The questions of “sin”, “guilt”, “salvation” and “relationship with one’s Creator” have the power to inspire men to superhuman feats of inspiration or make them devolve into unspeakable actions of subhuman barbarism.

Christianity has been blamed for most of those barbaric crimes but the real culprit has been Chaldean paganism.  Babylonian sun worship was the foundation of the pagan beliefs of the Roman empire but on the order of Emperor Theodosius I via his decree Cunctos populos in 380 AD, Christianity became the state religion of Rome.

The same entity that executed the Savior now hijacked His Name to metamorphose into a Beast that masqueraded as a lamb but spread terror like a dragon.

From the Crusades to the Inquisition, this Dragon began to paint the Cross on unspeakable crimes, not the least of which was to torture and murder Christians!

This Beast now rules the world in secret, commanding all of the banks, militaries, intelligence agencies, governments, news media and even the entertainment industry.

She appears unstoppable: impossible to combat on your own.

—but is she?

True Christianity has nothing to do with organized religion.

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old?  Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?”

Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.  That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.  Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes.  So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ~ John 3:3-8

“I Am the Way the Truth and the Life.  No man comes to the Father but through Me.” ~ John 14:6

It is a personal relationship with the God/man Jesus Christ which saves, which is the foundation for real Christian Faith.

Organized religion has not only destroyed this, it has been the vehicle through which the dumbing down and re-education of Followers of Christ has been almost completely successful.  Doctrines dreamed up by the Dragon now all but unanimously run the halls of today’s “Christian” churches.

Christians have been warned not to congregate in “sacred” or “holy” places because the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ has made them all obsolete.

Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?  If any man destroys the Temple of God, God will destroy him, for the Temple of God is holy, and that is what you are. ~ I Corinthians 3:16-17

In keeping with pagan practice, the most “holy” cathedrals are built upon cemeteries or may even have remains of the dead hidden or cemented into their halls.  Some are not even hidden.

Christians file in like sheep for the slaughter to be put to sleep by incompetents at best and wolves masquerading as shepherds at worst.  It’s as easy to turn your soul over to an “expert” as it is your body to a doctor but doing either without thinking or research can result in the death of both.

Doctors Are The Third Leading Cause of Death in the US, Killing 225,000 People Every Year ~ Joseph Mercola

Christians are oblivious to the dangers surrounding them because they check the box for an hour every Sunday and believe they have safeguarded the souls of themselves and their families but the reality is that they are being spoon-fed poison from the very Beast they were warned to stay away from; the Whore of Babylon—

I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as Heaven, and God has remembered her wicked deeds.  Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to what she has done; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her!  To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’  For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong!” ~ Revelation 18:4-8

From Preterism (Biblical prophecy is already fulfilled) to Futurism (Biblical prophecy has not yet been fulfilled), the “Pre-Tribulation Rapture” to Zionism and “Dispensationalism” (the doctrine that God is dealing separately with Christians and Jews), today’s supposed “Protestant” churches walk in lock-step, feeding their flocks disinformation fabricated by the Company of Loyola.

Anne Chamberlain of the Idaho Observer wrote a phenomenal column showing the twisted history of Dispensationalism and the Pre-Tribulation Rapture. Scofield’s involvement in “questionable financial transactions”⁵⁴⁸, jail time⁵⁴⁹ and abandonment of his Catholic wife and children⁵⁵⁰,⁵⁵¹ have been corroborated by the author. [italics suspended]

In 1767, a Chilean-born Catholic Priest, Manuel de Lacunza y Diaz came to Imola, Italy, when the Jesuits were expelled from Spain because of their brutality. There he claimed to be a converted Jew named Rabbi Juan Jushafat Ben-Ezra. Under that alias, he wrote a 900 page book titled, The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty. Lacunza theorized that the Church would be taken to be with the Lord to escape the reign of Antichrist in the last 3-1/2 years of the age, some 45 days before Jesus’ final return to Earth. During that 45 days (while the Church was in heaven), God would pour out His wrath upon the wicked remaining on Earth.

