What Ever Happened to Right and Wrong?

There was a time, and it wasn't so long ago, that a man new what it meant to be a man in this country. He new from an early age that there were certain things that were expected of him if he wanted to call himself a man and that these things were understood and accepted by most everyone in our society. Among these things were a universal duty to God, his family and to his country as a whole; and these duties ran in that order.

A man was expected to be as upright and loyal to his God, no matter his faith, as he could be. This meant trying to live a good and wholesome life and following as closely as he could the laws given to all men as well as the laws of the land; as long as those laws did not interfere with the teachings of his God and his conscience.

He was expected to provide for his family. He did not have to provide extravagances' such as huge houses, expensive cars or power boats; but he was expected by all to put in a full days work for a full days pay and to provide all the needs of his family to get by. He was expected not to divorce his wife because he grew tired of her, not to cheat on her, not to abuse her or her children and to generally try to raise his children to be good and productive citizens.

Also expected of every able bodied man was to serve his country. This could be through active military service, as a reservist, in civic activities or engaged in politics but this was the norm for all men and not the exception. When a threat to our nation appeared, all men were expected to defend her. When disaster happened people didn't text in donations, they got up off their chairs and went to help.

Our country is a nations of citizens not of tenants. A citizen is an owner, he mends what is fixed, he looks for signs of wear and tends to these things and if someone breaks in or tries to burn down the place he defends what is his with all his might.

When, please some one tell me, when did we stop being free American Citizens and become share croppers on our own land? When was the Constitution repealed? When did the Liberty Bell get melted down?

This did not all start in the 60's but it has gotten much worse sense then. Of course the reason for that is because our public schools have been taken over by those nice tambourine playing hippies we used to laugh at years ago. Our children are indoctrinated from a very early age to believe that America is basically bad, that we keep the third world poor and that all people of the world are equally entitled to what we have in our country and that anyone that doesn't want them to take it is evil too.

Our children are taught that freedom of expression entitles them to follow no rules of civil behavior, that they own nothing to society or to their own country and that in fact antisocial behavior is good. They are taught that the country owes them a living and that if they don't feel like working it is OK because they can always go on welfare.

They are taught that the Bible is a myth, and that there is no God. They are taught that there are all sorts of "Other Types of Families" and that sexual deviancy is equal to if not preferable to "tradition" (meaning real) marriages.

The last four Presidents of the United States have been progressively working to rid us of the Constitution. Bush Jr. was quoted, when informed that something he wanted done was probably unconstitutional, as saying, "Well, it's just a piece of paper..."

Just a piece of paper my ass. That piece of paper is the foundation and life blood of the first truly free nation. It is and was a living document ordained and inspired by God. My family has fought to defend it's principles sense even before it was written and I will personally take up arms and fight against any man that tries to get rid of it.

Every man and woman that has ever served in the US armed forces took an oath to protect and defend that document against all enemies foreign and domestic; those words are in the oath of office of every member of congress and of the President, so tell me why is it so hard for any of them to remember that?

Could it be that they are just ignorant having never read it? It is a very small book and could easily be read in a few hours even by the slowest reader. Maybe we need to pass a law that no elected official can be sworn in to office until they have read the constitution at least once and know what they are swearing to protect.

God forbid they are of the opinion that just because this nation has over the pas few decades developed an almost coma like apathy that we will not rise up and revolt against the tyranny of an oppressive government. If any of them still think this they are slow learners and obviously too dim witted to remain in public service.

Obama has awakened this country more than anyone has sense the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor and for this I am grateful to him.

Think about it for a moment. After President Reagan our nation started into a steep and steady dive into a progressive hell. George the First didn't just lie to us about "No new taxes", he stripped our intelligence community to the bare bone. He started the RIF (reduction in Force) which stripped our armed services of most all combat experienced veterans and then he started a war which we won in a few hours but then lost the peace almost as fast. I myself was so disheartened that I actually voted for Perot because I refused to vote for him again.

Slick Willy was even worse. I could care less who he slept with; it is not illegal to have sex with an intern. Sick, desperate and immoral yes; illegal, no. What upset me was the wholesale marketing he did of our nation. He sold the Naval Shipyard in Long Beach to the Chinese. Now up until this China had been considered an unfriendly nation at best, so he gave them most favored nation status so that it wouldn't seem wrong to sell our shipyard, our steel mills our trees and everything else that wasn't nailed down to our enemy.

Let us not forget that this is the man that also effectively shut down our only clean coal mines so that we would have to buy it from Asia. He then went after what was left of our military and RIFed out even more officers and senior NCOs to the point that we now have to call upon our reservist and national guard to fight our wars. Genus move there.

