CSN - LightWing Messages for Father’s Day - 6/16/2024
The Blessed State of the Righteous
Praise the Lord! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, Who delights greatly in His commandments.
His descendants will be mighty on earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed.
Wealth and riches will be in his house, And his righteousness endures forever.
Unto the upright there arises light in the darkness; He is gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.
A good man deals graciously and lends; He will guide his affairs with discretion.
Surely he will never be shaken; The righteous will be in everlasting remembrance.
He will not be afraid of evil tidings; His heart is steadfast, trusting in the Lord.
His heart is established; He will not be afraid, Until he sees his desire upon his enemies.” Psalm 112:1-8 (NKJV)
Love the Lord your God and keep His requirements, His decrees, His laws and His commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: His majesty, His mighty hand, His outstretched arm; the signs He performed and the things He did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; what He did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how He overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what He did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.
Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Deuteronomy 11:1-9 (NIV)
FOUNDER’S MESSAGE:
In May, we celebrate Mother’s Day, and in June (as in today) we honor fathers as Americans will remember Father’s Day. In the United States, as well as in nearly 90 nations across the world, there have been efforts that followed the lead of the U.S. in establishing a day to honor fathers. The “mother” of the day to honor fathers, was Sonora Dodd, a daughter of a father who lost his wife, and who helped her dad raise her five brothers. The history is well worth reading, for many reasons. Unfortunately, my previous articles on Father’s Day have disappeared from the net. However in this edition, there are a good number of links to check into the history.
For our LightWing Father’s Day edition, we provide two featured messages. One is a message I wrote the other day, based upon reflections I sorted through in 2020, during the time of COVID. It examines our relationship with our fathers as a foundation for our relationship with our Father in Heaven. IMHO, it is still quite relevant for all of us in 2024. Many may remember the movie, “The Field of Dreams” as a simple nostalgic-riddled contemporary fairy tale set in rural Iowa. The movie struck me differently when I watched it again. I viewed it as a powerful allegory for everyone’s relationship with their Father in Heaven. Canada Free Press posted, so I think it may be good enough for our newsletter.
The second is a message from Dr. Richard Moss, once again. That’s two Sundays in a row, plus we had the interview with him on last Monday’s call. He wrote the article a few years ago about his efforts in being a dad. Dr. Moss shares more personally with readers about his family and it shows a different side of him as we take a look at him as a father, and not a doctor or patriot.
We hope our readers enjoy this LightWing edition as well as the aggregated messages we offer today. Please read, enjoy, absorb and share, and practice letting God’s light within you. May the blessings of our beloved Heavenly Father flow into and through all of our readers and all your loved ones!
We also hope our readers would consider becoming Citizen Sentinels and messengers and pass this newsletter on to those who could welcome it. Or simply, invite them to go to our Substack platform and get a free subscription – Citizen Voice on Substack
Readers who are able to join us on Monday evenings may participate in our calls (or just listen). Also, just in case anyone was wondering, our calls are no longer on the Zoom platform (no more CCP monitoring), as we have totally switched to a new platform called “Meetn.” Plus, there is no longer any need to send an email request to get added to our list to receive the link to the MeetN call. It is now real easy for readers to access the online meeting because the link information will not change from week to week as with Zoom.
There is no need to request a link at this time. To join these meetings click this url: https://meetn.com/vroom (The room name is vroom)
CSN LightWing Mission – MeetN call Monday 6/17/24 @ 5:00pm PDT for those seeking to extend Father’s Day another day!
This week => Mondays at 5pm PDT (6pm MDT; 7pm CDT; 8pm EDT).
These words are being sent to you as part of an effort that commenced based upon genuine inspiration from Heavenly Father. The LightWing Messages are the latest evolution and are intended to shine light onto our paths, as it was written: “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” Proverbs 29:18 - KJV
May God bless all of our readers and all their loved ones. May God bless all the Dads today!
May we humble yourselves in reverence, know whom we seek as we seek His face in genuine sincerity, repent for our wicked ways, and turn away from wickedness - even if that may mean cultivating a willingness to listen to Our Father in Heaven in humility more than we insist upon advancing personal petitions. May we seek to emulate Christ in his relationship with our Heavenly Father, and to seek first His Kingdom and righteousness.
Father’s Day Contemplations
By Dennis Jamison June 14, 2024
Father’s Day is not what it was intended to be according to the original concept of the “mother” of the day to honor fathers, Sonora Smart Dodd. In the politically and socially divisive landscape across America today, people have trouble identifying a real father. Mrs. Dodd’s idea was born from listening to a sermon on Mother’s Day in her local church in Washington state. Sonora Smart was sixteen when her mother died. Being the only daughter, she took on a mother’s role to help her father raise her five brothers. The history is well worth reading, but America is much different from the early 1900s when the first Father's Day celebrations were observed.
