Straightforwardly, History Repeats Itself

Donald Rumsfeld once stated a truism that to this day rings as true as it did in the past and will continue to do so in the future. “There are known knowns: the things you know. There are known unknowns: the things you know you don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns: the things you don’t know you don’t know.”

The last-mentioned category can be the most perilous, in war and in life. Israel didn’t know that it didn’t know that Palestinian nationalist Sunni Islamist's military wing was preparing for the October 2023 incursion that killed more than a thousand Israelis and changed the course of the Middle East. Hezbollah didn’t know that it didn’t know Israel was weaponizing pagers to kill many of its pugnacious Hamas myrmidons and aspiring underlings. The U.S. didn’t know that it didn’t know al Qaeda would execute a massive terrorist attack on 9/11.

It's bad enough when we don’t know what we need to know. It’s worse when what we think we know turns out to be wrong, such as Israel’s certainty that Hamas did not have the capability to stage the October 7 invasion. And it’s even worse when we know parts of the truth and are therefore inaccurately but categorically convinced that we know the truth. 

A true expression of freedom is not acting on self-seeking impulse but committing our lives to serving the greater good and standing up for what is right. Freedom consists not in doing what we like, but in having the right to do what is necessary or appropriate.

Does not the Word of God lend credence that validate the mentioned truism? Looking through the lens of Ecclesiastes 3 and Ecclesiastes 1:9 we see an illustration that shows the breadth and depth of God's sovereignty over time and the events of life. To picture this more clearly, we must perceive time as a moving reality. It is as though it is coming toward us and moving away from us simultaneously.

Though time is involved in this statement, the emphasis is more on the events that happen within time rather than time itself. We can perhaps understand this verse better as saying that what is happening right now, already happened in the past, and what will happen has already happened. It is a way of saying that, in one sense, time cannot be broken into parts. Time and the events happening within it, of and by themselves are a whole. Thus, the Word of God is essentially saying, “Past, present, and future are bound together.” In what way is this so? Time and the events happening in it are parts of a continuous stream. Solomon's point is again that only God is in perfect control of both time and its events, and He can seek out and bring back into existence in the present what happened in the past. Thus, Solomon's comment in Ecclesiastes 1:9 is a parallel: “What has been, what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.”  Straightforwardly, history repeats itself.

A Reasonable and Natural Time to Contemplate America's Past, Present and Future

Two thousand years ago, the Apostle Paul was writing to a wayward congregation of Christian believers in Corinth, inquisitively enough, his words still capture the epochal change that may await us just over history’s horizon. “For now, we see in a glass, darkly,” he wrote. “Now I know in part, but then shall I know fully.”  Indeed, mesmerized by a present filled with spellbinding events ranging from elections to wars, we too gaze into a darkened glass unable to see how the future might soon unfold before our eyes. 

The end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 is a reasonable and natural time to contemplate what happened in the recent past and could very well happen sooner than later.  I think back over the year that was. Like the seismic activity of an earthquake fault that too often opens itself and cuts loose with repellent force, a deep deposit of hate, anarchy, antagonism, one-upmanship toward a targeted political party’s leadership, ethnic group, religious faction...  The result of which was and remains absolute chaos manifested in the arise or emergence of the following: crushing inflation and spiking energy costs; facilitating the breakdown of law and order resulting in skyrocketing crime, to include an influx of foreign gangs and adversaries; facilitating the chaos of unchecked illegal immigration; empowering our enemies and alienating our allies; threats of terrorism on the Homefront, antisemitism protests, traditional and social media censorship, lawfare being used to achieve political objectives, racist hucksters peddling reparations for past wrongs, warfare in Europe and the Middle East, and multiple assassination attempts of prominent public figures... pushing gender ideology on children; sapping our military services and corroding our institutions  with Divisive, Extreme, and Intolerant (DEI) initiatives and Critical Race Theory; making LGBTQ evangelization a central aim of our foreign policy; deconstruction of our institutions; parents detained for speaking out for parental rights at school board meetings; Christians arrested for peacefully demonstrating and praying outside abortion clinics while the abortion clinicians dispatch the innocent unborn at the rate of nearly “one million” babies annually. And smearing political opponents as Nazis, book burners, and garbage doesn’t resonate with most Americans of any color, creed or gender. Who would have known?

