part 2

Our Flag Speaks

     I say, be proud of your country! There is much that is beautiful, compassionate, tender, powerful, yet gentle. I have heard children by the millions pledge their allegiance to me in their schoolrooms. I have looked into their faces, in Brownie, Cub Scout and Boy Scout meetings, and in Little Leagues, Minor leagues and to Major leagues where tens of thousands rose with respect as I made my gallant entrance. 

     Yes, I've been torn, spit upon and defiled by my detractors for two hundred years. Still... I am proud of my country, its schools, its courts of law. I'm proud of my country: managers, laborers, firemen, policemen, my army, navy, air force, marine corps, all dedicated to the dignity of man! 

     I the American flag am proud of my country. Yes, in spite of all her sins, and they are many, in spite of her share of shames... Show me a country that is stainless, spotless, sinless or shameless. For I know of no other people have who have spent billions to rescue beleaguered people with skin colors and foreign religions that all seemed odd to kids from Peoria or Sioux City. Young G.I.'s saw them only as oppressed, tortured, human beings who were crying for help. 

     They simply went home to Mom, expecting no gifts. The gifts have been packed in the suitcases of doctors, clergy, missionaries and educators. Together we travelled to Africa, China, India, Japan and the uttermost parts of the earth, to share the good life. Ambassadors built hospitals, schools and churches that still stand. 

Wednesday: Greatest freedom

 

 I am the American flag

Date: 1976     Forward 

     I will speak from the wisdom of a long life. I unfurled my thirteen stars nearly two hundred years ago. I saw clattering horses pulling carriages over cobblestone streets. I have looked up to see silver jets streaking across blue skies. 

     I have known 37 presidents. I have unfurled my pride on sailing ships, steamers and mighty vessels of armed power to bring peace and freedom to oppressed people around the world. I have traveled on the tip of a mighty Saturn rocket to soar through space until I stood on the surface of the moon. I am the American flag.

     I was in the hand of my first President in the blood and snow of Valley Forge. Who could be called for help, in distress? I saw the child grow strong to belch smoke from steel furnaces and to break virgin prairie until they were blanked by fields of ripening grain. I flew from steel birders on skyscrapers in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. 

     The price paid for my freedom of speech is a price few remember. In my memory are young men who died for me at Pork Chop Hill, Verdun, Normandy, Iwo Jima, Pearl Harbor, Okinawa, Corregidor and the Asian jungles. I wrapped them in my love and draped my honor over their caskets in tropics, deserts and seas. I rise every morning to watch over the graves of our finest, whose years were short. 

     Now, I will speak about my land, her tragedy and triumph, her sins and her glory. 

Tuesday: Much that is good

I Am the American Flag 

     So, one of the celebrations of our 250th anniversary will be a race-car event in our capital city. Okay. Hopefully America will be in order by then. 

     What was America like in our 200th year? And would a comparison teach us anything? Happily, we have a short book. The author was the late Dr. Robert Schuller, then pastor of Garden Grove Church in California. Fifty years ago, he wrote as if he was the American Flag.

     We will give you excerpts all week. Here is his forward: 

     Always, in our nation, there are negative thinkers who deluge us with cynical, gloomy, pessimistic predictions that would discredit our country.  

     At an hour like this I suggest we stop talking and start listening to the voice of the American Flag. 

     I imagine that Old Glory, as some call her, with the wisdom of two hundred years of history behind her, would have fitting words for us today. 

     Week after week she stands silently behind me in this pulpit. Without the authority that she represents, I would not have the freedom to speak as I have. Today she speaks. Let us listen to her.

If you are concerned about our nation, please join us all week. You can give friends and family our address: jxdonut.blogspot.com. 

 Salvation for who?

John MacArthur:

"In all four Gospels, it is crystal clear that salvation...

     is not for those who are good; 

          is not for those who try harder; 

               is not for those who live better; 

                    is not for those who are more moral or more religious or 

                            forsake certain vices or pray certain prayers. 

It's a work of God." 

     Nicodemus wanted to do whatever was required to escape judgment, have a relationship with God and forever bound for Heaven. 

