Where Are The Men?

There was a time, in America, when men were required to be men.  A man was manly because, to be less than manly would have meant his death on the frontier.  There was farming, hunting, scouting, and building as our great nation spread westward.  A man had to protect his family; he had to fight against local Indians, marauding bandits, wild beasts, and those who would dispute his claim to his property and possessions.  His hands were strong and callused and his mind was sharp with the wisdom of the wilderness.  He knew how to feed his family, build his home, father his children, love and protect his wife, and be faithful to his nation.  Most had fought in a war or at least in a battle.  Many had fought in numerous conflicts and many had the scars to prove it.  And they stood at the ready to defend life and liberty at the expense of their very lives if need be.  And it did not make any difference as to whom or what that defense had to be made against…they intended to fight to the death to protect their own, defend their property, and stand for their nation.  Men like Davy Crocket, Daniel Boone, Jim Bowie, Meriwether Lewis, and George Rogers Clark.  These men were manly men, accepting their duties and responsibilities as manly men should.  They did not cower from nor shirk their duty; they pressed on, as men, and grew our nation and caused her to prosper.

On October 7, 1780 British Major Patrick Ferguson, of the British 71st Foot, set up a defensive perimeter on the top of Kings Mountain, North Carolina.  He had arrived in North Carolina in September for the purpose of organizing a Loyalist Militia and paving the way for General Cornwallis’ main force to enter and occupy the region; setting the stage for a southern campaign, by the British, against the Colonists.

Patriot leaders in North and South Carolina began to organize to repel the invaders.  Men known as the Overmountain Men and the Virginians coming from places like the Appalachian Mountains Ridgeline, Quaker Meadows, South Mountain, Roan Mountain, and Elizebethton.  All from the mountains, forest, and countryside and prepared to die for their nation’s freedom from the British Crown.  Lead by five Patriot Colonels…Isaac Shelby, John Sevier, William Campbell, Joseph McDowell, and Benjamin Cleveland…they prepared to attack King’s Mountain.

Major Ferguson had told his men and sent word into nearby villages that “Only God can get me down off of King’s Mountain!”  Enraged by both his invasion and his insolence, without a solid battle plan the Patriot’s divided 900 men into five groups and attacked from all directions.  Ferguson, with his 1,100 men were overran in one hour…Ferguson was shot dead with no less than seven musket rounds.  290 of the British were killed, 163 wounded, before they could surrender.  Major Patrick Ferguson is buried on King’s mountain, there is a stone monument there in his honor…God did bring him off of King’s Mountain by the hands of American Patriots who, without fear of life or limb, stood as men against tyrannical aggression.

We are in dire need of such men today!

From February 22 to March 6, 1836 Lt. Colonel William Barret Travis commanded the garrison located inside the Alamo Mission in what is now San Antonio, Texas.  With approximately 200 men he would hold off Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and 3100 Mexican soldiers, with heavy artillery.  The Texians refused numerous calls to surrender and numerous opportunities to retreat or flee.  On February 24th Travis dispatched a courier with a hand written request for reinforcements.  That document was entitled To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World and reads as follows:

“Fellow citizens and compatriots – I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna – I have sustained a continual bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man.  The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken – I have answered his demand with a cannon shot and our flag still waves proudly from the walls.  I shall never surrender or retreat.  Then I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism and everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch – The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days.  If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor and that of his country – Victory or death.

 William Barret Travis
Lt. Col. comdt

“P.S. The Lord is on our side – When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn – We have since found in deserted housed 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.
Travis”

Sometime around 5:30am on the morning of March 6, 1836, while on the Alamo wall defending against the final assault by Santa Anna’s troops, Colonel Travis was shot and killed…his last recorded words were shouted out in Spanish to the Alamo defenders and to the advancing Mexican troops… “No rendirse Muchachos!” “No surrender Boys!”  He and they did not surrender…they all died in place…to the last man…defending their land from an overwhelming invasion.  No reinforcements came, no help arrived, but they fought anyway, and they died as men…American men!

