"All-Veteran Paintball Team Can’t Win Without Air Support"

Some humor from Duffel Blog: "Rome joined in. 'We tried bounding movements and flanking formations, but without overwhelming numbers, technology, and money, it turns out that our Vietnam-era tactics are completely useless.'”

"Responding in Faith not Fear" by Sean Malone, Director of Crisis Response International

A reader asked that I post this message from Crisis Response International:

Dear Friends,

There has been a lot of talk and speculation about what is coming upon the world this fall. From N.Y. times bestsellers like the Harbinger and the mystery of the Shemitah (Shemitah years are God's seven year cycles mentioned in Scripture and linked to economic activity) to contemporary prophets and Blood Moon preachers. While we can't draw hard and fast doctrines from any of these things, they are signs that make one wonder. I personally have heard quite a bit about what is supposed to happen in America this September but very little about what we are to do. Is it just me or does it feel like someone just sucked the air out of the room? It's like a collective gasp around the body of Christ right now as many of us are frozen, stuck and unsure of what to do. Some are even locked up in fear while the enemy just laughs. But I believe God is raising up people who understand the times and know what to do.

From the tribe of Issachar, there were 200 leaders of the tribe with their relatives. All these men understood the signs of the times and knew the best course for Israel to take. [1] Chronicles 12:32 NLT.

Just as God raised up the sons of Issachar who could interpret the times and know what to do, we need to be equipped with knowledge and wisdom on how to take action for the good of the Church and for the sake of the Gospel.

Faith Not Fear

No matter what happens this fall, none of it will take God by surprise. The answer to navigating the potentially troubled waters of this fall is rooted in faith and not fear. If your plan is to hunker down, hoard and just hold on, friends I am sorry you are missing the point. It would help us all to dig into the book of Hebrews to see a bigger picture. In Hebrews chapter 11 we see the many things the heroes of faith endured. By faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith Moses, they ran their race well and endured hardship "by faith" and became heroes of the faith. In chapter 12 we are reminded that God disciplines us as his sons and that we are to endure hardship as discipline from the Lord. Discipline is a sign of our sonship. He goes on to tell us that there is a time period that God will shake everything that can be shaken so that we can receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken.

God's Shakings Are Redemptive in Nature

One thing we need to understand if we are talking about a God orchestrated shaking is that it is redemptive in nature and designed to perfect love for Him and for others. It's ultimately the first and second commandment coming into first and second place. Anything not under the Lordship of Christ needs to be and will be shaken anyway if it is hindering love for Him and others.

Think about that for a second.

What distractions are in your life that keep you from loving Him and others wholeheartedly? Right now is your heart tender and free from the cares of this life? Is He truly your magnificent obsession? Are you living fully for Him and through Him? Secondly, right now do you love others as yourself and carry a burden for the lost among the nations? This should serve as a tuning fork for our hearts because it is what is on His heart.

How Will We Respond?

If this is true, our response to the potential shakings of this fall should look different. Our preparedness for an economic, political or even geological shaking should be more than a desperate attempt to hold onto our western lifestyles. Preparing for the days ahead is so much deeper than hoarding stuff. I have news for you, if that is your response than God may even shake that too. Do you really think He is looking for more western independence? It makes me wonder how many people are paralyzed in fear right now of what's coming and have retreated from what God has called them to do. Our western gospel of comfort that is devoid of the notion that we may suffer has fashioned a golden image of who God is. With the threat that their god may be shaken, people are locked down in fear. Shakings are the litmus test to show who we really serve. Ask yourself this question, how much of my lifestyle did I fabricate and how much of it is built on God's unshakable Kingdom?

Restoring the Second Commandment

The other aspect we need to understand is that in the shakings, God is restoring the second commandment as well as the first commandment. Love for others. What happens in the midst of a disaster or crisis? People come together and help each other. As we prepare for this fall, we need to be preparing to help others.

Today there is a prophecy about global crisis and the response is: determine to prepare for survival and self-preservation. In the 1st century there was a prophecy about a global crisis (Acts 11:27-30) and the response was: giving and aiding those impacted; each according to their ability determined to send relief to the brethren elsewhere.

We love to point fingers at the corporate depravity of our nation and say she deserves punishment while our hearts are just as bankrupt. Let's take this time to examine our own lives and actions before we point the finger at anyone around us and make sure we are caring for the poor, needy and hurting, heeding the warnings of Scripture for the actions of Sodom.

"Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen." Ezekiel 16: 49-50

Folks it is an upside down Kingdom. You give it away to keep it and this is a sign your heart is free. Again, if God is dealing corporately with us in America than our preparedness should be more of the heart than a fear based grasp to hold onto our western lifestyles. Now there is nothing wrong with preparing your home, neighborhood, church and business for crisis and disaster. Here at CRI we hold seminars on how to train people to do so. However as the church we need to take inventory of our hearts motivation to make sure we are not hunkering and bunkering in fear but rather getting ready to help others and be the glorious church in that hour. If something is out from under the Lordship of Christ right now in your life than you want that dealt with now and not later.

Hebrews 11:7 says. By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. It's says that Noah by faith...in holy fear prepared for his family.

Are you responding in faith or fear? Let's choose faith. Join us as we call our nation to a fast now through September 23. We are praying and believing for an outpouring of God's Spirit on the hearts and minds of those in our nation. Let's humble ourselves before the Lord and believe that together we'll see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.

P.S. If we are going to be looking at the biblical calendar as a way that God deals with His people then remember the Shemitah just ended on September 13th and the year of Jubilee starts on September 23rd. I encourage you to be believing for great things!

I just want to add a bit to the foregoing, because some of the comments are matching certain thoughts I have had lately. I recently purchased a relatively new commentary on the book of Revelations (it was published in 2014, I believe) called The Book of Revelation:Things Which Must Shortly Come To Pass by G. Erik Brandt. Having only started reading recently, I'm still in the section regarding the seven letters to the seven churches. However, it impressed me that in two of the cities mentioned, Sardis and Laodicea, the saints were warned about being too complacent or accepting of worldly things, and therefore lacking the necessary faith to be saved in the last days.

As some background to Sardis, Brandt notes that it had been built on a high mountain for defensive purposes. But the footings for the city walls had been built on shaky, easily eroded rock and soil--essentially compacted mud that was easily dissolved in the rain. The city had been easily taken by armies of Cyras and, later, Antiochus, who entered through a small, undefended crevice on the south flank of the city that had eroded over time. The city leaders had taken no thought to repair the defenses, and so enemy forces had crept into the city at night, unexpected "thieves in the night" that took the city by surprise. At the time John sent his letters, Sardis was wealthy, and "[t]he local population retained a well-deserved 'reputation for luxury and also licentiousness'" from which the local Christian congregation was apparently not exempt. Brandt takes special note that the letter does not mention any persecution against the saints.

Among other items, the Lord instructed John to tell the saints there: "I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead." Rev. 3:1. "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee." Rev. 3:3. Brandt explains:

In their prosperous circumstances, the Sardis Saints had become complacent and tolerant. They were no longer a peculiar treasures unto the Lord (Ex. 19:5; 1 Pet. 2:9), but had been absorbed into society and their garments were soiled with its offensive customs.  ... Now they suffered from a false sense of security, their attention diverted from spiritual matters to the social and commercially prosperous attractions. The apathetic approach of the lax priesthood leadership permeated down to the majority of the Sardis members.

They had become so insensitive to the Gospel that the Lord warned that they would have no warning of his coming.

To saints in Laodicea, John was instructed to write:

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.

16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.

Rev. 3:15-16. To give a better understanding of this passage, it is helpful to know a bit about Laodicea. The city was located on a fertile valley that provided excellent grazing for sheep (and the basis for a prosperous textile industry), and was also reknown for its legal scholarship, and a medical school and medicines (including an eye ointment). However, the city lacked ready access to a source of fresh water. Brandt writes:

The closest supply of fresh water flowed from hot springs in Hierapolis, a short distance to the north. Engineers designed an aqueduct from Heirapolis to Laodicea to bring a constant supply of water. Water from the hot springs, which was apparently full of minerals, was mixed with water from smaller and cooler sources, It reached Laodicea lukewarm and nearly undrinkable, sometimes causing the thirsty drinkers to vomit.

The use of this simile was because:

The community was also known as the "city of compromise." It suggested that the citizens' propensity for appeasement was a trait developed over time because of their vulnerability in maintaining palatable water. They also used their well-known disposable income as a means of influencing or persuading rival communities to keep the peace--compromise (with worldly values) was the very thing that the members of the Church were guilty of when the letter arrived from John.