In 1828, “Glory and Majesty” was translated into English by a radical cultist London preacher named Edward Irving. Lacunza’s views could have died there, for most in England saw Irving as a heretic.

At the same time Margaret MacDonald from Port Glasgow, Scotland, claimed she received divine revelations from God about a rapture. According to MacPherson, Miss Margaret had occultic ties, including a friendship with a girl who was into psychic powers and automatic writing. She sent her vision in a letter to Irving and, shortly thereafter, her revelation showed up in print. In September, 1830, The Morning Watch, a periodical put out by Irving’s church, published, “Commentary on the Epistles to the Seven Churches in the Apocalypse.”⁽¹⁾ …

About the same time as Margaret Macdonald’s vision, John Nelson Darby was playing with the dispensationalist idea of dividing history into ages or “dispensations.” Many prophecy teachers of today credit John Darby with the origin of these teachings because he was a well-educated man who authored many books. In fact, Darby went to see Margaret and her family shortly after she gained notoriety for her vision, and in later years, claimed them as his own. …

On at least one occasion Darby went to Saint Louis and met with Presbyterian minister James H. Brookes (1830-1897), Scofield’s mentor and a key leader in the Niagara Bible Conferences. The conferences were held annually from 1876 to 1897, initially in different resort locations around the U.S. and, as of 1883 at Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario—the Queen’s Royal Hotel. It was there that the fundamentalist movement was born and solidified. It then began to shape the Christian landscape in the United States and laid the foundation for “Premillennialism,” the foundation for Christian Zionists. …

At the outbreak of the American Civil War, Cyrus I. Scofield (1843-1921), a Michigan native, lied about his age in order to enlist in the Confederate Army in 1861, where he served in the 7th Tennessee infantry for a year.

In 1866 he married a Roman Catholic girl named Leontine Cerre. They had two girls, Abigail and Helene.

According to sweetliberty.org⁽³⁾, as a young con-artist in Kansas after the Civil War, Scofield met up with John J. Ingalls, an aging Jewish lawyer/senator. Pulling strings both in Kansas and with his compatriots back east, Ingalls assisted Scofield in gaining admission to the Bar and procured his appointment as the federal attorney for Kansas. Scofield committed perjury when he took his oath, stating that he had never voluntarily borne arms against the United States. He was forced to resign after six months because of questionable financial transactions.

By 1877, Scofield was making a living on swindles and schemes and writing bogus checks. Ingalls and Scofield became partners in a railroad scam which led to Scofield serving time for criminal forgery.

In 1879, while he was in prison, a group of Christian women who had a jail ministry witnessed to Scofield and he made a profession of faith in Christ. He then began to study the writings of John Darby and embraced Darby’s theology about the rapture and the need for Jews to resettle the land of Israel…

In 1877, Scofield had deserted his first wife and his two daughters and left them destitute. According Wikipedia, this was “perhaps because of alcoholism,” but Joseph Canfield⁽³⁾ asserts: “The very sudden quashing of the criminal charges without proper adjudication suggests that Scofield’s career was in the hands of someone who had clout never available to either Ingalls, Pomeroy, or anyone of the Choteau Clan. But, the career was to be of such a nature that Leontine, the Catholic wife, had to go.”

Scofield then took as his mistress a young girl from the St. Louis Flower Mission. He later abandoned her for Hettie Hall von Wartz whom he married in 1884. Leontine filed for divorce in 1881, finalized in 1883, listing “abandonment” as a reason. ~ Anne Wilder Chamberlain, the Idaho Observer⁵⁵²

Scofield craftily changed the Islamic invader of Israel—Magog (Ezekiel 38 & 39)—into Russia. Although the Scythians, identified by Josephus as their descendents, eventually migrated to Ukraine and the Steppes of Russias this was only one stop in their historical heritage and they now live everywhere in the world. Their original home, however, is modern Turkey.⁵⁵³,⁵⁵⁴

Jesuit priest Manuel Lacunza, a.k.a. “Juan Josafat Ben-Ezra” was, indeed, a principle theologian behind changing Protestant perceptions of the End Times and pulling Rome out of the spotlight and pushing Israel into it. ~ Illuminati Unmasked ¹

Preterism and Futurism are no different.

