Nidal Malak Hasan

This is the name of the man who killed a dozen soldiers today at Ft. Hood. He injured 31 others. He was killed in the incident. It is an interesting name, Nidal Malak Hasan. We have been assured that this was not an act of political terrorism. Certainly they wouldn't lie to us. Would they? I hope not, but I know better. At least Nidal knew the difference between a combatant and a civilian.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of those killed and injured in this attack. May God comfort them and bring healing. My thanks are extended to all who honorably serve our nation in the armed forces. Today's tragic events are a reminder that whether home or abroad these folks put their lives on the line for us every day. God bless and protect the people of our military.

Total War

Part One In The Spiritual Warfare Series

I have been pondering the concept of total war lately. Americans are really not comfortable with the idea of total war. This fact is clearly seen in our impatience with the current war in Iraq and in our approach to the war against terrorism in general. The most recent example of total war in American history was World War II. Yet even that war did not carry the concept to its extreme limits. According to Wikipedia

Total war is a conflict of unlimited scope in which a belligerent engages in a mobilization of all available resources at their disposal, whether human, industrial, agricultural, military, natural, technological, or otherwise, in order to entirely destroy or render beyond use their rival's capacity to continue resistance. The practice of total war has been in use for centuries, but it was only in the middle to late 19th century that total war was identified by scholars as a separate class of warfare. In a total war, there is less (or no) differentiation between combatants and non-combatants (civilians) than in other conflicts, as nearly every person from a particular country (or opposing area), civilians and soldiers alike, can be considered to be part of this belligerent effort.

The "civilized" world in general doesn't seem to have much of a stomach for total war, and I am glad many industrialized nations have embraced the concept of more limited warfare. However, the concept of total war seems to be a good description of the spiritual war in which humanity finds itself.

Consider the reality that exists on Earth. Two kingdoms are engaged in battle for supremacy of the earth. There is no Geneva Convention governing the prosecution of this war. It is a bloody, no-holds-barred fight. Neither side fights fairly, and the weapons of each side are devastating.

The devil and his forces are doing everything that they can to steal, kill, and destroy. They are not above attacking infants in the womb. They put hideous diseases on people. They spawn physical wars. They keep people in bondage physically, mentally, emotionally, economically, and spiritually. They pervert justice and do everything that they can to destroy God's creation. Worst of all, the devil takes advantage of people's fallen, sinful nature to keep them bowing to him. Condemnation and intimidation are some of his most effective weapons. This kingdom uses deception and lies as propaganda to prevent its victims from finding God's light and to entice them to destroy themselves.

On the other hand the Kingdom of God uses weapons that the enemy cannot resist. Those in this Kingdom have access to the precious blood of Jesus that the enemy has no defense against. They can use the name of Jesus that causes every knee to bow in submission. They have the Word of God that is like a mighty two-edged sword. The praises of God in their mouths inflicts "vengeance on the nations and punishment on the peoples, to bind their kings with fetters, their nobles with shackles of iron, to carry out the sentence written against them." They have the grace of God at their disposal to set them free from condemnation and from the fleshly sinful nature that their enemy had used to keep them in bondage. And they have Almighty God backing them up.

The greatest insult of all to the kingdom of the devil is that the Kingdom of God doesn't destroy anything except the works of the devil. The Kingdom of God is all about restoration. It takes its enemy's greatest warriors and converts them and uses them as weapons against the devil's kingdom. In fact, the word of a Christian's testimony has great power to overcome the devil. So even the things that the enemy intended to destroy are used to overcome his kingdom. And he can't even kill these liberated prisoners to stop their influence, because the blood of the saints of the Kingdom of God is the seed of the Church.

The sooner that we embrace the reality that we are engaged in a total war the happier we will be. For when we finally recognize this truth we will be able to readjust our expectations in a way that will allow us to begin to walk in victory. So many Western Christians have been deluded into believing that spiritual warfare is a metaphor instead of truth. As a result we are perplexed when we see the suffering that exists in our world. We wonder why our lives are so destroyed and why sickness, bondage, poverty, conflict, and trouble are our constant companions. We wonder why our lives as Christians are such a poor representation of the examples that we see in the scriptures.

