The Gifts from Thorns

Something different for a change.  The Sunday School teacher gave us homework.  He wanted us to write up something like you would find in the "Portals of Prayer".  The "Portals of Prayer" is a daily devotional booklet published by Concordia Publishing House for the LCMS.  For the month of December 2012 each day was about a Gift from God.  So our devotional was to be about Gifts.  Our own version of a Gift listed in the "Portals of  Prayer" or some completely new Gift.  This is my homework.  It may not be the final draft but it will be close.

 

The Gifts from Thorns

Read Psalm 91

“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from being conceited” 2 Cor 12:7 ESV

“From brambles of thorns roses grow”

                                                              Mikhail

To keep Paul grounded in this world, to keep him humble, God allowed St. Paul to develop, as the King James puts it, “a thorn in my flesh”. This thorn forced Paul to turn to God for strength. As he says later in verse 10 “…For when I am weak, then I am strong.” As with Paul so with us. God allows thorns in our flesh to bring us to our knees before Him to seek His strength. God turns our thorns into the many roses of His Blessings.

There was a lady who suffered from many medical problems throughout her life. On one occasion she needed surgery on her foot. On the day of surgery family and friends and her Pastor gathered with her in the hospital. Surgery, even if just on a foot, was surgery after all. Carrying risks. Showing the weakness of the flesh. Her gift of thorns reveled the blessings of family, friends and pastors. Right before the nurses were to take her to the operating room the Pastor prayed with her. Her thorn became the rose petals of Prayer and Comfort.

As her family and friends gathered in the surgical waiting room the Pastor offered a prayer for successful surgery. Her thorn became the blessing of Prayer and Comfort for her loved ones.

As the “Amen” was said they looked up. All the other people in the waiting room were looking at them in silence. These people had been listening too. This lady’s thorn became the blessing of Prayer and Comfort for people she didn’t even know. The Pastor’s prayer had contained the Word of God. The Good News of Christ. The Comfort of the Great Physician. The Holy Spirit working through the Word touched each and every heart in that room. We may never know how many thorns in loved ones flesh caused these people to be in this room at this time to hear this prayer. But God knows and his Holy Spirit will not return to Him void. From the gift of thorns to this one lady the roses petals of blessings surrounded her, her family and friends and perfect strangers. Who but God knows how many were moved that day through the gift of thorns to everlasting life.

There is a poem that begins: “For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost…”

I think it could be rewritten this way:
“For the gift of a thorn, a prayer was said;
For the word of a prayer, a soul was won…”

Our Hymn
“Be still, my soul; the Lord is on your side;
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;
Leave to your God to order and provide;
In every change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul; Your best, your heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.”
Lutheran Worship 510:1 Amen

An AR primer

A brief primer on “Assault Rifles”. The AR15 used in the recent mass murder of children has been referred to as an assault rifle. Here are some facts concerning this type of firearm:

The rifle used fired a .223 (5.56mm) caliber round originally designed to hunt varmints such as prairie dogs and coyotes. It is considered a mid range round firing a 45 to 55 grain bullet at approximately 3200 feet per second. This round is considered by some to be a bit under powered for deer but there are hunters who do deer hunt with it. An effective killing range would be out to 300 yards or so. But with an expert maybe longer. The United States adopted this round in the 1960’s to be fired from the Armalite Rifle which we now know as the AR15. The military version is known as the M16. Some of the reasons for the adoption of the M16 and this round are: The round was effective at short range and since we were fighting in the jungles of Vietnam ranges were reduced. This smaller round allowed our GI’s to carry (hump) more ammo. And since soldiers have to carry everything they needed this was a good thing. Some of our soldiers in recent wars have carried up to 80 pounds in weapons, armor and gear. The M16 was a lighter weapon to carry. The previous battle rifle the Army was using was the M14 which was all wood and steel and used heaver ammo. The M1 rifle of WWII weight more than 9 pounds and carried 8 rounds. The plastic and steel M16 and the .223 allowed the GI to carry twice the firepower for the same weight.

