day no. 16,048: the utmost of my endeavor

The youth of Athens were accustomed to taking the following oath in the temple of Aglaura:

"I will fight for religion, for the laws, for the altars, and for our possessions, either alone, or with others; and will do the utmost of my endeavour to leave to posterity our country, at the least, in as good estate as I found it." -- Junius Brutus, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

It reminds me of Nehemiah's charge,

"And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses." - Nehemiah 4:14

Men are duty bound to fight for what God has given them responsibility over. They are under a moral obligation to give their lives in order to try to save the lives of those they are obligated to love: wife, children, nation, and Lord. Whether this means fighting the private temptation of selfishness in wanting to stay behind or the public temptation of timidity in wanting to fall back from the front line, it will always require fighting of some kind.

Gratitude requires its benefactors to battle. Grit embodies appreciation and secures for future generations the blessings it freely acknowledges by binding itself to serve in its defense.

We must work hard to honor our ancestors in order to bless our descendants.

"A people which takes no pride in the noble achievements of remote ancestors will never achieve anything worthy to be remembered with pride by remote descendants.: -- Lord Thomas Babington Macaulay

day no. 16,047: because He rose up and because He sat down

Luke 24:5-6

And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen.”

Because He is risen, we can sit down and rest knowing that He lived, died, and rose again on our behalf.

Hebrews 10:12

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God

Because He sits at the right hand of the Father, we can stand up and get to work knowing that He intercedes on our behalf.

day no. 16,046: tyrants lop the tops

"A tyrant lops off those ears which grow higher than the rest of the corn, especially where virtue makes them most conspicuously eminent." -- Junius Brutus, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

Tyrants like things level.They call it as "equality," but it amounts to leveling. It isn't aimed at raising everyone to the highest goals, but lowering everyone to the lowest denominator. Tyrants hate exceptional men. Tyrants thrive in a kingdom of sycophants and thus create the kind of pecking order they can manage. Since they are utterly outmatched in every capacity other than their willingness to indulge themselves, they can only accomplish this by eliminating those who excel or, where possible, the ambition of excellence altogether.

This observation in Vindiciae immediately called to mind a similar sentiment expressed by C. S. Lewis in Screwtape...

“What I want to fix your attention on is the vast, overall movement towards the discrediting, and finally the elimination, of every kind of human excellence—moral, cultural, social, or intellectual. And is it not pretty to notice how Democracy (in the incantatory sense) is now doing for us the work that was once done by the most ancient Dictatorships, and by the same methods? You remember how one of the Greek Dictators (they called them ‘tyrants’ then) sent an envoy to another Dictator to ask his advice about the principles of government. The second Dictator led the envoy into a field of corn, and there he snicked off with his cane the top of every stalk that rose an inch or so above the general level. The moral was plain. Allow no pre-eminence among your subjects. Let no man live who is wiser, or better, or more famous, or even handsomer than the mass. Cut them all down to a level; all slaves, all ciphers, all nobodies. All equals. Thus Tyrants could practise, in a sense, ‘democracy’. But now ‘democracy’ can do the same work without any other tyranny than her own. No one need now go through the field with a cane. The little stalks will now of themselves bite the tops off the big ones. The big ones are beginning to bite off their own in their desire to Be Like Stalks.” ― C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters: Screwtape Proposes a Toast

In order to equalize God’s creative diversity you must neutralize His diverse creativity. So, while it may appear to be "working" at times, it cannot ultimately work. More to the point, that's biting off a bit more than they can chew.

day no. 16,045: bully-bane

"The tyrant hates and suspects discreet and wise men, and fears no opposition more than virtue as being conscious of his own vicious courses, and esteeming his own security to consist principally in a general corruption of all estates introduces multiplicity of taverns, gaming houses, masks, stage plays, brothel houses, and all other licentious superfluities that might effeminate and bastardize noble spirits." -- Junius Brutus, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

A tyrant's only move is to get better men to cuck themselves.

