The Pope’s Persian Conversion

Popemania – the new Beetlemania.  The new cable news network mantra, “All Pope, all the time.”  Why the mainstream media’s interest in this Pope?  My hunch, they think he can be turned -- they think deep-down he’s a leftist too.

I was raised a Roman Catholic, but after reading the Bible in 1993 became a non-denominational, Bible-believing, born-again, washed in the blood, follower of Jesus Christ.  Louie Giglio, an Atlanta pastor and founder of the Passion movement, made the point one Sunday that “non-denominational” is not the best term since one would not want to be defined by what they don’t believe in.  I get that.  Consider the saying, “American by birth, Texan by the grace of God.”  In the spiritual realm, my case would be, “Roman Catholic by birth, Christ follower by the grace of God.”  

In the military, the two main services were either Catholic or General Protestant.  Although I would identify as “protestant” (after 1993) in keeping with Louie’s logic, I was not protesting anything.  My allegiance is not to a particular church or denomination – it is to the God of the Bible.

So, is the Pope Catholic?  Do bears defecate in the woods?  The answer used to be obvious.  In a FoxNews.com opinion piece published December 04, 2013, editor Adam Shaw (a Catholic) said, “Pope Francis is undergoing a popularity surge comparable to the way Barack Obama was greeted by the world in 2008. And just as President Obama has been a disappointment for America, Pope Francis will prove a disaster for the Catholic Church.”  He’s obviously right about the former but what about the latter?

Shaw continued, “Just like President Obama loved apologizing for America, Pope Francis likes to apologize for the Catholic Church, thinking that the Church is at its best when it is passive and not offending anyone’s sensibilities.”  How’s that “apology approach” to foreign policy working out for America and the world?  Shaw then describes the results for the Catholic Church: 
 

  ”For all we’re being told about how ‘disenfranchised’ Catholics are being brought back by Francis ‘reaching out,’ a recent Pew Research study showed that in America, the number of people who identify as Catholic has actually decreased.  Lesson: rubbing the egos of Church-hating left-wingers doesn’t make more Catholics; it just makes the Church less respected.”  

Take a lesson America.  Jesus knew the world would hate Him and made no bones about it, explaining, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.   If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.”   So how is it that this Pope trumps this teaching of Jesus? 

 

Another indicator beyond the press drooling over the Pope that should alert one’s spidey-senses – nary a peep out of the “freedom from religion crowd.”   There’s the Pope flying around in Marine One, the President’s personal helicopter, again, silence.  It is common knowledge that that aircraft is supposed to be reserved for flying the Obama’s on vacations – not a supposedly anti-gay marriage, pro-life, male-only priesthood promoting pontiff.   The leftists’ lack of outrage at this cooperation between Church and state is deafening, and a sure sign that they aren’t scared of the guy.

As a wacko Bible believer (i.e. orthodox Christian) I’m anticipating the prophesied marriage of the apostate church and the government.  Seeing Obama and this Pope side-by-side at the White House the other day was almost enough to believe the archangel’s lips were on the trump of God.  Perhaps this Pope is just Obama’s new Jeremiah Wright – to be thrown under the bus at some future date.  Maybe it’s a marriage of convenience – each hoping to advance their respective agendas by appearing together in unity.   

Although Obama and the left-wing American media may have rolled out the red carpet for Francis, I’m pretty sure Jesus would not enjoy a similar welcome.   If the Jewish Messiah were to show up tomorrow (and scripture says it’s very, very possible), it’s my bet Obama and the press would treat Jesus a lot more like the last Jewish guy to address a joint session of Congress – Benjamin Netanyahu.  

Another way Obama, the Pope and the press are alike (besides believing in climate-change) – they all support the Iran deal.  Said the Pope, "it is proof of the potential of political goodwill, exercised with sincerity, patience and constancy,"

Now that’s faith.

This column appears in The Upson Beacon, 30 SEP 2015 published in Upson County, GA.

Peacemakers and Peace Prizes

Let me start by confessing President Obama’s leadership approach makes me ill.  It’s my judgment that his “leadership” has made our nation and the entire world a more dangerous and unstable place.  His racism, partisanship and class-envy agenda has stoked the fires of dissension, rebellion and anarchy.  These wild fires are now out-of-control and might well be beyond the ability of man or government to contain. 

Doing a little introspection (like checking for lumps), I realized my mindset has gone well beyond the mere fact that I believe Obama and his cronies are destroying our country and destabilizing the world-order for future generations – it has become a medical disorder.  Recalling the syndrome that plagued so many liberals when Bush and Cheney were in office, I began a little internet medical research to see if I was suffering from something comparable. 