Bush Jr. was worse yet. He followed in his fathers footsteps like a clone doing everything in his power to increase the wealth of oil companies, security firms and anything else his family had money in but doing very little to protect this nations economy.

My personal favorite thing was the Patriot Act. What a crock of horse manure. This law does nothing to protect Americans yet effectively takes away the bill of rights from all US citizens. While making it so the police now have the power to hold people without reading them their rights, without letting them call anyone or even let family members know where they are this law does not let the police profile possible terrorist as that would violate their rights.

So, yes, when people ask me what I think about Obama I tell them that he is my favorite President of my life time except Reagan; he is the first and only person I know to make America stand up as a nation and say enough is enough. He is the first man to get a whole nation flipping through the constitution to see if "that is right" or not. He may very well be the catalyst that brings common sense back to the nation. God bless him and his craziness, he wanted to rebuild a nation; he will get his wish. Only it will not be the "progressive neo-communist" nation of his dreams. Who knows, it maybe the nation of laws, common sense and personal responsibility of old.

We can only hope and pray; well and take up the title of liberty and be the men that we are all supposed to be. Who knows, with time, we may even remember how to stand up for what is right and how to fight against what is wrong. At lest that is my hope and my prayer.

At what cost Peace?

There are things that are more important than peace; this has been so from the beginning of time and it is still so today. As Christians Christ taught us the order of our lives should be our God, our religion, our families, our freedom, and our peace. Peace coming last makes it no less of an important concern in our lives, but it comes after our duty to God and our religion, and our love and duty to our families. Our God given freedom of choice in how we live, raise our families, worship our God can not be denied nor given up in the name of peace.

When anyone, Islam or even our own country, tries to threaten our freedom to worship our God, the safety or freedom of our wives and children or wishes to enforce their will upon us as free sons and daughters of God, then peace is not called for nor should it be sought until that threat is removed.

We were in Afghanistan in the 80's, we have helped arm the Muslims in their jihad against the Russians, I will tell you if you like what fighting for freedom means. Now, sadly because our own government tossed away the hard fought for freedom of these Afghan-men many of them have turned their anger toward us. Whatever their reason, they have brought war and violence to us and our families. It is not a holy war, but a war of revenge and anger, but anyone that would trade the freedom of their children to protect themselves by calling for peace at all cost is a coward as I see it.

The Pope may not be politically correct, but one can read in the Koran, yes even the English translations, and find passage after passage about Mohamed sending men to kill everyone that would not convert. To be fair, the Catholic church did the same thing and not just to Muslims, to Frenchmen, and Jews to name but two; but there is no Christian faith that I am aware of that forces conversion anymore. It is still common practice today in Islam.

Islam is a religion of hate and fear. It is a religion of terrorism and death. Personally I would not force them to change, and if they want to live that way in their own nations more power to them, but this is my country. This is my home and I will fight and yes kill to protect this land and my family.

The difference is not if killing is wrong but why it is done. Peace at all cost just cost too much. In the end, and I hate to go hear, it all come down to what Rodney King said, "Can't we all just get along?" I would not bring war to anyone for their faith, but I will fight always to defend my own. Peace takes two parties; peace any other way is surrender.

Sorry this was so long, but it boggles my mind that so many people are so willing to sit back and watch as their freedoms are taken away. For those of you that have served in the armed forces, remember your oath to protect the constitution against all enemies "foreign and domestic". Our God, our religion, our family, our freedom, and our peace means just that; if the treat to any of the above comes from the middle east or Washington DC it makes no difference, it is our oath to fight that threat and protect the freedom of ourselves and our children.

I doubt the Popes words will matter to anyone, nor bring about one minutes peace, but it's nice to know he is doing what he can.

Heraldry

The art and science of heraldry is not just pretty pictures on old paper, nor is it nearly as mysterious and cryptic as most seem to think. In fact, while there is the more tedious genealogical side to it (the science part), there is also the art of creating a pictorial representation of the life, loves, and achievements of an individual. This individuality of each achievement is what makes every coat of arms so wonderfully unique and special.

Heraldry is not the sort of thing one wakes up one morning and decides to get into; in fact if it were not for my father I would have gladly gone my whole life without ever looking at anyone else's arms let alone creating my own. As things turned out however, when I was Knighted my father told me after the investiture that he had always wanted his own arms. I had worn my grand-father's ring with his arms during the ceremony, and that ring meant and still means more to me than any other possession I have and never leaves my finger, but the arms on it were my grand-fathers not ours.

The arms of a paternal ancestor are inheritable, and currently I have assumed these, but dad got me thinking about what I would want on my own and more so what he would want. I spent many hours at the local library and online learning as much as I could about how arms are put together and the rules of who can bear arms. As it turned out, I am a pretty good artist so I put pencil to paper and started designing for my dad.

