We’re Fighting them there…

The question was posed:

“Doesn’t the statement, ‘We're fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here,’ implicitly demean and disrespect the value of other peoples and cultures? Fighting/war always result(s) in the killing of innocents and negative impacts on culture. So, isn’t the statement a fair bit unchristian and inhumane?”

My answer:

Doesn’t the fact that they are wanting to kill us because we are a free, capitalist country, implicitly demean US and disrespect the value of OUR culture?
To use the argument that it’s “unchristian” and “inhumane” is to ignore the generations of human rights issues in Iraq, Iran, North Korea, China, and everywhere else that common decency and dignity are cast aside or beaten down by cruel and inhuman monsters.

Moses fought a righteous war; Gideon fought a righteous war. Protection of home and family is far more important than valuing THEIR culture, whoever “they” may be. The Children of Israel were commanded to expel ALL the pagan cultures from the Promised Land; failure to do so had consequences, and after a time, war ensued.

I was told my answer was overly simplistic. As I review it again, I think the only thing simplistic about it would be that I used generalities instead of specifics.
Ok, so insert “RADICAL ISLAM HATES OUR GUTS AND THEY WANT TO KILL US” in place of the plain old “they are wanting to kill us” above; that should cover it.

John Stuart Mill, a 19th century English philosopher said:

"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself."

When will it be OK to those on the left, to cherish our country and our culture? When will it be OK to be unashamed of American Exceptionalism? Multiculturalism has been a bane on our society long enough. I’m so very sick of the argument that we must put their feelings and their culture above our own!

We are AMERICAN’S first! This has nothing to do whatsoever with us being unchristian, and everything to do with protecting home and hearth! Why is that so hard to understand? These people have no desire to be our friends, they want to conquer the Infidel, and that means You and it means Me!
War should never be the first answer, but neither is it unacceptable to the Lord; if it were, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and several from the Book of Mormon would not have been able to protect themselves.

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,…”
Do those on the Left understand these words AT ALL?

Our rights come from God, and they include, among other things, our RIGHT to LIFE, our RIGHT to LIBERTY, and the RIGHT to pursue HAPPINESS. When someone, or a group of someone’s seeks to destroy these Fundamental, NATURAL rights, I have a serious problem with that! I also have a serious problem with those who think we don’t have a right to protect ourselves HERE, by going to where the nest of vipers is.

An analogy came to mind earlier; suppose you found a termite hill in your yard, what would you do?
Would you:

A. Leave it alone, they aren’t bothering you.

B. Leave it alone, but squish the little suckers that wander into your domain?

C. Go TO the nest; eradicate the problem before they literally eat you out of house and home?

I understand, again, this may be simplistic to some, but it makes perfect sense to me. Do you want your house, your home, to be usurped by something that is intent on its fundamental destruction?

It’s like the wasp nests that I spray at night; I do NOT want wasps in my house, around our patio dining table, or near my loved ones, therefore, I eradicate them as I find their nests; I don’t wait for them to come to us.

You may think, like my friend,that these are simplistic answers to a complex problem; so be it, I’m a simpleton then; even proud to be so in that case, because fighting them “over there” is much simpler than fighting them over here.

Memorial Day

Taken from the book "Thoughts for the Occasion: Patriotic and Secular" published in 1894:

Heroic Devotion Merits Reward

“To say that they died a glorious death would be saying little, for the same is said of those who, following the lead of vain and greedy conquerors, found their graves among the enslaved nations, slaves themselves to the selfish and despotic will that ruled them.
"For our dead we have a higher praise. It was not enforced obedience to the command of a tyrant that dragged them from their homes; not the lust of conquest, nor the scarcely nobler thirst for glory. When the life of the nation was attempted, when the cause of liberty and human rights called for their aid, they rushed forth to rally under the banner they loved, with grand singleness of purpose and heroic devotion--leaving all behind them, to meet toil and danger,hunger,sickness, wounds, and death, for nothing but the sublime satisfaction of doing their duty to their country and to mankind.”
Gen. Carl Shurz, St. Louis, MO.

