Sarah Brady's misguided tears

Well howdy everyone, sorry I haven't been posting. I've been working a lot, and blogging just hasn't been a priority. I am still working on a rebuttal to a video, that will be posted sometime this year I hope.....

Anyhoo, you all have seen the reports on the shooting in Arizona last week. Lots of emotions are running wild, and people are calling for something to be done. A major problem with an instance like this is people take the deeds and thoughts of an insane man and try and paint a picture that anyone who is even remotely close to the same ideas is just like him.

Sarah Brady is calling for more gun control (of course) thinking that will solve the problem:

Obama is our best hope, because he is surely aware that much of the resistance to common-sense changes to our gun laws is meant to shut us down and shut us up. It is meant to allow the guys with the guns -- instead of ordinary Americans like us with the ideas -- and men and women of good conscience, like Gabby and Jim -- to make the rules.

So....People with guns are not ordinary Americans? Anyone with a gun is going to do this? With all the millions of guns in the US, the fact that this doesn't happen often (especially in a place with lots of guns) doesn't mean anything? The instant you must resort to demonizing your opponent, you have already lost the moral high ground.

The bullies have succeeded too often. They have made cowardly lions out of too many members of Congress. This moment, as grievous as it is, presents a new opportunity for the president and other elected leaders to demonstrate political courage -- the way President Bill Clinton did when he stood by the side of victims and fought with all he had to pass the Brady Bill.

That's right, never let a crisis go to waste..never mind that the Brady Bill did absolutely no good in curbing gun crime. Guns are tools. They work both ways. There are no good guns and bad guns, there are only good men and bad men. A "High capacity" magazine could just as easily be used to save lives as to commit mass murder. Think mass rioting/looting that happens when societies collapse (for example, when a large scale earthquake hits California.) One shop owner isn't going to be a deterrent, however, one shop owner with a couple thousand rounds of ammunition at the ready to protect his family and property is quite a deterrent. Firearms are force multipliers...they even the playing field. Suddenly, an 80 year old grandma doesn't need to give in to a 200 lbs rapist. Taking away guns creates an environment where the strong live and the weak suffer.

Say "no" to those who won't retreat from an ideology that is fixated on weapons of war that are turned on babies and grandmothers alike. An ideology that helps assassinate dreamers and the dreams they hold dear. That litters across our fruited plains the bloodstains of innocents. That has kept us from forming that more perfect union, and pistol-whipped us into a seemingly endless cycle of wounding, maiming and murdering one another.

Those "Weapons of war" have been used to murder innocents, yes. There is no question of that. They have also been used to stop mass murder, save people from being mauled alive, put food on the table, etc. Anything can be used for evil, no matter what it is. Nothing is sacred. The internet can be used to stay connected with those you hold dear, stay aware of the world around you, learn things you never could. It could also be used to look at pornography, gossip, destroy someones character, steal military secrets. The tool is not the problem, the person is.

The Brady bunch does not want "common-sense" gun regulations, they want no guns whatsoever. Now, if it were even possible to get all the guns (which it's not, but let's just assume) we would find ourselves in a world with no equalizers. The citizens would be completely reliant on the good will of their governments for protection. Those who devoted their entire lives to training to do violence would have the upper hand and be able to prey on those that did not.

Club-K Missile system

We take a break from our regularly scheduled rebuttal program to bring you this special report:



This could be bad. It seems to be something close to four tomahawk cruise missiles, that can be hidden inside a cargo container. This is shamelessly hiding amongst civilians, but that's the exact tactics that have been used by our enemies in the middle east. I don't think this is a viable system to be launched on Americans from within US borders, seeing as DHS scans all cargo containers as they are offloaded. The system is not perfect, however, and some may get in. The very first one of these things that are caught coming into the ports, and the entire system should shut down, and instead be changed to physically checking each container that comes in.The more viable threat would be a sea based launch on coastal cities.

There is still a threat of the missiles being fired from within Mexican borders on US cities. That is a very viable threat in my opinion. Mexico cannot search containers as effectively as we can, and the officials are notoriously crooked and underpaid. I would consider a missile being fired from within Mexican borders to be the most viable option for a terrorist to use.

A few things I noticed:

Firstly, there appears to be a compartment at the "front" of the container. A small door opens, and perhaps a control room is inside? The video seemed to suggest that it was launched via signal from satellite, but perhaps it needs to be launched from within the container. The satellite in the video may have been the blue country's, and was alerting the country to the suspicious container, perhaps.

Secondly, the missiles cannot be launched from a truck while in motion. Notice as the silos erect, two posts extend to the ground to maintain the balance of the truck. These would not be able to extend without damage while moving, and I'd assume they are in place to keep the truck from rocking backwards when the missiles are fired due to the force generated from the blast. I believe this due to the fact that they extended after the silo was erected, and not before as would be the case if the silo was so heavy as to rock the truck back due to the weight of the silo.

Thirdly, the silo may or may not be erected while a train is in motion. In the video, the train was at a standstill, and I'd assume the amount of force generated on the silo while in motion could cause damage.

Fourthly, there would be a very small window of opportunity to shoot down these missiles. Missiles being fired from the water would give slightly more warning, than a land based launch from a border town in Mexico. The US military does have the Patriot Missile System, and other missile defenses, but I am unsure as to weather or not they are already set to launch, or if there would be a time delay to get the system set up and then target the missiles. I would submit that we should have missile defenses at the ready. At least with an ICBM, there is a decent amount of warning from launch to when the missile strikes. Depending on the intended target, this could have an extremely small window of opportunity (seconds even).

