This year is especially difficult to write, because somehow I don’t believe the year is coming to an end, even on December 31st. In spite of what people may think, there is just too much up in the air, too much uncertainty. Before beginning to write each year, I always start by rereading all my previous letters. Last year’s letter emphasizing PEACE stands out almost like unfinished business…so much so that I have added that part of last year’s letter as an attachment hoping you will find it worth reading again—especially listen to President John Kennedy’s “pro-peace” speech. Peace really does begin in each of our hearts which I believe starts with peace with God. The Bible so defines “perfect peace” in Isaiah 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee.” And “great peace” in Psalm 119:165 “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them…” which convicts me every time I am offended because I know I have violated in some way the Word of God.
It seems to me that the best thing the government can do is create a climate for peace which facilitates peaceful lives for all of us to enjoy.
Mere Christianity
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Logically, for government, that should begin with having peaceful relations with other nations. Look what George Washington said in his farewell address about that way back in 1796:
Page 18…”Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all—religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enjoin it?”
Page 21…”The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible.”
His entire brilliant, prescient farewell address can be found by search, or see here.
We seem to be doing just the opposite of that, don’t we? Just think of all the wars we would have “missed” (most or maybe even all of which would not have occurred, or at least might have remained smaller, regional conflicts) if as a nation we had continued to follow George Washington’s sage “non-interventionist” foreign policy.
America should again adopt George Washington’s foreign policy; and further, should end all foreign aid to other countries. To begin with, foreign aid is not authorized under our constitution and only serves to make foreign heads of state rich, corrupt and independent of the necessity of faithfully serving the interests of the people of their own country. Worse yet it has fueled wars and forced disruptive migration, especially in the Middle East, which has fed the giant money racket of our military industrial complex described by General Smedly Butler in my letter last year. If some in our nation want to favor other nations, let them write a check…but don’t ask me to finance bombs that manipulate other countries into wars; or wars that blow up noncombatants 100 or 1,000 to 1.
It is probably even more important that the government create a climate of peace at home. Here is an allegory (if that is the right word) that maybe asks the right question:
“If you catch 100 red fire ants as well as 100 large black ants, and put them in a jar, at first, nothing will happen. However, if you violently shake the jar and dump them back on the ground the ants will fight until they eventually kill each other. The thing is, the red ants think the black ants are the enemy and vice versa, when in reality, the real enemy is the person who shook the jar. This is exactly what’s happening in society today. Liberal vs. Conservative. Black vs. White. Pro Mask vs. Anti-Mask. Vax vs. Anti-vax. Rich vs. poor. Man vs. woman. Cop vs. citizen. [Etc.]
The real question we need to be asking ourselves is who’s shaking the jar… and why?”
The above observation by Shera Starr cannot be improved upon, and comes from a recent Lewrockwell.com article.
It seems to me that those in government, who rammed things down our throats that we ought to be able to decide for ourselves, and those who want to be in government, who may or may not be any better, have polarized us almost beyond belief.
Your enemies and my enemies are not the Americans who disagree with us: They are the world’s foremost expert on their opinions, as we are on ours (Farber, c. 1990). Our opinions only have merit when we agree their opinions have merit, and vice versa. Assuming this world holds together until January 20th, we will have a new political administration. But America doesn’t need a new administration so much as America needs a new heart. We need to get the “self” out of “selfies”, and begin again to do right and do good to have an America that we can all enjoy and be proud of (I know, I am ending with a preposition!). And one that those who come after us can enjoy as well.
My growing up friend and fishing “guide” Ed Mongin expressed the following in a poem at a recent micro reunion of my Coleman (Wisconsin) High School Class of 1492…
The year is 2024
It’s an election year and so much more
Poor man, rich man, aristocrat
Independent, Republican, or Democrat
Tied together by a common thread
To raise a family and get ahead
Just because we disagree
Doesn’t make you my enemy
There is no reason we need to fight
Because there can be more, than just one right
So find someone, you’ve disagreed with for a while
Shake their hand and give them a smile
Let them recognize the “so much more”
That we all share in ’24.
Ed Mongin is a “poet” of some renown with family and friends. Even has a book of poems “Like a River” available on Amazon.com. Along the lines of ‘man bites dog’, Ed was severely injured by a falling tree in a bad wind storm on his way out of the woods from deer hunting last November. He was airlifted over a hundred miles to a hospital in Wausau, Wisconsin, where his doctor wasn’t even sure he could survive surgery, let alone walk again. But within a week Ed was up walking with a walker; and within a couple of months was back fishing and hunting.
