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Nov. 6, 2023
Lets Honor Our Veterans (252)
Today I want to address how our veterans feel about their service to their country. Why do veterans seem to be quiet about their experiences in a combat zone? Is Post Traumatic Stress Disorder an Issue with All Veterans? How can we help our Veterans?
Cover of my book shown: Vietnam - A Young Man's Journey By David C Friend
Information on books and podcasts: davidcfriendauthor.com
listen to more podcasts: davidcfriendauthor.com
To subscribe to podcasts: cpnshows.com
Transcript
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I want to welcome you to the Quality Christian Living Podcast.
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I am your host, David Friend. We've been in a series dealing with success,
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prospering, and abundant living, but I'm taking a break for two weeks
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and going to do two podcasts dealing with the issues that our veterans face today.
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So today's podcast is entitled,
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Let's Honor Our Veterans. So I want to thank all the veterans who are listening in today.
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May God richly bless you. Thank you for your service. Today,
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I want to address how our military veterans feel about their service to their country.
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Why do veterans seem to be quiet about their experiences that they had in a combat zone?
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Is post-traumatic stress disorder an issue with all veterans?
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And also, we're going to talk about how can we help our veterans?
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Before we get into that, let's pray.
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Heavenly Father, I thank you for those who are listening in.
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I pray that you would bless it.
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You would bless everything that takes place in this podcast today.
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I ask the Holy Spirit to come in now and take complete control,
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take charge of everything that's said and done.
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And I want to pray especially for our veterans who are listening in
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and those who are family members, spouses, or children of our veterans.
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I pray that you would bless them all, that you would protect them all.
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I pray your hand of protection be upon all those who are serving across this world today and in our nation.
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I want to pray especially for those veterans who served in combat areas,
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that you would bless them and help them and adjust to the life that you want them to live.
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And that they would live the purpose that you have for them and the plan that you have for their life.
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I pray blessing on all those who are struggling with maybe illnesses,
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or injuries that took place from their service, that you would bless them and help them.
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And I pray that our country would reach out and do even more for our veterans,
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even though they've done a lot, there's a lot yet to be done.
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I pray blessings upon this podcast help me, Lord,
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to bring a message that will touch people and help those who have a veteran in their family,
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or if they are a veteran of one of the many services in this country.
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Now bless this and I'll be careful to give you the praise for it.
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Now thank you for all this now. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
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Well, I want to say how proud I am of our American veterans.
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They are the best trained soldiers in the history of the world.
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To those of you listening today who are veterans and have served in one of the branches of military,
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the Army, the Marines, the Navy, Air Force, Merchant Marines, or the Coast Guard,
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I want to say thank you so very much for your service to our country.
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You deserve the best help our country can provide for you.
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As a veteran, I served with the United States Army during the Vietnam War.
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I had to spend one year of my life over there.
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As a matter of fact, it was shortly after my wife and I had gotten married
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that I received my orders to go to the Republic of Vietnam.
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It was something very shocking and was something that you just have no way to know how to deal with it.
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I wasn't a Christian so I wasn't prepared spiritually to know how to handle those issues.
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But I thank God that He brought me back to my beautiful wife and my country that I live so very much.
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As I mentioned earlier, I was not a Christian when I served in Vietnam,
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but I knew that God was looking over me.
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As a matter of fact, I would pray something like this.
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When something difficult was happening or if a sniper was shooting at us or whatever it might be,
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I would say, Father, if you just get me through this, I promise I'll go to church.
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I didn't really know how else to pray and so that's about the only thing that I could say during that time.
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But once again, I just thank God for bringing us back safely and for His hand of protection over me
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and over those that came back from that war.
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My heart goes out to those who lost a loved one, who lost a mom or a dad or a spouse.
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I just pray that God will bless you and comfort you and help you through this difficult time.
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And though even many of you lost that person maybe decades ago,
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I just pray that God will continue to help you and heal the hurt that took place in your life.
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Now during my time of service, especially in Vietnam,
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I was always aware of the fact that God was around someplace, somehow, some way.
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But I just didn't know how to receive Him, how to go to Him and how to go for help.
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But once again, even though I wasn't serving Him and I had not accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior,
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God still put out His hand of protection and I believe that He'll do.
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He'll do the same thing for you and for those of you who have family members who are serving in the military.
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Today, I give honor to our vets.
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I honor those who were married to a veteran and those who were the child or the children of a veteran.
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We honor vets by thanking them for their service.
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Because the Vietnam vets were not welcomed home when they came back from that war,
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you might want to add a little more to your kindness to them by saying,
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thank you for your service and add a little welcome home.
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I tell you, as a Vietnam veteran, those are the two of the greatest words that I ever heard when I came back to this country.
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Let me give you a scripture I think that will help and comfort those veterans
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who need maybe a little word of encouragement from time to time.
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It's found in Romans chapter 13 verse 7.
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It's in the New King James Version.
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Let me read it and just receive this as I speak it into you.
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Render therefore to all their due. That means be kind to those who are due to receive something that deserve to receive something.
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It says, anyone on to say taxes to whom taxes are due and customs to whom customs are due or fear to whom fear is due.
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But here's the important part, but give honor to whom honor is due.
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And so at this time, I honor our veterans.
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I thank you for your service.
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Welcome home. Thank you for serving your country and putting your country on a higher level than you did your own thoughts and your own life.
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Thank you so much for that.
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You know, God's word has information about veterans.
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There's quite a few scriptures I found probably 20 or more that would give comfort and guidance.
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But I chose a couple that I'll use in this podcast in John chapter 15 verse 13 in the New International Version.
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These words say this, greater love has no in than this, but to lay down one's life for one's friends.
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You see, when our veterans go to the war, they don't really know what they're facing.
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When they go into a combat zone, they don't know what they're facing.
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If they get into the military and they're not in a combat zone, they still do not know or may not be aware of a time when someone may come against our country.
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And they'll be forced into a difficult, very challenging, very dangerous situation.
