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Even when I didn't know the Lord, I never understood why some fell prey to jingoistic propaganda. It was always terribly transparent and even garish to my sensibilities, but perhaps that was partially due to my upbringing. I was born on a military installation --- ironically, home of the same military school I would attend after I enlisted --- and grew up on military bases overseas. Perhaps it was because I witnessed aspects of the military that others did not, though on the surface that doesn't speak of the evil which occurred beneath flying flags, wearing uniforms and festooned with medals. What command let certain men get away with was the face of evil itself.  I surely didn't join the U.S. Army to "serve my country." I owed that country nothing at all. Rather, the Gulf War was brewing... I knew that some stateside units were preparing for deployment to the Persian Gulf... it was my chance to escape the horror of the house I was born into... and it was an opportunity to potentially check out of this sick and twisted world. I had a combat MOS and I had heard rumors that soldiers arriving in Europe from the states were being diverted to Tent City at the Frankfurt airport. Tent City was the staging point for deployment to the Gulf. That was where you exchanged your woodland camo gear for the newly issued desert BDUs.  117 soldiers on that flight into Frankfurt (I was one), and what happened? 116 were sent to Tent City except for one. I was the only soldier on that flight assigned to West Germany. I volunteered to go to Kuwait but because my commanding officer designated me as indispensable to the operation of the company, I was stuck in Germany. I couldn't leave that unit until the Gulf War was over.  I was denied my opportunity to check out. I didn't know it back then, but that was according to the will and purpose of the Lord. Indeed, for He called me after I was finished with the military. 

I'm in agreement with @D. Adrien. I didn't know the Lord when I enlisted in the U.S. Army. There's surely no shame to be had but I must say that, knowing the Lord as I do now, I would certainly not do such a thing. I would gladly be incarcerated than join myself to such a thing.    Medics are armed, my friend. The only individual in the U.S. armed forces who is exempt from carrying arms by regulation is the military chaplain; however, chaplains are assisted by aides and those soldiers are the ones who bear arms. 

I understand there is supposed to be some satanism in being a Mason. I can do research, but you know how knowledge is these days. Everything has bias and agendas attached to it. How would I know for sure I was finding truth and not just propaganda??    Isn't it possible that a person could be a Christian and simply give lip service to someone else? We do it to God all the time. Look at Namaan in the Old Testament. He said he would only follow God, yet would still go through the motions of idol worship even though his heart wasn't in it.    I don't know much about masons, but I DO know quite a bit about Washington, and I believe his heart belonged to Jesus. Being a Mason isn't enough to undo all the other things he did for God. I'll look into the books you mentioned. Maybe I'll learn something.

Exodus 12:12-13 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. As our family prepared and led a Passover Seder a few years ago, the Lord reminded me of a truth which I had understood, but never had seen so clearly applied from the Passover story. Of course, the celebration of Passover for believers normally emphasizes the revelation of our Passover Lamb — the Lamb of God, Yeshua, who was delivered up, a Lamb without blemish, and sacrificed in our place as an offering for our sins. As Israel celebrates deliverance from slavery, we celebrate deliverance from the bondage of sin. We celebrate knowing that death no longer has power over us since we pass from this temporal world into the eternal when we die. Furthermore, when the children of Israel were passed over, while each of the firstborn of Egypt died, Israel did not depart as penniless slaves. They left carrying with them the riches of Egypt! Likewise, we who were spiritually “penniless” when we came to the Lamb, instantaneously inherited riches beyond our imagination. These are two of the wonderful lessons from the Passover event. As I studied in preparation for our Seder another truth has struck me powerfully– the blood needed to be applied! If the children of Israel had merely believed in the power of the lamb’s blood, and the word of Moses, but never applied it to their doorposts, the angel of death would still have killed their firstborn! A passive belief in the blood would not have saved them — action was required — the blood needed to be applied to their doorpost. Once the blood was applied, a line was drawn across which the angel of death could not pass! Most of us have an understanding of the power of the blood. But are we actively applying the blood to our lives and circumstances as a hedge of protection around us? No, not as a magic formula, but prayerfully in the spirit, as a cleansing and protective reality over our lives, families, loved ones, homes, cities, and nations. Assume your authority as a child of God this Passover season, and apply the blood over any area of your life that needs His supernatural protection and provision. Don’t take a passive approach in these last days, but be actively walking in the power of the blood, this Passover, and in the coming days….for truly, if there was ever a time we needed to be walking in His power, protection and victory, it’s Today! Never miss a devotion again! Sign up for our Worthy Briefs!We're being CENSORED ... HELP get the WORD OUT! SHARE!!! View the full article

Micah 4:8;5:2 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. There are many who are not aware of the very deep significance of Bethlehem,Yeshua’s (Jesus’) birthplace. Everyone knows that Bethlehem was a place where shepherds grazed their sheep, and where the Messiah was to be born, but do not realize that it was a town designated as the birthing place for lambs which were used for the Passover sacrifice. The Scriptures give significant details about this little town lying slightly south of Jerusalem. In Micah 4:8 we read about the “watchtower of the flock”, or in Hebrew, “Migdal Edar.” According to the “Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah”, by Alfred Edersheim, a Jewish believer in the late 1800’s, Migdal Edar was the location where the Messiah was to be revealed. This watchtower stood as a place of protection for the city from approaching enemies, but it was also utilized by shepherds to watch over the specific flocks from which sacrificial Passover lambs were taken. The shepherds who were tending these particular flocks were no ordinary shepherds. They were specifically trained by the Rabbis for a holy task. They had to insure that, as much as possible, every lamb was free of any blemish or injury, in order to be used for the Passover sacrifice. Since they were instructed by the Rabbis, they almost certainly knew of those passages in the Targums (Aramaic translations) and the Mishna associating the birth of the Messiah with “Migdal Edar”. For example, Migdal Edar is translated in one of the Targums as “The Anointed One of the Flock of Israel.” It is also written in the Mishna that “He spread his tent beyond Migdal Edar, the place where King Messiah will reveal Himself at the end of days.” Those shepherds had strong hints of Messiah’s advent in the very town where they lived so that when the angelic host appeared announcing his arrival, they responded immediately and went to worship Him. We too have increasing signs of His soon Second Coming. Are we also prepared to respond? Our readiness to act in faith and worship will show how well we understand the signs of our own times. With so much work to be done, let us stay awake and be inspired by the expectation of his soon arrival – for, just like those shepherds of Bethlehem, we truly were born for such a time as this! Never miss a devotion again! Sign up for our Worthy Briefs!We're being CENSORED ... HELP get the WORD OUT! SHARE!!! View the full article