Happy Birthday America

On July 4, 2026, America will turn 250 years old. What an amazing country. The American Revolution produced a country of self-government with a framework constitution that has protected our democracy. Thirteen years after the American War of Independence, the French Revolution occurred. This revolution was very different; it sought to eliminate its own citizens- everyone who disagreed or who might potentially disagree. These kinds of revolutions have occurred in Russia, China, and many other places. The Constitution has guided us with the blessings of God, and for that we are thankful.

Amazingly, this country has survived the many threats to our democracy, including the Civil War. Now we face a threat from those who want to change this country into a communist country, even though Communism has failed wherever it has been tried, except for those in power. They live very differently from the hordes of people held in its grip. Russia, China, North Korea, and Cuba are examples of governments that control their people and allow very little freedom. Freedom is the one thing they are most afraid of—because when people taste freedom, they will fight to keep it.

Although the War of Independence would be fought for eight long years, and most of those years it appeared the United States would lose. It was mostly a war of perseverance; if Washington and his ragtag army could manage to hang in there, Britain would grow tired of spending so much money on a foreign war. Everything finally came together for Washington and his troops in Yorktown, Virginia, in the final year of the war. The Americans fought bravely, and the French Navy blocked the British Navy from escaping. On October 17, 1782, General Cornwallis surrendered. It was never supposed to have happened, but it did. The Thirteen Colonies were free, and the war was finally over.

On September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution was passed in Congress and ratified by the states on June 21, 1788. What a wonderful document our founding fathers gave us. It has endured these 250 years and has preserved our freedom and liberty. There have been times when it has been assailed from all sides, and it is still attacked today. We pray that it will be safeguarded and remain a beacon of hope and light for our country. God was with our nation at its founding, and we need Him with us now to restore our faith in Him as a nation. We need God today more than ever.

 

 

 

I love this Country Too Much to Be Quiet

On July 4, 1776, the unanimous voice of the thirteen states declared our independence, and this glorious republic was founded. The enduring words of our Declaration of Independence continue to inspire us to do better: 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.  What a heritage we have and what history in these almost 2 ½ centuries. I, for one, am proud to be an American and am unashamed to declare it! The United States of America is the greatest nation on the face of the earth! Our country is 244 years old today; although flawed in many ways, she still is the best example of democracy in the world.

My mother used to say, “sick and tired.” She would sometimes say to us, kids, “I’m sick and tired of the way you are acting.” Well, I am sick and tired of the lawlessness, the anarchy, the looting, the vandalism, the destruction of property, the pulling down of historical monuments, the wanton disrespect to police and law enforcement, the endless cries of racism, the unprovoked attacks on innocent people by violent thugs, and the hatred of our country and the complicit endorsement of all this by the media. I am sick and tired of politicians defending this lawlessness and refusing to support law enforcement. I am sick and tired of the blatant refusal to control the lawless rioters and protestors while obsessed with control of lawful citizens by tyrant politicians.

I have never seen anything in my life like what I am witnessing on the streets of American cities. Enough about race! Anyone with half a brain can see this is about dividing race—not healing the divide. Race relations have been set back 50 years! Enough about police brutality! We now see brutality toward police and random helpless people. People are even afraid to speak out and give their opinion—terrified they will be considered a racist. I am sick and tired of hearing every other day of something that is canceled, replaced, renamed, or retitled because someone is offended. I am offended that there are so many simple-minded people who are willing to go along with all this stupidity.

Do I support Black Lives Matter? The answer is an emphatic, yes! However, I do not support the organization that goes by that name. These radicals have given us a vivid preview of the reign of terror they would institute. They have shown us how judgmental and racist they really are as they call for all whites to bow and all police to turn over law enforcement to them. Mind you that the majority of these loud-mouthed agitators are white—but identifying as black. The anarchy we are seeing is much akin to the French Revolution, which initiated a reign of terror. What else does “Unless we get what we are asking for we will burn the system down” mean? (recently spoken by a BLM leader).

If these agitators want socialism or communism, there are plenty of places they can find it where it is still struggling along. Why should they take our freedoms away to make another Cuba, Venezuela, or China? They tell us they want to distribute wealth and make everyone equal. Well, ask the people who live under communism and see how fair the system really is.

