Silence must not win

The following represents the talk I gave on Saturday 09 Nov 2019 on the National Mall in Washington, DC to a group of Americans struggling to bring America back to its roots. This concerns the 1st Amendment.

Silence!

          Every despot and tyrant demands it. Whether it be a government or a church, whenever you’re told to remain silent, you can expect tyranny. How many times have you been told it’s poor etiquette to discuss politics or religion in public? I was coming of age in the ‘60s and it was prevalent then. That’s over fifty years of influence in my life alone.

 Every citizen living under such expectation of a nation never experiences the opportunity of free speech. In fact, they first never think freely. They’ve been trained. They already know simple words attract attention, most of it horribly violent.

            When the aggression falls on the citizenry of a nation, the people must decide. Do they fall to their knees in subjugation, or do they stand? Think of what we know of other countries and how people responded to tyranny. Most of us use the term Molan Labe from the Spartan standoff against the King of Persia who intended to subjugate an entire state. The Scots and William Wallace stood against the English. Freedom!

            It’s obvious stories like these make excellent movies because mankind loves a righteous struggle against overwhelming odds, even though the outcome for the participants isn’t guaranteed. The story of America ranks among the most audacious. We the people, with little more than what we could carry on our backs, stood up.

            It started with a priest in Germany. The Roman Catholic church demanded only priests could read and interpret scripture. Martin Luther studied those scriptures and determined there were ninety-five items he didn’t agree with and posted them on the church door for all the community to see. He paid for this free thinking with his life, but the actions started a reformation of the way every day citizens could decide for themselves how to worship the God of the Universe.

            English history reflects the struggle to walk away from the demands of the Pope. King Henry VIII broke from the Roman church and founded his own, the Anglican Church of England. As the catholic church suppressed the people of Spain with a horrendous Inquisition, Henry committed an inquisition in England. If the citizens didn’t kowtow to his demands, they were thrown in jail. It was only slightly less violent than the catholic methods.

            From this experience a group of people ran. They left England and the Anglican Church and moved to the Netherlands. The Spanish Catholics attacked there to drive out the Protestants being tolerated by the government, so the English returned to their homeland. They still experienced subjugation under the British king. It was at this juncture they determined to get away from the king’s heavy hand. Their ship, the Mayflower, fought heavy seas and winds to arrive on the shores of Plymouth Rock in 1620, thirteen years after an Anglican priest arrived in Jamestown.

            The point is there’s a long standing history of the importance to the American people of their motivation to pursue God in a way that made sense to them. Our very foundation stood on the tenets of the Christian faith. Even though not every colonialist chose Christianity, the vast majority of them used the Bible or reading primers with scripture to learn how to read. They were instilled with a Christian worldview.

            We stand in this place today because a king refused to acknowledge the human rights of his citizens. The same people he was required by law to watch over and protect. Instead, he sent a standing army to occupy homes, suppress discussion of his inadequacy, and to quell the voices. People who had one hundred and fifty years of development as independents far removed from the king’s influence.

            So, we the people listed our issues against the tyrant so all the world understood our plight. There were twenty-nine issues, among which were his failure to respond to communication addressing his lack of attention to the needs of his citizens. “In every stage of the Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble Terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated Injury. A Prince, whose Character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the Ruler of a free People.”

            And so it is in today’s world we look back at how America came to be the most blessed and highly favored among nations. We look today at our Declaration of Independence and the Constitutional Republic formed so many years ago. We see plainly the pus of mankind oozing out of our precious form of government because of the infection afflicting it. We have the right, no the duty, to call attention to the tyrannical actions exhibited by a bastardized version of our Constitution.

            The 1^st Amendment guarantees this right.

            “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

            We now look at the results of our founders work. Progressives took the initiative at the turn of the twentieth century to create the very form of government our founders warned against, a democracy where mob rule reigns. They convinced the nation the people should be electing Senators to come to Washington. The 17^th Amendment structurally changed how the Constitution’s checks and balances kept us on track. We now have two-thirds of our Republic under the control of popular vote.

            This assembly of people before me stands in agreement with the Redress of Grievances. You are the voice for the people who won’t vote. It’s imperative you continue to use your 1^st Amendment rights to free speech and redress. Our government only runs effectively when citizens participate. The silent majority have trashed our way of life. Many don’t understand how important the freedom of religion, in the context of the founding fathers’ Christian heritage, is to keeping America free. It’s so important it was the first thing our Continental Congress listed.

            You are aware of the trampling of our free speech rights as experienced in the press and on the internet. You are aware of the continuing persecution of the Christian faith of Americans and the forbidding of such things as prayer in schools and in our governmental bodies. You know Congress makes decisions not for the good of the people, but for their own prosperity. You know our hope lies in pulling down the darkness of progressivism. You’ve signed petitions. You’ve stood up. Now we must move forward.

            Make specific plans to follow up using your right to free speech. Take the time and effort to write a letter to the editor of your newspaper. They may not chose to print it, but if you persist and write again, you’ll find ways to influence them to post opposing views. Talk about the Redress of Grievances now posted in the White House. Stir up interest in seeing these grievances addressed and corrected.

