This makes me sick!

This truly makes me sick, and angry!

Veterans Outraged Over American Flag With Obama Image



The US flag has very deliberate design and meaning. The thirteen stripes stand as a perpetual reminder of this nation’s beginning. It was formed by thirteen individual states, representing the people of those states, coming together to form a union of states of people. The stars represent the growth of this union of states, now composed of 50 states standing together, yet still separate states representing the people. These stars represent us, the people, standing together in the unity of the solidarity defined in the constitution.

To replace this with one individual is to overthrow all that the flag represents. It is to overthrow freedom: liberty and justice for all. It is to supplant liberty with tyranny. This is the way of those promoting tyrannical dictatorships.

It is saddening to observe that anyone in the US would do such a thing as this.

But, in a nation where treaty upon treaty with the American Indians was violated and where slaves were imported and held hostage and where legal and loyal immigrants were taken to concentration camps without cause and more than 56 million innocents have been brutally murdered, perhaps it is not surprising that something like this will occur.

The list of usurpations seems endless. From the illegal theft of our money supply by the FED and the subsequent creation of the agency of illegal confiscation of income and property to the creation of agencies that prevent free use of property to the FDA that prevents sale of wholesome foods and promotes toxic food additives and drugs. Who can even list the number of abuses?

Yet still, that anyone would do as the creators of this flag have done, shocks me.

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Peace Flag

One of my neighbors flies a flag that causes me heartache. It also seems to be quite a puzzling combination to go with what is posted on the gate to the back driveway. I took pictures of both from the street in front of the driveway.

First the flag.

Now several shots of the sign posted on the gate.

It leaves one wondering what exactly is meant by peace, if indeed peace is what is intended by the symbol on the flag, a symbol that usurps the place of the fifty stars that represent the fifty states that are united as a nation.



The so-called peace flag uses a symbol that has come to be counted by many as the “peace symbol,” which is actually a symbol that was designed to represent “Nuclear Disarmament”. So what is meant by those flying a flag with this symbol one cannot know with certainty, but it seems likely that some notion of “peace” is intended.

But with what is posted on my neighbor’s gate, it seems that this notion of peace may be fairly typical, where peace means what is expected that other people should do when mistreated or attacked or wronged.

In case the faded markings on the sign on the gate are difficult to read, the sign has a skull and crossbones and says:

WARNING
PIRATE PROPERTY
(pirate protected)
USURPERS, THIEVES, SCALLYWAGS
WILL BE MET WITH
LETHAL FORCE!

Perhaps this really is not so far askew from what this flag really does mean.



Information regarding various peace symbols can be viewed here. It is quite an informative link, even including the Semaphore (flag) symbols from which the nuclear disarmament peace symbol was developed. Links for peace flags include: Peace Flags at Wikipedia, evolvefish Peace Flags, and Patriotic US Peace Flags. Interestingly, the so-called patriotic US peace flags work the fifty stars into the peace symbol so that the stars are rearranged rather than replaced.



What seems to be my neighbor’s definition of peace does seem to hold to the world’s general definition of peace. It seems that according to our sinful human nature peace means that if you are willing not to bother me too badly, I probably won’t kill you or do you other terrible intentional harm.

This is quite a different version of peace from that which is born in the regenerated spirit through Baptism. This is quite a different definition of peace from what the Prince of Peace, Jesus, came from heaven to establish. God’s peace brings true reconciliation between those who previously were enemies. God’s peace brings two enemies together and unites them as true brothers. But this comes through a change of heart and mind, a change of the very nature of men.

My investigation of my neighbor’s “peace flag” caused me to grow in my education. This is my preferred practice when offended by something that I do not understand. Before reacting strongly to what I do not understand, I like to investigate the thing and learn about it so as to understand it. Often I find that my feeling of offense was due to ignorance on my part. What is more, love covers over a multitude of sins (Proverbs 10:12 and 1 Peter 4:8). God’s love motivates seeking to understand others rather than reacting with judgment and condemnation. That is not always my first impulse, but God’s love is more powerful than my sinful nature. If I do not resist the Holy Spirit’s urging, I seek understanding. While my neighbor may not be a direct benefactor of this, I do grow in knowledge and understanding and in God’s peace that surpasses understanding.