John Eldredge described it this way in his book Waking The Dead:

Until we come to terms with war as the context of our days we will not understand life. We will misinterpret 90 percent of what is happening around us and to us. It will be very hard to believe that God's intentions toward us are life abundant; it will be even harder not to feel that somehow we are just blowing it. Worse, we will begin to accept some really awful things about God. That four-year-old girl being molested by her daddy - that is "God's will"? That ugly divorce that tore your family apart - God wanted that to happen too? And that plane crash that took the lives of so many - that was desired by God?

Most people get stuck at some point because God appears to have abandoned them. He is not coming through. Speaking about her life with a mixture of disappointment and cynicism, a young woman recently said to me, "God is rather silent right now." Yes, it's been awful. I don't discount that for a moment. She is unloved; she is unemployed; she is under a lot. But her attitude strikes me as deeply naive, on the level of someone caught in a cross fire who asks, rather shocked and with a sense of betrayal, "God, why won't you make them stop firing at me?" I'm sorry, but that's not where we are right now. It's not where we are in the Story. That day is coming, later, when the lion shall lie down with the lamb and we'll beat swords into plowshares. For now, it's bloody battle.

- John Eldredge, © 2009 Waking the Dead: The Glory of a Heart Fully Alive, pp. 17-18 Thomas Nelson Publishers

Once we embrace the concept of total war we can begin to act like we are in a war. Instead of wandering around the battlefield naked and unarmed we can begin to gird ourselves for the battle that we are in - and like it or not we are all in a battle. There is no sideline. No quarter is given based on age, sex, race, religion, economic status, handicap, or anything else. We are all combatants on one side or the other. If you fight you will be attacked, and if you don't fight you will be attacked. I don't know about you, but if I'm going to be attacked one way or the other, I intend to bloody my adversary as much as I can.

It is important to remember the nature of a Christian's weapons. They are not physical weapons, but spiritual. And our enemies are not flesh, but spirit. That isn't to say that the spirits don't manifest themselves through people for they surely do, but our warfare is against the spirit and not against the individual. When a Christian wars, success will be far more likely when anger is not allowed to be expressed against the individual that the enemy is using for his purposes.

But why do we have to fight? If a person is born again he belongs to God, right? If God is all-powerful then why do we have to fight? Couldn't He just win for us? He could. But that has never been the way that God has operated in the Earth. Even from the beginning, He created mankind in His image and authorized him to rule the Earth. The New Testament does not change this arrangement. In the end God's saints rule with Jesus when He comes back to take physical dominion of the Earth. A good picture of God's attitude towards warfare can be found in the book of Judges:

These are the nations the LORD left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan (He did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience): the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo Hamath.

God actually WANTED all of the Israelites to be trained in and experience warfare! We are no different. The scriptures make it clear that we are to personally engage in warfare through the power and strength of the Lord.

One of the most significant realizations that I have ever come to as a Christian is that the devil does not fight fairly and that I don't either. I am OK with that. The enemy will go after anything that he can to get to me. My family, friends, property, health, and anything else that he could use to harm me are all on his list of potential targets. Anything that I have not protected is likely to be attacked. However, on the other hand the Lord has given us tremendous promises in His Word that allow us to defend ourselves against the devil's schemes.

Peter tells us to "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings." Another version tells us to "be sober, be vigilant." Soldiers in a battle zone learn to be vigilant or they end up dead. God has already given us the weapons to defeat the enemy. If we are alert and on guard against the devil's attacks we can thwart him when he tries to devour that which Jesus purchased for us at Calvary.

There is no doubt that the enemy will get in some cheap shots, but as we learn to fight we will make it harder and harder for him to breach our defenses. Even better we will learn to plunder his kingdom, taking back not only what he stole from us but setting other captives free! We will begin to cause more damage to the enemy than he does to us! When we are on the offensive the battle becomes fun.

