Jim Headrick's Blog

I thought I had gotten my point across until the shooting in Nashville, but it just didn’t sink in with the legislators in my home state of Tennessee. I haven’t said much about gun violence because I believed that some time and some how our politicians would get the real picture.

A weapon cannot be imagined or invented that can’t be out done by the next man or woman that just wants to do damage. The problem does not begin with what we have to use, but in the mind of the human being that invents or uses the weapon.

On this Easter weekend I am reminded of what Paul said when he declared our souls a citizens of heaven when we believe that Jesus is Son of God and was sent by God to redeem our souls. That is a statement of God’s love for us. You can kill my body but my soul is just hanging around to do God’s work for a time.

Our legislators seem to believe that they can control the violence by by letting weapon companies build more and better weapons. However, even if they were successful the devil would find another way to bring more disruptive elements to bare. The problem is they are not using God’s love to handle the problem.

There are people now in jail that should be in mental institutions. There are people in jail that had sound minds when they were incarcerated, but system of incarceration in Tennessee does not try to reform the thinking of incarcerated people.

We used to have a system that addressed mental health. It was a bad system, but at leased addressed that problem. Now we know so much more about mental problems, but we try to just address them only with pills. If we could convert the money we spend doing very little good on the real problem and stop this racist attitude present in our legislators nationwide, our world would change for the better.

God grant us wisdom and courage, Amen!

Every one of us follow a God. That is fact not fiction. There is something in everyone’s life that means more to them that anything else.

This can range from my heavenly Father that I know created everything to one’s self state of being. This can be Christianity to the worship of one’s on self. Everyone has a religion. There are not exceptions.

What government you chose to accept reflects you willingness to step outside of your self interest or not.

The reasons I write anything about God and Country has only to do with what I believe my God wants for this country. Of course I believe my God is the creator of everything and nothing is made that He did not make.

God is a god of love, and He expects me to love Him and others as I love myself. My bible is divided into two section. The history of His creations before the cross and the gift that came as a result of the cross. I will not try to explain the difference here, but I will try if you ask.

The result is that He sent Jesus’ soul into the world in a man to teach others that there is a better way than serving one’s self. Also if you believe that Jesus was the son of almighty God and are willing to follow His teachings your soul, that He gave you, will never die, and all your sins past, present and future are forgiven.

God loves everyone whether or not they love Him back or not. This means if you were the one that shot all those children in the schools around the nation and you truly repented of those sins, accepted Jesus as your savior, and changed the way you think to His way, your soul will never die. The key is truly believing.

This is believing without doubt which is not an easy thing to do. That is the reason He gave us grace, because living as a human being without making a mistake is hard. Grace makes it a lot easier.

Other religions are not based on love and do not have the tolerance of the forgiveness of sins against their laws. Some religions are the worship of things one can get in their life time.

Our country supports all religions, but has promised no religion will be forced on others. Some in our country style this as separation of church and state. Other like me do not believe there is such mention in the Constitution of such a separation.

Our four fathers began each meeting with a prayer to my God. There are symbols all over this nation clearly stating our resolve. Sometimes our Supreme Court as made distinction concerning separation of church and state. They have no jurisdiction over what is written without public approval.

We Christians that believe God is Sovereign know that we can’t correct the laws that are wrong without God’s help. God will convict leaders to come forward that can change these laws back to our Christian beliefs. God never forced anyone to follow Him and is not going to now. However, believers, that know what He wants, will change everything back before we lose it.

The problem we have now is that too many people say they are believers but do not trust in God. Therefore they do not believe.

Amen

The first type of government is a Democratic Republic. A democratic government was tried by the Greeks centuries ago but it didn’t work. It is hard to get a majority of the voters to agree on anything. In such a case it is easy to debate to the point nothing gets accomplished. The danger in a Republic is they government can become an Oligarchy government where the wealthy control the government decisions. We are close to that now.

The second type of government we all know is Autocracy which can be defined as a state, society, or organization where one individual possesses immense power. It is not quite a Theocracy where the individual has total power, but it it close. However, one could see how a Autocracy could evolve into a Theocracy.

In either case the one person has total control of the government with the power to simply demand people to become soldiers for the army for the protection of the leaders’ realm. In a Theocracy the leader is always right and makes whatever rules that the leader deems necessary.

Another type of government we should be aware of is a government of Theocracy. This is a government where religious beliefs control the religious leader that can veto anything another government body might decide. I have nothing against representatives from the Muslim religion serving as representatives if they can take the oath of office.

Our founding fathers were very careful to set up the government so the other types of government could not sneak in and disrupt a good thing. However, they could not think of everything.

