I’m sure you’ve heard it said: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” This may be an over-used quote, but its truth is profound and worth pondering.

As we remember those who have fallen in the course of duty, protecting America and the freedoms which we enjoy, I find it particularly disturbing that President Obama has chosen this as a time to apologize for the bombing of Hiroshima.

Anyone who knows me can testify that I am at heart a peace-maker, prone to compassion and an advocate for forgiveness. Yet even I can see that there is a time and place when one must do all that is necessary to suppress evil for the sake of the innocent who are being victimized by it. If we are not acting against it, could it be said that we are in silent agreement, complicit with those who are committing the evil?

A brief look at history justifies the course of action taken by the U.S. in 1945, harsh and horrible as it was: Pearl Harbor; The Bataan Death March.; The Rape of Naking; Murdering of Doctors and Nurses; Cannibalism and Medical Experiments… (http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/05/27/war-crimes-imperial-japan-lesson-moral-equivalence-mr-obama/). If left alone, the evil which was at work in Imperial Japan would have only grown greater and more destructive. It had to be stopped, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are what finally drove it to surrender.

To be truthful, the thought of those who were innocent and suffered because of the evil committed by their government makes me want to weep. I grieve for the loss of all human life and wish with every fiber of my being that peace was an achievable goal for humankind.

And so I ask myself, is there such a thing as a Just War? Can I stand before God with a clear conscience having taken such a stand?

I think that Gleason L. Archer (in the Encyclopedia of Bible Difficulties) expresses the argument well: "How could God be called 'good' if He forbade His people to protect their wives from ravishment and strangulation by drunken marauders, or to resist invaders who have come to pick up their children and dash out their brains against the wall? No policy would give freer rein to wickedness and crime than a complete surrender of the right of self-defense on the part of the law-abiding members of society. No more effective way of promoting the cause of Satan and the powers of hell could be devised than depriving law-abiding citizens of all right of self-defense. It is hard to imagine how any deity could be thought 'good' who would ordain such a policy of supine surrender to evil as that advocated by pacifism. All possibility of an ordered society would be removed on the abolition of any sort of police force. No nation could retain its liberty or preserve the lives of its citizens if it were prevented from maintaining any sort of army for its defense. It is therefore incumbent on a 'good God' to include the right of self-defense as the prerogative of His people. He would not be good at all if He were to turn the world over to the horrors of unbridled cruelty perpetrated by violent and bloody criminals or the unchecked aggression of invading armies.”

While God’s desire is that we live in peace with one another, there are those who are opposed to God and are not willing to compromise in the pursuit of power, greed, or for the sake of an ideology. Such people make peace impossible. Either we allow such villains as Benito Mussolini of Italy, Adolf Hitler of Nazi Germany, and Emperor Hirohito of Imperial Japan to wreak havoc on the world, or we stop them.

Christian theologians St. Augustine of Hippo (354 - 430) and St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) are primarily responsible for formulating the theory of the Just War which has remained the majority Christian approach to war to this day.
There are many variations on the Just War theory, but these are the basics:
•There must be a just cause for the war.
◦War must be waged only in response to certain, grave and lasting damage inflicted by an aggressor.
◦The motive for war must be advancement of good or avoidance of evil.
◦The ultimate objective of war must be to bring peace.
◦Revenge, revolt, a desire to harm, dominate, or exploit and similar things are not justification for war.
 
•Every possible means of peacefully settling the conflict must be exhausted first.
•There must be serious prospects of success; bloodshed without hope of victory cannot be justified.
•The war must be declared by a legitimate authority. Private individuals or groups should seek redress of their rights through their governments, not by acts of war.
•The war must not cause greater evil than the evil to be eliminated.
•Non-combatants (civilians) must not be intentionally harmed.
•Prisoners and conquered peoples must be treated justly.
 
To all who have sacrificed to stand against evil, to protect this country I love and to keep her free, I am grateful.

God Bless America!

Although recently I've been promoting my historical fiction series, MY BROTHER'S FLAG, I wanted to remind you that I have published another series, OF WIND AND SKY. This series fits into the genre of Historical Romance and is set during the era of the Western Movement after the Civil War. Each book focuses on a different set of characters, but they are all part of the same larger story. This story is set in Wyoming in the mid 1860's and portrays the frontier lifestyle as well as the changing dynamics of cattle ranching as the railroad stretches farther west.

