Did You Receive a Secular Upbringing or a Religious Upbringing?

            America is divided and is in an undeclared civil war according to Dennis Prager. He stated that the war is between the religious and the anti-religious. He described the war as follows: 

The left has contempt for evangelical Protestants, traditional Catholics, and Orthodox Jews for good reason: They represent everything the left loathes; and while there are, of course, secular conservatives who fight the left, the largest and most effective opposition comes from conservative Christians and Jews.

            Prager believes that the “differences begin in childhood” because “Most religious kids … are raised with different values than most secular kids.” This is particularly true of those kids who “attend traditional Christian and Jewish schools,” or have parents who see that they are taught properly. He gives the following examples.

No. 1: Religious upbringing: Fight yourself. Secular upbringing: Fight society.

I studied in yeshiva (Orthodox Jewish school, where half the day I studied Bible and other religious subjects in Hebrew, and half the day I studied secular subjects in English) from kindergarten to 12th grade. I learned early on that the biggest problem in Dennis Prager’s life was Dennis Prager. In nearly all secular schools and in liberal religious schools, kids learn that the biggest problem in their lives is American society—in fact, everything other than themselves….

No. 2: Religious Upbringing: Learn wisdom. Secular Upbringing: No body of wisdom conveyed.

I have no doubt that most kids raised with the Bible and other Jewish or Christian works have more wisdom than almost any secular professor or other secular intellectual. Yes, there are secular individuals who have wisdom (the Judeo-Christian body of wisdom sometimes continues to have influence for a generation or two), but I cannot think of a single secular institution with wisdom….

No. 3: Religious Upbringing: People are not basically good. Secular Upbringing: People are basically good.

“Wisdom begins,” both Psalms and Proverbs teach, “with fear of God.” In other words, no God, no wisdom….

The belief that people are basically good, a belief that neither Judaism nor Christianity has ever held, is a major obstacle to making a good society. For one thing, parents who believe this will not discipline their children as much as they need to. They will assume, as three generations of American parents now have, that all a child needs is love.

And for another, people who believe human nature is good are much less inclined to punish criminals because they will blame murder, theft, rape and other evils on economic circumstances, parents, and society—on anything but the criminal’s failure to control his flawed nature.

No. 4: Religious Upbringing: Holy days. Secular Upbringing: No holy days.

Religious children celebrate holy days—the Sabbath each week and other holy days in their respective religious calendars. Regular times devoted to the Transcendent have a major impact on the development of a child.

The secular child has secular holidays, but they mean little to most American young people. July Fourth is a day off with a barbecue. Meaningless Halloween has come to have more significance than meaningful Christmas. Presidents’ Day means nothing. And Thanksgiving is increasingly declared Indigenous Peoples’ Genocide Day.

No. 5: Religious Upbringing: Friends plus community. Secular Upbringing: Friends, but no community.

Loneliness is a greater pandemic in the modern world than COVID-19, so much so that the U.K. now has a Minister of Loneliness to try to combat the problem.

This is, in large measure, another consequence of secularism. Religious Jewish and Christian (including Mormon) kids grow up with an abundance of friends and a whole religious community thanks to religious school and thanks to their synagogue or church.

What is the communal secular equivalent of the church, synagogue, and religious school? …

No. 6: Religious Upbringing: The obligation to honor parents. Secular Upbringing: No such obligation.

Religious Jewish and Christian children are taught the Ten Commandments, one of which is “Honor your father and mother.” It goes without saying that many secular children honor their parents, but they do so only if they want to. Religious children are told to honor parents whether they feel like it or not—which is important because very few children always feel like honoring their mother and father.

There is another pandemic in America—that of adult children who have decided never to talk to one or both of their parents….

            Prager listed only six examples of the differences between a secular upbringing and a religious upbringing. I have to say that I agree with him on his six examples. Prager gave one more difference without any discussion: “Religious kids are generally happier.” He then left the decision to his reader as to which upbringing is the better.

From my point of view, it seems that the religious/conservative right is much happier than the secular/leftists. Conservatives love America and strive to make it better for the next generation, while the leftists hate America and strive to “fundamentally change” the nation.

 

 

Is Another American Civil War Likely?

             The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns unity – United We Stand and Divided We May Self-Destruct. The people of the United States are more divided now than they have been since the Civil War. The Civil War raged from April 12, 1861, to May 9, 1865, and cost the lives of more than 620,000 American soldiers. It also “bankrupted much of the South, left its roads, farms, and factories in ruins, and all but wiped out an entire generation of men who wore the blue and the gray.” 

            The Civil War erupted after decades of simmering over slavery and central power. Congress tried several times to steer the nation away from war by passing the “Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and many others.” In the end, eleven states – South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee – left the United States of America and formed the Confederate States of America. Four long, dark, and painful years of war were followed by the surrender of the Confederate armies to the United States in April 1865 at Appomattox Court House and Bennett Place.

            There are forces in the United States who are still trying to use race to divide Americans, and the chasm growing wider and deeper as time passes. Victor Davis Hanson wonders if the United States is traveling down the same road of the Roman Empire. The huge empire split in half in A.D. 286 under the direction of the Roman emperor Diocletian. The split was “administratively – and peacefully” made and involved the control of two emperors. 

A Western empire included much of modern-day Western Europe and northwest Africa. The Eastern half controlled Eastern Europe and parts of Asia and northeastern Africa.

