“Foreign influence is truly the Grecian horse to a republic. We cannot be too careful to exclude its influence.” – Alexander Hamilton (1793)
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First Principles: Foreign Influence Is Truly the Grecian Horse To A Republic. We Cannot Be Too Careful To Exclude Its Influence
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Alexander Hamilton, Careful, Exclude, First Principles, Foreign Influence, Grecian Horse, Influence, Republic, True
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Thought For the Day: Reason Often Makes Mistakes, But Conscience Never Does
“Reason often makes mistakes, but conscience never does”. -Josh Billings, columnist and humorist (21 Apr 1818-1885)
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Tagged Conscience, Josh Billings, Mistake, Never, Often, Reason, Thought For the Day
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To Keep A Godly Heart
To Keep A Godly Heart
by Michael Doyle
On most days, I set God-sized goals
Doing my best to grow my stubborn soul
Living large to fill envisioned shoes
All my prayers have surely paid their dues
I know my sins nailed Jesus to the cross
Who knew it would bring victory and not loss?
Leafing through the Bible changed my point of view
Now, I live and try to be godly in all I do
In the spirit, I have lived and learned
Finding much to understand and discern
This is my vision like the burning of a fire
It has inspired me in all I now aspire
Shattered dreams and broken places
And still our Lord, my soul embraces
As a son of thunder, I do my very best
Certain of my footing, I'll pass the test
Transfiguration showed what could be done
When you have the faith to follow the Son
I won't turn my back, but will always remain
To love forever, despite my soul's stain
We each have our journey, and I have mine
The heartbeat of Jesus signals the divine
Listen closely, and we'll find eternity
The heart of God means everything to me
He made me His surfer to ride the waves
That is the service that I'll give until my grave
With every breath, I endure to defeat death
And I stand just as firm with every moment left
Aligning my soul with Jesus, I'll live life right
To take on the Devil in every moment of the good fight
I hold to faith as my greatest guiding light
Pushing on through the dark of the darkest night
If there is some price yet still to pay
I'll gladly pay it to help in showing the way
I'll give my wall to answer your call
And to raise up God to help restore man's fall
The screaming heard in all those broken places
For the love of God as my life embraces
I walk by the spirit, each step that I take
This has its purpose, and isn't by mistake
As God pulls me back by the strings of my heart
Evan as Patmos is the place I find I must start
Most see the horror in God's coming desolation
But in the darkest hours, I serve at my station
Pushed by the screaming whisper echoing in my ear
Urging myself and all others to somehow persevere
Wherever we are, by God and fate, truly meant to be
Knowing and living up to this truth will set us free
One day, I'll see the streets paved with gold
As sure as my faith is solid, it is foretold
Living each moment close beside God and then
I know my salvation comes from knowing my sins
I close my eyes and find my rest
As faithfully, I've lived my best
My brokenness given to God's salvation
With no doubt on my final destination
No pain or struggle is too much to take
I bare this patiently for heaven's sake
Worked forward forever for God's holy good
This is the life I've lived and understood
All my steps have taken me to this place
And my blessed forgiveness, I'll embrace
I am still a mess, yet I am forgiven
This is the repentance that all Christians are living
This lost surfer quietly joined the family
To become one with the Christian community
I am but a work in progress and yet find my rest
In this confession, I'll pass the test
(c) April 21, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Aspire, Bible, Christianity, Cross, Dsicern, Dues, Embrace, Faith, Footing, God, Godly Heart, In the Spirit, Jesus, Keep, Poetry and Poems, Prayers, Sins, Son of Thunder, Stubborn Soul, Surfer, The Bible, Victory, Vision
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Thought For the Day: The Key To A Successful Life Is To Find Your Passion and Pursue It With Dedication
“The key to a successful life is to find your passion and pursue it with dedication.” – Peter Frampton
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Tagged Dedication, Find, Key, Life, Passion, Peter Frampton, Pursue, Success, Thought For the Day
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First Principles: This Calls For Patient Endurance On the Part of the People of God Who Keep His Commands and Remain Faithful To Jesus
“This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus.” – Revelation 14:12
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Call, Commands, Endurance, Faithul, First Principles, Jesus, Patient, People of God, Revelation 14:12
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First Principles: Be Courteous To All, But Intimate With Few, and Let Those Few Be Well Tried Before You Give Them Your Confidence
“Be courteous to all, but intimate with few, and let those few be well tried before you give them your confidence — true friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation.” – George Washington
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Tagged Adversity, All, Appellation, Confidence, Courteous, Entitle, Few, First Principles, George Washington, Intimate, Plant, Shocks, Slow Growth, True Friendship, Well Tried, Withstand
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Messages Needed
Messages Needed
by Michael Doyle
There is something unsaid gone unheeded
In all the messages truly needed
Messages to and from so many strangers
Who are embroiled in all their anger
What happened to peace, love, and understanding
I know I'm no longer hip, and not to be demanding
But I've seldom heard of things getting better
When two or more sides forget we're in this together
When we can say nothing or speak when we can
In the secret alphabet from the tongue of a shaman
There he was on center stage lost in being all the rage
Until he slipped into unconsciousness and turned the page
The summer of love passed us by in the heat of fire
As we got lost in the fight and forgot what inspired
Us to seek and work toward something more than vanity
Whatever happened to the quest for a new humanity?
