America, Where Art Thou?

Fresh off the press from ABC News' website:

"Roberto Micheletti sat down in a chair in front of the blue and white Honduran flag in the Presidential Palace on Tuesday and insisted he is the rightful occupant of the President's office. In an exclusive interview with ABC News -- Micheletti's first with an American Network -- he said he'd like to be called "Mr. President." "You have to because I am the President," he said, then added playfully, "or you can call me Roberto if you want." Micheletti may think he's the president of Honduras, but the world isn't prepared to call him that and nor are a lot of Hondurans. That's because Micheletti became President on Sunday after masked Honduran army soldiers stormed the home of the country's elected president, Manuel "Mel" Zelaya, while he was sleeping. Still in his pajamas, he was forced onto a plane and taken to San Jose, Costa Rica, where he was left at the airport. Hours later the Honduran Congress proclaimed Micheletti the new president." In a related article they go on to say, "There is widespread concern that allowing power to change hands this way will inspire coups in other countries in the hemisphere -- a return to the bad old days."

What they do not tell you is this: The outgoing president Manuel Zelaya had reached the end of his constitutionally mandated term limit and could not run again. He said, "I will anyway". He went to court. The Honduran Supreme Court said, "You can't", He said, "I will anyway. Up yours," and went across the border to commie country and buddy Hugo Chavez to get his own ballots printed for the election in Honduras. The Honduran Supreme Court said, "You can't do that, Cease and desist." Zelaya said, "I will do it anyway, Up yours." At which point outgoing president Zelaya passed out his illegal ballots and attempted a coup via illegal ballot in blatant disregard for the Honduran Constitution, and its Supreme Court. The Hondurans had their election, Zelaya lost, and refused to relinquish. Instead in continual defiance of both the Supreme Court and his own Constitution, he demanded to be President. It was at that moment, that by act of the Honduran congress, that the Honduran Government ordered the military, in perfect compliance with Honduran law and their Constitution, to escort Mr. Zelaya to the border.

This, a perfect execution of a democratically elected government thwarting an attempted overthrow of the constitution that a real coup was avoided and democracy reigned. YET, our news agencies tell us that what happened was a coup, not an execution of law. That out Secretary of State says that this action "should be condemned by all". And our very President Obama finds himself siding with both Communist Dictator Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, and Cuban Communist Dictator Fidel Castro in condemning this action. That's right; our president is in agreement with two communist Dictators from our hemisphere (something John Kennedy said we would NEVER allow to happen) in that we should install a President in another country who by that nation's own constitution can no longer be president! AWESOME!

For those people who voted for change, by golly, yer getting' it! We now have a US President that is sinking us into the greatest economic depression since the 1920's, who is single handedly turning a Democratic Republic into a Socialist government, and is now siding with communist enemies of the United States on political matters! He bows to a Saudi prince symbolically subjugating himself and our nation to a foreign prince, travels the world apologizing for how evil our nation has been, and is committed to leaving citizens of the world fighting for freedom and being murdered in the streets of their city, to die without even a word of encouraging support. When we used to fight and die to defend the rights of those who fought for freedom, we now side with communist dictators.

Most people know that my passion for this nation is outweighed by few things in this life. God and family come first, but after that, I'm an American through and through. Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and well… Ford is the only one left (Obama and the Unions now own Chrysler and GM…), so we'll go with that… but my point is the defense of this nation, and the free people of the world are one the things in the short list of things I would lay my life on the line for, and have done so. I'm at a point right now, where although I pray heartily for our President, I am now at enmity with him. I love him as a human, I wish I could say I love him as a brother in Christ, but his ways, the religious people he has studied under, and his expressed religious beliefs
show me that he is NOT a Christian. Believing like Oprah, that there are many ways to heaven/God ("I believe there are many paths to the same place, and that is a belief that there is a higher power, a belief that we are connected as a people.")
kind of takes you out of that category. Can you say Universalism?

I pray that God will richly bless Barack Obama and this nation. I pray that His Holy Spirit will bring conviction to Barack Obama. I pray that this nation will return to its roots, and a love for the Creator God who has been given honor in so many of our nation's founding documents. Even Thomas Jefferson, often times proclaimed a deist, signed his paperwork, "In the year of our Lord Jesus Christ", strong words for a deist. But, if our President does not or will not turn his heart to Jesus, I pray that God deal with Him in an appropriate manner for the protection of those in this nation that do love Him and desire that this nation remain, One Nation, Under God, Indivisible, and indestructible.

Independence Day: Not Enough

This coming Saturday is July 4^th. It is a day that we set aside in remembrance of our nation's declaration to remove itself from the chokehold of tyranny. It is a day in which a nation loosely knit together in common ideals, became a fiber woven tightly for a common purpose. Freedom, and self government. That day, fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence, a document that was essentially written evidence of their treason – a crime punishable by hanging or even dismemberment, and yet they signed it anyway. That day changed the face of a continent. That day forged a future for a free people. That day, created a nation of free people, governing themselves, for themselves. It was laughed at by the world's 'leaders' and political experts, called an 'experiment destined to fail'. It was also called an act of War by the King of what was at the time, arguably the world's most benevolent and civilized nation. Yet this group of fifty-six men, some as young as 26 years old, some as old as 70, who, in the words of treasure hunter Ben Gates (from the movie National Treasure), stood up and "…did what was considered wrong, in order to do what they knew was right..."