By 330, the Emperor Constantine institutionalized that split by moving the empire’s capital from Rome to his new imperial city of Constantinople, founded on the site of the old Greek polis of Byzantium.

The two administrative halves of the once huge empire continued to drift apart. Soon there arose two increasingly different, though still kindred versions, of a once unified Romanity.

The Western empire eventually collapsed into chaos by the latter fifth century A.D.

Yet the Roman eastern half survived for nearly 1,000 years. It was soon known as the Byzantine Empire, until overwhelmed by the Ottoman Turks in 1453 A.D.

Historians still disagree over why the East endured while the West crumbled. And they cite the various roles of differing geography, border challenges, tribal enemies, and internal challenges.

            Hanson wrote much more about the divided Roman Empire and why one half thrived much longer than the other. The “Greek-speaking, Orthodox Christian and older civilization [was] in the East, and a “more or less polyglot and often fractious Christianity [was] in the Latin West.” The Byzantium empire “held firm against ancient neighboring Persian, Middle Eastern, and Egyptian rivals. But the West disintegrated into a tribal amalgam of its own former peoples.”

            In the United States we have the divide between Red States and Blue States and even talk of another civil war. Americans who have the means, move from conservative states to liberal states and vice versa.

More conservative traditionalists head for the interior between the coast, where there is usually smaller government, fewer taxes, more religiosity, and unapologetic traditionalists.

These modern Byzantines are more apt to define their patriotism by honoring ancient customs and rituals – standing for the national anthem, attending church services on Sundays, demonstrating reverence for American history and its heroes, and emphasizing the nuclear family.

Immigration in fly-over country is still defined as melting pot assimilation and integration of new arrivals into the body politic of a hallowed and enduring America.

While red states welcome change, they believe America never had to be perfect to be good. It will always survive, but only if it sticks to its 234-year-old Constitution, stays united by the English language, and assimilates newcomers into an enduring and exceptional American culture.

            On the other hand, “the more liberal blue states” are on the East Coast and the West Coast. They benefit from globalist wealth gained from trade with Asia on the West Coast and the European Union on the East Coast. “The great research universities of the Ivy League” are located in the blue states. “Just as Rome was once the iconic center of the entire Roman project, so blue Washington, D.C., is the nerve center for big-government America.”

            Unlike the red states, immigrants moving into the blue states “retain and reboot their former cultural identities.” Religion is different – less orthodox with more agnosticism and atheism. The blue states on the coasts are home to “most of the recent social movements of American feminism, transgenderism, and critical race theory.”

Foreigners see blue coastal Americans as the more vibrant, sophisticated, cosmopolitan – and reckless – culture, its vast wealth predicated on technology, information, communications, finance, media, education, and entertainment.

In turn, they concede that the vast red interior – with about the same population as blue America but with vastly greater area – is the more pragmatic, predictable, and home to the food, fuels, ores, and material production of America.

Our Byzantine interior and Roman coasts are quite differently interpreting their shred American heritage as they increasingly plot radically divergent courses to survive in scary times.

But as in the past, it is far more likely that one state model will prove unsustainable and collapse than it is that either region would ever start a civil war.

            Unlike the Roman Empire, the government of the United States of America was founded on a divinely inspired document known as the Constitution. President Dallin H.Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke about the importance of “Defending Our Divinely Inspired Constitution” in the April 2021 General Conference of the Church. He outlined the principles that he considers to be divinely inspired before stating the following: 

Despite the divinely inspired principles of the United States Constitution, when exercised by imperfect mortals their intended effects have not always been achieved. Important subjects of lawmaking, such as some laws governing family relationships, have been taken from the states by the federal government. The First Amendment guarantee of free speech has sometimes been diluted by suppression of unpopular speech. The principle of separation of powers has always been under pressure with the ebb and flow of one branch of government exercising or inhibiting the powers delegated to another.

There are other threats that undermine the inspired principles of the United States Constitution. The stature of the Constitution is diminished by efforts to substitute current societal trends as the reason for its founding, instead of liberty and self-government. The authority of the Constitution is trivialized when candidates or officials ignore its principles. The dignity and force of the Constitution is reduced by those who refer to it like a loyalty test or a political slogan, instead of its lofty status as a source of authorization for and limits on government authority.

            President Oaks then explained that Latter-day Saints [and all Americans] have a “responsibility to uphold and defend the United States Constitution and principles of constitutionalism wherever we live.” He then made an important statement: “We should trust in the Lord and be positive about this nation’s future.”

            Latter-day Saints believe that Christopher Columbus was divinely guided to discover the Americas and the people who were living here. We believe that God helped the American colonists to win the Revolutionary War and inspired the Founders in writing the Constitution. Many of the writers in the Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ – testified that America is a land of liberty (2 Nephi 10:11) and a “land which is choice above all other lands” (Ether 1:42; 10:28; 13:2; Doctrine and Covenants 38:20).

            The scriptures testify that America is a promised land unto those people who worship the God of the land who is Jesus Christ. God helped to establish the United States of America with its guaranty of religious liberty, and then He established His Church upon the land. He will not allow the United States of America to be destroyed even though terrible things may happen. America will most likely pass through some dark days, but I believe that its future will be glorious and bright.

Will the United States Come Together or Be Destroyed?

             The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is a question: Will the United States come together as one country or be destroyed by another Civil War, by invasion by a foreign enemy, or by a combination of domestic and foreign enemies. The United States survived one Civil War as well as two World Wars and numerous other wars. However, none of the wars with other nations took place while the Civil War was being fought. The situation may be quite different now because China appears to be attacking our homeland while the nation is divided politically and the federal government not working.