Definition of Assault Rifle.

The news likes to report the murderer used an automatic rifle or an assault rifle to shoot the children. An assault rifle is a select fire rifle. This means the rifle has a selector switch which will place the rifle in one of three different modes. They are: SAFE, SEMI, AUTO. This means the rifle is placed in SAFE which means it won’t fire. SEMI means the rifle will fire one round each time the trigger is pulled. AUTO means the rifle will fire continuously while the trigger is held back until the trigger is released or the magazine is empty. Some versions have a 3 round burst instead of full AUTO but you get the idea. A rife firing full AUTO is difficult to control. It is also difficult to hit the target after the first couple of rounds because of muzzle climb. And wastes ammo. In Vietnam many units had orders to not go to AUTO unless they were given a direct order by their NCO (non commissioned officer I.e.: sergeant/platoon leader).

The rifle used by the shooter was an AR15 which has a selector switch for SAFE and FIRE only. It will not fire full AUTO it can only fire one round for each pull of the trigger.

Magazines:

Magazines are not “high capacity” they are the normal capacity magazines designed for the firearm. Restricting the magazine capacity will only cause the firearm user to change magazines more often. 30 rounds in 30 seconds will now be 30 rounds ( three magazines of 10 rounds each) in 45 seconds. That’s figuring on a 5 second magazine change. 5 seconds won’t matter if you are hiding in a corner praying the cops get there in time.

The shooter at Virginia Tech had two handguns. One with a 10 round magazine and another with a 15 round magazine. He also had a backpack with 30+ magazines with him. Magazine capacity is not a limiting factor.

The Media:

The media in concert with the politicians is using hype to lead the public conversation against firearm ownership to institute a new Assault Weapons’ Ban. The Assault Weapons’ Ban of a few years ago were all cosmetic. If you already had a semi auto version of an AR15 or AK47 etc you were “grandfathered in”. So the rifles were not gotten rid of. The ban eliminated the import of rifles that had a pistol grip, bayonet lug, flash suppresser, magazines with a capacity of over 10 rounds, etc.

The ultimate wish of the media and the politicians is to remove all firearms from the people. They want to create a ground swell for new anti gun laws and to render the 2^nd Amendment moot if not repealed altogether. The reasons for the 2^nd Amendment can be found in the writings of our Founding Fathers. The Constitution was not ratified until the Bill of Rights were included. They are the first 10 Amendments that give specific Rights to the People and put binders on the power of the Government. See my previous post on the 2^nd Amendment.

Facts:

According to a study by John Lott, 2 million people in America stop robberies, rapes and murders each year using some form of firearm.

According to the 2011 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report homicide (by any means) is not among the top 15 leading causes of death in America.

The 2009 CDC report listed 16,799 homicides with 11,493 of those attributed to guns. During that same year, motor vehicle deaths were nearly triple that of gun-related death - 34,485 vs. 11,496. Death from accidental falls totaled 24,792, almost double the firearms homicide total.

Homicide by other guns (non-handguns) have remained at approximately 2% since 1985.

Since Britain has instituted it’s gun ban gun violence by gangs have increased to the point the once gun-less Bobbies are now walking around armed.

As of this writing there have been 500 homicides in Chicago.

There have been 26 gun deaths in Chicago schools this year.

Chicago has some of the most restrictive gun control laws in the nation. Some of the law are:

Prohibit the registration of handguns, thus effecting a broad handgun ban

Require that guns be registered prior to their acquisition by Chicago residents

Mandate that guns be re-registered annually, with another payment of the fee

Render any gun permanently non-registerable if its registration lapses

　

Conclusion:

All this hype about the gun used is because it’s “scary” looking. It looks military. It can shoot lots of bullets fast. The media and politicians are trying to stear the naritive away from the 2^nd Amendment right and towards emotional knee jerk reactions to disarm the people.

