the difference between having our arms in possession and under our direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defense be the real object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands?"
March 23, 1775:
Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!
http://www.dojgov.net/Liberty_Watch.htm
When Vain and Aspiring Men Possess the Highest Seats in Government by Samuel Adams
Samuel Adams Letter to James Warren Philadelphia Oct 24 1780
NOTE: Text of letter is exactly as Samuel Adams wrote.
MY DEAR SIR
I have not yet laid aside your Letter of the 17th of Septr which is the last I have been favord with from you. It ill becomes you, my Friend, to think of retiring into private Life, who can lay your hand on your heart, and say that in your publick Conduct you have in no Instance deviated from virtuous Principles.
If ever the Time should come, when vain & aspiring Men shall possess the highest Seats in Government, our Country will stand in Need of its experiencd Patriots to prevent its Ruin. There may be more Danger of this, than some, even of our well disposd Citizens may imagine. If the People should grant their Suffrages to Men, only because they conceive them to have been Friends to the Country, without Regard to the necessary Qualifications for the Places they are to fill, the Administration of Government will become a mere Farce, and our pub-lick Affairs will never be put on the Footing of solid Security. We should inquire into the Tempers of Men, in order to form a Judgment in what Manner the publick Trusts to be reposed in them will be executed.
You remember the Character of Pisistratus. He was a Citizen of Athens, supposd to have many excellent Qualities, but he had an insatiable Lust of Pre-eminence. Solon could discover his Vanity, but the People were blinded by a false Glare of Virtues and he was their Idol. Under Pretence of his having escaped imminent Danger from a violent Faction, and the further Insecurity of his Person he artfully obtaind a Guard of Soldiers, by which Means he possessd himself of the Citadel & usurpd the Government. But though he made himself Sovereign, & thus far overthrew the popular Election, the Historian tells us, “that he made no Change in the Magistracy or the Laws.—He was content that others should hold their Places according to the establishd Rules of the Constitution, so that he might continue Archon, independent of the Suffrages of the People. This he effected; for though several Attempts were made, to deprive him of the Sovereignty which he had so violently obtaind, he held it till his Death & left it to his Children.” Such was the Ambition of this Man, who indeed assumd the Government, and such were the Effects of it. Power is intoxicating; and Men legally vested with it, too often discover a Disposition to make an ill Use of it & an Unwillingness to part with it. HOW different was Pisistratus from that Roman Hero and Patriot Lucius Quinctius Cincinatus who, tho vested with the Authority of Dictator, was so moderate in his Desires of a Continuance of Power, that, having in six Weeks fulfilld the Purposes of his Appointment, he resignd the dangerous office, which he might have held till the Expiration of six Months.—When we formerly had weak and wicked Governors & Magistrates, it was our Misfortune; but for the future, while we enjoy and exercise the inestimable Right of chusing them ourselves, it will be our Disgrace. I hope our Countrymen will always keep a watchful Eye over the publick Conduct of those whom they exalt to Power, making at the same time every just Allowance for the Imperfections of human Nature; and I pray God we may never see Men filling the sacred Seats of Government, who are either wanting in adequate Abilities, or influencd by any Views Motives or Feelings seperate from the publick Welfare. [public Welfare = Public Good, i.e. Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness]
Adieu.
Warren’s September 17 letter to Adams is in Warren-Adams Letters, 2:138-39
Bi-Partisanship It’s becoming more and more obvious that it is the government (both parties) against We The People.
Excerpt from letter by Samuel Adams to Eldridge Gerry Nov 27, 1780
“More in my Opinion, is necessary to be done, than conquering our British Enemies in order to establish the Liberties of our Country on a solid Basis. Human Nature, I am affraid, is too much debas’d to relish those Republican Principles, in which the new Government of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts appears to be founded. And may it not be added, that the former Government, I mean the last Charter, being calculated rather to make servile Men than free Citizens, the Minds of many of our Countrymen have been inurd to a cringing Obsequiousness [Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning], too deeply wrought into Habit to be easily eradicated? Mankind is prone enough to political Idolatry.
Such a temper is widely different from that reverence which every virtuous Citizen will show to the upright Magistrate. If my Fears on this Head are ill grounded, I hope I shall be excusd. They proceed from a cordial Affection for that Country to the Service of which I have devoted the greatest Part of my Life—May Heaven inspire the present Rulers with Wisdom & sound Understanding. In all Probability they will stamp the Character of the People. It is natural for sensible Observers to form an Estimate of the People from the Opinion they have of those whom they set up for their Legislators & Magistrates. And besides, if we look into the History of Governors, we shall find that their Principles & Manners have always had a mighty Influence on the People. Should Levity & Foppery(fn1) ever be the ruling Taste of the Great, the Body of the People would be in Danger of catching the Distemper, and the ridiculous Maxims of the one would become fashionable among the other.
I pray God we may never be addicted to Vanity & the Folly of Parade! Pomp & Show serve very well to promote the Purposes of European & Asiatick grandeur, in Countries where the Mystery of Iniquity is carried to the highest Pitch, & Millions are tame enough to believe that they are born for no other Purpose than to be subservient to the capricious Will of a single Great Man or a few!
It requires Council & sound Judgment to render our Country secure in a flourishing Condition.—If Men of Wisdom & Knowledge, of Moderation & Temperance, of Patience Fortitude & Perseverance, of Sobriety & true Republican Simplicity of Manners, of Zeal for the Honor of the Supreme Being & the Welfare of the Common Wealth—If Men possessd of these & other excellent Qualities are chosen to fill the Seats of Government we may expect that our Affairs will rest on a solid & permanent Foundation.”
