Ironies of the Civil War
Civil War history is littered with
ironies. Some are light and humorous; others dark and ominous. Consider
the fate of poor Wilmer McLean. Prior to the first major battle of the
Civil War, First Bull Run (known as First Manassas in the South, but
that's another story for another time), Confederate Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard
established his headquarters in McLean's home. Portions of the battle
raged across McLean's property and an artillery shell came down a kitchen
chimney! This was more than McLean could tolerate so he moved his family
far away from the war, or so he thought, to a quiet location called
Appomattox Court House in central Virginia. It was there, almost 4 years
later, that the U.S. Army of the Potomac and Confederate Army of Northern
Virginia squared off for the last time. And it was there, in McLean's
front parlor, that Gen. Robert E. Lee surrendered to Gen. Ulysses S.
Grant.
Speaking of Gen. Lee, his 1,100 acre
estate and home in Arlington, Virginia (directly across from Washington
D.C. on the banks of the Potomac River) was occupied by federal soldiers
early in the war and was later confiscated by the federal government for
failure to pay property taxes. In June 1864, with federal military
cemeteries nearly filled, the entire estate was appropriated for a new
military cemetery by Quartermaster Gen. Montgomery Meigs. To spite Lee,
Meigs ordered the first graves to be put close to the house so that it
could never be lived in again. And so the Union soldiers that Lee's Army
of Northern Virginia were killing were being buried in his own front yard!
Thus, Arlington National Cemetery was born.
As ironic as these stories are, nothing
prepared me for the irony of the following Reuters headlines of April 16,
2002:
"Sex Scandal Brings U.S. Cardinals to
Rome"
"Supreme Court Strikes Down Child
Pornography Law"
Like I said, some ironies of the Civil
War were dark and ominous. The same can be said for the spiritual civil
war for our families, values, and freedoms as evidenced from these
headlines.
We have become a nation of people who
cannot think straight! We stand in shock at the perversion of trusted and
respected men preying upon young boys to satisfy their sexual appetites.
Then, we turn around the next minute to defend the "rights" of those who
create the materials to feed those appetites! We want it both ways but
this can never be. "For let not that man expect that he will receive
anything from the Lord, being a double-minded man, unstable in all his
ways." James 1:7-8. Either we get rid of the pornography, or we'll
continue to suffer under the scourge of its evil abuses of women and
children.
But we can't have victory in the courts
until we have victory in the hearts of men. Men need to understand the
folly of pornography and the seriousness of its consequences. There is no
"harmless" imagery. It ALL leads down the same road to destruction -- from
Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue to the most explicit hardcore
perversion.
I fully understand the First Amendment
issues raised in the child pornography case. Virtual child pornography or
not, there is no doubt in my mind that not one of our Founding Fathers
would agree with this ruling nor would they tolerate our country's
hypocrisy in condemning child sexual abuse on the one hand while
permitting publication of the "how to" manuals for child molesters on the
other. They did not pledge their "Lives, Fortunes, and Sacred Honor" for
this! Those who fought and died for our freedoms in the Civil War
certainly didn't trade their blood and young lives for this kind of nation
either. We owe them a far better country than where we are headed. Isn't
it ironic that we won the Civil War for physical freedom from the bondage
of slavery but are losing the spiritual civil war for our souls in bondage
to sin? May God help us all.
Steve Braun
April
22, 2002
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