How Basic Economics Lines up with the Bible

by Joshua Horn

I read Basic Economics in the spring of 2008. It is by Calence B. Carson, and it advocates a free market economy. For this report, we will examine whether this book speaks of Biblical things, or if it is contrary to the Bible. We will look at what it says about private property, morality, and the welfare system.

In this book, the author advocates private property. He says that there can not be common property, because in the end someone has to control the use of the property. The Bible speaks a lot about private property. For example,

“Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbor's wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbor's house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbor's.”
(Deuteronomy 5:21 KJV)

From this passage we see that property is not supposed to be shared by everyone, or your neighbor would not have an ox, it would be shared by you and him. In Basic Economics, the author shows what a disaster communism was in Russia during and around World War II. Communism says that everything should be held in common. Communism also rejected God and other spiritual things. When the Communists in Russia rejected God, and the things that He created, like private property, they should not have been surprised when they failed.
Another thing talked of in this book is how morality plays into economics. Carson says that morality is necessary, whether taught in church or elsewhere, because if everyone did what was best for them in the moment, without thought of whether it is good and right or not, it would be impossible to do business. People would constantly lie, cheat, and steal to get the best temporal result. The Bible says,

“Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
(Exodus 20:13-16)

Here God stopped people who obeyed his laws from destroying the economy by commanding them not to do what is right in their own eyes. One thing that the author of Basic Economics does not emphasize is that the only way to give people a real morality is to teach them about Christ and God and why they must obey Him as their creator.

Another thing that this book speaks of is the welfare system. In the end of the book, he goes through several different economics systems from history, and this is one of them. The basic idea of this system is to take from those who have goods, and give to those who do not have them. It is an economic system where the government controls the production of all goods, and also the distribution of them. Those who advocate this system say that everyone should get paid by the government, even if they can not provide for themselves. The Bible says, “The soul of the sluggard desireth, and hath nothing: but the soul of the diligent shall be made fat.” (Proverbs 13:4) Carson says that the government should not give people money. It is not their job, but rather the person's family or the church should provide for them. The Bible says that if there is a widow who does not have a family, the church should support her. (I Timothy 5:3-16) The Bible tells us that the government should not have a welfare system.

Here I have shown a few examples of how this book does, and does not, line up with scripture. I have shown it in these situations: private property, morality and the welfare system. I think that in general Carson aligns pretty closely with the Bible, but he does not reference it explicitly. He just recommends what practically works the best, and because of the way God set it up, it works out right. I think that even though most of his ideas are biblical, it would have improved the book if he had put more scripture in it.

Buy this book from Amazon.com: Basic Economics

Lee's Lieutenants, a Study in Command – Volume 1 Manassas to Malvern Hill

Lee's Lieutenants, a Study in Command – Volume 1 Manassas to Malvern Hill



by Joshua Horn
book by Douglas Southall Freeman


Lee's Lieutenants is a three volume work written by Douglas S. Freeman. It is biography of Lee's lieutenants: the generals of the Confederate army during the American Civil War. It is a biography of all of them – how they led their troops, interacted with each other, and how they fought battles. I started reading this book January 17, 2008 and finished March 13, 2008. This book is 731 pages of reading, not including the Appendix.

Even though it was intended to be about the generals under Robert E. Lee, it starts at the beginning of the war, when Lee was not in command, to give a background of the characters who where under Lee. When the book beginnings, P. T. Beauregard, the hero of Fort Sumter, comes to take command of the Army in Virgina. He has a tendency to make great plans, but not be able to do them. He takes command of the army, and fights his first battle. This battle was the first battle of Manassas, called by the Unions the first battle of Bull Run. Joseph E. Johnson was really in command in this battle, but Beauregard pretended that he was in command. Even though Manassas was a Confederate victory, it was not well planed by Beauregard. He sent out many conflicting order which confused the generals under him.

