“Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” Will we learn from it or will it be repeated over and over? If we do not learn from this one in Boston, we can be sure we will get a chance to see it again, and again and again, and probably near us.

     For years now, our own Federal Government has been implementing policies that are making America increasingly vulnerable to terrorist attacks. Without those policies, the Boston Marathon bombers almost certainly would have been stopped before they could have carried out their attack, just as the Fort Hood terrorist would have been stopped. Those responsible for the madness of these policies, and are therefore responsible for the blood of these victims, are now in the most critical positions in our own government, including:

• The President
• The Justice Department
• The Department of Homeland Security
• The Defense Department

     Federal law requires that those who accept positions of responsibility for our defense and safety be competent. At best, what is being done to the American people is an unprecedented incompetence in defending our country and our people. If it is not incompetence, then it is treason.

     There is a growing mountain of evidence that we are being made vulnerable intentionally, but here, I will just focus on what is being done to us rather than why. First, let’s look at the most basic takeaways that should be seen clearly after the Boston Marathon bombing.
 

These bombs were not the work of novices.

     These attacks are likely more for the purpose of measuring our responses and defenses so that future attacks can be carried out with greater affect.
 

The Tsarnaev brothers did not act alone but had professional training and probable direction for the attack.

     More is confirmed about this almost daily, but as we will discuss below, our defense and law enforcement has been neutered by Federal Government policies that cared more about “Sensitivity Training” than competence training. Without major changes to these policies, our government will not be able to take the necessary actions to stop future attacks.
 

A major American city was shut down by one nineteen-year old.

     One estimate was that Boston lost about one billion dollars in business for the one day it was shut down. This is not to esteem the money loss over the victims’ loss, but a major strategy of our enemies is to weaken us by weakening our economy. Using the present policies in place, it would not take but a handful of people strategically placed to shut down the country.
 

The hot topic in America when the bombing took place was gun control but quickly changed. Why?

     While the terrorist was loose and the entire city of Watertown, Massachusetts was in lockdown, three kinds of people were in this community:

• Those who were glad they had a gun in their house.
• Those who wished they had a gun in their house.
• Those who are lying about it.

     The news reported that about two hundred shots already had been fired in a shootout with the terrorists, and one of them got away. How?

     Immediately after the lockdown was lifted, a few dozen shots rang out, so was it safe to lift the lockdown at that time? When the terrorist was caught in the boat, he did not have a weapon, he was wounded, and very weak from the loss of blood. Why all of the shooting at the boat if they really wanted to take him alive for the intelligence?

     This whole thing was a new experience for just about everyone involved. Our law enforcement and first responders are some of our greatest and most important public servants, but we have much to learn from this whole experience. One lesson the public got was thankfulness for the first responders, but also thankfulness for the Second Amendment and the ability to protect ourselves and our families.
 

Fast and Furious and Terrorism

     The Fast and Furious program has to be the most bizarre in U.S. history. In this program, our U.S. Government gave a huge quantity of the most deadly and powerful weapons known to drug lords, violent criminals, and terrorists. That is crazy by any definition of the word, but it gets worse. They said they did this with the intention tracking the weapons to see who got them, but there is no means for tracking them.

      To date, no one has been made responsible for this madness or even fired (a few got “reassigned”). Yet a government that has displayed this level of madness, incompetence, and lack of accountability wants its citizens to give up their arms and trust them to protect us! We should be very thankful that the citizens of the United States are displaying far more reason than its government at this time.
 

The Boston Marathon bombing would not have happened if the FBI and CIA did not have their hands tied by “political correctness” and “Sensitivity Training.”

      Okay, I’m repeating myself. It must be repeated over and over until we get it and do something about it. Those who take positions of responsibility for defending us and protecting the people are required by U.S. Federal law to be competent. Incompetence is leading to increasing numbers of dead and wounded Americans, and their blood is on the hands of the U.S. Government officials who have proven so incompetent.

      On the day of this writing, April 30, 2013, President Obama said in a news conference that we cannot completely defend ourselves against “self-radicalized individuals.” This could not more succinctly reveal the level of ignorance and blindness on the part of our present leadership. Brilliant, scientific studies have been done on the radicalization of American Muslims that our present leaders have chosen to completely ignore, and they are putting us in jeopardy because of it.
 