Capitalism: a Biblical Principle?

Obama’s “spiritual adviser” Rev. Jim Wallis has charged that the gospel as laid out in the Bible is about the redistribution of wealth; socialism in other words. I have determined for myself that this is an absurd view of Scripture and an abomination of the teachings of Christ and I'd like to share what I've learned.

Let’s start with the Decalogue, and have a look first at the Eighth Commandment: “Thou shalt not steal.”

Now, if the Lord wanted us to be redistributing our wealth, why would this commandment exist? It can only matter, if what’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours; if there was a proprietary ownership of goods.

How about the Tenth Commandment? “Thou shalt not covet…”

Again, if all things were held in common, it would be impossible to covet what’s already yours.
I have learned that God is not a redundant God; He doesn’t say something just because it sounds good, nor does He contradict Himself.

You may be saying “OK, but that doesn’t prove a thing, we are supposed to take care of the poor”, and you’d be correct, let’s move on.

For this, I’m going to quote straight from Matthew Chapter 25, KJV; the verses are bolded:

14 ¶ For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods.
15 And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
16 Then he that had received the five talents went and traded with the same, and made them other five talents.
17 And likewise he that had received two, he also gained other two.
18 But he that had received one went and digged in the earth, and hid his lord’s money.
19 After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and reckoneth with them.
20 And so he that had received five talents came and brought other five talents, saying, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me five talents: behold, I have gained beside them five talents more.
21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
22 He also that had received two talents came and said, Lord, thou deliveredst unto me two talents: behold, I have gained two other talents beside them.
23 His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.
24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
25 And I was afraid, and went and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, there thou hast that is thine.
26 His lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed:
27 Thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury.
28 Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents.
29 For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath.

The master calls his servants together and entrusts them with "his property" (not property held in common; the capital used was in private hands). Then, the master distributes the capital "to each according to his ability"; there was no concern for equality, none whatsoever.

We move then, into full fledged meritocracy, with the master rewarding the servants according to their efforts. The accountability rests with the individual, not the state, not the Roman's, but with each man.

Now, the slothful servant buried the capital, and was called "wicked and slothful", but was NOT given a handout, a share of the capital produced by those who were productive, but the investor takes instead from the slothful and wicked servant and essentially invests with the servant who was the most productive.

The capital is in private hands, and the owner is free to invest.
This is not the basis for a Socialist program, but a very capitalistic one instead.

The next example comes from Acts 5; again, the verses are bolded:

1 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession,
2 And kept back part of the price, his wife also being privy to it, and brought a certain part, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
3 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land?
4 Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God.
5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost: and great fear came on all them that heard these things.

It appears that Ananias agreed to give the entire sale price of his land to the Church (the church, not the state), yet Ananias became covetous and kept back part of the funds.

Peter tells Ananias in verse 4 that it was his own land; that he had the power over it. If the Church was practicing redistribution of wealth, why would Peter tell him this? Ananias’s only sin, and it’s a big one, was lying to God. The land was his to do with as he chose, and Peter understands this.

The last example that I’d like to use is from Act’s 4:

32 And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.

People often use Acts 4:32 as a claim on Socialism, Rev. Wallis included; yet let’s look at the verse right before this:

31 ¶ And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.

I’m sure you all know the contempt the Jews felt for the Romans; you can rest assured that the assembly here is NOT a city, state or country council, but a Church meeting.
So we see two things here. First, they are being moved by the Holy Ghost, and the MULTITUDE, or majority, of them that believed (not ALL of them), have willingly given their goods to the Church, and hold all things in common.

They’ve given willingly and freely because the Spirit has moved them, not because of a government mandate; not because their wealth has been redistributed by the state or the federal government; it’s also quite important to note, that not everyone of the believers participated in placing their goods in the common pool.

Charity is the pure love of Christ; giving willingly and freely. We are to give to the poor and the needy, but it's to come from our hearts; it seems these early Christians understood that.