You may remember the parable of the wheat and the tares:

24 ¶Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:

25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Matt. 13:24-30. We are the wheat; the wicked are the tares. The two plants are nearly indistinguishable as young shoots, but only differentiated when older. We live in the time where the two become easily distinguished. We will have signs--perhaps, including the blood moons this month--to remind us that the time is near, even if it is not yet, so that we may prepare (you might want to refer to the parable of the ten virgins). However, if we become indifferent or compromise, we will be no different from the tares. Don't be a useless weed.

The Left Believes It Has Won

From an article by Adam Hobbes entitled "Content Policies Are Another Symptom Of The Culture Wars":

The interesting thing about this paradigm shift [from supporting free speech to suppressing it] is what it implies about the progressive left’s sense of just how strong their hold on the culture is. Fifty years ago no progressive would even think of supporting things like speech codes or “offensive” content restrictions. From the Beatniks of the 50’s to the radicals of the 60’s, the young progressives of those eras stridently defended free speech at all levels.

Back then it would have been progressives that were targeted by Christians, conservative whites, and traditionalists for supporting things like school integration, gay rights, and women’s lib. They needed society to be tolerant of minority viewpoints in order to get traction. Now they believe no such tolerance is necessary. Minority, “extreme” points of view are not only to be condemned, they are not to be heard at all.

This shift in progressive ideology constitutes a major milestone – a declaration of victory even. They have won the argument on gay marriage, white privilege, feminism, and transgenderism. They have a powerful stranglehold on the public schools, universities, news media, and Hollywood.

No one can honestly think of the cultural left as being anti-establishment now; they have become the establishment. Tolerating open debate and dissent can only hurt them.

"What the Heck Do All Those Letters Mean?"

A handy list of the meaning of abbreviations you see on boxes of ammunition and bullets, e.g., FMHSWC, FMJBT, HPBT, etc.

The Finnish Mosin Nagant Rifles

As some of you may know, Classic Arms recently got hold of a bunch of Finnish M39 Mosin Nagant rifles. These are considered more collectible than the Russian models because of their scarcity and better quality wood--which translates into a higher price. Classic Arms is currently out of stock (they supposedly have more, but are busy sorting), but The Mosin Crate apparently has a few that it is reselling at around $400 each.

Looking at the rise in the price of Mosins over the last year or so (Classic Arms is currently asking $189 for a plain-Jane Mosin), these rifles are migrating from the "cheap starter gun for a prepper" category to the "collectible" category. Even at the $200 price point, though, the Mosin probably would make a good SHTF rifle--if left in its basic configuration. But upgrading its trigger, safety, sights, scope mounts, etc., can easily eat up the difference between the Mosin and an inexpensive NEW rifle, such as Ruger's American Rifle, giving as good or better performance than the upgraded Mosin. Plus, such upgrades potentially destroy any future collector's value. You may scoff at that now, but other surplus rifles have had their values significantly increase (at least so long as they are left in their original configuration and condition).

Update (9/21/2015): It appears from various reviews that the rifles being received (even when opting for the "hand select") are in very poor conditions, most having cracked stocks.

Immigration, Europe, and Europe's Future

(Source: Daily Mail)

In a recent article discussing the collapse and shift of old borders, Richard Fernandez concluded: "The fences are going up all over Europe, we shall not see them torn down again in our life-time." Such appears to be the case. Germany has reinstated border controls, including passport checks. Hungary has closed a gap in its border fence, and enacted emergency provisions to stop the flow of immigrants, which has angered Serbia, now stuck with those immigrants. And Finland has closed its border with Sweden after the Swedish railway allowed immigrants to ride for free, and without having to show documentation, across from Sweden into Finland.

Like bad roommates, Germany, Sweden, and the U.K., have invited visitors into their flat (Europe), to make free with the whole premises, over the objection of the other roommates (e.g., Hungary, the Czech Republic, and so on). While Germany has implemented border controls, this seems more aimed at forcing other members of the E.U. to accept quotas of immigrants than a reversal of German policy. Merkel still insists that Europe has a duty to accept the Middle-Eastern horde descending on it.

So, where does this end? Like the U.S.'s immigration policy, German policy is driven largely by a demand for cheap foreign labor. Germany purports to have a shortage of labor (although it is not clear why it cannot use workers from fellow E.U. countries which have high unemployment rates--I'm kidding, it is clear: they don't want to pay the higher wages). However, in a decade or two, when the need for this labor is obviated by robotics, what then?

