The intentional, tragic, and unnecessary war in which the effusion of blood was halted in 1865, has reverberated through 150 years and enabled alert observers to see the intended consequences of those echoes, decade after decade. When General Lee surrendered the remnant of the Army of Northern Virginia (approx.26,000 men) to General Grant (approx. 100,000 men) his army was exhausted from winning battles only to lose the war. Had Lee asked his men to continue the fight, there is little doubt those starving, rag-clad men would have continued to the death. The terms of the surrender were reasonable enough and the shooting stopped, yet the very real purpose of the war continues to this day.

             It has been said that the South fired the first shot and therefore war was necessary to “Save the Union.” An historical truism states, “The aggressor in a war is not the first to use force, but the first to render force necessary.” There is a preponderance of evidence documented by Federal Records that the 16th President and his minions treasonously plotted to establish circumstances that would require the South to fire first. But if you are not aware of those facts it is a reflection on the quality of the education system. “Save the Union” is also a familiar diversion. My question has always been: save the Union from what? The Union was established on June 21, 1788, with nine States participating, and by 1859 there were 32. Yet it is instructive to understand that the government in Washington City received revenue from tariffs. There were endless taxes upon the lives and labors of citizens. In 1860 the South provided about 87% of all revenue, while over 80% of that revenue was spent on New England’s internal improvements and subsidies. So, if the South left the voluntary compact of States, the Union would not disappear, but its rich source of revenue would. The 16th President himself stated when asked by a reporter, “Why not let the South go?” his reply explains, “Let the south go, Let the South go! My God man, where would we get our revenues?” So, you see, money and not union was the issue.

    Then there is the ad nausium, “Free the Slaves” that has become most popular since the mid 1970’s. In 1858, Mr. Lincoln clearly stated, “I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races…I am not in favor of negro citizenship.” “I have declared a thousand times, and now repeat that, in my opinion neither the General Government, nor any other power outside of the slave states, can constitutionally or rightfully interfere with slaves or slavery where it already exists.” “I will say here, while upon this subject, that I have no purpose directly or indirectly to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.” Then in 1860 he wrote, “I have no thought of recommending the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia.” Then in 1863 he wrote in a letter to the Secretary of the Treasury, “[The Emancipation] proclamation has no constitutional or legal justification, except as a military measure.” Quotes like these by the 16th President are numerous.

    Let’s not overlook the proposed 13th Amendment, the Corwin Amendment, introduced in the House by Thomas Corwin (R-OH) and in the Senate by William H. Seward (R-NY) and endorsed by the 16th President. It was passed by the 36th    Congress on March 2, 1861, and submitted to the States for ratification. It reads: “No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give Congress the power to abolish or interfere, within any State, with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of that State.”

    Jefferson Davis succinctly summed it up when he said, “The truth remains intact and incontrovertible, that the existence of African servitude was in no wise the cause of the conflict, but only an incident...to whatever extent the question may have as an occasion, it was far from being the cause.” Slavery in the Southern States was an expensive and dying institution destined to go away under its own weight. War was not necessary to end it.

    The adhesive that enabled Western Civilization to advance was the shared respect and knowledge of two vital elements; God’s Word and the Rule of Law, and both must necessarily be administered with virtue. H.G. Wells, in his 1925 work The Outline of History, describes in Volume II how the demise of Rome was a consequence of the shared ignorance and lack of respect for law and law abidingness. The erosion of cultural standards sufficient to destroy a culture takes time; but it does occur and it would appear that mankind never learns (Hosea 4:6).

    The warmongering abolitionists of the north didn’t hate slavery nearly as much as they hated the Christianity of the South. Had they seriously hated slavery, they could have shut down the slave ship building trade of New England and put over 5,000 tradesmen out of work, or endeavored to close the eighty New England distilleries that were busy producing rum from sugar cane for trade with African chieftains. Why didn’t they expose the legacy of Peter Faneuil, the wealthiest slave trader of Boston? Why didn’t they fight against the anti-negro laws of New England? No, the Christian South was an easier target, it was distant, removed from everyday affairs, a cause to make one popular in certain circles—much like popular humanist save something issues today.