I am on the 8th and I think final set and am so excited about this. It is my intention to actually paint the full coat of arms on velum for him for framing but I also have plans to have a ring made as well. There is a local jeweler that will let me come in and cast the ring I have (my grand-father's) to make a wax mold. I will then cut out the center part with his arms engraved on it as well as the two supporters along the shank. Then we will cast dad's supporters (two bears) and I will have all of that then cast in gold. The next step will be me cutting a piece of gold to fit in the whole left where the arms were removed. I will send off that piece of gold along with digitized artwork of the achievement to have the engraving done on it (I cant do that part myself). Finally I will solder the whole thing together and finish the ring.

I was worried about the cost of all the gold, but I have several large gold rings which I do not wear anymore and I plan to melt them down for the gold. The cool part is the color of the gold will be a one off as I am using three shades of gold so I should end up with a darker and more antique look to the final ring.
The sad part is I am almost done with this project that I have worked on for around eight years. I have come to love the challenge and the thrill of creating art that actually means something to others as well as to myself. For this reason I have decided that I will eventually offer my services to others. Maybe I will be able to help someone else feel the pride of having something that symbolically shows to the world just who they are; or at least who they aspire to be.

Liberalism and Political Correctness

Liberalism is the creation of Lucifer; it is his desire that we all think of ourselves as "equals", but not equals in the sight of God, but rather equals with God. For if no man can be better than another either in action, thought or deed, then surely nothing we do truly matters. What is the motivation to be good, to increase in righteousness, to be charitable, to be humble before God, to pray, or to learn if there is no difference between the good man and the wicked. What reward is there in righteousness if sin is seen the same as good and it is so much easier to do?

Also, was it not the very first lie Lucifer made in the Garden to Eve, that if she ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of Good and Evil that she would become like the Gods, knowing good from evil. His own sin was to desire to be the equal of God the Father and his first temptation was to tempt Eve to try and do the same thing.

Nothing has changed, today he tries to destroy the church of Christ by usurping right and wrong with liberalism and political correctness. These two things serve him more than any other in his quest to destroy the souls of mankind. For if he can convince the righteous that there is no sin, that we must not only condone evil but accept it, then he has destroyed all remnants of righteousness in our faith and we have lost.

When somebody wrongs you, can you forgive them if they do not want to be forgiven?

Forgiveness is a relationship that fosters healing; it is not ignoring harm someone has done to you, it is not laughing it off, nor is it "getting over it."

I struggle from time to time, as we all do I think, with what to do about the harm others have done me. Most of the time, I have just laughed it off, sometimes I've chosen to ignore it, and other times I've just gotten over it with time.

I have come to a point in my life where most of the time I just let go of the pain and anger I feel toward those that hurt me. Rather than continuing to agonize over the offenses of others I try to remember that our Savior said to forgive them"70 times 7".
The number seven is symbolically the perfect number or the number that symbolizes God. Therefore in symbolic language of course the Savior meant seventy times seven as the perfect number to the tenth, times the perfect number. I'm no scholar, but I think the meaning is obvious; forgiveness is required of us always. In my experience it is that first time that is the hardest…LOL

What of the ones that hurt us and never ask to be forgiven? I'm not sure, but I think that the Lord is requiring of us, note I did not say asking of us, to be ready to forgive always.
Forgiveness is an active thing, it is a relationship, a process through which healing of a broken trust is restored. It therefore stands to reason that it requires both parties to be actively involved. For example, when two nations go to war, the war does not end because one of the nation says, "wait, I forgive you" and packs their bags to go home. Hurt feelings and major wrongs likewise are not able to be forgiven in such a one sided way. Therefore, while one person may want to forgive, there are limits to how far they can do so without both parties being involved.
This holds true in the gift of the atonement. Our Savior has already paid the price of our sins, but that debt goes unpaid until we ourselves decide to accept the gift. We must humble ourselves to him and take his offered forgiveness; otherwise it is wasted and we remain alone and unforgiven.
In this process of forgiveness both parties must be willing to not only forgive, but to be forgiven. How often do we hear of someone saying, "sure I can forgive him/her, but I did nothing wrong." It is possible to have no fault in the starting of an argument, but once it has begun is it possible to have done nothing wrong or to have caused no offense? Taking part in an argument with your brother, even when you were "only defending yourself", implies a certain level of culpability. Further for the process to work a certain amount of humility on the part of both parties is necessary.