            From the results of the 2020 presidential election, it appears that half the voters support socialism while the other half strive to protect and preserve the Constitution. If this appearance is true, the United States is as divided as it has ever been since the Civil War.

            At the same time, China is attacking in numerous ways. The United States and the world are struggling to control the COVID-19 pandemic that started when a coronavirus escaped a laboratory in Wuhan, China. We do not know if China released the virus by accident or on purpose, but we do not that the world has paid a great price for the Chinese virus.

            The current political circus can be directly traced to COVID-19. The Democrats used the crisis in the nation to send out millions of ballots and to prepare the stage for election fraud. There are several states that ended the election with more returned ballots than there are voters on their election rolls.

            This week we learned about yet another Democrat member of Congress being linked with an agent from China. A report from Axios said that suspected Chinese spy Christine Fang or Fang Fang helped Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California) fundraise beginning in 2014. Fang also placed one or more interns in Swalwell’s congressional office. This report causes concern for numerous reasons with the main reason being that Swalwell has a seat on the House Intelligence Committee. His record show that he sometimes opposed the practices of the Chinese government – except when President Donald Trump also opposed them.

            In addition, CNN and other mainstream media sources have started to report on the legal troubles of Hunter Biden and James Biden, son and brother of Joe Biden. The press release from Hunter Biden suggested that the current federal investigation is about his taxes. However, other sources say that investigators are also looking at money laundering. The Biden family is apparently as crime ridden as the mafia with Hunter and James fundraising off the Biden name with Joe’s permission. One of Hunter’s business colleagues told Tucker Carlson that Joe Biden has been “compromised” as far as China is concerned.

            Dennis Jamison wrote about the numerous “waves of attacks” that China has launched against the United States. He wrote about COVID-19, Hunter Biden’s problems, the effects of COVID-19 on the 2020 election, and others. 

All of these examples provide greater clarity of a bigger picture regarding China’s attack upon our people individually, and attacks upon the American way of life, and attacks upon the federal government. Democrat-run, anti-Constitutional states from one side of the nation to the other initiate or support this. Of course, there is much more to the assault from China, and it is important for citizens to do their own homework regarding how much more aggressive the CCP has become in recent years. There are many other questions that stem from paying attention to the CCP’s intrusion into our internal affairs. The most dangerous way seems to be covertly manipulating certain individuals in universities, spying upon or outright manipulation of government leaders, and possible manipulation of our 2020 election with Chinese-made components for voting machines.

One key thing that gives Chinese officials a need to pause is the strong American sense of independence and absolute defense of the 2^nd Amendment to the Bill of Rights. But unfortunately, it is also what may cause the CCP leaders to approach the destruction of the Republic from multiple clandestine fronts simultaneously. However, citizens should not take this occasion to harden their hearts towards the Chinese people, as they are not the ones orchestrating multiple assaults upon our nation. Citizens need to learn the truth by doing their own research and by “connecting the dots.” True citizens need to be vigilant in this turbulent time.

Citizens who truly love the Republic and the principles it was founded upon, need to understand the Civil War that is raging in the nation at this time. They need to discern whose side any given “American” politician is on. It is possible some have already sold their souls to the devil. Vocal support, or “lip service” to the bedrock principles of freedom is no longer acceptable in light of the misinformation and disinformation flying from one end of the nation to the other. Americans need to use a proper “measuring stick” to discern who our real enemies are in such a time. We need to demand that our leaders apply the bedrock principles of freedom to other governance.

The election is a serious case in point. How many states violated the Constitution in their own exercise of voting procedures in their states? It is absolutely true that we need to come together as Americans and reunite after this election. But, it was a debacle, and purposefully so. True American citizens have a genuine opportunity to unite with the patriots who love this country, to stand together in union to support only those who support the bedrock principles of freedom. It is the time as Ben Franklin wrote so long ago: “Unite or Die!”

            The Trump administration has been attacked for more than four years by Never Trumpers, Democrats, and the Far Left. Many of the three groups are part of the Deep State, or the Swamp that Trump has been trying to drain. The entrenched elites are constantly attacking. They get beaten back one place, and they attack in two other places.

When will American citizens awake and see that secret combinations – domestic and foreign – are trying to overthrow our government? The many instances of fraud in the 2020 election should alarm all Americans. Anyone willing to cheat openly in front of us will be willing to do even worse behind our backs. The Communist Party of China is our enemy, and the Biden family is doing business with them. What can go wrong?

What Does the U.S. Flag Mean to You?

            The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns the reason why the flag of the United States should be respected. The flag represents the idea that became America as well as the country. It represents the “truths” that are “self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” (Preamble to the Declaration of Independence).

            The Declaration of Independence is the presentation of the idea “that all men are created equal,” and the Constitution of the United States is the plan or program to bring that idea to pass. In the words of Leo O’Malley at The Daily Signal, “America is much more than a country” because it is a “revolutionary idea.” This idea was enough to cause American colonists to revolt against Great Britain and to fight for eight long years to win independence and freedom.

            The flag that was carried into battle in the Revolutionary War and every war since represents the country and the idea of freedom. It drapes the coffins of the fallen soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and coastguard personnel. It was taken to the moon, and it was flown over the rubble of 9/11. Men and women of all ages made great sacrifices as they “stepped forward in every generation to renew and more perfectly realize the promise of America.” Despite all the errors and sins of America in the past, it continues to become a better country. The idea is still a good one, and the promise goes with us into the future. O’Malley continued with his explanation of the promise.

