2009-May-20 - From Afghanistan, A Christian Brother on Freedom!
I am so pleased to share with you an essay written by a friend of mine from church and school who is currently deployed in Afghanistan. What a wake up call he shares as we look to our future as a nation who is in serious trouble with our political and spiritual stance.
THANK YOU Paul for allowing me to reprint this for my readers! Stay SAFE and Come on home soon! God bless you~you've got my prayers!!
As we approach Memorial Day we must NEVER forget the sacrifices of those who today and in years past have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country! AND let's remember those who are serving today!
God bless you as you read and consider his words:
LOSING GOD is LOSING OUR NATION
Thoughts by Paul Balmer, May 19, 2009
The time I have spent in Kuwait/Iraq and Afghanistan has done more to strengthen my faith, however, it has also affirmed my fear; That we are dying as a nation…prematurely.
The latest news of the Daily Pentagon briefing at the Whitehouse brief eliminating the daily scripture reading and the Army destroying Bibles are only 2 small, recent events that point toward my affirmed fear. Our forefathers battled with the idea of whether the people of our country were “virtuous” enough to stand as a “republic” nation. It is sad, because now, as I even write this, I realize that most people today, when asked if they thought our country was a democratic-republic, believe one is asking them as to which political party is in power. In the end, after many debates and much deliberation, the founding fathers believed the American people to be ready, virtuous and capable of electing humble leadership that does not do the job for financial gain, but for representing the true spirit of America. Do we really have to guess what their answer would be today?
We were NOT founded as a country void of religion. The separation of Church and state was to protect the Church, more than the state, and it was to protect one’s right to worship God, as they wish - - but these meanings were embodied only in variations of denominations of a SIMILAR faith in God. I say again: our forefathers were most ALL God-fearing men and, no, they were not perfect. They did not anticipate a nation of atheists (as Thomas Paine alluded), let alone a nation of Islam. No, of course were NOT perfect…they acknowledged this and their NEED for God despite BECAUSE of their humanity. The much debated decision by our forefathers not to abolish slavery was an Achilles heel to their efforts. Unfortunately, under the great leadership of Abraham Lincoln (a once whig, turned republican), our strong democratic (don’t mean the political party) position as a nation gave way to a stronger “republic” having to become strong during and after the Civil War. This started the shift of people starting to rely on the government to solve their problems. Then, after WWI and WWII, it got worse, social security, welfare, entitlement after entitlement, we became the type of people Benjamin Franklin and others feared:
“I am apprehensive, therefore – perhaps too apprehensive – that the Government of these States may in future times end in a monarchy. But this catastrophe, I think, may be long delayed, if in our system we do not sow seeds of contention, faction, tumult by making our posts [political positions] of honor places of profit.” (Benjamin Franklin)
We were a country founded on Christian principles. There can’t possibly be an argument against this…the evidence is, well, overwhelming to put it mildly. So the only thing I can believe is that Americans just don’t care. Losing sight of God and focusing on man being our ‘own’ authority, is our nature, it is why we need Leaders who are Godly men leading us and churches in our community caring for us…because we must constantly be made aware of His sovereignty. I make this contention…that the death of our country will be/is directly related to our drifting from God. We have been our strongest when we have been most acutely aware of and honoring to HIM.
The Nation of Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world. Do you know where it started? Do you know how it started? Have you read the Koran? Oh my, maybe I should start by asking if you’ve read the Bible…?? I do NOT mean to be insulting, please understand my frustration here. My family and friends, the Koran, the Hadith, the words of the “great” muslim leaders all teach to “fight”, “kill”, “slay”, “seize, confine, etc., the Christians and the Jews.
The United States has even become a harvesting place for its own destruction. There are over 80 known (to the FBI) terrorist camps in this Country that are run by organizations that all profess the muslim faith. One of them is in Red House, Virginia…10 minutes from where my two sons live during the school year. I believe most of them (if not all) are patient, quiet, sleeper cells, awaiting the moment of victory.
Here in Afghanistan, where I write these thoughts, we provide the Koran, prayer mats, prayer caps, loud speakers, with your tax dollars, to the unlawfully detained enemy combatants who would just assume ‘whack’ our heads off with a sword. They riot if we don’t provide them with the materials they need for worship. Most recently they have been provided 37 inch LCD TVs for “education” purposes…watch and see if they don’t get muslim teaching on them (never mind…this info is generally not shared). By the way, if the TVs surprise you, I guess the Video Tele-conferences, visitations and treats for keeping their areas clean are just a few things you might find interesting. I can’t tell you much more about what we provide or do or I will be violating Operational Security.