    By the 1850s much of New England had been infected by humanist and socialist dogma imported from the slums of Europe. Their Christianity had morphed into religious zealotry for rights that were never existent except in their own imaginations. From the founding thru the 1850’s, Southern Statesmen adhered to Christian principles and the Rule of Law. Northern schemes to pilfer the people’s treasury were vigorously opposed by the South. Alexander Hamilton’s “American System” had gained adherents in powerful New England banking, mercantile, and industrial circles, and they wanted more. Blocking their way in the halls of the central government were Southern Statesmen. Compelled by their voracious lust for money and power, Northern power brokers concluded the only way to their total control and consolidation was extermination of the South; its leaders, culture, institutions, and Christianity! One of their lackeys, Thaddeus Stevens (R-Pa) stated emphatically, “The Union as it was, and the Constitution as it is - God forbid it! We must conquer the Southern States and hold them as conquered provinces.” All the States have been held as conquered provinces ever since, and Mr. Lincoln admitted as much when he stated, “In saving the Union, I have destroyed the Republic.”

    In “Civil War” parlance, what is termed “Reconstruction,” presumably ended in 1877 when the last vestige of military dictatorship and carpetbag rule was driven from the South. But that can be misleading. All the Southern States were given new Constitutions and new laws, rules and regulations which changed their relationship with the Federal Government. Under the Constitution of the old Republic, the people were Sovereign and were represented by Sovereign States who simply gave very specific power of attorney to the Federal offices in Washington City. After the war the table was turned, the government in Washington became Sovereign, the States became subservient, and the people became servants available to be taxed and ruled by regulation. The words of the U.S. Constitution were not changed but the men entrusted with its interpretation were. The rule of Law became subservient to the whim of individuals and the pressure of special interest. The French economic writer Frederic Bastiat (1801-1850) stated it precisely when he wrote, “When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it.” We are witnesses of the consequences which have echoed through this century and a half and have wrought a culture with a defective moral code and a defective legal system; special interests rule the law, plunder the treasury, and all productive citizens must now obediently work to pay their tribute money and pledge an allegiance in order to be left alone, and that’s no guarantee.

    The “American System” put into place by the 16th President is broken and defective, yet it continues to steam-roll in a relentless effort for more and more coercive power and control. In a republic, taxes are shared equally by productive citizens, it is a conquered people who must pay tribute unequally into a treasury that allows the unproductive to pilfer as a right.

    So, why is there so much vitriol, hate, and violence against The Confederacy, and those like-minded individuals who hold to the original intent of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution? If you have been educated in government schools and believe current propaganda served as news the answer will perhaps shock you; the answer is theological. There is a vast segment of this population who resist personal responsibility and deny that their choices result in the consequences that result. Another large segment believes that greed, lust, envy, and force are acceptable as long as they are the ones exacting it. Both groups, perhaps a majority of citizens, trust the humanist lie that we are no better than animals and have only ourselves to answer to. How sad. As triune beings possessing body, mind and spirit, these folk have no moral compass as their spirit has been malignantly trained and is dwarfed and absent of any spiritual wisdom.

    These same people claim the 13 Sovereign Nations or States that came together to fight tyranny, drafted the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, were not led by Christian men with a Christian objective. That also is a lie.

    There is a book of books; it is the best-selling book on earth. It has been banned and burned yet survives and lives today. The Holy Bible is one book comprised of 66 separate books, written over the course of about 2,000 years by some 44 men in 3 languages on 3 continents. It is entirely consistent with itself and bears witness to one God. It forms a continuous story of humanity in relation to God. It contains a progressive unfolding of truth. From beginning to end the Bible testifies to one   redemption and one theme—the person and work of Jesus Christ. Humanists cannot understand it as it is spiritually discerned. They loathe it as it reveals their defective spirit and sinful behavior which through pride they deny. They mock virtue, modesty, thrift, common sense and essentially anything wholesome because it reveals their evil motives and desires deeply seated within their own hearts. They want us gone!

    When the federal hammer of total destruction fell upon the South, God preserved a remnant, He always does. Might does not make right and the settlement of issues by combat does not settle an issue in law. Southerners and like-minded people have been groaning and straining under a wicked, illogical, wasteful tyranny attempting various ways to correct the course of their ship of state, with no success. We are vastly outnumbered and outspent and as Christians have always desired a quiet and peaceable life, yet we, our cause, our symbols, and heroes are hated. We represent the moral reminder to the rest of the Nation of their wholesale wickedness, evil intentions, and unfathomable depths of depravity in the culture they have created and they want us destroyed. We are standing in the way of what they believe is progress. Our symbols and heroes daily remind them of their failure. We do not hate them, we feel sorry for their self-imposed ignorance; yet we continually struggle with why “those people” will not leave us alone.

    All Scripture is given by inspiration of God (II Timothy 3:16) and in II Timothy 3: 1-7 we learn the answer: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters proud,  blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God: Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts. Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” These poor souls simply cannot help themselves.