The way things are going in Washington and our state capitals I am starting to believe that a person should take the oath of office at the same time they announce running for that office.

How do we preserve out nation?

The first question we have to ask ourselves is; “What type of government do we want to leave to our children and grand children?”

The second question we have to ask is; “What can we do to ensure that the government we want stays or become what we want it to be?”

Micromanaging the law is a futile process. The early Jews finally got it when Jesus came to teach God’s ideas behind the ten commandments. By the time Jesus came the laws were so convoluted the law makers couldn’t even keep the laws they themselves wrote.
On January 17, 1920 prohibition when into effect after years of the temperance movement trying to get it passed. It was not just a law it was the 19th Amendment to the Constitution ratified one year earlier. The Amendment didn’t last long. Was it necessary? It was the beginning of micromanagement of the law, and by that time there were so many alcoholics they could not stop drinking. Therefore the underworld found it easy to “bootleg” whiskey made in private stills or imported from Canada and other countries.
Alcoholism was not recognized as a problem then. However, now it is and we continue to treat it the same way we did 100 years ago. Other addictive drugs were around then and since then many other addictive drugs have been added.
In the the twentieth century in the 60s and 70s our mental institutions gradually closed down. This action put many thousands of mentally ill persons back on the streets taking drugs that would control their actions. Many of these drugs are the cause of many thousands of people being charged and jailed over drug addition.
The government or God can’t control what someone does to themselves. The government can’t do it and God won’t do it. I know what is right and wrong. We know what we do like drinking or taking drugs and driving is a wrong decision. However, technically if we enforced bad driving decisions due to drug use in the United States about half of the population would be banned from driving.
Every normal thinking citizen knows that if everyone carried a gun there would be a lot more shooting. Some of our legislators have seen too many Clint Eastwood movies and not enough Hopalong Cassidy. William Boyd knew he was an influence to young children, so there were things he was asked to do that he refused.
I was endangered by a shotgun blast in an organized hunt when I was young. I would be more afraid of a person who didn’t have the training carrying a gun than I was that day.
Some drugs are legal and some drugs are not. We should not take drugs unless we need them. All drugs should be legal.
It is good to arrest a person that is under the influence of any substance or arrest a person in public when they could disrupt natural flow of common decency. Jail if necessary but treat in problem while they are in jail.
I hate the idea of abortion, but it a pregnant mother is planning to abort a child, give her an opportunity to pass the child to a couple that needs a child in their lives. Then train the mother how to control pregnancy.
In Tennessee we spend 72 dollars a day to house an inmate with an 80% expectation of that inmate would be returning to jail. In Tennessee federal prisons we spend 96 dollars a day with the same expectation. Aggressive treatment is not given in either plan.
As a society we would rather try to micromanage people outside of the law and put them out of harms way to address the problem short term and just hope that it goes away by itself.

Albert Einstein said Crazy is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different outcome.

Most of us know who Albert Einstein is an recognize his intelligence. We elect leaders that are doing the same thing over and over expecting good things to happen when it didn’t work before.
Micromanagement does not work.

The question to me is; When did a peaceful protest become an insurrection? I heard the Secretary of the Military who was the secretary on January 6th 2021 interviewed when he gave his thoughts about that day. I don’t think he was telling an untruth, however I believe his thinking was off.

According to the secretary he had the National Guard ready to protect the demonstrators at the direction of President Trump. He said the DC police and the National Park Officers said they could handle one hundred thousand demonstrators. This was probably correct. Handling demonstrators has been done before.

However, I don’t believe the DC police or the National Park Officers ever said or even indicated they could handle an insurrection of somewhere between 30,000 and 100,000. The true numbers are difficult to pin down.

Lets look at the definition of the two words demonstrator and insurrectionist.

Demonstrator – a person who takes part in a public demonstration, as by marching or picketing.

Insurrection – an act or instance of rising in revolt, rebellion, or resistance against civil authority or an established government.

The National Park Officers and the DC Police were in fact ready for a demonstration of many people. They have done this time and time again. However, they have never had to put down an insurrection. We have not had to do that since the civil ware of the war between the states which was a war fought over state’s rights.

We supposedly won that war which gives the federal government rights over the state’s laws. With thousands of lives lost in that war, I hope that is settled law.

The question is when did the demonstration become an insurrection? Was it when the demonstrators turned over the first barricade’ or was it when t he President said we have to take our government back; or when the President told the security forces to take down the metal detectors: or was he when the planners planned the demonstration to turn into an insurrection.

I don’t want to see a former President go to jail. I don’t think it would be good for other countries to see that. However, I want the country to formerly recognize that the president broke the law and caused an insurrection to occur on Jan 6, 2021 and safeguards are put into place to so that it is clear that the President is never above the law. Our country cannot heal until that happens.

