Tag: Nation

A Democracy – For How Long?

Here are some things to think about…

How long can the USA continue as a nation?

“HOW LONG DO WE HAVE?

This is the most interesting thing I’ve read in a long time. The sad thing about it, you can see it coming.I have always heard about this democracy countdown. It is interesting to see it in print. God help us, not that we deserve it.

How Long Do We Have? About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:”A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.””A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.””From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.””The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years”

“During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;

2. From spiritual faith to great courage;

3. From courage to liberty;

4. From liberty to abundance;

5. From abundance to complacency;

6. From complacency to apathy;

7. From apathy to dependence;

8. From dependence back into bondage”

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:

Number of States won by:

Gore: 19

Bush: 29

Square miles of land won by:

Gore: 580,000

Bush: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by:

Gore: 127 million

Bush: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:

Gore: 13.2

Bush: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: “In aggregate, the map of the territory Bush won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Gore’s territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare…”

Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the “complacency and apathy” phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation’s population already having reached the “governmental dependency” phase.If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million criminal invaders called illegal and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.”

How long do we have as a nation? Only God knows. We do however need to be in much prayer and be diligent to get to the voting booth on election day, and always let our voice be heard.

My Thoughts from the banks of Flat Creek,

`tim

A War Hero

Thee following is from Memorial Day of 2007.
I know we have some real war heroes in our day, and as far as I am concerned all the men and women who are fighting this war against terrorism are all heroes.
Today being Memorial Day I was home, doing much of nothing, and a little past noon was watching a good old movie. It was the movie about Sgt. Alvin York. “Sergeant York” is the name of the movie. It is a wonderful story and based on the life of a real war hero. In the early part of the twentieth century our nation was at war with Germany. Alvin York was a Tennesee born citizen of the USA, and he received a draft notice. According to the story he had sent in notice of being a “Conscientious Objecter” seeking for release from being drafted.
By reading the Bible he had reached the conclusion that it was wrong to kill. After receiving the draft notice and realizing he had been turned down for a religious convictions waiver he went on to serve in the military. He was an expert marksman with a rifle.
When the man was about to receive the upper rank of Major he was given furlough to go home and think about the matter of “Killing a threat against another man”. He finally read where Jesus had said, “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s”, and he received peace concerning his promotion in rank, and leading his men into battle.
On the battlefield, Major York and his company of men came under a barrage of bullet fire, and grenades. He alone took out the machine gunners, and captured nearly 100 men, after killing twenty or more, and took them down the hill to his men.
Upon his return home he was offered several profitable financial advances, but he refused them, because, he realized it was because of his taking the lives of those men. He did not want to profit from something, that duty had required him to do. Men, and women who will not take gains for their war efforts are certainly commendable, and much needed in our day and time.
God bless the real heroes of yesterday and those of today.

Giving Praise to Whom Praise Belongs

I am thankful to live in a Nation that is free. It is free for one reason, and that is because the Lord of Creation has ordained it to be, and has protected and kept us free.
We are free from Communism, free from tyranny, and we are – at least for the time being – free to worship God. There may come a time when that will end.
I do not mean to take away the remembrance of our country’s men and women who have given their lives for our Nations call to arms, in fighting the many battles which have been fought and are now being fought. Much blood of U.S. citizens has been shed in the past 231 or so years of our nations history. We should applaud them, recognize them, and thank them; but let’s not forget where the real praise belongs.
If we have come this far solely by the blood of our soldiers spilled on the battlefields of the world, then we have much to boast of, and do it loudly; but that is not the case. We are a God-Blessed Nation. We have been a God protected Nation. May that continue to be.
The writer of the Twentieth Psalm wrote,
“Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.”
Any Nation that has ever began with God, and then, turned its back on God has fallen. Let’s pray that the blood of our soldiers, spilled on the battlefields, will not have been wasted by neglecting the Word of the Lord.
Have a good and safe Memorial Day.
From Memorial Day May 25, 2007

Remembering a Patriot and a Man of God

This is from May 16, 2007

A Patriot Has Died

The man was not involved in the political process until he heard of the legalization of abortion. He thought of the millions of unborn children who would be slaughtered by those whose main objective was not women’s rights, but profits.
Dr. Jerry Falwell was a man who first of all loved the LORD God, loved his family, and loved his Country. He was motivated to help point this nation back to its Judeo/Christian roots.
I had grown not to agree with all that the “Religious Right” was doing. It just seems that many there believed that the answer for all our moral ills was in the political process. My belief is that the answer for the Country’s moral ills is a change of heart in people through the cross of Jesus Christ. I know and believe that Dr. Falwell believed that too, but he wanted people to be motivated to get out and vote their Christian conscience. And, I have, as well as many others.
Those who know Dr. Falwell would be able to say that he was a genuine Christian man. He sincerely believed and with conviction that what he has done was for God, Country, and his fellow American.
There is no doubt in my mind that Jerry Falwell loved God, His Word, His people, His Church and people in general. It seems that all that he did he believed he was right in doing so, until he found it to be wrong.
Keep his family, Thomas Road Baptist Church, and Liberty University in your prayers.

