[Personal Process] 01 – Patriotism and the Prophetic

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2011SCOTT WEBSTER MINISTRIES. Page 1 of 6

P r o p h e t i c B r i e f

Anatomy of a Nation in Decline - Part 4

Patriotism & the Prophetic

As the nation heads into the 4th of July weekend and celebrates everythingred, white & blue, I think it is fitting to deal with the issue of patriotism, asubject that goes back deeply into my personal history. I grew up in militarybase housing and my family moved quite a bit as my father, an Air Force pilot, was transferred to various posts around the country. In 1966 hereceived orders for a years detachment in Vietnam where he was KIA Killed In Action. In light of my personal history, these prophetic briefshighlight the question: How can those of us who live in America reconcile

our patriotism and love for our country with Gods prophetic purpose?

My father enlisted in the Air Force when he was only 17, and in those daysyou didnt need a university degree to become an officer. He did well as apilot and was promoted to captain, and along the way he met my mom andthey had four boys in quick succession. His assignment was in Strategic AirCommand (SAC); their job was to keep nuclear armed bombers in the air 24hours a day in order to launch a swift strike against the Soviet Union or itsproxies. This was in the height of the cold war and for six years my dad wasstationed at Homestead Air Force Base south of Miami, FL a strategiclocation in the ColdWar as Cuba served asa proxy for Soviet

interests in the region.His primary role was tofly a re-fueling planethat had a boom thatcould be lowered totransfer aviation fuel toanother plane in mid-flight, allowing B-52sand other planes to stayairborne for extendedperiods.

It was while we were living in Miami that he received orders for a one year

tour of duty in Vietnam, and six weeks after arriving in country he crashedinto a mountain near An Khe in the Central Highlands, killing the entirecrew and 10 of the 28 people aboard. It was later determined that flightcontrollers inadvertently flew the plane into the mountain because theirsettings were wrong. A fellow pilot flying a twin aircraft and making thesame approach that day recounts: It was during the monsoon season andthe weather was terrible as we approached the base the clouds were lowand we couldnt see the runway. I didnt trust the inexperienced groundcontrol and I chose to dive through a sucker hole a hole that opens inthe clouds but can just as quickly close and leave you worse off than before.Your dad never saw the mountain in those clouds and was probably killedinstantly.

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ISSUE 412 JUNE 29TH 2011

Insight and Analysis for the 21st Century

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The plane struck a large mahogany tree and the fuselage was split down

the middle about 1/3 of the way back. One of the first soldiers to the crashsite, arriving out of breath from running up the mountain, said that the pilot my father was not found for four days even though he was still in hisseat because the sheetme t a l h ad fo l d edaround him. His funerali n c l u d e d m i l i t a r yhonors, the flyover ofaircraft in a missingman formation and a21 gun salute. A fewmonths later he was posthumously awardedthe Purple Heart andAir Force Medals thatis our family looking atthe medals awarded at aceremony at Luke AirForce Base outsidePhoenix, AZ in early1967.

Certainly his death had many negative consequences in our family, and hismilitary service and ultimate sacrifice for a nation at war is part of mypersonal history. So when people express their belief that the insights given

to me by the Lord are based in an anti-American stance it is shocking tome, especially the implication that I am not aware of the price paid forAmerican freedoms, or that I just dont appreciate the sacrifice. The ironyis that the demonstration of commitment to the nation was a price paid not just by my father but by the entire family. Not aware of the cost? Notappreciative of the sacrifice? Anti-American?Really?!?!?!?

(Maybe I will do a future article on the issues I had to contend with inorder to grow and mature, and how God used things to shape and form me.In the meantime, you can page down to see the dedication to my father andto all those who paid the ultimate price for their nation).

Jeremiah 12:5 (NIV)

If racing with merem e n - t h e s e m e n o f Anathoth-has wearied

you, how will you raceagainst horses, againstthe king, his court andall his evil priests? If youstumble and fall on openground, what will you doin Jordan's jungles?


Can I just insert here thatI dont know anyone whohas it as rough as

Jeremiah did? The wordthat God put in his mouthmade people angry, andbecause God had calledh im and gave h imspiritual authority hiswords were heard by

people and politiciansalike. This guy was beatenrepeatedly, rejected bypriests / politicians /prophets and even hisown family, and he spent

years in prison but hedidnt waver and he didnt

get angry and lash out.God required that he not

only speak the right thingin the face of massiveopposition, but that he doso from a right heartmotivation. God does testour hearts and He islook ing for a goodresponse. Being propheticis designed to make usmore like Christ.