A tyrant cannot go toe-to-toe with a virtuous man, so he must persuade better men to emasculate themselves and spend their strength on puerile entertainments. A tyrant depends on the complicity of better men. He cannot overpower them per se, but he can tempt them, like Delilah, to forfeit their power. He has not hope of knocking them down in open battle, so he must, like Balaam, provide them with a reason to lay down. He must bastardize better men. He must lower the bar beneath his abilities in order to reign over them since he cannot rise to theirs.

Noble men then are the bane of bullies.

Because tyranny is evil, it can only corrupt and because it builds it's kingdom on a negation, it cannot stand under the weight of men who refuse to lie down. 

Psalm 106:30

Phinehas stood up.

day no. 16,044: tradition! or traditionalism?

"Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living."

-- Jaroslav Pelikan, The Vindication of Tradition

Tradition is the voice of our ancestors guiding us through their wisdom. Traditionalism is the habits of our ancestors adopted without wisdom. Where the first generation believes, the second assumes, and the third abandons; traditionalism is that second generation operating on the assumptions of their forefathers without, unfortunately, any of their faith. Tradition, however, is the second generation adopting the principles of the past by adapting them to the circumstances of the present. Because it lives in spirit, it can adapt in form, whereas traditionalism is only alive in form without any of the original spirit left in it.

day no. 16,043: the hard work of the wicked will benefit only the elect in the long run

Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

There is nothing better for a person than that he should eat and drink and find enjoyment in his toil. This also, I saw, is from the hand of God, for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

God uses the creative industry of the wicked to build an inheritance for the righteous.

Deuteronomy 6:10-15

And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you—for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God—lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth.

God gave Israel a land full of cities they had not constructed, homes they had not built, wells they had not dug, and fields they had not plowed,

God will one day give the entire earth and all the refined fruits thereof to the meek. At that point, all that the wicked genuinely achieved will be left to the righteous. All that the wicked discover, they lose. All that they conquer, they surrender and will be reopened under new management in the world to come.

All the hard work of the wicked will only benefit the elect in the long run.

day no. 16,042: rights and decrees come before kings

"Seeing then that kings are ordained by God and established by the people to procure and provide for the good of those who are committed unto them, and that this good or profit be principally expressed in two things, to wit, in the administration of justice to their subjects and in the managing of armies for the repulsing their enemies, certainly, we must infer and conclude from this that the prince who applied himself to nothing but his peculiar profits and pleasures or to those ends which most readily conduce thereunto, who condemns and pervert all laws, who uses his subjects more cruelly than the barbarous enemy would do, he may truly and really be called a tyrant" -- Junius Brutus, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

Kings are God's servants. They are deacons appointed to serve His people. When they leverage their position of service as a means of forcing others to serve them or when they abandon the duties attending their office, they are in defiance of their God and King. They are rebelling and the people of the kingdom are obedient to Christ in defying them.

Proverbs 31:4-9

It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine, or for rulers to take strong drink, lest they drink and forget what has been decreed and pervert the rights of all the afflicted. Give strong drink to the one who is perishing, and wine to those in bitter distress; let them drink and forget their poverty and remember their misery no more. Open your mouth for the mute, for the rights of all who are destitute. Open your mouth, judge righteously, defend the rights of the poor and needy.

"If laws be superior to the king and that the king be tied in the same respect of obedience to the laws as the servant is to his master, who will be so senseless, who will not rather obey the law than the king or will not readily yield his best assistance against those who seek to violate or infringe them? ...The king is not lord over the laws." -- Junius Brutus, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

Kings are subject to God’s decrees and must be upright when it comes to protecting the God-given rights of his subjects. Kings who do not subject themselves to God’s laws will be the objects of His wrath.

"It will be replied that it is unworthy the majesty of kings to have their wills bridled by laws. But I will say that nothing is more royal than to have our unruly desires ruled by good laws." -- Junius Brutus, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

Proverbs 20:28

Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king,

and by steadfast love his throne is upheld.