With Rome so clearly depicted as the 4th and final Beast of both Daniel and Revelation, Jesuits needed to disconnect Christians from that interpretation and they used Preterism and Futurism to do it.

Preterism is the idea that most of prophecy has already taken place.  It was concocted by a Jesuit.

Preterism was first advanced in 1604 by Jesuit Luis de Alcasar to destroy the Reformed Protestant teaching that the papacy was Mystery Babylon, the Great Whore and the historical Antichrist.

~ Illuminati Unmasked ²

Futurism is more appealing in that it acknowledges that much of prophecy is yet future but it distracts from the 4th Beast and paints the anti-Christ as a man who suddenly appears just before the Tribulation and who stands alone, apart from any organization or system.

It, too, was fabricated by a Jesuit.

Francisco Ribera (1537-1591) of Salamanca, Spain, published a 500 page commentary on the grand points of Babylon and Antichrist, the object being to set aside the Protestant teaching that the Papacy is the Antichrist. In his commentary, he assigned the first chapters of Revelation to the first century.  The rest he restricted to a literal three and a half years a the end of time.  He taught that the Jewish temple would be rebuilt by a single individual antichrist who would abolish the Christian religion, deny Christ, pretend to be God, and conquer the world.⁸

According to Schaff:

The events of the Apocolypse from ch. 4 to the close lie beyond the second advent of Christ. … [he was joined by] Lacunza … another Jesuit, who wrote under the name of Ben-Ezra “On the coming of the Messiah in glory and majesty,” and taught premillennial advent…

Ribera’s commentary laid the foundation for the greta structure of Futurism, which would be built upon and expanded by those who followed.  Ribera’s teaching was further popularized by Robert Bellarmine (1544-0621), an Italian cardinal and the most renowned of all Jesuit controversialists.¹⁰

After accepting the Jesuits’ Futurist System (and the Preterist System…) millenarian Protestants no longer saw Rome as a present but only a distant future threat.¹¹  We should also mention Irving’s system saw no hope of victory over the present forces of evil except “by the brightness of his coming” in the second advent. With no hope, why try to conquer all things for Christ? ~ Death of the Church Victorious, Ovid Need⁵⁵⁷

~ Illuminati Unmasked ³

THE SOLUTION

Centralization is the key to all satanic agendas.  It was attempted at the Tower of Babel but foiled by the confusing of tongues.

As long as Jesus Christ is not asserting His dominance over His Creation, decentralization is necessary; this includes the need for nations to be separate and for states, municipalities and communities to be separate.  It’s also why America has become a tyranny governed by a very small number of people.  All roads in America lead to Washington DC and Washington DC gets her marching orders from Rome.

As the final assertion of the Dragon’s authority, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, Rome’s first Jesuit White Pope, addressed the American people from the Capitol Rotunda in late September of 2015.  He stood between two fascii.

Immediately behind Bergoglio were Jesuit-recognized via honorary degree, devout Catholic Joe Biden (“Democrat” leader of the Senate) and Jesuit-trained at Xavier, devout Catholic John Boehner (“Republican” leader of the House).  Behind them were two more fascii—a battle axe surrounded by a bundle of rods which symbolizes “rule of one”: Roman Fascism.  The fascii are wrapped in laurel; the ancient Roman symbol for victory by the sword.

Before Rome demanded that her pagans become Christians, she was viciously persecuting followers of The Way.

Christians were gathering in homes with friends and family, teaching each other the Scriptures and fellowshipping in love.

We must return to this ideal if we are to be free…and we must learn this lesson fast as total oppression looms on our horizon.

HOW TO

Start by gathering friends and family on a day and time of your choosing.

Be unorthodox in how you make your selection so that you can maximize participation of anyone interested.