Fifthly, with an attack of this nature, it would be very difficult to find the ones responsible. With nuclear attacks, there was always the fear of mutually assured destruction. You fire, everyone on this little green dirt ball dies. With todays world of terrorists, there is no flag to fight. There are organizations, and of course countries that fund them, but it is a very different world than we are used to. I can guarantee that any truck, ship, or train that launches one of these will have a few missiles coming back at them, but that's not a great discouragement when you are taught you will go to paradise if you die a "martyr's" death.

Sixthly, this would be an extremely likely threat towards Israel. I'm sure Hamas would love to use this system, of course they're doing pretty well with their weapons they have already, so perhaps not. It is something to think about.

More information on this would be greatly appreciated.

On Abortion

Abortion is murder, plain and simple. I know that is not a popular view, nor a politically correct one, but the truth is rarely popular, nor politically correct. The arguments I have heard is "My body, my life" and "This is about women's rights." These arguments are not valid, because they ignore the right of the defenseless baby. Though the baby has had no chance to harm anyone, he or she is not allowed to live for the sake of what? Comfort? The other argument I have heard is, "The baby is not a person yet." Therefore, they claim it does not deserve the same rights, and is somehow less human. There is a double standard however, if someone were to murder a pregnant woman, he would be charged with two counts: The killing of the mother, and of the child. So, our government does recognize the baby still has a right to life, however, they turn a blind eye, or in some cases, outright support the killing of innocent life if it is convenient for the mother. This brings us to the next point: Governments roll.

The roll of Government is to represent Jesus' authority on earth. Our government obviously has not done this, and refuses to do so. I understand that is not a valid argument in most groups, so I shall use one that is, not because I am ashamed of my savior, but because the goal of this is to bring about change in peoples thinking. The roll of the government should be to not let the rights of the citizens be encroached upon. This means, they are not to encroach on the rights of the citizens, and are to keep order in such a way as to protect and defend the citizens. At this too, they have failed. It is a slippery slope we find ourselves on, and our government isn't even trying to run back up, but instead, has turned and is leading the charge down. It is the duty of the government to intervene when the rights of the people are being infringed upon, and this means babies also. It boggles the mind that we have such a high value of children, but only the children that are convenient apparently.

Men, we have great responsibilities to bear, responsibilities that should have us on our knees every morning praying that Jesus would not allow us to fail, because the consequences are so great. One of those responsibilities is to "Speak up for those who cannot speak up for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute. Speak up and judge fairly, defend the rights of the poor and the needy." (Proverbs 31:8-9) Society, and even many churches sadly, has turned men into cowards. Putting great emphasis on peace, and tolerance, so much so that we forget there are things worth fighting for. More and more, I see young Christian men, who grew up in the church, thinking just because they didn't do anything wrong, that they are in the right. You see, there are sins of omission, and commission. Take for example, original sin. Where was Adam when Eve first ate of the fruit? Genesis 3:6 "So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate." So, he was there, with her, and did nothing to defend her and her conscience, nor did he defend God and His commands. This is a sin of omission, not living up to his duty as a man to protect and defend. 

You are no longer an innocent sheep, you have now been given knowledge about the subject. You have three options, be a wolf and fight for abortion, be a guilty sheep and ignore what you have learned today, or be a sheepdog and take a stand. 

Sanctity of life

From AP:

Often, overtreating fatal illnesses happens because patients don't want to give up.

Saideh Browne said her mother, Khadija Akmal-Lamb, wanted to fight her advanced ovarian cancer even after learning it had spread to her liver. The 55-year-old Kansas City, Mo., woman had chemo until two weeks before she died last August.

"She kept throwing up, she couldn't go to the bathroom," and her body ached, Browne said. The doctors urged hospice care and said, "your mom was stubborn," Browne recalled. "She wanted her chemo and she wanted to live."

Browne, who lives in New York, formed a women's cancer foundation in her mother's honor. She said she would encourage dying cancer patients to choose comfort care over needless medicine that prolongs suffering.

You see, this is what happens when you try and create a perfect world without God. This is what happens when you start looking at people as society, and not image bearers of God. Step one is making it easier to cope with loss of life, either by saying there was never any real life, or their life is torture, and therefore not true life. They say, "Oh, it's not a baby, just some tissue," or, "They're just going to be in a vegetated state, no feeling or emotion." or even, "They're going to be in agony, it's better to end it now." This is evil.

God created us, and He has set a time for us to die. He has determined the number of our days, if we are still alive, it is only because He has let us keep breathing. He also created us, therefore, how can someone say it is their choice and right to determine if the unborn are allowed to live? No matter what the circumstances, God still allowed him or her to be created, and meticulously made them that way.

What is happening now, has happened before. History repeats itself, there is nothing new under the sun. Nazi Germany started off with their slaughter of the old by telling society that they were unneeded and not useful. That it was merciful to kill the sick and dying. This made it easier to allow the murder and slaughter of those without voice. 

Now, the problem I have right now is not with people giving up on life. That is their choice, and while sad, is still their choice. What I do have a problem with is that our country is headed towards a society where life is not highly valued. Where the government will control healthcare, and will decide weather or not you are worth letting live. Where it is "merciful" to let you die, or just outright kill you. Where before, you might have been able to afford the operation, it will now be to costly to the government. It should not be someone else's choice to determine if God is right in letting you live. A mere man cannot possibly see what God sees, and cannot possibly determine if it is time to go home. 