     Jesus answered him, "Truly, truly I say to you, unless one is born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God."

     No contribution we make puts us in the kingdom. Somewhere between John chapter 3 and John 9, Heaven came down on Nicodemus. 

    God saves sinners when they realize they are utterly undone, when in spiritual emptiness they cry out, "God, be merciful to me a sinner." 

 Protests...Largely Peaceful? 

     Happy new year. Anti-ICE protests erupted in Minnesota, as you know. Demonstrations were estimated at 1,000 events from Houston to Seattle. Largely peaceful, Major Frey claimed, while 29 people were arrested for vandalizing a hotel. 

     An ICE officer fatally shot resident Renee Good, who was blocking ICE traffic, and may have intended to run him over. Governor Walz said she was merely trying to drive away. Of course, he doesn't know that for certain. The officer himself had previously been dragged by a car driven by someone trying to flee an ICE traffic stop. 

     As we wrote yesterday, Minnesota has a case in which 98 fraudsters are accused of raising $9 billion pretending the money is for city improvement. 

     A cartoon in a magazine shows a reporter interviewing a man jailed for participating in that fraud. He asks: "What should you have done differently to avoid prison?" The convict says, "I should've opened a child-care center in Minneapolis." (a fraud)

     Meanwhile, Ohio and Los Angelis have similar fraud cases.

Protests...Not Peaceful 

     Thousands of people have died and many arrested during mass protests in Iran. It is a response to a deteriorating economic situation. The protests grew into calls to overthrow the government. Of course, Muslim leaders don't resign. They took over Iran in the 1970s and their plan is to conquer the world. Satan's desire...in the Bible. 

     President Trump - who wants world peace - has sent warships to the region. 

           Jimmy

Fraud and Ice and Antisemitism 

     Minnesota Governor Tim Walz - can you picture him in the White House? - announced January 5 that he will not seek reelection for a third term. 

     Prosecutors allege that fraudsters stole up to $9 billion by setting up companies that billed state agencies for social services they never provided. They have charged 98 defendants, 85 of whom are of Somali descent. (Ilhan Omar, Congresswoman, is suddenly a multimillionaire) Pressure on Walz grew in December after a YouTuber exposed the fraud. There were arguments that regulators ignored warnings, allowing payments to continue.

     The scandal prompted the Dept. of Homeland Security to send 2,000 agents to Minnesota. Local opposition to federal presence boiled over on January 7 when an ICE agent shot and killed an uncooperative woman who started her car toward the agent. Later, an uncooperative man with a pistol and ammunition was killed.  

     President Trump made a call to Walz, apparently resulting in a shift by the governor, who had compared ICE to the Nazis, and said a girl in Minnesota might be the next Anne Frank.  

     Meanwhile, a Republican judge, Patrick Schults, is having fits over activity by ICE. He took the ICE director to court. Numerous orders have not been followed, apparently. 

     Another meanwhile, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Minneapolis is the target of antisemitism, and there was a backlash from Jewish organizations. Political rhetoric endangers more lives. 

     Vacation in Minneapolis anyone? January temperatures are below zero, but political temps are boiling.  

                  Jimmy

Joy in the Old Testament 

     For the Lord your God will bless you...and your joy will be complete. Deuteronomy 16:15 

     Splendor and majesty are before him, strength and joy in his dwelling place.  1 Chronicles 16:27 

     They ate and drank with great joy, in the presence of the Lord that day. (Soloman acknowledged as King)  1 Chronicles 28:22 

     There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the days of So0lomon son of David king of Israel, there had been nothing like this.  2 Chronicles 

     Then the people of Israel...celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.  Ezra 6:16 

     For seven days they celebrated with joy the Feast of Unleavened Bread because the Lord had filled them with joy.   Ezra 6:22   

     Nehemiah said...This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.    Nehemiah 8:10 

     In every province and in every city wherever the edict of the king went, there was joy and gladness among the Jews.   Esther 8:17 

     He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.   Job 8:21

     You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.  Psalm 16:11    David 

We'll bring you more joy sometime later. The Lord want's his creation to be joyful.