Love and faithfulness keep the King! The king who upholds the law has a throne which is upheld by the Lawgiver.

day no. 16,041: the last laugh

Came across an excerpt of THIS on Gab. This is from Dwight Eisenhower's Farewell Address to the Nation circa 1961.

"Throughout America's adventure in free government, such basic purposes have been to keep the peace; to foster progress in human achievement, and to enhance liberty, dignity, and integrity among peoples and among nations. 

To strive for less would be unworthy of a free and religious people. 

Any failure traceable to arrogance or our lack of comprehension or readiness to sacrifice would inflict upon us a grievous hurt, both at home and abroad. 

Progress toward these noble goals is persistently threatened by the conflict now engulfing the world. It commands our whole attention, absorbs our very beings. We face a hostile ideology global in scope, atheistic in character, ruthless in purpose, and insidious in method. Unhappily the danger it poses promises to be of indefinite duration. To meet it successfully, there is called for, not so much the emotional and transitory sacrifices of crisis, but rather those which enable us to carry forward steadily, surely, and without complaint the burdens of a prolonged and complex struggle – with liberty the stake. Only thus shall we remain, despite every provocation, on our charted course toward permanent peace and human betterment."

God will have the last laugh. The question is not, therefore, how will this end? The question is, who will be laughed at and who will be laughing along with Him?

Psalm 2:1-5

Why do the heathen rage,

and the people imagine a vain thing?

The kings of the earth set themselves,

and the rulers take counsel together,

against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 

Let us break their bands asunder,

and cast away their cords from us.

He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: 

the Lord shall have them in derision. 

Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath,

and vex them in his sore displeasure.

day no. 16,040: disaster and denouement

For every Hydra, there’s a Hercules;

For every Grendel, there's a Geat;

For every dragon, there’s a George;

For every giant, there’s a Jack;

And for every Nephilim, there’s a Noah.

Where God permits monsters, He raises up men to end them.

Psalm 74:12-17

Yet God my King is from of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. You divided the sea by your might; you broke the heads of the sea monsters on the waters. You crushed the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food for the creatures of the wilderness. You split open springs and brooks; you dried up ever-flowing streams. Yours is the day, yours also the night; you have established the heavenly lights and the sun. You have fixed all the boundaries of the earth; you have made summer and winter.

For every night, He brings a day;

For every winter, a summer;

For every tension, a resolution;

For every disaster, a denouement;

And for every catastrophe, a Eucharist.

day no. 16,039: poetry and piety

“It was the *Catholic poetry and piety that filled common life with something that is lacking in the worthy and virile democracy of the West.” -- G.K. Chesterton

Poetry and piety fill ordinary days with extraordinary purpose. The Christian faith alone can elevate the washing of feet to a work of art. It can translate the wiping of noses and bottoms into the conquest of generations. Christianity is affection for the good, the true, and the beautiful. Thus, a rich culture of poetry and piety is produced and appreciated by it. Democracy pivots upon the personal preferences of its people. Since these are always shifting, their foundations cannot hold. It is built on impotence. You cannot pass along that which cannot last. The virility of the world is mass producing contraception. The intelligence of the West is getting straight A's in ignorance. And that which cannot go on forever... won't; while that which is resurrected can never end.

*while Chesterton most certainly here used the term "Catholic" to refer to the Roman Catholic Church, I am taking it as shorthand for Christendom a la the Apostles' Creed, "I believe in the holy catholic Church." 

day no. 16,038: when the heat is on

Jeremiah 17:7-8

Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.

The man of God does not shrink back when the heat is on. He does not wither for lack of the world's water. For he is nourished by the rivers of God that flow below the surface. He is anchored in the eternal and carries it with him through his transience. He does not fear being forsaken, but continues to produce fruit. He doesn't shrivel. He keeps shoveling. 

Ephesians 5:15-16

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

day no. 16,037: wisdom is warfare which wins

Proverbs 24:5-6

Wise warriors are mightier than strong ones,

and those who have knowledge than those who have strength;

for by wise guidance you can wage your war,

and in abundance of counselors there is victory.