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So thank God for our veterans and thank God for his word that gives comfort to those who've served this great nation.
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The word of God has numerous references to protection and help for others.
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And I believe that we can apply those words of help and comfort to our veterans.
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I think of Psalm 46 verse 1 that says that God is a very present help in times of trouble.
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I think of Proverbs 3-5, trust in the Lord with all your heart,
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lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he'll direct your path.
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I thank God for Matthew 6-33 that says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.
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That's the comfort that we needed.
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You know, I wish so much that I would have been a Christian when I went to Vietnam.
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When I served in the military, since I wasn't a Christian, I didn't really understand the word of God.
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I didn't understand that there was guidance and comfort and direction in it.
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And so those of you who served in the military, be sure you get the word of God out and that you put at least something, maybe a verse or so, each day.
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And work on that and plan on that and receive that and claim it as a promise for you.
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That God is a very present help in times of trouble.
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That he is the one that has great understanding for you.
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That God's ways are higher and greater than our ways and our thoughts.
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So his word is filled with examples of comfort and hope and they apply not only to the average citizen,
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but they apply deeply to those who've served in the armed forces of the United States.
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Recently, I wrote an article for Quality Christian Living from my podcast in the Charisma Media Network System.
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I believe it's on their online channel that they have and it was supposed to come out sometime around a day or two before Veterans Day.
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And I'm going to read you a paragraph that I wrote then and I would like to share it with you.
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I won't read much of it, but I just think maybe just one paragraph might be giving you an idea of what our veterans have faced throughout the existence of our country.
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From the American Revolution in 1775 to Afghanistan, over 41 million men and women have served their country in the military.
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They gave up careers, businesses, education, family and friends to serve our country.
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The Veterans Administration estimates that 4.9 million of all living veterans have some type of illness or injury connected to their service.
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Excluding the Civil War, where there were hundreds of thousands of people who were killed in that war,
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but you have to exclude that from this number, nearly 650,000 American troops have died in combat.
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Over 30% of our veterans report chronic health conditions and sadly an average of 20 American veterans commit suicide every day.
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We need to reach out to our veterans.
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If you see one walking down the mall, they got a cap on that says United States Army or Air Force or Marines or whatever it might be, just say thank you for your service.
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You'll be amazed at the smile that you'll get.
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If you see someone maybe that you know in your family who served in the military at one time or another, what was the combat zone or not?
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It doesn't matter. They served in the military and they basically they were protecting our country and protecting our lives and our freedom.
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Any time you run into one, would it be family, remember and not just thank them for their service?
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Don't take it for granted because it's quite a commitment they had made and just that reading I gave you tells you how many people have been affected.
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As a matter of fact, there are over 800,000 veterans living today who served in the Republic of Vietnam.
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Now that was 50 years ago when that thing ended and there's still about 800,000 Vietnam veterans walking around America today who are exposed to Agent Orange
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and may have multiple sicknesses or illnesses and are also suffering or could be suffering with PTSD, which is post traumatic stress disorder
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and something that is taking away the mental stability of so many veterans.
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So with that, that's just a little clip, a little article or portion I should say of my article that I wrote.
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I'd like you to be sure and listen to that or read that it's in the Charisma Magazine online.
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Let me give you an answer to the four questions that I brought up at the beginning of this podcast.
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Remember, I said basically, you know, how do our veterans feel about their service and why do veterans who've served keep so quiet and don't want to talk about it,
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especially if they served in the combat zone and also is PTSD or what we call post traumatic stress disorder still active in our veterans.
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And finally, one of the other questions I asked was that we would cover in this podcast is how can we help our veterans and how should we do that.
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So let's just address question number one, how do our veterans feel about their service to our country?
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Before I cover that one, let me ask you maybe another question that's kind of important.
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Maybe it may be even more important and that is how does our country treat our veterans?
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It's one thing to think about how our veterans feel about their service. It's another thing to think about how our country is treating our veterans.
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It's getting better, but there's a long way to go yet.
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But let me just share with you in the answer to how what do our veterans feel? How do they feel when they come back?
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Well, as a veteran, as you know, I served in the military. I was proud to serve my country.
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Quite frankly, very proud to do that. I believe the vast majority of veterans were proud to serve.
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However, they want their country to help them for the things that they're going through that they picked up while they were in service.
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Some of Americans veterans today have physical and mental issues that need to be healed.
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Most veterans want to be provided help and care that they need for the illnesses that they carry in their bodies,
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or the injuries or the limbs that they lost that was brought on. Those things were brought on while they were serving in the country.
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So let's be sure we write our congressmen and our senators and let them know that we need to care for our veterans.
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Veterans are not looking for a handout. They're just looking for a hand up for help to deal with the needs that they're facing.
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So with that, I want to give you a word of comfort. How do veterans feel?
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That was a question I said about their service. The vast majority, they're proud to have served.
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Glad it's over, but proud to have served their country.
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Matthew 11 and verse number 28 has some wonderful comfort.
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Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest.
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I'm just speaking that word into some today. I believe there are veterans out there today are family members of veterans who need to hear that,
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not just the veterans, but for the family members.
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You know, I went to Vietnam, but my wife stayed home. We were expecting a child when I went to Vietnam.
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And so she was home and had to go through her pregnancy by herself.
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And she wasn't a Christian. I wasn't a Christian. And it was a challenge. It was difficult.
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And I think about the number of dependents of our veterans while they were serving in the military and going through difficult times and
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strenuous times and times that they did. They wanted to be with their family, but they needed to serve their country.
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Many of these veterans were going through difficult times, but the family members, the wives, the husbands, the children, the moms and dads,
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those individuals went through very difficult times and all of us can receive help.
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If you're going through a challenge from something you face through a veteran that has been difficult on you,
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take the words of Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28 and apply them to your life.
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Come to me, all who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest.
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Alright, question number two was, why do veterans who served in a combat arena seem to be quiet about their service?
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Here's a couple of reasons I'd like to give you. One is veterans who won't speak about their experiences,
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I believe are protecting those that they love and care for from hearing the comments and the things of what they face and what they went through.