I hope that you see that there is no avoiding combat in this war. Our actions either contribute to the victory of the enemy's kingdom or the Kingdom of God. As you begin to engage in the battle do not be dismayed if the enemy intensifies the battle around you. Remember that intimidation is one of his tactics. If you will continue to resist him he will flee. And you don't have to fight by yourself either! We can team up against the devil, and that teamwork multiplies our effectiveness.

Soon I hope to address some of the practical ways that I have learned to engage the enemy and to discuss the weapons that I have learned to use in that fight, but these topics are outside the scope of today's post. I hope that these thoughts have spurred you to recognize the nature of the battle in which we all find ourselves and have encouraged you to take up your armor and weapons to defend yourself against the enemy's attack. May God grant you much grace and reveal Himself to you through His Word.

Go To Spiritual Warfare Series Part 2: Choosing Your Ground

Thanks, Veterans

Thank you to all the men and women who have and are serving our nation in the armed services. You have sacrificed much and put up with much to give us the freedoms that we have. Please forgive us when we take those freedoms and your sacrifices for granted. May God richly bless you.

Russia Is Lost

It would seem that Russia has lost its way back out of Georgia. In spite of announcements that they were withdrawing today, Georgia can't seem to find any evidence that it is taking place.

That is most likely because it isn't.

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice has ratcheted up the rhetoric to a pretty shrill level, but so far it doesn't seem to be having any effect at all.

Here's something that might work.

First send in a squadron of these:



Once they have established air superiority and control send in a squadron of these:



My guess is that the Russians will quickly remember the way back out of Georgia. Condi wouldn't even have to raise her voice. And of course after the Warthogs show up she might casually mention that if there is not a complete withdrawal of the vehicles and troops that can still move within 24 hours that there will be a division of these put on the ground:



But I doubt that it would ever get that far.

More On Putin

Bill O'Reilly wrote the following in a recent editorial:

Realizing that the Bush administration cannot handle another armed conflict right now, Putin decided to show the world that he could punish America's friend, Georgia, without a meaningful response. He has succeeded in doing that.

Down the road, either John McCain or Barack Obama will have to deal with Vlad the Assailer. This dour, brutal man senses weakness in both America and Europe, weakness that will drive him to become bolder. The only thing a guy like Vlad understands is the stick.

But how to wield it is the question. As with Iran, diplomacy is not likely to deter Putin because Europe needs Russia's natural gas and oil and is not likely to challenge Russia by supporting sanctions. So it will come down to the United States vs. Russia, mano a mano.

Putin is one tough customer. It will be interesting to see whether the United States will elect a leader who can effectively neutralize him. If that does not happen, old Vlad, like Dracula, will commit scourge on the countryside.

- Bill O'Reilly

Back in October 2007 I wrote a post that talked about what I see as a growing threat to American security. It highlighted apparent ties between China, Venezuela, Russia, Cuba, North Korea, and Iran. I thoroughly believe that the action that we see in Georgia right now is the beginning of the unfolding of the dreadful scenario that I laid out in that post.

Vladamir Putin has grown bolder and bolder since he took office. He has established Naziesque Russian youth organizations. He has now begun the process of imperial expansion to regain the countries of the former Soviet bloc.

Putin has taken a calculated risk with his invasion of Georgia. He believed that the US would not, indeed could not, retaliate or help because we could not risk an all-out war with Russia. I fear our response - or the weakness of that response will bear much bad fruit.

China likewise has a similar "Hitler Youth" type of program. It has also been doing much saber rattling in its region - especially towards Taiwan. I believe that the response of the US in the Georgian invasion will invite a similar invasion of Taiwan.

Here is the way I think that things will play themselves out. If the US does nothing then we will see additional 'Anschlusses.' If the US responds militarily to any of these attacks, I believe that we will see simultaneous attacks on territory by Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela, and North Korea.

I think that it would be possible for the US to make a limited stand against Russia right now. China is in the middle of the Olympics and doesn't want global favor turned away. That would make a response much safer, but I fear that we are quickly finding ourselves in a Catch-22.