In a world of the ugly, we could use more beauty
I am talking about you and me living out our duty
Casting aside the disillusions of this lost generation
And holding something better to the light of veneration
Tired of singing about love and peace and want to live it
A look in this mirror tells me then that I have to give it
It's time to cross my heart and start to truly live
Looking around at everything that the world can truly give
The thing about living in the past is it's loaded with the dead
I can't shake the memory of mistakes by living in my head
It just keeps me shuffling heels to the brokenness around
When what I need is to live with my feet flat on the ground
(c) April 20, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Anger, Around, Beauty, Brokenness, Center Stage, Cross My Heart, Dead, Demanding, Disilluion, Duty, Embroil, Feet, Fight, Fire, Flat, Getting Better, Give It, Ground, Heed, Hip, In This Together, Inspired, Light, Live It, Living In the Past, Load, Looking Around, Lost Generation, Love, Love and Peace, Messages Needed, Mirror, New Humanity, Page, Peace, Poetry and Poems, Quest, Rage, Say Nothing, Secret Alphabet, Seldom Heard, Shaman, Shuffling Heels, Sign, Speak, Strangers, Summer of Love, Talk, Tongue, Truly Give, Truly Live, Unconscioiusness, Understanding, Unsaid, Vanity, Veneration, Work, World of the Ugly
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Thought For the Day: You Must Protest. It Is Your Diamond Duty. Ah But In Such An Ugly Time, the True Protest Is Beauty
“You must protest / It is your diamond duty / Ah but in such an ugly time / The true protest is beauty.”-Phil Ochs, folksinger (19 Dec 1940-1976)
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Tagged Beauty, Diamond Duty, Phil Ochs, Protest, Thought For the Day, True Protest, Ugly Time
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Standing At the Brink
Standing At the Brink
by Michael Doyle
This age of prevailing ill-liberalism
Breeds little but despair and pessimism
There's a breakdown in our society
That has brought us into a time of anxiety
Once beautiful cities have turned into blight
It seems we are falling into our darkest night
Our pharmaceutically paid for addictions
Only serve to feed our electronic distractions
While the future is saddled with yesterday's debt
Poor economic decisions have bled and wept
This nation is divided by oligarchy and mob rule
Ponzi schemes of student loans riddle our schools
Whatever happened to the common good?
What is it that we've misunderstood?
True progress no longer seems the priority
As we slip and edge toward civil war or tyranny
We've lost our way from progressive empathy
It's not led to the birth of a new humanity
The elite see the people as a threat to democracy
Preferring instead their own sense of eco-theology
At every turn, the liberal attempt at a solution
Has added up to naught but contemptible pollution
All of which has added to worsen the divide
And resulted in the people seeking to decide
What it is that will be then be next
As the historical inevitability moves and connects
In a plumbing project of recovery and recreation
It will overturn the relied-on constitution
Changes seem destined for history's dustbin
As our leaders fail again and yet again
And ordinary people seek order and stability
We desperately hope for our nation's continuity
(c) April 19, 2024 Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved
Posted in Poetry and Poems
Tagged Addiction, Age, Anxiety, Beautiful Cities, Birth, Blight, Breakdown, Breed, Brink, Changes, Civil War, Common Good, Connect, Constitutino, Continuity, Darkest Night, Decide, Democracy, Despair, Destined, Divide, Dustbin, Eco-Theology, Economic Deicsions, Edge, Electronic Distraction, Elite, Fail, Future, Historical Inevitability, History, Hope, Ill-Liberalism, Leaders, Lost, Misunderstood, Mob Rule, Nation, New Humanity, Next, Oligarchy, Order and Stability, Ordinary People, Overturn, Pessimism, Pharmaceutical, Plumbing Project, Poetry and Poems, Pollution, Ponzi Schemes, Poor, Prevail, Priority, Progressive Empathy, Recovery, Recreation, Result, Riddle, Schools, Society, Solution, Stand, Student Loans, The People, Threat, Time, True Progress, Tyranny, Wept, Yesterday's Debt
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First Principles: Far From Being Rivals Or Enemies Religion and Law Are Twin Sisters, Friends, and of Mutual Assistance
“Human law must rest its authority ultimately upon the authority of that law which is divine. Far from being rivals or enemies religion and law are twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistance. Indeed, these two sciences run into each other.‘ – James Wilson, in The Works of the Honourable James Wilson (Philadelphia: Bronson and Chauncey, 1804), Vol. I, pp. 106 & 103-105.
Posted in First Principles
Tagged Authority, Divine, Enemies, First Principles, Friends, Human Law, James Wilson, Law, Mutual Assistance, Religion, Rivals, Twin Sisters, Two Sciences
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ALOHA PROMISES FOREVER 