Our place

Friday, July 1, 2016

"In World War II, 11.2% of the nation served in four years. In Vietnam, 4.3% served in 12 years. Since 2001, only 0.45% of our population has served in the Global War on Terror. These are unbelievable statistics.

Over time, fewer and fewer people have shouldered more and more of the burden and it is only getting worse. Our troops were sent to war in Iraq by a Congress consisting of 10% veterans with only one person having a child in the military. Taxes did not increase to pay for the war. War bonds were not sold. Gas was not regulated. In fact, the average citizen was asked to sacrifice nothing, and has sacrificed nothing unless they have chosen to out of the goodness of their hearts.

The only people who have sacrificed are the veterans and their families. The volunteers. The people who swore an oath to defend this nation. You.

You stand there, deployment after deployment and fight on. You've lost relationships, spent years of your lives in extreme conditions, years apart from kids you'll never get back, and beaten your body in a way that even professional athletes don't understand. And you come home to a nation that doesn't understand. They don't understand suffering. They don't understand sacrifice. They don't understand that bad people exist. They look at you like you're a machine like something is wrong with you. You are the misguided one not them. When you get out, you sit in the college classrooms with political science teachers that discount your opinions on Iraq and Afghanistan because YOU WERE THERE and can't understand the "macro" issues they gathered from books with your bias. You watch TV shows where every vet has PTSD and the violent strain at that. Your Congress is debating your benefits, your retirement, and your pay, while they ask you to do more.

But the amazing thing about you is that you all know this. You know your country will never pay back what you've given up. You know that the populace at large will never truly understand or appreciate what you have done for them. Hell, you know that in some circles, you will be thought as less than normal for having worn the uniform. But you do it anyway. You do what the greatest men and women of this country have done since 1775 YOU SERVED. Just that decision alone makes you part of an elite group.

Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few.

You are the 0.45%."

General David Petraeus West Point Class 1974

What Is the Message of the Four Gospels and Acts? - BibleStudyTools Video

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Grace

Now to the one who works, wages are not credited as a gift but as an obligation. However, to the one who does not work but trusts God who justifies the ungodly, their faith is credited as righteousness

Romans 4:4-5

Paul illustrates this idea with an example. A man who works has earned his wage as an obligation on the employer’s part. The employer pays the worker nothing until the payment has been earned through work, and when the obligation is paid, the employer has no obligation whatsoever to pay anything else. A gift is different, for it is given freely, if it isn’t given freely, then it isn’t a gift. In the same way, grace is not earned by working because if it was it wouldn’t be grace; it would be a payment for services.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Barak Obama

by: GREGORY H. B.
With the re-election of Barack Obama, the United States has officially become a banana republic. From a nation that produced patriots like Ronald Reagan and John Kennedy, we have knowingly selected the lowest common denominator as our commander in chief.
From China to Iran, the enemies of freedom can now breathe a collective sigh of relief as the citizens of the United States have placed an empty suit at the helm of state. To think the American people would select Barack Obama over a man like Mitt Romney is a national embarrassment that we will not soon overcome.
Never in history has a nation so great fallen so far, so fast, as ours did on Nov. 6, 2012. Albert Einstein said, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” Using this definition, anyone who expects anything different from Obama must surely be insane.

Sunday, June 21, 2015

What is the Difference Between a Real Christian and a Religious Person? | Keep Believing Ministries

What is the Difference Between a Real Christian and a Religious Person? | Keep Be

lieving Ministries

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Spiritual warfare

Jesus is our ultimate example when it comes to warding off spiritual attacks. Observe how Jesus handled direct attacks from Satan when He was tempted by him in the wilderness (Matthew 4:1-11). Each temptation was answered the same way—with the words “It is written” and a quote from the Scriptures. Jesus knew the Word of the living God is the most powerful weapon against the temptations of the devil. If Jesus Himself used the Word to counter the devil, do we dare to use anything less?

The ultimate example of how not to engage in spiritual warfare is the seven sons of Sceva, a Jewish priest, who went around driving out evil spirits by trying to invoke the name of the Lord Jesus over those who were demon-possessed. One day the evil spirit answered them, “‘Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?’ Then the man who had the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. He gave them such a beating that they ran out of the house naked and bleeding” (Acts 19:13-16). The seven sons of Sceva were using Jesus’ name, but because they did not have a relationship with Jesus, their words were void of any power or authority. They were not relying on Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and they were not employing the Word of God in their spiritual warfare. As a result, they received a humiliating beating. May we learn from their bad example and conduct spiritual warfare as the Bible instructs.