After Manassas, Beauregard was moved to a different arena of war because of his conduct as Manassas, and Johnson remained in command. Johnson was from the United States Army, and he had a bad relationship with President Jefferson Davis and the Secretary of War. Johnson retreated before the Union army twice, and was criticized for destroying stores when he should have brought them with him. Finally, Johnson was trying to hold of the Unions just a few miles away from Richmond. He had to prevent two Union Armies from joining up. He attacked a part of the Union army that was stationed at Seven Pines. He needed to overpower them before they could receive reinforcements. Johnson's plan was very complex, and his subordinates made mistakes. The most important thing that happened in the battle was that Johnson was wounded. He could no longer command the army, so Robert E. Lee was put in command.

During this time, General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson and Richard Ewell had been campaigning in the Shenandoah Valley. Jackson fought several battles, and did very well. Then he and his army moved to Richmond to drive back the Unions from before the capital. This series of battles in driving the Unions back was called the Seven Days Battles, and occurred from June 25 to July 1, 1862. Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, and several other subordinates, developed a plan where the army currently before Richmond would attack from the front and Jackson would attack the Union's rear. Jackson's troops did not march fast enough, because of muddy roads. The Unions got news of the plan and began to retreat. The Confederate army began to pursue them. Here is what Freeman says of this campaign:

“The strategic aim of the campaign had been achieved despite bad-co-ordination, worse tactics and the worst imaginable staff work: Richmond had been relieved. McClellan no longer was at the city's gates.”1

The bad tactics of the generals resulted in two of them being removed from their place in the Army of Northern Virgina.

There are many characters in this book. One is Robert E. Lee. Before he became the commander of the Army of Northern Virgina, he was a military adviser to the President. One of his strong points was keeping the peace between generals. He knew the President well after working with him, and so he had a better relationship with him than Johnson did.

Stonewall Jackson is another important character. After commanding the First Brigade, he was appointed commander of the “Army of the Valley” in the Shenandoah Valley. During this campaign he did very well, and he used his infantry, artillery and calvary together better than any other general. He was very strict in disciple, and kept his plans well hidden. Sometimes he created problems by not telling his generals what the plans where.

I think this book is useful to learn about the Confederate generals who served under Lee and his predecessors. It does not provide an overview of the Union side, or different fronts in the war, but it does do a good job of speaking of the battles and commanders in Virgina. I like the way the author wrote it, and I am looking forward to finish the other two volumes.

1Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee's Lieutentants, a Study in Command (New York, NY: Charles Scribner's Sons) volume 1, p. 604

Buy this book from Amazon.com: Lee's Lieutentants

Joshua's Birthday

Today is my brother Joshua's Birthday. He is turning 13, which is the age when he is becoming a man. He has always been a very nice brother. I am thankful that he is my brother. Joshua and I enjoy playing outside together. We have built many things in the woods together including forts, swings, a ladder and many other things which have all been a blessing to do with him. Here is a picture of us together with two of the things we have built together, the tree fort and the ladder:

I Corinthians 13:11 : "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things."

200 Year Plan Conference: Saturday and onward

Saturday

On Saturday was spend another day listening to messages at the conference. The conference went on all day. We ate lunch and dinner in downtown San Antonio. We enjoyed the messages. Vision Forum now sells the messages from the 200 year plan conference. You can buy them here:

200 Year Plan Conference

Sunday

The church service for people attending the conference was held in a hotel San Antonio. Mr. Phillips preached a message on the family table, which he did not have time to do Saturday. After the service, everyone was invited over to the Phillip's house for the afternoon. We went, and fellowshiped with people who where at the conference.

Monday

On Monday we drove around San Antonio looking for a place where Daddy could buy a new cowboy hat. He could not find a leather one like he wanted. Then we drove and found a bookshop in San Antonio which we went to. We got some books, and crammed them in our bags. We where supposed to fly home that evening, so we went to the airport. Our plane to Dallas was delayed because of storms, but finally we made it there. Daddy had a business meeting the next day, and we were supposed to fly home, but because our flight was delayed, we did not make it in time for our flight to RDU. We decided to stay the night in Dallas with Daddy, and stay there for the business meeting and leave the next day with him, rather than get home a 1 a.m. of later. We got a rental car, checked in to the hotel, and went to dinner with Daddy's employees.