The Michigan Department of Natural Resources was key to rescue and arranging Ed’s airlift out of the woods; and, did a video after the fact, which you can find on youtube.com by the link below…or by searching “tree falls on man while deer hunting in Michigan”…
Ed would agree… To God be the glory…great things he hath done!
I have skipped some things that won’t be familiar to some readers. So that’s it. Maybe more than you want to know, and maybe more than you think I should say. But I think this is a time when we all need to stand up and be counted. If we are afraid to say what we think, we become a prisoner of those we fear. Further, my Bible tells me that a true friend will tell you what they really think (Prov. 27:10 “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.”). Speaking out is a true act of friendship, even if it is something we do not want to hear.
Merry CHRISTmas! And God’s best to you.
Dad/Gpa/GGpa/Uncle/Cousin/In & Out-Law/Friend or Foe, just rusty (still two of one heart)
Helpful Bible verses that make you think: (Recommended reading…books of John & Romans in the Bible.)
- I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved… John 10:9 (not the door of my church, or any church, but the door which is Jesus!)
- For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8,9
- For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23
- For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23
- But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
- That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Romans 10:9
- For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Romans 10:13
From my 2023 letter…Peace!
Is it just me or are you as concerned as I am that leaders in our government (both Demublicans and Republicrats) are taking the possibility of war entirely too lightly. I learned a long time ago not to go in the woods looking for a bear to kick in the behind. They don’t seem to know this.
In a booklet titled War is a Racket, Major General Smedley Butler, twice the recipient of the Congressional Medal of Honor, and the most decorated soldier in military history, wrote, “In the World War [I] a mere handful garnered the profits of the conflict. At least 21,000 new millionaires and billionaires were made in the United States during the World War….How many of these war millionaires shouldered a rifle?….The general public shoulders the bill. And what is this bill? …Newly placed gravestones. Mangled bodies. Shattered minds…For a great many years, as a soldier, I had a suspicion that war was a racket; not until I retired to civil life did I fully realize it. Now that I see the international war clouds gathering, as they are (and are again!) today, I must face it and speak out.”
President John Kennedy’s brilliant, logical “pro-peace” speech at American University in June of 1963 was so effective it may have led to his assassination by those who feared loss of money and power and privilege. See here.
Congressman and presidential candidate Dr. Ron Paul’s farewell speech to Congress, though not as dramatic, advocates the common sense, non-interventionist foreign policy of our Founding Fathers. Dr. Paul is certainly the greatest, if not the only true statesman of our time.
What Hamas did on October 7th is reprehensible. But there is a lot that does not smell right about it, just like there is a lot that doesn’t smell right about the war in Ukraine, let alone the whole Covid thing. The Greek philosopher Aeschylus is attributed with saying: In war, truth is the first casualty. Which makes sense since, if anything, culturally, politically and economically, we have been in a war against all truth for some time.
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In times like these, our only recourse is to get back to things we know to be true. And that which really can bring us joy by reminding us why we celebrate the CHRISTmas Holiday Season. Let me start with this straightforward verse of scripture:
Isaiah 9:6
“For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.”
The answer to finding peace in this world, no matter what circumstances surround us, is that we as individuals must begin with finding peace with the living God, The Prince of Peace. Only then can we have peace with others, including other nations. But unfortunately, in the past few generations as a nation we’ve gone from being God-fearing to fearing everything except God. That alone seems to explain why individuals, businesses and governments have begun making what seem to be so many “unwise” decisions. My Bible tells me “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” Proverbs 9:10. I believe we are paying the price for kicking God out of society.
Ben Franklin warns us that we will pay even more with loss of freedom in the future if our nation does not turn back to God: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.”
We each have our own spiritual journey, of course, even though I believe it must end with belief and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I was reminded of this recently when I watched an old movie on the internet called “Wiretapper”, kind of a mild, white collar crime movie. Clean of course since it was from 1955. When the “hero” of the movie was at his worst, he and his wife spotted a billboard advertising a Billy Graham Los Angeles Crusade. At about 1:10 (one hour and ten minutes), she talked her husband into stopping and going into Billy’s tent meeting, where a young, handsome, vibrant, articulate, energized Billy Graham, not yet bit by the ecumenical bug, gave a powerful message. I am so accustomed to Hollywood downplaying and denigrating anything to do with God or God’s Word, I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Here is a link to the movie on youtube.com (or you can just search “movie Wiretapper” on youtube.com):
If you are into old movies, especially black and white, the whole movie is a worthy watch. But the Billy Graham scene alone is priceless. Or am I just fondly remembering that I was once young too! Ha! Those of us my age are running out of runway, aren’t we?
Just to guarantee this letter will be a blessing, and to make up for some of the sobering discussion…try this for you and yours this CHRISTmas Holiday Season: The Crosby Family—“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.”