Wisdom is a warfare which wins and victory is the reward of a war well-fought.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we live in the world we are not carrying on a worldly war, for the weapons of our warfare are not worldly but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.

If you decide to fight, you must also decide to win; when you win, you must not be embarrassed or apologize. If you feel bad about winning, you should not have been fighting in the first place. Only fight for that which you would feel good about winning.

day no. 16,036: honestly and earnestly

“No one doubts that an ordinary man can get on with this world: but we demand not strength enough to get on with it, but strength enough to get it on. Can he hate it enough to change it, and yet love it enough to think it worth changing?" -- G.K. Chesterton

America... can you hate it enough to want to change it and yet love it enough to imagine it worth changing? Can you love your homeland enough to be a patriot, but hate it enough to be a rebel? 

Reformation and repentance require eyes and hearts wide open. If you close your eyes in order to keep your heart, you will tolerate all kinds of wickedness. If you close your heart in order to open your eyes, you will persecute all kinds of goodness. If you close your heart and your eyes, you abandon the whole mess for someone else to clean up when they stumble into aisle six. But if you keep your eyes and heart open, you can see the problems and seek solutions, you can admit the errors while working to correct them, you can examine something honestly and exhort it earnestly, you can confess its sins while sincerely desiring its forgiveness.

2 Corinthians 6:11

We have spoken freely to you; our heart is wide open.

day no. 16,035: wisdom, understanding, and knowledge

Proverbs 24:3-4

By wisdom a house is built,

and by understanding it is established;

by knowledge the rooms are filled

with all precious and pleasant riches.

Wisdom pours the foundation.

Understanding fortifies the structure.

Knowledge fills the home with pleasantness.

Wisdom excavates.

Understanding establishes.

Knowledge elaborates.

Wisdom builds.

Understanding bolsters.

Knowledge beautifies.

A good and godly home is established by firm ground, a fixed focus, and a fruitful atmosphere.

day no. 16,034: mining the minding

"In the hive and the anthill we see fully realized the two things that some of us most dread for our own species -- the dominance of the female and the dominance of the collective" -- C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy

Egalitarianism is the bane of all existence. It is at war with what is. It hates the world God has made and seeks to undermine His creative genius at every turn. It labels masculinity "toxic" and liberty "injustice." The hive mind is not, in the end, a mind at all, but rather the artificial metamorphosis of minding one's own beeswax into the minding of everyone else's. Strictly speaking, they would have you know that you have no beeswax to mind. It's our beeswax. Only a society dominated by effeminacy could submit itself to such a blatant rape of personal property and dignity. Only a world bullied by women could be cowed into that kind of collective.

day no. 16,033: dropping strongholds

Proverbs 21:22

A wise man scales the city of the mighty and brings down the stronghold in which they trust.

The strongholds of the wicked are built on weak foundations and come crashing down once the wise stomp their heels on the heights of their lofty aspirations.

2 Corinthians 10:3-5

For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,

Wisdom is warfare. It demos the long-standing doctrines of the damned and leads every prisoner into pasture whose gate and Shepherd is the Lord, Jesus Christ.

The faithful fists of the meek will knock out the strongholds of the mighty.

day no. 16,032: capitalization

"God has implanted in mankind also all that is necessary to enable it to accomplish its destinies... Away, then, with quacks and organizers! Away with their rings, and their chains, and their hooks, and their pincers! Away with their artificial methods! Away with their social laboratories, their governmental whims, their centralization, their tariffs, their universities, their State religions, their inflationary or monopolizing banks, their limitations, their restrictions, their moralizations, and their equalization by taxation! And now, after having vainly inflicted upon the social body so many systems, let them end where they ought to have begun—reject all systems, and try liberty—liberty, which is an act of faith in God and in His work." - Frederic Bastiat, The Law