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If they had an extremely difficult time, they just don't need to get into that.
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If they had a time that took them away from their loved ones, they don't particularly want to remember that and get into that either.
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They don't want to talk about those issues and seem like they're bragging or being proud of something they had in their life.
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And so we tend to be quiet. I know in my own case, I came back from Vietnam.
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I did not want to talk about it for many, many, many, many years.
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I used a lot of many's there, but it's because it took me close to 50 years before I really wanted to discuss it.
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And it came about, the reason I was willing to talk about it was because my wife said,
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you know, you need to write a book about your experiences in Vietnam because they give help and comfort to other people.
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Well, see, I have been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, bone marrow cancer,
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because of my exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam.
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And I was given a basically a six month death sentence that said in about six months,
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you may be gone because you've got this so very, so very difficult and so serious in your body.
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But God healed me from that. And I'm still being treated, but I'm in, I consider pretty strong health and good health and thankful to God.
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But because of that, because of that trial and trauma I went through, my wife was right.
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I did need to write about it. So I wrote a couple of books.
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One was on my experiences before or during an after Vietnam. And my second book was on how to get help for PTSD and exposure to Agent Orange.
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And that's a help book that people can get out. I'm not going to talk about it. I'm not trying to sell books right now.
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But I just want you to know those are books that I did write and they're on Amazon if people are interested in that.
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But you know, the important thing is, is that I had something to say that would help people.
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And so I was willing to open up. It was hard.
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And matter of fact, when I started writing, when I started getting back into expressing what took place in Vietnam, especially,
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I, my old nightmares came back, the old PTSD. It really came on strong on me.
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And I had some very difficult nights for a number of months, but that lifted and God brought me through it.
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And I thank God for that. He gave me the peace of God that passed us all understanding that would guard my heart and guard my mind in Christ Jesus.
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So I thank God for that.
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But if you're a veteran and you're still struggling with things that you just don't want to talk about, there's nothing wrong with being quiet about them.
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But let me give you a scripture that'll give you comfort.
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And you might want to think about this when some of the trials of your service, you know, come to mind in Psalm chapter 56, verses three and four.
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Now, when I was in the military, I didn't know about these scriptures. I sure wish I would have known this one.
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So let me read this to you.
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Psalm chapter 56, verses three and four.
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You see, if I'd have had that, it would have given me strength and hope.
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So I hope that's encouraging to you and maybe it gives you a little better understanding of why some of the veterans really don't want to talk about the experiences they went through.
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Question number three, is PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder active in our veterans?
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Yes, it is. I mentioned a comment earlier.
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There's 800,000 Vietnam veterans walking around who are exposed to Agent Orange and many of them have trials and challenges with PTSD.
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And if you know anyone that's having that, they need to call the Veterans Administration and seek help.
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They need to find a veterans clinic or hospital or somewhere where they can go get help and get advice and help and direction for that.
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Let me just give you a scripture that might help you on this.
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It's Psalm 2911, the Lord gives strength to his people.
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The Lord blesses his people with peace.
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So if you're out there and you're struggling with PTSD and it's coming back on you, you just need to take your strength in the Lord.
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Go to your pastor and be prayed for and get others to help you and encourage you.
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And then you should start to encourage other people who are going through the same thing.
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I have a ministry that's called Vets Helping Vets.
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And that ministry was designed for one reason. That is to help veterans learn how to help other veterans.
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And I talk with veterans and I try to encourage them and I help them get help through the Veterans Administration or help for PTSD
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or for physical issues that they're going through in their life or emotional issues they're going through their life.
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And I try to help them.
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And then when they get strong and they start to recover from that, I tell them, take what you've learned and share it with someone else and be a blessing to someone else.
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Let's move on to question number four.
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How can we help our veterans?
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That's kind of what I was just talking about.
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We need to show them that God loves them in His Word.
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We can help our veterans by thanking them for their service and not discussing their experiences.
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You know, when I first came home from Vietnam, people would walk up to me and say, I'm glad to see you did well and whatever.
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And almost always it seemed like it was constant.
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The first question they would ask me is, did you kill anybody?
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And I just can't imagine why anybody would ask somebody that question.
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I was in the Vietnam War.
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I went through the Tet Offensive.
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It was horrible.
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It was an unbelievable experience.
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The last thing I need to be asked is, did I ever shoot anybody or kill anybody?
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And so please never bring that up.
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Young people are the ones that tend to ask that question, but let that go.
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Just drop that.
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Just simply, you can thank them for their service and don't discuss the experience that they had or ask them about the experiences they had.
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If they want to volunteer or talk about it, that's fine.
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But don't put them under that pressure.
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Let me give you the scripture found in Joshua chapter 1 and verse 9.
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Be strong and courageous.
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Do not tremble or be dismayed.
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For the Lord God is with you wherever you go.
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That is what I want to leave you with today.
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I want to leave you with that encouragement that God is with you.
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God will never leave you and God will never forsake you.
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To wrap this up, I want to review very quickly the scriptures that God has given me to pass on to you
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for veterans and for those who are family members of veterans or friends of veterans,
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share these verses with them.
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Matthew 11, 28,
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Come to me, all you who are weary,
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and carry heavy burdens,
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and I will give you rest.
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Psalm 56, verses 3 and 4,
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When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
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In God, whose word I praise,
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in God I trust,
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and am not afraid of what merely mortal man can do to me.
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In Psalm 29, 11,
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the Lord gives strength to his people.
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The Lord blesses his people with peace.
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In Joshua 1, verse 9,
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Strong, be strong and courageous.
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Do not tremble or be dismayed,
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for the Lord God is with you wherever you go.
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Let me close this out by praying for you.
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Heavenly Father,
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thank you for the opportunity I've had to bring this podcast at this time
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to those who have an interest in helping veterans or their veterans themselves.
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I pray blessings upon them.