Traditionally, the Faithful have gathered on the Sabbath, but which day should that be?

Our beloved brethren in the Seventh Day Adventist movement are the sole remaining Protestants, diligently teaching the dangers of Rome, the Jesuits and their doctrines.

They are, however, needlessly legalistic and some are quite fanatical about a Saturday Sabbath.  Such legalism is unbiblical—

One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike.  Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind.  He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God.  For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.  For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.

But you, why do you judge your brother?  Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt?  For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. ~ Romans 14:5-10

What is important is that all you do, especially if observing a Sabbath, you do to enrich your relationship with Jesus Christ.  There is no other purpose in any Christian activity for Christ is the substance of all we do—

Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day⁴—things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. ~ Colossians 2:16-17

Share responsibility for teaching and encourage those who aren’t comfortable to teach anyway.  There is no better way to learn the Scriptures then when you must teach them.

Also, by sharing the teaching responsibility, new people can bring new perspectives based upon where their passions and current focuses lie.

Make sure you include worship.  It’s as easy as pulling up songs on the computer complete with lyrics for everyone to sing to.  Many can be found as videos on the internet.

Perhaps most importantly is fellowship and encouragement.  There will be debates but never let them turn into arguments.  Only when someone questions a foundational tenet of Salvation should they be confronted.  All other concerns can be ended with “Let’s agree to disagree.”

As an Italian, I’d like to recommend what early Believers did: share food and drink!  Nothing breaks the ice like breaking bread.

If you get so big that you’re bothering neighbors it’s time to break up into smaller groups.  Christian persecution in the West will be here soon enough without rabble rousers mislabeling news to maximize anger and paranoia.  Very often, stories about governments shutting down Bible studies are nothing more than Christians being ignorant with gatherings that have grown to become a public nuisance.

Trust me, when persecution comes, you won’t want everyone in town knowing what you’re up to.

In the meantime, fight the Machine: stay at home.  Study, worship and fellowship free from the chains of the Dragon the way Christ intended…and be responsible for your own soul!

I was so distracted by the heat and bustle of rushing through to get my lunch and get out of the “Dining Facility” that the voice directed at me took me by surprise.

I turned to see a young black soldier with clear, intuitive eyes and a warm smile confronting me. He was wearing his “PT” uniform so I had no name tape to reference. I swear I never saw him before!

He must’ve sensed my lack of recognition because he quickly offered, “We met in Kuwait, sir.”

Still nothing, but I was already smiling at his friendly nature, “Of course. How the heck are you?”

“I’m doing well, sir. I’m IRR—” [“Individual Ready Reserve”, these poor kids were already done with the military but still had a couple of years in their contract from which to get yanked out of their civilian comfort for “needs of the Army”] “—and we’ve got about 2 months left. How about you, sir?”

“I’m a puppet on a string,” I said, somewhat exasperated. “I’ve been through 5 jobs and as many living arrangements. While I was down at Liberty, I got attached to a mascot there and my wife and I put a lot of effort into having an NGO charity called ‘Baghdad Pups’—”

“—Yes sir. You told me about them.”

Hmm. Don’t remember that, either. Damn I’m getting old.

I smiled. “She’s flying home as we speak…”

_____________

If I were to ask you, what is the next Bible verse after, “And God saw that it was not good for man to be alone,”? Would you say that it was when He created Eve? If so, you would be wrong.

Did you know that it says in the Book of Genesis that, after God created man and noticed that man needed companionship, He made the animal kingdom?

And then bonded them to Adam by bringing each animal before him so that Adam could name them.

Only then did God decide to take Adam’s companionship to the next level by making him a companion that was truly “bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh”.

So was the animal kingdom a failure? Far from it! Each animal served a vital role in the emotional development of Adam. After all, they pleased God when He created them.

If you lingered long in your Bible, you might also come across a passage that tells you the Essence of His Nature is love, and He wants you to share it.

Not “love” the way Hollywood wants you to believe, but love the way the Cross shows us. It’s a love of pain and sacrifice. It is most certainly not just a “nice feeling”. It is a conscious decision to give to and for the object of your love. Feelings come and go. “Commitment” is a choice.

