Murtha's lesson

It has begun. I hate to admit it, but I think that America will lose the war in Iraq and, eventually, any war we fight from now on. This country is beaten, and its people are no longer the Americans of history.

It used to be that when the Americans showed up on the scene, the end was a foregone conclusion: America would win. Yes, there would be fighting to be done, but we would win. This nation had backbone, grit, courage, determination, and a strong sense of right and wrong. Now, it appears that we have none. Or, if some of our leaders do appear to have it, that others don’t want it demonstrated, for it shows up their own inadequacy.

Do you remember when President Bush visited the site of the World Trade Center, three days after 9/11? When someone yelled, “We can’t hear you,” he responded, “I hear you, the rest of the world hears you, and the people who knocked down these buildings will hear all of us soon!" Do you remember how you were glad that this was the person who would be going after Al-Qaeda, and not Al Gore? And now, where are we? In four years, we have come to the place that a supposed patriot, John Murtha, says that we can’t win, it’s time to retreat. How could this come to pass?

Because we aren’t the people that used to be Americans, that’s how. As Zell Miller reminded us, last year, when Wendell Wilkie ran against Roosevelt in 1940, he did not question the war against Germany. But we have a party that is willing, with troops in the field, to do that very thing. When John Murtha called for America to cut and run, he set in motion the same thing that happened to our country during the Viet Nam war. Even though we were winning in 1967, the Communists knew that they could win because of the likes of Jane Fonda, and the anti-war movement.

In 1995, the Wall Street Journal interviewed former Colonel Bui Tin, who received the formal surrender of South Viet Nam, in 1975, and asked. “Was the American antiwar movement important to Hanoi's victory?” Colonel Tin’s answer was “It was essential to our strategy. Support of the war from our rear was completely secure while the American rear was vulnerable. Every day our leadership would listen to world news over the radio at 9 a.m. to follow the growth of the American antiwar movement. Visits to Hanoi by people like Jane Fonda, and former Attorney General Ramsey Clark and ministers gave us confidence that we should hold on in the face of battlefield reverses. We were elated when Jane Fonda, wearing a red Vietnamese dress, said at a press conference that she was ashamed of American actions in the war and that she would struggle along with us.”

The actions and words of John Murtha, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Ted Kennedy, Joe Biden, Howard Dean, John Kerry (big surprise!), and the National Democratic Party have fulfilled the words of Osama Bin Laden, when he was interviewed in 1998:

“As I said, our boys were shocked by the low morale of the American soldier and they realized that the American soldier was just a paper tiger.” Speaking with ABC reporter John Miller, Bin Laden tells of his feelings when Clinton pulled out of Somalia: “After a few blows, ... [America] rushed out of Somalia in shame and disgrace, dragging the bodies of its soldiers.... I was very happy to learn of that great defeat that America suffered, so was every Muslim.”

And, I wonder, so was every Democrat? If we learned nothing from Viet Nam, apparently Bin Laden and the terrorists did.

Thanksgiving, the fifth

The Lord is my Shepherd, Psa. 23:1

As this Thanksgiving holiday comes to an end, I have to say that I am most grateful for my salvation. The grace of God that saved me is the greatest gift in my life, and one for which I will be eternally grateful, no pun intended. (Well, maybe a small pun.)

And speaking of gifts, I love the day of Thanksgiving, for it is the one holiday that our commercial system hasn't been able to corrupt. While our businesses to the shopping days that follow Thanksgiving, American consumerism haven't yet been able to turn the day of Thanksgiving away from its purpose, which is to be thankful. It is hard to commercialize a holiday that makes us grateful. How can we make this a day of coveting when we are giving thanks for what we have?

This year, at our table, I read from Deut. 16, about the feast of Tabernacles, which was Israel's equivalent of Thanksgiving:

13 Thou shalt keep the feast of tabernacles seven days, after that thou hast gathered in from thy threshing-floor and from thy winepress:
14 and thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, and the Levite, and the sojourner, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
15 Seven days shalt thou keep a feast unto Jehovah thy God in the place which Jehovah shall choose; because Jehovah thy God will bless thee in all thine increase, and in all the work of thy hands, and thou shalt be altogether joyful.

Not fasting, but feasting and joy in the gifts of God were called for during the Feast of Tabernacles. And that is why I rejoice in this day, and make the following my prayer:

"Thou who hast given so much to me, give me one more thing—a grateful heart!"
George Herbert

Here's hoping you had a Happy Thanksgiving, too.