Levity: means humor or frivolity, esp. the treatment of a serious matter with humor or in a manner lacking due respect.
Foppery: is a pejorative term describing a foolish man overly concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th century England. Some of the very many similar alternative terms are: “coxcomb”, fribble, “popinjay” (meaning “parrot”), fashion-monger, and “ninny”. “Macaroni” was another term, of the 18th century, more specifically concerned with fashion. A modern-day fop may also be a reference to a foolish person who is overly concerned about his clothing and incapable of engaging in intellectual conversations, activities or thoughts.
See also:
Patrick Henry may well be proved a Prophet as well as a Statesman
The Importance of Free Speech and The Free Press in America
RIGHTS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS: Powers delegated to the State Governments - The Doctrine of Fascism, Fascism Defined by Benito Mussolini
http://captainjamesdavis.net/2013/06/13/when-vain-aspiring-men-possess-the-highest-seats-in-government-by-samuel-adams/
NOTE: Text of letter is exactly as Samuel Adams wrote.
MY DEAR SIR
I have not yet laid aside your Letter of the 17th of Septr which is the last I have been favord with from you. It ill becomes you, my Friend, to think of retiring into private Life, who can lay your hand on your heart, and say that in your publick Conduct you have in no Instance deviated from virtuous Principles.
If ever the Time should come, when vain & aspiring Men shall possess the highest Seats in Government, our Country will stand in Need of its experiencd Patriots to prevent its Ruin. There may be more Danger of this, than some, even of our well disposd Citizens may imagine. If the People should grant their Suffrages to Men, only because they conceive them to have been Friends to the Country, without Regard to the necessary Qualifications for the Places they are to fill, the Administration of Government will become a mere Farce, and our pub-lick Affairs will never be put on the Footing of solid Security. We should inquire into the Tempers of Men, in order to form a Judgment in what Manner the publick Trusts to be reposed in them will be executed.
You remember the Character of Pisistratus. He was a Citizen of Athens, supposd to have many excellent Qualities, but he had an insatiable Lust of Pre-eminence. Solon could discover his Vanity, but the People were blinded by a false Glare of Virtues and he was their Idol. Under Pretence of his having escaped imminent Danger from a violent Faction, and the further Insecurity of his Person he artfully obtaind a Guard of Soldiers, by which Means he possessd himself of the Citadel & usurpd the Government. But though he made himself Sovereign, & thus far overthrew the popular Election, the Historian tells us, “that he made no Change in the Magistracy or the Laws.—He was content that others should hold their Places according to the establishd Rules of the Constitution, so that he might continue Archon, independent of the Suffrages of the People. This he effected; for though several Attempts were made, to deprive him of the Sovereignty which he had so violently obtaind, he held it till his Death & left it to his Children.” Such was the Ambition of this Man, who indeed assumd the Government, and such were the Effects of it. Power is intoxicating; and Men legally vested with it, too often discover a Disposition to make an ill Use of it & an Unwillingness to part with it. HOW different was Pisistratus from that Roman Hero and Patriot Lucius Quinctius Cincinatus who, tho vested with the Authority of Dictator, was so moderate in his Desires of a Continuance of Power, that, having in six Weeks fulfilld the Purposes of his Appointment, he resignd the dangerous office, which he might have held till the Expiration of six Months.—When we formerly had weak and wicked Governors & Magistrates, it was our Misfortune; but for the future, while we enjoy and exercise the inestimable Right of chusing them ourselves, it will be our Disgrace. I hope our Countrymen will always keep a watchful Eye over the publick Conduct of those whom they exalt to Power, making at the same time every just Allowance for the Imperfections of human Nature; and I pray God we may never see Men filling the sacred Seats of Government, who are either wanting in adequate Abilities, or influencd by any Views Motives or Feelings seperate from the publick Welfare. [public Welfare = Public Good, i.e. Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness]
Adieu.
Warren’s September 17 letter to Adams is in Warren-Adams Letters, 2:138-39
Bi-Partisanship It’s becoming more and more obvious that it is the government (both parties) against We The People.
Excerpt from letter by Samuel Adams to Eldridge Gerry Nov 27, 1780
“More in my Opinion, is necessary to be done, than conquering our British Enemies in order to establish the Liberties of our Country on a solid Basis. Human Nature, I am affraid, is too much debas’d to relish those Republican Principles, in which the new Government of the Common Wealth of Massachusetts appears to be founded. And may it not be added, that the former Government, I mean the last Charter, being calculated rather to make servile Men than free Citizens, the Minds of many of our Countrymen have been inurd to a cringing Obsequiousness [Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning], too deeply wrought into Habit to be easily eradicated? Mankind is prone enough to political Idolatry.
Such a temper is widely different from that reverence which every virtuous Citizen will show to the upright Magistrate. If my Fears on this Head are ill grounded, I hope I shall be excusd. They proceed from a cordial Affection for that Country to the Service of which I have devoted the greatest Part of my Life—May Heaven inspire the present Rulers with Wisdom & sound Understanding. In all Probability they will stamp the Character of the People. It is natural for sensible Observers to form an Estimate of the People from the Opinion they have of those whom they set up for their Legislators & Magistrates. And besides, if we look into the History of Governors, we shall find that their Principles & Manners have always had a mighty Influence on the People. Should Levity & Foppery(fn1) ever be the ruling Taste of the Great, the Body of the People would be in Danger of catching the Distemper, and the ridiculous Maxims of the one would become fashionable among the other.
