Bruce's Views

At what point then,
is the approach of danger to be expected?
I answer that if it ever reach us,
it must spring from amongst us;
it cannot come from abroad.
If destruction be our lot, we ourselves
must be the authors and finishers.
As a nation of free men,
we must live through our times
or die by suicide.

- Abraham Lincoln

Ft. McHenry Flag Displayed in "Distress" Position

Above is the flag that flew over Fort McHenry near Baltimore Harbor. It is displayed here inverted, in the internationally recognized signal of distress. Francis Scott Key, an American lawyer, had boarded a British warship on Sept. 13, 1814 to petition the British for the release of an American doctor held prisoner. Before Key could leave the ship however, the British fleet attacked Ft. McHenry. Key was detained during the battle, and all he could do was stare out over the water toward Ft. McHenry as the furious British bombardment pummeled the fort for over 25 hours. When the shelling stopped after dawn, Key eagerly peered out over the water through the early-morning mist and gun smoke. With unspeakable joy he beheld the flag yet flying defiantly over the fort, and wrote down his feelings in a poem that would eventually become our national anthem.

NOW, THE REST OF THE STORY…

The British navy at that time represented the greatest military power in the world, and the full force of their wrath was directed against the fort. During the siege, the British commander made an offer to cease fire if those within the fort would only lower the American flag. The American defenders defiantly refused, and for the entire night the enraged Brits bombarded Fort McHenry from their massive warships.

The British targeted their artillery barrage particularly upon the U.S. flag itself, seeking to knock it down. However to their amazement, each time it began to fall under the hail of shells, it would suddenly rise again. The British commander was distressed as the day dawned and the flag, though damaged and tattered, was still proudly flying over the fort.

What the Brits didn’t realize, and later discovered much to their amazement, was that each time a shell would hit the flag or its supports, the McHenry patriots would run forward under the hail of artillery and physically hold up the flag until the next shell would kill or wound them. This went on all night. Each time men would fall at the flagpole, others would run forward to take their place, knowing that doing so would mean certain death. These brave American patriots understood the importance of that flag and what it symbolized. They knew that for it to fall, it would signal defeat and the loss of the liberties purchased for them at the cost of countless men and women who shed their blood for freedom.

Here’s a question each of us needs to ponder in these days of trial. Are we still willing to hold up that banner and all it stands for? Does that flag yet wave over the land of the free and the home of the brave? Are we yet willing to pay the ultimate price in defense of our God-given liberty?

Our nation is at grave risk. Traitors who despise our freedoms and ceaselessly labor to subvert our political liberties as a means of destroying them are at work in our very midst. From the highest offices of our land voices are heard that denigrate and besmirch our proud heritage and seek to embarrass us before nations around the world who would love nothing more than to see our destruction. We need make no apologies before our enemies, and have ever stood for justice, liberty, and prosperity in a world of dictators, kings, and self-appointed potentates.

President Lincoln’s speech, given at the Young Men’s Lyceum of Springfield, Illinois January 27, 1838, was nothing short of prophetic.

“The world has never had a good definition of the word ‘liberty.’ The American people just now, are much in want of one. We all declare for liberty. But in using the same word, we do not all mean the same thing. What constitutes the bulwark of our liberty and independence? It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts – these are not our reliance against tyranny. Our reliance is in the love of liberty, which God has planted in our bosom. Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own door.

At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never. All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, could not, by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then, is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer that if it ever reach us, it must spring from amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we ourselves must be the authors and finishers. As a nation of free men, we must live through our times or die by suicide.

Let reverence for the law be breathed by every American mother to the lisping babe that prattles on her lap; let it be taught in the schools, in the seminaries and in the colleges; let it be written in primers, in spelling books and almanacs; let it be preached from the pulpit, proclaimed in legislative halls and enforced in courts of justice; and in short, let it become the political religion of the nation.

And let the old and the young, the rich and the poor, the grave and the gay, of all sexes and tongues and colors and conditions, sacrifice unceasingly at its altar. And let us strive to deserve, as far as mortals may, the continued care of Divine Providence, trusting that in future national emergencies, He will not fail to provide us the instruments of safety and security.

Let us not be slandered from our duty by false accusations against us, nor frightened from it by menaces of destruction to the government, nor of dungeons to ourselves. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith, let us, to the end, dare to do our duty as we understand it.”

- Abraham Lincoln

 
On this Independence Day, let’s remember that freedom isn’t free. Ask any veteran who fought and defended this great nation against tyranny and oppression. Our constitutional liberties were gained and maintained by heartbreaking sacrifice. When we watch the fireworks with our families, let us remember that those fireworks commemorate a desperate battle when brave Americans stood up and defended liberty for all generations to follow.

Let us diligently teach our children what those “bombs bursting in air” actually represent the blood, sweat, and tears of our forefathers who gave their all so we could live as free men and women.

Most important of all, let us pause during our barbeques and family gatherings and give thanks to God for His Providential grace and mercy toward us, and ask His continued blessing and protection upon our nation.

Our last Independence Day will come ONLY when enough of us forget what this great nation truly stands for, and through neglect of duty allow those who would destroy this last best hope of freedom to perish from among the nations. Will we stand idly by and allow the forces of evil to strip away our liberties, our culture, and our freedom to worship God as we please, or will we, like those brave souls at Ft. McHenry, run forth into the battle and hold up that flag and all it represents for all the world to see?! YOU decide!

 Is Big Brother Watching You?

“ Just because you’re not paranoid doesn’t mean someone isn’t out to get you.”
Unknown

“Surveillance (pronounced /sərˈveɪ.əns/ or /sərˈveɪləns/^[1]) is the monitoring of the behavior of a person or group of people, often in a surreptitious manner. Although the word surveillance in French literally means “watching over”,^[2] the term is often used for all forms of observation or monitoring, not just visual observation.”
–From Wikipedia

Every phone call, email or website visit will be monitored by the state under plans to be unveiled next week. 

The proposals will give police and security services the power to snoop on every single communication made by the public with the data then likely to be stored in an enormous national database.

The precise content of calls and other communications would not be accessible but even text messages and visits to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter would be tracked.

The move has alarmed civil liberty campaigners, and the country’s data protection watchdog last night warned the proposals would be “unacceptable”.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, will argue the powers are needed to target terrorists and serious criminals who are taking advantage of the increasing complex nature of communications to plot atrocities and crimes.

A consultation document on the plans, known in Whitehall as the Interception Modernisation Programme, is likely to put great emphasis on the threat facing Britain and warn the alternative to the powers would be a massive expansion of surveillance.

But that will fuel concerns among critics that the Government is using a climate of fear to expand the surveillance state.

Information Commissioner Richard Thomas, the country’s data watchdog, told the Daily Telegraph: “I have no problem with the targeted surveillance of terrorist suspects. 

“But a Government database of the records of everyone’s communications – if that is to be proposed – is not likely to be acceptable to the British public. Remember that records – who? when? where? – can be highly intrusive even if no content is collected.”

It is understood Mr Thomas is concerned that even details on who people contact or sites they visit could intrude on their privacy, such as data showing an individual visiting a website selling Viagra.

