A new flag was unfurled yesterday at 111 Mooreland Road.

Historically it is known as the Gadsden flag after a Colonel in the South Carolina colonial militia during the Revolutionary War. In 1774 a yellow flag with a coiled rattlesnake and the words, "Don't Tread 0n Me," was first flown as a symbol of defiance of the tyranny of Great Britain.

In recent days the flag has been making something of a comeback.

It is a modern-day rallying banner for the values and ideals of the Revolution and this American experiment in liberty and self government. It is a protest against the aggressive expansion of the socialist state and the threats to individual liberty that are multiplying daily in our nation.

That is why it now flies defiantly at 111 Mooreland Road.

RM

So I went to the state capitol today, along with some other leaders, and met with Senator Mike McLachlan from Danbury. It was quite a meeting. This is a man we have long been praying for--a courageous voice for righteousness in those halls. He is a freshman senator, so I guess he doesn't know any better--he is actually there to speak up and stand up for what he believes in. He was the tip of the spear in leading the efforts to beat back the assaults on religious liberty in this past session. Thank you god for this faithful man!

Why were we there?--he is challenging the Body of Christ across Connecticut to get more involved in praying and in advocating for our values in the political sphere. So the meeting was very exciting. It feels now like we have an advocate on the inside of the process and we can now work with him and others to support the cause of righteous and just governance with our prayers and advocacy.

So on to the number. You may have noticed that this blog is called "Blog 222." That comes from our street address: 222 Lincoln Street. For years the Lord has spoken to me through the number 22 or 222. The number is like an alert--pay attention. Or it is an affirmation--you have my favor. When the Lord first started impressing this number on me I would see it everywhere. Whenever I would look at the clock it would be 22 minutes after the hour--or so it seemed. I would see 22's on license plates, on road signs, on other random places.

Today I must have had four or five 22 sightings--at least three on the clock; a couple other random sightings; and we initially were to meet the Senator in his suite at the Legislative Office Building--Suite #2200. To me that all indicated favor. And it was there in abundance in the meeting with the Senator.

Pray for this man--he is in a key position at a key time in our state's history.

Oh, about the rest of the address. I received a prophetic word years ago that the whole address was/is prophetic. That I had some call to statesmanship for the Kingdom, as Lincoln was one of our greatest statesmen ever. I don't think the Lord has me exiting the church to go into politics. But I do think that I am entering a season when doors are being opened for me to be a voice into certain arenas of the political process for the cause of Kingdom justice and righteousness.

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

So, here it is Wednesday and I am just getting around to doing a follow up post about the teaching I gave on Sunday.

First, thanks to everyone who has given me so much encouragement and support for the things I shared on Sunday. It is very affirming to receive that kind of support.

Also, many of you have asked where I get the information that I shared on Sunday. I can mention two really great sources--one is secular and the other is Christian. The first is:
www.realclearpolitics.com This site is updated twice a day and it is a compendium of articles and op-ed pieces from papers and magazines from all over the nation. It covers the political spectrum and you can read about three or four pieces in a matter of a few moments. Great resource.

The Christian site is: www.ifapray.org This site really has a focus on intercession and is a great resource on political issues that have spiritual implications. You can also sign up for e-mail updates which come regularly and are easy to navigate. Like today the headline issue in the update has to do with pending legislation that would fund research involving the cloning of human embryos. I have copied below the post on this matter to give you a taste of what is available on the alerts and to illustrate that the beat goes on in Washington.

Congressional advocates of using human embryos in research recently admitted that they are drafting legislation to potentially fund human "therapeutic cloning." Pray that all misleading language and "stealth" legislative maneuvers to fund "therapeutic cloning" be exposed and thwarted. Pray that the Lord raise up voices to oppose it. On March 9, President Obama issued an executive order that removed certain limits on federally funded human embryo research that had been adopted by President Bush in 2001. Obama said that he opposed "the use of cloning for human reproduction," but pro-life observers quickly pointed out that this was familiar code language employed by those who favor using cloning to create human embryos for research that will kill them; this procedure is sometimes given the misleading term "therapeutic cloning." In an interview with Congressional Quarterly Today, published on April 27, 2009, Rep. Diana DeGette (D-CO) acknowledged that a bill she is drafting in concert with Rep. Michael Castle (R-DE) and others would authorize the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to fund research that would involve creating human embryos using "somatic cell nuclear transfer" (SCNT). This laboratory technique has been used to create thousands of cloned mammals without sperm. SCNT research began with the famed cloned sheep named Dolly in 1997.
"This statement is important, because DeGette and others who favor human cloning have been relying on stealth and misleading terminology to advance their agenda," commented National Right to Life Legislative Director, Douglas Johnson. "They know that the public opposes the creation of human embryos by cloning," Johnson stated. While "DeGette says her legislation will contain language outlawing reproductive cloning," Johnson argues that her "proposal is deceptively labeled, and is a sham ... that will promote human cloning, and then try to punish anyone who allows a human clone to survive. This would be the first federal law that now merely allowed but actually required the snuffing out of an entire class of human beings." (NRL News May '09)

Anyway, that is an update and follow up to what I shared on Sunday.