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For those veterans who might be struggling with various issues,
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I pray Father that you would give them peace,
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that you would help them and comfort them,
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that would find other veterans to speak to
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who would encourage them and bless them and comfort them.
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I pray our families would reach out and bless a veteran.
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If there's one across the street,
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just walk across the street and just say,
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I just want to thank you for your service.
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I just pray, Lord, blessing upon our veterans now.
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Lord, I know many of them are going through physical challenges,
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and I pray that they would get help
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at the Veterans Administration,
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though they'll get help from a family doctor.
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I pray that peace I was referred to Mayo Clinic,
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but then Mayo Clinic told me that I could get help
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for some of the costs related to my treatments
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from the Veterans Administration,
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and I went there and I did.
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And I pray that you would help those going through difficult challenges now
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to receive the help wherever they can get it, Father,
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and that it will be made available to them.
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I pray for our veterans, Father, who are currently in active service now.
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Those who are active military, I pray blessings upon them.
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That your hand of protection would be upon them.
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You'd keep them safe, Father, from any evil,
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from any danger and any harm.
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I pray blessings on them, on their families, Father,
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and everything, Lord, that they put their hand to.
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I pray that you would bless them and keep them
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and that your face would shine upon them
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and be gracious unto them, Lord.
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Well, I ask these things, Lord, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
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Well, I noticed that I've got a couple minutes left on this podcast,
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so let me read to you something I think that might be helpful.
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Just a couple of lines from the article that I wrote.
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This is something that I think the Lord gave me to share,
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and I know that not everybody who listens to the podcast
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will see the article in Charisma on their online service.
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So let me just read this to you.
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I believe there's a scripture that applies precisely to Jesus,
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Christ, and veterans.
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The article that I wrote is called,
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What Jesus and Veterans Share,
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and this is my opening paragraph on that.
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They share something with Jesus.
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The Apostle John, being led by the Holy Spirit,
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wrote these words in John chapter 15 and verse 13
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in the New Living Translation.
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There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.
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Now, this passage tells us that when Jesus went into ministry,
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he was willing to sacrifice his life for the benefit of others.
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And when our American veterans sign up to serve their country,
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they are willing to go wherever they are sent
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by giving an oath to protect our country with their life.
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I hope that that blesses you,
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and I hope that it will strengthen you and lift up those
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who are maybe going through some difficult times right now.
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I hope this has been a blessing to you and a help.
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I would encourage you to tune into the following next podcast
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that I'm going to be doing shortly,
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and that podcast, once again, has to deal with our veterans.
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I'm going to talk about God's word in veterans,
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about the Constitution in our veterans,
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and just simply about how America needs to deal with their veterans.
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So I'm looking forward to it.
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I'm going to talk about the podcast that I have never done before,
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but it's something I want to do because every year,
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I take two podcasts out around November, around Veterans Day,
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and just give a couple of podcasts to reach out to our veterans
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and give them some help.
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If any of you would like to know more about quality Christian living,
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you can do that by going to my webpage at davidcfriendauthor.com.
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And when you pull up that webpage,
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you'll see on the very front page a link to all the podcasts that I've done.
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Now, prior to this podcast, I did a series, and I'm still in the middle of one,
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I'll get back to that after this couple of series on veteran issues,
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and I'll get back to that.
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And the series we're in is called Success, Prospering, and Abundant Living.
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Prior to that, I did a series of podcasts on how to develop a business,
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how to grow a business, how to start a business as a Christian.
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We talked about the gifts of the Spirit, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
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We did a series of messages dealing with faith,
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a series of messages dealing with miracles and hope,
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and I think that's about the purpose and this plan for our lives.
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I did a series of messages on our finances,
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on experience the joy of debt-free living,
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so there's quite a list.
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Matter of fact, there's 200, and I believe 52 podcasts that are there for you to listen to.
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So I would encourage you to go to them.
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In addition to that, you can scroll down on that webpage,
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and as you get down to the next page, as you scroll,
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you'll find a reference to five books that I've written on Amazon.
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One is called Vietnam, before, during, and after,
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a Young Man's Journey, and that's my journey.
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Before I went to Vietnam, while I was there and when I came back,
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there were the issues that my wife and I had to face.
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In addition to that, we have a book there for veterans dealing with PTSD and Agent Orange,
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and how to receive help and get the assistance and help that you might need.
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Also, there's a book there that I've written to help you with your finances.
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The title is Experience the Joy of Debt-Free Living,
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and I believe if you'll follow the teaching there the Lord gave me,
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you can get yourself in a position to be out of debt very quickly,
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a lot sooner than you would even imagine or think.
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In addition to that, I have a book there, Dealing with Faith,
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and it's called Receive Everything from What We Call Nothing,
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based upon the teachings of the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans,
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where he talks about Abraham.
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When God told him he wouldn't be the father of many nations,
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and Abraham and Sarah said, not a chance, we're just too old,
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but God showed him he would bring life into things that were dead,
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and he would bring life into things that we've given up on.
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And I believe that book will be a very positive encouragement for you.
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And finally, there's a book there entitled Generosity What's In It for Me,
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and it talks about how giving brings forth blessings in our life,
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and I just believe that it'll be a blessing to you.
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So with that, I would encourage you to get those.
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Now, don't forget, my next podcast will be dealing with veterans
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and how to help veterans understand the relationship that veterans have with God,
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with our country, and quite frankly, with their walk with God
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and their purpose for being here.
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So I believe it'll be a blessing to you, and it's something that the Lord put upon my heart
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to bring out during this time where we honor our veterans.
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I'm going to thank you again for listening in,
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so let me just close with these words.
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May the Lord bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you.
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May he be gracious to you and give you peace.
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May you prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.
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So until next time, may God richly bless you.
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And all of you veterans out there, or those who are related to veterans,
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I pray blessing upon you, comfort and peace,
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that it may follow you all the days of your life.
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Thank you once again for listening in.
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This has been podcast number 252, entitled,
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Let's Honor Our Veterans.
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I am your host, David Fren.