Chris Kelly, Facebook’s chief privacy officer, last month revealed he was considering lobbying ministers over the proposal, which he described as “overkill”.

The proposed powers will allow police and security services to monitor communication “traffic”, which is who calls, texts, emails who, when and where but not what is said.

Similarly they will be able to see which websites someone visits, when and from where but not the content of those visits.

However, if the data sets alarm bells ringing, officials can request a ministerial warrant to intercept exactly what is being sent, including the content.

The consultation is expected to include three options on how the “traffic” information is then stored: a “super database” held by the Government, a database held and run by a quango or private company at arms’ length, or an order to communication providers to store every detail in their own systems, which can then be accessed by the security services is necessary.

A memo written by sources close to the project and leaked last year revealed it was fraught with technical difficulties.

Ms Smith has already claimed local authorities will not have access to the data but the Tories have warned of the “exponential increase in the powers of the state”, while the Liberal Democrats have dubbed the plans “Orwellian” and deeply worrying. 

Security services fear a failure to monitor all forms of communications effectively will hamper their ability to combat terrorists and serious criminals. Sir Stephen Lander, chairman of the Serious Organised Crime Agency, said: “Any significant reduction in the capability of law enforcement agencies to acquire and exploit intercept intelligence and evidential communications data would lead to more unsolved murders, more firearms on our streets, more successful robberies, more unresolved kidnaps, more harm from the use of Class A drugs, more illegal immigration and more unsolved serious crime.”

To view the original article, click on the link below
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5215413/Every-phone-call-email-or-website-visit-to-be-monitored.html

By: Dr. Bruce R. Porter

You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.
Things that we had postponed for too long,
that were long-term, are now immediate
and must be dealt with.
This crisis provides the opportunity
 for us to do things that you could not do before.

–Rahm Emanuel

Chief of Staff to Pres. Barack Hussein Obama

to a Wall Street Journal conference of top corporate chief executives

Okay, I’m bracing for some inevitable blowback. There are still some people out there who blindly put their trust and confidence in government almost as an article of faith. Liberals are famous for this, provided of course, other liberals are in charge of government.

I’m going to wade into something here that will potentially alarm and provoke people. At least, I hope so. It may even get my name on a list somewhere in the bowels of Homeland Security. Thanks to the “watch-out-for-these-guys” paranoia memos Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano released recently from Home-Sec, I shouldn’t be at all surprised.

Since last November’s elections, I feel like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. The landscape is changing, and we’re definately not in Kansas anymore Toto. In spite of this, I’m one of those guys who dares to pull back the curtain and expose the little man pulling levers, pushing buttons, and shouting into a microphone; “I am the Great and all-powerful Oz! Pay no attention to that little man behind the curtain!” It is becoming clear to me that our government is increasingly playing the role of the “little man behind the curtain” and seeking to intimidate people into subservience through fear-mongering and false displays of menacing power.

I’ve become highly suspicious of the Obama administration’s agenda on a number of levels, and especially related to the recent flu outbreak. It’s enough already that we are living in an era of complete reversal of the Reagan doctrine:

“In this present crisis,
government is not the solution to our problem,
government IS the problem.”

By contrast, the essence of the Obama doctrine is:

“In this present crisis,
LACK of government is the problem,
and I am the answer.”

Now we seem to be moving toward draconian mandatory “answers” on the heels of this crisis and any others that pop up that will not only threaten our liberty, but possibly our very lives. Scary stuff this.

I’m basically suspicious of government generally, especially in the political climate we find ourselves in presently. The element  “Governmentium,” (to coin a phrase) is a highly-toxic, radioactive, and unstable element that must be feared and handled with extreme care. George Washington once gave a grave warning;

“Government is not persuasion.
Government is force.
Like fire, it is a powerful servant,
and a fearful master.”

You won’t find “Governmentium” on a Periodic Table of Elements in a physics class, but you can be sure that down through history, more people have died from the effects of “Governmentium” than any other factor. I recently read an historical statistic that people are twelve times more likely to perish at the hands of their own government than in all the wars and plagues of history.

I’m in good company with my skepticism. Thomas Jefferson (another right-wing extremist according to the recent definition touted by our employees over at Home-Sec), often expressed his qualms about the dangers of out-of-control government.

“The two enemies of the people
are criminals and government,
so let us tie the second down
with the chains of the Constitution
so the second will not become
the legalized version of the first.”

- Thomas Jefferson

Historically, all governments have enhanced their political capital on the back of natural disasters or upheavals to one degree or another. Politicians have job security when their constituents see them as the answer to all their problems. Their image as public heroes who zoom out of their bat-caves to rescue the helpless sheeple whenever the bat-signal flashes over metropolis is priceless. Sadly, such conditioned dependency upon government inevitably results in loss of personal freedoms and liberty.

There is something about this particular swine influenza “crisis” that causes my “spider-sense” to tingle. I can’t seem to shake the idea that a larger game is afoot, and we are witnessing something sinister unfolding.

Please don’t misunderstand me. Influenza is a very nasty disease, and it kills an average of 30,000 to 60,000 people each year in the United States. http://tinyurl.com/cw9f34 The wide range of estimated deaths is due to the fact that while influenza was a factor in all of these deaths, there are often other medical conditions in play that may have caused morbidity in any case. (E.g., A cancer, cardiac, trauma, or diabetic patient at death’s door when they contracted the flu, in which case influenza was a complicating factor.)

When the news media starts freaking out about a “crisis” I take a deep breath, do a firefighter size-up, (“Look up, look down, look all around”) and activate my analysis brain-circuitry. I also consult multiple sources of information, and ask lots of questions. It’s also useful to remember that news media organizations are for-profit enterprises, and they live and die on alarming “breaking news.” If it “bleeds, it leads” is the guiding maxim.

Advertising revenue is their bread and butter and is determined by market-share. Market share is directly proportional to the number of people who are watching (or reading) at any given time. Truth is most of people are fascinated by tragedies and bad news. This is the main reason why most traffic jams occur after an accident. It’s not always because of blocked lanes. Trust me, I know, having been a volunteer firefighter for several years. People often slow down and “rubberneck” the scene for signs of blood and gore.

If this present flu outbreak ever becomes anything more than a few thousand cases, I am deeply concerned that the Obama administration, with their leftist media cheerleaders, fellow-travelers, and “useful idiots” will raise a hue and cry for mandatory vaccinations and nationalized health care. (Read: Socialized, sub-standard, inefficient, outrageously expensive, medically hazardous, bureaucratically-miss-managed, and maddingly difficult to access… “Healthcare”)

In a worse-case scenario, if the media succeeds in fomenting a full-blown panic, it might provide the perfect excuse for President Obama to invoke martial law and suspend the constitution in order to “protect the American people.” He has that power through presidential directives. According to Wikepedia, “Presidential directives are a form of executive order issued by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the National Security Council. A presidential directive has the “full force and effect of law.””

Again, we all hope this strain of influenza will be just one more nasty bug we will have to suffer through and develop natural immunity for. But one of the virtually forgotten tragedies (which I remember well) was the government’s outrageous over-response to the last swine flu scare of 1976. Untold thousands of people were given a hastily developed and unproven vaccine that killed 25 and paralyzed over 500 people! The lawsuits resulting from that fiasco came to over $1.3 billion in 1976 dollars.