The Founding Fathers were clear in their writings that the 2^nd Amendment was NOT about hunting and Militias. No they made it clear the people’s rights to own guns, firearms, weapons was there for the self protection of the people from a tyrannical government. Remember we had just fought a war of independence from Britain and they knew how far an unchecked government could and did go to suppress the people.

Our government is moving from Freedom and Liberty to Tyranny. We must look past the scary gun and fight for our Rights!

The 2nd Amendment

Ok one last attempt to explain the 2^nd Amendment and the “need” for magazines that hold 10-20-30 rounds. I am not going to discuss the actual magazines or firearms but rather the broader question of the need of the 2^nd Amendment.

In answer to the question “why do you need a 30 round magazine?” I would reply “because the guy kicking down my door will have one”. That’s the one line answer that leaves everyone unsatisfied. Their eyes cross. Their brain cannot fathom the totality of that statement. So here’s the longer version.

Why do I need a 30 round magazine? Why do I need access to an AR15? Who tells me what I need or don’t need. Who has the power in America? The People? The Government? Your answer to the last two questions will show your understanding of our Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Let us return to those times of old where men wore powdered wigs and spoke in flowery ways. The colonies had put up with many wrongs from the English Crown and despite their attempts at a peaceful redress of grievances finally penned the Declaration of Independence. Part of the second paragraph reads as following.

“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….” (emphasis mine)

Let us now look to the preamble to The Constitution of the United States of America.

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

In this case the emphasis is not mine. The words We the People were written in emphasis to establish who is setting up this Constitution and who has the power. The Founding Fathers were afraid of a strong central government so they wrote the Constitution as a relatively short document designed to establish limited government at the same time allowing freedom and liberty to thrive. The Constitution is a wall around the power of the government. The Constitution protects us from the same type of tyrannical government we broke away from in 1776.

If I remember my history right when it came time for the States to ratify the Constitution there were concerns about the absence of a list of Rights in the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson wrote from Paris about a lack of Bill of Rights. The Anti-Federalists were also concerned with a central government that was too powerful. The Federalists said that a Bill of Rights were not necessary because these Rights were understood and didn’t need to be listed. Thank God for James Madison. He wrote the Bill of Rights! With these Rights attached the States were able to ratify the Constitution. Read the Bill of Rights, they are the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution! They all are about the individual’s rights. This is the list of Civil Rights you hear so much about. As an individual you have the Right of: Freedom of Speech (1). Freedom of Religion (1). Freedom to assemble (1). Freedom to petition the Government (1). Freedom to keep and bear Arms aka self defense (2). Freedom to not be forced to house soldiers (3). Freedom from unlawful searches and seizures (4). Freedom from self incrimination (5). Freedom to a speedy and public trial (6). Freedom to a jury trial in civil cases (7). Freedom from excessive bail or fines (8). Freedom from cruel and unusual punishments (8). Freedom of other rights not listed (9). Freedom to retain the powers not in the Constitution (10).

I will now concern myself to the 2^nd Amendment. What was the original intent of the 2^nd Amendment? Why was the phrase “keep and bear Arms” used? Let us look to what was written back then.

“The whole of the Bill [of Rights] is a declaration of the right of the people at large or considered as individuals… It establishes some rights of the individual as unalienable and which consequently, no majority has a right to deprive them of.” Albert Gallatin to Alexander Addison, October 7, 1789

“To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to us them…” Richard Henry Lee, January 25,1788

“To disarm the people…[is] the best and most effectual way to enslave them…” George Mason, June 14, 1788

“The right of the people to keep & bear arms has been recognized by the General Government; but the best security of that right after all is, the military spirit, that taste for martial exercises, which has always distinguished the free citizens of these States;…. Such men form the best barrier to the liberties of America.” Gazette of the United States, October 14,1789

“The great object is, that every man be armed… Every one who is able may have a gun.” Patrick Henry, June 14, 1788

“The advantage of being armed… the Americans possess over the people of almost every other nation… In the several kingdoms of Europe,,, the governments are afraid to trust the people with arms.“ James Madison, Federalist 46

“The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms like laws discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms for all would be alike; but since some will not, other dare not lay them aside… Horrid mischief would ensue were one half the world deprived of the use of them… The weak will become a prey to the strong.” Thomas Paine, July, 1775

“A free people ought…to be armed…” George Washington January 14, 1790

You can see by these writings of our Founding Fathers, and there are many more I could have added, we have the individual right to bear Arms. Arms were for the preservation of our Liberty. Arms preserve ourselves and our property. Arms for protection from the criminal kicking in our door. Protection from the foreign invader. Protection from our own governments attempts to enslave We the People.

