Smt4Det

Saved by grace while yet a sinner. Loved by God, my Hubby & beautiful kids. Amazed by adoption. Love to laugh as often as possible.

[James Lindsay, anti-Communist @ConceptualJames]

The proof of my claims is that, in fact, these verses were written not in 1776 but 38 years later in 1814. The war wasn't the War for Independence ("Revolutionary War") but the War of 1812. Francis Scott Key was the poet, and there he was almost 40 years into the American Experiment wondering if the whole thing was finished.

Every American carries this reality in his heart. Every American understands the urgency of the question and knows why it is asked, whether 38 years later or 250 years later.

We patriots in our own time know the question is just as pertinent as it was for Key in 1814, for Jefferson, Madison, and the rest before him in 1776, and for Washington over the two or so years that followed that fateful Declaration that transformed the entire world forever.

They were there for such a time as that, and we are here for such a time as this.

[James Lindsay, anti-Communist @ConceptualJames]

You've probably heard this before, but it's always worth repeating. Something extremely cool about the "Star-spangled Banner," the American national anthem, is that it asks a question, and it's the question at the heart of everything in the American worldview.

"Oh, say, can you see
By the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed
At the twilight's last gleaming..."

So the anthem begins with a question and a scene. One man, a patriot, is asking another man, another patriot, "can you see it?" at sunrise after a long, dangerous night.

The "it" in question is going to be revealed to be the flag, our "star-spangled banner," which they had last fully recognized and honored as the sun set, daylight failed, and night crept over them the evening before.

Can you see it? Say! Can you see it?!

IS IT STILL THERE?!

"Whose broad stripes and bright stars
Through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watched
Were so gallantly streaming..."

Here we find that the "it" is in fact the flag, our star-spangled banner, and we learn why the question is being asked.

The flag is described as having flown and streamed gallantly over ramparts of war through a perilous fight. All could have been lost. The flag, and even the fledgling country for which it stands, one nation under God and indivisible.

Say! Can you see it? Now that the light is back?

IS IT STILL THERE?!

"--And the rockets' red glare,
The bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night
That our flag was still there!--"

They could see it through the battle in the light of the rockets and bombs that threatened them, here and there in quick glimpses. But it was still there throughout! But now? At dawn?

Say! Can you see?

IS IT STILL THERE?!

"Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?"

The urgency is palpable with every refrain. They have to know. It's the first thing they must know as the sun begins to light the sky, even before it rises.

IS IT STILL THERE?!

Say! Say!! Can you see? Can you see it?!

At the heart of every American beats the fundamental truth and reality that what we have here is precious, that it's worth fighting for, to the death if necessary, and that it's fragile. That at any moment it can be lost. That we have to remember to look for it because last night might have been the night in which it failed.

Every day, every year, every generation.

The American fight for freedom, to live in self-governance within ordered liberty, is ongoing and never-ending. The price of the land of the free is that it must be the home of the brave. We have to defend it, defend it, and defend it again, against all enemies foreign and domestic, because what we have is amazing, rare, fragile, and worth every cent of treasure, every drop of blood, and every risk to our sacred honor to protect it.

Our anthem is not a declaration. It is not a proclamation. It is not a statement.

It is a question.

Every time we sing our wholly unique national anthem, we as American ask the question again. IS IT STILL THERE?! Are we still America? Does that star-spangled banner yet wave?

Because it's a question, the answer is not known. It is not a guarantee. It cannot be taken for granted and isn't. And what an honor to ask and take up our part in the story, in the American Experiment, in the greatest country the world has ever known.

For tonight, the last night of our first 250 years, as the sun gave way to twilight's last gleaming and darkness overtook our land once again, the answer was still yes. We can see it even tonight in the red glare of rockets, with small bombs bursting in air, fill the sky with the noble tribute of fireworks once again.

And we all ask ourselves, will it still be flying at dawn?

This is what it means to be an American.

Happy 250th, America! Now for many happy returns!
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

[The White House @WhiteHouse]

Today, America wakes 250 years later as a beacon of hope, a republic entrusted to its people, an idea that changed the world.

A nation worth preserving. A dream worth pursuing. A freedom defended by every generation.

Happy 250th, America! 🇺🇸

[Smt4Det @SMT4DET]

@EvidenceOfFaith @farmingandJesus Also, they recently changed the style of the underwear and all the LDS algorithms were videos about the women being happier with new clothing styles they can more easily wear now. https://t.co/5R9Ndmc37Q

[Smt4Det @SMT4DET]

@EvidenceOfFaith @farmingandJesus You can YouTube different temple ceremonies and see them all dressed like she is dressed. Obviously not the underwear but everything else. People have taken hidden cameras in. The whole handshaking & being given a new temple name through a curtain, etc. You can see it all.

[Smt4Det @SMT4DET]

@OTG_Disciple @jason_howerton @theperfectfoil you know what it says when played backwards. I think it’s something about a dummy? 🤪😂

[Smt4Det @SMT4DET]

@farmingandJesus @Angela46951592 It is a gorgeous wig!! Look at her smile and feel her sassy self. Love!!

[Samuel Green @ProLifeSamuel]

@conservmillen Fact: @TheDemocrats
think people should be able to tear unborn children limb-from-limb and crush their skulls (while the children are alive & capable of suffering pain).

Democrats: At least we want to give free diapers to the babies who survive the massacre!

[Dale Thackrah @daleethackrah]

Biblical counseling is the act of two (or more) sinners submitting to the authority of the Scriptures.

[Samuel Sey @SlowToWrite]

Christians are the only people who rest in peace when they die.