I can’t claim any knowledge of the mind of the Lord, but I do read His word, and I employ common sense; the words that have come to me from the mouths of His prophet’s paints a far different picture than the one the Rev. Jim Wallis would have us believe.

The question is, what do you believe?

The Never Done Farm: Seed companies supplied by Monsanto

For those of you who are trying to save seeds and be more self reliant, here is an interesting blog post concerning Monsanto and companies that use their seeds. Territorial Seed, my neighborhood "go to seed guys" is considering dropping any Monsanto products, and I'll be writing them to show my support.

The Never Done Farm: Seed companies supplied by Monsanto

The Fall of Rome

A quote gathered from my friend Anne on Facebook:

"The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance"

*That's the "Internet" version.
The correct quote is:

"The arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and assistance to foreign hands should be curtailed, lest Rome fall."*


Who do you think said this? Take a Wild Guess? No clue?

 Marcus Tullius Cicero. Yep, the Roman philosopher and statesman who died in 43 B.C.

Now, lest someone call me a fearmonger, a hatemonger, a conspiracy theorist, or a racist, I'll state for the record that I am none of these things.

Either way you read the quote, I think we see that ignoring these bits of advice did nothing for the Roman Republic.

Rome once ruled the earth, before Britannia stepped in that is; now it is reduced to a Papal State, that while worthy in it's own right, is far from the Superpower Rome once was.

History is repeating itself. Take note, and take heed, we are headed for a fall that will eclipse the Fall of Rome, only this time, it will be the Communists who take over; the modern day barbarians.

*Late Edit

"A Republic...If you can Keep it"

Benjamin Franklin's words are never more dear than today, when we are losing freedoms at an alarming pace.
Below is a 10  minute video tutorial on our form of government; please take a few minutes to watch.

Fireworks

I didn't really set off fireworks, but this is how we "celebrated" this year's "Earth Day"; every light that was available was turned on. I like the glow :)

Incompetence

Somehow the link to Mr. Hare's incompetence has hit a snag, so I'm reposting. Please feel free to leave comments-something that Blogger turned off on this post previously.

Here is a classic. Mr. Phil Hare, amazingly from Illinois doesn't seem to know or CARE what the Constitution says.




REALLY?
This man is incompetent; he is a disgrace to his party and to his country!

False Idols

My friend Donna had a brilliant thought this morning. Here is what she said:

“I suspect Earth Day is a modern "golden calf," designed not to suggest the good ole principle of stewardship, which I'm all for, but to lead people, by their worship of the earth, to the trough where Al Gore and the like wait to take folk's money. Think Cap and Trade, global climate, and etc scams.”
Donna is on to something!

The first Earth Day, April 22, 1970 was by some accounts, a good thing. Since then, smog levels have dropped, lead levels have dropped, and water is cleaner. Make no mistake; these are positive outcomes to a worthy idea.

But, that's about where it ends.
If you fast forward to today, the idea has become twisted and hopelessly political.

We have eco-terrorists; we have mandates; heck we can even buy absolution with "carbon credits", paying for indulgences like we pay for gas.

I’ve pondered this before, but it wasn’t until Donna mentioned the Golden Calf that it came together for me.
Just as the ancient Israelites turned to the golden calf, people have turned to “Mother Earth” in their quest for spiritual fulfillment; taking care of your mother is a good thing, right?

Eco-Nuts, or as my friend Julie says, “Earth Muffins” are people who have turned away from the One True God, in order to worship something else; something that unlike the golden calf, actually does have merit; who doesn’t think clean air and clean water are important? That’s where the confusion come in.

Those of you, who read this blog, know of my firm and deep conviction that our Constitution is a divine document, inspired by God for the temporal governance of His children while sojourning on earth.
With that in mind, I also admit to the equally firm and deep conviction that Satan will do whatever he can, however he can, to distract us from the true path that is life’s purpose.
Knowing that God wants us to look to Him, and none other, Satan has used “earth worship” as just one tactic to distract people from the truth.
Using something "good" for his evil designs.