Yet in those days, as now, families were severely threatened when fathers went missing from the home. Whether through war, hazardous employment conditions leading to disability or even death, debilitating diseases, or simply going AWOL, the loss of the father in the family meant a devastating impact upon the home. In Sonora Smart’s family, they suffered with the loss of her mother. Her dad, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War veteran, and he dedicated himself to raising all six children, according to Mrs. Dodd. She is quoted as sharing that her father was "a very strict man, a real disciplinarian," but also a "kind and loving parent who kept us together and happy."
The story of the creation of Father’s Day is inspiring to me because as an adopted child, I never knew my biological father. But, that did not really leave emotional scars because the father I had known through my life was the dad who raised me as a loving parent doing his best to keep the family together despite serious challenges. But, I have learned, after a fairly long life, that I was incredibly fortunate being adopted into a loving family. The horror stories I learned of as I grew up caused me to wonder why families in the land of freedom and a “land of plenty” were so messed up.
Later, I realized that the human sexual impulse was deliberately excited and ignited by our corrupt culture. Unwanted babies were being born into the world or aborted before they saw the light of day. Life was snuffed out by mothers who saw the living being inside of them as a nuisance and a non-person. It reminded me that under slavery throughout human history slaves were viewed as non-human. Over time, I realized that a real functional family, a place where one could learn love, was an incredible blessing. Of course, not all was “sweetness and light” as my dad was a blue collar worker and sometimes job security meant being someone easy for bosses to get along with and someone who would risk his own health to provide for his wife and four children.
I understood what Mrs. Dodd meant as she shared about her father. But, a great many kids are estranged from their parents for a multitude of reasons. There are the usual stories, often having been dramatized to paint the picture of the alcoholic or the drunk of a dad who beat up his wife or kids. There are the stories of the drug addicted, the mentally deranged, or downright evil fathers who would habitually abuse their own children, either physically or sexually. There are even stories of parents who sold their own children. Such stories were told to me by people I’d met over the years, or personal acquaintances who were simply confiding in me.
Hearing such nightmares, I almost started to feel guilty for experiencing a decent family life. I almost lost my sense of gratitude for my hard-working dad who was just trying to get by and provide for his family as best he could. However, the love was real and I saw it as a foundation for who I became as a man. And, despite never meeting my biological “father,” I really never felt I lacked a “real father” because a good man was willing to sacrifice himself to call me his son, and he is the father I am moved to love.
If one permits it, Father’s Day offers us all an opportunity to think our: “what if’s” or “if only’s.” Many fathers or sons or daughters have moments of regret from time to time looking back on moments we would rather have back – that is, if we are courageous enough to look back on such moments of regret. Often those moments become like chains with heavy anchors upon our hearts, holding us back from being real and being willing to accept our limitations to enjoy more genuine relationships with those we love. This is true between parents and children, or between siblings. Sometimes a family foundation becomes the true testing grounds for the development of genuine bonds of love.
An example is offered in a famous movie from a few years ago with the subplot of a poor father-son relationship with the opportunity to relive a simple game of catch that could heal the regrets of the heart. For those who remember the movie, “The Field of Dreams,” Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella had deep regrets over his very poor relationship with his father. Such deep regret spawned the idea for the “Field of Dreams” and the faith that “if you build it, he would come.” This movie became a powerful allegory for me because it opened up multiple levels of meaning.
In “The Field of Dreams,” Ray Kinsella is dealing with the memory of his deceased father, only visible because of an imaginary story line. As Father’s Day originated in a church and we celebrate it on a Sunday, a natural consequence is that our personal relationship with our invisible Father in Heaven could be considered on Father’s Day. For those of genuine faith, God is not imaginary, but real. So, for such people of faith, do they ever consider personal moments of regret with the Father in Heaven? Of course this would presuppose a personal relationship with God through healthy and regular communication as with any other tangible relationship.
“The Field of Dreams” is a powerful allegory for me because the movie seemed much more significant when applicable to our own relationships with Heavenly Father. In many ways, we are like Ray Kinsella (whether sons or daughters of our Heavenly Father) - we either have a relationship with such a Father, or we do not. It is that simple. And if people have a relationship with an invisible God via faith, it is either healthy, developing, underdeveloped, or really weak. This understanding is not a religious perception. It could be construed to be, but it is not. Each human being has the capability for relationships without having an institution as a mediator. Yet, people often deem it necessary.