Another important part of True Love? —Responsibility.

Responsibility is what drives the sacrifice (none of this , by the way, is part of human nature…it’s all learned).

If you’re a classic movie buff like me, you might recall a film called The Magnificent Seven starring Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn and James Coburn. If you haven’t seen it, you need to.

6 guns-for-hire (and one young local wanna-be) go down to a Mexican border town in an effort to help them ward off a band of brigands that regularly rob them.

There is a scene where Bronson’s character is spending time with 3 Mexican boys, discussing the realities of life as a poor rural farmer verses the glamour of being a gun-fighter. The dialogue is some of the best of any movie;

Boy: Our fathers are cowards.

[Bronson takes the boy over his knee and spanks him.]

Bronson as “Bernardo O’Reilly”: Don’t ever say that again about your fathers. They are not cowards! You think I am brave because I carry a gun? Your fathers are much braver because they carry responsibility. For you, your brothers, your sisters and your mothers. This responsibility is like a big rock that weighs a ton. It bends and it twists them until finally it buries them into the ground. Nobody says they have to do it. They do it because they love you and because they want to. I have never had this kind of courage. Running a farm, working like a mule, with no guarantee what will become of it – this is bravery. That’s why I never even started anything like that. That’s why I never will.

* * *

Responsibility can do crazy things to you. It can make you leave loved ones behind…

Or refuse to.

__________________

It was around 2 in the morning.

I was drained and depressed. Yet another obnoxious ride-along mission had just ended for me. Sitting in an “MRAP” (basically an armored truck), supposedly learning the fine art of running “DCLiPs” (“Deliberate Combat Logistic Patrol”—as opposed to the “Ambiguous Combat Logistics Patrol”).

The only problem was, I—like all other passengers—always sat in the rear of the vehicle (instead of the vehicle commander’s seat where I could actually learn something), looking out on the desolate, dark Iraqi countryside, bored, uncomfortable and wondering why I was there.

I walked in to the TOC (“Tactical Operations Center”) and walked out of the TOC. Screw the briefings. Screw the paperwork. I’m done for the night…morning…whatever.

As I walked across the deck outside the TOC and towards the opening in the wall that surrounded the building, I made out in the dark, sitting on the gravel, a small brown ball of fur. It wasn’t moving or scurrying off. It just sat there.

Then I realized it was a cat and it was looking at me. Such a tame animal was unusual, even for the “FOB” (“Forward Operating Base”). I had heard about the company mascot. I had heard that it was a cat that had a scarred-up face. But, at that point, I didn’t care. I was so drained, I was so homesick, I was so terribly missing my own wonderful pets that I stopped, stooped over and tried to pick her up.

She was completely content.

I walked her back to my room and she immediately made herself at home.

Of course there was no way for me to try to keep her the way I was accustomed to keeping cats; completely indoors, completely isolated from the dangers and insecurities of outside.

I got her some water and some jerky and tried to unwind for 2 or 3 hours of sleep before my next mission with a different company.

Before I went to sleep, I realized she was curled up next to me on the bed.

The next morning I knew I had to let her out, and, with some sadness, I did.

But as the days and missions continued, I was sorry that I hadn’t tried harder to hang on to her. Maybe I could get something that would qualify as litter. Maybe she would take to it. It really bothered me that such a sweet-natured cat was out loose. For every soldier that went out of their way to show compassion to her, there almost certainly was one who kicked at her or threw something at her. I had never seen it (which wouldn’t have been good for that soldier’s health or my career), but I had heard it was being done. There had to have been other animal threats as well. I didn’t even want to think about the terrible injury to her face.

There had to have been hungry nights.

If there’s one issue that always gets the best of me, it’s that I can’t turn my back on a dependant animal. My poor wife can attest to that…as can any of our 4 dogs or our 5 cats.

But I couldn’t find her.