In THROUGH EVERY VALLEY, Vivian Lawson came to Wyoming because it was her husband’s wish.  But the discovery of his true nature leaves her bitterly determined to never trust a man again. And his sudden and timely death leaves her widowed on the western frontier, burdened by betrayal and guilt. 

Rob Hudson returned to Annapolis, Maryland after years of fighting to preserve the Union and set the slaves free. But when the pursuit of his dreams leads only to loss and disappointment, Rob sets out on a westward adventure that will test his courage and reshape his character.

When their paths cross on the open prairie, a new journey begins. One which will demand that they confront the shadows of their pasts and dare to believe in a brighter future. Together they must learn to surrender their broken hearts to God and to trust Him with their deepest fears and dearest dreams.

THE WHISPER OF DAWN is the redemption story of the woman with whom Vivian's husband was unfaithful.

Annette Hamilton was swept up in a sordid and passionate affair that stole both her innocence and her hopes of marriage.  Burdened by her secret shame, she must turn down the handsome suitor who has stolen her heart.  Annette fears no decent man could ever love a woman like her. 

Jesse Stone desperately wanted to be a war hero like his brothers.  But in his efforts to achieve it, he made a decision that crippled him far more than the loss of his right leg.  Longing to escape the guilt that haunts him, Jesse travels west to build a new life as a cattle rancher in the Wyoming Territory.

The series concludes with AS EAGLES SOAR, which follows the story the man who had courted Annette, only to be rejected in favor of a man with a scarred face and an amputated leg.

Bryan Hunt lost everything when he was drafted into the Union Army. Although his loyalties lay with south, duty compelled him to fight for the unity of the nation. But in the end, the war took everything he loved. He thought he could forget the past and find peace in the west, but this heart still longs for something more.

Catherine Gilbert can't stop looking over her shoulder. She only did what was right, but the decision has cost more than she bargained for. Now, all she wants is to make a new life for herself and her younger sister, Lydia, in the Wyoming Territory. But someone is determined to prevent her at any cost.

OF WIND AND SKY weaves together the lives of these six characters with the common thread of friendship with a Lakota Sioux woman, Sarah Gibson, and her husband and family. As we join them in their journey through the valleys and pitfalls of life, we also share in their inspirational stories of healing and find a promise of hope for each of us.

 The impetus for Lincoln’s aggressive response to the secession of the state of South Carolina, and the motivating purpose for his every action throughout the Civil War, can be summed up with the phrase: “Union at all costs.”

Lincoln believed that preserving the Union was his moral duty as commander in chief, and that it was the most important contribution that he could make to the future of the nation during his term of presidency. Lincoln stated his purpose quite clearly in his letter written to Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, in response to an article entitled “The Prayer of Twenty Millions," which implied that Lincoln's administration lacked direction and resolve.

At the time, a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation already lay in his desk drawer. A few years after the president's death, Greeley wrote an assessment of Lincoln. He stated that Lincoln did not actually respond to his editorial but used it instead as a platform to prepare the public for his "altered position" on emancipation. Lincoln wrote:

“… As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
“I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be errors; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
“I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.”

Whether or not the secession of states within the Union is legal, can (and has been) argued both ways. It was the position of the seceding states that as they had joined the Union voluntarily, and had not willingly surrendered their sovereignty to the Federal Government, they retained the right to withdraw from the Union at such time as they felt it no longer represented their interests.

United States President James Buchanan, Fourth Annual Message to Congress on the State of the Union December 3, 1860: "The fact is that our Union rests upon public opinion, and can never be cemented by the blood of its citizens shed in civil war. If it can not live in the affections of the people, it must one day perish. Congress possesses many means of preserving it by conciliation, but the sword was not placed in their hand to preserve it by force."