The Children of Israel, sans Moses, lost their focus, and while Moses was busy, made a golden idol; much like the earth worshippers have done today.
Everywhere you turn, someone is reminding you to “Save the Planet”, “Go Green”, “Tread Gently”, or any number of other catchy slogans designed not only to get your attention, but make you feel guilty if you ignore them.

Here’s the deal. This earth is God’s footstool, given as a gift and a home for His children. Nothing is going to happen to this planet until God himself deems that it’s time. Don’t get me wrong, there is a climate change happening, but it’s not manmade, nor does man have any control over it; to assume so is downright arrogant.

We also know, from recent revelations that climate change science is based on faulty, flawed and deceptive “science”, and now wears the moniker “Climategate.” How appropriate.
They have swindled and cajoled, lied and cheated, frightened and bullied, to get their golden calf on the altar of every household in the world; some have placed that calf at the head of the home, and worship it daily and devoutly, and I’m not here to doubt their sincerity; I believe them to be fooled, but that is another argument for another day. There are also those who, like Algore, have a “do as I say, not as I do” mentality, and hope to get rich off the scheme; and they are, by all accounts.

Yet what would our world, our country, our selves be like if we could all put Christ back into His proper place?
What kind of a people would we be? What kind of nation would we be?

So, for this 40th anniversary of Earth Day, I give you a challenge: banish the Golden Calf of climate change, and let the fear and the anxiety manufactured by the Progressives and the Eco-Nuts go; return to your Savior; pray for guidance and understanding for your role in His plan. Make the next year on earth, an “Earth Year”, a year your sojourn on earth takes on the meaning it was meant to.
Follow Christ, live like He would have youlive; the sky is NOT falling, you are NOT killing the polar bears by driving your SUV, you are NOT making a negative impact on the earth because you want a large family.

If you must do something for the earth fine,wonderful, but know it’s because you are a good and responsible person, not because you are guilty and afraid.

The Light in the Darkness

I've been away much lately; I wish I could say I have been reading good things. I've mostly been reading the news and posting, frantically some days it seems, to Facebook.

There is much going on in the world today, and most of it isn't good news.
We have a health care boondoggle that will, given time to come to fruition, bankrupt our country; we have a president who is Marxist; we have double digit unemployment numbers; we have a society that shuns God, but embraces immorality and evil. These are depressing facts no doubt, but there is a way out; there is light amid the darkness.

That light is education.

The time is coming, and is not far distant when our home libraries will be the only source of truth available. "Newspeak" is already taking place in a textbook near you. Attempts to rewrite history are already underway-how many times do you still here that Bush is to blame for this, or for that?

My challenge to you, whether you homeschool or not, is to gather great books; starting with your Scriptures, gather Original Source materials. Get the journals of our Founding Father's; get copies of the Federalist Papers; collect books that have valiant characters and good examples for your children and grandchildren to look up to, to emulate; characters from history and fiction alike. Gather contemporary books from authors you trust, those who speak the truth.

In my Church we talk a lot about being self sufficient and about Provident Living, but I want to express to you my sincere belief that we will need to have "food storage for our brains" as well as sustenance for our bodies.
It's not enough to sit around watching American Idol or Dancing with the Stars as a family, however fun these may be; we MUST buckle down and do the hard stuff. We must teach ourselves and our children who we really are; what this Country was founded on, and why. The battle for the hearts and minds of our families is real, the assault on morality and goodness rages on. Progressivism is a cancer than can only be vanquished with truth.

Set aside an evening a week to read something wonderful; read "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by Longfellow, read about George Washington; read about Moses and Joseph; for those of you who are LDS, read about Nephi and Mosiah. If you're having Scripture study either alone or as a family, I commend you. If you're not, what's stopping you?

Those of you who are LDS remember Elder Oaks talk Good, Better, Best.

It's time to choose what path you will take.