The promise of America lives on through those brave heroes who have, over the centuries fought to fulfill our societal vow that, wherever the American flag flies, there too shall be found life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

In ratification of this sacred promise, our blood has watered the beaches of Okinawa, the fields of Gettysburg, the waves of the Atlantic, the streets of Selma, the hedgerows of Normandy, and the deserts of the Middle East.

The flag is a symbol of America at its best. It is a banner of remembrance to those who have fought and died in its shadow, an emblem that has stricken fear into the hearts of dictators and tyrants, and a sign that has given hope to millions escaping the clutches of oppression.

But, most of all, the flag embodies our commitment to fully realizing the founding principles of America.

            There is much strife and contention in America today, and some Americans have chosen to show disrespect to the flag of the country. There are those who desire to “fundamentally transform” America because of past mistakes and current weaknesses. Without unity around our flag and founding principles, Americans could be torn apart in another civil war.

            Abraham Lincoln spoke of a divided house on June 16, 1858, as he accepted the Illinois Republican Party’s nomination as U.S. Senator. He declared, “A house divided against itself cannot stand.” He was describing the situation in the United States where some of the states supported slavery and some did not. “I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved – I do not expect the house to fall – but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one or all the other.” 

            Two years later, Lincoln was elected as President of the United States, and the Southern States declared their independence. A four-year war was fought, and more than 600,000 men gave their lives in the battles. The Civil War, at great cost, proved that states cannot leave the union. It also declared that “all” men are created equal with unalienable rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The “house” did not fall, but it did not remain divided. Time alone will tell us how the current division in the United States will be healed. The flag can bring unity if it is given its deserved respect. It must become the flag of all Americans and not just some of us.

Savior of the Nation

                One hundred and fifty years ago on May 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was buried.  Tens of thousands of people paid their respects to the late President in the Illinois State Capitol and read the words “Washington the Father, Lincoln the Savior.”

                “Millions more encountered similar sentiment in the nation’s papers, pews, and parlors.  To a distant and more secular generation, eulogizing Lincoln as a national savior might seem like embellished hero worship, but understanding the context of such praise reveals profound and seldom-told meaning in the Civil War.”

                Thus Michael K. Erickson began his article entitled “The Providence of God and the Civil War.”  Erickson’s article explains how President Lincoln’s understanding of the purpose for the Civil War evolved “from saving the Union, to freeing the slaves, and finally to redeeming the nation.”  “For many Bible-believing Americans, the assassination of the venerable commander-in-chief became a last sacrifice to redeem the nation for its original sin of slavery…..”

                The article is very interesting and sheds much light on those who are far removed from the Civil War.  I personally believe the “offense” of the nation includes more than the sin of slavery; I believe it includes the persecutions of the Mormons who escaped from the horrors of the Civil War by moving to the Rocky Mountains.  At any rate, the price of slavery was paid by the blood of 620,000 Americans, mostly white men.  Ironic, isn’t it?

Greatness of Ulysses S. Grant

                    The man known as Ulysses S. Grant was born as Hiram Ulysses Grant on April 27, 1885, in Point Pleasant, Ohio, to Jesse Hannah Simpson and Jesse Root Grant.  Some time during his younger years, he dropped his first name of Hiram.  When Ulysses was 17 he was nominated for a position at the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, New York.  Congressman Thomas L. Hamer mistakenly wrote the nominee's name as "Ulysses S. Grant of Ohio" with the intention of the "S" representing his mother's maiden name (Simpson); Ulysses adopted the new identification and said that the "S" did not "stand for anything."  His colleagues at West Point nicknamed him "Sam" since the initials "U.S." stood for "Uncle Sam."

                    After Grant graduated from West Point, he served in the Mexican-American War.  The Civil War began in 1861, and Grant was assigned to train Union volunteer regiments in Illinois.  He was a general in 1862 and fought a series of battles.  He was promoted to major general after he forced a large Confederate army to surrender and gained control of Kentucky and most of Tennessee.  He earned a reputation for being an aggressive commander after he "led Union forces to victory after initial setbacks in the Battle of Shiloh.  Grant's forces "defeated five uncoordinated Confederate armies (capturing one of them) and seized Vicksburg in July 1863.  this famous victory gave the Union full control of the Mississippi River, split off the western Confederacy, and opened the way for more Union triumphs."

                    President Abraham Lincoln promoted him to lieutenant general after the Union forces won the Battle of Chattanooga in late 1863.  As lieutenant general Grant commanded all the Union Armies.  He "confronted Robert E. Lee in a series of very bloody battles in 1864 known as the Overland Campaign that ended bottling up Lee at Petersburg, outside the Confederate capital of Richmond.  While holding Lee in Petersburg, Grant "coordinated a series of devastating campaigns launched by William Tecumseh Sherman, Philip Sheridan, and George Thomas."  The Union Army  finally broke through the Confederate trenches and captured Richmond in April 1865.  Lee surrendered his forces to Grant at Appomattox, causing the Confederacy to collapse.  In the 1870's, allies of Lee called Grant a "ruthless butcher who won by brute force," but most historians call him a military genius.