What is important is the healing of our country. Nothing else is as important. Most of the electorate understand what happened and are ashamed that January 6th became a loosely organized mob assaulting our precious capitol. Pride is the only thing holding the balance of the Trump electorate together.

The liberal Democrats and the Tea Party Republicans are miles apart and will never get together. If you are concerned in getting governing the nation back on track you should vote for representatives closer to the middle of both parties or even Independences. People that just think in the extremes will never pass any meaningful legislation.

Are “We the People”, “We the People”, or are “We the People” a segment of the people. Therefore, the answer asks the question are you happy with the United States of America?

I was raised in a time when certain things were just accepted to be true and evident. When one worked for a company one gave all they had while working for the company short of something immoral. Immoral was defined as someone asking one to do something that one felt was wrong and one saying, “That’s just not right”.

We all had a sense of morality. We knew what was right and what was wrong. No one had to tell us what was right or wrong. The environment in which we were raised guided us in the right direction.

We worked hard for the companies and expected them to take care of our efforts by providing good salaries and helping us when we retired. Companies didn’t take the hint, so unions had been formed. They were necessary then, but they became as unfeeling as the companies the members were fighting. However, the members were better off that too many that were just making enough money to exist. The exception was government workers that made good money and could look forward to good retirements. The union members and the government workers made up about 2/3s of the work force. That left about 1/3 less fortunate workers.

The companies and the rich seems to think if they keep the workers less fortunate concentrating on survival they can serve their god which is mammon. If the less fortunate concentrate on their God which gives them eternal life. They are citizens of heaven anyway.

However, God wants the less fortunate to have more than existence. He wants them to have plenty of what they need, so they can help others to also build their rewards in heaven.

The answer is to have good people in congress that will see to the needs of those less fortunate. We don’t have to settle for more of the same, but we have to vote our conscience and not the conscience of mammon, so if you are not registered to vote now. Register and vote in every election.

All the way through the Christian bible God it is clear that doesn’t make decisions for anyone. He did banish Satan from heaven. He didn’t make the decision for one third of the angels to go or stay with Him in heaven. Satan had to be the most persuasive entity with the exception of the Trinity ever. I cannot imagine how persuasive he can be. To persuade an angel to leave our sovereign God and follow him into the world is not understandable for me or anyone else I know.

I try to follow my sovereign God and can’t do it by myself. However, He gives me His grace and power through faith that keeps me righteous.

One of the downfalls we have to overcome is pride. Pride sneaks up on us like a thief in the night. We don’t see it coming. It just appears. Sometimes it appears, and we don’t recognize it.

We buy a car that is a lemon. We are so proud that we could buy this car that we have difficulty admitting we made a bad decision. We buy a new home and the contractor won’t stand behind his work; again the same problem.

Unfortunately we constantly make decisions based on our feeling or the information we are given by others. Also and unfortunately the information given by others is not vetted properly. This is important for us to understand our pride getting in the way of God’s plan.

When we vote for any public figure we can’t be uneducated of the facts related to our nation’s survival. We have to know who is interested in governing or self interest. We can’t wait to hear what people think. It is our obligation to discover the truth.

I’m not intelligent enough to know everything about government, but there are news papers and news networks that are. Those networks and new papers will sometimes have a different idea of the results, but their two source procurement of vewtting evidence will be the same.

Social media will say anything without any proof. Sometimes all you hear is their opinion. Opinions are good, and it is good to know where someone stands on an issue. Always vote on how you stand on the issues. Just be sure and vote. Its your decision.

I seem to remember what I believe is in the M.D. Creed which includes the phrase “First do not harm.” Sometimes when I go to a doctor I wonder if they remember that code. The doctors that take good care of me which number about six, do remember and have taken good care of this 83 year old body even when I haven’t follow their advice to the letter.

I would like it if the Senators and Representatives in our State and Federal governments to have those words added to their oaths when they are sworn into office. For instance it is ridiculous to have this fight over the economy once of twice a year. We always agree to pay for what we obligated our self to pay. We can’t do anything else. We have to pay our debts. To stall one side or the other and make adjustments under pressure that should be negotiated properly as obligations and income dictates is endangering to our economy for the next year which causes our national debt to raise even higher.

I heard a Republican Representative interviewed recently, and he said very directly that the rich should not be taxed. I wonder where his money to be elected comes from. Every Republican congress has raised our national debt more that the Democratic congresses have done. That does not mean they are not both guilty of raising the debt ceiling, but neither has addressed the infrastructure until last year. If we are having difficulty meeting our obligations now how much more difficult is it going to be if the Republicans get their way.

