on the importance of Christmas

 

Religion will always fail. Religion is the attempt by man through his own prowess to reach God and no human however pious, however righteous, however charitable, or however zealous can hope to lift himself from the dust and achieve to the Heavens. Man like his forefather Cane may attempt to please God in accordance to his own wisdom, might even incorporate Christian symbolism into his attempt, but God can never accept the ungodliness of man no matter what religious trappings are associated with it. Man cannot reach God.

This is why the birth of Christ is so precious to believers. We may wrap it in ribbons and bows; accentuate it with lights and wreaths. We may celebrate with gifts and feasts, or we may reject all of that as commercialism and excess. We may choose to celebrate in the dark winter months or we may choose a different season as that most likely to mirror the historic date of Jesus birth, but the remembrance of that Holy event is pivotal to the Christian doctrine.

Because man could never reach God, God came to man. “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word was with God, … and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory the Glory of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth”.  The birth of Christ was more than the birth of a new teacher, or a great philosopher, it was the very incarnation of God. To be technically accurate Christ’s birth was not miraculous; it is in the conception of Christ where the great miracle lies, when the infinite and eternal God joined with the egg of a virgin maid to form a one cell embryo that was both completely God and wholly man.

Without the miraculous conception no sinless man could arise and without the sinless man no worthy sacrifice could be found to redeem the whole of humanity from the sinful and wretched state into which we are born. The manger makes possible the cross, the cross makes forgiveness possible. Because of the cross there can be an empty tomb and that empty tomb makes eternal life possible. Because He lives we can live also.

So rather you celebrate Christmas like most of us, or you observe the birth of Christ some different way, God Bless and may the light and the life Christ brought to the world live in your heart, God bless.

Christians in Public Discourse

 

Often these days I have noticed a lot of misrepresentation of Christianity and the role of faith in public discourse, rather through ignorance or maliciousness these attacks create a very dangerous precedent. As a Christian who is also a patriot and involved in the political process I would like to address a few of those misrepresentations. The first falsehood being bandied about is that political conservatism and Bible Based Christianity are one and the same. Among protestant Christians there is no papal authority to determine doctrinal purity or to give authoritative guidance on matters of public debate. As a result there is in the protestant church a great deal of diversity of thought. (Unlike Joe Biden’s view of the black community) .   The Churches are organized according to their own designs and are free to interpret the Scripture according to their own conscience. I would point to two main philosophies in how to properly interpret the Bible. Accepting the Bible as absolute truth and interpreting the events of the day against its doctrines, or using the events of the day to determine how the Bible should be interpreted. . Churches in the latter group tend to lean more to a progressive view. Christians like me who are in the former category tend to lean to a politically conservative viewpoint, because at the heart of that philosophy of governance is a Judeo-Christian worldview.  Psalms tells us that God made us in the womb, the 10 commandments tell us that murder is wrong, Jesus  tells us it’s better to be drowned with a millstone upon our necks than to harm a child, for these reasons we are passionately prolife.  Many in the conservative right are not Christians, many are not religious though if pressed on a multiple choice survey they might check “Christian” as opposed to “Muslim” or “Atheist” but there are conservative atheists, conservative Muslims, gay conservatives, et.al. Conservatism is bound together by a broad commitment to a set of ideals not coerced fidelity to a strict but ever changing leftist dogma. The origin of conservatism is found in the great works of the enlightenment, in Burke and de Tocqueville, in Thomas Payne and Patrick Henry, expressed in the Declaration codified in the Constitution. It is a philosophy of the sovereignty of the individual and the idea of natural law, and natural rights assigned and assured by “Nature’s God”. Christians are drawn to conservatism because these ideals reflect the ideals of, in fact are directly descended from, our own reformation. Conservatism allows for the differences of the individual but maintains the core truth that there are moral absolutes undergirding the civilization. That brings me to the second misconception:  that Christians seek to enforce their beliefs through the power of the court or legislature.

                To be honest Christians learned the hard way that forced compliance is counterproductive in spreading the Gospel. Through the inquisition and religious wars of the Middle Ages the Church largely abandoned the Great Commission and instead used the name of Christ to further their own ambitions of political power. While shamefully Muslims Jews and Pagans were targeted the primary victims of this age’s abuses were Christians.  The one common thread of all these miscreant regimes was to keep the scriptures out of the hands of the people. Protestant and Catholic alike these pseudo religious tyrants knew that if God’s word was given to the congregation and they could disseminate it for themselves that the lies of the elite would be exposed. Our desire as a group is the preservation of the 1^st amendment of the US constitution “Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” This is the reason for Christian Patriotism and it is very rare in the annuls of human history, that a people have been guaranteed by law to worship as they choose. Christians are zealous on this matter, we want no group to establish a particular denomination as a state church and we insist that the second half of that amendment be enforced. There is a rub here for us, as both Christians and conservatives do recognize the existence of natural law, we believe in morality, in the nuclear family, in private property rights, in the value of work, in honesty and integrity, and in self-reliance.  For the Christian to be self-reliant is to trust God in our day to day life. There is generally a libertarian view when it comes to how to relate to others, as a rule we do not seek to outlaw behavior we find immoral, unless it is also dangerous, we prefer to offer love and truth and lead sinners to salvation through word and deed, but we will not be compelled to accept behavior that violates our conscience.

                Finally there is the misconception that Christians do not want to help poor people, starving children etc. because we oppose socialism or out of control government welfare programs. This is not really a misconception it is an intentional misrepresentation dating back to the Great Society. The center of the community in the US, for social interaction, for Faith and learning and for help in the times of need has always been the religious institutions. In some communities that may be mosque or synagogue but in most of the country it is the church.  The equation of Christian charity with government welfare has been part of an insidious undermining of the American culture and the influence of faith and sadly many Christians have been duped. Let us judge these works by their fruit, where government programs have been most marshalled in the “war on poverty” has the poverty rate gone up or down? Are families stronger or weaker in those communities? Is crime higher or lower? Government assistance creates a permanent dependency that could be called a generational cycle of bondage, and we are lacking in compassion because we oppose this? Private charity is required to give account of how their funds are used but government programs including welfare are steeped in waste fraud and abuse to the point it is expected and accepted. If a private charity proprietor should embezzle a thousand dollars to buy his kid a birthday present he would face prosecution and jail. Government bureaucracy is somehow given a pass on the misappropriation of billions of dollars annually, yet we are told it is wise to entrust the helping of the needy to government.  Every church that I know of has a benevolence fund, and or a food bank. Many have clothing closets where clothes are either given away or sold for pennies. If I give my pastor a hundred dollars to anonymously help a struggling family in our church that family gets $100 of assistance. Add to this the Rescue Missions the Salvation Army, foreign missionaries many of whom are also health care workers, prison ministries, ministries to the children of prisoners, support for oppressed people and the persecuted church worldwide and the strong effort to make sure that persecution doesn’t come to our shores. Organizations like Samaritan’s Purse dedicated to easing poverty everywhere. These groups seldom make headlines but they make a difference, all without confiscatory taxation that stifles economic progress and suppresses the incentive of the citizen to work and achieve.