Patriotic Nation

The posts I will be sharing in the next few days are from another blog I started in 2007.  I moved it to wordpress as a blog by the same name.  I am endeavoring to downsize so I am moving this one through a copy and paste method.  From April 19, 2007.

Patriotic Nation
There are many who have called the United States of America a Patriotic Nation. I believe her to be so myself. If we mean by patriotic that we stand by our nations leaders when they send our troops to war. We are pretty much patriotic. If we mean by patriotic that we love our country, then, I again would agree.
Our nation is, however, a nation that is straying from its godly, Biblical, Christian roots. Whether we all agree or not the United States of America was started upon these principles which began with the Bible.
There are some, and that number is growing more and more to believe patriotism is greater than faith in God. Patriotism has taken the place of God. When we have gotten to that place then, we are in sure trouble. A patriotic nation without God is just a pagan nation, and its morals, ethics, and family structure fades into oblivion.
I am growing in the opinion that all nations are operated by the godless, including our own. It is powered by “Prince of the power of the air”. It is sad to say. It is sad to think, and this may be a dark, negative thought, but I would rather put patriotism aside and take on godliness. That will be our only hope.

Declaration of Independence

Hi everyone.  I am praying for us as citizens of the U. S. of A. to realize and celebrate one of the most God blessed nations in the world.  For 242 years now we have been a nation, and only by the grace of God can we continue as a nation in independence and freedom from tyranny or anarchy.  Here is our Declaration of Independence adopted July 4,  1776,

The Declaration of Independence
07/04/1776
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature’s God entitles them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of governments. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his assent to laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative Houses repeatedly for opposing with manly firmness his invasion on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the meantime exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions within.
He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices and sent hither swarms of officers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies without the consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render the military independent of and superior to the civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation:
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing taxes on us without our consent:
For depriving us in many cases of the benefits of trial by jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses:
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to ren-der it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments:
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name and by the authority of the good people of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliance, establish commerce, and do all other acts and things which independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.

Signers of the Declaration of IndependenceNEW HAMPSHIRE: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton
MASSACHUSETTS: John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Robert Treat Paine
RHODE ISLAND: Elbridge Gerry, Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery
CONNECTICUT: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott
NEW YORK: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris
NEW JERSEY: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark
PENNSYLVANIA: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross
DELAWARE: Ceasar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean
MARYLAND: Samuel Chase, Thomas Stone, William Paca, Charles Carroll of Carrollton
VIRGINIA: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton
NORTH CAROLINA: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn
SOUTH CAROLINA: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Authur Middleton
GEORGIA: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

Enjoy celebrating our liberty as this Nation has for these numerous year; but be safe, and always look to the Creator who has designed and made all things.  His name is Jesus (John 1:1-5; Colossians 1:15-18).

From the banks of Flat Creek,

`tim

The Top Five Reasons to Vote for President Obama

With the election coming up in a couple of months I thought I might look at some reasons one should vote for Obama.

The number one reason I thought of is economical, and has to do with the fact that he is already in office, so why waste another 200, 000 or more per year on retired Presidents salary.  I mean if we elect Romney, President Obama will still be getting an income from the American people, why not make him earn it?

The second reason I can think of is that the man likes going around making speeches, and turning peoples eyes upon himself.  He must really be an important fellow who demands such respect, and awe in the hearts and minds of those who adore him.  His promises are as good as his word; and we know how good that really is.

My third reason to vote for the President is because he wants to divide the wealth of our nation.  Under his ideas the rich will stop getting richer; the poor will stop getting poorer; and I am really sure that there will be more food on everyone’s tables, more gas in our cars, and more coal, oil, and electrical production.  Who among us would not like to have the same wealth as Bill Gates, Donald Trump, or the WalMart family?  Is that the way his ideas would work?

The fourth reason would be because he is such a good family man.  He is for everyone having the right to marry, even two men or two women.  I am that sure eventually he would be in favor of a man or woman marrying their own son or daughter; or their own sibling.  Is there anything wrong with that?