Tuesday

We left in the afternoon, so in the mean time we did some things in Dallas. We went to a park and some stores there. We picked Daddy up from his meeting, flew out and arrived safely home that night.

Stephen doing a stunt

Yesterday Stephen was playing outside, and we took a video of something he did:

200 Year Plan Conference: Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our recent trip to San Antonio:




Rachel, Mommy and Stephen in the restaurant we ate lunch at on Wednesday



The Alamo



Mr. Bodkin speaking at the conference

We will try to get some more posts up soon.

200 Year Plan Conference: Friday

Friday was the day that the conference started, but it did not start until after lunch. We got up in the morning, and had a good breakfast at the hotel. It came with the room, and there were pancakes, bacon, eggs, potatoes, omelettes cooked to order, fruit, and other things. We enjoyed it a lot. We went back to the room, and Daddy and I worked for a little bit, until we had to leave to check in for the conference. We drove over to the downtown, and parked in a parking lot. We walked over to the Empire Theater, where the conference was. It was a very neat building. On the bottom level there were round tables and chairs. The upper mezzanine, had normal theater seating and had a very good view of the stage. Above that, there was another level, which was the balcony. It was very high up, and the seats were very steep. They did not want small children up there because it was dangerous, and no one was allowed to sit up there the second day. We sat on the mezzanine.

After we checked in they made us leave for an hour because they needed to do a final audio and video check. We left, and, because we were so full from breakfast, we went over to a hotel that was near and got some pastries. We went back to our car and got our bags. Then we walked back to the Theater, and waited to be let in. There we saw the Perch family, some of our friends that we had not seen for a long time. Their son Jordon was baptized the same day I was at our church. We enjoyed seeing them and ate dinner with them that evening.

Soon they let us in, and started the first message. It was an introduction by Doug Phillips. He spoke on things including the vision and limitations of the conference. Then Mr. Bodkin did a message called Introducing the 200 Year Plan. One interesting thing that he said was that we need to raise up militant sons, who will fight for God. Then there was a time of Q&A, and then we were sent out for dinner.

After dinner we came back and Mr. Phillips gave us Seven Secrets of Multi-Generational Visionaries.
He spoke of some things that are necessary to have in your multi-generational vision. In the evening Mr. Bodkin gave us several examples of multi-generational visionaries in history. After these messages we were very tired, and everyone went to bed.

200 Year Plan Conference: Thursday

Recently we went to the 200 Year Family Plan conference hosted by Vision Forum. The speakers were Doug Phillips and Geoff Bodkin. It was at the Empire Theater in San Antonio. We arrived on a Thursday, and left on a Monday. We got up early in the morning on Thursday, and flew into San Antonio with a layover in Dallas. We got there before lunch, and ate lunch in downtown San Antonio and then went to the Alamo. We learned about how the men defended the Alamo against Santa Anna, and how they were all killed. One interesting thing that we saw was Davy Crockett's rifle, powder horn and other equipment which were on display at the Alamo. One interesting thing that we learned was that the distinctive curved top of the Alamo was added after the battle by the United States government. This was very interesting.

After going to the Alamo, we walked around downtown San Antonio, but did not go to the Riverwalk. We went to a little toy soldier store, but did not buy anything. After walking in San Antonio, we went back to the hotel, which was near the airport because the ones in the downtown were very expensive, and got settled in. We went to dinner with one of Daddy's employees and her husband that live in Texas. We met them at a restaurant in a shopping center called the Rim. It was a Mexican grill restaurant, and it was very good. After dinner we went home to get a good night's sleep, and get up in the morning to go to the conference.