Humility is necessary for true forgiveness to take place. Both the one who gave offence and the one that was offended must understand that they are both subservient to the Father. Our Father in Heaven wants us to reconcile and become one again; he does not desire one to lord over the other or to use the offense as a tool to hurt or hold claim over the other. Showing humility to one another both in contrition and in forgiveness does not just show respect for one another, but our true love of the Father.
God's instructions are plain and easy to understand if we truly put his will before our own. He does not require more than we can do, nor things that are not possible. It therefore stands to reason that our Father could not have demanded of us to be perfect in our forgiveness but rather to be perfect in our willingness to forgive. For while we can not change the hearts of others and make them humble and contrite, we must needs be humble in our own hearts and willing to forgive those that have hurt us even if we are unaware of what on our part has caused hurt in others.
Likewise it is important for us, as we attempt to forgive others, to remember that the old adage “It is easier to give than to receive” is even more true when it comes to forgiveness. How much easier is it for you to forgive the hurtful words, said in the heat of anger, by your spouse than it is for her to humble herself to ask for that forgiveness; or often just as difficult to accept when offered without being asked for.
The human spirit can be a vain and spiteful thing; it is only through our humility and by following the loving example of the Savoir that we are able to over come our natural selves and allow forgiveness to work in our lives.

Abba

One day a few years back I found myself making an early morning delivery in New York City and as I was out of hours, and unable to drive further that day, I decided to go explore the town. I had brought countless other loads to New Your City before, but never had the opportunity to just take the day and go see the sights; so I was rather excited about the idea.

One of the first things I wanted to do was explore the subway system. I’m a Virginia boy, and used to live in northern Virginia and work in Washington D.C., so I was no stranger to the D.C. Metro system, but the New York subway seemed to me a much more exciting and historic thing. In truth, a subway is a subway, so if you plan on taking a trip to the big apple don’t get your hopes up about anything new.

By nature I am a gregarious and often find myself in conversations with complete strangers where to the average observer it would appear that we were long-lost friends. This day was no exception, and as soon as I was back on the street, I struck up a conversation with a passing Hassidic Jewish fellow. I forget how the conversation started, but we spoke for about an hour on a variety of subjects, everything from Hassidic life to the Talmud. It was fascinating, but one thing he said hit home to me; he was telling me about his family, relating a conversation he had once with his father and he said the word Abba. When I questioned him about it, he went back to calling him father, but while the word was familiar to me, the way he said it was not.

Abba, the name by which our Savior called God the Father, was a word I knew well. It meant Father. With my limited knowledge of Hebrew, meaning I know less than 20 words, I had always assumed it was a direct translation of the word. However, the way this man said it, with such love and respect, it was obvious that the word mean something much more than just the equivalent of the title Father.

As it turns out, he explained to me, Abba means something much more intimate that Father. There is a word used in Hebrew that is the public title, meaning father, but Abba is more along the lines of Daddy or Poppa. It is, more than anything else, a term of close affection, of love and respect from a child. It is not a title, but a name, a very personal name used by those closest to a man; his children, his wife maybe, the ones that love him the most.

This opened my eyes to something amazing; our true relationship with God the father. We are all children of God, he is the Father of every man, woman and child that has ever lived or that will ever live; but how many of us have the sort of relationship with him that we would call him Daddy, or Poppa? Our Savior did.

Our Savior did and he showed us how to come before our God, he showed us how to pray to him; not in fear of some unknown all-powerful being, but humbly and with love in our heart, speaking to him as to our kind and loving Daddy, our Abba.

The Savior and Abba

Jesus taught us to pray in a way that was new to most men, at least I have never read of anyone speaking to our Father in such a personal and loving way before Christ did. Before Jesus with the possible exception of Adam at his alter after the fall, all prayer was formal and mostly to an unnamed God. Prayer was directed towards, “The God of Jacob, The God Isaac, The God of Israel”, but never to “Our Father” and certainly never to “Abba; Daddy.”

Through Christ we have learned who we really are. We are not the play-things of the Gods as the Greeks and the Romans were taught, we are not the servants of a vengeful and often angry God that ruled the Old Testament; we are the literal sons and daughters of a truly loving and every forgiving Father. I think this is the Good News that so many Christians seem to miss.

The good news is not just that we will all be resurrected, nor is it that our sins can be forgiven; the good news is why these things are true. What good is eternal life, what good is forgiveness if we have no relationship with who is forgiving us?

If you were a factory worker in a large plant owned by a larger company that was in turn owned by a foreign corporation, would it mean anything to you if the CEO sent you a birthday card? Would it mean more if your father who you haven’t seen for years and you miss terribly sent you the same card? That is the good news Christ brought us; our father lives and he loves us personally. He is our Father, our Daddy and yes, he is our Abba.