                    Grant's dominant role in the second half of the Civil War led to his election as President of the United States (1869-1877).  As President he advanced Reconstruction "by enforcing civil rights laws and fighting the violence brought by the Ku Klux Klan.  Under his leadership Congress passed the Fifteenth Amendment, which gave constitutional protection to African American voting rights.  He built the Republican Party in the South by using the army, black voters, Northern newcomers known as "Carpetbaggers," and native white supporters called "Scalawags."  Following these efforts, for the first time in the history of our nation, African Americans were represented in the U.S. Congress.

                    In spite of victories in both foreign and domestic affairs, the Grant Administration was smeared by corruption by his personal secretary and his Secretary of State.  Historians gave Grant the "worst rankings" until recently when his reputation improved greatly due to his "enforcement of African American voting and citizenship rights during Reconstruction."

                    Grant's quotes tend to show him as a humble Conservative with compassion (as opposed to Compassionate Conservatives):  

                    "Although a soldier by profession, I have never felt any sort of fondness for war, and I have never advocated it, except as a means of peace."

                    "Hold fast to the Bible.  To the influence of this book we are indebted for all the progress made in true civilization and to this we must look as our guide in the future."

                    "I appreciate the fact, and am proud of it, that the attentions I am receiving are intended more for our country than for me personally."

                    "I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution."

                    "I know only two tunes:  one of them is "Yankee Doodle," and the other isn't."

                    Grant was a man who knew where to plant his flag and when to fight as shown by these two quotes.  "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."  "If men make war in slavish obedience to rules, they will fail."

                    "In every battle there comes a time when both sides consider themselves beaten, then he who continues the attack wins."

                    "The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most.  I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity."

                    "There never was a time when, in my opinion, some way could not be found to prevent the drawing of the sword."

Greatness of Abraham Lincoln

                    The greatness of Abraham began with his opposition to the expansion of slavery in the United States, which was one of the main reasons why he ran for President of the United States.  He used his campaign debates and speeches to express his beliefs that slavery was wrong - both for individuals and for our nation. 

                    Lincoln was elected in 1960 and was inaugurated as President of the United States in March 1861.  Southern states began leaving the Union as soon as he was elected.  "He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis - the American Civil War - preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and promoting economic and financial modernization."  President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address given in 1863 "became the most quoted speech in American history.  It was an iconic statement of America's dedication to the principles of nationalism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy." principles of nationalism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy." 

                    President Lincoln was re-elected in the presidential campaign of 1864 and was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre in April 1865 - just six days after General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Confederate army and ended the Civil War.  He died on April 15, 1865.  He is one of four Presidents memorialized on Mount Rushmore.  

                    The Gettysburg Address was a short speech delivered at the place of the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania.  It was given on November 19, 1863, at ceremonies to dedicate part of the battleground as a cemetery for the men who died fighting there.

                    "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

                    "Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure.  We are met on a great battlefield of that war.  We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live.  It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

                    "But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow this ground.  The brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract.  The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.  It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on.  It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain - that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom - and that governments of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

                    The following quotes by Lincoln show he was a regular, compassionate American who loved the United States.  More quotes can be found here.  

                   "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."  [I like this one!]

                    "Discourage litigation.  Persuade your neighbors to compromise whenever you can.  As a peacemaker the lawyer has superior opportunity of being a good man.  There will still be business enough."  [Interesting!]

                    "Force is all-conquering, but its victories are short-lived."  [This is good counsel for nations, civic leaders, and parents!]

                    "I am a firm believer in the people.  If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises.  The great point is to bring them the real facts."  [This quote gives a clear reason why the lame stream media continues to hide the truth from the American people.  They are afraid that Americans will see through their thinly-disguised ploys to destroy the United States as we know it.]

                    "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."  [How true!] 

                    "Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power."  [Again, very true!]

                    That some should be rich, shows that others may become rich, and, hence, is just encouragement to industry and enterprise."  [This quote sort of takes the wind out of the progressives' sails!]

                    "The probability that we may fail in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just."  [Join the fight to save our nation!]

                    "No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent."

President Lincoln left many outstanding quotes as shown by the following ones.  More quotes can be found here.

                    "A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have." 

    "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?"

                    "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  [This is another one of his famous quotes.]

                    "All my life I have tried to pluck a thistle and plant a flower wherever the flower would grow in thought and mind."  [This quote shows his intelligence as well as his humanity.]

                    "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."  [What a tribute!  His mother must have been truly wonderful!]

                    "All the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose - and you allow him to make war at pleasure."  [The truth of this statement is shown by our current President's wars in the Middle East!]

                    "America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."  [This statement is the absolute truth.  Communists understood this fact and began to infiltrate our nation soon after World War II in an effort to destroy our nation from the inside.  Their work appears to be almost complete.]

                    "Any people anywhere, being inclined and having the power, have the right to rise up, and shake off the existing government, and form a new one that suits them better.  This is a most valuable - a most sacred right - a right, which we hope and believe, is to liberate the world."  [He understood that the ultimate power in government rests with the people.]

                    I believe that Abraham Lincoln was great for many reasons.  His greatness is shown by the continued Union - the fact that we are united - the United States! 

If We Do Not Doubt

Children gain courage and families grow stronger when parents know what we believe, stay strong in our faith, and show our faith by our examples.  We can show our faith by being precise in prayer, in scripture study, in keeping covenants, in dressing modestly, in being totally honest, and in honoring the Sabbath.  We must help our children to put on the whole armor of God by our examples and teachings.