                I will never be ashamed of being a Christian, I will always be proud to stand for the flag and our founding principles as a conservative. The two are not the same thing but one clearly informs the other. God Bless.

                

               

If you don’t believe me look it up…

 

  

The CDC and OSHA have done studies that show cloth masks do not stop viruses.

Both the death toll and case numbers for Covid 19 are grossly exaggerated.

DRs Birx and Fauci have business ties to Bill Gates that easily constitute conflict of interest.

Money donated to BLM goes in part, to the democrat party.

Biden was opposed to banning travel from China before he was for it.

The fatality rate of Covid 19 is less than 1%.

Numerous health officials and labs have been caught purposefully inflating Covid numbers, none have been caught suppressing them.

Multiple studies show Hydroxychloroquine works when used properly to treat Covid 19.

Studies showing Hydroxychloroquine as being dangerous used toxic doses in late stage of disease without Zinc.

Policies requiring nursing homes to take Covid patients resulted in nearly half of Covid deaths.

Lockdowns are ineffective at slowing the spread.

Lockdowns are deadlier and more destructive than the virus.

The only state to reopen without phases was WI and they had no significant spike in cases or deaths.

States and countries that did not lock down fared better than ones that did but without the economic and social devastation.

There is considerable financial advantage to states for having more covid cases and for using ventilators.

The WV constitution forbids the suspension of constitutional rights even in time of war or crisis.

Reduced police prescence does not reduce crime.

Most black Americans do not want the police defunded.

Facebook fact checkers ore not impartial.

If you don’t believe me look it up…  but if you use Google it won’t be easy to find.

 

 

mail in voting

 

I recently responded to someone’s post about 10 reasons to love mail in voting. I confess that the points listed were so absurd that I thought the post was a satire and I responded in kind only to discover that some people actually believe mail in voting was is the safest most secure way to hold and election and that anyone who opposes universal mail in voting WANTS Vladimir Putin to control the election because he apparently can sit in Moscow and control all in person voting machines like a video game console.

Sometimes it’s a challenge to argue common sense because when someone dismisses the obvious and argues from a standpoint of alternative reason how do you use logical arguments to counter?

How do you convince someone who believes sending a mail in ballot to everyone on the voter rolls guarantees that every person and only that person is assured of getting and returning that ballot? Do you point out that most states not only do not have clean voter rolls but have been blocked by mostly left wing activists from cleaning those rolls: people who have moved away still get ballots in the mail people who die still get ballots in the mail someone can fill those out and return them? There have been cases of ballots being taken from and filled out for residents of nursing homes and assisted care facilities and usually this is not done by agents of the Kremlin.

What do you say to someone who says lost or misdirected ballots is a non-issue because he says he has never sent or expected a package that was lost in the mail? The efficiency of the USPS aside this guy is either the luckiest guy ever or lives in fantasy land (or is telling a convenient fib). This is the guy who when you ask, “would you send large sums of cash by mail?” responds with “people send checks all the time”. it is difficult to debate across different planes of reality.

How do you answer when someone says in person voting is more susceptible to fraud than any other?  You walk in to the polls, in sane states show your ID than are handed a ballot or taken to a touchscreen you vote then you leave, the voting machines are never left unattended and the election officials inspect and verify each machine’s accuracy. Of course fraud is possible but in order to defraud the election someone has to have physical access to the machines. The ballots or counting cartridges have a chain of custody and in event of a challenge there is a backup copy, either in the form of ballots or paper printouts. Fraud is possible (Barak Obama’s margin of victory in some Philadelphia precincts exceeded the number of registered voters)  but the decentralized nature of the electoral process minimizes the damage a corrupt official can do. In fact widespread fraud is only obtainable in areas where one party rule has been in place for some time. When someone argues that voting by mail not only adequately replaces but even strengthens those safeguards despite the complete lack of verifiable custody chains from the time the ballot is mailed until it is returned?

How do you reason with someone who thinks Vladimir Putin has a button on his desk to control the US vote, even though even the vaunted Mueller investigation doesn’t allege that one vote was changed. Mueller’s gripe was that the Russians interfered by buying Face book ads not hacking voting machines. Voting machines are not networked and are not connected to the internet. One needs physical access to change the votes. I suppose that in the fictional USA of the left there may be millions of Manchurian Candidates that work as local election officials who at a phone call with a secret Russian phrase can spring into action and alter the votes in dozens of machines while the other folks take a coffee break, whose minds were programmed decades ago to vote Trump, but in the real world it’s not very likely.

...Even if There is a Virus

We are endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights and among these are life liberty and the pursuit of happiness… even if there is a virus

Our government was established to protect the individual from the overreach of government…. even if there is a virus

When power is divested to the individual he or she has the maximum opportunity to do good within his own circle but his or her ability to do harm to society as a whole is minimized… even if there is a virus

When power is centralized into the hands of a “mastermind” or other government agency the ability to make proper decisions for the individual is minimized but the ability to do great harm is maximized… even if there is a virus

All the way back to Biblical sources the economic bedrock to a free and sustainable economy is the protection of private property… even if there is a virus

Congress shall make no law regarding the establishment of religion nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof… even if there is a virus

Government’s power to help is extremely limited but its power to destroy boundless… even if there is a virus

The greatest threat to American freedom is a government that ignores the constitution (Jefferson) … even if there is a virus

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.(Reagan)…ESPECIALLY IF THERE IS A VIRUS.

Either Government of the people by the people and for the people is proper and right and should not be allowed to perish from this earth now when there is a pandemic, or it never is. Either we stand up and defend freedom now and that the best way forward is through the courage and ingenuity of the individual acting as his own sovereign making his own decisions based on his faith and instinct and the best knowledge he can acquire, or we should just forget the whole thing and declare Dr. Fauci Anthony the First ruler of all the land. If liberty is not right and proper now it never is.

Why I oppose the Mask Mandates as Christian

One question no one has asked me, but that I have asked myself should a Christian resist the mandate to wear a mask in public? It is accepted and correct doctrine that Christians should follow “every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake” except where those laws compel us to violate the doctrines and commandments of Scripture. Since there is no 11^th commandment specifying that Christians should not wear a mask then is it not reasonable to accept that mandate? If the Governor says that everyone should wear a funny hat and speak with a Scottish accent shouldn’t we obey that as well?