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awardedmedals;SWstandingtomother'sleE


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Learning from JeremiahTo be honest when I have heard that kind of response it has made me go to God and check my heart andmotivation, and receive wisdom from Him I think that always has to be our first response. One of the primaryways He has ministered to me is through looking at the life of Jeremiah, a prophet called to speak distressingnews to his own nation. The guy was Jewish down to his toenails; he was a Levite, his father Hilkiah was a priestas were all of his forefathers going back to the time of Aaron and Moses. Yet the people misunderstood his

prophetic ministry and his motivations they thought he was cursing the nation or speaking negative things thatwerent the will of God. They couldn't understand how he could be a good citizen when he consistently spokeabout a foreign power occupying their nation

At one point Jeremiah tried to stop prophesying because the leader in the temple had him beaten and put in stocks,and when he got out he was directed to prophesy even worse things to the nation and to Pashur, the guy who hadlocked him up. It tore Jeremiah up to tell those who lived in houses that they would be carried away as slaves anddie in Babylon, and he went to God and complained that whenever he spoke it brought him trouble and pain, butif he tried to hold it back it was like having fire shut up in his bones (Jer 20:9). So declaring the will of God gothim in big trouble but holding it back not only made him disobedient, it also completely dsyfunctionalized him.Welcome to the prophetic!

Jeremiah had to grow and one of the ways God produced development in him was to help him deal with

persecution and misunderstanding. Early in his ministry the men of his own small village of Anathoth (locatedthree miles outside of Jerusalem) tried to kill him because of what he was saying. He complained to God about the persecution and God told him If racing with mere men-these men of Anathoth-has wearied you, how will yourace against horses, against the king, his court and all his evil priests? If you stumble and fall on open ground,what will you do in Jordan's jungles? (Jer 12:5). Basically God was telling Jeremiah that he better get used tobeing misunderstood, wrongly accused and thought of as a traitor to his own nation, because a lot more of thatwould happen in his future.

Big Geopolitical Movements & the Human HeartJeremiah was a prophet in a time when big geopolitical movements were happening in the nations. Babylon hadbesieged Jerusalem but they withdrew because Egypts armies had been mobilized to fight against them. Twosuperpowers, one on the rise and the other declining, fought for dominance and the economic advantages that

military superiority always brings. Judah put their hope in Egypt but Jeremiah had to tell them Pharaoh's army,which has marched out to support you, will go back to its own land, to Egypt. Then the Babylonians will returnand attack this city; they will capture it and burn it down. (Jer 37:7-8). Soon after Jeremiah left the city to checkon a piece of property and as he walked through the city gate he was arrested and accused of deserting Jerusalemand being a traitor to Babylon (Jer 37:13). He was on an innocent errand and he protested but they refused tobelieve him; they beat him like a dog and threw him in prison.

Can I just insert here that I dont know anyone who has it as rough as Jeremiah did? The word that God put in hismouth made people angry, and because God had called him and gave him spiritual authority his words were heardby people and politicians alike. This guy was beaten repeatedly, rejected by priests / politicians / prophets andeven his own family, and he spent years in prison but he didnt waver and he didnt get angry and lash out. Godrequired that he not only speak the right thing in the face of massive opposition, but that he do so from a right



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IN MEMORIAM

David O. Webster was Killed in Action on October 4, 1966; this edition of the newsletter is dedicated to

his memory and to all those who have fought for and served their country sacrificially. My prayer is that

we never forget that whether in war or peace, prosperity or disaster, life or death God rules over all andHis will and redemptive purpose is accomplished in all. Whether it was in guiding the ascent of a nation

to a place of global strength or dismantling that same nation piece by piece, His dominion is eternal.

He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out theheavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. 23 He brings princes to naught andreduces the rulers of this world to nothing. 24 No sooner are they planted, no sooner are they sown, nosooner do they take root in the ground, than he blows on them and they wither, and a whirlwind sweepsthem away like chaff.

Isaiah 40:22-24


[Personal Process] 01 – Patriotism and the Prophetic

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