Blessings,

Pastor Rick

Greetings Sports Fans!

I am back in Connecticut and back in the office. Yikes--work!

Pastor Rick

Greetings Blue Grass Lovers,

Debbie and I accompanied my mom and dad to the 40th annual Appalachian Festival today at a park along the Ohio River. Blue Grass music, authentic crafts, demonstrations and historic encampments marked the festival. Maybe most of you don't know that my people come from the hills of Kentucky--so I felt right at home.

I bought Debbie a beautiful artisan crafted hammered dulcimer, one of the authentic musical instruments of early America. She is honing her technique right now.

That is about it for today--the Reds are on the televison and they are up 2-0 over the hated Cardinals. Big win last night for the hometown team 6-4. Looking forward to being home late on Monday.

Thanks for your prayers.

Pastor Rick

Wherever Debbie and I travel we love to buy and read local newspapers. It is like intersecting a slice of life in that particular area.

When we arrived to visit Debbie's mother we opened up the Daily Disappointment (read: Wilmington News Journal) to see the obituary of the best teacher either of us had in our public school education. His name: Mr. Kearney Lykins. He was Kearney in students' conversations; Mr. Lykins in the classroom. What a character! What a teacher! We all hated and admired him. Feared and secretly were grateful for him. He was one of those characters you hate to love--yet affection was often not too strong a word.

What did he do? He taught us to read and to write. I'm talking high school English. He got us into Shakespeare and Tennyson and Milton and tried to get us into Joseph Conrad, but I drew the line there. To me Lord Jim is The Heart of Darkness. But I digress. He taught us to write. My, did we write! One theme a week. It had to be solid, well-composed and well-thought-out. (He would probably have slashed up that last sentence.) He is the one who taught me how to build and communicate an argument long before I ever got to any preaching class. We also had to read the great literature of the English language and write book reports. One day one of the students tried to submit a book report on the Bible (it was on the reading list back then). That was an interesting day in class.

Because you see, Kearney was combative in class. And he could be devastating. One day he hit my sister on the back of the head with his ruler as he was walking up the rows to the front of the classroom--no reason, he just gave her a whack. She slugged him in the gut--automatic reflex. I have never been prouder of my sister in my life. No repercussions for her, Kearney loved it when he couldn't intimidate you. Of course we were all petrified of him; but I learned then that you have to stand up to the threat of intimidation.

During my senior year Kearney lent me a commentary on the book of I Corinthians--and I read a portion of it--Barclay's Study Bible. That was another part of the enigma that was Kearney Lykins. He was very much a student of the Bible, but he was definitely not a saint. His sin hit the fan in the big kind of way that only happens with a public school teacher in a small town.

But the obituary stated that Mr. Lykins had been very involved in the local Baptist Church in the small western Kentucky town where he retired. He taught Sunday School and he was a lay preacher. I would have loved to have heard him preach in these past few years--a sinner reclaimed by grace. An incredibly articulate, intelligent and passionate man in a small town, western Kentucky Baptist congregation. (For those of you geographically and culturally challenged, let me just say that western Kentucky is a LONG way from Connecticut.) Grace is an amazing thing. It calls us back to our better selves; it calls us home to our greatest love; it calls us on to our highest ideals.

So, Mr, Lykins--thank you for teaching me to write and teaching me to think critically. I am looking forward to seeing you in heaven someday. Maybe together we can hang out with John Milton and see how things look to him with his eyes opened to glory.

You will all be glad to know that the Village of Amelia was NOT dissolved yesterday by the electorate. That is a big relief because I don't know what we would have done or where we would have gone had that happened. Maybe vaporized into a parallel universe of dissolved villages.

Anyway it has been raining here today so Debbie and I went to several antique stores in a nearby village (one not in danger of being dissolved).

Last night the Reds put a whuppin' on the Florida Marlins, 7-0. It is so amazing around here--nobody gives a big woop about either the Red Sox or the Yankees, let alone the Mets. I am beginning to feel that I am returning to normal. Everyone in New York and New England should be required to sojourn west of the Hudson for at least two weeks a year to discover the real American heartland. Also people are actually friendly here. People talk to you when you go into stores. I had forgotten how that feels. And in the last three weeks I have been "Sir"ed more than in the entire 22 years I have lived in Connecticut.

That is about all the news fit to print for today.

Pastor Rick

That's Ameila, Ohio. Amelia is a relatively old village east of 'Cincinnati where my parents live. After today it may exist no more. Today is primary election day in the area and one of the measures on the ballot is a question to dissolve the village. How do you dissolve a village? Is there some kind of potent anti-village chemical that will be dropped from airplanes? Will it be scrubbed off future maps? Where will my parents' mail go? I might be absorbed into the village landfill if the ordinance passes--never to return; just dissolved.

Honestly this has me so freaked out I can't communicate a whole lot more right now. If the measure is defeated or I survive the absorption I will report more about my time at MorningStar.

In trepidation,
Pastor Rick