As an American It is easy to find sundry and compelling reasons to resist all forms of Government overreach but as strongly and as I stand to support the principles of American founding I kneel only at the Cross of Christ. I recognize as I review my Facebook postings and scroll through my on again off again blogging that I have spent more time and energy speaking to liberty and patriotic causes than speaking to spiritual matters but that is not because I value country above faith it is because I entered these mediums primarily to plead for what I perceive to be the nation’s best and founding principles.

I do not think I can lay out a case on this matter in a way that would sway theologians and scholars but I can lay out my heart.  I am not opposing wearing a mask; I am opposing mandating masks because it is a direct threat to religious liberty. Freedom of worship in the US is based on the basic idea of individual sovereignty. The entirety of our founding document is structured to define the limits of government and protect the rights of the individual. When the government infringes on any right it infringes on all rights, but this isn’t an intellectual or theoretical debate. For my own good the same governor using the same executive fiat has determined that I must wear a mask and has also decided that he has the right to decide if I can go to Church who I can sit with, how the order of worship is to be conducted and how sacraments are to be handled.  Other states are even worse than my own. I resist the mask mandate because it is part of the order attempting to control the Church.

I resist the mandate because it dehumanizes people. To compel an individual to behave in a manor contrary to their own perceived best interest is to make the individual subservient. The basic tenant of Christianity is that God made man a living breathing individual endowed with free will and that God so loved the individual human so greatly and so passionately that He preferred to send His only begotten Son to bring salvation to whosoever would receive this free gift. We cannot devalue the individual without devaluing the faith that gives the individual his or her value in the first place.

I reject mask mandates because they promote fear. It is necessary to create a panic in order to compel people to behave in a self-destructive manner and give up liberty. By rejecting the mask mandate I reject the destructive panic that is far more dangerous than Covid 19. I will probably address this more at a later time.

I do not believe that in any way civil disobedience should be the default position of any Christian, but in some cases it is essential. Was Rosa Parks right or wrong to refuse to move to the back of the bus? No specific commandment was violated by the law and the back of the bus goes to the same place as the front. I suspect some felt that she was in the wrong but the stand she took for the dignity of all individuals has proven to be right.  I believe rejecting the mask mandate will as well.

Why I Support S Marshall Wison

First off let’s be clear S Marshall Wilson will not and cannot save West Virginia. I support him because he knows that is not the governor’s job in the first place.

Jim Justice wants to shelter and protect West Virginians, he wants to feed us and clothe us and keep anyone from ever getting sick. Marshall Wilson knows the difference between an elected public servant and a messiah.

 Jim Justice believes that by making a disaster declaration he has no limits to his power as long as it’s for the public good as designated by his office. S Marshall Wilson understands that the US and state constitutions exist to limit the power of government to specific enumerated powers that do not include ordering the worship services in individual churches, seizing the rights of individuals to govern the use of their own property and make  personal and intimate decisions about health on behalf of 1.7 million WV citizens.

Jim Justice believes that he alone has authority to make law and impose penalties and that executive orders have the full weight of law and therefore refuses to call the legislature into session to give the people’s representatives a voice in the state’s policies related to covid response, restrictions, and spending.  S Marshall Wilson respects the legislative process and understands the importance of oversight especially in a time of crisis.

Jim Justice wants absolute rule, he prefers a velvet glove but will readily use the iron fist if necessary.

S Marshall Wilson understands and believes that the purpose of government is as stated in the Declaration of Independence: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. 

Perhaps you live in a different state but I urge you judge what your governor has done during this pandemic and see how it measures up to the fundamental truth that the declaration states, if health and safety (ie the greater good) has supplanted the protection of inalienable rights as the primary function of government, you need a new governor as badly as WV does. 

Keep on the firing line.

before you tear down another statue....

What is more important than how the Civil War began?

How it ended! Or more specifically THAT it ended.

The war ended with surrender, defeat and an occupation, than when the correct conditions were met reconciliation.

So the destructive war, devastating in blood and treasure ended in 1865.

In 1898 just 33 years, later a Unified America defeated the Spanish Navy and took a place as the predominate power in our hemisphere.

In 1917, just 52 years later, America tipped the scale in a long standing world war and took its place among the world leaders.

And just 80 years later America become the world’s greatest power defeating the combined Axis powers in WW2.

So when we begin to tear down the symbols and monuments to the conflict that nearly destroyed us we also tear down the remembrance of the unity and reconciliation that it spawned. We were tried in the crucible and we came out refined. The dross of slavery was removed from the silver of our liberty and at the cost of blood we came closer to the founding principle that all men are created equal.

We remember confederate generals, and soldiers not because we wish they had won but because once they lost, they laid down their arms and became Americans again. And America was made stronger because of it.  

“Men Do Not Follow Titles, They Follow Courage”

A favorite quote from my favorite film (Braveheart 1995), today we have a vacuum of courage and since none of the heroes of our time were willing to fill that vacuum a villain has arisen for “Nature hates a vacuum”.

The vacuum was created by a long and unjust lockdown, the crippling of our economic system and the undermining of the constitutional foundation of our Republic. Men and women hoarded toilet paper and whimpered behind locked doors afraid of a virus that even the most rudimentary data showed was serious but was not in any way to be confused with the Black Death of antiquity. The vast majority of people soon realized the “cure of shutting down was causing far more harm than the disease itself”. We needed a William Wallace like character to stand up to the sudden tyranny of fear that gripped the late “Land of the Free and Home of the Brave”

That hero could have been the police: there could have been a swelling of protest as governors and mayors of all political persuasions began using the police as their own personal Stasi. Cops could have rallied around Port of Seattle officer Greg Anderson who was suspended for speaking out against the lockdowns, but they didn’t many probably quietly agreed but were unwilling to risk their own careers. No one seemed to publicly question orders to arrest barbers for conducting lawful commerce on private property, moms were harassed for letting kids play with other kids and officers never proclaimed they were doing so under protest, even when dads were dragged off in handcuffs for playing catch with their own sons. Texas police could have refused to set up a sting operation to bust up a “ring “of two 20-something manicurists illegally doing ladies nails so that prosecutors could seek 6 month prison terms against them.  I could continue for paragraphs unending about the misuse of police power over the last few months but I can site very few policemen who stood up against it. Eliminate Officer Anderson and a handful of local sheriffs who have to face reelection and the police showed the people they swore to protect and serve and the constitution they swore to uphold no consideration whatsoever. Of course when the trouble started it was those same politicians who wanted a policeman to count the heads at every BBQ and enforce social distancing on every back lawn in the country, who were willing literally to throw the police to the mob, and those poor hardworking citizens whom the police willingly and unlawfully harassed who stood up for them. Policeman could have been the heroes but allowed themselves to be cast as the villain instead.