Our window of opportunity is extremely small. The longer we wait to curb Putin, the less we will be able to do so. Great Britain had an opportunity to stop Hitler early on, but they missed their chance, and thousands upon thousands paid for that mistake with their lives.

The US had best develop some very strong allies quickly.

When I was a kid in the middle of the Cold War, our greatest fear was mutually-assured nuclear annihilation. In our current world, the stakes are just as high. We risk military defeat like we never have since the war of 1812. It's a dangerous world we live in. I pray to God that our next President has the grit to lead our country in such a perilous time.

D-Day Anniversary

UPDATED:

Today is the anniversary of D-Day (the beginning of the Battle of Normandy.) It is always strange for me to see pictures like this one because when you think about it you realize what those guys are heading into and that many of them very likely never made it home. It is very sobering.

According to the website where I got this picture the casualties on both sides of this battle were staggering. It reported the following figures:

United States: 29,000 dead, 106,000 wounded or missing
United Kingdom: 11,000 dead, 54,000 wounded or missing
Canada: 5,000 dead, 13,000 wounded or missing
France: 12,000 dead or missing civilians
Germany: 23,019 dead, 67,060 wounded, 198,616 missing or captured

That is a total of just over 80,000 people killed in one battle. In fact, many of the missing were most likely dead. Like I said, the numbers are staggering. These numbers are the totals between June 6 and June 30, 1944 - 25 days.

All I can say is I am glad the American people had the will to win World War II. To me this really puts the losses that we have suffered in the Global War on Terror since 9/11/01 into perspective. While we have paid dearly in the War on Terror we have not sacrificed the way America did during World War II. Thank God such a sacrifice has not been required to this point, because I am not certain that our nation would be willing to pay such a price for freedom now. (Perhaps they would be more willing to if Hollywood and the media were as supportive of the mission now as they were then.)

When Saving Private Ryan came out, there were reports that veterans who saw the movie and were at Omaha beach said that the movie was just like the real thing - except for the smell. Watching the movie I couldn't believe that anyone survived. It is hard for the mind to comprehend.

I am so grateful for the men and women who down through America's history have been willing to lay their lives down to purchase freedom. Some purchased it for themselves, some purchased it for others, and some purchased it for generations yet to come. Thank you so much.

Remember Tiananmen Square!

Today is the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre. For those who do not remember the events surrounding this draconian power play by China's communist party, you can read more about it in this article at The Free Dictionary.

The massacre followed an amazing peaceful demonstration that had lasted about 51 days between April 15 and June 4, 1989. I remember watching it unfold day by day on the news and hoping that the Chinese people were about to peacefully earn their freedom and democracy. However, that was not to be the case.

On June 4, 1989 the Chinese government managed to roll into Tiananmen Square with its tanks (in spite of non-violent attempts to prevent them from doing so) and began killing its own unarmed citizens, effectively ending the protest. Student leaders were rounded up, and based on the treatment given to Chinese Christian leaders that fall into the hands of the government, were most likely tortured and/or murdered by the government.

Chinese sources downplay the lives lost in the massacre saying that there were only 200-300 people killed. (Only?! Compare this to the Kent State shootings in the 60s and the outcry that erupted over that.) However, Chinese Red Cross reported numbers of 2,000-3,000 killed.

I remind you of these events for a number of reasons. First of all, I want to to realize that if the Chinese government is willing to do this to its own people then it will do even worse to its enemies.

Secondly, I want to point out that freedom of speech cannot survive in a land without the freedom to bear arms. The students had no recourse other than to run away and toe the line after the government appeared with its big stick. As George Washington said, "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance; they are the peoples' liberty's teeth."

Finally, I want to encourage you to remember Tiananmen Square when some politician starts talking about how the American people should be unarmed (or that their right to possess arms should be diminished.) First they will use fear to get you to give up your right to self defense, then they will use fear to rule you with a rod of iron.

Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
- Benjamin Franklin

A Quickie...

Man, I wish I had time to post a long update tonight, but this is going to have to be a fly-by.

I checked my garden today and everything is coming up nicely. Most things are just starting to poke their heads through the dirt, but I hope to have stuff up high enough to be able to take pictures early next week.