Who stands to gain from a “pandemic?”  Follow the money! The pharmaceutical companies will rake in billions, and the socialists in our government will play the panic for all it’s worth. Such a contrived panic always results in greater government intrusion into our private lives, and the main influenza casualty could end up being “Lady Liberty.”

Perhaps you’re aware that over 3,000 people die of malaria every day in undeveloped nations according to the WHO. No? Gee wiz, I wonder why? Our health officials call this a “health problem.” Really? I suspect that if these malarial deaths were occurring in a westernized society where pharmaceutical companies could make billions from lawyer-intimidated insurance companies, this “health problem” would have been solved long ago! A crisis-driven leftist media machine would “call on” government officials to demand that they “do something.” The government bat-mobiles would roar out of their bat-caves, and we’d all lose more money and freedom.

Personally, I’m taking normal precautions. I use a paper towel to open bathroom doors, don’t shake hands with people that are sneezing or have a runny nose, and try not to eat out in restaurants where the kitchen staff can’t speak the King’s English. (And please spare me the ‘racist’ blather. I have a mixed-race family).

This recent flu outbreak came out of Mexico, so isn’t it logical that we call it the “Mexican flu?” After all, it’s perfectly acceptable to call other influenzas names like the “Asian” flu or the “Hong Kong” flu or the “Spanish” flu. The fact that our government steadfastly refuses to enforce our borders and immigration laws along our southern border is inexcusable and criminally negligent, especially since this is where “patient zero” was discovered.

Please understand I have no animosity toward the Mexican people. They have my sympathy in that they live under an oppressive, corrupt government, and desire a better life. Our forefathers in the U.S. paid a heavy price in blood and treasure back in the late 1700s to overthrow an oppressive government, and perhaps the Mexican people should consider a similar course of action. However, we cannot remain a nation or protect our people from deadly diseases (such as antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis just to name one) if we do not maintain our borders and enforce our immigration laws. This is a fact.

When our Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, released an alarming memo last month to law enforcement agencies warning that most of us conservatives are “rightwing extremists,” especially if we are military veterans, I thought surely she’d follow the way of another radical leftist, former Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders, who was forced to resign in 1994 for encouraging young people to masterbate.

Not so. Sec. Napolitano was right back at the national microphones last week reassuring the American people that Mexican passengers flying into U.S. airports were being “passively” screened for flu symptoms! Does she think we are all slobbering idiots? Anyone with more than a room-temperature IQ knows that tens of thousands of “undocumented” persons of interest are flooding over our open southern borders each day! Who is “passively screening” these people?

It’s not really influenza that worries me. If liberalism is a mental disorder, (as I’m becoming convinced it is) then our efforts to find a cure for such insanity should be our highest national priority. The cure is verifiable, well-documented, and tirelessly shared information. The leftist mindset will not simply annoy us with their altered states of reality and political correctness, or just tax us into poverty. It is likely to get a lot of us killed! The damage being done to our national security, our economy, and our culture will prove to be a vexing burden for decades to come. We must not give in to fear. We must confront the “Obama agenda” unfolding in our nation’s capitol by every legal means at our disposal. Our national survival is at stake!

For those desiring further documentation related to the flu scare, I urge you to click the following link for a more incisive medical assessment.  http://tinyurl.com/dct3ld

For what is he they follow?
Truly, gentlemen, A bloody tyrant and a homicide;
One raised in blood and one in blood established;
One that made means to come by what he hath,
And slaughtered those that were the means to help him;
A base foul stone, made precious
by the foil Of England’s chair, where he is falsely set;
One that hath ever been God’s enemy.

William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of King Richard the Third (Richmond at V, iii)

I had a disturbing dream a few nights ago, and I’m compelled to share it.  

In the dream, I was riding in a very large bus filled with hundreds of people. Each seat had a steering wheel attached to the seatback in front of the passengers. They reminded me of the toy ones I played with as a child in my parent’s car. I observed that everyone in the bus was turning their plastic wheels back and forth, either left or right. From the serious expressions on their faces, they seemed fully convinced that they were each personally driving the bus, even though I could easily see that the wheels they grasped were attached to… nothing.

I then became aware that there were television monitors hanging from the ceiling, and various programs were playing. Some were tuned to soap-operas, or to entertainment shows like American Idol. Others were tuned to sports and news programs, home shopping or food channels. I had the impression that everything on the TV screens was utterly shallow, vain, and completely inconsequential. Everyone was staring numbly at the TVs, and carefully moving their steering wheels as if they were actually driving somewhere.

Glancing out the windows, I became aware that the windows were covered over on the outside with a metal mesh, like a chain-link fence, and the scenery passing by was rather dark and gloomy. It was difficult to see anything familiar, and the bus was moving very quickly through streets without traffic, turning neither left nor right, but straight on.

Suddenly, the dream changed and all the TV screens switch to a news bulletin. Words like; “It’s time to decide now!” the announcer said. “You must do your patriotic duty and make your voice heard. It’s time to vote!” Various faces appeared in rapid sequence on-screen, some giving speeches, others arguing and shouting at each other, and there were debates. Political arguments were being discussed, and the announcers repeated over and over again that; “It’s time for the people to decide which direction we will go!”

Some of the people on the bus began to argue and shout at each other, and some fights broke out. “We must turn left!” some shouted. “It’s time for change!” Others yelled, “No! We must all turn right!” I had the impression they were trying to decide the direction and destination of the bus, since we would all share equally in whatever fate awaited us at our final destination.

Some of the arguments got so heated that people began to beat each other, and I looked to the front of the bus for the driver to try to mediate and calm down the melee. It was then that I noticed that the passengers were separated from the driver and the front of the bus by a fence-like metal mesh, and the driver was completely ignoring what was happening back in the bus and did nothing to stop the fighting and bickering. I also noticed that sitting next to the driver was a man dressed in black—like a soldier or SWAT officer—wearing body armor and a battle helmet. He had a big gun, and was also ignoring what was happening behind him.

It suddenly occurred to me that we were all riding some sort of prison transport bus! We were all trapped inside by metal mesh on the windows and in the front. However, no one else seemed to notice or pay any attention to this, so busy were they arguing with each other, or being distracted by the TV monitors.

After a while, the fighting calmed down as the announcer on the TV said; “Now you must decide! Turn left or right and the majority will determine the direction of the bus and where we will all go! Vote NOW!”

In the dream, everyone quickly took their seats and turned their little plastic steering wheels either hard right, or hard left, which I assumed was the way they were voting. As I recall the dream now, there were also quite a few passengers who looked completely apathetic, and rather than voting, they just stared blankly up at the monitors or out the window. 

It seemed to me that the passengers were just about equally divided in their “steering” votes. After a moment, the announcer on the TV monitor said; “The lefts WIN! It’s time for a new direction! We now return you to our previous broadcast.” The monitors returned to the previous mind-numbing claptrap about unimportant scandals, or who got traded to whatever team, and sex enhancement drug commercials.

