I admire this woman who wrote a letter to Mr. Rand, the Executive Director of AARP. She not only has a grasp of ‘the situation’, but she also has an incredible command of the English language! I would say she pretty well summed things up!

Dear Mr. Rand,

Recently you sent us a letter encouraging us to renew our lapsed membership in AARP by the requested date. I know it is not what you were looking for, but this is the most honest response I can give you.

Our gap in coverage is merely a microscopic symptom of the real problem, a deepening lack of faith. While we have proudly maintained our membership for several years and have long admired the AARP goals and principles, regrettably, we can no longer endorse it’s abdication of our values.

Your letter specifically stated that we can count on AARP to speak up for our rights, yet the voice we hear is not ours. Your offer of being kept up to date on important issues through DIVIDED WE FAIL presents neither an impartial view nor the one we have come to embrace.

We do believe that when two parties agree all the time on everything presented to them, one is probably not necessary. But, when the opinions and long term goals are diametrically opposed, the divorce is imminent. This is the philosophy which spawned our 200 years of government.

Once upon a time, we looked forward to being part of the senior demographic. We also looked to AARP to provide certain benefits and give our voice a power we could not possibly hope to achieve on our own. AARP gave us a sense of belonging which we no longer enjoy. The Socialist politics practiced by the Obama administration and empowered by AARP serves only to raise the blood pressure my medical insurance strives to contain. Clearly a conflict of interest there!

We do not understand the AARP posture, feel greatly betrayed by the guiding forces that we expected to map out our senior years, and leave your ranks with a great sense of regret. We mitigate that disappointment with the relief of knowing that we are not contributing to the problem anymore by renewing our membership. There are numerous other organizations which offer discounts without threatening our way of life or offending our sensibilities.

This Presidential Administration scares the living daylights out of us. Not just for ourselves, but for our proud and bloodstained heritage. But even more importantly for our children and grandchildren. Washington has rendered Soylent Green a prophetic cautionary tale rather than a nonfiction scare tactic.

I have never in my life endorsed any militant or radical groups, yet now I find myself listening to them. I don’t have to agree with them to appreciate the fear which birthed their existence. Their borderline insanity presents little more than a balance to the voice of the Socialist mindset in power.

Perhaps I became American by a great stroke of luck in some cosmic uterine lottery, but in my adulthood I CHOOSE to embrace it and nurture the freedoms it represents as well as the responsibilities it requires.

Your website generously offers us the opportunity to receive all communication in Spanish. ARE YOU KIDDING??? Someone has broken into our ‘house’, invaded our home without our invitation or consent. The President has insisted we keep the perpetrator in comfort and learn the perp language so we can communicate our reluctant welcome to them.

I DON’T choose to welcome them.

I DON’T choose to support them.

I DON’T choose to educate them.

I DON’T choose to medicate them, pay for their food or clothing.

American home invaders get arrested.

Please explain to me why foreign lawbreakers can enjoy privileges on American soil that Americans do not get?

Why do some immigrants have to play the game to be welcomed and others only have to break & enter to be welcomed?

We travel for a living. Walt hauls horses all over this great country, averaging over 10,000 miles a month when he is out there. He meets more people than a politician on caffeine overdose. Of all the many good folks he enjoyed on this last 10,000 miles, this trip yielded only ONE supporter of the current administration. One of us is out of touch with mainstream America. Since our poll is conducted without funding, I have more faith in it than one which is power driven.

We have decided to forward this to everyone on our mailing list, and will encourage them to do the same. With several hundred in my address book, I have every faith that the eventual exponential factor will make a credible statement to you.

I am disappointed as hell.

I am scared as hell.

I am MAD as hell, and I’m NOT gonna take it anymore!

Walt & Cyndy

Miller Farms Equine Transport

Many today call themselves Children of God, but do not understand, or are not aware, that as Children of God we are also Soldiers of Christ. Most of the modern churches do not teach Christians this all-important characteristic of being a born-again child of God. Instead they lean toward self-gratification and euphoria. This is probably one huge reason for all the tolerance to sin exhibited by today’s Christians.

This series will take from God’s Word (NKJV Study Bible) in 2 Timothy to show what it means to be a Good Soldier of Christ. I will begin with the Call of a Soldier of Christ, which is a holy calling.

Paul wrote this very personal letter to Timothy, whom he called his beloved son in Christ, while imprisoned in Rome because of persecution under Nero.  Paul was beheaded on the Ostian Way, west of Rome, not long after this writing.

2 Timothy 1: 6, 7 – “6. Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands. 7. For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind (self-control or good sense).” Paul was encouraging Timothy to continue the work he began for God without fear – cowardice; as believers, we are to have fear in the sense of awe, but not cowardice.

The Call of a Soldier of Christ is a Call to Courage:

2 Timothy 1: 8-12 – 8. “Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord (testifying, including by suffering, to our Lord), nor of me His prisoner, but share with me in the sufferings for the gospel according to the power of God,” Paul suffered tremendously, but remained courageous to the end. It was not by his own power that he was able to do this. It was by the power of God and His Holy Spirit. As soldiers of Christ, we too will share in the sufferings/persecution, but will make it through to the end by His power and might.

9.”who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began,”

10. “but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality (deathlessness, imperishability) to light through the gospel,”

11. “to which I was appointed a preacher, an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.”

12. “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed (on Christ’s trustworthiness I have staked my faith)  and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.” Committed – the deposit – Paul’s trust is well-founded, for God will preserve this deposit of faith in Christ until the day of judgment, when all dangers will be past. Some understand this to pertain to God’s deposit of gifts in Paul’s life.

The Call of a Soldier of Christ is a Call to Faithfullness:

2 Timothy 1:13-18 – 13.” Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus.”

14. “That good thing (the good deposit, the gospel) which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.”

15. “This you know, that all those in Asia have turned away from me, among whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes.” All who are now in Asia – those who had formerly been with Paul in Rome. Asia was the Roman province encompassing the western part of what is now called Asia Minor (Turkey). Phygellus and Hermogenes were a special disappointment to Paul and were known to Timothy. They were not faithful soldiers of Christ. It is possible that the sufferings experienced as Soldiers of Christ were too difficult for them to bear.

16. “The Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain;”

17. “but when he arrived in Rome, he sought me out very diligently (with persevering determination) and found me.”

18. “The Lord grant to him that he may find mercy from the Lord in that Day–and you know very well how many ways he ministered to me at Ephesus.” Onesiphorus had ministered to Paul in Ephesus, and sought him out in the dungeon where Paul was confined in Rome and ministered to him there. What a faithful friend and follower of Christ; unlike Phygellus and Hermogenes and all those who turned away in Asia. Onesiphorus will see his rewards in the end. Unfortunately, those who turned away will miss out on them.

The next entry will be on the Character of a Soldier of Christ.