Mailvox: On defeat

DD writes: I feel so defeated as an American. I also feel defeated as a human. I feel like I can see where this world is going but I cannot find it in myself to take the actions to attempt to prevent the un-preventable, albeit a true man of courage and conviction would stand up and confront evil forces regardless if he feels he will lose. How do you balance a love of country with the truth of God’s word, especially when it seems abundantly clear that the actions of ones country runs contrary to the nature of the Gospel. I am not a religious person at this point in my life. I am more confused about my faith than I am about what’s happening to our country. The more I try to learn, the more I realize that I’m clueless. On top of that, I live a debaucherous life of drinking, sex and I just stopped doing drugs.

Is there any truth left down here. What exactly are we supposed to fight for in this day and age? I wish I knew. I want something to fight for. I want to step onto the battlefield. Unfortunately for me, I see that a war is going on, against God as well as the fundamental principles of our republic, but I don’t know where to start.

You cannot be defeated by an external enemy. Whatever defeat you feel is a battle that you have lost with yourself. Before you can step onto the battlefield, you have to experience victory in yourself, and you already know why you do not have that. The ancient Greeks rightly believed in developing strength of body, mind and soul, and as most Americans are incredibly weak in all three, it should be no surprise that so many of us are prone to despair. The early Christians were not afraid to confront the might of Imperial Rome; we cringe in fear before a suspect look in the eyes of a neighbor and the threats of jumped-up accountants threatening to take worthless digital bits away from us. Where to start? Start with yourself.

What are we supposed to fight for now? The same thing that those before us and after us will fight for: the truth. No one ever said the way was easy, quite the contrary, in fact. But we have hope. George Washington almost never won a battle as an American general, but he won the war because he stubbornly and faithfully persevered. There is no secret, only a simple answer. When you get knocked down, get up again. Once you have decided to get back up again no matter how often you are knocked down, you have already won; you cannot be defeated. Some do it with saintly grace, others with snarling defiance. Hold to the truth regardless.

Your country is not your government. You can love the one and despise the other. Nor do you need to approve of something to love it, indeed, when we love something it is often the very flaws that make it unique that we come to love the most. I love the friendly, unpretentious savagery of my countrymen, the singular combination of unsophisticated good nature and lethal barbarism that makes them both amusing companions and fearsome enemies. It is this very trait that gives me hope that one day America will wake up, and turn with a vengeance on those who have tried, like Lilliputians with Gulliver, to bind her down that she might be destroyed.

But even if this is not the case and America succumbs to the eroding forces of evil, I will feel more encouraged with every satanic step towards global tyranny, implanted GPS tracking and total financial monitoring. Because we already know from the Revelation that it must get worse before it will get better, and even if our petty efforts are in vain, those of the one we serve and worship will not be. We may be the Spartans of our day, but the glory of our cause will long outlast Thermopylae.