BETRAYAL: Federal Nail in a Military Coffin

By Ed Evans, USMC (Ret.)

   Back a month ago when federal planners first raised the ugly head of their plan for penalizing military retirees by refusing them a civilian retirement at the end of a second career, it just didn't seem to go anywhere.  But you know how it is, once you put something on the Internet, it takes on a life all its own and becomes eternal. 

   In other words, I keep seeing traces of this venomous idea here and there. 

   It's not dead, yet.                 

   You can read all about it here:  http://www.federaltimes.com/article/20130804/DEPARTMENTS01/308040009/An-end-civilian-pensions-military-retirees

   The lead paragraph and bridge read: "To address long-term sequester cuts, the Defense Department is mulling numerous reductions that will affect civilian employees, including doing away with civilian employee pensions for military retirees who go back to work for the government as civilian employees.

The savings could be almost $100 billion over 10 years when combined with a halt to commissary subsidies and restrictions on the availability of unemployment benefits, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters last week in summarizing the recommendations of the newly completed “Strategic Choices and Management Review.”

   However, if I were their PR adviser my advice would be that they not just walk away from it, but RUN!  This should be dialogue written for the Saturday Night Live comedy TV show, not a serious approach to building an effective government workforce and viable national budget.  Not to mention that, truthfully, you cannot pay men enough to risk their very lives in combat, but to then prevent them from earning a living and taking care of their families afterward, if they live through it, is surely the worst kind of national cowardice.  And never mind that the entire U.S. military, the most blooded and battle-tested military in the world right now, goes about its business on the individual level like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rockers for reasons of upended ethical and moral guidelines of behavior, unsound battlefield rules of engagement, and social Generals who are administrators, not leaders.

   On the one hand this policy change in retirement rules will sow such divisiveness among the federal workforce, not to mention the career military, as to seriously affect efficiency, production and create infectious trust issues.

   On the other hand, I cannot imagine the hit the nation's federal workforce will take without the hand-in-glove synchronization of the disciplined experience that military members bring to the table, which work so effectively with civilian education and expertise.

   In fact, it is such a bad idea that if I believed even half of the conspiracy theories floating around the Internet, I would have to believe there would be no more certain way to pull the plug on American effectiveness in government, no better way to help America's enemies achieve this nation's downfall and freedom's dissolution.

   Bottom line, if for any reason those in the upper head shed want to start a revolution, want to create a cause to declare martial law as a pathway to ultimate control, this would be a good one.  However, anyone who would support such a cockamamie idea has no sense of the kind of fire they are playing with in a munitions bunker filled with volatile, sparking poverty, pain and class betrayal.  And those they are considering betraying are the ones with the guns.

What Is America's Problem?

What Is America's Problem?

by Pastor Ed Evans

Scripture:  Jeremiah 17:1-10

¹The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;

² Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.

³ O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.

⁴ And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn forever.

⁵ Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

⁶ For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

⁷ Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

⁸ For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

⁹ The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

¹⁰ I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

The philosopher Aristotle is quoted as saying, "Life is full of chances and changes, and the most prosperous of men may...meet with great misfortunes."

This nation has been through many changes, and faced great challenges over the years, including two world wars, a civil war that pitted neighbor against neighbor and brother against brother, foreign wars that robbed America's gene pool of who knows how many great leaders, inventors and families of the future. 

Now America faces even more dire problems, including deadly wars in foreign countries, economic threats to families and the nation, religious and political strife that again pit neighbor against neighbor, brother against brother.  It seems like one problem after another, one financial pitfall after another, one horrendous crime after another, one scandal after another.  Does it ever end?

Many blame the disintegration of ethics and moral leadership, many point their fingers at the church, at local, state and federal leadership.  What has become of the land of the free and the home of brave?  What is our problem?

America's problem is not a political problem, not a politician problem. 

It is a sin problem.

It isn't that we don't have the right man or woman in office, not the wrong leadership.  It isn't that we have the wrong friends or allies, not that they fail us.  Not that we have the wrong plans, the wrong machinery and weapons, not that our military has the wrong training.

It's not even that we have the wrong stuff.  Goodness knows America has the best "stuff" in the world, and more of it than anyone else.  Each one of us is probably wondering why we have so much "stuff".  But that's not the problem, either.

Our problem is not that we are polluting our environment, that some of us grow up in bad neighborhoods or in rich enclaves.  After all, Adam and Eve were living in the Garden of Eden when they sinned.

It isn't the color of our skin, it isn't the lost opportunities, it isn't the lack of wisdom or knowledge.

It is sin.  It is sin.

Now, if you will go along with me on that conclusion for a minute, let's take a look at that possibility.

If, indeed, the problem is sin, then there is only one book, one source that has the answer to our problem.  That book is the Bible; the inspired Word of God.

All of the other religions of the world, all the sects and groups and committed ways that man has come up with over the ages, over thousands of years on earth, they are all systems to punish you when you violate their rules.  They are legalistic traps

The Living God who created us is the only one who approaches the sin problem with love, and tells us He has solved our problem.  Because He knows us so well, as our Creator, He gave us opportunity after opportunity to use our God-given intellect and wisdom to find a way out of our problem.

Surely by now we have convinced ourselves that we do not have an answer to our sin problem.  But God does.

God has the answer.  He put that answer into play on a rude hill called Golgotha outside of Jerusalem.  Jesus Christ gave His life for ours, and God the Father accepted His Son's sacrifice in place of ours to solve the sin problem.