I pray God we may never be addicted to Vanity & the Folly of Parade! Pomp & Show serve very well to promote the Purposes of European & Asiatick grandeur, in Countries where the Mystery of Iniquity is carried to the highest Pitch, & Millions are tame enough to believe that they are born for no other Purpose than to be subservient to the capricious Will of a single Great Man or a few!
It requires Council & sound Judgment to render our Country secure in a flourishing Condition.—If Men of Wisdom & Knowledge, of Moderation & Temperance, of Patience Fortitude & Perseverance, of Sobriety & true Republican Simplicity of Manners, of Zeal for the Honor of the Supreme Being & the Welfare of the Common Wealth—If Men possessd of these & other excellent Qualities are chosen to fill the Seats of Government we may expect that our Affairs will rest on a solid & permanent Foundation.”
Levity: means humor or frivolity, esp. the treatment of a serious matter with humor or in a manner lacking due respect.
Foppery: is a pejorative term describing a foolish man overly concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th century England. Some of the very many similar alternative terms are: “coxcomb”, fribble, “popinjay” (meaning “parrot”), fashion-monger, and “ninny”. “Macaroni” was another term, of the 18th century, more specifically concerned with fashion. A modern-day fop may also be a reference to a foolish person who is overly concerned about his clothing and incapable of engaging in intellectual conversations, activities or thoughts.
See also:
Patrick Henry may well be proved a Prophet as well as a Statesman
The Importance of Free Speech and The Free Press in America
RIGHTS OF AMERICAN CITIZENS: Powers delegated to the State Governments - The Doctrine of Fascism, Fascism Defined by Benito Mussolini
http://captainjamesdavis.net/2013/06/13/when-vain-aspiring-men-possess-the-highest-seats-in-government-by-samuel-adams/
TODAY IN AMERICA
Oct 12, 2013 11:00am Each day of the government shutdown, senators listened to the prayers of Senate Chaplain Barry Black guiding them to act responsibly to reopen the federal government. From urging Congress to pay Capitol Police to restoring the benefits afforded to military families who have lost loved ones on the battlefield, Black, a retired rear admiral in the Navy, has tailored his daily prayers to fit the issues consuming Congress during the government shutdown.
'Senate chaplain Barry Black, who has offered a series of stinging rebukes to Congress’s intransigence this week, may have outdone himself this morning.'
For God’s Sake: Senate Chaplain Prays to End Shutdown ‘Madness’
Here’s what he said, according to a transcript:
LET US PRAY. O GOD, IN WHOSE PRESENCE OUR SOULS TAKE DELIGHT, TO WHOM IN AFFLICTION WE CALL, FORGIVE US FOR CONTINUING TO SOW TO THE WIND EVEN WHEN HEARING THE SOUNDS OF THE APPROACHING WHIRLWIND. LORD, WHEN OUR FEDERAL SHUTDOWN DELAYS PAYMENTS OF DEATH BENEFITS TO THE FAMILIES OF CHILDREN DYING ON FAR-AWAY BATTLEFIELDS, IT’S TIME FOR OUR LAWMAKERS TO SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. COVER OUR SHAME WITH THE ROBE OF YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. FORGIVE US, REFORM US, AND MAKE US WHOLE. WE PRAY IN YOUR MERCIFUL NAME. AMEN.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2013/october/senate-chaplain-barry-black-prayer-government-shutdown.html
Here’s a compilation of his daily prayers since the government closed:
PRE-SHUTDOWN: Sept. 27
“Holy God, you created us for freedom, so keep us from shackling ourselves with the chains of dysfunction. Use our Senators today to serve your purposes for this generation, making them ever mindful of their accountability to you. Lord, deliver us from governing by crisis, empowering us to be responsible stewards of your bounty, using judicious compromise for the mutual progress of all. Provide this land we love with your gracious protection, and may we never cease to be grateful for the numberless blessings we receive each day from your hands. We pray in your merciful name. Amen.”