This has not come suddenly, it has been happening for sometime. The problem is, good people have not done enough to fight it. Darkness can never over come light. If the darkness is moving, it is because the light is not there. When have you ever opened up a door to a dark room and had the darkness put out the light? It doesn't happen. Darkness is not a force, it is the absence of a force. Evil is a bit different, in that it is a force, but still, it cannot stand up against God. If God is with us, who can stand against us? If we, the people of God, stand up for what is right, can evil stand against us?

Search your heart. Ask God what in your life is holding you back from following Him. If you feel called, then make a stand.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men nothing" -Edmund Burke

It's not like EMTs are people or anything..

I was looking for Christian EMT courses and found this:

http://atheism.about.com/b/2008/06/28/christian-emt-workers-allowed-to-let-pregnant-women-die.htm

So basically, the author takes a story of an EMT who refused to take a pregnant woman to get an abortion, and through a very round about way, comes to the conclusion that Christians are a threat to the public health. Considering the late date of this post, I can only find articles about the lawsuit that followed (BTW, if you have articles stating otherwise, please send them to me as I would like the truth behind anything), but the story that I've gathered is that this was a woman who wanted the ambulance to take her to have an abortion, and an EMT said no on the grounds that it went against her moral beliefs. She was fired on the spot and another EMT took her place.

The author makes a case concerning a law that should have protected her from being fired which says something along the lines of, if you have a moral or religious objection concerning aiding a person, you do not have to aid them. He then has this to say:

According to Manion's reading of Illinois' "conscience clause," it really wouldn’t matter if the abortion were an emergency, would it? If Stephanie Adamson had a moral objection to transporting someone for an abortion, it wouldn't matter if the abortion were purely elective or absolutely necessary to save the woman's life — a moral objection is sufficient to allow her to refuse to lift a finger to save the woman's life. Questioning whether the abortion was an "emergency" strikes me as little more than an attempt to cast aspersions on the motives of the woman who was, he acknowledges, in pain and thus in need of medical treatment.

Even if we ignore this, though, the question is pretty easy to answer: not all hospitals offer abortion services and, even if they do, there might be someone else better qualified to either perform an abortion or to perform an abortion on women in particular medical circumstances. There are plenty of good medical reasons for why it might be necessary to transport a woman in pain from a hospital to a clinic where she can get an abortion. There are few, if any, good medical reasons for an EMT to refuse to transport a woman in such a situation. There are no good reasons — medical or moral — to give EMTs the right to let a woman die rather than drive her to where her life can be saved.

What I am gathering from this, is that he would like EMTs to be good little sheep following the herd, and doing whatever, without question. While 99% of the time, this is ok, you still have to watch out for that 1% of the time when there's something wrong and stopping it means going against the grain. Never mind my views on abortion, never mind my morals, making EMTs prosecutable by law for not giving a treatment ties their hands, makes them second guess themselves, and in general, turns people away from getting into this field to help others.

The EMT did not wish to assist in the murder of an innocent child. The author takes this, and turns it into, "Christian EMT workers allowed to let pregnant women die?" as he titled his post.

As for the abortion, is it denial of a womans right over her body to not let her abort? Well, if you are with the world, then yes. A world without God sees this and says, it is the woman's body, and it is the woman's life. She should be allowed to make the decisions about them both. From a biblical stand point, abortion is evil, no matter the circumstances. God doesn't make mistakes. Since before time, He planned what we would do, from birth to the grave. That means, even in cases of incest or rape, though they are pure evil, it is not right to abort. God can take an evil situation, like rape, and turn it into something beautiful, like a child. If someone decides to take the life of their unborn child, they are, without a doubt, committing murder.

Even our own society realizes that unborn children have value! If a person punches a pregnant woman in the stomach, and she miscarries, the person will (and should) be convicted of murder. However, there is a double standard. If a woman decides that she is not ready to have a child, she can go to a clinic, and have the baby burned alive with acid, and essentially suffocate to kill it. No matter what grounds they say, it is still evil. "It was the humane thing to do, I couldn't support it." "The baby was going to be missing a limb, I couldn't give it a life like that." God still created that child, why is it up to you, to decide whether or not the baby should live? The Lord has a plan for everyone, even those that society views as worthless. It is not up to us to make the decision of who lives, and who dies; especially when they cannot defend themselves.

Life's tough, being a parent's tougher, but with the Lord's help, you can do it. God will not give you a challenge you cannot face. Now, He will almost certainly give you challenges that you cannot face alone. That's what is so great about our God, He is always good, but He is not safe. He wants what is best for us, and He is willing to give us difficult, painful times to make us love Him more, and to make us grow. Nothing worth while will ever be easy. Following God is a constant battle. Battles are not easy, but I can tell you this, the battle is worth it. Looking back on my short life so far, I have seen times where I wanted something, and God didn't let me have it. Looking back, His plan was perfect. He brought me through, and was with me every step the way, with my best interest at heart.

With a God that good, how can we try and say that it would be better to not bring a child into the world who God has a plan for? No matter what the circumstances, God still has a plan, and though you may not see it (and normally you wont), it is heading towards something beautiful and great.

Lessons from my father

A friend of mine posted this to facebook:


The series is called Lessons From My Father, and from what I have seen, it is very good.

I'd like to talk specifically about the scenario in the video where a town lost electricity. The majority of society collapsed. From just losing electricity! You see, this sort of shocked me, I'm ashamed to say. I grew up thinking what most people consider "tough," was normal. My friends and I always had the same mindset growing up. If we wanted something we got it, by building, earning, whatever. We never thought it would be given to us, and most of the time we'd get it after a great deal of working for it. Unfortunately, the rest of society is not that way.

