Heaven on Earth

Where’s the Cavalry been?

Heaven on Earth

Of gods and men

By Stephen L. Wilmeth

            The budget sessions we sat through at Concordia were exercises in patience. When Andy Anderson chose to challenge the expenditure of the porch extension at the parsonage, I thought enough was enough. The pastor didn’t make enough as it was, but to challenge him on submitting a request to extend the porch on his own time was unconscionable. Rethinking my reaction today … I was probably wrong.

            The Potrillo Wilderness

            For five years, “five angry ranchers” have fought against the unwavering intent by Democratic Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall to designate a quarter of a million acres of Wilderness largely on the Mexican border in southern New Mexico. What those opponents of the bill have preached has been proven correct.

Mexico is out of control. The state of its affairs emanates from the turf war surrounding the safe havens of the smuggling corridors allowing illicit drugs and illegal immigrants to breach American lines of defense.

            Catholic invisibility and the big question

            When the decision was made outside of Dona Ana County to designate the Wilderness, a host of governmental bodies were solicited by the well oiled PR structure of the Wilderness Society umbrella groups. This included the Catholic Diocese of Dona Ana County. The Diocese went right along with the progressive agenda and signed up to support the effort.

            Several members of the “five angry ranchers” met with the bishop and suggested there was an entirely different side of the story and that his actions might be served better by considering all members of the community. He was cordial, but his ultimate approach was a timid call for reconciliation. He was confident a solution could be found, but he was clearly unwilling to support political incorrectness.

            In light of the bishop’s reaction and the birth control debacle last month emanating from Washington, a question needs to be asked.

Where has the hierarchy of the Catholic Church been in the last 85 years in the fight for right and wrong? Whether they want to admit the truth or not, their propensity to defer to, agree, and even enable the progressive front is destroying the underpinnings of their faith, and it has weakened our society.

            Granted, it isn’t just the Catholic Church. The Presbyterians are attempting to get a measure passed through their hierarchy to label Israel an apartheid state.

            And, yes, while these questions are being asked and the issue of Israel is brought up, we might as well ask the big question that leaves us dumbfounded. Why do the Jews insist on supporting the very progressive fronts that will inevitably turn on them and seek their destruction? How many times will their predictable actions serve to wreak havoc on their existence … and serve to further weaken all of us?

            The majority of the world I live in supports Israel as an unerring principle. Time and again, though, there is the same old dilemma of trying to understand their affinity of ignoring allies and giving way to conspire with the very agents that will seek their destruction.

It is a conundrum of gigantic proportions. It is almost as if their true allies are attempting to defend them while they are drawn to stand repeatedly in the onslaught. Was God similarly perplexed with his chosen people?

A moth to the flame

How many times over the years have we wondered where the Judeo – Christian hierarchy of our society was when the memberships and ranks of communicants desperately needed their reassurance, guidance, and public support?

When their memberships fought for family values in a public arena, they fought alone. When they recoiled from the horrors of the implications of abortion, they found themselves alone. When they watched the actions of their elected representatives double down on public assistance, and, at the same time, disrespect all fiduciary responsibilities to taxpayers, they found themselves alone.

We have no alternative but to acknowledge that that the hierarchy was a willing partner in the grand cataclysm that has netted us nearly $16 trillion in debt and the promise of adding another $9 trillion to that unfathomable balance in the next 4½ years. The hierarchy became willing accomplices in schemes of social justice and wealth redistribution as much or more than any elected official.

 Under their watch, the sovereign individual became the last to be considered and the first to be vilified, condemned, and blamed.

 The ranks of the hierarchy have become what all foundational Judeo – Christian teachings have fought to avoid and to cast aside. They joined the ranks of leaders who came to view their actions as not just men and women of importance, but … creators of heaven on this earth.

The bastion of Hope

Is there hope? We are taught there is and our instinct remains intact, but our collective leadership has demonstrated no ability to change direction. If they haven’t noticed, their collective elected buffoonery has resulted in another $5 trillion in debt and not a single check on bureaucracy.

Our leaders don’t govern. They sit in observance of an ever expanding officialdom that has allowed a myriad of extrinsic resource kingdoms to expand the role of government. In order to hold that claim, officials and agencies alike will have to further expand their role as protector, benefactor and enforcer.

In its current trajectory, this is worse than medieval monarchies. At least those dominions produced a monarch who could be identified. Our system has produced an army of trustees who are demonstrating they will burn our cities and our hopes if their well being is jeopardized, antagonized, or otherwise challenged.

The lessons of self reliance

If there is hope, it must exist in a most basic form. It can only rediscover its strength through original roots. The sovereign individual, the family unit, a courageous individual pulpit voice may be the only points of hope … just as they always were.

The southern New Mexico border wilderness fight has revealed an important lesson. Those who have been on the front lines of the fight are curiously lucky. They have seen a completely different view of the proceedings. They have learned simple, but hugely important lessons.

If our system is to survive, vested citizens, those at actual risk of loss of life and freedom, must be willing to fight for the original premise of the Constitution. Our government has demonstrated it is incapable of interpreting and enforcing those values on our behalf so our actions must serve as the proxy to that failed leadership.

It is actually an exhilarating prospect. To think that the sovereign individual has control of his destiny is a powerful concept. What we must realize, though, is that such a concept in not new. It is the moral battle of right and wrong.

This battle, like all battles, promises nothing in its current form. In fact, failure is probably more assured than success, but the original premise is gloriously correct. We have simply put our trust in the wrong places. A place to start is to go look in the mirror, and, then, go read our two most sacred documents.

Only then will we be prepared to stand for unwavering compromise of principle and make changes in the only things we have any hope of actually controlling … our own actions and our own fate.

Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “Judges, Kings, and … professional legislators have failed us.”