PRE-SHUTDOWN: Sept. 30
“Eternal God, our ever present help in trouble, as our nation stumbles toward a seemingly unavoidable government shutdown, keep our lawmakers from sowing to the wind, thereby risking reaping the whirlwind. May they remember that all that is necessary for unintended catastrophic consequences is for good people to do nothing. Lord, lead them away from the unfortunate dialectic of us versus them, as they strive to unite for the common good of this land we love. Let them not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give them the determination to make the right things happen. Bless them with the courage to stand for something, lest they fall for anything. We pray in your merciful name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 1: Oct. 1
“Be merciful to us, oh, God. Because of your constant love, because of your great mercy, wipe away our sins of commission and omission. During this legislative stalemate, help our lawmakers to test all things by their conscience, seeking to do right as you give them the ability to see it. Stir their hearts making them bold to follow your ways. In these days that try our souls, strengthen our weaknesses replacing cynicism with faith and cowardice with courage. We pray in your holy name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 2: Oct. 2
“O God, who remains our shelter in the time of storms, we are helpless without your power. Unless you empower our lawmakers, they can see the ideal but not reach it. They can know the right but not do it. They can comprehend their duty but not perform it. They can seek the truth but not fully find it. Dear God, help our lawmakers, enlighten their minds, purify their hearts, and strengthen their wills, enabling them to pass beyond guessing to knowing, beyond doubting to certainty, beyond resolving to doing, and beyond intention to action. We pray in your sacred name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 3: Oct. 3
“Have mercy upon us, oh God, and save us from the madness. We acknowledge our transgressions, our shortcomings, our smugness, our selfishness, and our pride. Create in us clean hearts, oh God, and renew a right spirit within us. Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable. Remove the burdens of those who are the collateral damage of this government shutdown, transforming negatives into positives as you work for the good of those who love you. We pray in your merciful name, Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 4: Oct. 4
“Eternal God, thank you for the many mercies you extend to us each day. Lord, we’re grateful for our federal law enforcement agents and first responders and pray that we may emulate their patriotism and self-sacrifice. May we go beyond applause in expressing our gratitude but make decisions that will ensure their timely and fair compensation. Today, give our lawmakers the vision and the willingness to see and to do your will. Remove from them that stubborn pride which imagination itself to be above and beyond criticism. Forgive them for the blunders they have committed, infusing them with the courage to admit and correct mistakes. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 5: Oct. 5
“God of heaven, you are great and we come before your throne with reverence. Lord, look at us and hear our prayers for our Congress, our nation, and our world. Make our lawmakers so transparently just and fair that falsehood may be banished by the truth that sets us free. Supply the needs of those who are hurting because of this government shutdown, as you give our senators the conviction that, with you, all things are possible. We pray in your great name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 7: Oct. 7
“Eternal God, our stronghold and defense, your judgments and will are perfect, so we place our trust in you. Thank you for the privilege of speaking to you in daily prayer. Forgive us when our prayers are so other worldly they are no earthly good. Forgive us also when we put politics ahead of progress. Lord, strengthen our senators today, helping them to not throw away their confidence in you. Inspire them to persevere in seeking to do your will, knowing that your promises are sure and that the harvest is certain. We pray in your holy name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 8: Oct. 8
“Gracious God, we praise you that although we have merely a feeble hold on you, you have a mighty grasp on us. Use your mighty hands to lead our lawmakers to your desired destination, making them instruments of truth and justice. May the tirades of majority be enough to lead our lawmakers for doing what is best for America. May our Senators’ daily choice be characterized by ethical congruence, as they strive to match their words with deeds. We pray in your great name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 9: Oct. 9
“O God, in whose presence our souls take delight, to whom in affliction we call, forgive us for continuing to sow to the wind even when hearing the sounds of the approaching whirlwind. Lord, when our federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of children dying on far-away battlefields, it’s time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough. Cover our shame with the robe of your righteousness. Forgive us, reform us, and make us whole. We pray in your merciful name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 10: Oct. 10
“Immortal and wise god, may the memory of your past mercies sustain us during these challenging times. As we have reached the tenth day of this federal shutdown, strengthen our senators with your might, preserving them with your grace, and instructing them with your wisdom. Inspire them to take a step back from partisanship and to take a step forward toward patriotism, striving to strengthen and not weaken this land we love. Lord, make them alive and alert to the spiritual values which underlie all the struggle of this challenging season. Direct their going out and coming in, as you energize them with your presence. We pray in your strong name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 11: Oct. 11
“Oh mighty God, we desperately need your steadfast love to sustain us during this difficult time. Lord, give our lawmakers the wisdom to distinguish between truth and error, and the courage to act upon those insights. Help them to avoid the shortcuts that lead away from your will. As you make them your eyes, ears, feet and hands to bring solace to those who suffer. Give them a hatred of all hypocrisy, deceit and shame as they seek to replace them with gentleness, patience, and truth. We pray in your great name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 12: Oct. 12
“Eternal God, we are indebted to you for your many mercies and continue to look to you for our well being. Remind us that prayer really is listening more than speaking, an act of empathy rather than self-expression. Give our senators this day the special gifts of wisdom and understanding, patience and strength, motivating them to follow what is true and do what is right. Lord, inspire our lawmakers with a renewed trust in you and a commitment to work together for your glory. We pray in your sacred name. Amen.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/10/for-gods-sake-senate-chaplain-prays-to-end-shutdown-madness/
'Senate chaplain Barry Black, who has offered a series of stinging rebukes to Congress’s intransigence this week, may have outdone himself this morning.'
For God’s Sake: Senate Chaplain Prays to End Shutdown ‘Madness’
Here’s what he said, according to a transcript:
LET US PRAY. O GOD, IN WHOSE PRESENCE OUR SOULS TAKE DELIGHT, TO WHOM IN AFFLICTION WE CALL, FORGIVE US FOR CONTINUING TO SOW TO THE WIND EVEN WHEN HEARING THE SOUNDS OF THE APPROACHING WHIRLWIND. LORD, WHEN OUR FEDERAL SHUTDOWN DELAYS PAYMENTS OF DEATH BENEFITS TO THE FAMILIES OF CHILDREN DYING ON FAR-AWAY BATTLEFIELDS, IT’S TIME FOR OUR LAWMAKERS TO SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. COVER OUR SHAME WITH THE ROBE OF YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. FORGIVE US, REFORM US, AND MAKE US WHOLE. WE PRAY IN YOUR MERCIFUL NAME. AMEN.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2013/october/senate-chaplain-barry-black-prayer-government-shutdown.html
Here’s a compilation of his daily prayers since the government closed:
PRE-SHUTDOWN: Sept. 27
“Holy God, you created us for freedom, so keep us from shackling ourselves with the chains of dysfunction. Use our Senators today to serve your purposes for this generation, making them ever mindful of their accountability to you. Lord, deliver us from governing by crisis, empowering us to be responsible stewards of your bounty, using judicious compromise for the mutual progress of all. Provide this land we love with your gracious protection, and may we never cease to be grateful for the numberless blessings we receive each day from your hands. We pray in your merciful name. Amen.”