And to ensure that we understood, God instituted the ritual of blood sacrifice long before His Son became the lamb of sacrifice, for us.  He wanted us to know the importance and the impact of a blood sacrifice that covered our sins.  That final sacrifice has been made; the blood of THE lamb -- Jesus Christ, one sacrifice for all -- has been made.

Now God has told us that the emphasis is no longer on sacrifice but on obedience.  Early in His history with mankind, written into 1st Samuel 15:22, God told us "Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice."  God prefers obedience to sacrifice.

Once God gave us time and history to understand that the problem is sin, He solved our problem.  Now we have the opportunity put His answer into play in our own individual lives through obedience to His Word.

Our problem is not our society, our environment, our background, our race.....none of the issues to which we point our fingers, for which we blame others, false flags we use to avoid the true problem.  None of those.  Our individual commitment to obedience will solve our individual and national problem; save our own soul, our family, friends, community, town, city, state, our region, our nation, and our world.

The problem is sin.

God solved that problem.

The answer lies in accepting the gift of forgiveness, the gift of life everlasting, through belief and obedience to Jesus Christ.  Notice I said belief AND obedience.  Belief is not enough.  James 2:19 reminds us, "You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!"  Belief is no help to those who will not obey.

It was Jesus Himself who said, in Luke 6:46, " But why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?"  It is about sin, and the answer lies in accepting Jesus Christ, and obedience

Pay attention.

There will not be a test, this is the test.

Amen.

Fear Not Men of Flesh, But the God of Spirit

by Pastor Ed Evans

Throughout our lives we will meet the bullies, people with small souls and great power, people who serve themselves and puff themselves up at the expense and hurt of others with less power.  And the more power they gain the worse they become, until they strike terror in the hearts men and women.

We encounter them today at all levels of life and business, so that those who take others into account with courtesy and kindness break forth upon us like rays of warm sunshine on a cold, cloudy day.  Such help take the edge off living and working among the spiritual heathen who, for all their learned wisdom, think nothing of running roughshod over lesser, gentler human beings.  Indeed, how a person deals with and treats those whom can do nothing for them becomes the measure of their own human stature.  So that it is painful and disturbing to witness those individuals raised up to positions of power by the voting multitudes using their positions serve themselves at the expense and loss of decent, hard-working men and women. 

But there is a verse in scripture, in Matthew 10:28, that acts as a balm for us, putting our fears and concerns in perspective, for the Almighty God knew, and knows, the pains and joys of our human hearts.  He tells us, "..... fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."  For on this earth we inhabit a body of flesh that will die and disappear one day no matter what we intend, or what we do.  But the God who loved us first has promised our souls, our spiritual souls from God that will last forever, will receive from Him a new body, a new name, and a new home with Him for the time past forever.

Since most of those in positions of power who would grind us down without a thought are not really concerned with whether or not there is a God, they cannot comprehend that the very worst of any existence is to be outside His love and His care, for eternal time and beyond time. So that regardless of the foulness of their evil deeds now, I expect we shall pity them for their inability to gain forgiveness and put an end to their eternal misery. For now we need only know that our bullying, aggravating, frustrating irritants, self-serving and self-concerned, ignorant of concern for all others, will one day be our footstool, or so scripture tells us.  For according to an ancient Greek saying, time heals all wounds, and wounds all heels.  And time is the one thing we who are children of the royal family of God have in vast abundance.

Biblical scripture tells us that once in heaven, we shall know even as we are known. I think we are going to be amazed at the depth and degree of evil surrounding us, from which we were protected. Our naive but self-centered national leadership doesn't even realize our real enemies are not flesh and blood, but spiritual, and that those who believe in The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit are protected by the Godly weapons of prayer, obedience and the "sharper than any two-edged sword" Word of God.

These are the weapons that will defeat the evil that permeate those who are careless about God, and those who are deliberate enemies of the creator God.  But God in His almighty wisdom, looking down the long corridors of time where only He can see, knew that even in our faith and commitment to His promises, our humanity would need something more.  And so in Ephesians His generous love for us explained what we were up against, and provided us not only with the proper weapons for spiritual warfare, but His own protection for us, a well.

So that in Ephesians 6:10-18 we find, "Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.  Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.  Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints..."

Whatever the level of evil, whatever the threat, we are to stand.  Stand for what is right.  For ours is a righteous cause.  We are surrounded by the love of the God of this universe.  We are to be clothed in the whole protective armor that emanates from God, and wielding the weapons of prayer, obedience and the sword of the Spirit, which is the alive and powerful Word of God.

Finally, if all that were not enough to empower the man or woman of God to take on all comers, yet in Romans 8:31 we have the iron-clad assurance inherent in this question: "If God be for us, who can be against us?"

Who, indeed?  For those outside of Christ, the world is a fearful, uncompromising roll of the dice.  As sons and daughters of the new creation, God is in control at every turn and we are reminded by Jeremiah 29:11, "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end."

Our Heavenly Father is the source of all time, all events, all life, and all that is needed to remove all evil from the earth, for He has given the Son authority over all things.  Through His work on the cross at Calvary, Jesus has also taken all our sins away so that Satan no longer has any control over a believer.  And regardless of how Satan can influence those outside of Christ, believers have nothing to fear from those who must answer to the omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent God.

Trust in God's mighty arm of protection, in His ability to keep you as He has promised.  There is a very pointed moment in Psalm 20:7 for the child of God, "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the Lord our God."

Prayer, obedience, and the Word of God are our most powerful weapons against the spiritual wickedness around us, protected by the full armor of God, and resting in His presence, for our God is still in charge.  Amen.