During the aftermath of Katrina, something that's always stuck with me in my mind was a video clip of a single mom getting interviewed. She had lost her home, and belongings, and was sitting on a curb. The interviewer asked what she was going to do next, and what she said shocked me. "I'm just going to sit here till someone comes to take care of me." All I could think was what a horrible mindset.

Thinking about myself, I have a very "If it's to be, it's up to me." mindset. That's one of my sins sometimes, because I find it hard to trust that God will take care of me, and instead turn inward. However, it is most certainly a gift from God as well, because it instills a Get-R-Done, and I will survive attitude in me. That attitude has most certainly helped get me through some difficult times in life, and as long as I realize, that it comes from God, and not from me, I am blessed with success.

My dad always told me, "Don't sweat the small stuff." Funny how dad's have those words of wisdom that stick with ya for years after. I believe I've learned a lot from my dad. As a kid he did a lot of hiking, growing up as a missionary kid in the Philippines and Napal. By the time he had me and my siblings as kids, he had developed a dislike for camping. Sleeping on the ground, hiking through the woods, just wasn't his thing. He did, however, let us go camping with our friends, and my sister and I readily did that. Most wouldn't call my dad "tough." He's a computer programmer, wears glasses, etc. However, he was the one that instilled the mindset of a sheepdog within me, we trained side by side in martial arts, he taught me from a young age about God, he taught me to shoot, all that good stuff. His mindset is one of a survivor and a sheepdog.

I hope my readers will check out the other videos in the series, and teach others how to be sheepdogs.

Till next time, God bless!

Quote of the day

The Anti-Gunners (let's call them anti-self defensers shall we?) freak out when they see large amounts of firearms in the hands of civilians. Why would we ever need them? Are we planning on fighting a war? We must be terrorists!

Well, the fact that it is an inalienable right should be enough, let's give a few more reasons. The 2nd Amendment was set up to guarantee that we are governed, not ruled. Like wise, it was set up to guarantee the right of the people to defend themselves against all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

With that, I give you the quote of the day:

"You cannot invade mainland America. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass." -Isoroku Yamamoto, Japanese Admiral

The Japaneses came close to finding out that that was true, but fortunately, they didn't. The question is, does that still hold true today? If an enemy force invaded, would there be a rifle behind every blade of grass, or just another sheep cowering, waiting for the slaughter? Something to ponder.

Remember.

Last Easter Sunday, 3 US Navy SEAL snipers simultaneously shot 3 Somalian pirates holding Capt Richard Phillips hostage. Let's do the math shall we? One pirate + one million dollar ransom = one million pirates. On the other hand, one pirate + one .50 BMG  = one less pirate in the world. Million dollar ransom costs a million dollars, .50 BMG costs about two dollars. Just something to think about.

Oh yeah, happy Easter! He is risen! Praise God! We are free! Free of sin, free of death. We live because of Christ! Amen!



Hope you all have a blessed time with close friends and family! Live for Christ!

The difference between Terrorism and Militia

Saw this on MSNBC today:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The video states that a "Christian Militia" plotted attacks on the US government in order to bring about the ruin of the government. One such attack involved killing a police officer, then bombing the funeral. This, my friends, is terrorism. A militia provides for the common defense, this seems to be an offense against fellow citizens. The group hides behind a religious front claiming they are preparing for the anti-Christ. This may, or may not be true, but judging by their plan of action against US citizens, I would have to say this is an extremist anarchy group.

The press eats this up, because it is everything they claim we are. A bunch of knuckle dragging, anti-government, gun clinging, bible thumping, flag waving, extremists. Only they seem to have their own flag that they fight under, and the only mention of Christianity is preparing to defend against the anti-Christ. I do not know their heart, so I cannot judge, but this seems extremely cultish.

Be wary of these sorts of things. Though we may not agree with our leaders, God has still placed them over us. There may be a time when we have to fight with arms, to defend our rights, to be free to worship, etc; but as of now, we can fight it in the courts and congress. God is still in control, He has placed people in authority over us, and therefore, we should obey them, until their orders contradict the orders of God. We should pay taxes, give to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. Though it may seem bad and chaotic, in time, it will all make sense. During WWII, I doubt that it seemed to be making sense what was happening, and why things were going the way they were going; however, looking back, it all comes together. Everything happened in just the right way for evil to be stopped, at least for a while. Israel was created once again, and a nation of Israel was set up, so that the prophecies in Revelation could be fulfilled.

Should we fear the anti-Christ? No, we have salvation in Jesus. Who can stand against the awesome power of Christ? Our sins are forgiven, they are washed away, we have been made clean. We are children of God now, not the devil; sin and death have lost their power. Nothing of this world can have affect. Our God is an awesome God, He rescues His people out of darkness. We yearn for the day we can be united with Him in heaven, but until that day, we carry out His work.

Should we prepare? Yes. Hard times are ahead, I believe. Real persecution, like that which is in other countries. Our freedom has granted us an easy life thus far, we are free to worship, we are free to pray, we are not killed by the government for our faith. But that may change. I believe it will, personally. Prepare for that. Memorize scripture, know what you know is true. You must be sure of your faith, you must be sure of who Christ is, you must be sure of your forgiveness from sin. At one time, you might be faced with a choice, deny Christ or die. Remember, to live is Christ, to die is gain. Let the world despise and leave us, they have left our savior too. Let them destroy the body, let them take away the very air we breath, our God is mighty to save, and they cannot harm the soul. I do not believe we can fully prepare for that time of suffering, but I pray that I will have the courage to say "Yes, I do believe in Christ."