PRE-SHUTDOWN: Sept. 30
“Eternal God, our ever present help in trouble, as our nation stumbles toward a seemingly unavoidable government shutdown, keep our lawmakers from sowing to the wind, thereby risking reaping the whirlwind. May they remember that all that is necessary for unintended catastrophic consequences is for good people to do nothing. Lord, lead them away from the unfortunate dialectic of us versus them, as they strive to unite for the common good of this land we love. Let them not be content to wait and see what will happen, but give them the determination to make the right things happen. Bless them with the courage to stand for something, lest they fall for anything. We pray in your merciful name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 1: Oct. 1
“Be merciful to us, oh, God. Because of your constant love, because of your great mercy, wipe away our sins of commission and omission. During this legislative stalemate, help our lawmakers to test all things by their conscience, seeking to do right as you give them the ability to see it. Stir their hearts making them bold to follow your ways. In these days that try our souls, strengthen our weaknesses replacing cynicism with faith and cowardice with courage. We pray in your holy name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 2: Oct. 2
“O God, who remains our shelter in the time of storms, we are helpless without your power. Unless you empower our lawmakers, they can see the ideal but not reach it. They can know the right but not do it. They can comprehend their duty but not perform it. They can seek the truth but not fully find it. Dear God, help our lawmakers, enlighten their minds, purify their hearts, and strengthen their wills, enabling them to pass beyond guessing to knowing, beyond doubting to certainty, beyond resolving to doing, and beyond intention to action. We pray in your sacred name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 3: Oct. 3
“Have mercy upon us, oh God, and save us from the madness. We acknowledge our transgressions, our shortcomings, our smugness, our selfishness, and our pride. Create in us clean hearts, oh God, and renew a right spirit within us. Deliver us from the hypocrisy of attempting to sound reasonable while being unreasonable. Remove the burdens of those who are the collateral damage of this government shutdown, transforming negatives into positives as you work for the good of those who love you. We pray in your merciful name, Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 4: Oct. 4
“Eternal God, thank you for the many mercies you extend to us each day. Lord, we’re grateful for our federal law enforcement agents and first responders and pray that we may emulate their patriotism and self-sacrifice. May we go beyond applause in expressing our gratitude but make decisions that will ensure their timely and fair compensation. Today, give our lawmakers the vision and the willingness to see and to do your will. Remove from them that stubborn pride which imagination itself to be above and beyond criticism. Forgive them for the blunders they have committed, infusing them with the courage to admit and correct mistakes. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 5: Oct. 5
“God of heaven, you are great and we come before your throne with reverence. Lord, look at us and hear our prayers for our Congress, our nation, and our world. Make our lawmakers so transparently just and fair that falsehood may be banished by the truth that sets us free. Supply the needs of those who are hurting because of this government shutdown, as you give our senators the conviction that, with you, all things are possible. We pray in your great name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 7: Oct. 7
“Eternal God, our stronghold and defense, your judgments and will are perfect, so we place our trust in you. Thank you for the privilege of speaking to you in daily prayer. Forgive us when our prayers are so other worldly they are no earthly good. Forgive us also when we put politics ahead of progress. Lord, strengthen our senators today, helping them to not throw away their confidence in you. Inspire them to persevere in seeking to do your will, knowing that your promises are sure and that the harvest is certain. We pray in your holy name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 8: Oct. 8
“Gracious God, we praise you that although we have merely a feeble hold on you, you have a mighty grasp on us. Use your mighty hands to lead our lawmakers to your desired destination, making them instruments of truth and justice. May the tirades of majority be enough to lead our lawmakers for doing what is best for America. May our Senators’ daily choice be characterized by ethical congruence, as they strive to match their words with deeds. We pray in your great name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 9: Oct. 9
“O God, in whose presence our souls take delight, to whom in affliction we call, forgive us for continuing to sow to the wind even when hearing the sounds of the approaching whirlwind. Lord, when our federal shutdown delays payments of death benefits to the families of children dying on far-away battlefields, it’s time for our lawmakers to say enough is enough. Cover our shame with the robe of your righteousness. Forgive us, reform us, and make us whole. We pray in your merciful name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 10: Oct. 10
“Immortal and wise god, may the memory of your past mercies sustain us during these challenging times. As we have reached the tenth day of this federal shutdown, strengthen our senators with your might, preserving them with your grace, and instructing them with your wisdom. Inspire them to take a step back from partisanship and to take a step forward toward patriotism, striving to strengthen and not weaken this land we love. Lord, make them alive and alert to the spiritual values which underlie all the struggle of this challenging season. Direct their going out and coming in, as you energize them with your presence. We pray in your strong name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 11: Oct. 11
“Oh mighty God, we desperately need your steadfast love to sustain us during this difficult time. Lord, give our lawmakers the wisdom to distinguish between truth and error, and the courage to act upon those insights. Help them to avoid the shortcuts that lead away from your will. As you make them your eyes, ears, feet and hands to bring solace to those who suffer. Give them a hatred of all hypocrisy, deceit and shame as they seek to replace them with gentleness, patience, and truth. We pray in your great name. Amen.”
