Independence Day, 2018

God Bless America, land that I love; stand beside her and guide her through the night with the light from above. From the mountains, to the prairies, to the oceans white with foam, God Bless America, my Home Sweet Home.

Come Holy Spirit. Americans do not even begin to comprehend their blessings in not only being Americans but living in a nation founded by Christians. It is easy to trust when things go well but Americans and Christians have learned to trust when things DO NOT go well; the fortitude represented by their flag and the Bible.

In my lifetime our spines were tingled hearing Kate Smith sing "God Bless America"...this overweight woman with such a marvelous voice. Have you ever considered the number of people in the world who have never known 1 day of happiness? When you are in these dictator ruled, empty religion, idol worshipping countries (and I have been in most of them) you realize not only the joy of salvation but the beauty of a democratic republic. The word of God is like a diamond mine in South Africa, facets of precious stones reflecting everything good; the ultimate determination of what is genuine. The American Constitution stands out far above and beyond any other form of government the mind of man has comprehended. This is the reason that citizens will break their back to pay taxes voluntarily, raise their children to defend their nation.

Like the equator, mankind operates on either side of an imaginary line. We really cannot read the minds of many who do not agree with us about our faith or our patriotism. We must cut slack; their experiences, what baggage they carry around. In the Muslim countries, they only know what they were taught...schoolhouse/courthouse/their own house, by their own parents. Both C.S. Lewis and Friedrich Nietzsche have told us that Satan's ultimate plan, to enforce the illusion of pseudo-sophistication...that there is always someone coming up with a new plan/method/philosophy for the benefit of man. Satan always pays off in counterfeit...ask those drown by Noah's flood. Stalin or Maos, communist, philosopher, Herod/Nero/Caesars, all efforts to control the minds of men.

Americans will not purchase a pearl at a great price for such an illusion. All the pseudo-sophisticates can offer us is that illusion. The politicians have forgotten that God is in control. The progressives, the indifferent, the modernists, offer us, drink and be merry, "if it feels good, do it", but when you leave the bright lights of "happy hour" and you go home to the darkness of your bedroom the thought always comes to you "is this really all there is to it"? Truth is truth whether anyone believes it or not. In the genus homo-sapiens, the brain cannot accept non-truths whether in advertising, whether from the novelist pen or the movie makers sick mind, God has already incorporated into mankind, a soul; an entity that makes men different from the other animal or plant life. 75% of all animal life on earth is insect life, no soul, no value system. Most pseudo-sophisticates are only appreciated by other pseudo-sophisticates. The real Christian, the real patriot, understands the real values of God and country. Even Jesus, on that cruel cross, said, "they know not what they do". The people chose a robber instead of Him and till this day, many still choose a low-life instead of a Holy life.

The 126,000 of our finest defenders of our American way of life, buried on foreign soil, the millions buried in Arlington and in small family graveyards across this nation, believed in truth and justice. I don't believe you would have ever convinced most of them that a plurality of Americans would stand by and see 59 million innocent babies killed in an abortion holocaust. Those babies deserve justice too. You would never have convinced our early forefathers that the word of God and everything seen in the mind of man would allow people of the same sex marriage, allowed to adopt children; the culture of death, culture of no borders with anything, killings of one another at schoolhouses and church houses. I was in Europe for the 25th Anniversary of Normandy, saw the American cemeteries there. I stood in the Philippines in Manila and saw the graves of the 18,000 buried there. It would be hard to convince these fallen heroes or even those of us who have survived that a nation that has climbed so far up the ladder of success on every plain (education institutions, healthcare facilities, industrial might) could drop so far in our moral and religious values. 

There were 2 things my parents talked about as long as they lived. One was that powerful hurricane called Hazel which struck and destroyed the eastern coast of NC in 1954. The other as the 4th of July picnic which was held every year in the schoolyard at the wonderful 2 room schoolhouse, still standing, across the fields from my grandparent's house. My great aunt was the teacher at that school and died of the flu epidemic in 1918. Her brother, Army officer, member of Theodore Roosevelt's inner circle, died in the Spanish-American war about that time. The entire community came together at the school grounds for a big picnic. Motor vehicles were almost unheard of at that time. Another great uncle would take a team of mules and wagon into town and buy a large block of ice. The only time, during the entire year, they could have ice tea, milkshakes, ice cream. Even in my childhood, power lines were unknown. We used kerosene lamps for light in the house, gas lights for light at the church (I can still see cousin Realmon, standing on a pew, lighting those gaslights). Not only did they have a picnic but they played ball all day. Politicians would come by to this community festival. Everyone came, landowners, tenants, black, white, your status made no difference, they were all Americans...most Christian Americans. There were no police officers in the hallway of the school, no pornography in the school, no sex activity between teachers and pupils and they did not want to live under religious laws such as the Jews of the Old Testament but rather the freedom of choice; to live and learn/sink or swim/according to their own hard work, faith and belief system. They were faithers, action based on belief, sustained by confidence. They had well-placed faith in the future of this nation.

"I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country". Nathan Hale (6 June 1755 – 22 September 1776)