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Thank you for listening in to Quality Christian Living.
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God bless you.
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I want to welcome you to the Quality Christian Living Podcast.
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I am your host, David Friend. We've been in a series dealing with success,
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prospering, and abundant living, but I'm taking a break for two weeks
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and going to do two podcasts dealing with the issues that our veterans face today.
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So today's podcast is entitled,
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Let's Honor Our Veterans. So I want to thank all the veterans who are listening in today.
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May God richly bless you. Thank you for your service. Today,
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I want to address how our military veterans feel about their service to their country.
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Why do veterans seem to be quiet about their experiences that they had in a combat zone?
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Is post-traumatic stress disorder an issue with all veterans?
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And also, we're going to talk about how can we help our veterans?
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Before we get into that, let's pray.
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Heavenly Father, I thank you for those who are listening in.
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I pray that you would bless it.
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You would bless everything that takes place in this podcast today.
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I ask the Holy Spirit to come in now and take complete control,
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take charge of everything that's said and done.
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And I want to pray especially for our veterans who are listening in
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and those who are family members, spouses, or children of our veterans.
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I pray that you would bless them all, that you would protect them all.
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I pray your hand of protection be upon all those who are serving across this world today and in our nation.
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I want to pray especially for those veterans who served in combat areas,
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that you would bless them and help them and adjust to the life that you want them to live.
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And that they would live the purpose that you have for them and the plan that you have for their life.
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I pray blessing on all those who are struggling with maybe illnesses,
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or injuries that took place from their service, that you would bless them and help them.
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And I pray that our country would reach out and do even more for our veterans,
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even though they've done a lot, there's a lot yet to be done.
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I pray blessings upon this podcast help me, Lord,
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to bring a message that will touch people and help those who have a veteran in their family,
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or if they are a veteran of one of the many services in this country.
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Now bless this and I'll be careful to give you the praise for it.
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Now thank you for all this now. In Jesus' name I pray, Amen.
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Well, I want to say how proud I am of our American veterans.
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They are the best trained soldiers in the history of the world.
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To those of you listening today who are veterans and have served in one of the branches of military,
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the Army, the Marines, the Navy, Air Force, Merchant Marines, or the Coast Guard,
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I want to say thank you so very much for your service to our country.
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You deserve the best help our country can provide for you.
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As a veteran, I served with the United States Army during the Vietnam War.
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I had to spend one year of my life over there.
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As a matter of fact, it was shortly after my wife and I had gotten married
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that I received my orders to go to the Republic of Vietnam.
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It was something very shocking and was something that you just have no way to know how to deal with it.
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I wasn't a Christian so I wasn't prepared spiritually to know how to handle those issues.
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But I thank God that He brought me back to my beautiful wife and my country that I live so very much.
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As I mentioned earlier, I was not a Christian when I served in Vietnam,
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but I knew that God was looking over me.
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As a matter of fact, I would pray something like this.
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When something difficult was happening or if a sniper was shooting at us or whatever it might be,
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I would say, Father, if you just get me through this, I promise I'll go to church.
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I didn't really know how else to pray and so that's about the only thing that I could say during that time.
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But once again, I just thank God for bringing us back safely and for His hand of protection over me
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and over those that came back from that war.
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My heart goes out to those who lost a loved one, who lost a mom or a dad or a spouse.
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I just pray that God will bless you and comfort you and help you through this difficult time.
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And though even many of you lost that person maybe decades ago,
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I just pray that God will continue to help you and heal the hurt that took place in your life.
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Now during my time of service, especially in Vietnam,
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I was always aware of the fact that God was around someplace, somehow, some way.
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But I just didn't know how to receive Him, how to go to Him and how to go for help.
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But once again, even though I wasn't serving Him and I had not accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior,
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God still put out His hand of protection and I believe that He'll do.
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He'll do the same thing for you and for those of you who have family members who are serving in the military.
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Today, I give honor to our vets.
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I honor those who were married to a veteran and those who were the child or the children of a veteran.
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We honor vets by thanking them for their service.
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Because the Vietnam vets were not welcomed home when they came back from that war,
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you might want to add a little more to your kindness to them by saying,
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thank you for your service and add a little welcome home.
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I tell you, as a Vietnam veteran, those are the two of the greatest words that I ever heard when I came back to this country.
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Let me give you a scripture I think that will help and comfort those veterans
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who need maybe a little word of encouragement from time to time.
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It's found in Romans chapter 13 verse 7.
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It's in the New King James Version.
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Let me read it and just receive this as I speak it into you.
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Render therefore to all their due. That means be kind to those who are due to receive something that deserve to receive something.
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It says, anyone on to say taxes to whom taxes are due and customs to whom customs are due or fear to whom fear is due.
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But here's the important part, but give honor to whom honor is due.
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And so at this time, I honor our veterans.
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I thank you for your service.
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Welcome home. Thank you for serving your country and putting your country on a higher level than you did your own thoughts and your own life.
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Thank you so much for that.
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You know, God's word has information about veterans.
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There's quite a few scriptures I found probably 20 or more that would give comfort and guidance.
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But I chose a couple that I'll use in this podcast in John chapter 15 verse 13 in the New International Version.
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These words say this, greater love has no in than this, but to lay down one's life for one's friends.
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You see, when our veterans go to the war, they don't really know what they're facing.
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When they go into a combat zone, they don't know what they're facing.
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If they get into the military and they're not in a combat zone, they still do not know or may not be aware of a time when someone may come against our country.
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And they'll be forced into a difficult, very challenging, very dangerous situation.
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So thank God for our veterans and thank God for his word that gives comfort to those who've served this great nation.
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The word of God has numerous references to protection and help for others.
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And I believe that we can apply those words of help and comfort to our veterans.
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I think of Psalm 46 verse 1 that says that God is a very present help in times of trouble.
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I think of Proverbs 3-5, trust in the Lord with all your heart,
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lean not on your own understanding and all your ways acknowledge him and he'll direct your path.
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I thank God for Matthew 6-33 that says, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.
