Written by Greg Benner 11-08-2010

Freedom Is Not Free 

Every day…people all over the world search for lost treasure hoping to hit their projected mother lode capable of turning dreams to reality. Miners drill and blast their way past hard rock toward elusive gold…kids spin and twist their way past boring chores toward Peter Pan…inventors think and draw their way past current limits toward inconceivable solutions…philosophers research and reason their way past moral absolutes toward enlightened thinking…and social engineers edit and paste their way past national stability toward enslaving agenda. However, all such pursuits share one thing…plunging from the proven to penetrate the impossible. History shows that many brave souls risked all to stretch human experience onward toward victory. And yet, history also reveals many-a-silver-tongued-orator who promised the moon only to deliver the same miry mess trudged through by prior generations…in despair. History is the library of human experience handing those young and yet-unborn ones…tools to build a better future. Without history’s accurate transmission…today’s and tomorrow’s generations are destined to re-invent the wheel of human delusion. Freedom is not free! It finds its existence written in the blood of those who died, so others may live…

Knowledge Is Power

Great races, cultures, and creeds have risen victorious or fallen in defeat based on their propagation of moral absolutes, wise philosophies, social decencies, past atrocities, advanced technologies, personal responsibilities, and spiritual realities to subsequent generations. Thomas Jefferson said, “Information is the currency of democracy.” Likewise, this revered colonial statesman penned, “When the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.” In contrast…we hear tyranny’s hellish voice rise in Joseph Stalin’s words, “…if you take away a people’s heritage, you can lead them anywhere.” Both leaders obviously knew that knowledge in the hands of people ultimately equates to their level of power. And yet, Jefferson championed transparency and the public distribution of knowledge while Stalin knew that depriving people of knowledge leaves them powerless. Sadly, mere distribution of knowledge is not enough to preserve social stability.

From Oval Office To Homes

A free society must remain ever-informed with regard to its past…actively engaged in its present…and selflessly willing to invest in its future if blood-bought liberty is to last. The governance of free society cannot be carelessly cast into the hands of those who forge their own existence at other’s expense. Drawing once again from Jefferson’s words…he said, “Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. Obviously, this eloquent leader who was primarily responsible for penning America’s founding documents held his views deeply as he wrote, “Leave no authority existing not responsible to the people.”  Founder of the modern Servant-Leadership movement Robert Greenleaf wrote in his 1970 essay The Servant as Leader that, “Good leaders must first become good servants.” Exampled by Another who came to serve a lost humanity 2,000 years ago…it seems servant-style leadership should compel the lives and administrations of all in authority from the Oval Office down through the ranks of society into American homes. Everyone affects someone. Question is…who?

Up Close And Personal 

Flipping the page leaving history’s by-gone chapters behind…it’s time to get real, get close, and get personal.  We have established that most look beyond the now to a dreamier future…strive to make the impossible, possible…realize that freedom is not free…have heard that knowledge is power…grasp that tyranny rises out of complacency…that true leadership reaches to serve…and that everyone, including you and me…affect someone.   Exercising our freedom while watching others destroy it as our silence condones it…is “wrong.” Likewise, letting our lives created in God’s image be labeled expendable…without value…or without voice is a lie perpetrated against God’s people by the enemy of our souls.

America's Lost Treasure

America’s lost treasure is not stored in Fort Knox, traded on Wall Street, secured in savings accounts, measured in real estate, defined by doctoral degrees, or protected by power’s position. If it were…our nation’s younger generations would not now be dead men walking as tyranny’s fist intimidates, invalidates, and eradicates America’s lost treasure hidden in the hearts and minds of senior adults filled with wisdom’s wealth through visions ventured…failures faced… lessons learned…and wars won.   America’s lost treasure is not a thing, currency, place, or position. America’s lost treasure exists, was earned at great price, stands approved in wisdom’s light, and pulses with passion in people called, “retired, aging, elderly, and old.” While distorted national philosophies, ideologies, sociologies, policies, and theologies do their best to push you aside, cut you out, turn you down, and shut you up…a staggered America needs you now! Who else in our land has the combined pool of time, knowledge, experience, skill, and wisdom held within the 60 year plus generation? You can turn our nation’s course, change a child’s life, bring peace to a community, teach history’s lesson, refute religious rhetoric, and transmit America’s heritage. Don’t wait to be asked…step in! Don’t whisper in fear…rise up! Don’t ask permission…take charge! You did not live this long and learn this much just so you could sit down, withdraw, and let the other guy or gal do it. God gave you breath, life, vision, strength, resource, and knowledge so you can pass it on to those who need what only you have to give. As a great Jewish Philosopher once said, “Give and it will be given to you, a good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured to you” (Luke 6:38 NIV). Simply put…none of us can reasonably expect the world around us represented within the realms of globalism, politics, economy, religion, or society to change if we refuse to invest our human and spiritual resource. Each of our lives represents a valuable thread created for the sole purpose of being woven into the fabric of another’s life with love. They need us and we need them…

Stories For Life 

As a young boy, most of my friends were 60 plus years old. To this day, I still do not relate to my generation as a result. After all…who wanted to play with dirt or a toy tractor when you could drink a coke with Uncle Phil or sip hot chocolate with Grandma Lou as they told of life’s adventures?  Dirt from the back yard may have stuck under my fingernails, but those stories have stayed with me forever providing me with examples from which to draw wisdom in life. Why would I be dumb enough to light a match to five gallons of gas, when my old neighbor told me about the time he lost his hair in the “flash” when he did?  I think you get my point… With due respect dear sir or kind madam…today’s young people need a chance to pick up in life’s journey from where it took you a lifetime to arrive. Otherwise, history is destined to repeat itself and will likely leave us lacking…all of us. It's one thing to have opportunity and not listen...it's completely another to hunger for knowledge and find none. Therefore, I ask that you genuinely consider getting off the bench and back in life’s game. Become a transplanted grandparent to a child from a broken home…a listening ear to a troubled teen...a caring counselor at youth camp...an encourager to the young married...or a seasoned advisor to a young entrepreneur. By all means…listen to your body and slow down within reason…but, never quit! Quitters always finish last…as do those who depend on them...  When health hinders helping, prayer propels with power.  Remember...long ago on a hill far away...an innocent man with nothing to prove, prayed, suffered, and died to write freedom in red...

Copyright / BattleCry Ministries - Greg Benner 2010 / All rights reserved worldwide.  These materials shall not be used or distributed without written permission.