The blood of the Fort Hood soldiers killed in that terrorist attack is likewise on the hands of our incompetent leaders.

      Our U.S. Government Sensitivity Training also prevented the removal of an army officer like Nidal Hasan, who was actually teaching to his fellow officers such things as how the attacking of American troops in Iraq was “justified.” He had known links to terrorists who were intent on attacking and killing Americans.

      The declaring of the attack on Fort Hood as a case of “workplace violence” instead of a terrorist attack is the same kind of madness that led to “Fast and Furious” and opened the door wide in America to more attacks like the Boston Marathon bombing. Any thinking, reasonable person would have to see that the attack on Fort Hood was a terrorist attack, but our government called it “workplace violence,” which will forever be a monument to the insanity of our present leaders.

       If that was not the height of delusion, think about this. The Chief of Staff of our Armed Forces actually made the statement after the Fort Hood terrorist attack that he was more concerned that “diversity had been wounded” by this attack. What about his soldiers? They were senselessly slaughtered in the one place they should have been the safest—in their own fort in their own country.

       These soldiers died because of the incompetence of their leaders in recognizing a very clear enemy. They should have known Hasan was a threat to do this long before he did it. The obvious signs were there. How can we not conclude that our government’s “Sensitivity Training” is actually desensitizing our law enforcement and military to clear and obvious threats, and this is making us all increasingly vulnerable?
 

A basic military principle is that we cannot defeat an enemy we do not see.

       Ignorance of our enemy is the greatest liability in warfare. Intelligence about the enemy is one of the greatest advantages in any conflict. Therefore, one of the most basic requirements for competence in the defense of our country is knowing our enemies.
 

Our government does not know who the enemy is.

       Policies are in place in our Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that not only ignore the single group responsible for almost every terrorist attack in recent times as a threat, including those who killed thousands of our own citizens on 9/11 in the deadliest terrorist attack in history, and instead has called a huge block of American citizens the main threat of terrorism in America, even though this group is yet to be responsible for a single attack.

       Just a few weeks ago during the Second Amendment debates, the infamous DHS memo of 2009 surfaced again that specified the main terrorist threats to America are:

• Right-wing extremists
• Members of Second Amendment rights groups
• Christians who believe in the end-time prophecies of The Bible
• Military veterans

       Could it be anything but the most extraordinary blindness ever that the one group responsible for 99 percent of all terrorist attacks over the last half century is left completely off the list of threats to America? When was the last time Christians or right wing extremists flew airplanes into our buildings?

       In the one attack by a veteran, Timothy McVeigh’s attack on the Oklahoma City Federal Building, McVeigh was a left-wing extremist. Yet in the DHS memo, there are about eight references to “right-wing extremists,” or “right-wing terrorists” on every page, and not a single reference to a left-wing extremist in the memo.

       Even more shocking is that Islamic extremists, who are responsible for virtually every attack on America, Americans, and the rest of the world, are left completely off the list of those who pose a threat. There may never have been a more poignant example of military or law enforcement incompetence than this.
 

Our Federal Government has been turning against its own people.

        One of the categories our own citizens DHS labeled as a source of potential terrorists are those who believe in the end-time prophecies of The Bible. This is actually about 65 percent of Americans. How could we have come to this? Eighty percent of Americans claim they are Christians, but our government is becoming increasingly hostile to Christians and Christianity.

        Military veterans are the single group making the greatest sacrifice for our defense and freedoms, yet they were branded by this memo from their own government as potential terrorist threats. Is there a greater shame that our government has ever brought upon us?
 

Our Federal Government has promoted into key positions in our intelligence and law enforcement communities those who have proven links to organizations hostile to America.

         This is not a conspiracy theory or paranoia but has been proven with a mountain of evidence to back it up in U.S. Federal Court. Overwhelming proof of this is being provided by organizations like The Center for Security Policy and other professional defense analysts. These are boldly naming names and providing overwhelming and verifiable evidence of this on their websites and through their materials. We have put people in top positions in our government who should not have even been given a security clearance, which is a crime according to U.S. Federal law.