SHUTDOWN DAY 12: Oct. 12
“Eternal God, we are indebted to you for your many mercies and continue to look to you for our well being. Remind us that prayer really is listening more than speaking, an act of empathy rather than self-expression. Give our senators this day the special gifts of wisdom and understanding, patience and strength, motivating them to follow what is true and do what is right. Lord, inspire our lawmakers with a renewed trust in you and a commitment to work together for your glory. We pray in your sacred name. Amen.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/10/for-gods-sake-senate-chaplain-prays-to-end-shutdown-madness/
The Spirit of America Restored - We Can All Be American Rebels - American Patriots
Sybil Luddington an Unlikely American Rebel/Patriot
Let us return to the time when the Revolution was in full swing, and the end was still in doubt....
The place is Danbury, CT. Under siege from the British, with the bombardment and 'pinning-down' artillery fire. It was a key position as major supply depot for our own arms, equipment, and food for the Continental Army's defense of the Hudson Valley.
George Washington himself called the defense of the Hudson 'the key to the continent.' You can see a guide to some of some of the most important sites in the Hudson Highlands and Hudson lower valley at; http://www.vintagehudsonvalley.com/planner-revolutionary.shtml .
The story of this most unlikely American Rebel/Patriot, begins when a rider from Danbury informs Colonel Henry Ludington, that the British were sacking and burning Danbury, CT.
Colonel Ludington was the Commander of the 7th Regiment of Duchess County Militia Volunteers, located and gathered from the general area around Danbury. He knew that they needed to Alert the "Minutemen" and call them 'to arms'. He was forced with a dire dilemma when the dispatch messenger he summoned was not familiar with the general area, and did not know where to go to alert the Militia.
Enter Sybil Ludington (April; 5, 1761 - February 26, 1839). Sybil or 'Sibel', as she herself spelled it, was the 16 year old daughter of the Colonel. She will become to be known and renowned for, doing basically the identical thing as the Longfellow Poem immortalized in "The Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere". But unlike him, she did not have two other riders assisting, nor did she get captured by the British.
Our beautiful, brave and very young Sybil loved riding horses, and was an accomplished horsewoman, in her own right. She prepared herself and took to horse to accomplish the task that needed to be done.
She would ride over 40 miles on that rainy night. That was over twice as far a Paul Revere rode before he was captured. Sybil alerted the Volunteers of the 7th and did so while avoiding the British, and evading capture.
When she returned home she saw the regiment of approximately 400 men had formed and were ready to go into battle. The British burned the homes of the Patriots in Danbury. Many of those homes belonged to the men who had answered her summons.
These soldiers then set out towards the village of Ridgefield in hopes of avoiding Maj. Gen. David Wooster and Gen. Arnold's troops [British.]
Unfortunately, the 7th Militia, were too late to join in the Ridgefield Battle but they were able to harass Maj. Gen. William Tryon's troops on their return to Compo Beach.
Sybil is historically considered, 'the Female Paul Revere'.
It is unclear historically, but it is believed, that the route Sybil took was planned out by her Father Col. Ludington. The Route, as previously stated was about 40 miles, and that was a tremendous distance in those days, especially since she had to avoid not only British Troops but Loyalists and outlaws too.
Consider these important facts:
*She started about 9:00pm and returned at dawn the next morning. That was one long hard ride for a young girl, would be considered as much for a full grown man.
*The Route she ultimately took went from what is modern day Kent, then she turned South to Mahopac, then North to Stormville, before returning to the long ride home.
*There are historical markers placed on her route through Putnam County, and a statue of her riding side saddle on her horse-with its right foreleg raised-is able to be seen on Route 52 in Carmel.
The statue is conflicting with her Fathers memoirs about her "clinging to a man’s saddle and guiding her steed with only a hempen halter" during the ride. Note: Sybil was congratulated for her heroism by none other than George Washington himself.
I related this story to show that anyone and everyone is capable of being a modern day Rebel/Patriot if they have the belief in America. If they have truly embraced in their own heart, as she did in hers, the promise of what America was-is and can always be. America stands for so much, So many need to stand for Her.
We are all we have to oppose the forces of darkness and eventual slavery that are warring against us on a daily basis. Ronald Reagan, considered one of, if not the most, influential modern day presidents remarked:
"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women." and....
"Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. we didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United states where men were free."
I will close with these from our first President, George Washington. The man who thanked Sybil for her patriotic heroism:
"It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn."
"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."
"No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass."
"No morn ever dawned more favorable than ours did; and no day was ever more clouded than the present! Wisdom and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm."
Many years have passed since he uttered these words, but the truth of them is immortal-immeasurable in their need to be heard again, just as appropriate and true today, as the day when they first left his lips.
Thank You For Reading.
Your Fellow Patriot in Liberty
The Tradesman
Let us return to the time when the Revolution was in full swing, and the end was still in doubt....
The place is Danbury, CT. Under siege from the British, with the bombardment and 'pinning-down' artillery fire. It was a key position as major supply depot for our own arms, equipment, and food for the Continental Army's defense of the Hudson Valley.
George Washington himself called the defense of the Hudson 'the key to the continent.' You can see a guide to some of some of the most important sites in the Hudson Highlands and Hudson lower valley at; http://www.vintagehudsonvalley.com/planner-revolutionary.shtml .