In addition to what I recently learned regarding the peace symbol and the peace flag, I also learned that the United States of America actually does have an official peacetime flag. I was amazed to learn this, for all I had ever known was what is actually the military flag. The “Stars and Stripes” that is generally flown is actually the USA’s military flag.

Here is the Civil Flag of Peacetime:



More information regarding the various official flags of the United States of America can be viewed here.

I really should thank my neighbor for urging me by flying the peace flag to learn more about the flags of this nation. Moreover, I do understand the desire for peace. I myself hate war and all of the evils of war. Thus I share deeply my neighbor’s desire that peace should rule. However, I also wish that we all would show honor to one another by respecting the official flags that represent our republic and all that our nation was founded to be. Perhaps if this kind of love for neighbor and countryman prevailed, we might actually experience more of the peace that we claim to desire. Of course true peace has a source far greater than the feeble efforts at love that we are able to produce. Sadly few truly believe in Him and trust in Him. And so wars and rumors of war continue to rage among us.

Old Glory

Independence day will be a day of displays of the American Flag and of fireworks, which lit the sky so that Francis Scott Key could see the Flag during the dark hours of battle.

When I was in grade school, I was permitted to help take down the flag that was flown on our flag pole. I was instructed as to the proper lowering and folding of the flag. Part of those instructions included the warning that if the flag should be permitted to touch the ground that it would have to be burned, for the flag was never to be dishonored by letting it touch the ground.

To me this was terrifying!

The thought of having to burn my nation’s flag was a terrifying thought. I had been taught to know what this flag represents. Such a precious symbol should be held in the highest regard.

After all, my grandfather left Germany and became a naturalized citizen, devoted to all that the United States of America was founded to be. He told his household, “We speak English in this house, for it is the language of this country!”

When Old Glory flies, it shows that the bounties of God are still upon this nation. Not only is it beautiful in design, but glorious in the standard that it represents.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Both this pledge and the Flag have come under attack by those who do not love this nation nor the standards under which it was founded. This pledge makes clear what the United States of America is and what it means to those who flee to her from all over the world. Men and women have bled and died for these precious gifts in order to help insure them to our posterity.

Consider the words of this pledge.

“I pledge allegiance.”

This is a voluntary pledge that flows from being taught to understand what the Flag and Nation are. It flows from a love of others, one’s fellow countrymen, and even for those who will benefit worldwide from the existence of a nation that stands for the things declared in our Declaration of Independence and in our Constitution. It is a pledge to stand firmly upon and unmoved from those principles that place the liberty and justice above even one’s own life and rights and freedoms. It is a pledge that moves one to sacrifice on behalf of others. It is a pledge that flows from a shared faith in what is right and good.

“. . . and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, . . .”

This flag stands for a united republic with a clear definition and identity. This republic is united in understanding the basis for the blessings and privileges and rights and security that its citizens enjoy. It is a nation that is founded upon the confident faith that the God of love who created and redeemed the world has established His goodness for all to enjoy, goodness that the founders of this nation did their best to secure in the founding documents. They realized that such goodness does not generate from the hearts of men but must come from above and then flows from a people grounded in this knowledge.

Such a nation is truly indivisible, as history clearly shows. But as history is also showing, when a nation loses this grounding, it becomes deeply divided.

“. . . with liberty and justice for all.

Clearly, liberty and justice must be for All, or else it crumbles. Liberty and justice flow from one source, from the One who IS Love and is just.

This is the source of the liberty and justice which have been enjoyed for generations. Any nation that recognizes this and abides by it enjoys the same freedom and beneficence.

Truly this is a pledge worthy of those who would live in unity and harmony together for the benefit of all. This is what the Flag of the United States of America represents.

Yes! I love this flag and I love this nation! God preserve us from seeing either being dragged down to the ground to be defamed or destroyed.

God bless America and cause her to continue as a blessing to all!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.