As you have read, the early writings about Arms must be viewed through the lens of history. We had just fought a war of independence. Wars require military Arms. Invaders and governments have military Arms. Criminals won’t give up their arms even if we do and they will have the most firepower they can get their hands on. They will have the “high capacity” magazines. They will have the AR15s and the AK47s. So will the invader and the tyrannical government.

So why do I need these things? Because I determine what my needs are as a free man. Because I have the Right to keep and bear Arms. This Right shall no be infringed! Because I am one of We the People.

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

　

　

　

Moral Decline, Part 1

This post may seem to run counter to the previous post I made about the Connecticut Shooting. There is no doubt that the EVIL COWARD is to blame. This post is my attempt to explain why there seem to be more and more evil cowards committing these heinous acts.

No society can long withstand the assault upon it’s morals as America has. That is the sad state we find ourselves in today and the list is long.

Number one on my list is abortions. A couple of numbers to remember when it comes to abortions. The first is 54,559,615. That is the number of babies aborted (cut from their mother’s wombs) from 1973-2011 in the US. The other number I want you to remember is 1.2 million (1,200,000). Every year since 1978 there have been in excess of 1.2 million abortions performed in the US. And finally a third number, 2%. That’s the number of abortions reported because of rape or incest in the US. These numbers are from the Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life website found here: http://www.mccl.org/us-abortion-stats.html . These numbers closely match the numbers reported by Planned Parenthood.

Friday an evil coward forced himself into a grade school and murdered many, including 20+ children. It is all in the news now with new crews from all the networks parked in the little town reporting all the facts they can find. Even if they are the wrong facts. Yet! Yet, every day over 3,000 children, babies, are cut up in their mother’s womb and suctioned out. To be thrown away like so much garbage. There is not a single news camera to be found to cover this story. Remember the 2%? The number of abortions as a result of rape or incest? Rape and incest are terrible things to happen to women and girls. Yet this is the main argument trotted out whenever abortion is debated. Emotions run high with this argument and I can understand the strain upon a woman both physically and mentally. I can see the use of abortion in this case or in the case of the risk to the life of the mother. However most of the remaining 98% of the reasons for an abortion listed involve the following: cannot afford another child, don’t want a child, a child will interfere with the mother’s life style, the mother doesn’t want a lasting relationship with the father. How can the murder of innocents on this scale not affect the morals of a country?

As we can see from the abortion reasons above that America has devolved into a selfish nation. We look for instant gratification. We think of the ME and the NOW. Thus we move to the next item on our list.

The media. Wither it’s the news or movies. The music or TV. The media trots out assaults upon our morals time after time. Case in point, the news crews are swarming all over the little town in Connecticut with their cameras and reporters thrusting their microphones into everyone’s face. Just so they can be the First to get some tidbit of a story ahead of their competition. This is such a problem the state of Connecticut has assigned a trooper to each of the victims families. Not to protect them from evil doers but to protect them from the media. (Although I could possibly assign evil doers status to the media)

Movies show violence. Lots and lots of violence. Now don’t get me wrong I like movies that have a lot of bang bang boom boom. But should we be showing such graphic violence in movies that children and young adults watch? Then there is the hypocrisy of the actors who make these movies then decry the violence of the people. They decry gun violence yet make movies where they shoot thousands of rounds killing thousands of people. Maybe they should stop showing gun violence in movies just like they stopped showing people smoking. They won’t because that would cost them money.