Using the search term “Bush Derangement Syndrome”, I quickly learned that BDS was discovered by my second favorite Jew, Dr. Charles Krauthammer (Jesus of Nazareth being my favorite).  The definition of BDS according to the good doctor:  “the acute onset of paranoia in otherwise normal people in reaction to the policies, the presidency -- nay -- the very existence of George W. Bush.”  Those most at risk for the dreaded BDS -- Doctor Krauthammer said that it, “generally struck people with previously compromised intellectual immune systems.”

   

Through the power of the internet (and Al Gore’s ingenuity), I was able to uncover my malady – Obama Derangement Syndrome ODS.  There is great comfort in knowing one’s disability has a name.  In a clear-cut case of copy-cat medicine, Dr. Christopher Zimmermann has gone so far as to develop six-stages for the disease. (I’m a four on my good days.)  Here’s an abbreviated list of symptoms:  

Stage One.  Subtle, low level criticisms of Obama's "leadership" abilities.  

Stage Two.  Attacks on the President begin to take on a nonsensical element such as criticism of Obama playing golf, taking a vacation with his family, or eating mustard on his hamburger.  (Zimmerman makes no allowance for golf outings immediately after announcing American beheadings.)

Stage Three.  Unable to call the President by his name, using incendiary monikers such as Barry, Obummer, Zero, etc.

Stage Four.  Use of phrases like, "Anyone but Obama."  The diseased begin to take any position, so long as it is not Obama's position.  Mocking ideas like "hope" and "change" as naive, simply because Obama embodies them.

Stage Five.   Assaults on the President's character begin to imply he is evil at his core. The development of conspiracies that suggest Obama is knowingly executing an agenda that will harm America are commonplace. Questions like, "Is Obama A Bigger Threat Than Al Qaeda?" and "Obama: A Radical Leftist Who Seeks To Dismantle Capitalism?" are common place.

Stage Six.  People who are offended by Barack Obama's very existence.  

Now where were we?  Oh yea, discussing leadership. 

Like it or not, a superpower cannot abdicate its responsibility to lead, anymore than the father of a family can without bad things happening.  The mantle of global leadership, like paternal leadership, is incumbent with the position.  The oxymoronic (maybe just moronic) “leading from behind” is not leadership – it is dereliction of duty.   One only need look to our inner cities to see the consequences of absentee fathers.   Observe the Middle East to see what dereliction and our “Peace through withdrawal” strategy has wrought.  President Obama’s Nobel Peace prize, awarded in anticipation of the peace to come, may well have to be revoked for the mayhem ultimately delivered.

 

Paradoxically, there is another man, a man considered by many to be a man of war, who is credited with bringing about peace.  For the last couple of weeks I’ve been reading a biography about said peacemaker, General David Petraeus.  I was extremely impressed by his thoughts on strategic leadership.

Petraeus said there are four tasks he thinks strategic leaders have to perform:

- First, “Get the ‘Big Ideas’ right.”

- Second, “Effectively communicate the Big Ideas.”

- Third, “Oversee the implementation of the Big Ideas.”

- Fourth, “Capture best practices and lessons…to help refine the Big Ideas.”

After reading that I earnestly, honestly, and objectively tried to identify what Obama’s “Big Ideas” are – what is it he believes in?  Closing GTMO, the Iran deal, climate change, sexual rights (a new government term), Making America Great Again (just kidding).   It would be funny if it wasn’t so serious.

What is the “big idea” of the Obama administration – honestly, I have no idea.  

This column appears in The Upson Beacon, 23 SEP 2015 published in Upson County, GA.

At This Point...

Thanks for reading this.  Whether on-line or in print, I sincerely appreciate it.  There’s an old supposedly Chinese saying, “May you live in interesting times.”  One problem though – there’s no known Chinese saying like that.  The closest one is actually from a 17^th Century Chinese short story -- “Better to be a dog in a peaceful time, than to be a man in a chaotic period."    The way things are nowadays, even a dog’s outta luck.

Last week, I was watching the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, when he described the current Middle Eastern refugee crisis as a “disaster of Biblical proportions." Clapper went on to say that he worries about the background of some of those fleeing Iraq and Syria.  I’ll take, “What Can Go Wrong With That?” for 10,000 Alex. These times are not just interesting, they’re downright chaotic.   Sadly though, most Americans are simply not interested.

One of the reasons I‘m thankful you’re reading this – it shows you’re concerned.  So many of our fellow countrymen (and millions of the illegals living here), just don’t care enough about America to stay informed.  I offer Obama’s reelection and Hillary’s candidacy as sad proof of our uninformed masses. 