Recognizing and dealing with deception

Lies surround us. The very core of evil is lying. Every sin is a lie in some way. When you sin, you are lying to yourself that God doesn't care about you, or know what is best for you, and therefore, you must take care of yourself. Look out for number one. We are told that the world will bring us pleasure. That the world is all we need. That there is no God. That we are all that is. That the world is what it is all about.


For those of you who claim to be Christians, if someone came up to you and said, "There is no God," you would be in total opposition to them. So, the world comes at us in different wording. "Can't we all just agree? You believe what you believe, I'll believe what I'll believe. Don't ram Christianity down my throat. Get Christianity out of the schools. Get God off our money. Get God off our monuments. Don't post the ten commandments." In effect, they are making God irrelevant. Unfortunately we didn't fight it. We don't fight it. So they make God irrelevant in their lives, and ultimately in everyone else's lives. Basically they are saying "God does not exist."


One of our biggest mistakes, in my opinion is buying into the lie that America is a Christian nation. That Christianity is the majority in America. America is a country. America is run by humans. We are, or at least were started, as a republic. A republic is ruled by law, which is better than a democracy which is ruled by majority vote, but the best system is a theocracy which is ruled by God. Our country has since turned into, I believe, a democracy. Instead of being ruled by law, we are ruled by popular opinion. Instead of wishing justice we look for loopholes to get around the law. Our country is secular. The world hates Christians. Whether they admit it or not, Christianity is offensive. God is offensive to the evil. 


What is evil anyway? Evil is the absence of God. When the world buys into lies, they reject God. Everyone is born separate from God, and is therefore evil. Those that have been called out of darkness have begun a transformation. We are to be imitators of Christ, and therefore are offensive to the evil. Sure, they mask it as other things, but ultimately, the world hates Christians. Christianity is the hard way out. The world wants nothing better than to write God off as some irrelevant, not caring, being without power, or existence. Therefore, they will do everything they can to oppose Christians and draw them astray.

So, the American people truly are attempting to destroy God. There will come a time when we will be shown real persecution. On that day let us not fall away, but embrace it. Ready to suffer for Christ. To suffer for Christ is greater than anything we could ever do. Let the world despise and leave us. They have left our savior too.

The world is full of wolves, ready to devour the unwary sheep. They twist scripture and the definitions of words. They quote verses so close to the original, that it sparks just the smallest memory, and we begin to question if that was in fact what the verse said. They choose their words wisely, making their message sound friendly, when in reality, it is dripping with death. The new believer, or the one unsure in his belief, fall victim to this trap and start believing lies. Once a lie is believed, it is very difficult to change that belief to the truth. 


We must be grounded in the word. We must memorize and meditate on scripture. We must ask God to guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. When people come at us with false doctrines, we must recognize it for what it is, and not let our brothers or sisters be lead astray. This is a battle. The battle is spiritual. We must understand that it is a battle, that we are at war 24/7, know our enemy, and know how to fight it. We must know the truth. We must be sure of our faith. We must be sure we have forgiveness, that God exists, that we need him, etc. 


Our enemy is not the world, though we are theirs. Our enemy is evil. We should view the world as prisoners of war, for we were once dead in our sins, but God didn't give up on us. When He called, we ran and hid. Not only that, we actively opposed Him. We hated Him. We didn't want Him. We wanted to destroy Him. But He rescued us. He loved us enough to not give us what we wanted, death, but gave us eternal life. Therefore, when the world hates us, show them the love shown to us. Let our life song sing to Christ, so that when the world looks at us, they see Christ at work in us. If we believed the way we claim we believe, and the way we should believe, we should be on our knees begging unbelievers to come to know Christ.


We have many hard times ahead. The way of Christ is most certainly not the easy way out. The world will hate us and reject us. We will be persecuted. We may even be beaten, tortured, or killed. But this world is not our home. I consider myself a patriot, and am very proud of this country, but this nation is not ours. I love this country, I am willing to die for it, for freedom, and for my fellow Americans. But no matter how patriotic we are, understand that it is a nation of the world, and therefore we should not give our ultimate loyalty to it. Our loyalty lies with Christ and his kingdom. There will be a time when this great nation turns against us. It has already turned against God. We must figure out now, where our loyalties lie. Do we follow America when we know that it would be sin to do so? It was one of my hardest decisions to make, but in the end, God is the ultimate authority. We must follow his commands first. 


Take care my dear readers.


~Sheepdog

A government big enough to give you everything you want...

...Is big enough to take away everything you have.


The history of the world and its nations seems to repeat itself. Each great nation seemed to follow this cycle: 


From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence
From dependence back into bondage.

This cycle takes, on average, 200 years to complete. You can see most of it has been completed in America. The founding fathers had great spiritual faith, and that was why they came to America, to avoid persecution. They gained great courage in the belief that they should be free from england. That courage then lead to fighting a war, and ultimately, liberty. That liberty lead to an abundance, by God's good grace. But with abundance, came a lack of remembrance of where the country had come out of. That lead to complacency with certain freedoms being taken away to please a certain group of people. The allowance of this, lead to apathy towards encroachment on more rights. Finally we get to where we are.

I believe we are between apathy and dependence stages. This health care bill will make us totally dependent on the government, and it is just a short skip and a hop back into bondage. Currently, I see it taking no longer than 10 years.