Sorry about the title; but I could not think of any more reasons to vote for President Obama in November.

-tim

 

It is the Fourth of July…

…Once again.  It is wonderful to remember the birth of our Nation, her heroes, her victories, and even her failures.  Yes we have had some failures, and hopefully we will or have learned from them; though I am not so sure about the D.C.er’s .  That could mean Debilitated Criminals or it could be District of Columbia.  You take your pick.

We will be gathering in a few hours down at the Ole Swimming Hole of the Blankenship family, along the banks of Flat Creek; not quite one half mile, down stream from our house.

Last July I wrote a post about “Survival” and told you I had a rifle and knew how to use it, but I did not have a four wheel drive or a shotgun. Well, now I have a four wheel drive, and I someday I will get a shotgun.  With God’s help and by His grace we survive whatever evil, the devil, the world, and the chastisement of the LORD comes our way.

Have a wonderful celebration today.  Remember from whence you came, and from whence your freedom came.  Thank the LORD for our soldiers, who have fought, bled and died that we might be free; however, even more thank the LORD for giving us FREEDOM.

-Tim

What a Wonderful Day

Every day is a wonderful day, however, today is wonderful because we are celebrating the 235th anniversary of the United States of America, and freedom from Great Britain.

I am thankful to Almighty GOD for raising up such a nation as this.  A nation free to believe in God, or not believe if that’s what one desires.  If you choose, however, not to believe in GOD please don’t think you have the right to stop me from believing, and I won’t believe that I have the right to stop you from believing what you do.  We also have the right to debate, discuss, and even argue vigorously over our beliefs, without attacking one another verbally or physically.

For 235 years this nation has lived by the grace of God.  She will only continue by that same grace of God.  Oh, how we need His mercy; and we have it.  Oh, how we need His grace; and we have that as well.  Let us rejoice in God’s grace and mercy today, thanking Him for the blessings He has bestowed upon us.

-Tim

Latest Happenings

Since I last posted Winter has arrived, and in some parts of our Nation, with a vengeance. We have had a bit of cold weather, into the lower teens, but that isn’t too bad. Besides that it didn’t hang on and last forever. The longest spell of below freezing we have had was about three days, and that was just at the beginning of January. I am, however, already looking forward to Spring.

I went to the cardiologist in early December to have him tell me that the EKG showed “no significant sign of a problem”. I do have an appointment to return on the twenty third of January for and ECG.

The family and I had a wonderful Christmas. The wife and I’s kids went together got us a Crossley entertainment cabinet. It is an old style look radio, with CD player, audio cassette player, and turntable for 33, 45’s and 78 records. That was a really pleasant surprise and gift for us. We have been enjoying it.

Back before Christmas the Eastern part of Southern Missouri was hit pretty hard with an icestorm, which left a lot of people in the Joplin area without power, no lights, no heat, no television (Oh no!). Our son James and his wife Amber were in the thick of that, and were without power for about 9 days. They did get to come for Christmas. Their power was on shortly before that.

On Tuesday a friend and I went to Branson to see a mutual friend in the Skaggs Hospital there. As we were about to get off the elevator on the floor he was on, my cell phone rang, and it was my sister Judy. “Guess what Dad just did”, she said. I said, “I wouldn’t have a clue”. She said, “He rolled his truck”. My answer to that was, “WHAT?!”, and I know I placed a question mark and an exclamation mark after that, because I am not sure which it was. Yes, he had rolled his old blue Ford pickup truck. He wasn’t injured any, except maybe his pride. Evidently he has experienced no pain from bruising or anything either. He has been trying to get used to a prosthesis on his right leg. That may have played some part in the incident. It also was on the farm away from any major roads.

At the beginning of this week, Tuesday evening and into the early hours of Wednesday morning there was a consistent storm of tornadic activity hitting in the Northwestern part of Barry County. We live in middle Eastern part of the said County. That storm is very hard to describe. It took a path in a straight line. One tornado warning would come to a town, and then after it passed another one on the same path would be right behind it. Homes, businesses, and some lives were taken in areas further from us.

Near 3 a.m. my wife and I were awakened by a strong straight wind. It was near time for me to get up for the day, so I just got up, and Madge went back to bed. The wind died down and everything proceeded as normal the rest of the day, at least for us. May the Lord help those who were touched and harmed by this storm, and especially those who lost loved ones.

There is no one who is not touched by some sort of storm in their lives. If they are not presently they shortly will be.

“If I never had a problem, how could I know that God could solve them.” Isn’t that in a good old song or something.