LEST WE FORGET

Like squeezing the last drop of juice from a lemon, I want this old writer – veteran's final words to ALWAYS be in praise of family, God and country.

Until their deaths, the two things my parents always talked about, an indelible impression on their lives in this present world of illusion and d illusion, the horror story of the Great Depression and the 4^th of July picnic held in their community on the grounds of the two room school house which they attended as children. They talked about all of the people in the community coming together to celebrate Independence Day – ball games, seeing family and friends they had not seen since the previous year. One of my old uncles would take a team, a team is two horses or two mules, and wagon into town for ice, which they only saw once a year. We were raised on dirt roads before the time of power, telephone, water lines, one time, during the year, people had ice for hand churned ice cream, milkshakes, iced tea. They eked life from the good earth, not depending on any government advice or subsidies – entitlements. Today, 95% of the USDA (Agriculture Department) are Communists. There are 81 Communists in the US House of Representatives (Rep. Allen West, Progressive Caucus). One-third of all crops feed animals. It takes 53 gallons of water for one hamburger. Does one dare to believe that the Creator of the universe, Lord of Hosts, God of Glory, does not realize that the money spent on one jet fighter aircraft could provide fresh water for every crossroads community in the world?

The first image in this world traveler's mind (passport stamped in 157 countries, every continent), always, when hearing anyone speak of poverty, the thousands of women (the only homosapien animal who can give birth to children) walking long distances, carrying large water jugs just to provide drinking/cooking water for her family. Every time I take a shower, without fail, God puts on my heart, the fact that most of my ancestors never enjoyed a good bath.

This totally blind medical officer veteran still remembers the screams of the wounded. On this Independence, as every Independence Day, remember, freedom is not free. With age, and a disability such as mine, sightlessness, we learn not to fear darkness nor even running in to things. There is no

other explanation. God assigns a guardian angel to each of us, those whom He has chosen to spend eternity with Him.

Mortimer J. Adler, editor of the Encyclopedia Britannica, said, “The materialist assumption that spiritual substances do not exist is as much an act of faith as the religious belief in the reality of angels.” One cannot study God's book without knowing the certainty of angels, Gabrielle who announced to Mary that she would give birth to God on earth, Michael who wrestled with Satan over the dead body of Moses, the death angel who went across Egypt killing the first born of every animal, even to the first born in the Palace of Pharaoh. Then as now, blood the only way of salvation. Sennechrib's Assyrian Army was completely wiped out by one angel one night, encamped outside Jerusalem (185,000 soldiers). And, as sinful as present day USA , an angel destroyed Ancient Sodom. Would anyone believe this blind writer does not have a guardian angel who, and I have written about it many times, lives, guides and protects me every day of my life?

The resurrection is Christian fact just as the preservation of this, the American Democratic Republic is historic fact. Jesus preached Himself. He was the way, the truth, the life (John 14:6). He and the Father were one (John 10:30), the Bread of Life (John 6:35), the Light of the World (John 8:12).

In my lifetime, the keyword throughout the world has been “rights”, civil, women's, children's, animal's, now there are promoters of the rights of plants. The world has been turned inside out, upside down, regarding the rights of God's creation. In the Garden, the entire world, one beautiful garden, just one tree, God established His rights. We either obey or sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22).

In obedience, because they believed in their family, their God, their country, young men and women have heeded the call to wear proudly the military uniform of the United States of America. There was not a vote taken, they obeyed the commands of their superiors. Lest we forget, the 126,000 buried on foreign soil, the many thousands buried in the soil of the homeland (250,000 Arlington), on Independence Day we remember those who gave the last measure of devotion as well as those who have given body parts, forever disabled, in the defense of this once Christian nation which could have, at that time, been called a super power.