Question! Is not America a nation, founded by Christians? Question! Has today’s America and much of its leadership somewhere along the line lost its way? Question! Is today’s America presently grappling with increasing polarization and a worrisome decline in trust in our governing institutions? Along with these issues, our nation’s global leadership is facing challenges from authoritarian regimes and terror organizations striving to shape a world that serves their interests.

God willing, we as a nation will let this year be an opportunity to recommit to one of the central principles that America’s Future stands for: to renew, revitalize, regenerate the role of faith in our lives, our communities and our country. More than ever, America needs all Judeo-Christian churches and their congregants to speak up and stand-up for the Biblical Judeo-Christian values that America was founded upon. If America’s future is to survive as one nation under God, it begins with faith and donning the Armor of God: the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit, and the belt of truth. Lest we forget, each piece of armor is designed to protect believers from the “wiles” of the devil and the spiritual forces of evil that threaten their faith and purpose.

 

Through the Cross to the Light

 

Modern society neurotically or paranoidly avoids contrition, suffering, peril and death. It secures everything with seatbelts and safety rails, air conditions the summer. heats the winter, prints warnings on foodstuff, plastic storage containers, play toys... and advises that safety glasses should be worn while working with hammers, lawn mowers, edging tools... There is little doubt, such safeguards have prevented misfortune. Nevertheless, since heroism and the quality of excelling are born from confronting rather than avoiding remorse, suffering, peril and death, the mania for safeguards has also diminished the notion of these qualities. This is regrettable since only those intrepid souls who confront danger, endure suffering and overcome obstacles merit mention in the annals of history. The Catholic Church has a saying that reads: “Per Crucem ad Lucem” that translates “Through the Cross to the Light.” In a word, he will be enshrined in those souls who reject mediocrity or ordinariness and aspire to greatness.

For Pete's Sake, Why Not

Who is Pete Hegseth and why is he Trump’s choice for Secretary of Defense. The long and short of it, he’s a decorated combat Infantry veteran having earned two Bronze Stars, two Army Commendation Medals, Combat Infantry Badge, Meritorious Service Medals... with deployments to Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay. He has degrees from both Princeton and Harvard. He’s still a field grade officer in the Individual Ready Reserve, and he’s the former executive director of Vets for Freedom and Concerned Veterans for America. Oh, lest I forget, prior to his selection as Secretary of Defense he was a Fox News host, which is how most liberal media currently present him.

Is Pete Hegseth unconventional? No! Does Hegseth fit the requisite job description of previous Defense Secretary? No! Does Pete have the elevated rank or private defense industry credentials of previous DOD secretaries? No! Is Hegseth taking heat for being what some consider less than qualified? Yes! Hegseth will almost certainly be an upgrade over Woke, vax-mandating and AWOL Lloyd Austin and his terrible trio of General’s “Thoroughly Modern” Milley, James Mattis and John Kelly.

I, and many other active and retired Veterans agree with Hegseth’s view that the “injection of left-wing ideology in the form of critical race theory and its manifestation in diversity, equity, and inclusion mandates is the primary problem with America’s war-fighting apparatus today.” Additionally, Hegseth has said, military members are in “for warfighting” and that’s “the only litmus test” we as Americans care about. Furthermore, Pete Hegseth will rid the military academies of DEI and CRT. In other words, there needs to be an “ethos change.” When war fighters, past, be they veterans of the Army, Navy, Airforce, USMC.  signed up to serve in the Armed Forces, they wrote a blank check made payable to “The People of the United States of America” for an amount up to and including our lives. The woke Left's takeover of America's armed forces is real and a present danger. 

 Is it not time that we have someone who is Secretary of Defense in who refuses to quiesce to woke advocates? Is it not about time we have someone who stands up to the progressive left wing nut jobs who loathe the military and feels good about some “dude in uniform wearing long hair and earrings and using the wrong pronouns"? Mental health disorders disqualify one from service because it undermines readiness. Left-wing social experimentation in the Armed forces has resulted in a severe shortfall of recruitment and retention.

If confirmed, Hegseth won’t have time to focus only on wokeness. He’ll immediately be confronted with foreign policy calamities. He will have his hands full cleaning up after the current administration’s dangerous policy failures with Ukraine, Israel, China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and its terrorist proxies... in addition to identifying the estimated 350 terrorists who are in our country now, the direct result of the Biden-Harris open border policy. Hegseth’s critics who speak with contempt and claim that he is unqualified because he is a Fox News host are the same people who insisted that Joe Biden was compos mentis (of sound mind), Harris was competent and her running mate, Tim “Stolen Valor” Walz, who shirked combat and then lied about it, was some sort of military hero.