Also, former President of the United States Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to William H. Crawford, Secretary of War under President James Madison, on June 20, 1816: "In your letter to Fisk, you have fairly stated the alternatives between which we are to choose : 1, licentious commerce and gambling speculations for a few, with eternal war for the many ; or, 2, restricted commerce, peace, and steady occupations for all. If any State in the Union will declare that it prefers separation with the first alternative, to a continuance in union without it, I have no hesitation in saying, 'let us separate'. I would rather the States should withdraw, which are for unlimited commerce and war, and confederate with those alone which are for peace and agriculture."

However, it was the opinion of Abraham Lincoln and those in agreement with him, that the language of the Constitution implied the joining of the states in the Union “to perpetuity.” In his first inaugural address, Lincoln stated: “If the United States be not a government proper, but an association of States in the nature of contract merely, can it, as a contract, be peaceably unmade by less than all the parties who made it? One party to a contract may violate it—break it, so to speak—but does it not require all to lawfully rescind it? Descending from these general principles, we find the proposition that in legal contemplation the Union is perpetual confirmed by the history of the Union itself…”

It is also interesting to note that earlier in the very same speech he had also declared: “Apprehension seems to exist among the people of the Southern States that by the accession of a Republican Administration their property and their peace and personal security are to be endangered. There has never been any reasonable cause for such apprehension… I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”

His letter to the editor of the New York Tribune explained the basis for his change of opinion. He would do absolutely whatever was necessary to keep the “States of the Rebellion” within the Union. To this end, he succeeded, but at the cost of approximately 620,000 United States Citizens, and the decimation of the South through Sherman’s “scorched earth” total warfare, which was approved by the President.

At the onset of the war, certainly neither the North nor the South knew what they were getting into. They both believed that the matter would be quickly resolved. And once invested in the fight, neither were willing to surrender.
The questions which I find myself mulling over are these:

Was the preservation of the Union worth the cost of so many lives, the destruction of American property and the rift which was permanently driven between the North and the South?

Was there not a better way to resolve the conflict than to keep fighting once the war lingered on? In 1864, there was a push for negotiated peace, with or without securing Union victory, in order to bring an end to the war and the steadily growing loss of human life. The Democratic Party was split on the issue, which was how Lincoln was able to secure a victory and the war continued.

What is the worst thing that might have happened if the South had been allowed to create their own sovereign nation? Slavery would have come to an end eventually, and as Lincoln stated at the outset, he did not enter the war to abolish it. This desire developed later out of political expediency to achieve his higher goal of retaining the Union at all costs.

Are we better off today for having been subjugated by the Federal Government and having accepted the verdict declared by force that the states do not have the right to secede? And is there an appropriate balance between the power of the Federal Government and the rights of the states?

I’m just a novelist, and this is the direction of thought my research has taken me. What do you think?