I was reminded today of a story in the Book of Mormon - Another Testament of Christ about a group of exemplary young warriors who were exceedingly valiant, courageous, and strong in defending their nation.  Their leader was a prophet named Helaman who considered his 2060 stripling warriors as his own sons.  He described the young men as being "men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him" (Alma 53:21).

These young warriors lived in times much like our own challenging days.  They were in difficult and dangerous circumstances as their enemies were threatening to overthrow their government and to kill the citizens of their nation.  Just as in our day, the youth were called upon to defend the physical and spiritual liberty of their people.  Paul could have been describing both their day and ours when he wrote, 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" (Ephesians 6:12).

Strong parents and leaders who will teach the truth are needed at all times but especially in challenging times.  Children and youth need to know the truth that stripling warriors of Helaman knew:  "If they did not doubt, God would deliver them" (Alma 56:47).

There is a revolution in our nation at the current time, and this revolution may result in another civil war.  If our nation divides into war once again, it will not be like the Civil War that took place in 1860-1864.  It will be a war between the classes - the have nots fighting the haves, the unemployed against Wall Street and Main Street, neighbor against neighbor, community against community - and it may expand to city against city, state against state.  Anyone with eyes to see and ears to hear knows that there is a great divide in our nation that has been growing for many years.  This divide continues to grow wider as one side attempts to maintain freedom, religion, morals, principles, laws, and our nation's Constitution while the other side tries to replace our Constitution with a "living Constitution, and destroy our faith in God and many of our freedoms.  We must decide which side we will support.  I personally choose the side with morals, religion, freedom, and the rule of law.

This revolution was caused by teachers and professors who encourage their students to rebel against authority and who destroy the faith of their students.  Union leaders urge and inspire their members to cause unrest in our cities such as the situation in Wisconsin earlier this year when unions opposed Governor Walker's attempt to balance their state budget; union members are part of the Occupy revolution.  Even the President of the United States, members of his Administration, members of Congress and leaders of states and cities encourage class warfare and revolution by their words and actions.  This President has made such a mess of our nation that I actually feel sorry for the next person elected to the office of President of the United States - if there is actually another election.

Occupy Wall Street was not simply a spontaneous demonstration, but it was well planned and prepared for months ago.  The demonstrators on Wall Street are being paid to be there.  Food is being brought to them.  They even have their own newspaper!

They are demonstrating against banks and corporations because they have huge student loans with no income to pay them back.  The students should be rebelling against their colleges and universities for their huge student loans because of the highly expensive tuitions to be there.  College and university tuition has grown more than twice as fast as inflation.  The cost of higher education has increased faster and higher than health care or anything else in our nation.  Why are not these institutions being blamed for the expense of education just as doctors are blamed for health care costs and banks/corporations are considered greedy.

Parents pay the high tuition in order that their children may receive educations, but the students are simply being indoctrinated with liberal, progressive, socialist and even communist ideas.  Did you know that 71-85 percent of Christian students lose their faith while at college?  Each of my children paid their own college expenses, but this loss of faith is very familiar to my family.  Four of my six children attended Brigham Young University where their faith in God was strengthened and increased, but two of my daughters attended secular schools where they were indoctrinated with very liberal/progressive ideas.  One of my daughters married a man who attended BYU, and she has continued strong in our faith in spite of her more liberal ideas.  The other daughter married a young man who grew up without much religion and attended the same secular university; she became inactive in our religion.  All my children have careers in the service industry and are much involved in making their communities better.  These two daughters are much more concerned about social justice and helping those who are considered less privileged, but they, like their siblings, contribute much good in our society.  For this I am very grateful!

The stripling warriors gave their mothers the credit for their great faith and courage.  I believe that there were other righteous adults involved in their training also.  At any rate, these young men knew the value of covenants.  They knew that their mothers recognized that strength comes through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  They knew that their mothers truly believed the teachings they gave their children.  Their mothers were instrumental in preserving the lives of their sons because they stood strong in their faith.  Like the mothers of the stripling warriors, we too must stand strong in our faith and keep our covenants; by doing so, we can uphold, nurture and protect our children and youth in these challenging and dangerous times.

                   

            

                   

                   

                    

Gettysburg Address

There are few people in America who have not heard the words that began, "Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal ….." and ended "… and that governments of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

The Battle of Gettysburg began on July 1 and ended on July 3, 1863, and marked a turning point in the Civil War in favor of the North. The Northern army of about 90,000 men was led to victory by General George G. Meade against the Southern army of 75,000 men led by General Robert E. Lee. The battle began when the two armies accidentally met in the little town of Gettysburg.

In the battle, the Confederate army took the town, but the Union army took a better and stronger position on high ground south of town. About 3,000 Union soldiers and 4,000 Confederate soldiers were killed in the battle. The total number of casualties - those killed, wounded, missing, or captured - was about 23,000 for the Northern army and 25,000-28,000 for the Southern army.

The Gettysburg Address was a short speech given by President Abraham Lincoln on November 19, 1863. This speech was delivered at the place of the Battle of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania at ceremonies to dedicate part of the battleground as a cemetery for those who died there. Lincoln wrote the speech because he wanted to define the purposes for the Civil War for those people who lived in the North. His simple and inspired words are among the most remembered in American history.