Liberty is an act of faith in God. It takes self-control to leave other people alone and to conduct yourself in such a way as to not inspire the interjection of others. But self-control is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. It doesn't come naturally, only supernaturally. The impulse is to interfere and to utilize the government to force others to be or do what you prefer. But in God's economy, rights are given to His people by Him and government is set in place to ensure no one else takes those rights from them and to punish any attempt to do so as evil. Government in God's world can be small because He is big. In a world boxing God out, it is not surprising to the see size of the State swollen. Gods must be large and in charge and if you ignore the capital G (God), you will seek to capitalize the lowercase one (government). Every people appeals to their Capital. 

day no. 16,031: the answer to every prayer or the leverage to answer them yourself

"This is the high road to communism; in other words, legislation will be—as it now is—the battlefield for everybody’s dreams and everybody’s covetousness." -- Frederic Bastiat, The Law

They say that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions, but the high road to communism is paved with bad legislation. 

When government is God, it bears the weight of every failure to provide for what it promises. A god who can't keep their word, after all, is not a god at all. You don't blame your daydreams for leading you on, but you do blame your idols when they under-deliver.

The State then is either the answer to every prayer or the leverage used to answer yours prayers at the expense of others. It either is the highest power to which an appeal can be made or the greatest power one can brandish to exert power.

Socialism exists where law has become the battlefield of everybody's dreams and everybody's covetousness. It is energized by envy. It is predicated upon sin. It needs sin to exist in order to survive, so it seeks to enshrine it in our hearts by establishing it as our law.

day no. 16,030: ye the sheople

"One of the strangest phenomena of our time, and one that will probably be a matter of astonishment to our descendants, is the doctrine which is founded upon this triple hypothesis: the radical passiveness of mankind,— the omnipotence of the law,—the infallibility of the legislator: this is the sacred symbol of the party that proclaims itself exclusively democratic." - Frederic Bastiat, The Law

In other words, modern democratic policy presupposes that people won't think, act, or speak how they're supposed to without laws that compel them to think, act, or speak as they should. Therefore legislation must include incentives for proper thoughts, actions, and communications; and penalties for improper thoughts, actions, or communications. Those with the power to pass laws know what is best for us as to where we ought to be going and how best to get us there. This unholy trinity of presuppositions is nothing new. It is alive and well and killing liberty left and right. pun intended)

1. the radical passiveness of mankind: no one knows what is best for them self.

(and by "no one" the legislators conveniently exempt themselves, meaning "no one else" knows)

2. the omnipotence of the law: laws should be made that force people toward what is best for them.

(and by "people" the legislators again exempt themselves, meaning "other people")

3. the infallibility of the legislator: our laws will liberate you from previous laws.

(and by "liberate” they mean "enslave” to our new laws)

day no. 16,029: a socialist makes laws the way a capitalist makes widgets

"You would oppose law to socialism. But it is the law that socialism invokes. It aspires to legal, not extralegal plunder. It is of the law itself, like monopolists of all kinds, that it wants to make an instrument; and when once it has the law on its side, how will you be able to turn the law against it? How will you place it under the power of your tribunals, your gendarmes, and of your prisons? What will you do then? You wish to prevent it from taking any part in the making of laws. You would keep it outside the Legislative Palace. In this you will not succeed, I venture to prophesy, so long as legal plunder is the basis of the legislation within." - Frederic Bastiat, The Law

If any socialist principle of legal plunder is adopted by a system, it will be impossible for that system to resist being entirely overrun by socialism further down the line.

Capitalism is the freedom to make and to sell, to buy and to keep. Crapitalism (socialism in seed form) is the tyranny of making laws which make the making, selling, buying, and keeping of things more difficult, if not impossible. Craptialism doesn't make or manufacture anything except laws. It produces in legislation what Capitalism produces in widgets. It makes red tape and bills and acts and amendments, but nothing of substance. It still depends on someone else to make things. In fact, it now insists that they do, it's one of their new laws. And the fines for not conforming are just another revenue stream for them. Crapitalism survives off of taxes and fines for non-compliance. This is what the ol' fashioned used to call, "slavery," only now it is marketed under the guise of "liberty" because of the benefits package it secures for its servants.

A socialist makes laws the way a capitalist makes widgets.