Many Rebels had died in this camp since they were taken prisoner last summer at Gettysburg. Some were shot in cold blood, while others suffered a slow and degrading death brought on by dysentery and dehydration. Starvation took some, while others froze to death from exposure to the elements.
I must survive, Charlie Turner reminded himself as another violent shiver overtook his thin frame. I will survive, he vowed, grinding his teeth together to cease their chattering. If for no other reason than to return home and see his father and Jeremiah again, he must endure this frozen hell.
In a gray haze of semi-consciousness, a memory drifted into his thoughts like fog rolling in from the bay. It had been a beautiful spring day, and Charlie had clutched the newspaper tightly in his hand as he urged the mount under him into a full gallop, racing up Turners Lane between the corn fields toward Laurel Hill.
He’d been so eager to share the fateful news with his brother that Fort Sumter had fallen into Confederate hands and President Lincoln was calling for volunteers to suppress the rebellion. Charlie had felt a twinge of guilt at the excitement pulsing in his veins at the prospect of war. Perhaps within every man there was a warrior crouching in repose, waiting until the moment when he should be called upon to fight.
Against his father’s wishes and his brother’s counsel, Charlie had been with the first wave of men to enlist with the Rebels. He’d taken the buckskin gelding, Archie, under cover of darkness and rode through the night to catch a ferry across the Chesapeake Bay and enlist with the First Maryland Infantry of the Confederate States in Richmond, Virginia.
He’d been so sure it was the right course to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather, who’d fought in the war of 1812 to suppress tyranny and defend freedom. But nothing seemed clear anymore.
“I’m sorry, Jeremiah,” Charlie moaned as he drifted into tortured sleep.
He awoke with a start as the bugle sounded the morning Reveille and demanded the prisoners assemble for roll call. The sky was still dark as he forced himself upright, running a dirty hand over his tired face. Beside him, Wilson groaned in greeting to another day. The circular Sibley tent quickly converted into a cramped mass of elbows and knees as the men rose from the ground where they huddled against one another for warmth and stumbled toward the flap.
The air outside the tent was even colder than within, where at least there was a barrier against the wind, and the body heat they generated had filled the small space. Charlie shivered as the air struck his face, and he folded his arms across his chest in a reflexive posture against the assault, although his thin arms inside the tattered uniform provided no protection against the bitter cold.
On the eastern horizon, the sun pushed back the darkness and a pale rim of orange light glowed as the fiery orb climbed into the sky. But the weak rays it produced were useless at dispelling the chill that gnawed deep into the prisoners’ bones. The long months of summer when they had sweltered in the burning sand like bacon on a griddle seemed no more than mere hallucination.
Their sunburned skin had faded to pale white, tinged with blue from cold or the gray pall of approaching death. Scurvy and malnutrition had weakened them all until there was no fight left in them. They ate whatever they could find, as the rations served were barely enough to keep them alive. Before the bay’s waves were capped with ice, they had been permitted to search for clams, lobster, or fish in the enclosed area behind the stockade where they bathed and washed their clothing. Now, the only protein to be added to their paltry diet was rats, hunted out of sheer desperation. As firewood was scarce, it was reserved for roasting the filthy rodents.
As the Confederate prisoners fell into line for the roll call, it was to the jibes and jeers of the black troops sent to guard them. They inspected the emaciated forms of the men in their torn and faded garments, laughing at just how low the mighty had fallen. Many of these Negroes had once been enslaved to the white men of the South. This was indeed an unexpected twist of fate, to be both celebrated and exploited.
“Looks like the bottom rung’s on top now!” Charlie heard one of the darkies taunt his former master, the barrel of his rifle jabbing the prisoner in the ribs.
If the guards of their own skin color had treated their execution as a sport, how much worse would it be now that the colored troops had arrived? Numb with cold and his awareness that the specter of Death followed in every shadowed footstep he took, Charlie acknowledged this new threat calmly. Every Confederate soldier present had survived the bloody battle of Gettysburg, and many battles before it, only to fight hunger and inclement weather here at Point Lookout. There were a thousand ways that death could claim a man: gunfire, grenade, smallpox, dysentery, blazing heat or freezing cold… Each of the prisoners was, at any given moment, only a breath away from passing into the next life.
Sometimes it was difficult to remember why he must keep his spirit firmly rooted in this wretched mortal body. It would be easier to goad the guards into shooting him and ending this perpetual misery.
But Charlie was determined to survive, if his determination alone were enough to ensure it. He kept his eyes lowered and his mouth shut. He did what he was ordered, and did nothing to bring attention to himself. He was simply another gaunt face, another name on the long list of prisoners held in the “bull pen.” And that was the way Charlie wanted it to remain. He combated the hunger and the cold with the same unwavering resolve. He would survive.
Standing at attention, eyes straight ahead, though unfocused on anything in particular, Charlie listened for his name as the register was shouted out into the frosty morning air. He was aware of the colored guards slowly circling the prisoners, gloating over their elevated status, but he paid them no heed until one of them jerked his head at the call for “Private Charles Turner.”
The dark-skinned soldier’s eyes narrowed on Charlie as he barked out his response. In the gray light of dawn, Charlie scrutinized the black face staring back at him. There was something familiar about it… Then recognition suddenly slammed into place. Henry?
The Federal blue uniform and erect posture had tricked Charlie’s eyes for a moment, but he was certain that it was the slave, Henry, from Laurel Hill. At the precise moment that acknowledgement registered on his face, Henry shook his head ever so slightly, his hand lifting for a brief second to cover his lips with his forefinger. It was a subtle message to keep their association silent.
And for the first time in months, Charlie felt a small spark of hope fan to life within his chest.