America is now being presented with some of its greatest opportunities as it faces some of its greatest crises. It is our history and heritage to turn challenges into the victories. The victories come from facing the greatest challenges. Just as warriors run to the sound of battle, not away from it, patriots run to the crises that threaten their country, not away from them. The future will belong to those with that initiative.
The crises now growing in our land are a serious threat to our continuing existence as a Republic, but they are also exactly what can wake us up to do what must be done to see our Republic fully restored to its Constitutional moorings. They are a chance to see and dispense with the enemies of our liberty that would impose their tyranny upon us. Now we just need to understand how to seize this opportunity.
We must begin by defining what we stand for. To truly stand for our Constitutional moorings, we must know what they are. To stand for our calling and destiny as a nation, we must know what it is. These Heritage Briefs are written for this purpose, but these are seeds that must be cultivated. Could you take just 30 minutes a week to first read our national founding documents? After that, begin your own study of our history. The better we know what we’re fighting for, the better we will fight.
We must acknowledge that we are at war. We need a “clear trumpet call” so that those who hear it will mobilize. We need to understand that we would not be living now if we were not called to be warriors in this ultimate battle. If we are not called to be in the physical battles unfolding, we are called to be warriors in more effective ways to influence the outcome. The pen really is mightier than the sword, but if we are not called to write we may be called to speak. If we are not called to speak, we are called to stand. To stand is one of the commands Jesus gave to those who live at the end of the age. Standing resolutely for what we believe can be one of the most powerful messages of all.
The costliest war of all time, World War II, was caused by the delusion of weak leaders that they could appease the aggressive, bully spirit rising in their time. It was estimated that Hitler could have been stopped in 1938 by the Czech Republic alone, at the cost of between ten thousand and twenty thousand casualties. This number horrified the squeamish leaders of Britain and France at the time, so they decided to give the Czech Republic to Hitler thinking that would appease him. It did not work, as it never will with such aggressors, and two years later the war came anyway. In that two years, the Nazis had grown much stronger, and the cost of stopping him went to tens of millions of lives lost.
Appeasement has never worked to contain aggressors. Aggressors always come in the same bully spirit, and you can never appease a bully spirit. A bully will never be satisfied. The only way to defeat a bully spirit is to stand up to it. Many of America’s state and local leaders who are under assault from this bully aggression now are trying to appease it, and in just weeks it has multiplied its demands. Where will it stop? It won’t until our leaders stand up to it, but the cost has already grown exponentially.
Because war is the ultimate human crisis, once in the conflict, the goal often gets reduced to just ending it because war is so terrible. Peace is a noble goal, except when it comes at the price of compromising our values and our purpose, or to try to appease those who cannot ever be appeased. Then it is a dishonor, disgrace, and betrayal of the stewardship we have been entrusted with.
When the battle finally comes, peace can lead to an ultimate defeat if it comes prematurely and fails to deal with the underlying causes of the conflict. That will only make another war, and likely a much costlier one, inevitable. So, let us keep in mind that at the end of the Book of Revelation it is the “cowardly” who are the first to get thrown into the lake of fire. There is no place in Christianity for cowardice.
General Douglas MacArthur said, “It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win.” He explained how no one hates war more than those who have to fight it. However, if we must fight we must fight with all we have to win. Without victory, all of the suffering and losses of war can be in vain. We must define what victory is and resolve that we will not stop short of it.
From 1776 until the present the American military has proven to be one of the most capable, courageous, and well led in history. However, their great efforts have too often been wasted by politicians who impose political conclusions to the conflicts, ending them before the complete victory is attained. This only leads to a temporary peace and having to fight the same battles all over again. This is like paying for the same real estate twice, only the second time the price has gone much higher.
As we look back on our recent wars, we must ask what did all of that sacrifice gain? In our recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, are those countries, or our country, any better off for the thousands of lives lost and the trillions of dollars spent? What good does it do us if we take ground we cannot hold or do not have the will to hold? At present, we would have to say that these wars that were paid for at such a high cost have resulted in a net negative. That region is not better off, and we are not safer.
After the second Iraqi war, the one to depose Saddam Hussein called “Iraqi Freedom,” President George W. Bush raised the banner “Mission Accomplished.” This turned out to be possibly the greatest folly of his presidency. Defeating the Iraqi military and taking over the country was the easy part. Occupying it proved to be far more difficult and almost no thought or pre-planning had been given to that part. A terrible price was paid for that omission.
We are now into the second American Revolutionary/Civil War. Winning will not be easy, but it will be done. Now is the time to define what victory looks like and resolve that we will not settle for anything less. Then we need to realize that the really hard part begins—the rebuilding of our Republic so that it becomes all that we have been called to be and in such a way that it will not be so easily run off the rails again.
America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves. ~Abraham Lincoln
It is the will to win that counts, and not the wish to win… Adversity has nothing to do with determining your success—it is how you respond to it that counts. ~Dale Brown
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© 2020 by Rick Joyner. All rights reserved.
