By the time we got up North on Friday (noon) all of are regular camp sites were taken, But we knew of an undeveloped site off the trail a ways and decided to camp there. We did some exploring and found a shady spot a little further in and up hill from a nice creek, Heavily wooded and we could hear the rushing water from the creek but couldn't see it, Sharon wanted to find it so I grabbed the machete and we made our way down the hillside. Huge boulders and downed trees made some rapids and pools of water, The temperature was quite a bit cooler down there and it was a welcome relief from the heat up on top of the hill. We decided that we would start clearing the area and use it for future camping. The ticks were still very bad but I had been psyching myself up for them for the last 2 weeks hopeing they would be gone for the season or be prepared to deal with them just so I could camp. I stopped counting them (ticks) after about 10 and was making the best of it :-) We had a nice fire going and darkness had fallen I had the lantern going and hung from the ridge line sitting there having a cup of tea when all of a sudden something big swooped down and landed on my neck I brushed it off feeling the leathery wings when I did and heard him as he flew away, A Bat!!! of all things WHEW! I was doing good with the tick thing and then got attacked by a Bat...All in all is was great though cause camping is never boring for me.

Went fishing with the neighbor again this morning, Hey we still had bait left over from yesterday.
Here is a picture of the biggest of 4 Bass I caught, A 3 1/2 pound Large Mouth Bass...

My neighbor Eric (Snakebite) asked me to go fishing with him in the morning, I already had my fishing license but hadn't been fishing yet this year. I got up at 0400 and we left sometime after 0600. Sharon went to and we stopped to get some bait, There were sure a lot of boats heading North that morning and when we got to Lake Machickanee there were lots of people and more boats coming then we found out that there was a Bass Tournament going on there. I had never fished there before and don't own a boat so I just fished from shore. I put a minnow on one pole and threw it out then told Sharon I was going to go down a ways by the weeds and work a Night Crawler, I had just cast the crawler and Sharon said I had a bite on the minnow so I told her to take care of it and She reeled in a nice Channel Catfish. I kept getting hits on the crawler and suspected it was Bass and after several more crawlers I finally hooked one a Very Nice 5 pound Large Mouth Bass pictured above. I caught several more Bass and after 2 hours we were ready to head home. Everyone remarked that I probably won the Bass Tournament! HaHa No $20,000.00 Bass Boat just an old $20.00 fishing pole and a Night Crawler.

Bears and Ticks Oh My!

Sharon was with me, We were looking for new campsites and parked to go on foot down this lane we were at. Sharon had to take her boot off and while standing outside the jeep I looked down the lane again and saw the bear, I said Sharon look a bear and she looked up and said get the camera and I said get in the jeep! The bear was standing by a tree when He saw us or heard us he took off. We drove down there and saw the tree, The bear had removed bark looking for grubs or? The height of the tree damage was around 9 feet. Sharon said to me "You know no one is going to believe us" She said "I'm NOT camping here, Lets go to our other site" I said Oh you think there are less bears over there! (1.5 miles away) HaHa
We parked again and got out, Walking a quarter mile looking for sites and blowing our bear whistles. Got back in the car and heading down the main dirt road I noticed a Tick on my pants then more ticks and more ticks I parked jumped out and brushed them off went to the back and looked for the spray and then we hosed each other down with it. Instead of camping in the woods we ended up going to our usual site that has large clearing 90 by 200 ft. We set up the ridge line, tent and tarps and while Sharon was finishing up with the sleeping bags and pads I sprayed myself with repellent, Took my sled the bow saw axe and machete and headed into the woods to start collecting firewood, I filled my sled and was heading back when I heard Sharon blow her whistle so I waited for her then we filled her sled and headed back to camp. Sharon prepared some kindling and I went and gathered enough Birch bark to get a fire going and we settled in and relaxed a while. Sharon made some noodles on a Esbit Stove and I boiled some water with an Esbit tab and a canteen stove and made some tea. When darkness fell we fired up the lantern and hung it from the ridge line and about 11 o clock we headed into the tent for bed. We lit a candle and snuggled into our sleeping bags, Sharon fell asleep and I was laying there thinking about bears WHEN all of a sudden I felt something on my shoulder! I grabbed it a TICK and threw it into the candle, Then I saw another one on my shoulder (T Shirt) I hollered at Sharon get up and help me! 5 Ticks now in hot candle wax stripped down wiped head to toe with repellent towelettes I finally get back in my bag with a serious case of the Heebie Jeebies. Not sleeping well at all I find and capture yet another Tick at 3:45 am I decided then we would cut our camping trip short. I got up 42° degrees out, Took my pajamas and all the other clothes and sealed them up in a water proof bag then bat-toned some wood and built a fire made a pot of coffee. After Sharon got up we started breaking camp and headed home. Ticks again, Now we are seeing ticks in the jeep! We stopped at a gas station so Sharon could use the bathroom, I found some Raid insect Killer for $6.49 plus tax and sprayed down the jeep. We made it home and did a Body search of each other for ticks. Sharon who claims super natural immunity to ticks has one under her bra! Then over come with Tick Itis she has something crawling in her hair and we find with a brush the Last Tick! Whew Hot Hot Showers and this adventure is finally over and I sleep for the next 5 hours.