Where are such men today?  Those who are willing to “die like a soldier who never forgets what is due his own honor and that of his country – Victory or death.”?

I am well aware that these men do exist…they populate our armed forces today and are demonstrating their valiant resolve on a daily basis…My sons fit the bill for this type of man…in Iraq…my oldest, Eric was killed in Fallujah on December 23, 2004…my youngest, Evin fought in Ramadi in 2005…my brother in law was wounded in Bagdad in 2006…my nephew served two tours in Iraq in 2006 and 2008…but this question is not to them…it is to us…those at home, here on US soil, who have grown soft, un-impassioned, uninspired, and weak.  Where are the men in America?

Israel had turned its back on Jehovah God and found itself, as a nation, under the Judging hand of Almighty God.  Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar had taken Judah’s King Zedekiah into captivity with all of the people, burned the Temple, the King’s Palace, and the majority of the city of Jerusalem.  Israel lie in waste…its people now slaves in Babylon. 

Jehovah God of heaven tells us why Israel so suffered.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Prophet Ezekiel wrote the following in reference to those very events:

“And I sought for a man among them that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the LORD God.”  Ezekiel 22: 30-31 (KJV)

In those days God was searching for a man and found not one fit for or willing to do the tasks.  Today, where are the men…where is a man...one who will stand in the gap and make up the protective hedge for America?

I want to be one of these men…here in our America…too old for military service and with an active duty injury that caused me to be retired from my military career years ago.  23 years of law enforcement service…25 years now in the ministry…I make my public statements and stand two times every Sunday, and two more times every Wednesday. Few people, if any, are unaware of my positions…but…I want to rise up for my country…I am willing to die for her…I am willing to fight viciously for her.  I just need some men to stand with me.

Our days are short…growing shorter everyday.  Our circumstances are dire and our national needs are great.  We have a cornucopia of enemies on every side. The radical Muslims, vicious socialists and progressives, aggressive environmentalists, rabid homosexuals, ignorant occupy protestors, foolish union thugs, and an ever growing list of federal alphabet soup agencies: FBI, DHS, DOJ, CIA, NSA, and a plethora of others.  The main stream media opposes all that we stand for.  The current President and his administrative staff are in opposition to every God fearing, red blooded American value and are bent on destroying our Constitution and its Bill of Rights…by executive fiat if necessary.

Again I ask: Where are the men?

I want to be one of those men.  A man who stands for good and right, a man who does not tolerate evil, nor compromises with wrong…no matter how easy or simple it may be to do so.  I want to be a man who, as a real Patriot, will defend his nation to the death: Verbally, with an educated mind and a large vocabulary or physically, by force of arms if necessary.  I want to be a man who is prepared to die rather than submit to tyranny or oppression…today, right now, if need be.

I want to lead my family, lead my Church, and lead my community toward freedom.  I want to direct their paths to follow the Word of God, support the Constitution, and defend the Bill of Rights.

I want to demonstrate patriotism to my grandchildren, to my congregants, and to my friends: Saluting our flag, honoring our troops, fighting every enemy of our great nation.  And standing up to our government whenever it attempts to destroy or deprive our rights or seeks to impose on this populace socialism, Marxism, communism, totalitarianism, despotism, or a dictatorship and making that stand publicly, openly, vividly, and passionately.

I want to be that man and I intend to be that man today.

I begin my public stand a long time ago…no one who knows me needs to wonder about what I think…all they have to do is ask…and I may tell them even before they do.  But, I can not make any progress alone!  We have set idly by too long.  We have allowed too much liberal water to pass under the bridge of time and now we find ourselves in a full fledged flood.  We must rise up and stand! 

So, my fellow citizens, rise up now…stand up today…let’s organize ourselves, prepare our response, fortify our positions, fill our ranks with the likeminded, and march forward to victory…victory over all oppression, victory to retain our rights, our freedoms, our country…

Who will stand with me?

Jerry Hillenburg  D.D.  D.E.T.

Senior Pastor

Hope Baptist Church

HBCIndy.com

PastorJDH@comcast.net