The Will of God. It’s a lot better that way. Maybe I could forget about her. Maybe I could go to sleep each night and distract myself with hoping her dependence and vulnerability wasn’t going to undo her.

And then the roof caved in…again. I would be changing jobs…again. Moving…again. Leaving FOB Liberty and going to a different FOB…again. What in the name of all that’s holy ever made me leave the assh-les in active duty to get yanked around by the assh-les in the National Guard?!

There had to be a way to get word to the bastard in charge that I had missions to run, that moving me again was neither good for the battalion, the company or me, personally. I had to find a way to tell him because the arrogant ass never bothered to ask me.

I tried sending e-mails. I tried talking to company-level personnel. Nothing was working. How could it possibly be God’s Will to constantly uproot me and keep me in a perpetual state of depression and instability?

It was time to get out the big guns; it was time to go to the battalion commander.

So I made my way to the BN TOC, slowly treading through the obnoxious, sinking gravel as I walked.

I rounded a row of Strykers to the opening in the wall before the TOC door, and sitting on the waist-high wall, was my buddy. She was just chilling on the wall, right by the opening, as if someone had put her there.

I looked at her, looked at the BN TOC door, gently picked her up and walked away.

Now what did I get in to?! There was no way that it was God’s Will to get me further attached to Camp Liberty, only to make me leave and to keep me depressed and unstable. I was going to make a breakthrough, stay at Liberty and, somehow, take this cat back home with me.

Days went by. I got better and better at taking care of the fur ball, keeping her indoors and keeping her happy. At first I gave her a box with dirt in it to go to the bathroom and she did! Then, I was inspired; in asking around for help I came upon the idea of grabbing some “dry-sweep” from the mechanics. It was clay-based just like litter and should absorb her refuse very well. It even looked like liter. I borrowed the company SUV and almost gave up on it before coming across some guys from a completely different Division who hooked me up.

I was so pleased that it was all coming together…until I was given a fly-out date of 7 days.

Was God trying to purposely rip my heart out? Why was He doing this to me? This trial seemed tailor made to be the most painful thing I could experience; being forced to leave a dependant animal to the cruelty of the unknown.

It’s an unknown that is especially cruel in Iraq.

I frantically scrambled for help. The battalion chaplain was sympathetic, but the Army had very strict regulations against keeping pets. He said he couldn’t do the wrong thing and keep her for me.

Wow. That was upsetting. I was hoping for more from him, even if there were regulations in the way. I explained to him that love was something worth taking negative consequences for. He didn’t seem swayed.

Time was running out and my depression was in danger of turning to despair and making me useless as a soldier. I can’t explain why I became fixated on rescuing that cat, or why I equated success or failure as reflecting upon me as a person. I just did.

Maybe there was a soldier who could take her in for me while my wife and I tried to get her out. There were only a few in the TOC that I could trust.

It was a short list and, after the first 2 strikes I was about to lose it.

And then I ran into a female E5 who knew the cat very well, and offered to take care of her, herself. We just had to convince her excessively obnoxious, callous, priss room-mate that doing me this illegal favor was going to be temporary and not a big deal at all.

In the mean time, my wonderful wife was able to connect with our charity. They were up for the pick-up. All I had to do was wait…a month.

And pay a thousand dollars.

Was this “love” or lunacy?

I looked at the animal curled up in my room, with her scarred little face, and wrote the e-mail to my wife without a second thought, “Pay it.”

But the E5’s room-mate was another story. I turned everything over to them both; all the food I had for her, all the dry-sweep and even some boot lace toys. But I left them with a sinking feeling in my heart. How could they possibly last a month?!

To add to my angst, my week turned in to mere hours as my “flight” out became a Stryker convoy. No time left. I grabbed my things and endured the obnoxious, cloistered voyage.

As the month at the new FOB wore on, it was hard not to obsess. I didn’t have her in my room, I should’ve been able to shrug off any failures.

But I still couldn’t stop thinking about her plight and praying for an against-the-odds rescue.