The majority of the people cheered, slapping each other on the back, while others mocked and jeered those who had turned their wheels right. For a little while, people were very excited. Until, that is, a few of them noticed that the bus hadn’t changed direction in the slightest. It was plunging headlong into the gathering gloom outside, as the driver steered straight-on as before, even picking up some speed. This began to upset some of the “left” voters, who continued to turn their plastic wheels further and further to the left without the slightest effect on the direction of the bus.

One of the passengers, clearly outraged, got up and stormed to the front of the bus. He shook the barrier separating him from the driver and the soldier. Screaming at the driver, he said; “Hey you! We won the election! We turned our wheels left, but you’re still steering straight ahead! What’s the matter with you? Why won’t you listen to us? And why is this barrier between us?” The driver seemed a bit annoyed at this, and turned around slightly with a wry grin on his face. “Don’t worry. Just take your seat. We have everything well in hand. We’ll get you where you need to be soon enough.”

Realizing he wasn’t being listened to, the irate passenger turned around and started shouting. “Everyone! Listen to me! This is a prison-bus! We’re all captives! Your steering-wheels aren’t connected to anything! We’ve been duped!”

At this, some of the people began to murmur, and a few began moving forward to confront the driver, and it looked like it would only take a few of them to push down the barrier and take control of the bus. The angry passenger began organizing the people and giving orders on how they were going to break into the driver’s cage.

The SWAT man suddenly stood up and turned around. Leveling his weapon, he fired a single shot at the back of the angry passenger’s head and splattered his brain all over the roof of the bus. The passenger was dead before his body hit the floor.

Everyone fell silent and stood still in utter shock, staring at the crumpled body of their leader. “Go back to your seats NOW, and BE QUIET!” The SWAT man growled. Without another word, the riders shuffled back to their seats, sat down, and began moving their little plastic wheels silently. The TVs resumed their normal monotonous programming, and they just stared up at them trying to ignore the splattered blood and brain-matter on the ceiling of the bus.

Glancing outside, I saw in the gloom that we were approaching what looked like a wall with barbed-wire spiraling on top. A gate came into view with a large sign over it. It read; “Arbeit Macht Frei.” (Work Makes Free) The driver, finally looking back at the body of the dead passenger and the catatonic stares of his passengers, began to smile. His face contorted into a demonic mask, and he began to laugh eerily.  

Welcome to the twilight zone America.

Interpretation? Here’s what I get so far…

I think the bus is our nation and the passengers are the citizens. The driver represents the political leadership, and most of them are being manipulated by the forces of darkness. The man-centered systems of politics has been corrupted to the point that there is very little any one of us can do to influence the course of the “bus” we are all collectively riding. We are being distracted by brain-numbing mass-media and popular entertainment in order to prevent us from noticing what is really going on around us.

The passenger steering wheels, once a powerful influential force on the politics of our nation, have become largely impotent. Our leaders (the bus driver) increasingly ignore our concerns and steer us toward enslavement. No matter how we individually turn the wheel, the bus is little affected.

The heavily-armed SWAT man in the cab with the driver represents the brute force of the government to force submission to the State. Whereas formerly they functioned as our agents of public safety and preservation of our liberties under our Constitution and Bill of Rights, they are increasingly morphing into organs of the government. It strikes me also that the passengers were entirely disarmed and unable to fight back. Whereas once we were a “government of the people, by the people, for the people,” we are rapidly becoming a socialist society where government is no longer accountable to the people, but rules over them as bureaucrats deem expedient.

The answer?

Not sure about this one, but I suspect that fear is the primary way that despotic tyrants hold their subjects into submission and bondage. In the dream, it was clear that even a small percentage of the people on the bus could have broken down the barrier to get at the “real” steering-wheel, but they were intimidated to attempt it because of the single guard and the blood of a single victim, and no means of defending themselves.

The other issue is that we have become far too trusting of manmade systems and allowed ourselves to be drawn into a stupor of entertainment and media distractions. We are too preoccupied with unimportant trivialities to notice the tightening chains of slavery around our necks! Only if we awaken to our peril in time and stand up in sufficient numbers can we hope to stop the meltdown of our republic!

Also, I believe we must turn our hearts back to our Creator and humble ourselves. We have relied far too much upon our human intellect and technology, become prideful and arrogant, and forgotten how utterly dependent we are on His Providence. Far too many Christian leaders have fallen into the trap of accommodating the prevailing ethos of our times, instead of confronting the steady drift toward moral corruption and social indifference. They teach sermons that comfort the compromised, reassure the rebellious, and preach prosperity to the already pampered. We have increasingly drifted away from our sense of duty and honor, and embraced a spiritualized narcissism that enables us to accept an inflated sense of self-importance.

Perhaps the most serious issue is that many of us feel condemned and unworthy to resist darkness at all, having failed to embrace the central point of Christ’s sacrifice—our total redemption and complete justification by the blood of Jesus—and therefore refuse to stand up and confront the lies around us. We fear being called hypocrites. (Just another form of self-pride)

I end with the words of the great American patriot and Christian, Patrick Henry:

…Shall we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the means of effectual resistance, by lying supinely on our backs, and hugging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and foot?…

…Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!

Columbine High School: Ten Years Later

The world you have created
has led to my death.
Rachel Joy Scott, April, 1999
Slain Columbine Student

Although school violence was occurring around the country in the years leading up to Columbine’s massacre, it just didn’t seem to be a very large blip on the media’s radar screen, or in the public’s mind. Suddenly, Columbine was THE breaking news story across the nation and world for several months.

Perhaps it was the number of victims, (13 dead, 26 wounded) or the continuous revelations related to the hateful mindset and vicious motivations of the killers on their websites and video tapes they left behind for posterity. Without doubt, it was a major wakeup call to us all that something was very wrong in our schools. It is clear now that we’ve collectively hit the “snooze” button.

A point worth mentioning is that the real story—entirely lost in the liberal media’s fanatical obsession over the firearms used in the attack—was the fact that the vile cretins who did this planted bombs in the school that would have killed over 600 students and teachers had they detonated! Only their gross ineptitude at bomb-making prevented an attack that would have been unimaginable in magnitude.

The event triggered an international debate over everything from gun control to prescription psycho-med use in schools. Side-issues like bullying, psychological profiling of “troubled students” and school “zero-tolerance” policies were the subject of endless talk shows and print media.

In the months that followed, other school violence events occurred around the nation, and even overseas. Some attacks were averted only at the last minute by vigilant students who overheard unguarded comments by would-be perpetrators who were bragging about “doing another Columbine.” Paranoia about school safety was nearly pandemic for nearly 29 months, until that is, the Islamic terror attack on our nation occurred on 9/11/2001. From then until now, our nation’s focus was on a “war on terror” and our incursions into Afghanistan and Iraq. Now most of our attention is focused on our economic problems and the Socialists in charge of the country.

It’s been ten years since shots were fired at Columbine, destroying the lives of twelve students and a brave teacher, yet the memory of that horrible day remains for those of us who live here and experienced it. Those who were wounded and survived, and now live with the scars and disabilities inflicted upon their bodies and souls, have mostly moved on with their lives. Some are married and starting families, and others are pursuing their careers. However, all live with the memories of that dark spring day, and were forever changed by it.