Had a good practice with the Jazz Band tonight. We just kind of jammed for a while. It was fun. We have a small gig tomorrow night at South Rowan High School for the Drama Club fundraiser. We also have a gig coming up on June 6. That will be here before you know it. Still, if you are looking for a good one to come down for, our Dixie's Farmers' Day gig should be a good one to plan for.

This weekend I'm heading out with a couple fraternity brothers and their families to Lake Chatuge for some fishing and catching up. I'm not exactly sure how things will go. I'm the only single going with three families with kids. Yay. I am sure that it will be fun, but I am a true hermit at heart, and four days of tip-toeing around 12-13 other people will have me most ready to return to my little hermitage. There are pluses and minuses to single life! Hopefully I will find a nice fishing hole with some trout. I haven't caught any of those since I was a kid.

Tomorrow I'll be slammed. I have some mowing to do, and would really like to finish putting out my garden before Friday's rain arrives. (Thank God that we are getting rain regularly this year!) There is also a family dinner and I have already mentioned the gig. On top of that I need to go to the bank, the grocery store, do some food prep and pack. Perhaps I won't sleep... That should make me nice and sociable!

Well, if I don't get to update again before I leave. Have a great Memorial Day, and in the midst of your celebrations take some time to remember the men and women who have laid down their lives to give us the freedoms that we so often take for granted.

Some Good Resources

If you are like me, you are constantly inundated with requests from everyone under the sun for money to help some worthy cause or another. It is impossible to give to each and every one of these requests - and invariably a donation is welcomed by another hand out for more. No doubt there are many worthy causes and the need in our world is great. So how does someone choose a good charity? How do you know who the crooks are? How can you find out whether someone is a good or poor steward of the monies that they collect?

Charles Colson has written an article over at Townhall.com that exposes a couple of crooked organizations that are exploiting our righteous sympathies for injured soldiers to make themselves rich. He also identifies some good web resources to help identify good charities. I hope that you will take the time to check out this article and these websites as you are choosing where to make your charitable contributions.

A Positive Story About the War

Hi, all. Yesterday I was up to my eyes in an Advent blog, but I did find an interesting article for you over at Bear Creek Ledger. You and I know that there is a dearth of news items about positive things being done by our troops in Iraq. Well here is one that shows how a soldier took it upon himself to do something that is making a big difference in how he and his unit are being received.



Nashville Native Learns Arabic To Help With Mission in Iraq

Perhaps there is something Christians can learn from this soldier. Maybe if we try to "learn the language" of the lost around us we'll have more success in helping them to find the truth.

Dude, This Just LOOKS Wicked

The Navy is testing a new weapons technology that is astounding.

Metal Storm Reaches Navy Test Range

Brisbane, Australia-based Metal Storm has delivered a four-barrel weapon to the Naval Surface Warfare Center for testing that uses a small electrical current instead a conventional firing pin to deliver stacked rounds at an astounding rate.

How astounding? Try 1 million rounds per minute. That's the rate, by the way, not the volume; still, there's no way you want to be anywhere near the wrong end of one of these puppies.

…The projectiles are stacked in-line in the barrel--nose to tail--so there are no magazines, no shell casings and no mechanical components.

There is footage of some of the testing embedded in the linked article. You really ought to watch it. It is mind blowing. It would be a bad day indeed to be downrange from this weapon. I would think that they would eventually be able to fire on simultaneous targets. The thought of being downrange is not pleasant at all.

US Pilots Forced To Undergo Hideous Genetic Experiments!!!!

No, not really. What you see above is not a minotaur recruited by the US Air Force (although that is exactly what it looks like to me.) It is a picture of a cool new helmet that could be gracing the heads of our pilots in the near future. The new helmet has some pretty cool features: it replaces the heads up display that has been in US fighter aircraft since WWII, it allows the pilot to "see" through the floor of the plane just by looking down, and it has infrared vision, and I think that it can read minds too... Maybe not, but you can read about it HERE.