Little did those fifty-six men know how great an effect that their collective strokes of pen, would have on the world. Two hundred and thirty-three years later, this 'experiment destined to fail' lives on. But that experiment, people governing themselves, supported by a democratically elected government, with checks and balances to protect not only the electorate, but the elected as well as the collective whole of the nation, was more than just an experiment for a new nation or continent. It was the beginning of a shift in world politics. It was more than just a Declaration of Independence; it was a declaration of FREEDOM, a declaration of CHANGE. Real change. Change for the better, and change for the world.

Prior to the Government of the United States of America taking front and center on the stage of world politics, governments only sought to rule by power over the people, not power from the people. And when these antiquated forms of government gained power by over taxation of the people and their goods, services and labor (forced and otherwise), they used that power to overthrow other nations. They used their power to seize other lands, enslave, entrap or subjugate whole other cultures and people groups. They sought to assimilate whole other races of people into their own collective; a collective for the mutual benefit of only the select few who had been given the privilege of ruling over the other subjects under them. The thoughts of the people on those governments was such that those in power would fight to keep that power, and the best way to do that was to keep those under them uneducated, and to throw upon them a feeling of unworthiness and of being a caste beneath those who rule. Now things are different.

Since the founding fathers by divine revelation, produced the declaration of independence (those are their words, not mine) and won their war for freedom, the world has taken note. Since July 4^th, 1776, the people of the world, the people, not the governments, have seen it is possible to have real freedom. Freedom seen is freedom desired, and freedom desired should be freedom gained. But, alas, it is not always that way. In the entire history of our great nation, not once has our military power been used to steal territory or subjugate a people. We have done nothing but fought for freedom, to which millions of American soldiers have died, not just so that WE remain free, but so that others might have that same taste of freedom themselves. Freedom tastes oh, so good. The people of the world know this, and their leaders hate it.

After WWI or WWII the United States did not demand that we gain the territories our soldiers fought and died to control as is the historical standard of warfare. The US does not own Japan. As a matter of fact, we fought to stop the Japanese expansionist government, freed their people to rule over themselves anyway they say fit, and gave them millions of dollars to rebuild. The United States does not own France, or Italy or any European territory, yet hundreds of thousands of our citizens died to free them. THAT is the true ideal of freedom. Freedom means not just freedom for yourself, but a responsibility to see that others who desire freedom may have it as well. Our founding fathers saw that ideal not as a strange and foreign sickness, but a divine gift given from the Creator. FREEDOM in America is seen as a human right, not as a privilege of just those people the kings and tyrants choose to give in fits and spurts at their own whim.

Dozens of nations around the world today, literally MILLIONS of people have freedom today because the United States feels that this divine right should be available to all that want it. Raised purple ink stained fingers bring tears to my eyes, and they should yours. If they do not, perhaps you do not value freedom as much as you should. My friends and relatives have fought and died so that others might have a say in their government, so that they might have the ability to speak out-loud that they think their governmental leaders are wrong without threat of retribution. Our citizens continue to volunteer to join our military, something the naysayers said would never happen. They do this because in their hearts they know that as a free people, they have a duty, a responsibility to the world to bring freedom to all those who desire it, or want to keep it. Much to the dismay of the dissenters, this will continue to happen as long as we as a nation are able.

This nation is on a precipice. We currently teeter between freedom and enslavement. This nation balances ever so gently between a Republic and a Socialist nation. Regardless of what it may say on paper, when the government owns or controls over a third of the nation's business interests, you have become a socialist nation. When the tax debt equaled per capita exceeds the individual tax burden, you have become a socialist nation. When 30% or more of the businessmen in the nation are controlled or beholden to the government, there is no longer financial independence, and there is no longer a Republic, it is Socialism, and ladies and gentlemen, we are there. We look over the cliff of socialism that millions have dies to keep us from. We are on the verge of falling into an abyss from which we may never recover as a free nation. If you are afraid of heights, you'd better get over it, and fast.

It is for this reason that this nation cannot fail. We are not a world power in the form of a nation that tells every other nation what to do. We are rather a world power in that we are the shining light on the hill of freedom that those who live in tyranny look at for hope. Look at the people of Iran today. Still this day, weeks after their election, people are dying in the street because they want just a taste of what we have FREEDOM. And our President has abandoned them, watching them die in the streets, watching old women get beat and slapped, while he sits with his hands ties and mouth shut. Do I promote an invasion of Iran? Absolutely not. What I promote is an invasion of sanity in our leadership to simply stand up and say, "We support those who desire and support freedom; and we will continue to seek to defeat tyranny wherever it lives." That's what a real leader does.

But remember this on this year's celebration of our nation's Independence Day. Remember that the 4^th of July is so much more than that. It is a beacon of freedom that all people living in tyranny today look at with hope and desire that they might someday, see a 4^th of July in their nation. Remember that our 4^th of July brought similar "fourths of July" to people in nations all around the world. Italy, France, Germany, Japan, England, Poland, Iraq, Afghanistan, the Balkans, South Korea and many more have freedom not because of the "United States" per say. But because of the hearts of our people willing to fight and die so that others might live to taste that freedom we enjoy, and so often take for granted.

The Fourth of July is not just a national holiday. It is a worldwide celebration of freedom. It is a global event that shows that mankind has a God-given, yes an inalienable right to be free from tyranny. I thank God that He has divinely placed me in this nation, and in this time so that I have the ability and freedom to worship Him, and tell everyone I know about Him. If you do not know god, or have a saving relationship with the One Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, reach out for the ultimate freedom today. Celebrate this Independence day with freedom from the weight and wrath of sin. Celebrate a light burden, and an easy load. Celebrate peace beyond your understanding and submission to the only benevolent leader you will ever know.

You too are here, in this nation, and in this time for a reason. Isn't it time you found out what that was? God knows….

Happy Birthday America!