[Josh Howerton @howertonjosh]

Politics are important, but listen to me: Politics cannot fix what politics did not break.

And Mankind was broken long before any political system.

Only a return to Jesus Christ who can reach inside the chests of men and give them new and living hearts of love, worship, and humility can save any person, any family, and any society.

Christ is the only way out of the chaos.

[Blake Neff @BlakeSNeff]

The left will simultaneously stand outside an event with signs promoting political murder, hysterically scream about impending fascism, do podcast interviews explaining why political murder is justified, and explain why assassination victims had it coming, then also confidently declare that when one of their own takes them literally and attempts an assassination, that it must be staged.

[Warren Petersen @votewarren]

🚨 Huge news! The Arizona Border Security Act will go into effect!

The 5th Circuit just ruled that Texas SB 4 can finally take effect — giving state and local police the power to arrest illegal border crossers.

Arizona voters made their position crystal clear in 2024, approving the Secure the Border Act (Prop 314) with 62.6% support. After Governor Hobbs vetoed the legislation, we sent it straight to the ballot.

Passed during the Biden administration, Arizona’s law will now complement President Trump’s border security efforts — giving our sheriffs and police stronger tools to stop fentanyl trafficking, target human smuggling, and protect our communities.

The law was on hold, pending the ruling on Texas SB 4.

[Smt4Det @SMT4DET]

@VeiledGlory @farmingandJesus we agree! God is good…

[Melissa the Hopeful🏠Homemaker @BiblicalBeauty]

I highly recommend listening to this moving conversation between Chuck Swindoll and his daughter, Colleen Thompson, which took place in 2022, when Swindoll was 88 years old.

In it, he shares details about the pain of being raised in a home where he was shown almost no affection and was bluntly informed that he had been "a mistake."

His concluding prayer is poignant and reveals the heart of a man who has learned through hardship to be humble, grateful, joyful, and content:

"Lord, we are grateful that You do know the way that we take. You never learn that way. You know it. You knew it would be like it is today, and You knew that in eternity past. You're always on our side. No one could love us more than You love us. No one could have more compassion for us or have our good at heart more than You do. So grateful...

Remind us of David's words: 'I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry. He lifted me up from a horrible pit and put my feet on a rock and established my goings. He put a new song in my mouth even praise to my God. Many will see it and fear and trust in the Lord.'

Thank you, Father, for this day and for helping me get through this story. Thank you for my original family and all of its struggles and difficulties, that my mother never aborted me, that she bore me. And though my mom and dad really didn't know me and who I was, they cared for me. They fed me. They clothed me. They provided shelter for me. Thank you for that. And today, I honor them. For a brother and sister who did so well in life, and now they're with You, thank you for the reminder of their lives.

Finally, thank you, Father, for my wife, Cynthia, who has loved me all her life and for our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren, such gifts, such hope they bring to us in this stage of our lives.
We rest in You, Father, our Shield and our Defender. Through Christ, we pray. Amen."

[Reid Wiseman @astro_reid]

Only one chance in this lifetime…

Like watching sunset at the beach from the most foreign seat in the cosmos, I couldn’t resist a cell phone video of Earthset. You can hear the shutter on the Nikon as @Astro_Christina is hammering away on 3-shot brackets and capturing those exceptional Earthset photos through the 400mm lens. @AstroVicGlover was in window 3 watching with @Astro_Jeremy next to him.

I could barely see the Moon through the docking hatch window but the iPhone was the perfect size to catch the view…this is uncropped, uncut with 8x zoom which is quite comparable to the view of the human eye. Enjoy.

[Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey @RelatablewABS]

You do not have a past-self living within your mind or body. You only exist in this moment at the age you currently are with all that you've lived through. No part of you is a child.

You cannot heal the 6-year-old self who was neglected. That neglect was very real if that's something you experienced. The pain you feel from that neglect, it matters and it's real. But only the 25 or 32 or 45 or 56-year-old self staring back at you in the mirror can actually be healed. And she can't be healed by you.

The self cannot be both the problem and the solution. It's actually a power outside of you that can heal you as you are right now. Namely, it is the God who created you, who alone has the power to heal you and to help you. And yes, He speaks to you as His daughter, no matter your age, but not as a toddler. He sees and cares about your childhood, but He communicates to you as the adult you are, not as the baby that you were.

The Christian approach to trauma is compassion. Yes, absolutely. But it is also the difficult Holy Spirit empowered work of finding our worth in Christ and forgiving those who have wronged us. This is where true liberation is found. It is not found from self-discovery and self-love.

No amount of speaking to your inner child, which doesn't actually exist, will lead you down a path of lasting fulfillment. Counseling, in light of that truth, can be helpful and healing for the Christian, but no borrowing of New Age psychology will do.

[Nick Freitas @NickJFreitas]

People say you have to sacrifice to homeschool...
thats true.

You also sacrifice when you send your kids to "public" school.

So the question is not "whether you sacrifice."

It's "what you sacrifice."

[Smt4Det @SMT4DET]

@splurge_wines @megbasham @megbasham ⬆️ Mike is THE guy with all the apologetics you could imagine. You and I align on just about everything so he is a trusted source. He is also a friend to RBC in AZ, too.

[David Daleiden @daviddaleiden]

🚨⚖️As promised, the final charge has been DISMISSED and the case completely expunged—

—after a couple months' administrative delay, and a truly bizarre last-minute "April Fool's" attempt by @PPFA and @NatAbortionFed to overturn the State's agreement.

😅 More on that later...