“A magnificent anachronism!”
January 5th, 2012“A magnificent anachronism!” In the movie “Patton” the German officer responsible for analyzing the General, with the Allies closing in, throws General Patton’s picture into the fire. As he uttered those words, the young lady sitting next to me watching the movie with me turned to me and said, “That is you!” I replied, “What?” To which she said, “You, you are a magnificent anachronism! You are stuck in another age, in another time, which you cling to. Today’s modern world with its complex belief system is just as strange to you as it was to Patton because, like Patton, you have a simple belief system. You cling to the past, history, you cherish it, you and Patton are men of a past age in which you are stuck and just like Patton you reject the modern world and all it has to offer. I figure you have missed at least two possibly three or four cycles.” What brought this to mind was a statement made to me a few days ago. I asked an individual a sincere question, in no way intended to be mean or hateful, which was, “Do you really believe all these collectivist/statist notions I hear from you?” This individual replied to me that it was not collectivist/statist thought but rather “modern” thought.
Our country was founded on a system of beliefs which has at its core the freedom and liberty of the individual. Our Founders feared the government we see in Washington today. Though our Founders held different interpretations of the characteristics of God, of His Son Jesus Christ (some even doubted His deity), and of the most correct/proper way to worship Them (this country was not founded as a Christian nation), they unanimously and sincerely believed that God was an all-powerful Creator who rules the universe and intercedes for mankind. Despite differences of religious dogma after Washington’s inauguration they (President, House of Representatives, Senate) gathered in St. Paul’s Chapel on April 30, 1789 as members of America’s first government to consecrate the future of this nation to God because of a solid belief that our rights come from God, not government, and were in complete agreement when it came to the pursuit for liberty and the freedom of conscience that permitted diversity of worship. They wrote a constitution to protect those freedoms. Theirs was not a belief which made provisions for a changing “modern” world. Theirs, and at one time this country’s, was a firm belief that God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe and that the only way mankind can enjoy the blessings of liberty is through fear of and obedience to a holy, righteous God who makes no provision for “modern” thought.
Consider their words. Thomas Jefferson, “And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with his wrath? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.” Jefferson again, “I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” John Adams, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” George Washington, “While we are contending for our own Liberty, we should be very cautious of violating the Rights of Conscience in others, ever considering that God alone is the Judge of the Hearts of Men, and to him only in this Case, they are answerable.” James Madison, “It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage, and such only, as he believes to be acceptable to him. This duty is precedent both in order of time and degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society. Before any man can be considered as a member of Civil Society, he must be considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe.”
“Modern” thought says our Constitution and Bill of Rights, gifts from a loving God make no mistake of this, is not adequate for our “modern” “ever changing” world and they must be consigned to the scrap heap of history. “Modern” thought teaches that our freedom comes from our “humanity” and is a gift of government, not God. What is being touted as “modern” thought is not “modern” in the least; it is as old as man. It is the same thought by which man has forever been enslaved since he ate of the forbidden fruit for it is the illusion of freedom spun by the reality of tyranny. Once a people lose sight that the blessings of freedom come from the Ruler of the Universe, not from their “humanity”, they have begun the descent into serfdom because it ultimately leads to rejection of the giver of all gifts, God.
I saw that movie with her forty years ago and I remain an anachronism (I refuse to call myself magnificent). I still read books and turn off the television to do so. I do not have, or want, a cell phone. My reading list rejects “modern” thought, just as I do. I cling with all my might to the principles this country was founded upon and defend them with all my might so that I may have the freedom to unashamedly worship the Lord God from whom freedom, true freedom, comes; not slavery (I’ll let you figure from whence slavery comes).
On June 5, 1788, 1788!, Patrick Henry said to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, “Liberty the greatest of earthly blessings-give us that precious jewel, and you may take everything else. But I am fearful I have lived long enough to become an old fashioned fellow: Perhaps an invincible attachment to the dearest rights of man, may, in these refined enlightened days, be deemed old fashioned: If so I am contented to be so:”
So I ask you, this new year why not become an anachronism?
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