Lincoln wrote five versions of the speech and signed the fifth version. The version given below is based on shorthand notes of a reporter who heard Lincoln deliver the speech. In a comparison of the two speeches, I found a few minor differences but nothing major. Some examples of the differences are "We are met…" instead of "We have come…" and "carried on" instead of "advanced." Historians are reasonably sure of what he actually said because several reporters attended the ceremonies and wrote his words as he spoke. The nobility of Lincoln's brief remarks were recognized by many people and newspapers of the time.

"Four score and seven year ago our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We are met to dedicate a portion of it as the final resting place of those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
"But in a larger sense we cannot dedicate - we cannot consecrate - we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work that they have thus far so nobly carried on. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they here gave the last full measure of devotion - that we here highly resolve that the dead shall not have died in vain - that the nation shall, under God, have a new birth of freedom - and that governments of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Facts for this blog post are from articles by Gabor S. Boritt, World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, 176-177.

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) was one of the greatest men who ever lived. As the first Republican to become President of the United States, he led our nation during the Civil War, the bloodiest war and greatest crisis our country has known. Through his great leadership, Lincoln ended slavery and kept the Union from splitting apart. Americans and all people who love freedom should have a special place in their hearts for Abraham Lincoln.

Lincoln was born to Thomas and Nancy Lincoln on February 12, 1809, in Hardin (now Larue), Kentucky, on a farm located on the South Fork of the Nolin River, about five miles south of Elizabethtown. His ancestry has been traced to a weaver named Samuel Lincoln who emigrated from Hingham, England, to Hingham, Massachusetts, in 1637. The Lincoln's lived on the farm where Abraham was born for two years and then moved to another farm about ten miles away. Abraham and his older sister Sarah went to a long schoolhouse where they learned reading, writing and arithmetic. The Lincolns were apparently as well off as any of their neighbors. Sarah and Abraham were well fed and well clothed for the times. A third child, Thomas, died in infancy.

In 1816 when Abraham was about seven, the family moved to Indiana where they could buy land directly from the government. Thomas did not believe in slavery, and Indiana had no slavery. They arrived in early winter. Abraham helped his father clear trees from the 160 acres of land and build a three-sided shelter of logs. A fire on the fourth side burned continually. The family lived in the shelter until they finished a cabin and moved into it in February 1817.

By that time Abraham was eight years old and was large enough to swing an ax. He carried an ax with him most of the time that he lived in Indiana and considered it to be "the most useful instrument." Maybe he carried it for protection because bears and other wild animals roamed the remote area.

Life improved and became happier until Nancy died in October 1818, apparently from "milk sickness," an illness probably caused by poison that the cows ingested when eating snakeroot. She was buried on a hill by the cabin. Sarah, age 12, kept the house for more than a year before Thomas returned to Kentucky and married Sarah Bush Johnston, a widow, on December 2, 1819. Thomas had known the widow before her first marriage. She brought her three children, aged 12, 8, and 5, with her. The blended family apparently lived together in harmony.

Abraham lived on the Indiana frontier until he was 21, but long before he was 20, he was 6 feet 4 inches tall. He was thin, awkward, big-boned and str5ong, with his strength in his chest, legs and especially in his arms. He had coarse black hair that stood on end, dark skin and a homely face.

Abraham had less than one year of formal schooling. Because books and paper were scarce, he made his own arithmetic textbook - and several pages still exist. He worked his arithmetic problems on a wooden board which he "erased" by shaving the board clean so he could use it again and again. He walked long distances to borrow books. Some of the books he borrowed were Robinson Crusoe, Pilgrim's Progress, Aesop's Fables, a history of the United States and a schoolbook or two.

When Abraham was 14 91823), his parents joined a Baptist church, but Abraham never joined a church and never attended church regularly. The bitter rivalry among the denominations might be the explanation for his lifetime avoidance of church. He was very religious and knew the Bible thoroughly. His later writings and speeches had many Biblical quotes. He kept a Bible on his desk in the White House and read it often for comfort and guidance.

Abraham read another book while young that really impressed him. He spoke about it in later years before the New Jersey Senate: "May I be pardoned if, on this occasion, I mention that away back in my childhood, the earliest days of my being able to read, I got hold of a small book, such a one as few of the younger members have ever seen, Weem's Life of Washington. I remember all the accounts there given of the battle fields and struggles for the liberties of the country…. And you all know, for you have all been boys, how these early impressions last longer than any others. I recollect thinking then, boy even though I was, that there must have been something more than common that those men struggled for."

Abraham was a good speaker and story teller and was a favorite in his neighborhood. He also was a hard worker. He made his first money rowing passengers out to a steamboat waiting mid-stream in the Ohio River. He later (1828) helped take a flatboat loaded with farm produce to New Orleans. This trip was his first view of life beyond his community. His sister died in childbirth this same year.

In 1830 Thomas moved his family to a farm ten miles west of Decatur, Illinois. Lincoln moved with his family and stayed a year to help plant the first crops and split rails for a cabin and fences. In the spring of 1831 he was hired by a trader to take a flatboat to New Orleans and later to clerk in his new store in New Salem, Illinois. In New Salem, Abraham read the writings of the English dramatist William Shakespeare and the Scottish poet Robert Burns. These works and the Bible were his favorite things to read. The clerking job did not last long so Abraham joined the militia during the Black Hawk War and served for 90 days. After the war he had a chance to buy a New Salem store on credit in partnership with another man. The partnership got deeper and deeper in debt and eventually failed. Abraham was appointed post master of New Salem and worked with the county surveyor. He earned his living from odd jobs and the fees from his two public offices. His partner died, leaving Abraham with the debts of the partnership . It took Lincoln several years to pay off the debts, but his integrity in doing so helped earn him the name of "Honest Abe."