It’s clear to me that the main agenda of these anarchists is not race relations or police brutality but the removal of President Trump from office. They are afraid that he will be reelected, so they are trying to keep the country in a state of unrest so they can disrupt the election in November. Their target is not only Trump but anyone who supports him. Enough about your hatred of President Trump! If you don’t like him, then vote him out!

High Cost of Freedom

We are living in a time when people do not know our history, do not care to understand it. That is dangerous because there are people who will rewrite our history. They deny the facts of our true founding. They reject that men of faith in the God of the Bible founded the nation. The revisionists love to talk about Thomas Jefferson, Thomas Paine, and Benjamin Franklin because they were not devout Christians, however, they neglect to tell us that these men, though not Christians, were not opposed to Christianity. They even supported it. The grand majority of the founders were men of devout faith. Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, declared that our rights of freedom come from God: “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.”

It had been over 150 years since the first pilgrims had landed in Plymouth. The thirteen colonies united in defense for the first time against the abuses of England. The king had deprived them of the right to self-rule. He had taken away their judicial system and placed judges that were loyal only to him. He had put his army there to carry out his orders at the expense of the colonies. He had taken away their right to fund their governments and economies. He had forbidden trade with any other nations. His laws became a burden too big to bear.

Eventually, a war erupted for our independence. England never imagined that there was any possibility that the colonies could win their freedom.  The war spanned eight years with battles fought from Canada to South Carolina. Over 8,000 Americans died in action, but most of the wounded also died because of inadequate medical care and rampant diseases, causing the number of dead to rise to 25,000.

General George Washington led the American army through some of the most challenging conditions any military has ever faced. They were outnumbered, out trained, out supplied, with no navy to speak of, and continually fighting a war of attrition. Despite these obstacles, they won. There were some unexplainable things that some people consider more than coincidences that saved the army on many occasions, such as: the dense fog that came in at just the right moment and allowed Washington’s troops to cross the East River in New York without detection; the sudden change in the weather that brought a freeze that hardened the ground and allowed the army to make its escape from Trenton, New Jersey. Their survival in some of the most inhospitable conditions proved to be an extraordinary feat both in cold and hot weather and without proper clothing and adequate food. With enlistments continually expiring and trained soldiers replaced with fresh recruits, it is incredible that the army survived. One example of the many instances of protection over George Washington, was when musket balls were flying through the air and all the while he remained safe, is startling. The French navy arriving at precisely the right time to seal off the British troops from an escape by sea was incredible. Perhaps the most significant event ever was the refusal of George Washington to become our first king when the war was over. It was offered to him, but he refused it.

Several years after the war was over and the peace treated was signed in Paris declaring the independence of the United States of America, our founding fathers produced the Constitution of the United States. It has been and continues to be one of the most exceptional documents ever written. We are grateful to God for it and pray for men and women to fill our places of government who love and cherish this document and who acknowledge the blessings of God over our nation.

Freedom

Recently I stood on the battlefield of Fredericksburg, Virginia where nearly 20,000 soldiers from the North and South died. Just 4 months later and only 10 miles away, another 30,000 were killed at Chancellorsville. For those of us who value freedom, you appreciate the sacrifice of these men who died to preserve our liberty. Over 620,000 soldiers died in the Civil War, by far the most significant losses we ever suffered in any fight.

There are differences of opinion as to the causes of the war. Two reasons do emerge without much difficulty, and that is the preservation of the Union and the abolition of slavery. Abraham Lincoln had long advocated for a plan to abolish slavery over a period of years, thus avoiding military conflict. Upon being sworn into office as the sixteenth president, the succession had already begun. Once the war had begun, it appeared there was no way to stop it short of victory for one side and defeat for the other. Over four years, President Lincoln reviewed the losses, such as those at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, with overwhelming agony. A weaker and less committed man would never have stood the test and weathered the storm for a final victory. The South hoped that the losses the North suffered, which were much higher than the South’s, would produce political pressure on the president, causing him to accept a negotiated peace. If he had done that, and many people wanted him to do that, we would have two countries instead of one. The barbaric practice of slavery would have continued for many more years.

