Quote from Forum Archives on November 7, 2022, 3:01 pm

"Standing Together, Shoulder To Shoulder, As We Fight the Good Fight of Faith"

SHOULDER TO SHOULDER is a weekly letter of encouragement Bob has written since 1997, covering many topics selected to
motivate people to be strong students of the Word and courageous witnesses of Jesus Christ.  It is a personal letter of
encouragement to you, written solely to help "lift up hands that hang down".

    "The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." -- Albert Einstein

    “There is a common, worldly kind of Christianity in this day, which many have, and think they have -- a cheap Christianity which offends nobody,
and requires no sacrifice, which costs nothing, -- and is worth nothing.” – J. C. Ryle

Shoulder To Shoulder #1313 -- 10-17-22

Title:  "Ancient Paths -- The Pathway of Integrity and Moral Behavior" B (part 21) 

My Dear Friend and Co-Laborer With Christ:

It appears that we have seriously entered into the more moderate temperatures of the Fall and heading toward winter months here in Yuma.  Monday's high was a very comfortable upper 80's with a relaxing breeze.  It was a perfect day to sit outside and enjoy the quietude of our little gated community before all the winter visitors begin arriving.  Our winter season at Chapel de Oro will begin in just three short weeks.  Some of our members are already here to join the handful who live here year round.

Jo Ann and I are still catching up with long-awaiting projects around the house.  Just yesterday I finally got the small smart TV mounted on the wall above my desk so I can use it as a larger monitor.  The twin bed in the "office" is still burdened down with boxes filled with who-knows-what, accompanied with who-knows-when it can be moved over to the park model -- so we can move the lift-recliner into the "office" -- so we can move the twin-sized "hide-a-couch" to where the lift-recliner was -- so we can move the marble-top chest of drawers to the other wall -- so we can bring the antique radio storage cabinet from the park model -- so we can prepare the park model for the many guests and family members using it the next four months -- so . . . . .

(Oh, well . . . . . )

And, somewhere in the process I'll have my annual wellness exam, have cataract surgery on both eyes, have my annual follow-up visit to the cardiologist who is keeping an eye on an aortic valve that has a very slight leak, and make a trip to my dentist in Los Algodones to have repair work done.

In spite of it all though, we are really "stoked", as they say, about this season's Chapel services.  Whereas last season we still fell far short of our normal seasonal high of 200, we anticipate having significantly more than last year's 113.  Over the past couple of years people in both chapels have asked if I would go back and preach some of the sermons I preached the first year I served each group.  So, this year as we enter our sixth year, I plan to do a revised and updated version of year one, addressing "Straight Answers For Serious Questions", based on a question David asked in Psalm 8 -- "When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained; What is man that You take thought of him, And the son of man that You care for him?" -- Ps 8:3-4

While it is a general return to some of the elements I addressed in my original "Considering Critical Questions" series, it will be much updated and expanded -- and hopefully simplified.

To another subject at hand, . . .

It seems that the issues of moral behavior and integrity -- or the frequent lack thereof in the world of politics -- increase on almost a daily basis.  So, in light of our fast-approaching elections, I want to tackle that again.  To be quite candid, there has not been a time in  our modern history when people who believe in the truth, who believe there are such things as moral standards of conduct, and who believe integrity remains essential need to come to the forefront and both live and speak the truth regarding those two matters.

When everything around us seems to reek of wanton immorality, character assassination, and lies, we must rise to the occasion.  As wickedness surrounds us with increasing intensity, we must stop being "spiritual pacifists" who habitually retreat from what is wrong instead of attacking it with courage and truth.  Today, I want to share some examples from our own historical track record and try to make some current applications about the urgency of moral absolutes and influential integrity, particularly as it relates to our upcoming elections.

Let's do that, right after you consider . . .

SPECIAL PRAYER REQUESTS:

Monday evening after a day of troubling news, I have been reminded of the old southern Gospel song, "Where Could I Go But To The Lord?".  So, Jo Ann and I ask you to pray for these following situations:

1.  Our niece on Jo Ann's side of the family, Kathy Nortensson, discovered her husband, Jeff, had unexpectedly died during the night.  Because Kathy is wheelchair bound from MS, she was unable to check on Jeff, so her cousin discovered Jeff's body.  We have no details yet, but please pray for Kathy and their adult sons and families.  Kathy lives in Tucson.