Yet, we are “wired” to have relationships and especially a relationship with our Father in Heaven – good, bad, or ugly. We decide how that functions or does not. God has made Himself known to His children through multiple channels. It is for us to respond to Him, for He has given us so much – even His son to show us what a father - son relationship with God would look like. In “The Field of Dreams,” building the field brings his dad to come. The “field” is a foundation for the work of maintaining our relationships. Father’s Day does give us all an opportunity to reconsider our relationships with our fathers, even our Father who art in Heaven.
A Parent’s Quandary
By Richard Moss, MD
It was a routine and predictable enough event in the life of a parent, one that should not have been too taxing to one’s equilibrium or balance of emotions, and yet there it was: for the past week, I had been nothing if not disconsolate, distraught with anticipation of the day, dreading its arrival, wracked by sorrow and foreboding, fending off devastating mood swings, shaken by melancholy and mourning, adrift, lost in timeless reveries, with not infrequent episodes of lamentation and weeping…
She was, after all, my firstborn, and as the first child, she was privileged. She received all the slavish affections of a delirious father, who was instantly smitten by the fragile, squirming, little creature. At her birth, and thereafter, a whole new range of emotions and sensations now consumed me: drooling euphoria; unhinged rapture; besotted reverence; incoherent adulation. Pristine heights of hysterical ecstasy, the likes of which Tim Leary, the poets, Sufis, and mystics, could only dream of, were now arrayed within me like glorious, sparkling ornaments; truly, I was reborn, in the glow of my incandescent, newly-born daughter…
I devoted long stretches to expounding on the joys of fatherhood and chronicling her infancy: making up songs, composing tributes, recording by film, video, and pen her every moment, milestone, and adorable utterance: her first words, her first teeth, her first steps: not one jot in the long itinerary of stumbles undertaken in the early years was left to dusty memory; rather it was painstakingly and dutifully immortalized in some fashion, so beguiled and incapacitated was I by her every exploit and achievement at the dawning of her young life...
I rushed each morning to her cradle, always insistent I see her first, so I could witness in its purest state the inevitable warmth of her smile and expression, a wondrous balm before the work-a-day world began. And yes, there were the feedings and diaper changes and other more tedious repetitions, all now mysteriously imbued with a sense of elevated purpose and sanctity, perceived as necessary but nonetheless holy tasks; indeed, I was aghast and rueful that I had loutishly failed to grasp previously the singular beauty and sublimity attached to the proper care and treatment of intestinal gas or diaper rash, and bore shame for my knavish shortcomings...
I had tracked and promoted her career through childhood and adolescence. We slogged through the hooked-on-phonics and Suzuki music lessons. I helped her with the spelling Bs, dioramas, book reports, and science projects. She joined the Marching Band, and I followed her to the recitals and competitions throughout the state, cheering and applauding her every effort...
It was around the time of her eighteenth birthday, upon becoming a senior at the High School, that I began to experience the portentous disquiet of which I spoke earlier. I realized that each event through the school year would not be revisited, that she would not return to lead the band or perform at football games or with the orchestra or symphony; and so each such closing activity was endowed with poignancy, finality, and newfound urgency.
Moreover, I could glimpse the schism that was fast approaching in the boisterous and happy family unit I had carefully assembled and tended through the years with house, kids, and pet canary; the altering of essential relationships that had formed between parents and children and between the children themselves. I understood it as the opening salvo in the gradual unraveling of my little parcel of domesticity, which, for nearly two decades, had been a constant and stable marker... Now, I was witnessing the process in reverse, the fracturing of that which I had methodically built, as my first fledgling prepared to decamp - to be followed, in good time, by the others...
In the days leading up to her departure for college, I feverishly sought consolation from those who had already gone through it. I spoke of my growing gloom with each passing day. I was told to be happy for her, that it was her turn, and that I could take pleasure in having raised a good kid. Yet such sentiments failed to dispel my woe.
I took the day off to drive her to the college dorm. Before leaving, I told her how proud she had made me. I recited a prayer and blessed her. When we arrived, I helped her to unload her luggage and bade her farewell.
A parent must ultimately do this; that is, to say, let go. Parenting is, after all, preparing our children for their own lives. They do not belong to us. We merely have the burden - and pleasure - of raising them.
We who uphold our sacred traditions and obligations must commit to, abide by, and defend this most critical bond. We who have witnessed the degradation of our culture, the tearing down of the load-bearing walls of our civilization, first and foremost, the intact, married, nuclear family, can do no better than to pledge ourselves to our children and families as a bulwark against the moral anarchy surrounding us.
It has always been the focus of the Marxist Left, those who occupy the commanding heights of our institutions, to attack those pesky families and their annoying habits and conventions. In so doing, they challenge human nature itself. First and foremost, they have sought to undermine the nuclear family, to destroy the institution of marriage, to render it merely one of any number of lifestyle options and preferences, rather than to elevate and privilege it as our most critical institution.