It doesnt have to be that way though. We can have a spiritual awakening in this country. We can create great courage. We can make a move for liberty. Our for fathers fought with arms. I believe this situation calls for a fight with votes. All those who voted for the bill must go, that is certain, no grey area there. The tricky part will be voting people in that will completely repeal the bill. There is no half way here, it must be totally removed. We do not have much time, every year brings us closer to a dictatorship.

Every year, government grows bigger. At the end, there will be no options to vote for, and then the only thing left to do would be to fight with arms. On that day, however, I believe we will find no arms to fight with, and no where to stand. The 2nd Amendment was put into the constitution to keep the government in check. Therefore, if the government wants to totally put us into bondage, they will have to remove the arms. This will not come all at once, that, I hope, would be impossible. No, they will take it away, little by little, bill by bill, "common sense" law by "common sense" law; until there is nothing left.

Remember, ignore your rights, and they will go away. Fight every bill that will remove yours or someone else's right in even the smallest way possible. Even if you don't agree with the 2nd Amendment, it is there to protect the others. Remove it, and the others will disappear, guaranteed.

We live in dark times, my friends. Keep your ears up, and your eyes alert.

~Sheepdog

Ignorance

Some say ignorance is bliss. There is truth to that. You are happy when everything seems right in the world, even when its about to come crashing down. Some would say it is better to die happily in ignorance than to live, struggling every day with the knowledge that you know, and fighting to make things right instead of wrong.

I prefer struggling every day to make something right, over ignoring that there is a problem. Once you understand that there is something not right, how can you not fix it? How can you go about doing what you did before? How can you not change? The sheep can ignore the wolf, but in the end, the sheep dies, and while the wolf happily devours him. Ignorance is only temporary bliss. Weather you ignore it or not, the problem still exists.

If Christ has begun a work within you, can you really stay the way you were before? Can you really continue doing what you know is wrong? Can you stay ignorant of how what you do affects others? I'd say you cannot. If your life is changed by Christ, how can you go back? Yes, we fail. We are human, but because of Christ we are forgiven, and because of Christ we can stand. Because of Christ, we can help those around us, we can be a light to a world of darkness. Is it possible to be a child of God, and not do differently?

I would say no, there is no way. A person who has been changed by Christ, who has been saved from their sin and their mistakes, who has been shown forgiveness and grace, cannot continue in ignorance. It would be impossible. Not only would they change for the better, they would also wish that others would find the amazing love they have been shown. How could they hold such a great gift back? How could they stay quiet?

My friends, we live in dark times. We are heading for the end times, perhaps, we have already arrived. We must do as our Lord commanded. We must be lights to a world of darkness. We should not do it because we have to, but because it is impossible for us not to. Our lives should reflect Christ. Our very thoughts should be thought to the glory of Him who sent us.

Let the Lord use you in ways you cannot even imagine. Keep your mind open to how He is using you for His will. You may be surprised how He has used you to bless others, I was. It's amazing what He does. Our God is an awesome God.

Here am I, send me.

-Sheepdog

Health care

Health care has passed:

 It will provide coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans, prevent the worst insurance company abuses, and begin to wrestle with relentlessly rising costs — while slightly reducing future deficits.

 Sounds peachy right? What they don't tell you is how it is paid for. By taxing the other 300 million of Americans. They make it "Equal" (except of course, the senators and congressmen are more equal so they get to have better care) by pulling the average and making them like the below average.

But even still, what's wrong with giving everyone health care? Well, lets look at what government run health care means, because that really is what this is about. When the government is paying for your health, they control everything. Everything is related to health in some way. What you eat, what you drink, how much sleep you get, where you work, what you drive, where you live, what you own, your political views, your religious views, it can all be lumped into health in one way or another. Government wants power, and unfortunately, they have it.

But it's their job to take care of you, isn't it? No, it should be governments job to make sure its citizens do not trample on the rights of other citizens. Government nowadays is focused more on making citizens live lives that they (government) deems they should. They believe that they are the only ones that can think straight, and must therefore regulate the citizens for their own good. This, my dear reader, is socialism.

But in the end, wont this do more good than harm? Well, let's look at that. There is no way in the world that the government can research and develop at the same rate as the free market. The reason the free market works is because people are free to try an idea out, and risk failing on that idea. The good ideas remain, the bad ideas are weeded out. Everyone is trying something new, and the idea keeps improving as time goes on. There is no way that the government can do that.

Another problem is government will have the monopoly on health care. Health insurance is a business. The company has a product, and the consumer can choose weather or not he wants it or not. This creates a competitive field to always be changing to fit the needs of the consumer. That means competition for better benefits, better prices, etc. When you have a monopoly, there is no incentive to improve, everyone has to come through you anyway, you will be payed the same weather you do well or not.

Yet another problem is, government cannot pay for everyone to have the top care. This means that they will have to discern who they can help and who they cannot afford. It's called triage, and we do it all the time with search and rescue. You can not save everyone, those that will use up to many supplies that can be used to save the lives of others, will be left to die. Same thing with government. However, if you have options, like we currently do, you can go to a clinic, and if you have the money, you can pay for that risky expensive procedure. Maybe you don't have the money, but at least you had the option do choose weather to have it or not.

Another one is personnel. Doctors and nurses are not magically formed. They have to go through school, get a degree, find a job, and then get paid for that job, enough to live on. Perhaps more importantly, they need to want that job. If government cant pay them what they can make elsewhere, why should they stick around as a doctor? And if government pays them hire, guess who's really paying for that? The citizenry.

