Meet The Standard, Not Your Opinion

“Let’s go around the pattern and do that maneuver again, Sir. Remember, the standard is to land the aircraft +/- ten degrees of runway heading.”

I grew used to statements like this while flying the U.S. Army’s Blackhawk helicopter for over twenty years. Even after flying that long, I would have to repeat a maneuver to get it right if I failed to meet the standard. There are many tasks a pilot must perform on every flight to operate safely. During training and evaluation, we diagnose and react to simulated emergencies, assess aircraft performance in given environments with certain payload weights, land on slopes and peaks, and many other critical things that, if approached incorrectly, could result in an accident or determine the difference between life and death. Performing to the standard mattered because the aircraft, conditions, and mission required it. Lives depended on it.

It is a lesson that most politicians and bureaucrats should learn: that performing to the standard is what matters. The Constitution of the United States is the standard, but it seems profiteering, self-empowerment, control, or destruction of life is often the true goal. In aviation, failure to adhere to necessary standards often leads to bad results, and the same is true in politics and culture. Failure to adhere to strict facts of science led some to adopt the idea that there are multiple genders and that we have a choice in the matter. This lie led to programming youth in schools to believe these lies and to the evil desires of too many to conduct unnecessary sex change surgeries and drugging of children. This is no different than the medical experimentation conducted in Germany during the 1930s and 40s. It started by ignoring the standard of truth, and the results are easy to see.

The Constitution’s Bill of Rights is a document outlining non-negotiable standards all politicians are sworn to uphold. Amendment IV of the Bill of Rights states:

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

This amendment was cast aside when the U.S. Congress voted to pass the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA). As a result, they extended the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) section 702, a surveillance program that requires the government to direct surveillance efforts at people outside the United States. However, it routinely targets Americans because overseas calls are subject to warrantless monitoring. If you call internationally, you can be monitored despite committing no crime. The excuse given is that Section 702 is needed to allow the government to target any foreigner abroad for warrantless surveillance, obtain foreign intelligence information, and “protect America.” Much like the Patriot Act turned into a means to target patriots, Section 702 is used against Americans while terrorists flood the country across the unchecked Southern border.

The corrupt politicians who supported the act lined up to praise themselves, disregarding that they violated their oath of office by their “yes” vote. Though their oath demands they protect and defend the Constitution, they circled the wagons instead and chose to protect the hive of villainy and deceit that is Washington, D.C. They ignored the standard by which they were to govern.

Where will this disregard for the Constitution lead? Each time the standard is ignored, our God-guaranteed liberties slide more rapidly down the slippery slope into the ash heap of history. Each time, the nation changes a little more to the negative. The uni party establishment in Washington, D.C., and multiple sycophants across state governments make the conscious decision each day to demonstrate how their integrity, if ever present in the first place, is now gone.

I witnessed this when members of the Montana legislature voted against the Defend the Guard Act. A simple bill that stated that no members of Montana’s National Guard could deploy to an undeclared overseas war. Each negative vote was a demonstration by a politician that the Constitutional standard did not apply, only their personal desires or opinions. Ignoring the Constitution’s clear standards, in this case, leads to Presidents using the military as a personal weapon and walking America into perpetual wars of no strategic value. This is how ancient Rome operated under the Caesars, not the United States.

A big part of the problem is that the church in America is also ignoring the standard of truth and adopting the ways of the world. Churches adopt the LGBTQ lies or teach that we are simply creatures evolved over millions of years instead of beautiful creations of God. In doing so, they disregard the standard of truth and adopt the world’s falsehoods. There are more subtle lies in the church that are also dangerous. One is that we are all pre-selected by God for salvation and have no free will, and another is that if we are obedient to God, we will be healthy and wealthy, and if we are not, then it is because of sin or something else unresolved in our lives. The Biblical standard does not allow for any of these teachings. It is truly a slippery slope leading to increasingly ridiculous lies.

Dangerous things happen when we fail to follow long-established standards for governing our Republic. The same is even more true when we neglect Biblical truth. The standards are clear; we must demand politicians uphold their oaths and pastors preach the truth. All politicians who fail must be held accountable by We the People, as we are the ones who rule this country. Pastors must be held accountable by the church, for they will be held accountable for what they teach. James chapter three is clear about that. “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.”

Let us always aim to meet the standard, for even its pursuit is worth it.