But surely if the police won’t stand up for us the citizen is perfectly capable of standing for themselves. We can be our own heroes, can’t we? The constitution is there to undergird our freedom; we have the 1^st amendment the 2^nd amendment the 4^th etc. to protect free speech, freedom of association, and our private property rights. If people in one state, one community had simply banded together and said “no more” and opened shops and businesses en masse what would governors have done? And If they arrested us all we should have used our 1200$ government hush money to make bail and went right back out the next day and did the same thing. It would have been the easiest bloodless revolution of all time, and I believe the most effective, Americans opening shops going to work going to church deciding for ourselves how to be individually responsible for our own health while ineffective little dictators scolded us like substitute teachers who had lost control of their classes and while the media attempted to shame us over everyone who got sick, we could have stood firm and proclaimed in terms so loud and unmistakable that everyone from Nancy Pelosi to the Dallas dog catcher would have never forgotten the American slogan of freedom “DON’T TREAD ON ME”. But alas this was not the case we were tread upon and we took it we didn’t bite the heel of our oppressor we licked his boot hoping that if we did he might let us open our business with enough restrictions that we might not starve or go bankrupt.  Even when someone like Shelly Luther led the way, we cheered we sent her some money but she stood alone, she went to jail alone and she won her ultimate victory alone. We the People should have been the heroes but we chose to play the victim instead.

But one nation under God can always count on the Church to be there, right?  Men of faith will never be intimidated by governors or virus alike. When fear grips the nation, when unrest abounds, when people need a specific stability that wonderful church will always be there, come Hell or high water the doors to God’s house will never be closed. Four months ago I would have written these words from my heart now they are a bitter satire as people are turned away from locked doors and directed to online resources in their hour of desperation. A few churches have opened but with such restrictions that they cannot possibly be effective as masked parishioners huddle in family groups and distance from each other like lepers. The nation desperately needed the Church to be the hero, but the church chose to write themselves out of the story completely instead.

Enter Black Lives Matter. With their anti-cop message, their open desire to dismantle the traditional family, which will only magnify the problems of the black community, their support of LGBTQ nonsense which has far lower support in the black community than in the nation at large, their utter disregard for private property et al. But they are bold. Evil but bold. Destructive but bold. Men do follow courage not cowardice. If those who support law and freedom and faith do so from a position of fear, they will be ignored but if rioters and looters show courage then people will throw off their restraints and give in to their baser natures, and before long cowardly legislators will bow their knee to mobs of anarchists within the halls of democracy.

I am not attempting to explain the existence of Black Lives Matter, nor am I attempting to address the issues that lead to its creation. It is the phenomenon of BLM that I am addressing how they have so quickly supplanted all the civil rights organizations that fight for justice and equality, how they become so strong so quickly while all others were weakened. If Christians, conservatives and cops won’t lead the way someone else will, and we won’t like where they take us.

We have lost the first battle in what will be a long war, A war which will turn bloody if not stopped by other means while there is still time. Are we willing to save our country as founded, at risk of our own safety? If I were Antifa or BLM I would feel pretty safe betting against it.

Dear, President Trump, and Republican governors,

 Listen very carefully take your phased in reopening plan and stick it. The data shows that the lockdowns are counterproductive in there stated goal of mitigating Covid 19 but deadly in every other way: overall health, mental health, societal wellbeing, economic deprivation, lost freedom, and the destruction of American individualism. You seem to have some delusion that if you steal the bread from my family's table but slowly offer a trail of breadcrumbs back to self-sufficiency I will be grateful, you are wrong. You had no right to shut down my life, no right to encourage the same through CDC guidelines, and you have no right to slowly allow a few of my inalienable rights to trickle back with proper guidelines in place. OPEN UP NOW, completely and without any restrictions on what private citizens can do with their own private property. We will not all die, we can take care of ourselves. As you lift your unconstitutional stay at home orders you should beg our forgiveness for the harm you caused our families and our country, but I won't hold my breath. once this is done, Democrat Tyrants (aka governors) will be faced with such unrest they will have to follow suit and free their people as well.

 

cordially yours, John W Tabler, PO'd farmer

 

5 questions I would ask Donald Trump if I Were a reporter

I am not a reporter; I am a Trump supporter but not a Trump worshiper. When Donald Trump is interviewed he is either asked questions like: do you know you are responsible for millions of deaths because you told people to drink bleach? Or how do you answer your critics who refuse to admit you are right about everything all the time?

I support Donald Trump because I believe he has supported our liberty. When the first ceases to be true the 2^nd will as well. Where I stand right now my support hasn’t been withdrawn but my enthusiasm has waned. There are questions Pres. Trump needs to answer and it’s better to do it now than closer to the election so if I were a reporter these are the questions I would ask:

1)      The declaration of Independence declares We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.  So if the primary duty of government is to defend the inalienable rights of men how does your Corona virus achieve that goal?

2)      Dr. Fauci’s position on the Corona virus went from “nothing to worry about” to “we need to completely dismantle western civilization in order to stop it” given these inconsistencies, what made you say this is the guy I need to be the driving force behind our response?

3)      While federalism allows for the individual states to determine their course in matters nor relegated specifically to the Federal government by the constitution the 14th amendment forbids those states from violating the rights of the citizens of their states. You have declared in no uncertain terms your belief that the shutting down of churches is a violation of the constitution, are governors violating other rights and will the Federal government intervene further on the behalf of those citizens? If so how?

4)      There is growing evidence that the lockdown/shutdown policies have been ineffective vs the virus and extremely harmful to every other aspect of society, yet your administration still touts slow phased reopening, would you openly support states reversing course and ending all restrictions without the phases if they choose?

5)      Rugged individualism, personal liberty and individual responsibility are bulwarks of American society yet one could argue that these have been lacking from consideration as the overall response to Covid 19 has been government centered, since new viruses crop up every few years, would you handle, if still in office, the next pandemic the same way or would you choose to fall back on those original principles and give the citizen power to choose what is best for his own health and safey?

 

New Normal?

It has been my instinct to resist the “new normal”, but having given it some more thought perhaps rather than rejecting the new normal we should try to shape it:

We see how easily freedom is threatened so let’s make it normal to restrain all law by the limits of the constitution.

We see how wrong experts can be so let’s make it normal to base our decisions on common sense.

We see how dangerous and destructive centralized power is so let’s normalize the idea that the individual is sovereign over his/her own life.

We see how easily timid people are cowered by an overreaching government so let’s make boldness the new norm.

We see how dangerous it is to be dependent on foreign sources for essential products so let’s make it normal to produce those things domestically.

We see the destruction that results from nonessential businesses being closed so let’s make it normal to respect the property rights as well as the contributions to society of all citizens.