This brings me to a recent exchange between Dr. Ben Carson and Donald Trump.  Last week, Carson was asked by a reporter how he was different from Trump.  "Probably the biggest thing -- I've realized where my success has come from and I don't in anyway deny my faith in God."  Carson continued to cite what he said was one of his favorite Bible verses, "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life and that's a very big part of who I am. I don't get that impression with [Trump] him -- Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't get that."

Aside from the fact that Dr. Carson demonstrated it’s hard to humbly discuss one’s own humility, it’s not clear to me that anyone who believes they’re the one most qualified to assume the highest office in the most powerful nation in the world could list humility as one of their foremost attributes.  Granted, he was just answering their question.   I must agree with Dr. Carson – I don’t get that impression of Trump either.  Maybe that’s why Trump is so refreshing.

Carson is obviously a pious man, but he certainly violated the Eleventh Commandment as proclaimed by Ronald Reagan -- our savior from the Carter years.  As “Saint Reagan” declared, “Thou shalt not speak ill of any fellow Republican.”  Perhaps especially when talking about your own humility.  The guiding principle for these interesting and difficult times needs to be that espoused by the late William F. Buckley, Jr.  Buckley said we should nominate, "the rightward-most viable candidate."

 Consider now the last seven years under the self-professed Christian and Constitution scholar Barrack Obama.  Christians are being attacked all over the world – physically in the Middle East, North Africa and elsewhere, politically in the US and Europe.  Islamic countries are so bad now that Muslims don’t even want to live in them.  The Constitution has been trashed to the point that it’s not even worth the parchment it was written on.  And what is our current National Security Strategy – the Obama Doctrine?  Senator Ron Johnson called it, “Peace through withdrawal.”  I’d call it, “Losing from behind.”

Dr. Robert Jeffress, pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, said it this way, “There is a palpable feeling among many Christians (as well as non-Christians) that our nation has been in a downward death spiral during the last seven years of President Obama’s administration.  Some feel that the 2016 election may be the last opportunity to reverse that trend...Trump, they believe, is the only candidate with the leadership skills necessary to lead us out of that mess.”

So why Trump? Consider this humble proclamation by The Donald, “We’ll win so much if I’m elected you’ll get bored with winning!”  That’s my kind of boredom.  Trump also said people are shocked when they found out he’s protestant. "I am Presbyterian. And I go to church and I love God and I love my church."  Maybe he does, maybe he doesn’t.  If I may quote Hillary for a moment, “At this point, what difference does it make?”

Truthfully, any of the Republicans would be great, Christian or not.  As Pastor Jeffress also said, “Evangelicals no longer require their president to be one of them; they just want a president who doesn't hate them.”

This column appears in The Upson Beacon, 16 SEP 2015 published in Upson County, GA.

So What's the Problem?

“The problem is…”  Those three simple words start many of my sentences.  I realized it’s a pretty typical sentence starting technique for many Soldiers when I was with an Army buddy, floating down the Flint River (kayaking actually).  This same friend runs a great charity for veterans – Race for the Wounded.    It is a grassroots, nonprofit organization, founded with the vision and goal to support veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They train, fund, equip and support veterans in some of the toughest off road races in the world, helping them heal from the wounds of war through hardcore off-road competition. 

We were working our way down the river, intermittently drifting as we cast for shoal bass, when I suggested doing something like this (kayaking excursions) might be a good activity for vets to participate in as a means of healing.  That’s when I heard it – “The problem is….” – how would you get a guy out in the case of a medical emergency?  We had no cell phone coverage and that stretch of the river was inaccessible by land or motorboat.  

The doctrinal definition for “problem” is found in Army Doctrine Reference Publication (ADRP) No. 5.  It states, “A problem is an issue or obstacle that makes it difficult to achieve a desired goal or objective.  In a broad sense, a problem exists when an individual becomes aware of a significant difference between what actually is and what is desired. In the context of operations, an operational problem is the issue or set of issues that impede commanders from achieving their desired end state.”

For military guys solving problems is what we do by nature.  (Some might argue we do a pretty good job of creating them too.)  In fact, in the past we frequently referred to training exercises as “field problems.”  The purpose of going to the field was so we could learn and train how to solve tactical problems.  Being in the field caused us to confront the many elements and variables we’d inevitably seek to master, control, or conquer.  Leaders would employ our doctrine as outlined in the relevant Field Manuals, coupled with their experience, in order to solve the tactical field problem(s).

The military has designed acronyms and acrostics to help the Soldier solve, or at least take appropriate action when a problem is encountered.  METT-TC is one example that is used to help solve a tactical problem – it represents; Mission, Enemy, Terrain (and weather), Troops (and support available, Time available), and Civil considerations.  Under “Terrain” we further use the acronym OCOKA which stands for Observation, Cover and Concealment, Obstacles, Key terrain, and Avenues of Approach.  These two simple memory aids (METT-TC and OCOKA) enable a Soldier at the Company level and below to employ the eight-step Troop Leading Procedures (TLP) to solve a tactical problem. 