Each of the lives lost that day were precious beyond comprehension. This month of April, as in all years previous, we will again visit their graves, place flowers and memorabilia upon them, and pray for the ongoing healing of the surviving families and victims. Once again we will have to endure the media talking heads pontificate about the evils of firearms while virtually ignoring the abysmal lack of character education in public schools. We will ponder yet again the deep mysteries of good and evil, life and death, and our own mortality. Once again, those of us who believe will ask, “Why God? Why?”

As one who has studied history and history’s God for many years, I come to believe that His unseen hand guides the course of nations and individuals. Personally, I have come to terms with the fact that although I may never understand in this world why tragedies happen—even to the young and innocent—I have complete confidence that there is a higher purpose and plan in play. In the larger scheme of things, a greater good will emerge—like the mythical Phoenix bird—from the flaming ashes of tragedy, and we will one day marvel at the wisdom of God in all things.

Until that bright day of understanding, we labor to preserve and cultivate what remains of goodness in the world. Jesus said we are the “salt of the world.” I understand this to mean that one of our functions in this present world is to preserve what remains of goodness, mercy, love, and truth from the corrupting influence of mankind’s fallen state. While salt does not bring dead things to life, it does season and preserve them.

One particularly bright light in Columbine’s darkness was Rachel Joy Scott. I speak of her not because she was more precious than any other person who died there, but because she was a Christian who tried to sprinkle “salt” into her school and the people around her. Other victims did also, but I am more familiar with Rachel since I was honored to be a minister to part of her immediate family. She was known as one who tried to push back against the prevailing tide of license and immorality in her generation.

Against all opposition, Rachel sought to make her faith in Jesus known to her friends and schoolmates through many well-documented acts of kindness and compassion. She was a friend to the friendless, a comforter to brokenhearted, and an influencer toward goodness. This drew secret admiration from the timid, and the vicious hatred of the monsters who slaughtered her.

Rachel was a “Thermostat” in a world populated mostly by “Thermometers.”

A “thermostat person” influences their environment. The thermostat on the wall of your home “sets” the heating and cooling system and determines what the temperature will be. A “thermometer person,” on the other hand, merely reflects or reveals their environment and is influenced by it. There is a vast difference between the two.

Rachel was a “thermostat person” at Columbine. She set her own pace, in clothes, style, beliefs and behavior. She stood up for her convictions about Jesus, and paid a heavy price. Her friends at school (even some who claimed to be Christians) razzed and hurt her deeply. In one of her journal entries, Rachel lamented that she endured cruel rejection after setting a Christian example at Columbine:

I lost all my friends at school. Now that I have begun to ‘walk my talk,’ they make fun of me. I don’t even know what I have done. I don’t really have to say anything and they turn me away… I know what they’re thinking every time I make a decision to resist temptation and follow God… They talk behind my back and call me ‘the preacher’s churchgoing girl…’  …I have no more personal friends at school. But you know what? … I am not going to apologize for speaking the name of Jesus, I am not going to justify my faith to them, and I am not going to hide the light that God has put into me. If I have to sacrifice everything… I will. I will take it. If my friends have to become my enemies for me to be with my best friend Jesus, then that’s fine with me.

Rachel’s “thermostatic” influence—her ‘set point’—touched and moved the world around her.  Her influence was increased exponentially when her persecutors pulled the trigger on the bullet that took her life. Even at the last moment, lying on the ground crying with three gunshot wounds, she answered her killer’s vulgar, sneering, vicious taunts with courage. She affirmed one last time her undying faith in Christ, and her words and life-example touched the entire world!

In the past ten years, her story and testimony has been shared before millions of people around the world, and HER thermostat setting of love, compassion, faith, and uncompromised devotion to Jesus has influenced hundreds of thousands of young people to follow her example and receive the grace of God in Christ.

I end this article with a short excerpt from my book, The Martyrs’ Torch; the Message of the Columbine Massacre. It was part of my eulogy I delivered at her funeral:

Rachel carried a torch—a torch of truth, a torch of compassion, a torch of love, a torch of the good news of Jesus Christ her Lord, whom she was not ashamed of, even in her hour of death. …The torch has fallen from Rachel’s hand. Who will pick it up again? Who will pick up the torch again?

That torch represents a life lived as a “thermostat” and a light in the darkness. It symbolizes a life lived for the highest purpose of making the love and grace of God known to all who have ears to hear. Will you live your life as a thermostat? Will you imprint upon the world, or will you allow it to imprint its values and worldview on you? Thermometer people cower in fear and timidity, seeking the approval of the world and acceptance from their peers without concern for their values. Seeking to conform to the world around you and be a chameleon is a coward’s choice! The choice is yours! Take up your torch! YOU set the standard to those around you, and don’t let the world impose its standards upon YOU!

I end with Rachel’s words from her journals…

Don’t let your character get camouflaged with your environment.
Find who you are and let it stay in its true colors.

About Bruce Porter:

Bruce R. Porter, D.Div., is an author, chaplain, writer, speaker, and a pastor in the Littleton area. At the time of the Columbine massacre, he was pastor to Rachel Joy Scott’s mother and stepfather, and ministered intensely to the family during the months following her death, and officiated at Rachel’s funeral.

In the years since Columbine, Bruce has ministered at numerous other scenes of tragedy, including New York City after the 9/11 terror attacks, the school shootings at Bailey, Colorado, Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota, the Amish school massacre, Erfurt, Germany, Beslan, Russia, to name a few. He continues to respond to crisis situations as able.

He has conducted scores of school assemblies and rallies sharing the story of Columbine and Rachel’s amazing testimony. He is also the author of the book; The Martyrs’ Torch, the Message of the Columbine Massacre. (Destiny Image)

For further information, you may go to: www.torchgrab.org

A TOOL FOR PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE

by: Tzafrir Ronen

Note from Bruce Porter:
The author, Tzafrir Ronen, served in the Israel Defense Forces as a member of the elite Sayeryet Matkal unit. (Heb: סיירת מטכ”ל) It was originally part of a PowerPoint in Hebrew, and was translated by my good friend, Giveon Cornfield, Ph.D. The article is vitally important in order to understand the underlying presumptions of the “Middle East Peace Process.” The amazing Orwellian twist on well-documented facts by historical revisionists is as terrifying as it is breathtaking.)

In 2007, U.S. president Bush spoke of his vision of ‘Two states for two nations.’ Beyond the rhetoric, the question is; are there really two nations?

Without a doubt, the Nation of Israel has, throughout 2000 years of exile, maintained its identity and has never forgotten its biblical homeland, the Land of Israel. But what actually is the other nation? Is it truly a nation without a homeland? It is very interesting to read what Palestinian leaders have to say:

In 1977, PLO leader Zouhair Moukhsein was interviewed by a Netherlands daily (Truv). Pay close attention to what he said:

“There is no such thing as a Palestinian nation; creating a Palestinian state is a new means in the ongoing war with Israel for Arab unification, because realistically there is no difference between Palestinians and Syrians, Jordanians, or Lebanese. We speak of the existence of a Palestinian nation only for tactical and political purposes. It is in the Arab national interests to encourage a separate Palestinian identity in order to oppose Zionism. Tactically, Jordan – as a legitimate state with defined borders – cannot lay claim to Jaffa and Haifa. But I as a Palestinian can demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beersheba and Jerusalem…after we secure our rights in all of Palestine; we must without a moment’s delay, reunite Jordan and Palestine.”