How about the video games where the player is the shooter killing all around them. All this numbs the mind and the soul of the viewer and player. And I think that is the reason for the change in our media over the years. The numbing of the soul. The violence. The sex. The anti marriage messages. The anti religion messages. The anti Christian rants and hints. Name the number of TV show that have a happily married couple. How about the number of shows that have a single parent? The number of shows where the actors are sleeping with every one and every thing. How about the shows were the pastor or priest is some bumbling buffoon. Or some kind of amoral person. “The butler did it” has been replaced with “the preacher did it”.

I could go on and on but this is getting too long so I will end this as: Part 1

Connecticut School Shooting

On December 14^th, 2012 a tragic shooting took place at a school in Connecticut. Much blame will be assigned to the guns used. But there is only one place to put the blame.

THE SHOOTER!!

Yes the shooter. An EVIL COWARD who went to a place he knew would be defenseless against his cowardly actions. Yes, he brought a gun to a “Gun Free” zone. Therefore ensuring there would be no resistance to his EVIL intent.

The poor children’s bodies were still lying bleeding on the floor when the politicians were elbowing for mic time to call for more gun control. Yet we have gun laws on the books now that should have stopped this act.

It’s against the law to murder your mother.

It’s against the law to bring a gun onto school property.

It’s against the law to bring a gun into a school building.

It’s against the law to shoot out a window in a school to gain access to the building.

It’s against the law to murder children and teachers in school.

There are stricter punishments on the law books for anyone convicted of committing a crime with a gun.

All the facts are not in as of this writing so a complete list of laws broken may include more.

Did any of these laws prevent EVIL COWARD from committing this heinous act. No! Evil people will do evil things regardless of the Law! What, you say laws don’t make us safer? No they don’t. Only law abiding moral people follow laws. As the saying goes “locks only keep honest people honest“. Enacting more laws won’t make us more safer. What can we do to stop this from happening again? Sadly not much if anything. If all guns are outlawed then only the outlaws will have guns. Sounds like an NRA slogan doesn’t it? It’s a true statement. According to CNN there were 310 million nonmilitary firearms in the U.S. as of 2009. In 2011 47% of Americans polled told Gallup they had at least one gun in their home. Wow those are big numbers. If guns are to blame how come 47% of Americans aren’t murderers? To use the same argument concerning the 12-20 million illegal aliens in the US. How do you deport them all? If we outlaw guns how do you collect 310 millions firearms? The numbers are truly daunting. Do you truly think all legal gun owners will turn in their guns? You’re dreaming if you do.

But lets just say they do. How have the strict gun control laws worked in Chicago? How about Washington D.C.? They both have very, very strict gun laws yet hundreds of people die each year by gun violence in those cities. Will the gang bangers and evil doers turn in their guns? I don’t even have to answer that question do I. I do know they would vote for gun control because they would know if they kicked in a door to your house there would be no firearm to stop them at the door. Maybe a ball bat or golf club. But if you remember the scene from “Indiana Jones” what did Indy do when confronted by a sword wilding bad guy in the market? He just stood off and shot him dead. That’s you trying to stop an evil doer when he has a gun. Remember the first rule of a gun fight, bring a gun.

What guns were used in the Oklahoma City bombing? How about those flights on 9/11?

In 1927 a school board treasurer in Bath, Michigan got mad at the school about his taxes going up. Over a period of time he hid dynamite and other explosives in the school. On May 18^th he beat his wife to death then set fire to his house. While firefighters were fighting that fire he set off the dynamite at the school. As rescuers were at the school he drove up in his explosive laden car and set it off too. Searchers later found 500 pounds of dynamite and other explosives in the school basement that failed to go off. The death toll was 38 elementary school children, 2 teachers, 4 other adults plus the school superintendent.

Evil men will find ways to do evil deeds. All we can do is prepare as best we can. Maybe allow more law abiding citizens to conceal carry. (I have a problem with that statement having the government allow us to exercise our constitutional right) Maybe have armed guards at schools. Maybe monitor people with mental health issues more closely. Although I would have to be careful with that one. With ObamaCare coming up and gun haters gearing up more people may be declared mentally dangerous just to restrict access to guns and get around that messy 2^nd Amendment. Anyway don’t blame the gun.