2.  Our son-in-law, Kevin Elder, and Cindy are still missionaries in Medellin, Colombia, South America.  Kevin had a bicycle accident that turned out to be more serious than first thought.  After being sent home from the hospital, he began developing serious pain in his side and his neck began to swell up.  Returning to the hospital, the doctors discovered that, among other unknowns to us, Kevin had a collapsed lung.  We are waiting for more details.  Fortunately our grandson, Christopher, and his wife, Kiara, have been visiting them from Wichita, so have been there to help out.  As you pray for them all, please pray that Christopher and Kiara can successfully adjust their return flight to a later date than this coming Thursday.

3.  Pray for me as I prepare for cataract surgery in both eyes.  I want them as soon as possible so I won't be impaired in any way when chapel services begin on November 6th at Chapel de Oro here in Yuma.  I've known for several years that my eyes weren't quite right, but the past year has been most noticeable -- especially when driving at night.  This past season in Greer I had to print my sermon notes in much larger font size in order to "read through the shadows".  And, I'm constantly "magnifying" the content of my laptop screen.

QUOTES FOR THE WEEK:

>  "Bad men cannot make good citizens. It is when a people forget God that tyrants forge their chains. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience, is incompatible with freedom. No free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; and by a frequent recurrence to fundamental principles." -- Patrick Henry

>  "Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our People in a greater Measure than they have it now, They may change their Rulers and the forms of Government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty. They will only exchange Tyrants and Tyrannies." -- John Adams

>  Without virtue, and without integrity, the finest talents and the most brilliant accomplishments can never gain the respect, and conciliate the esteem, of the truly valuable part of mankind." -- George Washington

>  ". . . civil liberty cannot be long preserved without virtue.  A Republic must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty." -- John Witherspoon (signer of Declaration of Independence, first President of Princeton University)

>  "No government can continue good but under the control of the people; and . . . . their minds are to be informed by education what is right and what wrong; to be encouraged in habits of virtue and to be deterred from those of vice . . . . These are the inculcations necessary to render the people a sure basis for the structure and order of government." -- Thomas Jefferson

>  "Public virtue cannot exist in a nation without private, and public virtue is the only foundation of republics." -- John Adams

>  "[T]here is no truth more thoroughly established, than that there exists in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity: Since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven, can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained [see Proverbs 14:34]: And since the preservation of the sacred fire of liberty, and the destiny of the Republican model of Government, are justly considered as deeply, perhaps as finally staked, on the experiment entrusted to the hands of the American people.” -- President George Washington

>  "If Virtue and Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great Security.” -- Samuel Adams

>  "We have no Government armed with Power capable of contending with human Passions unbridled by morality and Religion. Avarice, Ambition Revenge or Gallantry, would break the strongest Cords of our Constitution as a Whale goes through a Net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” -- John Adams

>  "Virtue alone is sufficient to make a man great, glorious, and happy." -- Benjamin Franklin

>  "When virtue is banished, ambition invades the minds of those who are disposed to receive it, and avarice possesses the whole community." -- Montesquieu

>  "[V]irtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government." -- George Washington  

>  "The institution of delegated power implies that there is a portion of virtue and honor among mankind which may be a reasonable foundation of confidence." -- Alexander Hamilton

>  "To suppose that any form of government will secure liberty or happiness without any virtue in the people, is a chimerical idea." -- James Madison

>  ". . . Virtue, morality, and religion. This is the armor, my friend, and this alone that renders us invincible. These are the tactics we should study. If we lose these, we are conquered, fallen indeed . . . so long as our manners and principles remain sound, there is no danger." -- Patrick Henry

>  "It is certainly true that a popular government cannot flourish without virtue in the people." -- Richard Henry Lee 

    >  "Whenever we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary." -- Thomas Paine

THE HEART OF THE MATTER:

I know this will appear to be very political, but a recent debate between two senatorial candidates illustrates the importance of morality and integrity in our upcoming elections less than three weeks from now.  Reports and testimonies, some even from close current or former family members, have revealed some things that you and I now know about both of them -- calling into question both their past morality and integrity, and where they are today.  Since the candidates are in a state where I cannot vote and where I have invested no monetary amount for either one, I don't think you can conclude my observations are politically motivated.  So, based on what I do know from public evidence is that today Hershel Walker is a moral man, a true Christian, and a man known for  his transparency, honesty, and integrity.  His opponent, . . . ?

While most analysts and political pundits now say, rightly so or wrongly so, that the 2020 election WAS NOT stolen from President Trump by "voter fraud", the facts are irrefutable that voter fraud DID take place -- just not enough to change the overall outcome of the election.  In fact, people have been arrested and have plead guilty for such action, even in my now-home-state of Arizona.

The real issue, however, is NOT about voter fraud, but once again about morality and integrity, revealing again how essential morality and integrity really are as part of the "salt and light" principle that Jesus so adamantly point out to His disciples.