We see how power corrupts even trusted leaders, so let’s make it normal to overthrow incumbents who stray from their trust.

i don't think it is an exaggeration to say what happens in the next months will determine the course of the nation going forward for the foreseeable future and beyond. for too long we have merely sought to stop the worse things the left does but now we need to be the aggressors we need to be bold and set the agenda ourselves not simply react to their agenda.

The progressives have driven the debate since the early 1900's so its our turn, if we make it our turn.

Keep on the firing line.

A Spirit Of Fear?

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1 v 7

 

Isn’t that one of the first Bible verses you ever learned? Right after John 3:16 for most of us. So why ae Christians so afraid during this covid emergency?

I confess that yesterday was the saddest day emotionally that I have had during the last months, every attack on freedom, every bit of news on economic depression and every hairdresser or manicurist Greg Abbot’s order jailed in Texas did not depress me it made me angry, not in a flying off the handle way but in a Godly hatred of injustice kind of way and it motivated me to continue to fight and use my tiny platform to push back. I wrote my opinion on what the church should be doing all the way back in early April in a letter to the president and expanded on those ideas on April 20 in a blog, (http://advicenotaskedfor.blogspot.com/2020/04/the-day-church-was-deemed-nonessential.html)

So why when our church finally opened its doors was I so depressed? Well the conditions under which our Dread Sovereign Jim Justice permitted us to open:  cover your face and stand 6 ft. apart like OT lepers, (minus the shouting of unclean, but let’s not give Charleston any ideas), no contact with anyone outside of your family unit, no lingering in the lobby, no fellowship, no comforting each other, no praying together, no children playing, just gathering in the same building but still consumed by fear.

It was suggested to me that  his majesty the governors guidelines were voluntary but this is the governor who told businesses that were finally permitted to operate that if they wished to stay open they better “follow the f… guidelines” . These guidelines are voluntary unless you don’t follow them to the letter then they are mandatory, that is how authoritarians always operate.

More disturbing to me was something a friends pastor said that this wasn’t about freedom, but safety and spiritual leaders have to find a balance between keeping people safe and having faith. Therein lies the rub, balancing faith with something else is not what I was taught as the key to the Christian life.

for whatever is not from faith is sin.  Romans 14:23b this is the standard that we as Christians are to follow. We cannot walk with the Lord in victory so long as faith is “balanced” with something else.

 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.  1John 4:18. I suspect that the church is basing its decisions on fear not faith, what are we afraid of?

Catching a virus? God created all life during the 7 days of creation, when sin entered into the world the harmful effects of the virus was initialized. This means that the virus predates the church by 4,000 years or so. Viruses have never shut down the church before; in fact in times like this the Church has been at the forefront of care and benevolence. The church has always ignored danger and been courageous in its face. What is different now? Is this virus so much worse than any disease ever so that we now must hide under our beds clutching rolls of toilet paper?  No it isn’t, in fact aside from certain vulnerable groups this virus is less dangerous then the flu. The difference is we now lack courage.

Fear of punishment? This is a big one. Most Governors are in full-fledged tyrant mode right now seeking to punish anyone who dares defy their royal decrees. These decrees are unconstitutional and illegal, and by not challenging them we add to their legitimacy. Is this how Christians should behave? And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. ³⁰But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. ³¹Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows. Matt 10:28-31. God hates injustice and for the Christian standing up to it is a matter of faith, and obedience. What would the consequences be? Shelley Luther defied the orders to close her salon and spent some time in jail, she changed Texas for the better caused the prosecution of other Texans to be suspended and the outpouring of support she received means her business will not fail and her employees will not starve.  This is the stand the church should have taken.

Fear that someone will get sick and we’ll get blamed? Probably the biggest and it is certainly possible. Guess what, people are still getting sick. In fact almost 70% of the newly hospitalized patients in NY have been in lockdown stay at home quarantine. This is the tactic of the enemy call evil good and good evil. Accuse those who want to open the economy so that the nation will not be plunged into economic depression of being selfish. Accuse churches who want to do the Lord’s work of being foolish and working against the public health and safety. Health and safety being the enigmatic greater good the communists always claim to serve. Is God a part of our lives, do we trust Him for the practical as well as the spiritual? 11Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. They will continue to revile us until the Lord returns so what is the advantage of fearing it?

It is impossible to live by faith and fear. It is impossible to make good decisions as a society based on fear, yet America has based its entire response to the Corona virus on models that were based on nothing but fear, and as data comes out contradicting the models we do not change our response. Power and love and a sound mind would guide us far better than the prevailing spirit of fear in our country, and our Churches.

The answer is not so complex. We are God’s people and we will be here on Sunday. Anyone who wants to stop us can arrest us lock our doors but we will be meeting somewhere. Anyone who is vulnerable and chooses not to come out is loved and supported and prayed for, never judged but God’s people will be here. We have masks if you want one, hand sanitizer if you wish, and gloves aplenty for all who ask but God’s people will be here. The work of the Kingdom goes on. Or at least it should.

An open letter to the Governor of Texas

While I do not live in the state of Texas, I feel it incumbent upon one American to stand up for another regardless of where the other American resides so please indulge this “mountaineer” as I write a few words in defense of on particular “Texas Cowgirl”.

The office of the Governor of the state of Texas was created primarily for the purpose of protecting the constitutional rights of one Ms. Shelley Luther and others like her, not only has that office failed miserably to do so, but it has allowed itself to become the animating force behind the denial of such rights.

Texas is no different than any other state in that the urban areas tend to be more leftist and less free than more rural areas. This divide between self-reliance and government dependency is nothing new ,as Jefferson addressed it in the early days of the Republic. But while the argument that the injustice done to Shelley  Luther falls upon the Dallas authorities and the one particular judge may give you some wiggle room, it does not address the key factor: had you as governor not exceeded your constitutional authority, the city of Dallas would likely not have a leg to stand on.

Like Jim Justice in WV you declared yourself to be the ruler of all, decreed which businesses were essential and not and in so doing decided who was worthy of the privilege of earning a living and who was not. It was your decree that reduced Ms. Luther to the unenviable position of begging for government assistance, starving or violating some pot belly city official’s decree and going to jail. She make the morally right choice and because of the immortality of the governor’s decree she will be punished for it. Make no mistake,  the hands that strike her may be city officials but the hammer they use was put there by Gov. Greg Abbot R, Texas.

I am not versed in Texas law so I don’t know what the governor’s recourse is other than to express concern, nor do I have confidence that you would have the courage to act if you could but consider this: rather panic or bad information or seduction of power caused you to turn against the pledge to uphold the rights of Texans, all the good you have done all the positive policies are of little value now and the week an innocent woman spends behind bars because you in your quest for power deemed her livelihood nonessential will be your legacy for all history.

                                Sincerely,

 John Tabler, Hedgesville WV

I went to Church yesterday. No one else did, just me.