Seder

Yesterday, Good Friday, we had a Seder to remember what the passover was like. We did one like they did between Christ and the fall of the temple. The early Christians probably practiced passover until the fall of the temple. We had some families from church, the Breagys, the Pechins, and the Watsons, over to celebrate it with us. The bitter herbs made some people make faces:
We did not start the seder until 7:00 and started dinner at about 9:00 and it was over by about 10:00. We did 3 responsive readings, and drank 4 cups of grape juice (they were not full cups.) There was a lot of symbolism of Jesus in the seder even before he was alive. The sater plate had a boiled egg, parsley, salt water, bitter herb, mortar, and a lamb shank (we used a chicken bone; It was all we had.)
We dipped the parsley in the saltwater to represent us being redeemed through suffering. The parsley represents the hyssop used to sprinkle blood on the doorposts and our new life in Christ. The saltwater represents tears. The mortar represents the bricks made while in bondage in Egypt. It was one of the good foods to eat on the seder plate. The bitter herbs represent Christ's suffering on the cross.

We started the seder by having all the children look for leaven in the house, which represents removing sin from our house. Then Daddy hid the middle piece of matzah, which represented Jesus being hidden in the tomb. At the end of the seder, the children had to search for it, and Jeremy Watson found it with a little help from Mr. Breagy, which represents those who seek for Christ find Him. We also set a place for Elijah and opened the door for him to arrive, since scripture said that Elijah must return before the Messiah would come. We know Jesus said he has already come in John the Baptist.

I enjoyed the feast and learning how the passover pointed to Christ - and getting to drink lots of grape juice.

Alexander Hamilton Research Paper

I just finished my first research paper called, How God used Alexander Hamilton in Early America. It is for a Constitutional Law course by Dr. Paul Jehle that my father and I are doing on our drive to work. Alexander Hamilton is most known for writing the Federalist Papers, establishing the National Bank, and fighting a duel with Arron Burr.


Here are some of the books I read for it:

Here is a part of my paper:

"After the Constitution was approved by the delegates, it still had to be approved by the states. This is where Alexander Hamilton played his greatest part for the Constitution He, together with James Madison and John Jay, wrote 85 essays to defend the Constitution. They went phase by phase and defeated the arguments of the anti-federalists. They wrote collectively under the name Publius, a Roman who established the Roman republic. They were written "To the People of the State of New York",1 and were published in several different New York newspapers. They were not just read in New York, though that was the place that they played the largest role. Hamilton started them, and asked Madison and Jay to help. Jay did not write many, because he fell sick.

Hamilton states what he planed to write about in No. 1:

"I propose in a series of papers to discuss the following interesting particulars – Then utility of the UNION to your political prosperity---The insufficiency of the present Confederation to preserve that Union---The necessity of a government at least equally energetic with the one proposed to the attainment of the object---The conformity of the proposed constitution to the true principles of republican government---Its analogy to your own state constitutions---and lastly, The additional security, which its adoption will afford to the preservation of that species of government, it liberty and it property.

In the progress of this discussion I shall endeavor to give a satisfactory answer to all the objections which shall have made their appearance that may seem to have any claim to your attention."2

Why did Hamilton write the Federalist papers? He believed it would be best for the people. He says, "I have had my eye, my fellows citizens, to putting you upon guard against all attempts, from whatever quarter, it influence your decision in a matter of the utmost moment to you welfare, by any impressions other than those which may result from the evidence of truth. ... Yes, my countrymen, I own to you that, after having given it an attentive consideration, I am clearly of the opinion it is your interest to adopt it. I am convinced that this is the safest course for you liberty, you dignity, and your happiness."3 As he said himself, Hamilton thought that this was the best path, so he attempted to convince them to take it.

At the Poughkeepsie convention, the delegates from all over New York met to vote on the ratification of the Constitution, and there Hamilton played a predominate role. "Hamilton was at the head of a compact, like-minded, and beleaguered minority, like defense lawyers sitting at the same table. ... He gave [many speeches] day after day. The other side might win, but not until after he had shown them that they were wrong."4 One delegate said that "[Hamilton] changed votes ... and when party lines are drawn there is nothing so rare."5 He had an influence on the ratification of the Constitution in New York, and also had an influence through the Federalist Papers on New Hampshire and Virgina. What Hamilton did for the ratification of the Constitution was more influential than what he did in the Constitutional Convention towards writing it.

