CSN - LightWing Messages - Memorial Day Edition - 5/28/2023
On Love and Sacrifice
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears,[a] we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
Everyone who sins breaks the law; in fact, sin is lawlessness. But you know that he appeared so that he might take away our sins. And in him is no sin. No one who lives in him keeps on sinning. No one who continues to sin has either seen him or known him.
Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. The one who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. The one who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right
is not God’s child, nor is anyone who does not love their brother and sister.
More on Love and Hatred
For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous. Do not be surprised, my brothers and sisters,[b] if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love each other. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.
This is how we know that we belong to the truth and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence: If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we keep his commands and do what pleases him. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.” 1 John 3:1-24 (NIV)
FOUNDER’S MESSAGE:
In last week’s LightWing Messages, I referenced Mother’s Day and the Armed Forces holiday “serving as ‘bookends’ for the week, in a weak effort to show the interrelatedness of the two days of appreciation. Yet, with Memorial Day coming tomorrow, it occurred to me that without those who “gave their lives that [our] nation might live…” America would have been only a brief experiment in the history of the world.
Memorial Day was born from the ashes of the destruction and massive number of deaths from the ‘Civil War.’ Over 600,000 boys and men died because of the war. IOn an individual level, it
is really hard to deal with the pain that death brings to those who survive loved ones who have died, but the American population was devastated after the Civil War, not only because of the deaths of so many good people, as well as the physical destruction upon the land, but also the nation’s survivors were emotionally scarred after the war.
Fortunately, for us far removed from that time, Abraham Lincoln helps to put the horrors of such a time in proper perspective. His words at Gettysburg helped to frame the war by offering his clarity of its purpose and to ensure that those who gave their lives had not died in vain. This war represented a showdown between those who wanted to retain the Republic and those who wanted to deviate from and destroy the founding ideals and principles of our Judeo-Christian heritage embedded in the foundation of the nation’s government. In essence, it represented a major showdown between good and evil in such a time.
The LightWing edition today offers two messages focused on the remembrance of our soul – what it is that makes America great. It is really not the power, prestige, or wealth that makes America the great country that it once was. It became great because God blessed this nation as a champion of freedom because where Freedom exists, God can help His children to grow more. It is still not too late in 2023 for Americans to awaken and realize this and regain such a position in His Providence.
We hope our readers enjoy this LightWing Messages today as well as all of the appropriate aggregated messages. Read, absorb and share, and practice what is within you. May God’s blessings flow into and through all of our readers and all of your loved ones today and throughout this week.
The first message is Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, in order we could refresh our memories of what it was that he did say, rather than what others have claimed he said. The second message is one I offer from an article I wrote in 2015. It still has meaning for today (and tomorrow) for all those who would like to make Memorial Day a bit more memorable.
Again, we hope that readers can check out some of the other features we offer today. And again a reminder that our Zoom calls are continuing on each Wednesday at 5pm PDT (6pm MDT; 7pm CDT; and 8pm EDT). This coming Wednesday, we will have a discussion on the offerings today. We had a good and rousing session last week on temptation and repentance.
If readers would like to partake in this upcoming Zoom call on Wednesday and take part in our discussion, please reach out. Readers who are interested in receiving the Zoom link to the call, are asked to please send a brief email request to this address: d.jamzon@gmail.com
CSN LightWing Mission – Zoom call Wednesday 6/1/23 at 5:00pm PST
As always, we hope our readers would consider all the messages in this edition meaningful, or relevant in some way, and if readers know others who might value the messages as well, please consider passing this newsletter on to those whom you feel would welcome it. Or simply, please receive it yourselves.
These words are being freely offered to you and are intended to shine light unto 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 of their loved ones. May God bless America!
May we truly seek an honest and genuine relationship with our Father in Heaven. May we seek His intervention in such a divisive time in our nation;s history. May we seek to be humble and repent for our wickedness. May we strive for HIs Kingdom and seek for His Righteousness always. Let our love for Him light up our pathways going forward.
Gettysburg Address
By President Abraham Lincoln
November 19, 1863
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Lincoln serves as our witness to the tumultuous “Civil’ War. In his Gettysburg Address, he provides clarity to the ‘why’ the ‘House was divided’ and it led to war. Yet, he also added his perspective on the purpose of that war and on the value and meaning of the ultimate sacrifice made by those who “gave their lives that that nation might live…”
Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, and Memorial Day
By Dennis Jamison May 25, 2015
SAN JOSE, Calif., May 24, 2015 — As Memorial Day is celebrated throughout the United States this Monday, Americans take the opportunity during this three-day holiday to celebrate by traveling (if they can afford it) or to relax with backyard barbecues or gatherings of family and friends, spending precious time together with those who matter most.
