Today many of us are waiting to hear the results of the impending standoff in Murrieta, California, where federal riot troops are planning to be deployed against American citizens who are standing in opposition to an invasion.  It is something we have dealt with far too often recently: waiting for the day when the federal government fires on law-abiding citizens, when it is no longer content to simply oppress through laws and pens and phones.  It is a cold, assured knowing that we have in the pit of our stomach.  It is coming.  For all of our praying, all of our hoping beyond all hope that the day never comes, we know that it is coming.  Our prayers have turned from “Let this cup pass from us” to “If there be trouble, let it be in our day, so that our children may know peace.”

There are so many people who have no clue of the storm they are standing in.  They have no concept of what it means to be an American, what it costs to be one.  We see video after video of people on the street who cannot even tell you what July 4th is for, or the name of one single person who signed the Declaration of Independence.  They are ignorant, clueless, and worthless to the continued existence of our liberty.  But as angering as it is to see these people, it is part of the knowing. We know what they cannot fathom, and we accept that these people exist.  They don’t even know enough to be ashamed, and when the day of reckoning comes, they will be without food, without shelter, without hope.  Part of the knowing is understanding that we cannot help these people.  They are sheep being led to the slaughter.

But inside this knowing is another realization:  There are many cowards among us.  We all know them, and many of them wear the label of “conservative” or even claim the title of “patriot.”  Their problem is not a lack of information.  They know our history; they already understand that this nation was founded with blood.  They have a hundred excuses for why they cannot rise to the cause of liberty, and it seems we have heard them all.  The news is too scary.  They are too busy living life to pay attention.  Politics is just boring.  Nothing can be done anyway.  These people know better.

My personal favorites are those who use the Bible to justify their cowardice.  Taking the cake is the statement that “well, the founders should have submitted to their authorities anyway, and they sinned by revolting.”  These people are perfectly comfortable living under the freedom that those rowdy founders provided with their horrible “sins,” but don’t ask them to contribute.  In fact, loving the nation and being willing to defend her, to these folks, is idolatry.  These people are perhaps the most maddening, because they will tell you to your face with no sense of irony at all that their faith does not allow them to get involved with such concepts as American exceptionalism, or “rampant nationalism.”  Never mind that those sinful, rebellious founders pledged their very lives to ensure that these people could even continue to practice that faith; they gladly spilled their blood so that we could serve our God in peace.  Never mind that the only thing that has guaranteed that freedom thus far is the blood of better men.  In the proud arrogance of self-piety, we see their true color: yellow.  Had our nation been made up solely of these people 238 years ago, we would not have it now.  If our nation only had these people in it now, that would be the end of our story.

But it is not the end…because we also know those who believe so strong in the cause of freedom that they are willing to spill their own blood to protect even the coward’s children.

We know lions.

We know men who understand with every fiber of their being what is required to ensure liberty.  We know people who stand taller on one remaining leg than most stand with two.  We know men with battle scars, with nightmares and ghosts, who would in a heartbeat rise against evil again…and again.  We know people who have never fired a shot in anger, but quietly train for the day when they will be called to defend.  The silent preppers who are ensuring that when our own Concord comes, they are ready.  We know mothers who are raising warriors, strong and self-sufficient Americans who will not fail when courage is required.  The lions do not always stand out, but when they are called they rise with a ferocity and strength that cannot be matched.  They are the ones who opened the gates at Auschwitz, who ran out of ammunition at the Alamo and did not give up until their hearts stopped beating.  They are the steadfast, the ready, the brave.  They are the ones who died at the foot of a flagpole at Fort McHenry.  They are the ones who are standing in places like Murrieta today, saying “no more.”  They are the ones who, if the federal government has anything to do with it, will be arrested and imprisoned or even killed.

We know men who stood on a ranch in Nevada and stared down armed federal agents, willing to die in the sand if that’s what it took to stop the evil.   We know men who stand at the border as we speak, risking bodily harm from both illegal smugglers and federal agents, risking disease, risking it all to stop an invasion orchestrated by our own government.  We know men and women who have such a deep love of liberty, such courage, that they will stand until their last breath.  Regardless of what it costs, what is demanded of them, they will stand against this threat to our freedom…even if they stand alone.  

Yes, we know lions, and today they are standing in Murrieta, waiting, praying that today is not the day but raising their face to meet whatever comes.  Thank God for all of you.  Thank you for hearing the call and answering it.  Thank you for your willingness to use your lives as the last line of defense.  Do not waver, do not falter.  Do not give up.  Because of you, we still stand a breath of a chance.