The story of this most unlikely American Rebel/Patriot, begins when a rider from Danbury informs Colonel Henry Ludington, that the British were sacking and burning Danbury, CT.
Colonel Ludington was the Commander of the 7th Regiment of Duchess County Militia Volunteers, located and gathered from the general area around Danbury. He knew that they needed to Alert the "Minutemen" and call them 'to arms'. He was forced with a dire dilemma when the dispatch messenger he summoned was not familiar with the general area, and did not know where to go to alert the Militia.
Enter Sybil Ludington (April; 5, 1761 - February 26, 1839). Sybil or 'Sibel', as she herself spelled it, was the 16 year old daughter of the Colonel. She will become to be known and renowned for, doing basically the identical thing as the Longfellow Poem immortalized in "The Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere". But unlike him, she did not have two other riders assisting, nor did she get captured by the British.
Our beautiful, brave and very young Sybil loved riding horses, and was an accomplished horsewoman, in her own right. She prepared herself and took to horse to accomplish the task that needed to be done.
She would ride over 40 miles on that rainy night. That was over twice as far a Paul Revere rode before he was captured. Sybil alerted the Volunteers of the 7th and did so while avoiding the British, and evading capture.
When she returned home she saw the regiment of approximately 400 men had formed and were ready to go into battle. The British burned the homes of the Patriots in Danbury. Many of those homes belonged to the men who had answered her summons.
These soldiers then set out towards the village of Ridgefield in hopes of avoiding Maj. Gen. David Wooster and Gen. Arnold's troops [British.]
Unfortunately, the 7th Militia, were too late to join in the Ridgefield Battle but they were able to harass Maj. Gen. William Tryon's troops on their return to Compo Beach.
Sybil is historically considered, 'the Female Paul Revere'.
It is unclear historically, but it is believed, that the route Sybil took was planned out by her Father Col. Ludington. The Route, as previously stated was about 40 miles, and that was a tremendous distance in those days, especially since she had to avoid not only British Troops but Loyalists and outlaws too.
Consider these important facts:
*She started about 9:00pm and returned at dawn the next morning. That was one long hard ride for a young girl, would be considered as much for a full grown man.
*The Route she ultimately took went from what is modern day Kent, then she turned South to Mahopac, then North to Stormville, before returning to the long ride home.
*There are historical markers placed on her route through Putnam County, and a statue of her riding side saddle on her horse-with its right foreleg raised-is able to be seen on Route 52 in Carmel.
The statue is conflicting with her Fathers memoirs about her "clinging to a man’s saddle and guiding her steed with only a hempen halter" during the ride. Note: Sybil was congratulated for her heroism by none other than George Washington himself.
I related this story to show that anyone and everyone is capable of being a modern day Rebel/Patriot if they have the belief in America. If they have truly embraced in their own heart, as she did in hers, the promise of what America was-is and can always be. America stands for so much, So many need to stand for Her.
We are all we have to oppose the forces of darkness and eventual slavery that are warring against us on a daily basis. Ronald Reagan, considered one of, if not the most, influential modern day presidents remarked:
"Above all, we must realize that no arsenal, or no weapon in the arsenals of the world, is so formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women." and....
"Freedom is never more than one generation from extinction. we didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United states where men were free."
I will close with these from our first President, George Washington. The man who thanked Sybil for her patriotic heroism:
"It should be the highest ambition of every American to extend his views beyond himself, and to bear in mind that his conduct will not only affect himself, his country, and his immediate posterity; but that its influence may be co-extensive with the world, and stamp political happiness or misery on ages yet unborn."
"Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial fire called conscience."
"No country upon earth ever had it more in its power to attain these blessings than United America. Wondrously strange, then, and much to be regretted indeed would it be, were we to neglect the means and to depart from the road which Providence has pointed us to so plainly; I cannot believe it will ever come to pass."
"No morn ever dawned more favorable than ours did; and no day was ever more clouded than the present! Wisdom and good examples are necessary at this time to rescue the political machine from the impending storm."
Many years have passed since he uttered these words, but the truth of them is immortal-immeasurable in their need to be heard again, just as appropriate and true today, as the day when they first left his lips.
Thank You For Reading.
Your Fellow Patriot in Liberty
The Tradesman
Faith and Reason of the Modern Citizen
Many claim, and few would deny, that our republic faces great danger, and numerous challenges. You and I along with all of our Citizens likely view our world through three lenses; Faith, Reason, and the "Rule of Law." Let us consider together these three views in hope of finding as much common ground as is possible. While differences no doubt exist in how each of us views our republic, it will surely be our common ground, our common views, which may unite us toward a better and common future.
People of Faith are usually guided by general codes which guide their living, as well as doctrine or theology advocated by organized religions or denominations and embraced by their members. Most of todays "world religions," while claiming exclusive truth, also call for toleration for those who believe differently. Our Founders all called for, and taught that such toleration must dominate our public squares. Mutual respect among all human beings is not only central to Christian faith, but to all major religions in our modern world. All of our Founders were either witnesses of "The Great Awakening," students of it, or both.