I am a Christian and I am an American and my right to worship as I choose is enshrined forever in the United States Constitution as an inalienable right, so after a month of online nonsense and failure to connect with anyone else who was willing to step out and defy the Governors unconstitutional decree, I decided to do it myself.

I got up and put on church clothes and drove my truck to the church. While I drove I listened to several songs from my music library set to random play the Bishops sang the classic “When Jesus is all That I Have He is All That I Need” which seemed appropriate than it chose the powerful Kingsmen song “God Saw A Cross” (I have a version from YouTube that features the late Ernie Phillips on tenor) and I found myself singing along with the bass line and just as I pulled into the parking lot the phone died and I finished the last note of the song alone. God was speaking to my heart. I had the best parking space in the lot so I walked up to the concrete barrier around the drop-off area and sat down.  It was a beautiful morning warm sun, nice breeze, and I opened my lonely service in prayer. “Praying for those who persecute you and despitefully use you” is one of the Lord’s more difficult commands, I have tried consistently to do so, praying for those in our government who seek to fundamentally change our nation into something it was not meant to be, those who subtly and now blatantly infringe upon our rights and freedoms, but emotionally I don’t always feel it. Something about being at the house of God made it easier to pray those prayers with a fervent faith and the tender reminder that the cross God saw through the ages was for their redemption and a symbol that God truly is not willing that any be lost. I prayed for absent brothers and sisters as we always do, prayed that they would know God’s presence and that His Holy Spirit guide each into His perfect will.

Then I opened the Bible and read 1 Samuel chap 3 and the story of God first speaking to young Samuel and God’s promised judgement on the house of Eli. No reason for the selection other than it is where my personal study was anyway. It is a cautionary tale to be sure to a generation that holds the things of God so loosely.

After I finished some members came by to take care of some business at the parsonage and we had some fellowship time discussing the state of affairs and perhaps I am not as alone in my opinions as I feared, just the only one silly enough to sit in an empty parking lot and have Church by himself.

I don’t think I made any difference to anyone but myself, our church parking lot doesn’t even face the road so the many folks who drove by going hither and yon on more essential errands than going to church, didn’t see me, but it made a difference to me, I went to God’s house and He meant me there. The God who is with me always manifested His presence in a fresh and renewing way. I only regret I was there alone to experience His goodness.

I will go back next week, rather our dread sovereign Jim Justice says we can or not. I will go alone, or with others whose hearts are moved to do the same. I will go until the Church is reopened or until the elders ask me to leave in which case I will go elsewhere. There are after all plenty of empty churches to choose from.

Government can and will abuse any power it has, so don’t give it any more than it needs.

I recently engaged in a debate with a gentleman over the governor’s plan to reopen the Mountain State. My perspective was that a 6 week process to undo something that should not have been done was far too long, the other gentleman contested that to reopen the state too quickly would risk the earlier dire predictions coming true. I argued in favor of liberty and independent thought and he talked about contagion spread ratios. I argued that Jim Justice has no otherworldly wisdom that gives him the ability to direct the lives of 1,792,000 individuals with 1,792,000 individual circumstances, he replied “vote for someone else” and suddenly I got it, we were arguing two different points.

I am taken back in my memory several years to the first time one of those videos and stories emerged from Afghanistan of a women being flogged for wearing pants. As a red blooded American man I was moved to a combination of anger and pity that literally turned my stomach. My liberal friends were of a similar reaction, pity for the woman anger toward the cruelty of the sentence, in fact we seemed to be in perfect agreement, but we weren’t.

The liberal saw the problem as an abuse of power, government using its regulatory authority in a manner that was inappropriate. They disagreed with the regulation against pants, because they liked wearing pants and thought Muslim women might also like pants, etc.

The conservative like me sees the problem differently; the flaw is that government has this power in the first place. The constitution was written to limit the power of government to very specific enumerated powers, each time the government exceeds those enumerated powers we draw closer to tyranny.

Initially the states were left to their own to make and maintain their own bill of rights with the plenary powers of the state limited by the people of the state by means of their own constitution. After the War Between the  States it was added to further defend individual liberty by the 14^th amendment: Section 1

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

As west Virginians we also have the state constitution that says: 3-1.  Bill of rights.

     All men are, by nature, equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity, namely:  The enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and of pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

Can anyone argue that the current policies of the governor respect article one of the state bill of rights?

As more data comes in the damage done at every level of our society, even healthcare, to flatten the Covid-19 curve looks like a doctor amputating a patients leg over an ingrown toenail because it might have gotten infected. But if the government had stayed true to the constitutional restraints and maintained those responses that did not violate the bill of rights than we would have achieved the same positive results without the horrendous damage and threats to the freedom of future generations, but the point is that government only does harm when it exceeds its constitutional restraints, even if there is a virus out there.

Jim Justice Next Executive Order for West Virginia (satire)

Whereas:  the state of West Virginia remains under a disaster declaration issued on March 16, 2020.

Whereas:  this disaster declaration makes the office of the Governor supremely powerful and all wise in its ability to determine the course of action to be taken by every one of the 1,792,147 citizens of this state.

Whereas: were it not for the benevolent actions taken by this office the deaths in WV would likely exceed 2 million  

Whereas:  some residents of West Virginia have begun to question rather it is right legal or ethical to wave all property rights, personal liberty and religious freedom out of existence with a stroke of the pen, and whereas some of those residents would prefer to earn a living like free men and women, despite the risk of contracting a virus, rather than face starvation and ruin while waiting on the mana sent from Charleston while the businesses that represent their lives work sit idle.

And Whereas: all rights and liberties are given and rescinded at the will and whim of government:

I Jim Justice do order and create the West Virginia Department of Muckety-Muck.

This Department is hereby charged with the regulation of all human activity in the state. This authority includes but is not limited to everything.

The secretary of Muckety-Muck shall as he/she/other sees fit  appoint as needed Under Secretaries of Muckety-Muck who shall be authorized as is the Secretary’s pleasure to regulate any and all things regarding work, worship, socialization, education, thought and opinion.

The office of Muckety –Muck’s decrees shall be final and carry the full weight of law, and may be overturned only by the order of the Supreme Governor Himself.

Any citizen, business, religious organization or other entity who fails to abide by  the regulation imposed by the Department of Muckety-Muck shall be immediately declared NON_ESSENTIAL and shall have their names stricken from all public records both electronic and paper, and shall be banished to perpetual quarantine, forever to be Social Distanced and forgotten.