1 Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay The Federalist: A commentary on the Constitution of the United States being a Collection of Essays written in Support of the Constitution agreed upon September 17, 1787, by the Federal Convention (Birmingham, AL: Palladium Press, 2000) no 1, p. 3

2Ibid, pp. 6-7

3Ibid p. 6

4Alexander Hamilton, American p. 73

5As quoted in Ibid, p. 74"


If you are interested in reading the full paper, please email me (hornj@datatek-net.com). Or click here to download as an odt.

Scotland Book Recomendation

Here are the books that we read before we went to Scotland a few years ago. If you click on the title, it will take you to a page where you can buy the book. Here are our blog posts we did about it a year afterwards: Horn Herald March 2007

Tales of a Scottish Grandfather by Sir Walter Scott
Originally written to his grandchildren about Scottish history, we read most of these books by Sir Walter Scott before we went to Scotland:

Volume 1- From Bannockburn to Flodden

Volume 2 -From Gileskirk to Greyfriars

Volume 3 - From Glencoe to Stirling

Volume 4 - From Montrose to Culloden


Memorial to Bonny Prince Charlie where he returned to Scotland

G. A. Henty Books based in Scotland:
Bonnie Prince Charlie

In Freedom's Cause


Castle Campbell

The Scottish Worthies - A book about most of the Scottish Reformers.

Stories of the Covenanters in Scotland - A book of three short stories about covenanters in Scotland, originally printed in the late 1800's.

Crown and Covenant Series - This is a series of three books by Douglas Bond. They are historical novels based in Scotland in the time of the covenanters. The three books are Duncan's War, King's Arrow and Rebels Keep.

Books on Scottish Battles:

Stirling Bridge and Falkirk 1297 - 98 William Wallace's rebellion

Bannockburn 1314 - Robert the Bruce's Greatest Victory

Culloden Moor 1746 - The death of the Jacobite cause

Other Books my Father Read:

John Knox - Trumpeter of God

Blind Harry's Wallace

The Life and African Explorations of Dr. David Livingston

Faith and Freedom Tour Day 4

On Thursday, it was very warm. First we went to Burial Hill, and Mr. Phillips and Mr. Potter gave talks about the people who were buried, and what they did in Plymouth Colony. Then we had some time to walk around the graveyard and look at the grave stones. Next we walked down to the waterfront to see the Pilgrims Progress, which is people dressed up as pilgrims marching in a parade to Burial Hill, and then they had a short pilgrim worship service on top of the hill.

The Pilgrims in the Pilgrims Progress

They have one every year on Thanksgiving Day and many people who are in Plymouth gather to watch, and listen to the service that is like the ones the pilgrims did. Then we went in an old church that is where the pilgrims first had their church, and now it is called the Church of the Pilgrimage. There we listened to the pastor of the church, Gary Marx, give a speech about the pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.
Gary Marx giving his talk in the church

Then we walked to Pilgrim Hall, which is a museum in Plymouth about the pilgrims, and it has a model of the Mayflower, and some things that the pilgrims brought with them. At the museum they had a treasure hunt for the children to do, and if you complete it, they give you a free postcard.

The Pilgrim Hall Museum

Joshua, Stephen and I did the treasure hunt at the museum, and then our whole family went back to the hotel to get ready for the Thanksgiving dinner that they were having for us there. We sat with the Potter family during dinner. The dinner was a big buffet line with turkey and beef, and things you usually have at a Thanksgiving dinner. After everybody was finished eating we moved to a different room and some of the people on the tour got to tell what they were thankful for. Most people stayed around and talked to other people for a while after the dinner and then everybody left to go back to their hotel rooms.

Bermuda Pictures

We have added pictures to the Bermuda posts. Enjoy!

Second Day in Bermuda

Psalm 144:1-2
A Psalm of David. Blessed be the LORD my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle— My lovingkindness and my fortress, My high tower and my deliverer, My shield and the One in whom I take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.

Today, we spent the day exploring two of the fifteen forts that are on this small island that is two miles by twenty-three miles. Obviously, from the first British colony in Bermuda in 1612 until after WWII, they have felt very threatened. First from the Spanish, then the Americans. Once Britian lost the American War for Independence, they heavily fortified Bermuda since it and Halifax were the only ports that they had to protect their shipping lanes to the new world.
A view of the lighthouse from the ferry.

