Real Peace

Today in much of the Christian world is the First Sunday of Advent.  This is the first of four Sundays that precede Christmas Eve.  The Advent season is characterized as a season of anticipation of the celebration of Christ's birth and is the start of the ecclesiastical year.  The first Sunday's theme is hope and consequently the pastor's sermon was centered upon that theme. 

In Lutheran Liturgy, there are usually three texts read during the service.  There is one from the Old Testament, one from the New and one from the Gospels.  This morning, the Old Testament text was taken from Isaiah 2:2-4 (NRSV)

²In days to come
   the mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
   and shall be raised above the hills;
all the nations shall stream to it.
³   Many peoples shall come and say,
'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
   to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
   and that we may walk in his paths.'
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
   and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
⁴He shall judge between the nations,
   and shall arbitrate for many peoples;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
   and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
   neither shall they learn war any more.

No one wants war.  No sane person advocates for the violence, death and destruction that are the inevitable results of war.  No one wants to send a loved one off to face those horrors.  As Christians, we know that only the return of Christ will bring real peace, but until then, the world is full of madmen who seek to enslave others and take away our own peace and freedoms.

While we as Christians pray for Christ's return and the peace He will bring, we must stand ready to defend our nation from those who would try and subjugate us.  Those of us who understand this principle also understand that peace is not just the absence of war.  Peace is being prepared to defend our families, our homes and our country from those who plot to take those things from us.  To live in peace means we must be ever vigilant and always be ready to defend this nation. 

I'm reminded of the cartoon Pinky and the Brain.  In case you aren't familiar with it, Pinky and the Brain are two laboratory mice.  The Brain is a mastermind mouse bent upon taking over the world.  Pinky is his bumbling cage mate and assistant.  Each episode starts with this exchange:

Pinky: Gee Brain what are we gonna do tonight?

Brain: The same thing we do every night Pinky. Try to take over the world!

Pinky and The Brain are cartoon characters and we can laugh at their exploits, but the truth is that there are people who plot our demise and downfall.  The United States fills a huge vacuum on the world stage and were we to be removed in some fashion, there would be a large hole left to fill.    The question you should be asking is, "If not us, who?"  There aren't any good answers.

Those who think they will have peace by weakening America will not find the peace they seek.  Without a great and strong America, the world will be a much more dangerous place in which to live.   The hope of the world, until such time as the Prince of Peace returns, will rest upon a free and strong America.

Merry Christmas!

VW

Comments

[WMD_Maker]

I dont know why reatilers cant send out specific ad supliments for each holiday. I read where one chain will put out 26 supliments.
Have one for Christmas with regular and sale prices, one for Hanukah (sp) with gentile and "special for you" pricing, one for kwanza with honkey price and "we be down wit dat" pricing. Frederick's and Adam and Eve could send out their S&M catalog as their Ramadan special.

[Violence Worker]

LOL Where did that come from!!!??

VW

[GM Cassel AMH1(AW) USN RET]

I miss Pinky and the Brain:-(

[Flag Gazer]

The hope of the world, until such time as the Prince of Peace returns, will rest upon a free and strong America.

So true!!