I the Supreme Governor do also hereby order that the State Motto Of West Virginia be changed to reflect the “new normal” anywhere in state documents the phrase "Montani Semper Liberi"  (Mountaineers are always free) appears it shall be replaced with “facite quod dixi tibi” (Do as you are told)

I Jim Justice have spoken: so let it be written so let it be done

The Day the Church Was Deemed Nonessential… And Christians Every Where Agreed

Perhaps I should confess that sometimes I blur Christian and American Values. It’s easy to do, since the founding fathers attempted to institute the Eternal Principles of natural law into the governing institutions of the country. They did so with a great level of success, for instance the Bible doesn’t define an economic policy but free market capitalism incorporates Biblical principles of hard work and its reward, private property and autonomy of tradesmen while the governmental responsibility of enforcing contracts and ensuring a just weight and measure is also directly gleaned from the Biblical text.

However when our nation strays from its founding principles, the Church has always been there to lead the way back home. Not perfectly, often not in unison but given a little time and the prodding of the Holy Spirit we always get there. Take the fight against slavery or the ensuing struggle against segregation for instance. First Christians had to struggle with their own prejudices and cultural opinions, then decide if indeed it was the proper place for the Church to be involved. Inevitably the Lord directs us to the right decision and calls forth the leaders needed to show the way, from Johnathan Edwards to Martin Luther King Jr. the right man for the right time.   

Of course the Church’s involvement in the public policy debate is of a secondary importance to the great commission of the Christian faith, or rather is but one small part of it. The first most effective source of charity at home and abroad is the church either directly or through sponsored organizations like Samaritan’s Purse or Pacific Garden Missions. The source of hope in times of crisis, the gathering place for prayer for our forgiveness our neighbors and our needs is the Church.  The place of fellowship and diversion, the weekly chance to draw a breath and shake a hand have an occasional potluck often for those who have nowhere else to go is the Church; and yes we are the country’s moral compass not because we are snooty or pious, but because we see the real harm that rebelling against the moral absolutes can cause, and do not wish to see any one of any age race or gender suffer that harm. All of this is part of the Great Commission of our Lord who bids us to make disciples of all nations teaching them to observe and do all of the things that I (Jesus) have commanded.

Neither the Church nor the nation always lives up to its responsibilities, whatever our high calling and sincere principles we are sinful creatures, yet not one soul can deny that the relationship between the US constitution and the Christian faith has for 2.5 centuries been one highly blessed for both.

One of those shared Christian and American ides is a love of justice and freedom and a repulsion of tyranny and oppression. We weep as Christians and as Americans at the brutal repressions of Chinese citizens we are angered when we see churches burned women assaulted families broken up. We hate oppression with a deep burning hatred that I believe God himself shares; I offer the plaques of Egypt as evidence. Despite the care of our founders oppression and persecution do not sit far away even in the land of the free. Government has in recent years begun to grow past its intended limits certain of our liberties have been chipped away, and some few Americans have begun to sound the warning bells that if some freedoms are threatened all are threatened.

Most of us though rest assured government would never try to close the churches of our country and if they did Churches would never comply. Oh wait…that is exactly what happened!

I am a man of faith, I trust God through hard times and it no longer occurs to me that God won’t provide for all my needs or make a way through any cataclysm personal or global. Perhaps that’s why I never took the doomsday models of the scientists predicting that 2.5 million people were going to die seriously, a sober mind told me that decisions made in panic are seldom correct and that worst case scenarios presented in media are always exaggerated, but I also bristled as an American. I do believe in self-government and in the sovereign right of the individual to think and to reason and that on the macro level that and not micro-management from some ill-informed centralized expert is the best way  for a society to defend itself against threats, virus or otherwise.

As a Christian I saw this pandemic as a chance to show the world that God is Sovereign in the affairs of men and that His Church would be here come hell or high water to provide help and prayer and show as a beacon of hope that we have nothing to fear. I was thrilled at the opportunity to remind everyone that the door to God’s house was always open. As an American I was ready to tell Governor Jim Justice that he would close our church over my dead body, or at least he’d have to have me hauled away in a State Trooper Cruiser first. In fact it never occurred to me that any member of our Church would willingly comply with such a tyrannical order. They did, and so did every Church in our area. I have tried to find one that was still meeting, but if they are out there they are hiding like North Korean dissidents and I can’t find them.

The message here is clear, in a time of real crisis the Church needs to stand aside and let important people do important things. Jim Justice not Jesus has to determine what our role during a pandemic is or if we even have one. Meanwhile desperate souls drive past the locked doors of our churches to the far more essential liquor stores and seek solace there.

I am making no friends by the things I am saying, and I know churches are still doing “stuff”. Facebook sermons online worship has its place our church has endeavored to put together a group to help out needy or sick parishioners, these efforts are good and are proof that we will do as much good, and only as much good as Governor Justice allows.

To those who respond these are special circumstances I reply, why?  Because government says so? When this virus ends and if it is exposed as being about as deadly as any other particularly virulent strain of flu (which is where the actual data appears to be headed) are the government overlords going to say oops sorry we ruined the economy and trampled your freedoms for no reason, or will they be emboldened to do more? Seasonal Flu? Shut down the churches! Possible seasonal flu? Shut down the Churches preemptively! In fact some virus may always be lurking and if shutting down churches was so acceptable during one crisis why not leave it that way permanently and shut down all churches forever. It’s not persecution you can still have Facebook worship groups after all.

Do I want people to die? Of course not and every church and every church member is perfectly capable of doing the right thing for the situation in their community. I can say with great certainty that shutting down Churches in rural Kansas has not saved one life but has added exponentially to the hardships of the people there.

A few weeks before the “crisis” began our pastor told a poignant story about an atrocity committed against Christians in Nigeria and how days later a series of women’s conferences were filled to overflowing because those believers could not be deterred. He wondered aloud if Christians in America would have that kind of faith and courage, I guess he has his answer.

I used to close with the line from a southern Gospel classic “keep on the firing line” in closing I’ll share those lyrics, it was one of the first gospel songs I learned and I have always meant the lyrics when I sang them:

If you're in the battle for the Lord and right
Just keep on the firing line
If you win the battle, surely you must fight
(Brother) keep on the firing line

(Brother) keep on the firing line
Keep on the firing line
Time is getting short
Jesus coming soon
(Brother) keep on the firing line

There are many dangers everyone must face
If you die fighting, there is no disgrace
With the Lord for coward
You will find no place
(Brother) keep on the firing line

So you must fight be brave

Against all evil never run nor even lag behind

If you would win for God and the Right

Just keep on the firing Line

A Call to the West Virginia Legislature to Defend the National and State Constitution

                Give me Liberty or give me Death

These words are indelibly planted in the American collective memory. We study them in history and in literature and we admire the courage of the man who boldly proclaimed them in 1775. For Patrick Henry these words were no intellectual exercise, death was the least of what those early founders risked.

