I just watched a video by Stefan Molyneux about George Washington, where his general assessment of him was that he was almost a complete failure but managed to be successful despite his losses. I am not disputing Stefan’s facts, but he is missing the point. I watched another video of Stefan’s where he talked about our failures in the middle east, and against the Islamic radicals, but I think he again misses the point. In this video he points out that ISIS can cause America to spend billions just by spending a few thousand with a terrorist attack. He argues that their goal is to disrupt our economy, and they have been successful. He also points out that we typically start with these people being our friends, but later, after we have armed them and enabled them, they turn against us. Again, this is all true, but he is still missing the point.

What is the point? The point is, to win the war! Winning battles does not necessarily mean you will win the war. No where in is history is this more apparent than during WW2. This is why you will not hear much criticism from me for Franklin Roosevelt. What he did, was allow the Japanese win victory after victory for the first 2 years of the conflict. We did win a few battles in the beginning, but generally, we lost. I am sure some at the time questioned our involvement (probably privately) because it looked like we were losing until 1944 rolled around. Then, we started to win. Not only did we win, but we won BIG. The cost of losing in the beginning was a lot of lives and material, but later the costs were much lower. As it turned out, losing over and over in the beginning over-extended the Japanese to the point where their supply lines became vulnerable to our submarines, and the small numbers of troops left on the islands were more easily overcome. WW2 became a war of attrition for both the Japanese and the Germans.

I believe the same was true for the Revolutionary war. The British army was  vastly superior to ours, and in general, we could NOT beat them all things being equal. Washington’s job, was not to beat a superior force, but to make every victory to be a costly one. He did that, while having massive problems with his own army. They deserted, the government wouldn’t pay them, he had a shortage of experienced officers, he had supply problems, and every time he lost, he had to deal with the political ramifications. He did not succeed because he was lucky, but because he persisted despite all odds. Yes, some of the other generals won some critical victories, but they were easy ones. Washington won the war.

Another example was the Viet Nam war. We lost that war right? Well, the war wasn’t really against the North Vietnamese, it was REALLY against the expansion of communism! Yes, we lost, but communism also lost, because after the war ended, communism lost its momentum, and 20 years later, we won the war with the fall of the Berlin wall.

In a way, the fight with Muslim radicals is the same as the fight against communism. We win just by standing up to them. Yes, we have lost some battles, but every time we lose, Muslim radicals lose support. The reality is, they kill more of their fellow Muslims than they kill Americans and Europeans. Their terror attacks are more successful and more inexplicable against other Muslims than they are against us. This is why people in Iraq and Afghanistan may still hate us, but they really don’t want to support the radicals any more, because they know as soon as the radicals stop, we will go away. This is why we need to continue the war on terror even though there are no clear victories and the people there still hate us. If we don’t, we may end up fighting WW3 against a Caliphate instead of fighting a bunch of terrorists.

WW2 is also a case study into why you should always resist aggressive counties right away. In the case of Germany and Japan, we did not resist them at all. If England and France had sent troops to the Rhineland in 1936 and if America had sent troops to Manchuria we probably would not have had to fight WW2 at all. WW2 destroyed Germany and Japan, unleashed the atomic bomb, and killed 70 million human beings. It was horrible! Regional conflicts are costly, but are nothing compared with world war.

Free counties NEED to resist aggressive countries EVERY time. Putin may still have the Crimea, but has paid a huge economic price and he is anxious to get them lifted. This is one of the good things that Obama did while he was president.

This rule also applies to the situation that president Trump is in right now. He wants to “drain the swamp”, but needs to endure the alligators too. We all remember that famous quote, “It is difficult to remember that your goal is to drain the swamp when you are up to your ass is alligators!” Trump needs to remember his goal. He may lose some battles, but the goal is to drain the swamp and win the war.

Mostly, this principal applies to us as well. We sin, get depressed, and suffer due to our own actions, and sometimes forget, that the Christian goal is to win the war and go to heaven and be with Jesus for eternity and realize that we will not to win every battle with our flesh. We need to not give up, confess our sins, and remain till the end. We need to be that “virgin” who has oil for her lamp when the bridegroom comes for us!

The issue of Sharia Law brings out the REALITY that America is really a Christian Nation whether people like it or not. Most people think that Sharia is not compatible with American Law, but they probably don’t realize its because of the Christian values that were injected into American culture in the beginning. For example, not discriminating against a minority is a Christian value. Sharia, on the other hand, creates minorities as a matter of course. In Sharia countries, Christians are a defined minority, and are by fiat, second class citizens.

The Bible says in First Timothy 5:21: “I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus and of His chosen angels, to maintain these principles without bias, doing nothing in a spirit of partiality.” Therefore, it is a sin to be discriminatory in Christianity (and in Judaism). This is a Christian value, and when non Christians claim it as their own, they are wrong to do so, because before Israel existed, discrimination was normal and accepted.

This is just one example. People who say that the west was not founded on Christian principals are just plain wrong.

Speaking of Judaism, it is also not compatible with American Law either, because like Sharia, Judaism has a law. You cannot implement this law in America either, simply because it has a requirement to be in Israel. Jews should take this a proof positive that they need to become Christians. Can you imagine the expense of having to go to Jerusalem every time you sin? I would have to live in the Temple! The wonderful thing about Jesus, is that we no longer have to go to Jerusalem to sacrifice a sheep every time we sin!

In the end, if you are a Muslim, and feel the need to practice Sharia, you unfortunately must move somewhere where Sharia is the Law of the land, and it is not incompatible with existing law. The same goes for Jews. When you live in America, you can practice your religion because of the first amendment, but, you cannot impose your religion on others. Christianity is one of the few religions that allows for this, and is also one of the few that is compatible with the first amendment.