It all comes down to this, government control is a poor substitute for a competitive, free market. It hasn't worked, it doesn't work, and it will never work. It sounds like a great idea, but it is still only an idea. Ideas are not reality. No idea is too great to not work. There comes a time when you must face the facts, and accept reality. Trying the same thing, just harder is insanity.

So, now how do we fix this? Well, that's a hard one. Once a bill becomes law, it is very difficult to reverse. The first step is vote every last person who voted for this unconstitutional bill out of office. The second would be vote people into office that are against big government. Currently, both republicans and democrats operate under the idea that government is the answer to problems. We must discern who is trustworthy enough to do what is good for the people and not for the government.

Now, there are two things we can do about the law. A, there could be a bill put forth to revoke the health care bill, but that has a very small chance of working. B, the next congress can just withhold funds from the program. The program cannot work without funds, but the problem is, it is still on the books for whoever at a later date wishes to start it up. We must figure out a way to remove the law completely, and take back the country. We must be a people whose standard for the law of the land is the constitution, and whose will is to do what is right.

As Christians, remember, this world is not our home. As much as it pains me to say, I believe we have lost our country. I will not give up hope that we can take it back, but for now, it doesn't look promising. Remember, God is in control. America might need to fall for His perfect will to be accomplished. I just pray that He will use me to accomplish it, and that I may live to see it completed. Perhaps this is His way of setting up the world for the end times, I don't know, but it would make sense from where I stand. Remember, however, we only see a small part of a stroke of a brush, God sees the whole painting. He knows what he is doing.

May the Lord bless you all,
~Sheepdog.

On Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs.

 LTC (Retired) Dave Grossman talks about sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs.

Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day. After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is, most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have truly invested yourself into "warriorhood", you want to be there. You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population. 

Read it, its very good.

Human rights.

A friend posted this on facebook:

Couple of things. 

I am not Republican, I am not Democrat. I am a Juris Naturalist. I believe in higher law, set forth by Almighty God. There are two parts of Higher Law, Do what you say you will do and Do not encroach on other persons or their property. That is, do not rape, murder, steal, etc. If these laws are widely followed, there is prosperity. If not, there is misery. 

I believe that government should not be involved unless it is to stop one persons rights from being trampled on. That is, to protect the rights of its citizens in a way that does not destroy the rights of another. This is done by taking those who have committed an offense, and trying them in a court of justice. Notice that I did not say a court of law. Any jury, any court should be trying to find what justice is, and how to apply it to the situation. Justice, you see, is not created; justice is found.

Throughout history, man has shown their lust for control. The people with the biggest stick won, and trampled the rights of those weaker. That is why we have the 2nd Amendment. If the people have the biggest stick, the government must respect their rights. The people have a right to live peaceably. When someone decides to disrupt a persons peaceful life, that person has a right to defend themselves and property, to bring about justice. It is human instinct to stay alive and survive. 

Dealing with catastrophe.

Let's talk about survival situations in an urban area:

Say that we have a disaster with a magnitude like Katrina, where the entire infrastructure collapses. In the initial stages everyone will come together for the common good. We have a heard mentality, and will work for the good of the herd. But, as people begin realizing that there are not enough supplies to go around, it will become ugly. That is why it is important to make friends with those that can protect you later on. This means gangs in some cases. This may not seem morally acceptable, but understand that it is survival. Be ready to protect your supplies, that means, be ready to shoot anyone that tries to take them. Someone taking your supplies is a death warrant in this environment.

In disaster, creepers come out of the walls. Be ready for this, you will be the only thing standing between them and those you love. You will most likely not be able to hold them for authorities, as the authorities will be weeks away, and over swamped to boot. This means you will have to play judge, jury, and executioner, not a fun task. Be sure that you know what you are doing, do not strike in anger. Think things through, it will save you guilt later on.

The problem with urban is that it is not self sustaining. Everything comes from the countryside, and therefore, you eventually will have to move out. Have a plan to do so without using main highways or freeways. In some cases, they might not even be there. Know what environments you will have to to bug out in. If it's desert, know where the water is, and how to get it. Know the area, the plants, the animals, what can and can't kill you, and how to deal with it.

In a disaster, money will most likely become worthless, therefore have supplies to barter with. Beer and cigs are always going to be in high demand, and they are not necessary for your survival. Ammo and firearms is another, but you will need them for yourself, however, if you have ammo that you do not have a firearm for, it may be wise of you to use this to barter with.

As I write this, a tsunami is heading towards hawaii, pray for those that are there. The thing that caused this disaster was an 8.8 magnitude earthquake in chilli, pray for those there. Also pray for those in California, normally if an earthquake strikes South America, one strikes southern California within between 2 hours and 2 days.

God bless.

~Sheepdog

The ten commandments.

I use Yahoo!Answers a lot. It's a great way to have questions answered, and to help others. A few minutes ago I answered this question:

Why are Christians routinely breaking some of the 10 Commandments?