Three years earlier (1974), Syrian president Hafez Assad declared:

“We must remind the Israeli government that we view Palestine not only as inseparable from the Arab Nation, but as a part of southern Syria.”

In 1987 at the Amman conference Assad again said:

“A country called Palestine never existed”,

to which King Hussein replied:

“The emergence of the Palestinian national identity came as a response to Israel’s demand that Palestine be Jewish.”

In September 1993, Assad repeated his stand in an interview with an Egyptian daily:

“When I speak…of Palestine I see it as a part of Syria”

But “The Boss”, himself – Arafat – went even further, when in 1970 he spoke candidly:

“The question of borders is of no interest to us…from the Arab point of view: Palestine is a mere drop in the great ocean, ours is the great Arab nation that stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea and beyond.”

In a careless moment during an interview in Amman with Italian journalist Orianna Falacci, he disclosed that the PLO is fighting Israel in the name of pan-Arabism, adding:

“What you call “Trans Jordan” in nothing other than Palestine…”

implying that Arafat, leader of ‘”The Nation of the Homeless,” is part of a nation that already occupies an area larger than all of Europe…

As far back as 1956, the PLO’s first chairman, Achmed Shukeiri, declared at the United Nations that:

“There is no such thing as Palestine, which is merely the southern part of greater Syria.”

Following this logic, “Palestinians” do not exist, and the subsequent chairman of this invented nation stated that Palestine is also Jordan and is fighting Israel in the name of Pan-Arabism…

When leaders of Arab terrorist organizations remove their camouflage, it becomes clear that they are not fighting for the rights of a supposedly oppressed nation, but rather represent 22 nations larger than Europe. Mokhsein, Shukeiri and Arafat reveal in addition that Arabs living in Israel are exactly the same as Arabs living in Syria or Jordan. They are not a separate nation, merely a sliver of the mighty Arab Nation: They are…

“A new means of continuing the war on Israel for the purpose of Arab unification”

Once the facade of lies and deceit is removed, it becomes clear that the original Arab empire stretching from the Atlantic to China is opposed to the Jewish nation seeking a home in its historical birthplace, and that represents less than one fifth of one percent of Arab lands.

WHERE DID THE PALESTINIAN MYTH ORIGINATE?

Before the Six Day War, the Arabs never bothered to soften their rhetoric. The ‘Final Solution’ was regularly broadcast by media in all Arab states, using brutal and primitive phrases such as

“Throw the Jews into the sea,” and “The men into the water and the women for us.”

The world heard, and knew, and kept silent.

But after the 1967 defeat, Arab states realized that the Israeli Samson could only be vanquished through the wiles of The Philistine Delila. So they switched from calls for genocide to a fine-tuned, diplomatic approach that was more amenable to Western ears. They realized that it was easier to convince world public opinion that ‘those poor people’ deserve to have a nation of their own – rather than adding a tiny piece of land to the huge Arab empire – and so “The Palestinian Nation” was invented. History was turned on its head: Israel’s David against the Arab Goliath was cleverly reversed: now the Israeli Goliath oppresses Palestinian David. This was likened to a close-up of the wound on Goliath’s forehead, to make one feel sorry for the poor fellow.

The Palestine myth is a lie and falsehood unprecedented in history – so successful that there are few who don’t believe in it. The methods are well known: brainwashing, outright lies and falsehood combined with ignorance and the anti-Semitism endemic in the world media. A decades-long campaign of distortion and erasing of historical facts reminiscent of Stalin, Goebbles and Hitler – the 20th century’s arch-propagandists – has proven true the cynically proclaimed saying that: “the bigger the lie, the more believable it becomes.”

Many appeasing Israelis imagined that if they compromised the truth – maybe even gave up what’s theirs and tried to placate the Arabs by going along with their Big Lie, the Arabs would let them live in peace. IT DIDN’T WORK!

THEY REPEATEDLY TRIED:

• OSLO RESULTED IN THE LOSS OF 1500 ISRAELI LIVES.
• A UNILATERAL WITHDRAWAL FROM GAZA ONLY YIELDED ANOTHER FRONT.
• EACH CONCESSION ONLY INCREASED THEIR ENEMY’S APPETITE.

There appears to be no viable solution other than a Jewish State of Israel, wherein Arabs are the conquered and Israel the conqueror.

*******************************

(Note from Bruce: While the prospect of accepting the position that the “Arabs are the conquered and Israel the conqueror,” may seem outrageous to those who have accepted the “Big Lie,” it is the only solution that will result in peace and security in the Middle East.

There are two very simple, yet profoundly truthful reasons for this.

1. The State of Israel, and the Jewish people, have repeatedly demonstrated a fundamental respect for human life, tolerance for other faiths, and a willingness to co-exist with their neighbors in peace.
   
   
2. Under a Jewish/Israeli government and administration, the Arab population would enjoy a greater degree of freedom, prosperity, security, education, and health care, than that offered in any other neighboring Arab/Islamist regime.

However, should the circumstances be reversed, and it is Israel that is conquered, it is a foregone conclusion—based upon the repeated threats and actions by the Arab Palestinians—that:

1. The Jews would be slaughtered mercilessly. A bloodbath of unthinkable proportions would occur.

2. All Jewish buildings, schools, hospitals, factories, and the basic infrastructure would be destroyed, (evidenced by what happened after Israel abandoned Gaza). The resulting poverty, disease, and social chaos among the remaining Arabs would be an international humanitarian nightmare.
   
   
3. The living conditions for the remaining “Palestinians” in the territories would be horrendous, with roving bands of rag-tag terrorists preying upon the survivors. Other Arab nation-states would likely fight over what is left with millions of innocent Arabs slaughtered by their own “brethren.” (History is our teacher)
   

It is utter insanity to perpetuate the Mideast struggle by seeking to draw some tortured “moral equivalency” argument between Israel and their Arab neighbors. Only by denying the obvious differences between Islamic barbarism and Jewish civilization can one be duped into thinking there is a way to be “even-handed” in this struggle.

LET ISRAEL WIN! Only in this way can the bloodshed be stopped! Why is it so DIFFICULT for people to see which side has the moral high-ground?!

Please understand, I’m not saying that Israel is perfect. It is a nation made up of flawed human beings like any other. However the underlying moral and ethical ethos of Israel and the Jewish people make the possibility of peace and human decency infinitely more likely than a region ruled by Islam and the unspeakable barbarism of sharia law!

I have met and talked with Israeli Arabs (who, by the way, enjoy Israeli citizenship) who told me that all things considered, they enjoy a much better life under Israeli law and rule than they ever did in Jordan or any other Arab nation. This should tell us something.

I predict future happiness for Americans
if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people
under the pretense of taking care of them.