Stephen Green discusses this issue in his article entitled "Post-Modern Warfare Re-Revisited." He begins by noting an article from early this year by Will Collier, entitled "Dhimmitude Or Diaspora?" in which Collier suggests:

What happens 20 or 30 years from now, when demographic trends could well result in “minority-majority” (or even outright majority) status for the Islamic cohort in western Europe? If they’re faced with the options of dhimmitude or flight, where will the native Europeans flee to?

Why, here, of course.

Green's thesis, however, is that Collier has missed a third possibility:

If somewhere down the road the worst should come to worst, Europeans could always stay home and fight. And don’t think they couldn’t.

Problem is, the fight wouldn’t be the pretty kind where you see a few bold arrows drawn on the map, confidently slicing through history and the enemy lines. We’re not talking Desert Storm here, which you could draw with five arrows and lasted only 96 hours. We’re not even talking about the Liberation of France in 1944, which took slightly more arrows and just six weeks. Oh, no.

We’d be talking about city fighting. But not the kind of city fighting you saw in Saving Private Ryan, where the likable, well-trained and battle-hardened soldiers could call in an air strike just when all seemed lost. Thanks to modern Europe finally putting “ain’t gonna study war no more” into nearly full effect, they hardly have any battle-hardened soldiers. They hardly have any soldiers left at all.

The city fighting we’d see in Europe would look like what we saw in Sarajevo ten years ago. You know, ragtag bands of men with no uniforms, stolen weapons, and a desire to kill anybody who looked Muslim (or on the Muslim side, European). Holland and Denmark would fare worst. They’re both tiny, both have very high (and increasing) Muslim populations, and neither country has much of a modern military tradition. In this worst-case scenario, the likelihood of ethnic mob rule a la Bosnia seems high.

Want to take the worst-case a little further? Both countries border Germany, which might feel the very legitimate need to march in to restore Ordnung. I think we all know what usually happens once the Germans start goose-stepping through their smaller neighbors.

No, the result wouldn’t be World War III (or V?). But Europe could very well become Bosnia on a continental scale, with all the devastation, mass graves, and ethnic cleansing that implies. You can bet, at best, there would be a whole lot of people put at gunpoint onto refugee boats bound for North Africa and the Levant. Assuming, of course, the Europeans win in such a scenario. If not, the poor refugees would speak languages much like our own, and be bound for our own shores – just like Will suggested.

Me, though, I’d put my money on the Europeans winning a war of mass, mechanized murder.

My bet is a bloody war, followed by a diaspora. I have two reasons for thinking this, and it both stems from the fact that Europe is soon to overwhelmed by refugees and immigrants. First, the Middle-East is collapsing. The economies are barely functioning, and war is breaking out all over the region. This is mostly what is driving the current exodus. However, at some point, the young men flooding Europe are going to be sending for their families, and the situation will become much worse for Europe.

But this is just the beginning. As I noted recently, Africa's population is exploding. By 2050, Nigeria will likely be the third most populous country in the world; and Africa will make up 25% of the world's population (compared to its current 16%). Although many of its young people will seek to escape to the United States, Europe will face the toughest time. Another article I cited recently, "An African Planet?", indicates that Africa's overall population is expected to grow by a billion over the next 35 years. Remember, this is at the same time that many other regions will have either no growth, or be starting to shrink. (2050 will probably represent the time of the peak of the world's population). The result, according to the author:

The sad truth is that Africa’s “economic miracle” will never happen. As the population grows, survival will mean only one thing: emigration. The bright lights of Europe and North America–and of South Africa for those who cannot manage to leave the continent–will exert a hypnotic attraction. Many Africans will buy plane tickets financed by their relatives already overseas, or by Western aid money, and those who cannot afford to fly will pile into rickety ships to cross the Mediterranean. The African avalanche is inevitable.

The rush to Europe will be so massive and relentless that it will not be possible to stop it without direct military force. That would require a fundamental ideological change, and without such a change, at some point in the 21st century, Europe will accept African domination. This is not as preposterous as it sounds; most Europeans will be as resigned to black rule as white South Africans are today. Liberal Europeans will probably fight as hard as Africans to implement the current South African system of race preferences, quotas and forced integration.