"Politics is always downstream from culture."  I don't know if he originated it or not, but the late Andrew Breitbart clearly popularized the idea that both personal political views as well as political systems, operations, and policies come directly from the culture itself.  This is why there can sometimes be significant discrepancies between laws in adjacent states, and certainly in different countries.  You clearly see this as you contrast regions of the U.S. to one another.  Even more so, you see it between the U.S. and other countries.

Dan McLaughlin, a senior writer at National Review Online and a fellow at National Review Institute, explained the idea taken from Brietbart in an article entitled, "Politics Is Still Downstream From Culture", for National Review's May 04, 2016, issue.  He stated, . . .

"Andrew Breitbart, the late ever-controversial right-wing gonzo journalist (not to be confused with the dreary Trump-propaganda organ that now bears his name) used to have a saying that “politics is downstream of culture.” Meaning that:

"1. People’s political opinions are mostly not thought-out or analytical so much as an expression of what they think is valuable, cool, scary, smart, stupid, impressive to their friends.

"2. People generally put more of their hearts and free time into cultural pursuits – from mass media and video game consumption to churches, schools, museums, gun clubs, bowling leagues, etc. – than political ones, so the attitudes that pervade the the larger spaces of their lives affect the smaller ones, not just in what they believe but who they know and trust.

"3. Young people in particular are much more into getting their values and their “facts” from cultural rather than explicitly political sources."

This is an interesting picture -- our political stance, if McLaughlin is correct, is the end result of our culture.  Look back over our past presidents -- what do you see?  Whether Democrat or Republican, I contend that at least since President Clinton, each one (with the possible exception of the two Bush's), won their presidencies not so much because of their political positions, but rather primarily because they were able to use the cultural values and idiosyncrasies as a means of convincing people to elect them into office.  For all practical purposes, their elections were driven by popularity more than policy, and their popularity rested to a large extent on how the cultural world of money, media, and name recognition presented them.

Think about these presidents -- Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden . . . .   What was it that launched them into the highest political office in America?   Was it their political wisdom and experience?  Hardly!  While they all had some level of political experience by the time they were first elected, it was the cultural portrayal that was the driving force behind their elections.

Reagan was an actor-turned-politician.  Bush was from a wealthy elite background with military heroism.  Clinton was a cultural "good ol' boy".  Bush II was a businessman from a famous family.  Obama had almost no political experience, but came out of a somewhat academic background.  Trump obviously was no politician, but a shrewd and successful businessman and investor.  Biden came from an elitist family skilled at pulling political strings in the societal circles of the culture.

So, rather than policy being the thing that attracted most voters, it was party and popularity that guaranteed their election.  And, one thing is certain, no presidency can survive too long based solely on party or popularity.  Somewhere along the line, policy -- or lack of it -- comes into play.  We see that playing out before us this very day.

Like him or not, love him or hate him, admire him or despise him, it seems that Andrew Brietbart was accurate -- politics is, indeed, downhill from culture.  Another way of saying it is a bit more sobering -- the condition and values of culture shape and control the mechanism of politics.

The more I think about it, the scarier the entire idea becomes.

The thought that a culture can control politics is, indeed, troubling.  One would hope that something more noble -- something higher -- would be guiding us in our current political quagmire.

Fortunately, our founders understood the danger of a nation being governed by the opinions and whims of a fickle unpredictable citizenry on the one hand and a dictatorial tyrant on the other.  They understood base human nature.  As a result, they forged neither monarchy nor anarchy.  They knew that "mob rule" was as dangerous, if not more so, than the heavy-handed domineering tyranny of an arrogant and power-hungry king.

Consequently, they didn't create a democracy, where we would be governed by whatever the majority might want at the moment, but, instead, did something no nation had done before -- they created a Constitutional Republic built on the rule of law that, just as with the Children of Israel, would set the standards of conduct for both prince and pauper.  Yet, these laws would not be decided or created by one monarch according to his own values and biases, but rather by the people.

Just as in the case of Moses' attempt to lead the Children of Israel by himself (see Exodus 18), our founders knew it couldn't be equitably done -- after all, they knew from experience what it was like to be ruled by one man.  Instead, they chose a representative form of government where specific individuals were selected according to their reputation -- integrity, morality, skill, wisdom, and experience -- to solemnly, fairly, and honestly represent their constituents together with representatives from other states in creating a code of laws that would apply to all citizens regardless of economic status, occupation, religion, or race.  The more I study our form of government with its founding documents, the more I see the magnitude of their brilliance.  There has never been such a governing paradigm as ours.