Thanksgiving, the fourth

On this day before Thanksgiving, I want to say that I am thankful for the church that I am now attending.

While I am ordained in the Church of God, Cleveland, TN, we are now attending a United Methodist church in our home town. While the wife is a deeply dyed-in-the-wool Pentecostal, I am appreciating the quieter atmosphere, for the time being. In an earlier blog, I posted about being tired of people (read Christians) who are "stuck on stupid." For the time being, this church is allowing me to rest and recuperate, without the pressure of having to face those Stuck On Stupid people.

I am glad that the church we are attending has a pastor who believes in the Bible, believes in salvation by faith, believes in the Word of God, and believes in a congregation that loves and knows the Word of God. I have always heard about how mainline denominations are the leading of the basket that the United States is going to hell in, but it is wonderful to be in a church that, while mainline, still holds to the Faith.

While I don't believe in the saying "any port in a storm," it is good to be able to find sanctuary when you need one. I am thankful for God providing a healing place.

Thanskgiving, the third

I am thankful for the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States. Our nation is different from all the other nations of the world because the Founding Fathers recognized and codified God as the source of our rights and life, not the state. All other governments in the world, all other documents and constitutions, say that rights and priviledges are granted by the state.

Our country recognizes that God is the source of rights, and that our government is a compact of the governed to unite for protection of life and liberty, and that God-given rights cannot be abridged by government.

There is an anecdote about Benjamin Franklin and the Constitution. When the Constitution was written and presented for the different colonies to accept, a woman approached Franklin and asked him, "What have you given us?" Franklin is supposed to have replied, "A republic, if you can keep it."

With this in mind, I temper my thankfulness with the fear that we are not educating our children in what the Declaration and the Constitution have given us. The events of Hurricane Katrina seemed to illustrate the fact that people now feel that government is the source of all good, and when government doesn't provide what we want when we want it, then government has failed.

It is my hope that we can recover the knowledge of just what we have been given by these inspired documents.

Thanksgiving, the second

I want to say that I am thankful for having a President with the clear vision that he has for freedom, and the backbone to move toward the goals that he sees as essential.

Under the previous administration, we had a nation ruled by pollsters, and a president who was a follower, not a leader. President Bush doesn't apologize for his decisions; he just forges on, no matter how loud, vexing, deceptive or disingenuous the Democrats are.

It all comes down to one question, and one answer. Who would I want to protect my children: President Bush or a democrat? The answer is obvious, as I don't believe that there is one democrat who really cares about anyone other than their own perks and priviledges. We have seen the heart of President Bush, and we have seen the crass attacks of the democrats against him. He has earned my respect, my support, my prayers, and my thanks.

Thanksgiving, the first

Ps. 68:6 God sets the lonely in families.

This is the week of Thanksgiving, and this week, I want to think and post about those things for which I am thankful. Today, as I sat in the 8:30 service of the church we are attending (www.www.mainstumc.org), the congregation was challenged to think on this, and the first thing that popped into my mind was my family.

Funny, happy, loving. These are adjectives that come easily to mind when I think of my wife and kids. The times we spend together are the source of great pride and joy that I feel each day. I have often said that I were to die today, I could point to my family and say that I have made a difference in this world.

This morning, one of the lay leaders of the church spoke of the best and worst things that he has done in his life. He said that the best thing that he has ever done was to marry his wife. The worst thing he feels that he ever did was to neglect speaking of his faith in his home, with this children. He said that it isn’t enough to rely on church services and Sunday Schools to provide spiritual instruction, that he regretted not sharing his faith in his home. And I agree with him.

For the past year and a half, my wife, my kids and I spend time together, in the evening, sharing from the Bible, from our hearts, and about things in our lives. We are going to finish reading through the Bible together, for the first time, this year. We talk about the daily reading, I read from Our Daily Bread, and we listen to the daily Creation Moments (www. creationmoments.com) radio broadcast. As well, we go over verses that we have memorized and and are memorizing. We finish with a time of prayer, and I read from a children’s book from my library. (This last is at the insistence of my wife and daughters; I can think of no earthly reason for doing so.)

But it is during these times that I see my family at its best and at its looniest. And while we can’t claim that we are great spiritual giants, I can say that my family is one with God and one with each other.

And I can say, with David, “My cup overflows.”