First, we took a hotel ferry to Hamilton, the capital of Bermuda, where the sister hotel of the hotel we are staying at is located. From the ferry dock, we walked up to the fort that overlooks the city, Fort Hamilton. It was built in response to the new American iron-clad warships, i.e. the Monitor class ship, which ended the British dominion of the seas. The fort had a complete moat around it which has now been planted to be a botanical garden. The moat walls are approximately thirty feet high. It was a dry moat, so it was protected by gun ports that are accessible via tunnels that are open to the public.

A view of the dry moat from a gun port.

A view of inside the dry moat.

We then took a ferry from Hamilton to Dockyard. Bermuda has one of the highest population densities in the world, so rather than using roads it is frequently faster to get to your destination by ferry which is the same cost as a bus. The Dockyard Keep is also from the nineteenth century and is the largest fort in Bermuda. It houses the Bermuda Maritime Museum which covers many aspects of the history of Bermuda. Most of the museum exhibits are located in the restored commisioner's house, which is a very large three story building with a beautiful view over the harbor toward Hamilton.
A cannon at the dockyard.

Bermuda was a significant island during WWII, primarily because it was the staging area for convoys to cross the Atlantic to supply Europe. They would gather in Bermuda and then cross under the protection of battleships. Also, it was where much of the mail crossing the Atlantic to the United States was censored. At the peak, there were about a thousand women, called censorettes, busy examining the flow of mail. Also, a German u-boat was captured and brought to Bermuda. It contained two Enigma machines along with the German code books allowing the Allies to decipher the German missives. Because of the importance of hiding the breaking of the code from Germany, it was never leaked that the u-boat was captured even though over a thousand people knew about it. The capture was finally announced nine days after the surrender of Germany. After the war, the u-boat was repaired and is now on display in Illinois.

First Day in Bermuda

This was our first full day in Bermuda. We have left the children behind for a long weekend. The first time since the birth of Stephen, who is now nine and a half years old. It is an early celebration of our twenty years of blessed marriage, which will occur this fall, but this seemed like a better time of the year to go to a beach location. Kendra has been wanting to see the pink sand of Bermuda (and her birthday is Saturday.)

Psalm 98:7-9
"Let the sea roar, and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell in it; Let the rivers clap their hands; Let the hills be joyful together before the LORD, For He is coming to judge the earth. With righteousness He shall judge the world, And the peoples with equity."

We began and ended the day with a walk on the beach. The first walk was along the hotel's private beach. It was small, but nice and secluded with umbrellas and chairs neatly arranged. Also, the sand was well groomed.

This is the beach at our resort.

This is the view from the beach club restaurant.

Psalm 119:105
"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."

From the shore, we walked up to the Gibbs' Hill Lighthouse. It is on the highest point of the island and was the second cast iron lighthouse ever built. It was casted and setup in an iron works in London, before being sent over in pieces and reassembled here. It was made of cast iron, a relatively new building material at the time, because of the soft rock of Bermuda was unable to hold the weight of the tower and lamp. It was built because of the number of shipwrecks on the reefs to the west of the island, which extend twelve miles out to sea. There had been a lookout on that hill since the mid-seventeenth century when they were on the lookout for Spanish galleys that might conquer the island.

Our hotel from the lighthouse.

A view of the island from the lighthouse.

In the afternoon, we took a long hike on a series of public beaches. This was probably about a three mile hike round trip and required climbing over the rocks to get from beach to beach. It was a pleasant day with beautiful weather. Then we found a spot to watch the sunset before heading back for a gourmet Italian dinner.

Re-finishing the Hard-wood Floors

This Christmas we are refinishing our hardwood floors as a project. Last year we put tile on the kitchen counter tops. This is even bigger because we have 900 sq. ft. of hardwood floors. The builders did not do a good job of sanding when they finished them the first time and the finish is gone in spots.