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That's the comfort that we needed.
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You know, I wish so much that I would have been a Christian when I went to Vietnam.
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When I served in the military, since I wasn't a Christian, I didn't really understand the word of God.
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I didn't understand that there was guidance and comfort and direction in it.
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And so those of you who served in the military, be sure you get the word of God out and that you put at least something, maybe a verse or so, each day.
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And work on that and plan on that and receive that and claim it as a promise for you.
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That God is a very present help in times of trouble.
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That he is the one that has great understanding for you.
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That God's ways are higher and greater than our ways and our thoughts.
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So his word is filled with examples of comfort and hope and they apply not only to the average citizen,
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but they apply deeply to those who've served in the armed forces of the United States.
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Recently, I wrote an article for Quality Christian Living from my podcast in the Charisma Media Network System.
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I believe it's on their online channel that they have and it was supposed to come out sometime around a day or two before Veterans Day.
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And I'm going to read you a paragraph that I wrote then and I would like to share it with you.
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I won't read much of it, but I just think maybe just one paragraph might be giving you an idea of what our veterans have faced throughout the existence of our country.
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From the American Revolution in 1775 to Afghanistan, over 41 million men and women have served their country in the military.
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They gave up careers, businesses, education, family and friends to serve our country.
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The Veterans Administration estimates that 4.9 million of all living veterans have some type of illness or injury connected to their service.
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Excluding the Civil War, where there were hundreds of thousands of people who were killed in that war,
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but you have to exclude that from this number, nearly 650,000 American troops have died in combat.
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Over 30% of our veterans report chronic health conditions and sadly an average of 20 American veterans commit suicide every day.
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We need to reach out to our veterans.
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If you see one walking down the mall, they got a cap on that says United States Army or Air Force or Marines or whatever it might be, just say thank you for your service.
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You'll be amazed at the smile that you'll get.
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If you see someone maybe that you know in your family who served in the military at one time or another, what was the combat zone or not?
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It doesn't matter. They served in the military and they basically they were protecting our country and protecting our lives and our freedom.
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Any time you run into one, would it be family, remember and not just thank them for their service?
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Don't take it for granted because it's quite a commitment they had made and just that reading I gave you tells you how many people have been affected.
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As a matter of fact, there are over 800,000 veterans living today who served in the Republic of Vietnam.
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Now that was 50 years ago when that thing ended and there's still about 800,000 Vietnam veterans walking around America today who are exposed to Agent Orange
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and may have multiple sicknesses or illnesses and are also suffering or could be suffering with PTSD, which is post traumatic stress disorder
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and something that is taking away the mental stability of so many veterans.
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So with that, that's just a little clip, a little article or portion I should say of my article that I wrote.
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I'd like you to be sure and listen to that or read that it's in the Charisma Magazine online.
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Let me give you an answer to the four questions that I brought up at the beginning of this podcast.
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Remember, I said basically, you know, how do our veterans feel about their service and why do veterans who've served keep so quiet and don't want to talk about it,
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especially if they served in the combat zone and also is PTSD or what we call post traumatic stress disorder still active in our veterans.
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And finally, one of the other questions I asked was that we would cover in this podcast is how can we help our veterans and how should we do that.
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So let's just address question number one, how do our veterans feel about their service to our country?
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Before I cover that one, let me ask you maybe another question that's kind of important.
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Maybe it may be even more important and that is how does our country treat our veterans?
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It's one thing to think about how our veterans feel about their service. It's another thing to think about how our country is treating our veterans.
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It's getting better, but there's a long way to go yet.
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But let me just share with you in the answer to how what do our veterans feel? How do they feel when they come back?
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Well, as a veteran, as you know, I served in the military. I was proud to serve my country.
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Quite frankly, very proud to do that. I believe the vast majority of veterans were proud to serve.
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However, they want their country to help them for the things that they're going through that they picked up while they were in service.
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Some of Americans veterans today have physical and mental issues that need to be healed.
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Most veterans want to be provided help and care that they need for the illnesses that they carry in their bodies,
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or the injuries or the limbs that they lost that was brought on. Those things were brought on while they were serving in the country.
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So let's be sure we write our congressmen and our senators and let them know that we need to care for our veterans.
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Veterans are not looking for a handout. They're just looking for a hand up for help to deal with the needs that they're facing.
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So with that, I want to give you a word of comfort. How do veterans feel?
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That was a question I said about their service. The vast majority, they're proud to have served.
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Glad it's over, but proud to have served their country.
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Matthew 11 and verse number 28 has some wonderful comfort.
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Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest.
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I'm just speaking that word into some today. I believe there are veterans out there today are family members of veterans who need to hear that,
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not just the veterans, but for the family members.
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You know, I went to Vietnam, but my wife stayed home. We were expecting a child when I went to Vietnam.
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And so she was home and had to go through her pregnancy by herself.
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And she wasn't a Christian. I wasn't a Christian. And it was a challenge. It was difficult.
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And I think about the number of dependents of our veterans while they were serving in the military and going through difficult times and
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strenuous times and times that they did. They wanted to be with their family, but they needed to serve their country.
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Many of these veterans were going through difficult times, but the family members, the wives, the husbands, the children, the moms and dads,
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those individuals went through very difficult times and all of us can receive help.
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If you're going through a challenge from something you face through a veteran that has been difficult on you,
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take the words of Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28 and apply them to your life.
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Come to me, all who are weary and carry heavy burdens and I will give you rest.
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Alright, question number two was, why do veterans who served in a combat arena seem to be quiet about their service?
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Here's a couple of reasons I'd like to give you. One is veterans who won't speak about their experiences,
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I believe are protecting those that they love and care for from hearing the comments and the things of what they face and what they went through.
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If they had an extremely difficult time, they just don't need to get into that.
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If they had a time that took them away from their loved ones, they don't particularly want to remember that and get into that either.
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They don't want to talk about those issues and seem like they're bragging or being proud of something they had in their life.
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And so we tend to be quiet. I know in my own case, I came back from Vietnam.