They have assaulted the bond between parents and children and sought to replace it with the state. Through our schools and colleges, and government programs that encourage dependency and dysfunctional behavior, they have injected their anti-family ideology into the bloodstream of the country, thus weakening the sinews of our moral system and the nuclear family itself. They targeted the church and religion, as well, directing their contempt first and foremost at Christianity, which they loath. They, our superiors, know better, upholders, as they imagine themselves, of reason and science, direct descendants of the Enlightenment.
Marxists hold that your children do not belong to you, rather, they belong to the state. They seek control early on, in gestation, in pre-K, elementary school, and beyond, their grip on our children ever tighter and manipulative, culminating in an all-consuming dominance through our higher institutions.
Only one force can withstand the Leftist onslaught: the autonomous, married nuclear family and the parent-child bond. We must guard our children and instill in them the values of our civilization and faith.
We must shield them from the corruption of the regime, and the radical Leftist vanguard that commands our schools and universities. Through the parent-child bond, the church and temple, our local schools, communities, and the civil society beyond, we can preserve the West, shield our children from the venality and moral chaos surrounding us, and uphold the pillars of the American Republic.
Richard Moss, M.D., a board-certified surgeon, was a candidate for Congress in 2016 and 2018. He has written “A Surgeon’s Odyssey” and “Matilda’s Triumph,” available on amazon.com. Contact him at richardmossmd.com or Richard Moss, M.D. on Facebook, YouTube, Rumble, Twitter, Parler, Gab, Gettr, and Instagram.
We Hope You Celebrated Natural Family Month!
CSN supported this year’s efforts of James Harrison to promote and maintain a month-long awareness or “Celebration of the Family” as a national holiday. However, this effort started back on Mother’s Day and is now wrapping up today, on Father’s Day. Yet, there’s always next year!
But for now, check out this Last Call Radio program: In a New State of Commonsense – 6/8/24
The pursuit of A Natural Family Celebration is a positive approach to repairing and healing our nation in such a divided time. Mr. Harrison, National Director of Natural Family Strong Natural Family Foundation was the impetus behind this attempt at creating a new holiday in the Ohio region as a way to celebrate the Family! In concert with other local community leaders, Natural Family Strong proposed earlier this year to make the time period between Mother's Day through Father's Day an annual celebration of the Natural Family. At the Citizen Sentinels Network, we wholeheartedly believe in the effort and totally support it. We attempted to keep all our readers up to date on efforts aligned with such a month-long celebration at the local or the regional levels. Those who would like to get involved next year, or to get more information on the effort, please call 614-890-4008 for more details and please don't hesitate to leave any encouraging messages. Let them know if you’re interested in learning more or participating.
Or reply to: christianminman@gmail.com Start Supporting a Natural Family Month!
Onward and Upward! – Additional History
From The American Minute with Bill Federer (video): American Minute for June 19 - The first formal Father's Day was celebrated on this day in 1910.
From Christian American Heritage: The Christian Origin of Father's Day – 6/14/24
From History.com: Father's Day - Date, Definition & History
From The American Minute with Bill Federer: Happy Father's Day! "America needs heroes on the battlefield of everyday life"-U.S. Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall - 6/17/23
Additional Faith & Spirit-filled links…
From Elevation Ballantyne - Elevation Worship: The Blessing with Kari Jobe & Cody Carnes - Live - 3/6/20
From Jonathan Cahn: The Latter Rain Revelation | Shavuot Pentecost Message 2024 – 6/15/24
From Enni Francis: Goodness of God (Cover) | Enni and Kanaan. - 1/18/22
From World Outreach Church with Allen Jackson: Let’s Please God [Character Counts] | Pastor Allen Jackson – 6/9/24
From Eric Clapton: My Father's Eyes (Official Music Video) - posted 4/17/2010
From Field of Dreams: Playing Catch (High Quality) - 11/25/2008
From the movie - I Can Only Imagine: 'Amy Grant Asks Bart To Perform His Song' – 5/24/24
From Rock Church: Fathers Day Skit 6/29/2009
From My Faith Votes: Fathers in the Field – 6/12/23
From The Skit Guys: A Dad's Legacy
From the Aoki Family Journal (a family series): I Became a Better Dad Though My Hobby | Aoki Family – Can your hobby improve you as a person? It can! In fact, my hobby helps build my character and makes me a better family man.
From YouTube Rascal Flatts ~ My wish for you ~ with lyrics – 12/27/09
From Dr. Preston Moon: Moral Leaders are Raised in Families #shorts - 5/16/22
From Duncan Toombs: My Child – 1/12/23