The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 06:31 PM

OUR VIEW: Texas Coach Ronnie Mitchem A Great Example Of Faith And Courage In The Face Of A Cesspool Of Left-Wing Political Correctness

Mitchem had warned his team in love all year long  of the consequences if anyone refused to stand for the national anthem. So when cousins Larry McCullough and Cedric Ingram Lewis ignored the coach’s orders and decided to protest, the coach took immediate action kicking them off the team right after the national anthem before the game started.

“As Americans we have one common thread and that is that men/women of all color have fought and died to give us the right to live free and get to play football on a Friday night and all the other liberties we have,” the coach wrote on Facebook. “To disrespect that is not right.” Coach Mitchem was gracious and allowed the two boys to make their "statement" and afterwards he made his statement as he dismissed them from the team after the game.

“I want to be clear that I don’t have a problem with people protesting if it is done the right way,” the coach said to us during our interview. “But to disrespect the flag that gives us the right to protest is the wrong way to do it. I gave the two players other ways to protest that I felt was fair. They didn't want to do things right."

Both boys and their mother have become very ugly about the incident taking to social media calling Mitchem a racist among other things while questioning his character and integrity over the matter. On top of that, media liberals and other atheist groups have piled on calling Mitchem every name in the book. "The left will stop at no end to destroy you," Mitchem told us.

"I've only had a hand full of people supporting us," he added. "You hear of the 'fake news' all the time when listening to television. You will never understand how true that is until you make national news and you become the object of their scorn," he added.

According to social media reports, the boys mother, Rhonda Brady said, quoting, “Him standing as a Christian and a pastor that was just not right at all on any level." Mitchem said Brady has also called him a "slave master," making this issue about race. Several news outlets falsely accused the coach of making the boys "strip" on the sidelines after the game having them take off their uniform. Those reports are absolute lies according to Mitchem. "They had clothes on underneath as if they knew this was coming. Look, if I couldn't force them from not kneeling for the national anthem, I sure couldn't have forced them to take their clothes off." Point made.

In addition Brady questioned Mitchem's character speaking to the Houston Chronicle saying, "“A man with integrity and morals and ethics and who truly believes by that would not have done anything like that." “I don’t want my kids or my nephew to be around a man with no integrity,” she added.

During the interview Mitchem mentioned to us exclusively that he had helped the Brady family out many times, even allowing the two young men to stay at his house and loaning the family money when they were in need. So much for the thank you part Mitchem got for his kindness.

And that's where I take great offense at Ms. Brady's remarks.

If there is any man in America with more character, integrity, courage, and heart, it's Ronnie Mitchem.

First of all, we believe this humble coach showed tremendous grace to begin with allowing these two young men to shame themselves when they disrespected the flag and national anthem. I'm not so sure I'd have been as gracious. The coach handled this beyond masterfully in our opinion.

Ms. Brady should be grateful to God her sons were being led by such a man as Coach Mitchem. If I was her, I'd be careful how she judges the coach's integrity without taking a hard look into the mirror as to who is the real culprit causing harm to her sons. The problem is they never learned respect from home and in the end, Mitchem got the blame for something the parents produced - two rebellious young men who shamed themselves by their actions. Coach Mitchem is not the enemy, the parents are.

Just this morning we learned of a 17-year old Texas girl who is suing her Texas High school district that suspended her for not standing during the national anthem. She told reporters that she hasn't stood for months because the "flag represents oppression and keeping people from true freedom." Are you kidding me? Freedom from what?

This type of disrespect isn't learned friends, it's taught! These two kids in Texas and this teen in Indiana didn't just wake up one morning and say, "we're going to disrespect the flag." They were likely taught this by parents and influenced by the examples of other "adults" who feel the same way and have sown their poisonous views into their children. The NFL protesters from a week ago should be proud of themselves for their shameful conduct. Their conduct was horrific in itself. What made it worse is the example it set and the ripple effect it will have on those who look up to the so-called professionals for leadership.

It's also truly sad how easy in America it has become to call everyone we disagree with a racist. When someone takes a stand for what is right that person is also quickly labeled as not having morals or ethics. It's the people who hate our nation who have no morals, ethics, or integrity, not Coach Mitchem. We call evil good, and good evil, in this nation and at the present time it's a damning sin on a list of so many damning sins dooming the red, white, and blue.

Coach Mitchem gracefully demonstrated to those young boys what it means to take responsibility for their actions, that there are consequences to disobeying authority. “Though many may disagree with me this is what I believe and as an American I have that right,” he said. “I pray these young men across America can come to understand there is a right and wrong way to do things.”

“Americans know and understand that if we lose that one common thread – the love of country and respect for what we have – then it won’t be long before we lose that freedom that we have,” he wrote on Facebook.

Coach Mitchem repeated those themes over and over during our interview. I listened to a man who has a very humble spirit, a heart for God and a love for our nation. That is not the definition of a slave master or someone with no integrity or morals. It is quite the opposite actually.

The bigger picture of what took place in Texas is the response of the liberal media and overall state of our nation. When a crazed killer murders 59 people the liberal media blames guns and screams gun control. They don't call the killing evil but call those who abide by the law evil.

When a school system in Indiana takes a stand and makes  a 17-year old respect the flag they are sued. And when a Texas Coach who loves his players and merely asks them to show respect for the flag, the national anthem, and themselves, he's labeled a racist and slave trader. That's the darkness of the American left that is seeking to undermine the foundations of this great nation as we speak.

Group after group called for the head of a now retired NFL quarterback years back caught up in dog fighting scandal, because the blood of dogs were shed after the sport. He went to jail for shedding the blood of innocent dogs, but where is the justice and where have the same cries been for the blood of 58 million innocent babies in abortion clinics across this stained land since 1973? Silence.

We stand with Coach Ronnie Mitchem today and ask you to pray for him, his family, and his church near Crosby. We were honored to have interviewed him and feel we gained a new friend during our chat. He promised to keep us informed of any developments as it will not be the last time we chat with him we hope.

What he did was RIGHT! It was right for the school. It was right for the community. It was right for these boys even though their racist mother and they don't see it. Yes, she's racist herself but is too blind to see it. And finally, what he did was right for the nation! What he did was right for the thousands of veterans, living and deceased, who have stood up for the flag in the face of tyranny. What he did was right for the memories of those who have shed blood and paid the ultimate price for the cost of our freedom.

We're losing a generation to a spirit of disrespect on all levels that is staggering. They don't respect their parents. They don't respect their teachers. They don't respect authority in any fashion. They hate the police and law enforcement who are ordained to protect them from evil. They have been taught to not respect anything godly or right. These same teens never respect the property or possessions of others when they burn down statutes, riot on campus, and destroy buildings. They become criminals and thugs instead of the productive young men and women  God has created all of them to be. In the end when teens and young people don't respect others and authority, they are in fact not respecting themselves.

This will be the death knell of our nation if it's not confronted and checked. Coach Ronnie Mitchem stood up and confronted it. In our book that makes him a hero of both the nation and for the entire Christian community. He wasn't just being patriotic with his actions, he was standing up for his faith in God.

We can only hope the rest of the nation will learn from Coach Mitchem's courage and realize it's more than ok to stand up for our nation, our values and our faith too.  May God bless the USA!

 Visit Pastor Mitchem's Website: http://victoryandpraise.com/index.php

Christopher McDonald, Publisher, Editor in Charge

Great Smoky Mountain Journal

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