In summation, refocusing the military on warfighting and jettisoning the woke BS is core to the strategy of projecting strength. Our global adversaries mock us for caring more about military abortions and guys getting their nails done than winning or, better yet, preventing wars. Time will tell if Hegseth is the right choice for the job or if he is in over his head. I, for one, certainly don’t fault Trump for thinking outside the Beltway with his pick. Unequivocally, Hegseth is a patriot who loves, supports, and has defended America and its interests with devotion. For Pete's sake, why not give him a chance.

The Here and Now and America's Future

How many times in this election cycle have you had fellow people of faith, acquaintances, associates, neighbors... even strangers say to you, “I don’t like either Donald Trump or Kamala Harris” or words to that affect? Additionally, these same people claim, they are not planning to vote for either one of them for President on election day. If past election data and current polling stats suggests that millions of people of faith presently are planning on not voting for either Harris or Trump. In making this decision, such voters are exercising what some have identified as the “Pontius Pilate Option” approach to moral decision-making. When confronted with angry mobs demanding the crucifixion of Jesus, did not the Roman governor attempt to absolve himself from moral culpability for the crucifixion by ritually washing his hands with water?

Atlas, in a fallen and sinful world where we are frequently, regrettably, lamentably... are not faced with the comfort of an option abutted by good and evil, but instead an option between the greater evil and the lesser evil. In the words of Edmund Burke, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”

I sympathize with my fellow Christians, patriots and citizens who find themselves adverse or ill-disposed towards both candidates. I find flaws in both DJT and Kamala Harris. But I am not voting for a family member, an associate, or a spiritual advisor. I am voting for a president to lead our Constitutional Republic for the next four years and a Commander-in-Chief of our Uniformed Armed Services in a perilous, unstable, and volatile world, as should be the case of every American voter.

For those who find both candidates wanting. Allow me to provide you with some information that may oblige the readers to vote one way or the other. Based on his first term as president, there is no doubt Trump he is more pro-life, pro-smaller government, and he will do far more to grow the economy, especially among lower-income workers. On the economy, we have the luxury of a clear comparison between DJT’s record in office and Kamala Harris’s record as VP in the Biden-Harris Administration. In addition to the life issue Kamala Harris is the most radical and unwaveringly pro-abortion candidate to ever head a presidential ticket. Kamala Harris is obstinately in favor of the transgender agenda and will certainly curtail parental rights to protect their children from transgender propaganda, indoctrination, and potential surgery against their parents’ will.

What Sets the Last 3 Democrat Presidential Nominees Apart

 Just thinking... When examining the last three Democrat presidential nominees I have noticed some key contrasts which differentiate or set them apart from one another. Admittedly Obama had an abundance of charisma, Biden not so much. But the real Kamala Harris is vacuous, completely inarticulate, and plainly lacks any charismatic depth. But what she lacks in charisma, she makes up for in her masterful ability to stretch the truth or evade it all together. Oh, and she is not African American either, but we need not hash over that at risk of being labeled a racist or anti-feminist, misogynist, sexist, chauvinist, bigot, misandrist, misanthrope, cynic, naysayer... However, the blank-screen strategy is critical for Harris to maintain her image as the "candidate of change." In plain English, Harris’s entire campaign hinges on Barrack Obama’s successful 2008 strategy to obscure who he really was. Note, this is what some on the right dubbed Obama’s “Audacity of Deception” Line of attack. And it worked well for him, not so much for the American people.

Controlling Information is To Control the People

Just thinking... Kamala Harris, Walz, their cohorts and many within MSM is spouting readily, volubly, and at length claims that “misinformation” about the election is “running rampant” on Facebook. Misinformation, disinformation, deepfakes and other similarly constructed terms treat speech as a dangerous thing. Misinformation “spreads” like a virus, it “runs rampant” until it’s censored. Its existence threatens the governing consensus through which the regime rules the people. The obsession with stamping out “misinformation” has so overridden the liberal DNA of free speech that the ACLU now fights ‘misinformation’ rather than upholding free speech and “PEN America” a nonprofit that defends free expression urges that it is “important to correct misleading or false information”. It’s important because by controlling information, their political allies and agenda control the people. Former Climate Czar, John Kerry has a point. It’s hard to govern when everyone is free to speak their mind. That’s why America was a bold experiment in freedom whose purpose was to be hard to govern. Americans being hard to govern is not, as Obama, Kerry and Harris think, a bug, but a feature.