Beware of those who spend their time and energy making laws and making it harder for anyone else to spend their time and energy freely making, selling, buying, and keeping things.

day no. 16,028: when law and morality are made to be in opposition

"When law and morality are in contradiction to each other, the citizen finds himself in the cruel alternative of either losing his moral sense, or of losing his respect for the law—two evils of equal magnitude, between which it would be difficult to choose." - Frederic Bastiat, The Law

Immoral legislation forces the governed to either despise the law or to despise morality. Either they are forced to fight back against their sense of civic dutifulness or they must fight their sense of civility, but something has to give. You cannot suppress morality with laws and maintain order. Either a respect for immoral law will lead to lawlessness or a respect for morality will lead to a usurpation of immoral law. Legal immorality and illegal morality end the same way: the corruption of those who accept them.

day no. 16,027: legal fiction and narrative truth

"It (the law) has acted in direct opposition to its proper end; it has destroyed its own object; it has been employed in annihilating that justice which it ought to have established, in effacing amongst Rights, that limit which it was its true mission to respect; it has placed the collective force in the service of those who wish to traffic, without risk and without scruple, in the persons, the liberty, and the property of others; it has converted plunder into a right, that it may protect it, and lawful defense into a crime, that it may punish it." - Frederic Bastiast, The Law

When the law is used to promote what is unlawful and to punish that which is law-abiding, it ceases to be legal. It is out of step with its aim. It cannot be upheld by injustice. It is out of alignment with its standard.

The law must answer to the Law-giver. A resolution passed does not a divine mandate make. The days cannot be lengthened by legislation. Bills can be passed redefining what a day is, but they have no affect on the hustle of the heavenlies. Light travels at the same rate regardless. Executive orders have no jurisdiction over what is just.

When laws are weaponized to forbid what God commands and to command what God forbids, the laws and lesser law-makers are under condemnation and the people are obligated to fire them. Legal fiction must be edited by narrative truth.

day no. 16,026: one body or one by one?

"The whole people is above the king, and likewise taken in one entire body, are in authority before him, yet being considered one by one, they are all of them under the king." -- Junius Brutus, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

Kings serve the kingdom while reigning over the individuals. Kings receive authority from the kingdom. A people can exist without a king, but a king cannot exist without a people. Earthly kingdoms precede their kings. Kingdoms have their authority to declare one from among them as their king while kings have the authority to declare one a subject, but the kingdom does not answer to the king, the king answers to the kingdom. The king is free to appoint advisers to his cabinet, but he is forbidden from appointing elders to the community. They are equally accountable to their people. The people as one body are permitted to place a crown on their own head or rings upon their own fingers, but the king as one man is not permitted to cast off any of his citizens without cause.

day no. 16,025: whatever you like?

"I could if I liked."

"You mean you could if you chose."

"Where's the difference?'"

"All the difference in the world."

-- C.S. Lewis, The Pilgrim's Regress

The initial statement assumes an ability to do whatever we like, that we can do that which pleases us and that it's only our lack of like that keeps us from doing anything. But there are things we like that we cannot do and there are things we like that we do not do. We don't do everything we like; sometimes because we can't and other times because we shouldn't.

What you chose to do may not be what you like. It may not be driven by desire, but by duty. The intersections of desire, duty, and decision involve standards outside of any one of them in isolation. To determine what is best, you must consider more than mere desire or sheer duty.

We cannot do all we desire.

We do not do all our duties. 

What we shirk and what we seek must be determined by a standard outside of what our desires or duties would dictate.

day no. 16,024: ten generations downstream

"A tribe with 100,000 people in it is just ten generations downstream from one (marriage).” - Douglas Wilson, Liberty Redefined

Genesis 35:11

Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body."

Marriages can give birth to nations.

Generations of planted seeds can produce a people -- not merely more persons, but a people: a unified whole, connected by covenant and culture.

May God grant us such influence for His glory, the blessing of our descendants, and the good of our neighbors.

day no. 16,023: cheers

Proverbs 15:15

A cheerful heart has a continual feast.