The Navy is Off the Hook

I got some information on my friend Kevin. Remember that he was the fellow that hadn’t gotten his room and board situation squared away and his family was concerned that they were going to have to miss a rent payment. Well, I got some good news today. The Navy got him situated and everything has been taken care of. Thanks for your prayers and concern. Kevin has shipped out to 29 Palms in California and will be training for deployment in August. I’ll try to remember to post mailing information for him here tomorrow.

Lucky Mud

I am often humbled by the heroics of those who have gone before me. When I read about the soldiers on both sides of the Mason Dixon line who marched across open fields into artillery and entrenched infantry to their certain deaths the magnitude of their bravery goes so far beyond my own comprehension. The same goes for those heroes who stormed Normandy 60 years ago.

Yesterday Peggy Noonan wrote the following words:

Television will be full of reports this weekend of the festivities surrounding the 60th anniversary of D-Day. This has me thinking of why we still talk about the invasion, why television news producers are certain we are interested, and why the programmers of movie channels believe we will want to see "The Longest Day" again, and "Saving Private Ryan."

The Normandy invasion was a great moment in history (brave men joining together to do the right thing) and a definitive moment (the Nazi hold on Europe was loosed; in less than a year Berlin would fall). These are reasons enough.

But there is this, too: We are human and love stories that show humanity as brave and selfless. It exalts us. We need to be exalted. It is hard to get up in the morning and pull on your socks and enter the day. It is hard to be a bus driver. But it is easier when you can think better of your passengers.

When you think man isn't much, when you think human beings are pretty low as beings go, it leaches love from you. It leaches love from your soul when you think we're all nothing much, we're dust in the wind, it's dog eat dog. When you can see us as more than that, it helps you enter each day. It helps you live. We think about D-Day, and Harry the King at Agincourt, and George Meade at Gettysburg, to help us live.

It is amazing that such fallen creatures are capable of anything good. Many who conquered at Omaha Beach were not Christian, just as many who fell there were; yet it is amazing to me that somehow that spark of the Divine that has been placed within us is never completely extinguished until we expire. (Now I’d have to admit that some people do a pretty good job of smothering it, though!)

I guess what I am getting at is “What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?” (Psalm 8:4) I am staggered by the goodness of God. If only everyone could see this truth about Him. It would be a much better place if those that hated Him would simply give in to His love. (They'd end up in a much better place too!)

It Ain't Right

Greetings all!

A good friend of mine who is in the Navy Reserve was recently activated for service in Iraq. He is a Chaplain Aide and will be working with the 1st Battalion, 23rd Marines. He will be looking after the spiritual well being of our troops over in Iraq. Kevin is leaving a wife and 4 kids at home.

The other day I got an email describing a situation that my friend's family is facing:

Let's just say, that the Reserve Center in Houston, is NOT cooperating, financially! We just had to pay for his hotel room, AND his food, for the past 3+ weeks! It just put us WAY in the hole! And we're NOT sure if they're going to reimburse him! He's disgusted today, and ready to come home! LOL! (like he could do that!!!:)

Please pray that everything gets straightened out, TODAY, and that they DO reimburse him........if they don't, our rent won't get paid this month!

This is staggering to me on a couple of fronts. First of all, I am amazed that the Navy has called him up but not provided for his room and board. Hopefully, this has already been taken care of and is in the process of being rectified by the military, but I will be tracking this situation and reporting on it here.

On the other hand, I am amazed at the way this family is making such a huge sacrifice for this country and for the Kingdom of God. This is such a foreign concept in America anymore. There are few that are willing to make this kind of sacrifice. Every day we hear reports of the people who have no concept that we are at war. We see the media elite who thumb their noses at these sacrificers while taking advantage of the prosperity that their sacrifices are making possible. Sacrifices that are being made by people who sometimes have to go on food stamps to make ends meet.

Folks, I know it has almost become cliché to say that we need to honor those who are serving our country, but the next time you see someone in uniform, try to remember that many of them are:

with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, mutually pledging to each other their Lives, Fortunes and sacred Honor.

God bless them all.