Where do you stand? I hope alone.

The early Christians stood alone against Rome and against the world. Because of their different ideas and their firmness of conviction, they were tossed into the arena with hungry lions which tore and ripped their flesh. Their blood was churned into a sickening red mud.

Joan of Arc stood alone and was burned as a witch. While chained in the dungeons of Rouen, tortured by the requirements of her body and the demands of her mind, she could have vindicated herself by a mere declaration of only six words: “My visions are from the devil.”

She died alone at the stake. I wonder till this day, if when she saw the burning faggots and sticks, did she inwardly curse her visions?

When she clasped the wooden cross, did she wish that she had never volunteered to lead the French? When the pain seared her body and fire climbed higher and higher, did she wish that she had not been so zealous and foolhardy?

I doubt it, for the fire that cremated Joan of Arc kindled first in her heart and then in the hearts of those who have heard her story, a fire that cannot be extinguished. Some call it the flame of freedom!

The price of freedom is great, and if we as a free nation are expected to survive, then we must ask ourselves some basic questions.

Are our spiritual assets great or have we used up all the principles that our forefathers bequeathed to us?

Are we so preoccupied with our enemies that we do not notice our own sins? Are we aware only of what we are against that we forget what we are for? Is the cause of freedom limited to defending our country from its enemies without and not forces within?

America has a soul. It must be defended. The average age of the world’s great civilizations is only 200 years, a mere speck in time. Most of these great civilizations, history tells us, progressed from abundance to complacency, then to apathy, from apathy to dependency, and from dependency back into bondage again-- all within the short span of just 200 years.

Where do we stand?