Ironically, a new religion has emerged and is now challenging the first amendment. It is the religion of socialism or liberalism/progressivism. Like Islam, it imposes its own law on the general population by disguising itself as NOT a religion. Doing this, allows it to bypass the establishment clause of the first amendment. This is evil, and should not be tolerated. Unfortunately, most Americans do not see this trick.

In conclusion, we may have to accept the fact that freedom of religion does not work with all religions, specifically Islam with Sharia Law and socialism. The founding fathers did not see this otherwise they would defined freedom of religion differently. I think that we SHOULD establish a religion, and that religion should be loosely defined as Christianity defined by the bible, but without requiring adherence. This would solve our religious issues, but I suspect that left leaning people would not be happy!

 

I was watching a commercial on YouTube yesterday, when I noticed that they mentioned that computer automation was going to be the next revolution just like the industrial revolution that started in the late 19th century. I agree with the notion that computer automation will be the next revolution.

There were 2 previous revolutions that mankind experienced. The first revolution was going from hunter gatherer system to an agriculture system. This revolution allowed mankind to go from food that had to be found to food that could be cultivated. This revolution caused hunter gatherer tribes to be pushed off good agricultural land into more arid lands. This caused the deaths of millions of tribesmen to die of war and starvation. Many people blame European immigrants for the deaths of millions of native Americans because they were pushed off good farmland into the arid regions of the United States. Those that blame Europeans for this are being hypocritical because this war on hunter gatherer tribes has happened all over the world. In Northern Africa, it was between the Egyptians and the Bantu people. In Southern Africa, it was between the Bantu people and the Pigmies. In India, it was between the Moghuls and the Tamils. In Japan, it was between the Chinese and the Ainu. In England, it was between the Germans and the Welsh. I could go on and on, but the displacement of hunter gatherer tribes has been going on all over the world, not just in the Americas. The advantage of the agricultural system was that you could feed far more people on less land and you could feed them consistently.

The next revolution was the industrial revolution. This revolution displaced millions of people who had to leave overcrowded farms to near by cities for work. What would happen is, a man would have several sons to inherit his land for their own, but the land was not enough to support the large number of people that would need to eat. Some of the sons had no choice but to leave the farm to find food elsewhere. Before the industrial revolution, these men would have to form raiding parties to steal food from other farms. The Vikings were a classic example of this. Mankind started looking for new ways to farm to increase the yield of their fields. This fueled the industrial revolution. The factories produced iron plows, tractors, liquid and powdered fertilizer and harvesting machines. So, the end result was actually very good for mankind, because extra sons did not need to steal food any more, they just went to the city for work, and bought the food they needed. These jobs, however were dirty, dangerous and tedious.

Enter the computer automation revolution. To free mankind of the large number of dirty, dangerous and tedious jobs, mankind started to develop ways of automating these jobs. The first example was the cotton gin. It freed up men from having to pick cotton fibers out of the plant. Some may wondered what happened to these freed men, they ended up harvesting more cotton! No one lost any jobs. Recently however, people have been losing jobs as the types of jobs eliminated by automation increased though the use of computers. Another reason people are losing their jobs is being able to work remotely, also via computers. No longer do you have to go to a place of work, you can now connect to your office and do “paper work” from anywhere in the world. When people who live in foreign countries can work for far less money than where the work place is located, they get these “paper work” jobs and the people who live near the workplace, lose their jobs.

What people are concerned about, are large quantities of people who will not be able to find jobs. We are already seeing this happen in the USA. In previous revolutions, the displacement of people was handled by the revolution itself. In the present revolution, there is no clear way that the loss of jobs or support will be handled. While computer automation does create a lot of new jobs, it has the potential of not creating enough. So, what will all these displaced people do?

In my opinion, several things could happen. First, people will move to part time jobs, and use “homesteading” to make up the difference. There are many people leveraging their suburban properties to grow vegetables and raise chickens. Second, growth into space and the oceans will create new jobs. Nether of these areas have been fully explored for their ability to support mankind. Third, the “third world” will have increasing numbers of local jobs as their cultures transition to “first world” living standards. This will increase their standard of living and decrease their attractiveness in the world job market, and the people who lost their jobs in “first world” countries will get them back. Fourth, due to data analytics, new jobs will be created to take advantage of opportunities discovered as a result of the data analysis. Fifth, many nations will go to a socialist system where all citizens will receive an income from the state, whether they work or not.

The last solution is the most dangerous to Christians.

From the book of Daniel (12:5) it says: “But as for you, Daniel, conceal these words and seal up the book until the end of time; many will go back and forth, and knowledge will increase.” This is the prophesy of the world we now live in. This increase in knowledge will result in government control of buying and selling. From the book of Revelation: (13:17) in says “and he provides that no one will be able to buy or to sell, except the one who has the mark…” This is how this control will work. It is the missing ingredient of socialism, the ability to stop black markets and to punish people who do not obey the rules. Socialism has not really worked for mankind yet, but people still seem hell bent to keep trying it. With the ability to control buying and selling, a government exercises ultimate control over a population, enabling them to overcome the major problems of socialism, getting around the controls via a black market or not working due to the lack of incentive. Add to this, the implementation of income without having to work, proponents of socialism now have the ability to be successful.

Christians will not be able to take the mark, because the Bible makes it quite clear to do so is a sin. From the book of Revelation: “If anyone worships the beast and his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, ¹⁰ he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed ^[c]in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and ^[d]brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.” We will not be able to work (since the government will control who works), not able to buy food even if we have money, and not able to sell anything to make money. We will need to trust that God will provide for us in those times, just like the ancient Israelites had to trust God for water and food (manna) in the desert.

May we have the faith of a mustard seed. Thank you Lord Jesus!