Separation of Christianity and State

Almost all Americans have heard the phrase “separation of church and state.” It has been used as something of a club to “beat down” and eliminate Christianity from public places, including symbols (like crosses), disallow Bible reading and prayer in public schools, and stop the teaching of creation in science classes.

Now, where does the phrase “separation of church and state” come from? It is not a part of the original U.S. Constitution of 1787, as most people falsely believe, or in any of its amendments. In reality, the idea of a “wall of separation” between church and state came from a private letter from President Thomas Jefferson, and it has sadly been misused to slowly, but surely, eliminate Christianity from the public sector—and replace it with an anti-God religion.

The Establishment Clause in the First Amendment was intended to protect the church from the (federal) government, not the government from the church. Therefore, no “national” church or religion is allowed to be established by the federal government.

I will highlight key words of the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof . . . .

You can see that the “separation of church and state” phrase is nowhere in the Amendment (or the rest of the Constitution). The 1802 letter from Jefferson was sent to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut in response to the group’s letter to him. Jefferson was trying to assure the Baptists that the federal government would never be permitted to interfere with the church. In fact, in his letter, Jefferson states:

Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man & his god, that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship, that the legitimate powers of government reach actions only, and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state.1

Today, secular scholars have lifted the Danbury letter out of its entire historical context and have turned the so-called “wall” metaphor completely on its head.

“Separation of church and state” is now used to protect the government from the influence of the church—establishing a policy of freedom “from” religion, which in reality has become “separation of Christianity and state.” This would have been an entirely foreign and unintended concept to the Founding Fathers.

This misrepresentation of the Constitution was witnessed once again as I attended a debate in March, in which Rev. Barry Lynn, a liberal minister, lawyer, and the head of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, spoke. Not only did he argue for separation, but claimed that government “neutrality” towards Christianity was his group’s aim. Sadly, most Americans (Christians included) have also been duped into believing that the so-called “separation of church and state” requires eliminating the Christian God and creating a neutral situation. But there is no such position as neutrality. Indeed, one is either for Christ or against Him (Matthew 12:30)!

The religion of naturalism (atheism) has been imposed on the public education system, and on the culture as a whole. For instance, science textbooks in the public schools now typically define science as naturalism (atheism):

Science requires repeatable observations and testable hypotheses. These standards restrict science to a search for natural causes for natural phenomena . . . . Supernatural explanations of natural events are simply outside the bounds of science.2

In keeping with this pronouncement, these books teach molecules-to-man evolution, based only on unproven natural processes, as fact! In other words, they have eliminated the supernatural and replaced it with naturalism. In reality, they have eliminated the Christian worldview and replaced it with a secular, atheistic one!

Sadly, because many Christians have falsely believed that there can be a neutral position, and have also been duped regarding the so-called “separation of church and state,” they are not prepared to boldly and unashamedly stand on the Word of God as they confront issues like abortion, “gay” marriage, racism, etc. By shrinking back, believers have allowed the secularists to impose their anti-God atheistic religion on the public schools—and the culture as a whole.

Answers in Genesis has launched its “I am Not Ashamed” campaign to challenge Christians to publicly and unashamedly stand on the Word of God. Only then, from the basis of the Bible’s absolute authority, will Christians be able to effectively combat the immorality that plagues our nation.

For more information on AiG’s “I am Not Ashamed” campaign, see our special insert stapled inside this newsletter or go to our new website of IAmNotAshamed.org.

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Footnotes

1. Thomas Jefferson, Jefferson’s Letter to the Danbury Baptists, The Library of Congress website. Back
2. Neil A. Campbell, Brad Williamson, and Robin J. Heyden, Biology: Exploring Life, Florida Teacher’s Edition (Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006), p. 38.