If we continue down the path of self destruction we will have to import everything we need for a good existence. A good deal of the problem lies in the tax benefit corporations get by supporting manufacturing outside the United States. Therefore we import more than we export which is a trade deficit. This is a subject most people don’t talk about because it is something they think is the responsibility of the rich and powerful. They are right in this thinking because it is. However they can do something about it by voting for candidates that take our way of life seriously and want to keep our nation’s wealth at home.

Let us suppose we are an island and our product is fish and pineapples. We are doing well we eat the fish we catch and sell what we don’t need to eat and the same with our pineapples. We decide to increase our production and enlist China to help us financially.

We grow to the point by borrowing funds we cannot repay but we still own our fish and pineapples, but they are mortgaged to China. We are now working for China and own nothing. That is what a trade deficit can do.

Jerrymandering voting districts is another harm caused by congress. This is an attempt to support the rich and their corporations. If our corporation actually supported the United States we would not be wearng cloths made in other countries and eating food we grow processed by foreign countries or companies owned by foreign countries.

Buying from China, Japan, France, Spain, or England is a good thing as long as we have trade balance functioning well.

Interfering in medical diagnosis is another harm caused by congress. I began my writing today with an analogy of “First do no harm”. Our medical professionals are the best in the world. We have insurance companies second guessing diagnoses of people they have never seen. Often the final diagnoses is what the insurance companies say.

We need insurance companies because prices are more than they average person cannot afford. However the insurance companies make more money from investments that they do from their prime source of insurance premiums. The insurance companies are largely unregulated.

I would have to be a lot smarter than I am to solve all these and other problems facing congress every day. Also I am just scratching the surface of what needs to be done. However, the things I have mentioned are very important.

The answer can only be solved by you and me.

Is predestination fact or fiction? That is a question discussed over and over though out the ages. If you read the bible logically we can get a flavor of what God Plans and what God controls.

Everything that had been made He made. That is very clear through out the bible. However, it is also clear that in every human being there are two parts that depend on each other. One is the body which most people understand and the soul or spirit that we all have whether we are Christians or not.

The prophets tell us many times how their soul was placed in the body sometimes before they were conceived. That soul is dependent on the body to make good decisions for the soul’s well being both now and for eternity. Our ability to make decisions is a key to predestination. We can either make decisions or we can’t. If we can make decisions the predestination doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.

Another thought is God creates the good things and also the bad things. We are taught that God is love. We are taught that God loves everyone. The idea that God loves every one of us and creates bad things to happen to us is a contradiction in terms.

Does God use bad things that happen to His advantage. Yes He does. It happens over and over. Can God predict the future? Certainly He knows when bad things are going to happen because He know what Satan is doing all the time. He know men are weak and will sin if Satan has his way. However, causing men to make the decision to see does not follow, I my opiinion, good Christian thinking.

We have to believe He wants people to come to heaven. If that is true He would not make them have an opportunity to sin. If you follow the predestination idea through it would not just be an opportunity to sin, but God forcing us to sin. If predestination is a fact then we have no choices and therefore we could not make the decision to be saved and follow Jesus’ teachings.

My God that loves me would not let that happen to anyone.

Today we as a nation are struggling with the concept and the spirit of the Constitution. Many times the courts including the Supreme Court does not take into consideration the importance of the Spirit of the Constitution.

The spirit of the Constitution is that we the people were not being treated fairly. The Bill of Rights clearly says that there are certain right everyone should have.

It is also clear also that the Colonies were created by Europe and many situations were hard for a few good men to address. All the economic challenges could not be satisfied in the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. The founders chose to put a spirit in Constitution that could be resolved later. Race was a factor discussed then as I am sure other specific items were debated.

Even at that time in history we agreed that some changes had to be made. They also agreed that it could not be just one way or the other. Even today begin the sessions of Congress with a prayer to our sovereign God that gave us this country.

Yes, God was definitely behind our victories. There is no way we should have won the Revolutionary War. The British had already had the country divided up even to the end of the war. In other words they knew they would win.

By the time the War of 1812 came along, the citizens had already tasted freedom, so loosing was not an option.

When the Civil War or War Between the States came along, depending on which side you were on, God seemed to support the Union I believe because it was His plan to have freedom in this nation.

When World War I came it became clear that we wanted freedom for all nations.

When World War II came we still wanted freedom for all nations. However, if Ramel and Yamamoto had not been taken out of those two wars early on, we could have lost both fronts.

The spirit of the Constitution has been preserved by believers over the last two plus centuries. The spirit of 1776 must win or we lose it all. Congress needs to understand.

Bless God and bless these United States.