The cemeteries of the Civil War, scattered all over this country, are a testimony to the cost of freedom. Today, our politically correct society, which is so quick to attack with the label of racist anyone who does not agree with their point of view, would do well to visit some of those cemeteries. This was a war that preserved our nation and won the right for all men and women to be free, and for this we give thanks. With all the problems we have in this country, we still have so much for which to be thankful. We also have every reason to do everything within our power to be vigilant to preserve the freedom these brave soldiers died to defend.

The Fight for Freedom

On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the world saw an end to World War I. More than 9 million soldiers died in this terrible war along with 5 million civilians, and 21 million were injured. Then there were 2 million Armenians slaughtered in Turkey and an influenza that killed 50 million, all during the war. From 1914 to 1918 the world was a very dark place.

In every war the beginnings are always complicated, but you will always fight someone trying to take someone’s freedom away. Those who start wars look for pretenses, and they found one when the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated. He was the heir to the kingdom of Austria and Hungary. A Serb in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo killed him and his wife. Quickly, Austria declared war on Serbia even though there was no evidence that the Serbian government had anything to do with the assassination.

Winston Churchill wrote to his wife on learning of the Austrian declaration of war, “I wondered whether those stupid Kings and Emperors could not assemble together and revivify kingship by saving the nations from hell but we all drift on in a kind of dull cataleptic trance. As if it was somebody else’s operation.”^[i]

In April 1917, almost three years after the war began, the United States joined the war to fight for freedom. A year and half later the war was over. We lost 53,000 men fighting in a war for others, but had we not, the world would have been terribly different. This war, like so many of our wars, was fought far from home for our freedom and the freedom of the world. Then twenty years later, we would go back to the same places and fight another war for freedom. That war would claim over 416,000 American lives.

Sometimes we forget about the long span of history and what it means. Our 241 years of history is really a short span, but we have ample evidence of how much we owe to God’s providence and blessing for preserving us as a nation. We are grateful for our freedom and the price that has been paid to preserve it from those who would take it from us. We are a blessed nation, and we acknowledge God’s hand of mercy upon us.

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[i] Gilbert, Martin. The First World War: A Complete History (p. 25). RosettaBooks. Kindle Edition.

Loving Our Nation

In just two weeks we face the biggest and most important election in my lifetime. The issues facing us as a people are enormous. This election has come down to two very flawed candidates: Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. One of them will, however, be president in two weeks. As in every General Election it gets tiring listening to all the junk we all have to put up with. Sorting out the lies from the truth is imperative, especially when the Media is doing a big part of the lying.

The most important difference between the two candidates can be seen in who they say they would appoint to the Supreme Court and to cabinet positions. For example, on the court Hillary says all her picks have to support Roe v. Wade. She emphatically declared on national television that an unborn child, even hours before birth, does not have constitutional rights. Interpreted that means that she does not believe that baby is human. That is the same decision that Chief Justice Taney handed down in 1857 that stated that slaves did not have constitutional rights. We fought a war and lost 600,000 soldiers to settle that issue. Trump has named men and women who believe babies are human beings and that partial-birth-abortion is wrong. They also believe the constitution should be interpreted in the context of what the founders wanted it to say and not what liberal justices want it to say.

A second major difference in the two candidates is their view of the country. Clinton believes we should continue our move toward socialism that Obama has so capably implemented. We now have nearly 100 million people not working and living off what the working people make. She will raise payroll taxes and reduce the amount of money people take home each week. She will do this because she believes the government knows better how to spend our money than we do. Trump on the other hand will cut taxes allowing each of us to take home more of our hard earned money. Under Kennedy and Reagan tax cuts brought a revival of growth to the economy.

Clinton’s view of the world would bring the U.S. under more domination of the United Nations, while Trump would strengthen our independence. Clinton would deplete even further the military, while Trump would strengthen it. Clinton would gain more control over our daily lives through the agencies of the federal government by growing the government, while Trump would reduce the size of government.

This election is too important to sit out. As Christians we have to vote for the candidate that is closer to our biblical world view. Please pray that millions of Evangelical Christians will go to the polls on November 8^th.