After the events of Sept. 11, 2001, Memorial Day took on a whole new meaning for many Americans, especially those who lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks on American soil, but also, for so many other Americans who witnessed the unthinkable on that horrendous day.
Memorial Day, originally designated “Decoration Day,” was initiated because of the painful experience of the nation’s loss of life on a much more massive scale, certainly much more devastating than the loss of life on 9/11. Yet, what happened in 2001 serves as a reminder of how precious life truly is.
Born as an outgrowth from the ashes, destruction and death of the American Civil War, Memorial Day was eventually established by the Veterans Association after the war as a way of honoring the Union soldiers who gave their lives that the United States could survive as a nation. Abraham Lincoln expressed the sentiment best when he honored the soldiers who fought and died at Gettysburg.
Lincoln serves as our witness to this tumultuous war. In his Gettysburg Address, he provided clarity to the why of the war in a brief but cogent statement. He gave his perspective on the purpose of that war and on the value of the ultimate sacrifice made by those who “gave their lives that that nation might live…”
He also made a statement that may have been too bold for the time. He declared, “The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here.” But today, as countless Americans celebrate Memorial Day, the question can be asked: Have Americans forgotten what those brave soldiers did at Gettysburg, or on the Hindenburg line, or on the beaches of Normandy, or in the hills of Korea, or in the jungles of Vietnam, or what the men and women in uniform do on the front lines today?
Certainly, to those for whom it matters, it is hard to forget. But for those for whom hamburgers or hotdogs, backyard barbecues or the ballgame or the race matters more, the sacrifice of one’s life for other people can be diminished and forgotten. Nevertheless, it is still quite important to remember why soldiers died at Gettysburg, and it just might be possible to connect the dots as to why so many Americans gave their lives over so many years in all those other faraway places.
It ultimately comes down to whether it all matters, whether it truly holds meaning that there were once people who offered their lives that this nation might live. Americans have the capacity to choose what matters most. But, sadly, the more choices we all have, the more our capacity for confusion or distraction.
Lincoln’s words have continued to ring true through the ages, especially for those who can grasp the deeper meaning of his words. Ironically, in November of 1863, it is apparent from his carefully chosen words in the Gettysburg Address that he was not entirely certain that the Union would prevail. He hints at this three times in this address, carefully referring to the obvious: “Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated [conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men were created equal] can long endure.” The fears of many of the founders were that such a nation might have a short lifespan, and Lincoln had studied their words and understood.
It is undeniable that Lincoln understood the United States of America had been founded as a unique nation dedicated to freedom in a world filled with tyranny. But the reality of that peculiar institution of slavery within the United States was blatantly indicative of the existence of tyranny in America’s own backyard. Slavery by any other name is still slavery. Lincoln realized that the very existence and toleration of slavery meant that the ideals of the founders were incomplete and unfinished. Lincoln had explained in his famous “house divided” speech that this nation had been created through compromise between those who accepted slavery and those who relied upon slavery.
In the time Lincoln was president, the majority of the Southern population in the country was against him, and the rest were unsure of what they believed about the institution of slavery. But, it was Lincoln and a small minority of Americans who believed slavery was wrong – politically, economically and morally. Although Lincoln did not become an abolitionist, his attitude was simple: the nation could not continue to be half slave and half free because a house divided against itself cannot endure. In essence, either the nation would be a land of the free and freedom would be extended to people throughout the land, or the nation would perish.
The longer the war dragged on, the less Lincoln was certain that the United States could hold on to the dream of freedom for all people. At Gettysburg, he challenged the people for whom this mattered:
“It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion – that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom…”
Although it is not obvious to the small-minded or to those with an ideological bent opposed to a belief in true freedom, the founders were able only to carve out from the wilderness of tyrannical realms a small foundation for the land of the free. Essentially, they plowed the field and planted the seeds for freedom to grow and eventually mature.
By Lincoln’s time, the capacity for Americans to remember the dream of freedom had diminished. Yet in the Deep South, it may have never been a genuine dream, especially for the aristocracy and landed slave-owners. Nevertheless, to many Americans, freedom did matter and they did remember.
The cause for which those Union soldiers gave the last full measure of their devotion was that this nation, under God, had a new birth of freedom. Keeping the torch of freedom lit has been the continual challenge of a nation conceived in liberty, a challenge to further and develop such ideals or lose recognition of their value. It is the continual challenge as well of whether any nation so conceived and so dedicated can continue to endure.