How could it happen when I left her at another location in Iraq, with people who couldn’t possibly care as much as I did? How could it all come together when everyone had wartime jobs to do but needed to make a momentary connection with our charity? How could we get the cat to Baghdad International? No one on the coalition side moved anywhere without a convoy. How the hell could I get a convoy for an illegal pet? The post vet was an excessive dick when I asked him if he could help me get the cat her shots—thanks to Army regulations.

Basically, the assh-les who wrote the regs expected soldiers to be oblivious towards the thousands of pitiful animals all over Iraq. F—k them. F—k all bureaucrats. F—k all politicians. F—k all officers.

Then, I found out that the E5’s room-mate destroyed the arrangement I had made, and my cat was back to roaming loose around the FOB.

Well…I guess that was it. My failure was complete.

There was no way this was going to work. The date for the pick-up was going to pass and I was going to obsess over my loss. It was going to be a long, torturous deployment.

And the “good news” didn’t stop coming in. I found out from some Joes who knew my E5 that she had crawled up underneath the TOC where no one could get to her and had a litter of kittens. But that the noise stopped and it was feared none of the kittens survived. My wife had kept it from me in our e-mail traffic but, oddly, I found out anyway.

To anyone else, this was just one of those things.

I was dying inside. If there was ever an animal that needed to be rescued, and guaranteed a better life, she was it.

There was no way it could come together.

A little too little and a lot too late, I found out that our charity was going to help us with the transportation and hire a security team. Maybe, just maybe, if we could make the link-up, we could get her out.

So we set a date and hoped that our connection could somehow find the cat and keep her long enough to get picked up.

And then I found out that my E5 was being hounded by an investigation that alleged she had committed adultery. My sense was, she was a good person who was being framed. But of all the frigging people to have this happen to. Why her? Why now? Could this get any worse?

Suddenly, we were 48 hours out. The time had gone more quickly than I expected. Insomnia was beating me down. It was going to take a miracle. She could be anywhere roaming the FOB and it wasn’t me looking for her.

And then my wife got a-hold of the E5.

24 hours out.

And then the E5 found her. She found her. Was it possible? How would she be able to keep her until the rendezvous?

Then the chaplain suddenly stepped forward; they would put her in a box and he would hang on to her for the final few hours.

E-mails.

Phone calls (with a near-useless Iraqi cell phone).

Text messages.

Chaplain. Charity. Cohort. Companion.

Rendezvous’ time tweaked.

Chaplain standing by.

They have her. Wait. She’s still there. What’s going on?

My E5 shows up. I call on the gov’t phone. The security team is there. Where’s the paperwork? F—K THE PAPERWORK. TAKE THE CAT. You’ll get the paperwork at the airport.

They got her.

They got her.

Did it really happen?

Still another 2 link-ups to go.

Would she survive the confinement and the long, 2-layover trip?

Link up with our charity!

Plan with the wife a five hour drive to Washington D.C.

Tell the wife how special she is.

Washington D.C. Reagan International. How poetic.

Will the last link-up actually happen?

I don’t believe in “fate”. I’m a religious guy. I think that God is out there…and watching…and intervening.

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Compassion is what sets us apart as Americans. Sacrificial love—love that can’t eat or sleep until they know their loved one lacks for nothing—is the mark of the morally mature.

In spite of all the negative crap the Left throws out about how we have no business being in Iraq, examples of this kind of deep, selfless love are being communicated to Iraqis—as foreign and astounding as it is to them—and making a difference.

As I wound my way through the crowded D-FAC, I looked for the door to get back out into the hot Iraqi day. By the door was a female soldier at work, who knew me. Working for the support battalion that owned the D-FAC, she knew I would stop and talk to her as I do everyone that works there.

“What are you smiling about, sir? That’s not like you.”

Sorry. I hate Iraq.

“That cat I told you about?” I said.

“Yes,” she responded.

“My wife’s driving as we speak to meet her at the airport.”

She brightened, “That’s great sir! What are you calling her?”

I looked at her and paused. An emotional smile played across my lips as I said…

“Liberty.”