Thomas Jefferson

I have seen the following bit of humorous spoof-science before, but in reading it again feel it is worth repeating here. Pass it around, if for no other reason, to provoke thoughtful reflection upon our present state of affairs. –Bruce

The Heaviest Element Known to Science

Lawrence Livermore Laboratories has discovered the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element, Governmentium (Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert; however, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2-6 years. It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium’s mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as critical morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium, an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Last time I saw it all coming and cried aloud
to my own fellow-countrymen and to the world,
but no one paid any attention.
There never was a war in all history
easier to prevent by timely action
than the one which has just desolated
such great areas of the globe.
It could have been prevented in my belief
…but no one would listen
and one by one we were all sucked
into the awful whirlpool.
We surely must not let that happen again.

-Sir Winston Churchill-
THE SINEWS OF PEACE
March 5, 1946
Address to the graduating class of Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri

Not long ago I passed through Fulton, Missouri, the state of my birth, and made a special pilgrimage to the Winston Churchill Memorial and Library at Westminster College. There, next to the reconstructed Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Aldermanbury, stands a bronze statue of the “Bulldog of England,” Sir Winston Churchill, in commemoration of his historic visit and speech there. The church, dismantled and transported to Missouri from London, was built in the 12th century, was redesigned by Sir Christopher Wren in 1677 after the Great Fire of London. To prevent its demolition, Westminster College purchased and brought it to Fulton. It now serves as the Churchill library.

Sir Winston Churchill

Students passing by glanced sideways at me as I stared at this old warrior, pondering the loneliness he must have endured. I wondered how many of them were aware of who this man actually was, and how profoundly their lives were still being affected by his faithfulness to stand up to evil, even under the scathing glare of appeasing critics in his time. No-doubt his soul must have borne many scars of rejection and ridicule before his true greatness was recognized.

Even as a young man, before WWI, Churchill harbored dark forebodings about the rise of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s dictatorship in Germany.

I thought of the peril of Britain,
peace-loving, unthinking, little prepared,
of her power and virtue,
and of her mission of good sense and fair play.
I thought of mighty Germany towering up
in the splendor of her Imperial State
and delving down in her profound, cold,
patient, ruthless calculations.

After World War I, Churchill was marginalized politically as he raised his voice in warning about the dangers of future dictatorships in the Soviet Union, Japan, Germany, and Italy. The liberals of his time called him a warmonger, unable to fathom the danger he so clearly foresaw. How we need voices like his now!

AN IMMINENT ATTACK ON AMERICA?

Juval Aviv

In a lecture in New York City a few weeks ago, an Israeli speaker, Juval Aviv, warned of another, even more devastating terrorist attack on the U.S.

Aviv was one of the Israeli agents sent out by Israel to avenge the murder of Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich Olympic games. He also served as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s personal bodyguard. He is no stranger to the ways of terrorists.

This is the man who was mocked by Bill O’Reilly on Fox News when he predicted that within a week the London subway bombings would occur. A few days later O’Reilly wasn’t laughing so much. He also tried to warn President Bush that terrorists using aircraft as missiles would target prominent buildings and monuments. Within a month the attacks of 9/11 occurred.

Aviv now says that the next terrorist attacks here in America are imminent and will involve suicide bombers and non-suicide bombers anywhere large groups of people congregate. Likely targets would be places like Disneyland, casinos, and theaters in large metropolitan cities. They will likely strike shopping malls, subways in rush hour, train stations, and include small communities. He believes the attack will involve at least 5-8 cities, including rural areas coordinated to occur on the same day for maximum impact.

Aviv doesn’t believe terrorists will use nuclear weapons since suicide bombings are much cheaper and effective. Also, because of the level of Islamo-sycophantic indoctrination in our own schools and universities here in the U.S., there will be no need to bring foreigners in to do the job. There are plenty of “homegrown” Jihadists right here in America who do not fit the profile of Middle-Eastern terrorists and can move freely among us without arousing suspicion.

Are Americans ready to meet this challenge?

Aviv recently conducted a private security test by placing an empty briefcase in five well-traveled spots in five major cities. Guess what happened? Not one person called 911 or sought a policeman to check it out. In fact, in Chicago, someone tried to steal the briefcase! (Now, why doesn’t that surprise us?)

Israel is ready

I have been to Israel over twenty times and was present in two of Israel’s wars. I can attest that individual Israelis are well-aware of terrorist threats. The citizenry have developed a “personal radar” that instantly alerts them when things don’t “look right.” This is honed by the bitter experience of suicide bombers detonating themselves on public buses, in shopping malls and nightclubs. When you get on a bus, or walk into a restaurant, every person in the room gives you the “once over” with their eyes, especially if you’re carrying something. Americans know virtually nothing of this sort of vigilance. I expect we will soon learn however.

As I consider the times we live in, and what is actually happening around us–how the world is moving inextricably toward the chaotic events that God warned would happen in the last days –I’m convinced that we are about to receive a jolting wakeup call.

Some may think me melancholic in saying this, but–

Four Horsemen of The Apocalypse

If you listen closely, you can almost hear the hoof-beats of the four horsemen of the apocalypse approaching.

(see Revelation 6:1-9)

The fact that we are already in the midst of World War III is lost on most of us in the West. As a culture we are awash in mind-numbing triviality fed to us through a ratings-driven mass media and an entertainment industry that conditions us to believe that calamity and terrorism cannot happen to us.

More than this, increasingly, we are being offered spiritual-sounding pabulum by many false teachers who seek to convince us that comfort and affluence is promised to every Christian who “believes correctly” and responds financially to each and every offering. Huge multimillion-dollar church-buildings have gone up all over the land, and far too often success is measured by how expensive your car is, or how many square feet you occupy.

Change is in the wind. The Islamofascist war is coming to America. Our world will soon become ‘a different place’, and side-issues like ‘global warming’ and ‘political correctness’ are going to become an irrelevant absurdity.

Just one dirty nuke in one of our cities would bring our debt-bloated economy down. This has never been truer with the present administration’s obsession with spending more money than our grandchildren could possibly ever pay back. Just one suicide-bombing, or a biological attack by terrorists will empty out our beautiful church buildings. What sane person would expose their family to the possibility they might be blown to bits by a terrorist, or catch a deadly bio-engineered infection by coughing, sneezing people inside enclosed places?

Winston Churchill was considered a prophet of doom in his time, but was later vindicated when his dark visions of the future became everyone’s nightmare in Britain during the Nazi blitz. I’m continually amazed at how quickly fearful people will scoff at, and actively marginalize anyone who warns of the dangers in our times. When liberal appeasers were finally discredited by Nazi bombs falling on London, they desperately sought his leadership. By then it was nearly too late.

His views on Islam are particularly noteworthy. He saw in Islam a grave threat to western civilization, and his word are prophetic.

Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities.
Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen:
all know how to die.
But the influence of the religion paralyses
the social development of those who follow it.
No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.
Far from being moribund,
Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytising faith.
It has already spread throughout Central Africa,
raising fearless warriors at every step;
and were it not that Christianity is sheltered
in the strong arms of science
- the science against which it had vainly struggled -
the civilisation of modern Europe might fall,
as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.

Sir Winston Churchill

I believe God is about to do some things in the earth that will take quite a few of us by surprise. Not all of it will be painful! I’m convinced that those who prepared and are ready to face the times ahead with confidence and courage will shine as bright stars on a dark, moonless night. Our greatest days of usefulness are just before us, but we must not allow ourselves to be paralyzed with fear or lulled asleep by the siren call of this fallen world!