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I did not want to talk about it for many, many, many, many years.
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I used a lot of many's there, but it's because it took me close to 50 years before I really wanted to discuss it.
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And it came about, the reason I was willing to talk about it was because my wife said,
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you know, you need to write a book about your experiences in Vietnam because they give help and comfort to other people.
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Well, see, I have been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, bone marrow cancer,
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because of my exposure to Agent Orange while serving in Vietnam.
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And I was given a basically a six month death sentence that said in about six months,
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you may be gone because you've got this so very, so very difficult and so serious in your body.
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But God healed me from that. And I'm still being treated, but I'm in, I consider pretty strong health and good health and thankful to God.
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But because of that, because of that trial and trauma I went through, my wife was right.
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I did need to write about it. So I wrote a couple of books.
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One was on my experiences before or during an after Vietnam. And my second book was on how to get help for PTSD and exposure to Agent Orange.
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And that's a help book that people can get out. I'm not going to talk about it. I'm not trying to sell books right now.
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But I just want you to know those are books that I did write and they're on Amazon if people are interested in that.
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But you know, the important thing is, is that I had something to say that would help people.
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And so I was willing to open up. It was hard.
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And matter of fact, when I started writing, when I started getting back into expressing what took place in Vietnam, especially,
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I, my old nightmares came back, the old PTSD. It really came on strong on me.
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And I had some very difficult nights for a number of months, but that lifted and God brought me through it.
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And I thank God for that. He gave me the peace of God that passed us all understanding that would guard my heart and guard my mind in Christ Jesus.
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So I thank God for that.
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But if you're a veteran and you're still struggling with things that you just don't want to talk about, there's nothing wrong with being quiet about them.
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But let me give you a scripture that'll give you comfort.
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And you might want to think about this when some of the trials of your service, you know, come to mind in Psalm chapter 56, verses three and four.
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Now, when I was in the military, I didn't know about these scriptures. I sure wish I would have known this one.
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So let me read this to you.
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Psalm chapter 56, verses three and four.
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You see, if I'd have had that, it would have given me strength and hope.
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So I hope that's encouraging to you and maybe it gives you a little better understanding of why some of the veterans really don't want to talk about the experiences they went through.
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Question number three, is PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder active in our veterans?
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Yes, it is. I mentioned a comment earlier.
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There's 800,000 Vietnam veterans walking around who are exposed to Agent Orange and many of them have trials and challenges with PTSD.
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And if you know anyone that's having that, they need to call the Veterans Administration and seek help.
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They need to find a veterans clinic or hospital or somewhere where they can go get help and get advice and help and direction for that.
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Let me just give you a scripture that might help you on this.
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It's Psalm 2911, the Lord gives strength to his people.
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The Lord blesses his people with peace.
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So if you're out there and you're struggling with PTSD and it's coming back on you, you just need to take your strength in the Lord.
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Go to your pastor and be prayed for and get others to help you and encourage you.
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And then you should start to encourage other people who are going through the same thing.
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I have a ministry that's called Vets Helping Vets.
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And that ministry was designed for one reason. That is to help veterans learn how to help other veterans.
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And I talk with veterans and I try to encourage them and I help them get help through the Veterans Administration or help for PTSD
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or for physical issues that they're going through in their life or emotional issues they're going through their life.
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And I try to help them.
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And then when they get strong and they start to recover from that, I tell them, take what you've learned and share it with someone else and be a blessing to someone else.
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Let's move on to question number four.
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How can we help our veterans?
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That's kind of what I was just talking about.
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We need to show them that God loves them in His Word.
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We can help our veterans by thanking them for their service and not discussing their experiences.
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You know, when I first came home from Vietnam, people would walk up to me and say, I'm glad to see you did well and whatever.
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And almost always it seemed like it was constant.
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The first question they would ask me is, did you kill anybody?
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And I just can't imagine why anybody would ask somebody that question.
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I was in the Vietnam War.
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I went through the Tet Offensive.
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It was horrible.
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It was an unbelievable experience.
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The last thing I need to be asked is, did I ever shoot anybody or kill anybody?
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And so please never bring that up.
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Young people are the ones that tend to ask that question, but let that go.
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Just drop that.
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Just simply, you can thank them for their service and don't discuss the experience that they had or ask them about the experiences they had.
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If they want to volunteer or talk about it, that's fine.
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But don't put them under that pressure.
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Let me give you the scripture found in Joshua chapter 1 and verse 9.
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Be strong and courageous.
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Do not tremble or be dismayed.
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For the Lord God is with you wherever you go.
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That is what I want to leave you with today.
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I want to leave you with that encouragement that God is with you.
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God will never leave you and God will never forsake you.
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To wrap this up, I want to review very quickly the scriptures that God has given me to pass on to you
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for veterans and for those who are family members of veterans or friends of veterans,
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share these verses with them.
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Matthew 11, 28,
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Come to me, all you who are weary,
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and carry heavy burdens,
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and I will give you rest.
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Psalm 56, verses 3 and 4,
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When I am afraid, I put my trust in you.
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In God, whose word I praise,
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in God I trust,
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and am not afraid of what merely mortal man can do to me.
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In Psalm 29, 11,
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the Lord gives strength to his people.
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The Lord blesses his people with peace.
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In Joshua 1, verse 9,
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Strong, be strong and courageous.
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Do not tremble or be dismayed,
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for the Lord God is with you wherever you go.
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Let me close this out by praying for you.
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Heavenly Father,
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thank you for the opportunity I've had to bring this podcast at this time
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to those who have an interest in helping veterans or their veterans themselves.
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I pray blessings upon them.
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For those veterans who might be struggling with various issues,
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I pray Father that you would give them peace,
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that you would help them and comfort them,
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that would find other veterans to speak to
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who would encourage them and bless them and comfort them.
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I pray our families would reach out and bless a veteran.
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If there's one across the street,
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just walk across the street and just say,
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I just want to thank you for your service.
