Ebenezer
David J. Leach
Copyright 2018 David J. Leach
All rights reserved
First Edition
Christian Faith Publishing, Inc
New York, NY
First originally published by Christian Faith Publishing, Inc 2018
ISBN 978-1-64114-171-0 (Paperback)
ISBN 978-1-64114-173-4 (Hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-64114-172-7 (Digital)
Printed in the United States of America
Acknowledgments
I am thankful for the professionals in my field who have helped and inspired me in service to the United States since 1981. First, I will be forever grateful to Jeff Edwards of the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), a former Marine, who hired me to serve in the NCIS security policy branch within the Countering Terrorism Division. The 9/11 attacks had occurred a year prior to his calling me, and I was able to successfully serve at NCIS and as a detailee to the Chief of Naval Operations due to his help and mentoring. His passing away in 2014 greatly affected me, and his memory provided the backbone I needed to continue the fight from within the Pentagon. I am grateful for the faculty and staff at Louisiana Baptist University, especially Dr. David Keeny, dean of Bible, who reviewed each of the seven theses discussions for their biblical merit and provided needed comments which ensured the assertions stated were supported by the Bible. I am grateful to my parents; CWO-4 Clifford Leach, USN, and Barbara Leach, and father-in-law, the Reverend Gary Harley, who were an inspiration to me at all times. During the course of preparation for publication, I was honored by reviews from former senior serving and retired members of the Intelligence Community and Navy security service offices.
I appreciated the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations Special Security Office (SSO) which reviewed the manuscript to ensure there was no inadvertently revealed classified information. They were a great help and a constant reminder that all serving and former persons within the federal government, no matter who they are or their status or serving position, must abide by their nondisclosure agreements to ensure the classified information which they have knowledge of pertaining to their work is safeguarded; lack of knowledge, inattention to detail, or manifest stupidity are no excuse for revealing knowledge gained from a classified source, including e-mails. Lastly and most importantly, I am grateful to my dear wife, the Reverend Grace Harley-Leach, ThD, PhD, who supported me in military and civilian national security positions while ensuring what I wrote was biblically sound. Thank you all, and also thanks to the great teams I was honored to work with in the Pentagon and at NCIS.
Introduction
Ebenezer means stone of help. It represents the stone erected by the prophet Samuel to commemorate and be a reminder of the Lord Gods power and protection for his people against the Philistines who were Israels long-time mortal enemy. The United States has been an Ebenezer since its foundinga stone of help to a world in need. To be Ebenezer , the United States needs a foundational stone to lean against. That foundation must be the Lord of the Bible.
One of our greatest presidents, whom many would reason was our best for his time, Abraham Lincoln, was a man who fully understood what the national security requirements of the Union were, the times within which he lived, and had a right understanding of who God was within that Union. His 1858 House Divided speech spoke of a national conspiracy within the government to nationalize slavery, and fully divide the country. His speech began with if we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it. He went on to say that a house divided against itself cannot stand. I believe that Lincolns famous preamble asking the question of if we could first know where we are, and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do, and how to do it provides a good picture of where the United States is now regarding national security issues. The speech ended on the note that this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolvedI do not expect the house to fallbut I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing or all the other. The question Ebenezer seeks to ask is whether the Unites States twenty-first century national security construct is one which divides the country from God and biblical concepts and needs solid ground, and whether the policies Ebenezer discusses actually do support Americas national security in the best and most secure manner possible.
Within Ebenezer , each of the seven theses discussed are dividing points within the United States, and each affects its national security in one way or another. In their totality, they represent a significant wedge being driven into the very heart and soul of the Union dividing the governance and the people from that God who Thomas Jefferson said is the God who gave us life [and] gave us liberty at the same time and that he held it to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of HappinessThat to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed. He was representing the United States in France while the Constitutional Convention met in 17871788 and was therefore not physically present, but he was there in spirit as none of the declarations within his Great Work were refuted within the final version of the Constitution. The Constitution is replete with requirements upon the government where the national security of the Union is to be defended, the rights of the people are to be supported, and their ability to pursue happiness is unfettered. There are many arguments during our history regarding the religious affiliations of the Founders as to what they believed; Regenerated Christians, Catholics, deists, congregationalists, agnostics, a combination of more than one or no religion at all. Additionally, in the past century, the interpreting of their words meaning in the Constitution and the meaning derived from those words by the ratifying legislatures has been questioned by many learned persons in the courts, the government, the Liberal and Conservative media, and other pseudo-intellectual groups as described by former US House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
Discussions regarding religion, national security, the Constitution, and representation of the people are heard in the seven theses within Ebenezer and represent how history repeats itself through divisions within nations when the God who created mankind is left out. Significantly, during the past fifty years, the God who simultaneously gave us life and gave us liberty is being disregarded in the most important deliberations at the highest levels of government. National security policy discussions revolve around political considerations and short-term wins and losses which will garner the best media bias in favor of the policies promulgated and which might provide payback for past political favors and votes. The long-term ramification of those policies are not based upon biblical principles, unless the interpretation of the Bible fits what humanist politics deem appropriate for the times and in accordance with a living Constitution perspective.
The supreme test of the nations current national security construct is its success in ensuring the very security it is purported to undergird and its endurance over many years. A prime example of endurance is the longevity of a George W. Bush National Security Presidential Directive regarding nuclear weapons deterrence and security (chapter 5). No changes were promulgated in the subsequent eight years of the Obama administration, pointing out that good policy supports all the people and needs changing only when a national opponent has changed.