As Yeshua said;

For those will be days of greater horror
than at any time since God created the world.
And it will never happen again.
In fact, unless the Lord shortens that time of calamity,
the entire human race will be destroyed.
But for the sake of his chosen ones he has shortened those days.
And then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’
or, ‘There he is,’ don’t pay any attention.
For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up
and perform miraculous signs and wonders
so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones.
Watch out! I have warned you!
At that time, after those horrible days end,
the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give light,
the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of heaven will be shaken.
Then everyone will see the Son of Man
arrive on the clouds with great power and glory.

(Mark 13:19-26 NLT)

Winston Churchill left us a legacy of patient perseverance. He stayed steady and waited for his time in destiny to unfold. He suffered many setbacks, endured vicious attacks, and many dark nights of disappointments. Yet, when the time came for him to step up upon the stage of world history, he was ready.

Are you ready? Are you filled with a sense of destiny and confident that it was no mere accident that placed you in this time and place? We need not fear what may come. God has called each of us for such a time as this, and He didn’t make any mistakes. Take your place. Do your duty. Hold steady in the coming storm, for in the end, more peaceful days will come.

Jerusalem is about to undergo a major remodel upon the return of the King of Kings, and the world will be under infinitely better-qualified management with a Jew on the throne who wears the scars of His battles and the crown of His victory.

I hope to see Winston there among the worshippers, with a proper British grin on his face.

So the LORD sent poisonous snakes among them,

and many of them were bitten and died.

Then the people came to Moses and cried out,

“We have sinned by speaking against the LORD and against you.

Pray that the LORD will take away the snakes.”

So Moses prayed for the people.

Then the LORD told him,

“Make a replica of a poisonous snake

and attach it to the top of a pole.

Those who are bitten will live if they simply look at it!”

So Moses made a snake out of bronze

and attached it to the top of a pole.

Whenever those who were bitten

looked at the bronze snake, they recovered!

(Numbers 21:6-9 NLT)

I have always regarded the above scripture with a certain amount of amazement and awe. In the first place, it declares that the Lord sent poisonous snakes among His own people. Many of them died, and no-doubt the victims included young and old, women and children. The people declared their guilt, confessed their sin, and begged Moses to intercede with the Lord to remove the serpents.

These verses are troubling, and over the years I have heard many teachers and preachers labor long over them trying to explain away what seems to be the Lord’s personal and active participation in the act of bringing such a horrible calamity upon His own people. Other preachers simply ignore these verses, or gloss over them in a way that implies that the “lord” referenced in this passage is actually the devil, and the translation is suspect.

The Hebrew text is clear. ” וַיְשַׁלַּח יְהוָה בָּעָם, אֵת הַנְּחָשִׁים “

“Yahweh gave the people the snakes.”  Not the devil, but Yahweh. Can you see how this is an extremely controversial and troubling verse, especially to contemporary Christians who are constantly told by preachers that God only allows “good” things to happen to His people (according to man’s estimation of what is “good“)?

A disclaimer is needed here

People tend to be offended by verses like the ones above and expect that some mitigating interpretation must be offered whenever they are shared. A plain reading seems to imply that God is cruel and a murderer. He certainly is not! All His deeds, however harsh they may seem to us from our incredibly limited perspective, are wrought in loving-kindness, mercy, and love.

Notice how God is both kind and severe.

He is severe to those who disobeyed,

but kind to you as you continue to trust in his kindness…

(Romans 11:22 NLT)

In an ultimate sense, everything God does or allows to happen is focused entirely on the ultimate blessing, joy, fulfillment, healing, and redemption of His Children. However, His ways and means are not easily understood or appreciated by us, especially when we’re hurting, or when something happens that throws our world into chaos.

Job (another book of the bible many avoid) suffered horribly with losses that stagger the imagination. He was clear about two things. He knew that God had allowed these calamities in his life, and secondly, he knew that God was entirely trustworthy and had his ultimate good and blessing at heart.

His wife did not share Job’s gift of patience and trust in God.

His wife said to him,

“Are you still trying to maintain your integrity?

Curse God and die.”

But Job replied, “You talk like a godless woman.

Should we accept only good things from the hand of God

and never anything bad?”

So in all this, Job said nothing wrong.

(Job 2:9-10 NLT)

Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. 
(Job 13:15a NKJV)

Yahweh didn’t remove the snakes 

The people repented and asked Moses to pray that God would take away the snakes. The Lord didn’t remove them. In fact, they continued to be bitten. Imagine the terror they experienced–afraid to walk, or lay down and sleep at night–for fear that the snakes would bite them or their children.

After Moses prayed, the Lord gave them yet another snake–a very special one. He told Moses to fashion a bronze snake and put it on a pole. The people were told to look at it, and anyone who did would be healed of snakebites. Think about this! The snakes were still there, biting the people. The people had to take their eyes off their problem (the deadly snakes) and look UP at the bronze snake on the pole! Imagine the raw faith it took to look up at the serpent on the pole with deadly snakes slithering around their feet.

The Lord was using this event for a much larger purpose.

It was for OUR instruction and admonition.

And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness,

so I, the Son of Man, must be lifted up on a pole,

so that everyone who believes in me will have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,

so that everyone who believes in him

will not perish but have eternal life.

(John 3:14-16 NLT)

 What am I saying? We live in a world full of snakes. God hasn’t removed them, we’re still hassled by them, and no amount of wishing otherwise or praying will change that. Certainly we experience victories over the brokenness of this present world, as the Lord leads us, just as Moses and the Israelites did. (Walking on dry land in the midst of the Red Sea and bread falling out of the sky were pretty amazing miracles, right?) But that didn’t mean that painful situations didn’t pop up now and then, yet each of them was meant for our good.

What is amazing to me is that the Redeemer had to become a snake Himself on the pole, in the image of that old serpent, Lucifer, and became Himself a curse FOR US. Yeshua essentially became a snake FOR US, in our place. Even though we live in a fallen, evil world, and we are vexed by one form or another of “venomous snakes” all around us, we have only to “look up” to the serpent on the pole and LIVE! It takes a lot of faith to take our eyes off the snakes in our lives and look to Jesus.

Please understand, I am not speaking disrespectfully of our Messiah. In fact, this revelation of His amazing grace only makes me want to fall before Him in adoration! What love! What compassion! What mercy! To think that He came down from heaven, laid aside His divine privileges, and took the form not only of the lowest servant, but actually became one with us in our utter degradation and vile estate, is beyond comprehension. Now we enjoy eternal life, peace with God, and eternal hope that NOTHING can take away from us. We’ve looked upon the “serpent on the pole” and the power of sin is broken!

The power of this revelation is embedded in our world in many ways. Even the medical community is identified by the image of a serpent on a pole! Look at the side of almost any ambulance. It is the universal symbol of healing!

Let’s look afresh and gaze intently upon HIM who gave himself a ransom for our sin. As the world rages around us and nations fall into prophetically foretold chaos and madness, let’s look unto Him and receive healing from the snakes all around us. We are victors in the here and now, and death has no power over us!