I’m 56 years old (November, 2018) a native of Missouri but currently living in Texas for about 6 years now with my wife, of 35 years, Terri Lynn and two of our three children and a new grand-baby.
My sweet wife has borne 5 children our first, Britni, who was lost to drowning at the age of two, Cassidy (18) Hunter (22) and Gabrielle (28). (Zachary was lost at birth)
What I Believe:
I believe there is a God and that he has revealed himself to us via creation and his Son who is revealed to us in the scriptures, the Bible. The Bible, contrary to the skeptic, is not a book of myths and fables as it has been proven time and again to be accurate on all matters historical, scientific, etc. and unchanged for over three millennia now. (The New Testament for two millennia) There are a plethora of examples where science has historically contradicted the Bible and as time proceeded it was learned that the Bible was correct and science had to catch up. There is no other compilation of books that holds a candle to the Bible. It is Truth. Bottom line: “…without faith it is impossible to please him…” Hebrews 11:6. Nonetheless, this “faith” is not a blind faith as God has given us more than ample evidence to know the truth. There’s certainly nothing wrong with being a skeptic but an honest skeptic should do their due diligence and research before closing their mind.
I am a Believer in “the Faith” as the Apostle Paul called it, being saved by grace through faith and not of myself. The Bible, “rightly divided” reveals that the whole world has been reconciled to God by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (God in the flesh) having paid for our sins and that by simply taking God at his word (faith) concerning what he did, God places you in Christ (justification) and applies his righteousness to your account the moment you believe. This is what it means to be “saved”. God has taken the “SIN” issue off of the table of his justice and by simply taking God at his word that Christ’s death, 2000 years ago, satisfied God’s judgement once and for all and was sufficient for the payment of the sins of the world, once and for all, you are then placed into the “Body of Christ” the One baptism that the Apostle Paul refers to and your citizenship is now in heaven. This is what our Apostle Paul teaches. No going down to the Alter, saying a prayer, asking for forgiveness, getting dunked or sprinkled or doing anything. It is not about doing, it is about DONE. This is, in essence, the “Gospel of Christ” which the Apostle Paul preached not to be confused with other gospels preached by other Apostles.
Political Philosophy Past and Present:
I used to call myself a conservative when it came to politics and was pretty much a Reagan Republican. I was just graduating High School in 1980 just before Reagan first came to office in 1981. I had very conservative Christian roots but my dad was always making waves as he’d often be at odds with a few of the Southern Baptist sacred cows which, in his opinion were not Biblical. So, I learned from my dad early on to think for myself and was not the kind of person to just go along to get along. My parents, to my knowledge, were not very political and had voted democrat up until Reagan. I remember my dad saying, “my dad would roll over in his grave if he knew that I voted republican!”
In my senior year of High School I began to get interested in foreign policy somewhat, due to a contemporary issues class I was in. To my shame, I actually got into a fist fight with another student during class while arguing over some issue about Egypt and Anwar Sadat! It was ridiculous! As time went on I began to be influenced by authors and others who claimed to be “Constitutionalist” and that, as a country, we needed to return to it in order to save our country.
I was no George HW Bush fan but I did vote for him but by the time Clinton rolled around I was done with both parties. I voted a straight Libertarian ticket and have not voted Republican or Democrat since. Although I knew nothing of Rothbard (nor any other libertarian for that matter) back then, I knew the two major parties had morphed into one party for all practical purposes and regardless of which party was in power the results were the same. It wasn’t until the onset of the internet that I began to learn about libertarian philosophy primarily due to following Ron Paul in his 2008 and 2012 campaigns for the Republican nomination for president. Since then I have become a full blown Rothbardian Libertarian Anarcho-Capitalist.
An Observation:
Can there be any doubt that things are winding down? The whole world is in chaos and mankind has made a mess of pretty much everything. There is no doubt that we are nearing a major meltdown of the financial markets and economies all over the globe are in the tank. The moral fabric of societies everywhere has been torn without any sign of remission as the world sinks further and further into the abyss, not withstanding the recent resurgence of interest in libertarian thought which, gives reason for optimism for what may come after the collapse.
So what is the answer? Have a long-term plan. A plan that goes beyond this temporal life because, as has been so often stated, Life is short and while trying to make the world a better place for ourselves and our posterity has it’s merits and we all hope things are better tomorrow than today, the brevity of this life cannot be compared with everlasting life in the ages to come. If others believe that this life is all there is all I can do is to pity them but I believe there’s more, much more.
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