“We are at war.” If you didn’t know that before Patriot Academy, you know it now. Whether we like it or not, the future of our nation, and through it the world, depends on us. This is a solemn calling, this call to battle. Sometimes it’s frightening. But actually, it is the most inspiring privilege that is given to mankind.
This year, Governor Moore reminded us of that privilege and that responsibility in his State of the Academy address. Here is the transcript and a link to an MP3 of the audio recording. May it fan the “sacred fire” of liberty within you on days when passion is cold and duty is forgetful. ~ Lt. Gov. Nicholson
WE ARE AT WAR. And so, Mr. Speaker, Governor, representatives, senators, honored guests, and fellow Texans, both honorary and permanent – Welcome to the future of our nation.
If you’re like the hundreds that have attended before you, these next six days will become some of the most unforgettable memories of your entire life.
Patriot Academy is a week of fire and water. Water, because Patriot Academy is- and you’ve heard it- like ‘taking a drink from the firehose of freedom’. Because it’s refreshing. Because it’s nourishing. Because it’s more than you can handle! And because it’s truly like water to a man in a desert, giving hope where hope is most desperately longed for.
But it’s also like fire. It was said “Give a man a fire and he’ll be warm for a day. Light a man on fire, and he’ll be warm for the rest of his life.” And it’s true. You’re here at Patriot Academy to be lit on fire; with what Washington called the ‘sacred fire of liberty’. May that be an all consuming fire.
Our generation; the ‘epic’ generation as Tim Elmore refers to us; the millennials; We’ve been faced with a challenge. Every generation, with every culture goes through a phase of identity crisis. A phase of uncertainty, of abandonment from the leaders we expected to do everything for us; Then of personal abandonment where we abandon the faith and principles that we were given, and of determining who we will become when we grow up. Not just personally, but when we grow up as a society. We are society, and we’re growing up now. If that generation fails to find their identity, they fail to grow up.
And so here we are. Amidst a generation of leadership that never grew up. We have NO IDEA who we are! We’ve lost so much, and willingly so. I think the best analogy of where we are, is that we’ve had a 315 million piece puzzle placed on the desk of America, and there is no picture on the front of the box. You know the picture on the front of the box that you use? And you say, ‘Ok, these pieces go here, these go there’, and you continue the sorting process? Well, we don’t have that.
We’ve been asked to put it together, to piece together the picture of who we are as a nation, or we will be lost forever in the ashes of history. America will be a name on a list. Rome, Greece, Maya, Persia, Byzantium, Egypt. We have people in the room who have witnessed the last coughs of civilizations around the world. They’ve also witnessed the births of new hopefuls around the world who still aspire to do one thing in common; to emulate America.
But emulate what? These new nations struggle with the same things that you and I do. We don’t have a picture. It’s like the cheat-code of puzzles! We need it, especially with as many pieces as there are.
When I came to Patriot Academy for the first time in 2010, I got a lot of training. New friendships, new knowledge, new attitudes of hope and faith; but most of all what I took away, was a momentary snapshot. A PICTURE, to guide the reassembly of a broken nation. And trust me, we are in pieces. Since attending Patriot Academy for my first time, I’ve witnessed unprecedented failures on the part of our state leaders to stand firm in defiance of tyranny, unprecedented violations of our liberties on the part of our national leaders. Obamacare, making lightbulbs is now illegal, and raising the debt ceiling, all amongst a myriad of illegal executive orders. We are indeed a nation in pieces.
But here at Patriot Academy you will be given a look at what the nation looks like properly assembled, and you each are a piece of that puzzle.
The second thing you should know, is that you have a duty to go home and show others what that picture looks like. To help the folks back home begin to assemble the pieces of a broken nation. And remember that YOU are the first piece. Link up with somebody. Get it started. Remember that others are assembling that puzzle around the nation, and keep focus. Because we’re only 112 pieces of the 315 million called America. 315 million; and only 112 of us. We need to get busy.
You need to recognize that we are at war. This is not a game. We’re not on a soccer field, we’re on a minefield. You have a responsibility to recognize that from the moment you wake up every morning, (this week, as well as every morning for the remainder of the year until you hopefully return) that every moment is combat until you think your very last thoughts at night.
You, as a warrior are charged. You must say, I will not back down, back out, back up, or back slide. I will not argue on the enemy’s terms, I force them to argue on my terms; and I will get those terms from the source of all liberty, The Lord. For where the Lord is, there is liberty, and where the Lord goes, I will go, and so where I go, I will bring Liberty.
Dare to stand. Dare to argue with liberals, not your own convictions. If you find yourself wrestling with your convictions, you’re wrestling wrongly. Dare to force liberals to compromise on their turf, and force them to admit the sovereignty of God almighty as the source of all our freedoms. Our true freedoms. You’re learning to do that this week.
The real fire hose of freedom is water provided in John 4:14. Jesus beckons, ‘drink from my waters, and you will never, thirst again.” THAT is real freedom.
Drink from those waters, and you will be revitalized for the intellectual and spiritual warfare that lies in your path. Do not be fooled. This is war. Take away these three words; THIS IS WAR.
And YOU, Patriot Academy, are on the front lines. You’ve been enlisted, your country needs you. Jesus Christ lowers his finger and says, I WANT YOU. You are faced with a decision; Will you be generals, will you be privates, or will you be traitors? Step up. Speak the truth without fear, let your words sound like a trumpet, strike like a hammer, and flow like water. Defend freedom without apology, and when you fear, when you doubt, when you lack the moral confidence to continue the fight, turn to the words that have comforted kings and counselors for millenia. That have instructed our founders and our citizens in how to love their nation. Let yourself be lit by the same sacred fire that carried Witherspoon and Washington; And more importantly, carry that fire home, and set the nation ablaze. The holy fire of truth in scripture.
We are at war. And so, Mr. Speaker, Governor, representatives, honored guests, and fellow Texans, both honorary and permanent; Welcome to the army of our nation.
God Bless you, God Bless Texas, and God Bless America.