Or the broken home. There are many people from broken homes who don’t murder.

Or mothers and fathers. There are many people who have a bad relationship with their mothers or fathers who don’t murder.

Or mental problems. There are many people with mental problems who don’t kill.

Do all these contribute to the EVIL COWARD’s last act? I suppose they could but we could find thousands of people just like him that don’t murder It is popular in our culture today to assign blame for evil deeds. Mothers, fathers, schools, churches, lack of God in our schools or lives, no money, too much money, blacks, whites, it’s all somebody’s else’s fault. Anybody remember the “Twinkie Defense”? But I ask and answer this way:

Why did he do this? He was an evil coward!

Who’s fault is it that this happened? The one who’s finger was on the trigger!

Who's money is it?

So much to say but this is a start.

When you work for an hour do you receive an hour’s pay? To whom does that money belong? Wither you are paid by the hour or by salary or commission your investment of time and labor is rewarded by an agreed upon monetary amount. Who’s money is it?

Let us suppose you saved your money over time and invested it into a business. One that you work long hours at growing and keeping afloat. You take some of the net profits as salary and re-invest the rest in your business to grow it. Is that money yours?

Remember the President saying during the campaign that “you didn’t build that”? Some say he was taken out of context but I happen to think it was one of his rare honest moments. I also think he is not alone in thinking that in Washington. Listen to the words that are used in the latest budget crisis. The one that really rubs me wrong is the idea that the rich aren’t paying their fair share. To phrase it another way the President likes to state that not raising taxes on the wealthiest one percent costs Washington billions of dollars a year.

Now we get to the crux of the matter. When you earn a dollar who’s dollar is it. Following the rhetoric of the President and other politicians it must be theirs because letting you keep more of that dollar COSTS THEM! Yes they think that letting the rich keep only two thirds of every dollar they earn is bad. They must pay their fair share. But what is a fair share? The President and his minions won’t answer that. They just keep repeating their mantra: pay fair share, pay fair share, pay fair share……

Sadly the American people have bought into this madness. Obama was re-elected. So let’s look into this more.

The top 1% of the wage earners pay 10% of the income taxes.

The top 10% of the wage earners pay 40% of the income taxes.

The top 53% of the wage earners pay 100% of the income taxes.

The bottom 47% pay no tax.

What’s a fair share? Who needs to pay more? Why does the government need more money? Why the answer is to spend it. There’s even talk of another stimulus bill next year and any spending cuts are to agreed upon later. But later never comes. It didn’t come under Regan when the Democrats promised cuts in exchange for raising taxes. It didn’t come under the first Bush when the Democrats promised cuts in exchange for raising taxes. Why should a promise from Democrats to cut spending be believed now?

So now we are at the philosophical fork in the road. The sign asks the question: “Whose money is it?”. The right fork is marked “Yours”. The left fork is marked “The Governments”.

“Yours” means you work for yourself and the government takes a little bit of each dollar you earn to contribute to the benefits of living in America, i.e.: roads, defense, the common good, etc. “Yours” also means you are the master of your life in as far as it doesn’t interfere with your neighbors life. It also means you are to prepare for life’s ups and downs. You should be as self reliant as you can be. If you need help you can get it from friend, family, church. The government will also give you temporary help in time of need.

“The Governments” means you work and the government leaves you less and less of each dollar you earn. The government knows better how to spend the dollars you earn. You are not the master of you life. The government will take care of you. There’s no need to be self reliant. Washington is now your father and mother. Let them guide you through life.

Which philosophy would allow you your freedom for “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”?

　

My answer to the question “Who’s money is it?” is MINE.

My answer to the question “What is fair?” is this…

IF THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY ONLY ASKS FOR 10% WHO DOES WASHINGTON THINK THEY ARE TO ASK MORE!!!!