Lincoln did not want the war, but was willing to go to war and willing to send men and boys to fight in order to preserve the Union. Lincoln was not only willing to save the nation, he was sincere in his dedication to preserving the principles of freedom and liberty because they represented bedrock of the nation.
If one closely examines Lincoln’s choice of words in the Gettysburg Address, it is possible to understand that he was most concerned with the survival of the key founding principles mentioned in the first paragraph of his Gettysburg Address. He was absolutely determined to make certain that the dream of freedom would not dissolve. Lincoln grasped that the stakes were extremely high during the Civil War. But they always seem to be high when the battle between freedom and slavery takes substantial form. It is fitting and proper that Americans remember those who gave their lives “that government of the people, by the people, and for the people shall not perish from this earth.”
On a consistent course that our Founding Fathers initiated over 200 years ago, Americans have been the ones called upon to make the sacrifices so that such a nation could not only continue to exist, but that the dream of freedom could continue to exist. There is no denying today that freedom and liberty are fragile in such a turbulent world.
In a much broader sense, the cost of freedom is quite high. It is ultimately up to those men and
women who have chosen to wear the uniform of their country, who are often required to lay down their lives for the preservation of freedom throughout the world. Who else would? For whom does it matter as much?
It is good that it still matters, that the dream of freedom is still what defines America. It is good that it still matters that there have been men and women who have offered their lives so that such a nation conceived in liberty might endure. It is good that there have been men and women who have offered their lives to preserve the dream of freedom for others.
May God bless those who offered their lives for the sake of others.
We’re Celebrating Natural Family Month!
We have recently supported information about James Harrison’s efforts to promote and maintain a month-long “Celebration of the Family” as a national holiday. We reference it again here in this edition by offering a link to the Natural Family Foundation website. Readers are reminded that his effort began on Mother’s Day and will continue through to Father’s Day in mid-June. Start celebrating the family with us!
Pursuing A Natural Family Celebration is a positive approach to repairing our nation in sucha a divided time. Mr. Harrison, National Director of Natural Family Strong Natural Family Foundation has initiated 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 in the year to make the time period between Mother's Day in May through Father's Day in June an annual celebration of the Natural Family. At the Citizen Sentinels Network, we believe in the effort and wholeheartedly support it. We’re attempting to keep readers up to date on efforts aligned with such a month - long celebration at the local or regional levels. Those who would like to get involved, or to get more information, please call 614-890-4008 for more details and please don't hesitate to leave a message. Let them know if you’re interested in learning more or participating.
Or reply to: christianminman@gmail.com
Start Celebrating Natural Family Month Too!
Onward and Upward!
From YouTube: Whitney Houston Sings National Anthem (unknown date)
From Dick Stannard's Blog - My World As I See It (w/ video): The Inspirational Saluting Boy on Omaha Beach - Dick Stannard's Blog - 7/21/2014
From Toby Keith: American Soldier by Toby Keith - (Official Music Video) - 6/16/2009
From Nautical PappyStu: Memorial Day 2022 - The Hallowed Wind - 5/28/22
From Sissel Kyrkjebø: Hymn to Freedom by Sissel Kyrkjebø - 9/4/2020
From World Outreach Church: Strategies for Spiritual Warfare | Allen Jackson Ministries – 5/17/23
From Sissel Kyrkjebø: Hymn to Freedom by Sissel Kyrkjebø - 9/4/2020
From World Outreach Church with Allen Jackson: Strategy, Tactics & Your Unseen Adversary [Deployment Begins] | Pastor Allen Jackson – 5/7/23
ICYM I > From World Outreach Church: Strategies for Spiritual Warfare | Allen Jackson Ministries – 5/17/23
From The Soldiers' Chorus of The United States Army Field Band: The Battle Hymn of the Republic - 11/22/2016
From Infidel Warrior: Ronald Regan’s Warriors Pledge Speech - 1/20/1981
From Kate Smith - in “This is the Army” 1943 HD God Bless America Sung by Kate Smith - This is the Army 1943 HD - posted 5/28/20
From The Christian Post: 7 sacred songs to sing in honor of Memorial Day – 5/27/23
From The American Minute with Bill Federer: Memorial Day --Honoring American Heroes of Courage, Sacrifice, & Faith – 5/25/21
From The American Minute with Bill Federer: American Minute for May 29 - John F. Kennedy was born on this day in 1917.