We have been told now that we can’t even give a Bible to the few who ask for them. It takes a lot to ask for a Bible here, they have had to be concealed and disguised because the few who dare possess them would suffer the punishment of their cell mates. The detained even try to convince the guards to convert to Islam and denounce America. Dare we give them a Bible…or…Dare we pray in front of them! This is in the area WE control…and I don’t even need to tell you what is going on in the field. Meanwhile, we adhere to the Geneva Convention (and then some) while our enemies have no limits. Our leaders declare that abiding by the Geneva Convention makes us better than the enemy. Is this what truly makes us better? Decisions made by a group of countries the U.S. met with back in Switzerland back in the late the 40’s?? (wow, good thing we didn’t have that stuff during WWII…we’d still be bickering as to whether certain enemies deserved representation during war time). Still we hold to the Geneva Convention, tolerate the growing fields of our own demise and quietly denounce our God?! Is it apathy?
We are working so hard to be tolerant of everything and everybody, that we are enabling our perform our own execution. I spoke with our Battalion Chaplain (a Christian one...lol) …oh, and I’m sure they will be thing of the past too…along with “In God We Trust” and “One Nation Under God”, etc. Anyway, I discussed this with him and do you know what he said? He agreed it was sad…what we are doing, what our Country is becoming and said…at least we are on the winning team. What he meant was that we were both Believers in Christ. Now, I know we are on the winning team…in the End, I believe the Bible will stand true just as it has since Job wrote his first inspired word, to the completion of its canonicity in the 500’s, to now. But it is still sad to see my Country (tis of Thee), my sweet land of Liberty…become a broke, disoriented, disheveled mess of a people that turn their backs on the very God that has blessed them and the principles it was founded upon.
George Washington said that “only a virtuous people are capable of freedom”. It’s simple, we lose our virtue; we lose our freedom. And if you think that it can’t happen or wont happen...I pray you awaken.
Cicero, whose discourse on ‘Natural Law’, was largely used, along with the Bible in the laws established in our Great Country, said that all laws must be measure by God’s law. He described:
“Therefore Law [of the Creator] is the distinction between things just and unjust, made in agreement with that primal and most ancient of all things, Nature; and in conformity to Nature’s standard are framed those human laws which inflict punishment upon the wicked and protect the good”
So I conclude, Mr. Obama (whom I refuse to call President - - probably childish but I have no respect for him, only the office he holds) should not allow the discontinuation of the traditional Bible reading in the daily briefings because of a muslim on his staff who was offended (could’ve been him now that I think of it…lol). Because it is yet another step in the direction that we do NOT want to go. I, for one, do NOT want to go any farther that way than we have. A best of a worse case scenario for us is something like a monarchy, or much worse yet, something like Sharia Law.
Like Pakistan is dealing with now, Sharia Law…you do NOT want. Have you seen the video the Taliban has released of beheadings they performed in Swat Valley Pakistan?! Google it…if you have the stomach, or ask me for it. Could NEVER happen in the Good ‘ol U.S. of A., huh?! If our Country continues to allow it, not only could we lose our identity as a free, democratic-republic, we could go backwards in time or to some perversion of it, like the Taliban would love to make happen. You reeeally gotta appreciate our founding fathers…being as brave as they were to stand up, to revolt - - and we mock and ridicule the new day “Tea Party” efforts. I guess we would have told the founding fathers they were off their rocker too.
What can be done? I don’t know…but I know we need a leader(s) who is/are the antithesis of what we have now. Because as I titled this writing, Losing God Means Losing our Country – and THAT I can not…will not…sit by and quietly watch. I hope you don’t either. Or…will you?
Thoughts written by a man sitting at his laptop, in his hooch, who loves God, loves his country, his wife & kids (& dogs ), is proud of his service to his Nation and is just downright frustrated with what is transpiring before his eyes.
Chief Master-At-Arms B. Paul Balmer, United States Navy (Deployed Reservist), Bagram, Afghanistan.
"If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14)
LEST WE FORGET~
blessings
SisterTipster
