A few weeks ago I was invited to give the Veteran’s Day speech for the Linton Stockton Jr. and Sr. High School in Linton Indiana. As a veteran during the Vietnam era and the Cold War I was asked to speak about what it was like serving during the Cold War era. Speaking for all veterans I would like to think that no person likes war. War is regrettably a de rigueur evil of the sin-sick world we live in. I surmise that no friend or foe really wants to go to war and fight—unless they are whipped up into some type of ideological or religious frenzy when dying is preferable to living; in that case I would say they are crazy! The scriptures say a lot about war. For example: Jesus said, "Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand (Lu 14:31)?

Oddly enough I wasn’t born old. I am soon to celebrate another birthday and it seems like yesterday that I learned to talk, then my ABC’s, and began to write. But writing is more than typing. It is an exercise in rhetoric, persuasion, and grandstanding. To publish means to allow others to assess your argument and to open one’s thoughts and beliefs to praise or ridicule. This applies whether one is a literary genius or a buffoon. The Apostle Paul was an excellent writer, avid apologist, and defender of the faith of Jesus Christ. He wrote the church at Philippi that he was “…set for the defense of the gospel” (Php 1:17). He gave up his “position”in society for its advancement--But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ (Php 3:7). He taught boldly about the saving power and finished work of Jesus Christ; and that no personal act or work of piety or precept from the Old Testament Law of Moses could bring about the forgiveness of sin or salvation. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can set humankind free!