Abraham studied law and became a lawyer in New Salem. He moved to Springfield with everything he owned in his saddlebags. In Springfield, Lincoln met a visitor from Kentucky by the name of Mary Todd. After a stormy courtship, they married on November 4, 1842. Lincoln was 33, and Mary was 23. They had contrasting personalities but a loving marriage. The couple had four sons: Robert Todd, Edward Baker (died at age 4), William Wallace (died at age 11 in the White House, and Thomas, usually called Tad, died at age 18 in 1871).

Lincoln became a successful lawyer and politician. The family lived comfortably and usually employed a servant to help with the housework although Lincoln often milked the family cow and cared for his horse. He served four terms in the Illinois legislature. While in Springfield, Lincoln made a connection with my family. One of my great-great-grandfathers moved to Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois, about 1838 and lived there about two years before moving to Nauvoo, Illinois. While living in Sangamon County, my ancestor drove a carriage for Abraham Lincoln during the time that Lincoln was a member of the State Legislature. Lincoln served a term in the United States House of Representatives and campaigned for various presidential candidates. He always opposed slavery but never became an abolitionist. He considered slavery to be evil (morally, socially, and politically) and something to be eliminated.

Lincoln revered the Founding Fathers and believed they had promised freedom and equality in the Declaration of Independence. He looked to Thomas Jefferson for his democratic principles and Alexander Hamilton for his economic principles.

Lincoln was elected to the Illinois legislature again but resigned to run for United States Senator. He lost the first election, joined the two-year-old Republican Party and campaigned for Republican candidates. In another campaign for United States Senate against Senator Steven A. Douglas, Lincoln said, "A house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other…."

Lincoln challenged Douglas to a series of debates, and seven were scheduled. Douglas won the election, but their debates made Lincoln a national figure. Lincoln received the Republican nomination for President and easily won the election. By the time he became the 16th President on March 4, 1861, seven Southern states had withdrawn from the Union and four more states followed later. These eleven states became the Confederate States of America.
The Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina. Lincoln did everything he could to keep the Union together. He felt that the breakup of the American nation would be a tragedy for all Americans and cause all people to suffer. He believed that the United States was an experiment to see if people could govern themselves. He considered the central issue of the Civil War to be the fate of world democracy.

The Civil War probably destroyed any hope Lincoln had for happiness in the White House. Besides dealing with the Civil War, he wrote most of his own letters and all of his speeches. He spent hours each week visiting with anyone who chose to call. In all his years as President, he spent less than a month away from Washington. He found carriage rides relaxing and enjoyed the theater. White House dinners and receptions were simply duties to be performed, and his frequent visits to army hospitals brought great pain to his gentle soul. He read Shakespeare or the Bible for solace late at night.

Mrs. Lincoln was suspected by many as being disloyal because she had close family members fighting in the Confederate army. Lincoln grieved deeply at the death of their son "Willie" on February 20, 1962, but Mrs. Lincoln could not be comforted.

Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. He named the states and parts of states that were in rebellion and said that slaves there "are, and hence forward shall be, free." In reality, the proclamation freed no slaves. It applied only to territory controlled by the Confederates and could not be enforced by federal officers. Lincoln encouraged slave owners in Union states to free their slaves in exchange for government financial help, but his advice was not followed. The Emancipation Proclamation did however have long range effects. It showed other nations that the war had a high purpose. It also prepared the way for the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. This amendment was adopted in December 1965 and ended slavery throughout the United States.

Lincoln gave his Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863, at dedicatory services for a cemetery on the Gettysburg battle field. He prepared his address carefully and made final changes at Gettysburg. People who heard him speak knew that his declaration that "government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth" would last as long as democracy lived.

With a few Union victories behind him, Lincoln won reelection. His second inauguration took place on March 4, 1865. In his address, he explained that the Civil War was being fought to abolish slavery. He said that the Civil War was the result of the nation allowing slavery and urged the people to keep their faith in God strong.

The war wore on Lincoln. He didn't sleep well during crises, his eyes were ringed with black, his face was gaunt and deeply lined. He had no time for relaxation and ate irregularly. He continued to receive widows and soldiers who came to the White House. He was very humble but had confidence in his own judgments. He used persuasion to lead the people.

General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant on April 9, 1865, at the Appomattox Court House in Virginia. Lincoln gave his last public address on April 11, 1865.
On the evening of April 14, 1865, Lincoln attended a performance at Ford's Theatre in Washington. Just after 10:00 P.M., John Wilkes Booth shot the President in the head from the rear of the presidential box. Booth was a well-known actor and broke his leg leaping to the stage to escape.

Lincoln was carried unconscious to a nearby house. He was surrounded by his family and governmental officials when he died at 7:22 A.M. on April 15, 1865. Even enemies praised his selflessness and kindness. Millions lined the railroad tracks to watch his burial train go past. He was buried May 4 in Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois.

Booth fled to Maryland on horseback but was later trapped in a barn in Virginia where he was killed. Eight people were accused of conspiring to kill Lincoln and other governmental leaders. After being tried, four were hanged on July 7, and four were sent to prison. One of those four died in prison, and the other three were pardoned by President Andrew Johnson in 1869.

Facts and information for this blog post are from an article by Gabor S. Boritt, World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 12, pp 310-327.