Joy is a perpetual banquet. It's supply, never ending; it's quality, unmatched. It's the best of foods in the greatest of amounts. Nothing nourishes better than joy and nothing is more abundant than cheer.

Psalm 16:11

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

Nehemiah 8:10

Eat the fat and drink the sweet... for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

day no. 16,022: we don't want nothin', not a thing from you

We don't want nothin',

not a thing from you

We're not gonna take it

Oh no, we ain't gonna take it

We're not gonna take it anymore

- Twisted Sister, We're Not Gonna Take It

The old-fashioned rebellion, exemplified here by Dee Snider's anthem, manifested itself in wanting to be left alone. It was a "live and let live" sort of rebellion against external standards. The new school rebellion, exemplified by snowflake cancel culture, wants to be waited upon. It insists upon being served and having its preferences codified in written codes that apply to everyone whether they like it or not.

The old school revolt didn't need anything from you other than your self-control to stay in your own lane. The new school revolt wants everything from you and expects you to drive it down whatever lane it currently desires.

Wanting to be left alone is more in the spirit of freedom than wanting everyone else to serve your particular preferences. Everyone doing their own thing without any interference is not Christian and could not sustain itself, but it's closer to liberty than the new school insistence that everyone do the one group's thing... or else. 

I never thought I'd long for a day for our rebels to be more like Twisted Sister, but I also never thought I'd see the day where dressing up like Twisted Sister would be considered "normal." They've taken the punk out of rock and made it mandatory. They've made men with make up into everyday heroes and regular men with beards into cutting edge outcasts. They've turned men with mascara into a sign of conformity and men with crew cuts into pariahs. 

When you outlaw masculinity only outlaws will be masculine. When you outlaw freedom only the outlaws will be free.

I don't want anything from anyone other than the opportunity to live in peace and quiet while pursuing my God. I don't need you to do anything for me to be able to do what I desire.

1 Timothy 2:1-3

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior.

day no. 16,021: disobeying disobedience

"What do we suppose to have been the cause of the defeat and overthrow of the army of Israel with their king Saul? Does God chastise the people for the sins of the ruler? Is the child beaten instead of the father? It is hard to swallow, people say, to maintain that the children should bear the punishments due their fathers; the laws do not permit that anyone shall suffer for the wickedness of another. Now God forbid that the judge of all the world (said Abraham) should destroy the innocent with the guilty. On the contrary, says the Lord, as the life of the father, so the life of the son is in my hands; the fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin. (Deut. 24:16) That overthrow, then, happened because the people did not oppose Saul when he violated the law of God, but applauded that miserable ruler when he wickedly persecuted David and the priests of the Lord.” - Junius Brutus, Vindiciae Contra Tyrannos

Each dies for his own sins. Sons are not flogged for the sins of their fathers nor subjects subjected to punishment for the faults of their kings. So, when Israel fell while following Saul, it was not for Saul’s sins that they fell, but for their own. What was their sin? Failing to oppose the sins of Saul. Israel was struck down because they disobeyed God by refusing to disobey Saul’s disobedience of God.

day no. 16,020: bringing the thunder

1 Samuel 2:10

The adversaries of the LORD shall be broken to pieces; against them he will thunder in heaven. The LORD will judge the ends of the earth; he will give strength to his king and exalt the horn of his anointed.

God's adversaries will appear to be building impressive, solid, impenetrable structures when all of a sudden they will be reduced to impotent, scattered pieces. They may raise their voices and make what sounds to be deafening noises when all of a sudden they will be silenced and their shouts dwarfed by the thunder of Heaven's Word. They may appear to be getting away with everything when all of a sudden they will be judged as nothing. They may appear strong and secure in their seats, but they will fall to their knees in awe at His appearing. 

Fear not little flock, your Shepherd is not far off and His thunder follows hard after.

day no,. 16,019: dulce et decorum est

Hebrews 11:13-16

These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.

It is a delightful duty to live and die for the Fatherland.

Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.