            And just as importantly, reconnect with your Christian upbringing. Choose to bring yourself to the table of God’s grace. America has been and can be a city set on a hill for all the world to see the glory of God. It will take all of us exercising our first amendment rights to bring us back, to make America great again. 

Do not be silent.

Copyright 2019 Warren A Johnson

Participation Beats Opposing Views

This blog ran first on a Facebook page blog for The Liberty Den, found here:  @the libertyden

A few weekends ago a conference of patriots in West Virginia called The ALL Groups National Convention in Bridgeport occurred. From the face book page (https://www.facebook.com/events/171953923535695/) we gather this statement: “This event will be held to help unify the great Patriots of this country. No mater(sic) what banner you fly or patch you wear, we are all Patriots at heart. Please join us for this event to help everyone work together to make a difference. We must start communicating and cooperating, if not the Patriot Movement will forever run in circles.”

If you’re a regular Liberty Den visitor and invest the time in reading these blogs, you’re headed in the right direction. Understanding viewpoints as expressed by the bloggers is critical to communicating within the greater community of patriots.

But here’s the thing. Too many of you will be reading this instead of going to the forum. There are many reasons why patriots like yourselves (and me) don’t go to conferences, missions, disaster relief, or political rallies. However, as Chaplain of the South Carolina Militia Coalition, I can tell you this. When it comes to a group of people of like mind, there is power. Here’s the way God sees it according to the book of Hebrews. ²⁴ And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, ²⁵ not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:24, 25 NKJV)

If you see the day approaching when the Constitutional Republic will suffer, then attending a conference of like-minded souls is critical to the success of the group in general. Not so much because you’re a big wheel and have millions of contacts, but rather to stand with brothers and sisters as an encouragement to them.

We observed a phenomenon when high-schoolers across the nation seemed to jell overnight to take a walk outside of school hours in order to raise awareness and protest against gun violence. This didn’t happen overnight, just like the overnight successful people you know or heard about didn't happen in a short period. This event was planned for months and subsidized by big money, yet it took participation by the students, no matter their reason for doing so, to make a huge impact across our land.

Now you have the opportunity to create the same type of impact for your point of view, but you cannot do it by staying home or hiding in the woods when the day comes. Too many of us across the United States expect to be lone wolves with maybe a pack of wife and children to survive when the day comes. However, you must assess how long you can functionally maintain your family unit when you’re up against five or ten individuals determined to take whatever you have.

As we continue to find out, there are ways anyone with technical expertise can access virtually any information about you they desire, including the location of every piece of land you own, your income level, where your kids go to school, and how many and which type of firearms you own.

Don’t stay home when you have the opportunity to gather together so your voice can be heard. Whether you go to speak, or simply to add another face to the sweeping media camera’s lens, you’ll be contributing and encouraging and edifying those around you. Be a patriot whose dependence upon God and His word out weighs your independent ways.

Sheepdogs of the Republic

Throughout the course of history, man suffered under someone else’s dominion. Your worldview presents a perspective on whether or not America benefits from our founding father’s vision, hope, and clarity as concerns our constitution and its applicability today. Yet the problem remains. Others want to force you into subjugation. Who is protecting you?

Take, for example, the First Amendment right to free speech. Up to the date of its establishment, every citizen of other countries rarely spoke up against their government because the quick response left them dead or imprisoned. The First Amendment also guarantees your right to freedom of religion; another instance of protecting the individual’s right to worship God other than the way the government sees fit, without fear of death or imprisonment as both the English and Spanish Inquisitions attested.

In the news across our land, revolutionaries walk the streets decrying the rights of others to speak. Most notably among them are the Antifa, with the Black Lives Matter and the New Black Panthers right behind them. Opposing organizations take the stand no one should be able to say such things, especially in public, and certainly not when carrying sticks and clubs to drive off any who would prevent their free speech right.

What is not often realized, nor reported by main stream media outlets, is there’s an organization working to protect constitutional rights. They do it from the very foundation of the constitution and the Second Amendment. They are known as the constitutional militia. Here in New York State, the New York Light Foot Militia (NYLFM), and other constitution loving groups like them, perform the function of standing between these opposing groups to ensure neither party comes to injury because of the other. This activity by the NYLFM is a neutral stance. It requires the members to lay down their personal opinions and to leave them home. It takes discipline and training to do this.

In the last eight months the NYLFM participated in standing in the gap in Syracuse, NY, Boston, MA, Gettysburg, PA, Harrisburg, PA, and they are headed to Charlottesville, VA. At each of these locations the LFM of various states work hand in hand with local police, sheriffs, state police, national park police, and at times, the FBI and federal marshals. The point here is the Light Foot Militia is doing so at their own expense, at risk to themselves, for the good of the constitutional rights of Americans.

Don’t sit home and decry the violence in our streets. You have been given the voice our founding fathers intended you to have. You have the right to speak about your views of the government. You have the right to speak about how God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit give you life. If you don’t use your God-given rights, you will surely lose them by man’s predisposed actions.

It would be appropriate today to pray for the safety and well being of the NYLFM and their friends as they travel to once again stand in the gap to protect your rights, no matter which side you choose.