* * *

Given the West’s simplistic notion of “democracy” as counting votes, it is hard to see what will stop the Africans. Every African born on the continent is a potential voter, and as South Africans say: “Vote for a living, don’t work for a living!” There will be four billion voters in Africa, and their voting power will spill far beyond the continent and overwhelm the paltry, aging populations of Europe.

* * *

In South Africa, blacks assert their rights as the original, “indigenous” owners of the land. In Europe and elsewhere, they will assert their rights–perhaps even more ruthlessly–as conquerors. ...

This immigration crises may well be the last real opportunity Europeans have to stop the cultural suicide mandated by their ruling elites.

New Case of Ebola in Sierra Leone ... And It May Have Been Sexually Transmitted

From Fox News:

Health authorities quarantined hundreds of people in northern Sierra Leone on Monday after a 16-year-old girl died of Ebola in an apparent case of sexual transmission, the first confirmed death from the virus in the district for nearly six months.

Sierra Leone celebrated last month when it discharged the last remaining Ebola patient from its treatment centers. But since then a new spate of cases has erupted, leaving two dead and five people in treatment.

* * *

The teenage girl, Kadiatu Thullah, died on Sunday at the International Medical Corps Ebola treatment unit, authorities said.

* * *

Conteh said health workers were investigating how the teenager got infected, since she had not traveled outside the village in years. Initial suspicions are that she had sex with an Ebola survivor.

"We are baffled by that possibility because the survivor in question was discharged in March, way beyond the 90-day period within which sexual transmission is said to be possible," Conteh said.

The head of Sierra Leone’s Ebola response, Pallo Conteh, has warned of a possible new surge of the virus after a woman died in the nearby Kambia district, on the border with Guinea. Nearly 1,000 people are into their second week of quarantine there, but a "high risk" contact remains on the loose, Conteh said.

"In the Country, No One Can Hear You Scream"

In a comment to my recent post, "How Did That Retreat Work Out?," someone observed that "in the country, no one can hear you scream." I remember reading a quote from a Sherlock Holmes story that made the same point: From “The Adventure of the Copper Beeches”:

By eleven o’clock the next day we were well upon our way to the old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, which set an edge to a man’s energy. All over the countryside, away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light green of the new foliage.

“Are they not fresh and beautiful?” I cried with all the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street.

But Holmes shook his head gravely.

“Do you know, Watson,” said he, “that it is one of the curses of a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed there.”

“Good heavens!” I cried. “Who would associate crime with these dear old homesteads?”

“They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin than does the smiling and beautiful countryside.”

“You horrify me!”

“But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of a drunkard’s blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser." 

"You civilians need to learn to mind your place"--The Sheep Dogs' True Nature

There is a flame war going on at Western Rifle Shooter's Association (WRSA) and Mason Dixon Tactical (MDT), that you can follow, if you want, via the following articles and their comments: "What's In a Name," (MDT); ("Perceptions, Emotions, Judgmentalism, and Reading Comprehension"(MDT); "In Defensio Exercitus Professionales or We Are Better Than You, Mind Your Place" (WRSA) (also here at MDT) by SFC Steven M. Barry; and "The Current Militia Movement?" (WRSA) by William David “Bill” Roberts II.

I'm not that interested in the reasons or topics that set off the debate--it appears to be related to some falling out or split among those involved in the militia movement and/or III Percent movement over the qualifications of certain people offering classes. Rather, my interest is in the fact that the professional soldier let his mask drop a bit. Sgt. Barry wrote in his piece:

Professional soldiers are better than you. Professional soldiers are a class. Professional soldiers know these things instinctively even if they won’t say it publicly. You civilians need to learn to mind your place.

Thus demonstrating in just a handful of sentences why the founding fathers of this country did not want a standing army. If Sergeant Barry's attitude is typical among the professional military, then God help us because, with that outlook, they are only one step from acting as a Praetorian Guard.

Related Post: "Sheep, Sheepdog, and Wolf--The Flawed Analogy"

See also this article from The Daily Caller: "Almost A Third Of Americans Could Imagine Supporting A Military Coup In The US."

Sparks31 Goes Dark

Sparks31 has taken down his blog. Although he has removed his posts, his books are still available for purchase of a hardcopy, or as a free download, for which I am grateful. I only had discovered his blog during the last year or so, but it had been one that I regularly visited, and will be missed.