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I just pray, Lord, blessing upon our veterans now.
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Lord, I know many of them are going through physical challenges,
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and I pray that they would get help
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at the Veterans Administration,
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though they'll get help from a family doctor.
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I pray that peace I was referred to Mayo Clinic,
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but then Mayo Clinic told me that I could get help
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for some of the costs related to my treatments
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from the Veterans Administration,
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and I went there and I did.
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And I pray that you would help those going through difficult challenges now
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to receive the help wherever they can get it, Father,
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and that it will be made available to them.
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I pray for our veterans, Father, who are currently in active service now.
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Those who are active military, I pray blessings upon them.
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That your hand of protection would be upon them.
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You'd keep them safe, Father, from any evil,
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from any danger and any harm.
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I pray blessings on them, on their families, Father,
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and everything, Lord, that they put their hand to.
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I pray that you would bless them and keep them
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and that your face would shine upon them
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and be gracious unto them, Lord.
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Well, I ask these things, Lord, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
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Well, I noticed that I've got a couple minutes left on this podcast,
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so let me read to you something I think that might be helpful.
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Just a couple of lines from the article that I wrote.
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This is something that I think the Lord gave me to share,
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and I know that not everybody who listens to the podcast
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will see the article in Charisma on their online service.
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So let me just read this to you.
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I believe there's a scripture that applies precisely to Jesus,
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Christ, and veterans.
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The article that I wrote is called,
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What Jesus and Veterans Share,
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and this is my opening paragraph on that.
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They share something with Jesus.
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The Apostle John, being led by the Holy Spirit,
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wrote these words in John chapter 15 and verse 13
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in the New Living Translation.
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There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.
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Now, this passage tells us that when Jesus went into ministry,
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he was willing to sacrifice his life for the benefit of others.
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And when our American veterans sign up to serve their country,
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they are willing to go wherever they are sent
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by giving an oath to protect our country with their life.
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I hope that that blesses you,
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and I hope that it will strengthen you and lift up those
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who are maybe going through some difficult times right now.
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I hope this has been a blessing to you and a help.
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I would encourage you to tune into the following next podcast
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that I'm going to be doing shortly,
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and that podcast, once again, has to deal with our veterans.
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I'm going to talk about God's word in veterans,
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about the Constitution in our veterans,
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and just simply about how America needs to deal with their veterans.
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So I'm looking forward to it.
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I'm going to talk about the podcast that I have never done before,
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but it's something I want to do because every year,
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I take two podcasts out around November, around Veterans Day,
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and just give a couple of podcasts to reach out to our veterans
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and give them some help.
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If any of you would like to know more about quality Christian living,
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you can do that by going to my webpage at davidcfriendauthor.com.
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And when you pull up that webpage,
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you'll see on the very front page a link to all the podcasts that I've done.
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Now, prior to this podcast, I did a series, and I'm still in the middle of one,
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I'll get back to that after this couple of series on veteran issues,
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and I'll get back to that.
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And the series we're in is called Success, Prospering, and Abundant Living.
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Prior to that, I did a series of podcasts on how to develop a business,
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how to grow a business, how to start a business as a Christian.
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00:24:01,200 --> 00:24:04,200
We talked about the gifts of the Spirit, the manifestations of the Holy Spirit.
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00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:07,200
We did a series of messages dealing with faith,
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a series of messages dealing with miracles and hope,
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00:24:10,200 --> 00:24:13,200
and I think that's about the purpose and this plan for our lives.
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00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:15,200
I did a series of messages on our finances,
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on experience the joy of debt-free living,
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so there's quite a list.
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Matter of fact, there's 200, and I believe 52 podcasts that are there for you to listen to.
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So I would encourage you to go to them.
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In addition to that, you can scroll down on that webpage,
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and as you get down to the next page, as you scroll,
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you'll find a reference to five books that I've written on Amazon.
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One is called Vietnam, before, during, and after,
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a Young Man's Journey, and that's my journey.
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Before I went to Vietnam, while I was there and when I came back,
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there were the issues that my wife and I had to face.
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In addition to that, we have a book there for veterans dealing with PTSD and Agent Orange,
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and how to receive help and get the assistance and help that you might need.
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Also, there's a book there that I've written to help you with your finances.
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The title is Experience the Joy of Debt-Free Living,
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and I believe if you'll follow the teaching there the Lord gave me,
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you can get yourself in a position to be out of debt very quickly,
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a lot sooner than you would even imagine or think.
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In addition to that, I have a book there, Dealing with Faith,
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and it's called Receive Everything from What We Call Nothing,
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based upon the teachings of the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans,
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where he talks about Abraham.
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When God told him he wouldn't be the father of many nations,
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and Abraham and Sarah said, not a chance, we're just too old,
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but God showed him he would bring life into things that were dead,
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and he would bring life into things that we've given up on.
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And I believe that book will be a very positive encouragement for you.
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And finally, there's a book there entitled Generosity What's In It for Me,
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and it talks about how giving brings forth blessings in our life,
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and I just believe that it'll be a blessing to you.
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So with that, I would encourage you to get those.
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Now, don't forget, my next podcast will be dealing with veterans
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and how to help veterans understand the relationship that veterans have with God,
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with our country, and quite frankly, with their walk with God
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and their purpose for being here.
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So I believe it'll be a blessing to you, and it's something that the Lord put upon my heart
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to bring out during this time where we honor our veterans.
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I'm going to thank you again for listening in,
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so let me just close with these words.
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May the Lord bless you and keep you, may his face shine upon you.
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May he be gracious to you and give you peace.
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May you prosper and be in good health, even as your soul prospers.
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So until next time, may God richly bless you.
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And all of you veterans out there, or those who are related to veterans,
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I pray blessing upon you, comfort and peace,
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that it may follow you all the days of your life.
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Thank you once again for listening in.
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This has been podcast number 252, entitled,
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Let's Honor Our Veterans.
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I am your host, David Fren.
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Thank you for listening in to Quality Christian Living.
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God bless you.
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