There are 10 Commandments, which even organized religions routinely ignore and break. If these are the the rules directly from your god, how can christians, and even the "church" break them? You shall have no other gods before me. DOES PRAYING TO MARY, JESUS, OR ANY OF THE PATRON SAINTS NOT COUNT? You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. MY GOD, HAS ANYONE BEEN IN A CHURCH, ESPECIALLY A CATHOLIC CHURCH? THEY HAVE CORNERED THE MARKET ON GRAVEN IMAGES, AND YET NO HAS A PROBLEM WITH THIS. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. SORRY, I AM GUILTY OF THIS ONE MYSELF Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. TELL THAT TO YOUR BOSS Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. I AM GOOD ON THIS ONE You shall not murder. GOOD HERE TOO, NO MURDERS IN MY BACKGROUND You shall not commit adultery. DAMMIT, I WAS DOING SO GOOD TOO You shall not steal. I THINK THIS IS RIGGED AGAINST ME You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. ANOTHER IN THE GOOD COLUMN You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s."  WHAT IS THE WIFE I COVET ISN'T MY NEIGHBOR'S, WHAT IF SHE LIVES FAR, FAR AWAY? IS THAT A LOOPHOLE? I WAS DOING SO WELL ON THE MANSERVANT, MAIDSERVAN, OX AND DONKEY, DID NOT COVET ANY OF THOSE. I am poking a little fun, but the question why some commandments are ignored is still a valid question.

 My answer:

First off, no one said Christians were perfect. We are as broken as anyone else. We fail every second of the day. We are sinners, plain and simple. The difference is, we have accepted the love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He is why we can stand. In him alone can we live, in him alone can we have salvation. He took my sin, and washed it all away, everything I have done, everything I will do (And I know there will be much more, for I am broken). Every time I fall, he picks me up, and the slate is wiped clean. Blessed be the name of the Lord.

As for your arguments:

Jesus is God. Mary, and the saints are not. If you pray to Mary or the saints you are breaking the commandment.

Catholics, in my opinion, are not saved. They try to earn their way to heaven themselves when the only way we can be saved is through Jesus Christ coming and saving us. This argument seems to really apply to Catholics, not Protestants (Christians)

Again, we are not perfect, we fail. It is impossible to follow the ten commandments, because our sinful natures actively opposes God. Yet, as Christians, we realize that creations purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever, so we fight the good fight, and try to endure. When we fall, we humble ourselves and let God carry us.

The sabbath was created so that man could rest. It was made for man, not man for it. There are times when you may have to work, but make sure that you remember that God is good.

Honoring your father and mother is a good thing, but you can't go down the list going "Oh, I'm great at that, I'm doing ok, I'm a good person." We are all broken, the greatest amount of good you can do, will never be able to cover the price needed to purchase you out of slavery to the world. We need a savior, and as I stated before, that savior is Jesus Christ.

The bible says that committing murder in your heart is just as bad as murder itself. It says that hating a man is murder, and I think everyone is guilty of that at one point. Again, God's grace covers your sin. I will say it again, we can not earn our way to heaven, we need a savior.

Committing adultery is probably one of the worst sins you could commit, but God's grace covers all sin. It wipes the sin away, sets the captive free, and gives us a clean slate. It is shown time and time again that we can not save ourselves, but that Jesus saves us.

Everyone who has ever lived has stolen. Again, it is not our works that save us, but by grace. Ephesians 2:8-10 says, "8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

You shall not bear false witness, meaning lie. Everyone has lied. As before, grace, not works.

You shall not covet is basically what this commandment is saying, we are all guilty of breaking it, but again, grace not works.

I'll say it again, we break probably every commandment every day. We don't just ignore SOME of them, we ignore ALL of them. It is our nature to fight against God, we are rebellious creatures. Fortunately, God didn't give up on us, he sent his son, Jesus (who is 100% God by the way) to come down to earth, to live among us, to be tempted in every way, yet to not sin, and to die on the cross, the only perfect sacrifice for us all. To be buried, to continue under the power of death for a time, and on the third day, rise from the dead. In rising, he saved us, he triumphed over evil, and he reigns eternal.

Jesus wants you to be with him, he loves you, but you, as a human being, are running away. We all are really, but we need to let him turn us around, pick us up, carry us to the cross, and undo what we are. Please accept him as your Lord and Savior. There is no hope without him.

 This is what I believe. If you have any questions about this, please ask in the comments. If you'd like, go to the question and help him out. Remember, we are in a spiritual battle every day. God has given us a suit of armor for it, and we must use it. If we are not feeling any opposition in this battle, it is most likely because we are not fighting it. And the end of your life, I pray that you can say "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." God bless.

~Sheepdog

P.S.:

Sig 522LR

So I've had my eye on the Sig 522 rifle for some time. Drooling over it, and stalking Sig's site. Yesterday, I saw that they now have a SWAT version. Looks like it just comes with a quad rail instead of heat shield with side mounts.

Now, I love to modify and improvise, so a quad rail is definitely a money wasting opportunity. I would never have enough accesories, and my gun would start looking like something out of an action film: totally impracticle. Thankfully the classic version will probably be cheaper anyway, and I can still hook up the minimum accessories I need. Oh well, it's still a ways off until I have the money to buy one. sigh.

Reflexes

Amazing little things aren't they?

From Scientific America comes this:

A study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society finds that reacting to a movement, such as being drawn on in a gunfight, is faster than initiating the movement

I know this to be true from martial arts. Your defensive reflexes are far faster. It is much easier to defend than to score a hit, the only problem is that at some point you must go offensive because eventually the opponent will get past your guard. That is why it will never work to only train with blocks as some have told me. Some say that we should just block and not try and hurt the aggressor because we then become the same if not worse. Well, you can't block forever and you have to get away some how. Normally you must disable the aggressor first. Train like its the real thing, and make sure you can Get-R-Done quickly.

To save a life

So me and my family went and saw To Save a Life today. It was very good, and very earth shattering. It opened my eyes and I'm sure many others to how great our God is; and this barely scratched the surface. It was very humbling, and I am extremely happy to have seen it. I recommend it to everyone. Everyone needs to see this.