Today Governor Justice has forgotten that to Americans and especially to West Virginians liberty is more important than even life. We believe the governor has exceeded his authority both morally and as granted by the emergency powers in Chpt. 15 of the WV code cited in his executive orders. While the economic harm alone this is causing likely exceeds the danger of the virus, the potential harm to our liberty must be mitigated as surely as the disease itself.

We therefore urge all likeminded West Virginians to contact there state delegates and senators to urge them to support joint resolutions ending the Governors state of emergency declarations.

This does not mean we end our efforts to combat Covid-19, it simply compels the Governor to proceed with a targeted plan that accomplishes the desired goal of mitigation while respecting private property rights, individual liberty, and the right to worship.

For help locating your Senator:  www.wvlegislature.gov/Senate1/roster.cfm

For state Representatives: wvlegislature.gov/House/roster.cfm

You can also sign our petition at: https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/petition-for-a-responsible-covid-19-strategy

I’m just a guy who is deeply concerned about what is happening to my grandkid’s future JW Tabler johnbecktabler@frontier.com

A satirical letter to the Governor of WV,

                Dear Sir.

                I am truly appreciative of the care and concern you have shown for the humble peasants of WV and especially those of us in the Eastern Panhandle. Were it not for your noble decrees surely we would all be stuck hiding in our homes clutching rolls of toilet paper  waiting for some unknown day when it might be safe to go back outside and reopen our businesses and resume our lives, instead of the clear specific guidance you have provided. In response to all you have done for us it is only fair that we in some small way return the favor and be concerned for your health as well.

                There is a side effect of the Corona Virus that Dr. Fouci in all his wisdom has not publicly warned about. A side effect that public officials seem highly susceptible to, it manifests itself in delusions, specifically delusions of grandeur.

                The primary manifestation of these delusions seems to be the mistaken belief that you are Yul Brenner in the 10 commandments. Symptoms may include but are not limited to the belief that a disaster declaration gives you complete and total power to dictate every aspect of the lives of every citizen of the State of West Virginia, and to determine by arbitrary means which of those citizens is essential.

                As symptoms worsen the afflicted may begin stating “So let it be written, So let it be done!” when signing executive orders. Acute symptoms may involve envisioning the WV burial mounds as pyramids built in one’s own honor, wearing Egyptian headgear and taking a “Pharaoh Name”  

                This is already happening in two of our neighboring states as Governors “Never Trump” Ramses in MD and “Blackface” Ramses in VA are hopelessly afflicted and their insanity is no longer in doubt.

                Please take care sir we our lost without you and your divine decrees.

To governor “Redneck” Ramses from a concerned citizen of the state of WV where Mountaineers are always free, unless there is a chance of catching a virus of some kind., John W Tabler

An open Letter to President Donald Trump concerning Corona-virus Response:

Dear Mr. President,

                First let me note that you and your family are in our prayers in this difficult time, and that I do not pretend to have a comprehension of the numerous and crushing challenges that you face day by day.

                Having said that though there is a point that no one has called into question that needs to be addressed, you have often said that your first priority is the health and safety of the American people. This is not correct. Since the days of George Washington the oath of office that you and so many other great men have taken is to uphold and defend the constitution of the United States.

                Of course a significant part of upholding the constitution is the safety and welfare of the American people, but what makes America unique and exceptional is the freedoms expressed in our Declaration of Independence and codified in our Constitution. If it should come about that we succeed in greatly in mitigating the spread of this virus but we harm the very constitution that you have sworn to uphold and defend then we are unworthy of the legacy of sacrifice that has navigated us through the murky waters of history and made the American dream the envy of all mankind.

                Part of the reason our constitution is so effective is the brilliance of the Federalist system  that  allows for the differences in a vast and varied landscape and a regional subculture area by area to make the whole of our nation stronger. This unilateral response to this threat cuts at the very heart of this system. To bankrupt a barber in Smyrna Georgia and force him to accept government handouts in order to survive will not save a single life in Manhattan. To treat rural America with the same remedy as NYC to silence a million innovative businesses and individuals in one heavy handed blow is not just foolish it breaks the very oath of office you have taken.

                So much of your success has come from public private partnerships with men like Mike Lindell stepping up to help in this crisis, but how many millions of Mike Lindell’s are being squelched in their efforts to help. How many millions of small business men, inventors and innovators lack the clout and resource to have the President’s personal phone number or to have a friend in the governor’s office that would allow them to be declared essential in order to implement their innovations? Most of these ideas and innovations might fail but somewhere there are the preverbal bicycle shop owners ready to invent manned flight that your social distancing guidelines are suppressing.

                Right now governors all over this country are drunk with power, Newsome and Cuomo, terrible men whom you keep praising, Justice, Hogan and Northam, who seem to be racing to see who can get there state to resemble 1980’s  Moscow the fastest are all taking their ques from the top and you sir, could begin to halt their excesses simply by reminding them that they are no better than Abraham Lincoln and that their little disaster declarations do not give them unlimited power to suspend Habeas Corpus  any more than the Civil War did Lincoln.  

                                What may become the most damnable legacy of this crisis and of your administration if you don’t change course soon, is the harm being done to religious freedom. This is a heartbreaking irony considering that no President in history has been a stronger champion of religious freedom than you, but one crisis and you seem willing to throw that away. When you allow government to close churches for their own good, than freedom of religion becomes a technical argument rather than a principled one.  Churches now meet at the Governments discretion? Do we now need the permission of the county health department to hold services? Are we now able to be shut down during every seasonal flu outbreak? Shut down preemptively because there might be a seasonal flu outbreak?  Churches are the number one source of aid, of relief, of support, and of hope in every crisis and we should be doing the same now but we are barred from congregating. God has always worked in the mightiest ways in times of despair, when his people come together to pray (facebook prayerchats are not the same) and when they have braved every kind of danger and disease to take the Gospel to the world.  In my community not one church has chosen to defy these orders and hold services. I was stupefied when our church chose to cancel services in March and argued so vehemently with my pastor against the decision that I had to call him back to be sure we were still friends. I fear we shall rue the day for many generations to come when we sold our liberty in an attempt to avoid making waves and the risk, very slight in our rural community, of catching a virus.

                There is a very old saying that the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Step away from the models and the New Yok, Los Angeles media, and the bureaucratic experts and look at the harm you are doing to Middle America, I.E the people who elected you in the first place. Our nation can survive a virus even a devastating one but I am not sure we can survive a competent Executive Branch with good intentions.  I close with the words of a famous American one far more eloquent them myself:

“The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government - lest it come to dominate our lives and interests.”  Patrick Henry

                Your friend and our generations Patrick Henry, Rush Limbaugh has often said no one can separate Trump from his supporters but Trump. The longer you ignore your duty to the US Constitution the greater the danger of that very thing happening becomes.

                Sincerely John W Tabler, concerned citizen