         It is understandable if some of our citizens are not educated on the intent of jihadist Islamic extremism, but our leaders are required to know it by law. Either they are breaking the law by being so naïve and incompetent or they are traitors. That can and should be settled later, but right now we need to understand that it is in fact being done to us.
 

Our Muslim citizens who are true moderates and stand against extremism are some of the most courageous of all of our citizens.

         Not many of these are left because they have been put in such jeopardy by our government. Even so, they are still some of the most courageous people, and they are certainly deserving of respect, honor, and support.

         The incomprehensible naïveté of the U.S. and other Western governments has made it look very much like the extremists will easily prevail. Moderate Muslims who do did not join the jihad are considered apostates, and the sentence for apostasy in Islam is death. Therefore, those who are true moderates and have had the courage to take a stand against extremism are some of the most noble and courageous of our citizens. They are laying their lives on the line for us while our own government has been abandoning us.
 

Our Federal Government is now anti-Christian and pro-Islam.

         Our government has crossed the line and is now promoting Islam, while becoming increasingly hostile to Christianity and Christians. Why do we now have Sensitivity Training in our Federal Government for Muslims, but do not have the same Sensitivity Training for Christians, Jews, Hindus, and all others?

         If there were Sensitivity Training for Christians, you can believe there would be outrage and loud cries of how this is used to establish religion, a basic violation of the Constitution, when in fact Christians and Christianity are under a far greater attack in this country than Muslims are now.
 

So What Do We Do?
 

We must live by faith, not by fear.

         As citizens, our best response is to resolve that such attacks will not affect us, but go on about our business, just as Israel learned from decades of constant attacks. The shutting down of a major American city because of this kind of attack is not the right strategy.

         As Christians, we must keep in mind that fear is not a fruit of the Spirit, and the Spirit will never lead us with fear. For this reason, if we are controlled by fear, then we will not be in the place that the Spirit would lead us or doing what He would lead us to do. The most dangerous place to ever be is to not be in the will of the Lord, and if we are being led by fear, we will not be in His will. The safest place of all is in the will of the Lord.
 

“Let your moderation be known unto all men" (Philippians 4:5) is an important biblical exhortation for these times.

         Before going further, we must keep in mind a ditch is on either side of the path of life. These ditches are the extremes on each side, both of which must be avoided. The answer to the extremes that are now being imposed on us is that we must be careful not to overreact and go to the extreme on the other side.

         With the present level of polarization, we can be a moderate in the exact middle, and we will still be branded as extremists. We cannot be concerned by what people think of us. We must resolve not to become reactionary but simply devoted to the truth.

          I must be a moderate and close to the middle because I can see people equally as far away on both the right and the left. However, those who are on either extreme, the right or the left, than those who are moderates, will look like extremists to you. We now have a government that is so far to the left that moderates and centrists are now branded as right- wing extremists. Even so, in this climate we must understand that to stand for the truth, or for moderation, we will likely still be branded as extremists. Let’s just be sure we are not becoming reactionary extremists.
 

Understand and support the biblical mandate of government

          Two different biblical mandates are given to two different authorities in the world. Not understanding these is a cause for much of the confusion that exists among Christians today. We will examine them briefly here. The first is the spiritual mandate given to the “holy nation,” the body of Christ. The second is to civil government, which Paul addresses in Romans 13:1-4.

               Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist are established by God.

             Therefore he who resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

             For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same;

             for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil.

          As we see here, a main purpose of the civil authority is to avenge evil and to use its military power (the sword) to do this. Justice is not just for seeking vengeance or retaliation for evil deeds, but it is the primary deterrent to evil. This deterrent is not just because of the fear of punishment for evildoers, but it is also through the process of justice that we come to more fully understand what happened and why, so we can prevent it from happening again.

          For this reason, it is imperative that everyone responsible for the Boston Marathon bombing be brought to justice, and we can be sure this was not just the work of the two Tsarnaev brothers.
 

Never forget that in a Republic, the people are the sovereign.

          Our government was commissioned to be “of the people, for the people, and by the people.” Every one in a position of government works for us, and we are the ones ultimately responsible. Even though it is now questionable that our Federal Government is fast moving away from being for the people, of the people, or by the people, at this writing this is still our mandate. If this is lost, then it was lost on our watch.

          So what can we do about this? There is a great deal, and we will cover them in future Bulletins.