Those eight simple steps are captured by RIMS-R-CIS; Receive the mission, Issue a warning order, Make a tentative plan (using METT-TC and OCOKA), Start necessary movement, conduct Reconnaissance, Complete the plan,  Issue the order, and Supervise. When we buy something it usually comes with an instruction manual, military doctrine is that manual.  Nonetheless, there remains one persistent problem – misdiagnosing the root cause – treating the symptoms – not solving the problem. 

One thing that amazes me is how many of the professions in our modern-day world are dedicated to solving problems. Whether it is doctors trying to medicate maladies and eradicate pain, mechanics trying to mend machines, policemen trying to maintain or restore order, or farmers trying to bring forth food from the ground.  The fact of the matter is most of these worthy endeavors are all largely necessary to undo the curse of sin.  Genesis Chapter 3 describes some of the effects of sin entering the world:

 “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children…“Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.  It will produce thorns and thistles for you…By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”

The ultimate, and only answer to our sin predicament poses an even bigger problem for many; a virgin giving birth to a baby by the name of Jesus.   So what’s the problem? 

Surrender Strategy

In a previous column we discussed the six forms of maneuver warfare with a particular focus on infiltration.  You might recall the Army manual that covered that topic was titled Offense and Defense.   The particular way my mind is warped has caused me to dwell on that title – “Offense and Defense” – for the past couple of weeks. It is as if they are mutually exclusive, yet obviously related.

The other thought that has been churning in my mind is the old maxim, “The best defense is a good offense.”  As I tested that hypothesis using historical examples, modern military engagements, and my understanding of the “art and science” of war, I’m not so sure that old adage is accurate.   

The way the introduction of FM 3-90-1 (Offense and Defense) deals with the tactics embodied in that title certainly suggests they are discreet.  The intro says, “These offensive and defensive combined arms tactics and considerations apply to the conduct of decisive action across the range of military operations…Part One contains five chapters and addresses the conduct of offensive tasks.  Part Two contains four chapters and addresses the conduct of defensive tasks.”  Although they may be interrelated, they are clearly divided.

We can see this division more clearly in American football.  In that sport we have two specific squads, each task organized to fulfill their specific functions.  Only one of the two formations from each team is on the field at a given time.  Contrast this with basketball; the same players play both offense and defense.  In sports where the winner is determined by amassing points it is difficult to win with only a good defense. 

One historical approach to warfare that has served us well is the concept of mutually assured destruction (MAD).  This doctrine has achieved peace in the nuclear realm by asserting that we reserve the right to use nuclear weapons (to include preemptively); in an overwhelming manner should another nation dare to consider offensive use.  The underlying logic of this MAD doctrine is that neither side dares launch as the resultant destruction would be unacceptable to either side.  Reagan called this “peace through strength.”   All that said, this might be best characterized as, “the best offense is a good offense.” 

 Paradoxically, in this instance “a good defense” (counter missile capabilities, nuclear shelters, etc.) that make survivability more plausible, really only makes the MAD doctrine less likely to work, such that one might conclude “the best defense (to keep the doctrine effective) is no defense.” 

Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese military strategist and philosopher might choose to say, “The best offense is a good strategy.”  The translation of his thoughts says it this way, “The best strategy in warfare is to capture an enemy country whole and intact without having to resort to arms. To conquer it by force is the second best way…Accordingly, the best way in directing military operations is to defeat the enemy through strategic superiority, the second best way is to defeat the enemy through diplomatic means; the next best method is resorting to arms to conquer the enemy army, and it is always the least desirable method to besiege a fortified city.”  So for Sun Tzu the best way to win is to defeat the enemy through strategic superiority.  One could only wish America’s current leaders would rediscover that truth.

When the hypothesis that “the best defense is a good offense” is tested in the area of interpersonal relationships it seems to have the greatest probability for failure.   The weak and wounded seem to lash out at the least provocation.  We’ve seen that in the recent irrational acts of several shooters, the cold-blooded killing of the Texas policeman putting petrol in his patrol car being one.  The absolutely senseless shooting of the reporter and her cameraman is another.   In these cases the worst defense was a “good” offense.  A sound mind in the attacker was what was wanting.

There is one realm where it is neither offense nor defense that achieves victory – that is in the spiritual realm.  There is no offense that can win against God, nor any defense that can hold Him off – only unconditional surrender works.  Jesus said it this way, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Surrendering to the Savior is the only sure strategy.