Here are the steps:
  1. Get everything off the floors, out of the pantry, and off the kitchen counters.
  2. Sand them. We do this to get the finish off, and make them smooth.
  3. Put stain on.
  4. Put three coats of polyurethane on (sanding, vacuuming, and tack clothing in between coats.)
We started on Saturday. Here are some pictures:Stephen Walker, who lives near us, came over to help.This is Daddy running the drum sander (which is for sanding the main parts of the floors). Stephen is holding the cord so Daddy does not run over it.Here is Joshua using a small orbital sander on the floor. The orbital edge sander we rented is beside Joshua.

We will use 3 or 4 different grades of sandpaper.

On Saturday we did almost the entire floor once, then we went to the Browns' barn to spend the night since we go there for worship on Sunday morning and it was too dusty to sleep in our house.

One day left for Vision Forum Give Away

There are only 24 hours left to enter the drawing for the League of Grateful Sons!

If you would like to enter, please send your name, email, and shipping address to hornj@datatek-net.com by noon on December 20.

For more information about this give away, visit: http://hornherald.blogspot.com/2007/12/vision-forum-give-away.html

Bill Brown, one of the heroes in the video, wrote a book with his wife on their life in Alaska. It is called, From Cowboy Boots to Mukluks: Six Years in the Territory of Alaska.

You can buy it from Amazon by clicking on:
From Cowboy Boots to Mukluks: Six Years in the Territory of Alaska

Vision Forum Give away



For 6 days only, we will be offering one free gift from Vision Forum. We will give away one copy of the DVD of League of Grateful Sons, a great video about honoring our fathers which was produced by Vision Forum. Even if you already have the video, you can enter anyway, it is a great video to give to others!



To enter the contest, please email your name, email and shipping address to hornj@datatek-net.com. We will only accept one application per family. All applications must be received by December 20, 2007. The winner will be notified by December 24, 2007. You will probably receive your free gift in 2-3 weeks. Please email any questions to hornj@datatek-net.com.

Mr. Bill Brown and his wife go to our church. He is one of the heroes featured in the film.


Vision Forum also sells a book about Mr. Brown, Coming In on a Wing and a Prayer, written by Kelly Bradrick, his granddaughter who went to our church before she was married.

To learn more about this great movie click here: League of Grateful Sons
To buy more products from Vision Forum, click here: Vision Fourm

We hope you enjoy this contest.

The Horn Family

Faith and Freedom Tour - Day 3

On Wednesday morning we got up and walked a few blocks to the Plymouth waterfront. There they have what is called the Mayflower II. It is a re-creation of the original Mayflower. This year is it's 50th anniversary. Just before we got on the boat, Mr. Phillips and Mr. Potter told us about the journey of the Mayflower, and what it would have been like aboard. It was terrible. The Pilgrims were not allowed up on deck because of the storms and they were cargo on board. There was no privacy in the hold. The Mayflower II is run by Plymouth Plantation, so there are a few actors impersonating sailors and passengers on the Mayflower. Here are pictures from it:


Morning on the Mayflower II



Horn Family aboard the Mayflower II


On the Mayflower we talked to several sailors. After the ship, we picked up lunch and boarded the buses for Salem. Salem was about a 1 1/2 hour drive. Dr. Jehle gave us a walking tour of Salem. We saw the statue of Roger Conant, the peace-maker who was the founder of Salem:
We also went to the Salem witch memorial, where Dr. Jehle talked about the Salem Witch Trials. He said that they were not an example of how all Puritans were, but instead of how the Puritans made mistakes. The problems were gossip, disobedient children, and throwing out the important laws (innocent until proven guilty, etc.) We really enjoyed this speech. We also went by Nathaniel Bowditch's house, and also went in a museum very quickly to see his writing desk, cane and other items owned by him, and also to see two famous paintings of the witch trials.

We also went to Ye Olde Pepper Company - America's oldest candy store. We went down to the Salem wharf where many missionaries left from, and heard a speech by Mr. Phillips and Mr. Potter on missions. After this we headed back to Plymouth and ate dinner there.