"Enlightenment," also called "The Age of Reason," was a period of time, generally from the mid 1600's through the end of the 1700's, during which many men and women of education and intellect, mostly men however, wrote extensively on science and reason as tools of skepticism with which to challenge established religious institutions, especially "State sponsored" religions and the Catholic and Anglican churches. Observation and measurement along with inductive and deductive reasoning undergirded emerging "science." Those identified as Enlightenment proponents span a full range of thought and belief, from "deists" to religious reformers, but virtually none were atheists. The Enlightenment contributors all declared the necessity of morality and ethics but many sought supports for these beyond those flowing from "faith and religion." I have yet to find any "scientific or reasoned" code of morals and ethics. Mankind may claim almost everything to be virtue or vice while others claim neither exist. Some extol happiness or pleasure but none I have found support objective standards, let alone any absolutes.
Though history clearly shows that most of the Founders of the united States were "Christians," some were guided more by Reason than Faith, and still others were guided by both. Yet today, secular humanists and atheists are given exalted status, primarily by judicial elites, rather than by populist sentiment. Yet this was not so for the first 150 years of our republic. Once upon a time, we were founded upon, and operated under the "Rule of Law." Rule of Law historically meant clear lines between "right and wrong" to the appeal of Reason, between "good or evil" to the appeal of Faith, and to "legal and illegal" to the appeal of the Law. Our Founders were clear that "universal and immutable" Law existed and was recorded in The Holy Bible. William Blackstone, though a British jurist, was highly regarded among our Founders such as John Marshall, James Wilson, John Jay, John Adams and many others, wrote "To instance in the case of murder: this is expressly forbidden by the Divine. . . . If any human law should allow or enjoin us to commit it we are bound to transgress that human law. . . . But, with regard to matters that are . . . not commanded or forbidden by those superior laws such, for instance, as exporting of wool into foreign countries; here the . . . legislature has scope and opportunity to interpose."
Our Founders, and for most of our history, our officeholders and citizens, accepted that God's general Law is Supreme. Where God is silent, man may legislate. Yet today, having expelled God from our schools, still the atheists demand more, that God be banished from our public square. In our Republic we now have fifty States - Each a societal laboratory where differences may be explored. However, just as Thomas Paine in "Common Sense [1776]" appealed to our common reason, today I appeal to your "common decency." I call upon you, if you believe God exists and the Bible to be His Word, to join with us, regardless of political affiliation, in reminding our federal government that we still have a Tenth Amendment, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Surely people of Faith, of Reason, and of the Rule of Law, may come together in common agreement as citizens of the several States, and tell our federal "public servants" that "We the People" remain and ought ever to remain their Masters.
People of Faith are usually guided by general codes which guide their living, as well as doctrine or theology advocated by organized religions or denominations and embraced by their members. Most of todays "world religions," while claiming exclusive truth, also call for toleration for those who believe differently. Our Founders all called for, and taught that such toleration must dominate our public squares. Mutual respect among all human beings is not only central to Christian faith, but to all major religions in our modern world. All of our Founders were either witnesses of "The Great Awakening," students of it, or both.
"Enlightenment," also called "The Age of Reason," was a period of time, generally from the mid 1600's through the end of the 1700's, during which many men and women of education and intellect, mostly men however, wrote extensively on science and reason as tools of skepticism with which to challenge established religious institutions, especially "State sponsored" religions and the Catholic and Anglican churches. Observation and measurement along with inductive and deductive reasoning undergirded emerging "science." Those identified as Enlightenment proponents span a full range of thought and belief, from "deists" to religious reformers, but virtually none were atheists. The Enlightenment contributors all declared the necessity of morality and ethics but many sought supports for these beyond those flowing from "faith and religion." I have yet to find any "scientific or reasoned" code of morals and ethics. Mankind may claim almost everything to be virtue or vice while others claim neither exist. Some extol happiness or pleasure but none I have found support objective standards, let alone any absolutes.
Though history clearly shows that most of the Founders of the united States were "Christians," some were guided more by Reason than Faith, and still others were guided by both. Yet today, secular humanists and atheists are given exalted status, primarily by judicial elites, rather than by populist sentiment. Yet this was not so for the first 150 years of our republic. Once upon a time, we were founded upon, and operated under the "Rule of Law." Rule of Law historically meant clear lines between "right and wrong" to the appeal of Reason, between "good or evil" to the appeal of Faith, and to "legal and illegal" to the appeal of the Law. Our Founders were clear that "universal and immutable" Law existed and was recorded in The Holy Bible. William Blackstone, though a British jurist, was highly regarded among our Founders such as John Marshall, James Wilson, John Jay, John Adams and many others, wrote "To instance in the case of murder: this is expressly forbidden by the Divine. . . . If any human law should allow or enjoin us to commit it we are bound to transgress that human law. . . . But, with regard to matters that are . . . not commanded or forbidden by those superior laws such, for instance, as exporting of wool into foreign countries; here the . . . legislature has scope and opportunity to interpose."
Our Founders, and for most of our history, our officeholders and citizens, accepted that God's general Law is Supreme. Where God is silent, man may legislate. Yet today, having expelled God from our schools, still the atheists demand more, that God be banished from our public square. In our Republic we now have fifty States - Each a societal laboratory where differences may be explored. However, just as Thomas Paine in "Common Sense [1776]" appealed to our common reason, today I appeal to your "common decency." I call upon you, if you believe God exists and the Bible to be His Word, to join with us, regardless of political affiliation, in reminding our federal government that we still have a Tenth Amendment, "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Surely people of Faith, of Reason, and of the Rule of Law, may come together in common agreement as citizens of the several States, and tell our federal "public servants" that "We the People" remain and ought ever to remain their Masters.
