Patton and Prayer

 

The Parallel

PRAYER

Time for Patton

By Stephen L. Wilmeth

 

          ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate rains in which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies, and establish Thy justice among men and nations. Amen.

General James O’Neill

December 1944

               The Parallel

            The backdrop of the preceding was General Patton’s order to his top chaplain, General O’Neill, to reach out to higher authority to get something done about the constant bad weather the forces were encountering in their efforts to turn the unexpected German assault known as the Battle of the Bulge. Being the derecho warhorse and Christian he was, Patton contended that God had His part in everything, and prayer was the necessary link to impact the outcome.

            Since his own private prayers with His Savior had not altered the miserable conditions his forces faced to halt the blitz, the general decided one voice in the wilderness of battle was not enough. What was needed were the efforts of every man in Third Army. Every cook, tanker, rifle company, medic, general, private, and latrine cleaner had to lend their voice.

It was an order.

This was not an unusual Patton approach. Numerous references remain of his methods including never telling his underlings how to do something, but, simply, what to do. He had learned long before that results will inevitably come.

            They will surprise you of their ingenuity!

So, the general ordered every man to pray. The prayer needed to be consistent, so he had Father O’Neill’s prayer printed on cards and handed out. Since it was Christmas, a holiday message was also added to the back of the missive.

            Similarly to the remembrance of the battle’s name, the historical outcome of the prayer was punctuated with the clearing of the weather to the extent the army could maneuver. The results were exactly what Patton had ordered. Ultimately, the Americans prevailed, the German intrusion was halted, and the march to Germany and the end of the war loomed ever brighter.

            Patton believed strongly the results would never have been the same without the concentration of unified prayer by every man faced with the moment’s imminent threat of failure and death. He instilled a great will within his ranks. It wasn’t just the Americans, either.

The Germans grew to agree Patton had more than just hardware and numbers in his favor.

               Time for Patton

               There is a miserable, continuing storm in our own midst.

            Of course, the problem is more systemic, but the orgy of spending by this detached congress is a key indicator and it threatens our existence. Without even knowing what they are, this Keynesian mob of super looters is whittling our precarious fiscal position out from under each one of us.

            Shame on them!

            Indeed, there are a few of them who know they could tank this economy for real without pumping cash into it, but the rest are simply widgets getting their dibs on future assurances of filling campaign coffers. That body has no collective concept of the ingenuity of the American people. They’ve been too busy suppressing that innate will and creating legions of takers rather than producers.

               In the runup to the spending bill vote, they got so caught up with the clarion call to pimp the COVID spending, they apparently didn’t think sending boatloads of cash to the far reaches of the world would even be noticed.

            And, oh yea, here’s a $600 gift certificate stipend for all you subjects out in the dusty hinterlands!

            Shame on them in spades!

            The reality is a clear indication of a congress that has lost all touch with the American people and the actual damage their actions have done over the past three decades. What we have is a system that now has no mechanism for self-cleansing. The majority of us out here believe fraud, corruption, and graft are now endemic and so embedded the complicit cannot possibly fix the problems they have contributed to in its creation.

Our homeland is now managed by ensconced handlers rather than citizen leaders. It is a polarized and dysfunctional two-party system rather than a democratic republic. Its current trajectory cannot be sustained.

It is a dangerous and collapsing colossus.

Prayer

A reasonable and necessary question is where is Patton when we need him?

Certainly, that elicits catcalls and condemnation, but it is the truth. What we have witnessed on and since November 3 must strike fear in each one of us. Every member of both chambers of Congress and every justice on the Supreme Court should be crying for a halt to all activities and an in depth and thorough investigation must be done immediately to determine the truth of the problem at hand. The fact that every member is not calling for such action is a clear indicator that something is greatly amiss.

That leads to only one conclusion. There is reason why the full disclosure of what has gone on is being hoodwinked.

It is time to modify the general order and prayer of 1944.

ALMIGHTY and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee of Thy great goodness, to restrain these immoderate and increasingly tyrannical officials with which we have had to contend. Grant us fair weather for Battle. Graciously hearken to us as citizens who call upon Thee that armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our detached, polarized, and corrupted leadership and establish Thy justice among men and our nation. Amen. 

Stephen L. Wilmeth is a rancher from southern New Mexico. “On the back of the prayer card, it is only appropriate to wish each of you a Happy New Year … we are all going to need it.”