The secret, then, to this new nation being born, surviving, and thriving, would be the proper selection of the representatives.  And, it would be the citizens of each several state that would do the selecting.  Thus, the burden of responsibility for having a good and just government would be upon the citizens who were duty-bound to select the most qualified person available to represent them.  The earlier members of congress were, for the most part, people who didn't "run" for office, but were rather "called" into office.

And it seems that their "calling" rested on two things -- their Competence, and their Character.  And, they knew that their Character would be revealed in their Competence, and their Competence would be governed by their Character.  Nobody in his right mind would choose a person who was power-hungry or wanted to use his office as a means of gaining favors or getting rich.

At least not back then.

THE SEED EARLY PLANTED:

Few statements more clearly illustrate the understanding our founders had about the matter than that of John Adams: . . .

"Statesmen, my dear Sir, may plan and speculate for Liberty, but it is Religion and Morality alone, which can establish the Principles upon which Freedom can securely stand.  The only foundation of a free Constitution is pure Virtue, and if this cannot be inspired into our people in a greater measure than they have it now, they may change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a lasting Liberty. They will only exchange Tyrants and Tyrannies."

Colonial leader and signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Witherspoon, wrote, . . .

"A Republic must either preserve its Virtue or lose its Liberty."   Witherspoon was the first president of what is now known as Princeton University.

Calvin Coolidge, in a speech regarding the Declaration of Independence, succinctly stated that, . . .

"We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material things. These did not create the Declaration. Our Declaration created them.  The things of the spirit come first.  Unless we cling to that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a barren sceptre in our grasp ... We must not sink into a pagan materialism.  We must cultivate the reverence which they had for the things that are holy. We must follow the spiritual and moral leadership which they showed."

Years after he had signed the Declaration of Independence, had served as President of Princeton University, and had lost two sons in the Revolutionary War, signer of the Declaration of Independence, John Witherspoon declared in his "Thanksgiving Sermon" after independence and peace had come to America that, ". . . civil liberty cannot be long preserved without virtue.  A Republic must either preserve its virtue or lose its liberty."

ROTTING SEED:

As you obviously know by now, I am a person addicted to American history -- particularly the 17th to 19th centuries during which time America's moral and religious values were shaped.  It was from the First Great Awakening that our founders were influenced by powerful preachers to form our nation, and it was the Second Great Awakening, the Prayer Meeting Revival, and the frontier revivals that strengthened and solidified them into a general national way of life.  True, there were plenty of evil people around, but they were inevitably shouted down by the overall morality and virtue of the populace as a whole.

Today a quote by one of our early founders seems to have summed up our current condition -- a man who, incidentally, had generally discarded the benefits of religion in his personal life.

"Whenever we are planning for posterity, we ought to remember that virtue is not hereditary." -- Thomas Paine

Morality and integrity -- or actually the absence thereof -- have often been on public display in the lives of those who lead our nation today.  It seems that party affiliation doesn't really play a part in that reality other than to verify that rejecting those attributes as core values will first,  1) corrupt both the party and the nation,  2) will stain both the party and the office held by the one rejecting those values, and  3) will manifestly display just how essential morality and integrity are for good and trustworthy leadership that deserves emulating.

Last week Family Research Council's founder and directory, Tony Perkins, interviewed Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in the “Washington Watch" Podcast.  Cruz pointed out that presidents have used public bureaus such as FBI, Land Management, Indian Affairs, and others for their private interests virtually since their creation, but especially in the last 75 years.  The Senator, who is an astute historian and brilliantly knowledgeable in his understanding of the Constitution, pointed to numerous actions carried out by past presidents that were entirely against the law.  He alluded to the following examples which he details in his recent book, Justice Corrupted: How the Left Has Weaponized the Legal System.  It's my understanding the book is to be released soon.

+  President Franklin D. Roosevelt had the FBI investigate people who sent him letters opposing his foreign policies.

+  The Kennedy administration wiretapped journalists and Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

+  Lyndon B. Johnson spied on the 1964 presidential campaign of Barry Goldwater.

+  Richard Nixon tried to use [Department of Justice], and the FBI, and the IRS to target his enemies.

+  Barack Obama pushed hard partisans into career positions at DOJ, the FBI, the intelligence agencies, and the IRS, and targeted his political enemies.

+  Political partisanship in those agencies, "has now metastasized under Joe Biden.”

Two years ago I purchased a two-volume encyclopedia, Political Corruption in America, by Mark Grossman, written in the 1980's.  It details scandalous corruption in the careers of over 300 people who held political office in either local, state, or national venues.  It didn't take long to get my fill of the accounts.  As I read some of them, I came out of the reading session feeling like I had been swimming in what on the farm we described as, "hog slop".

Today, critics of President Biden often point to a host of norm-breaking behavior emanating from within his administration, including the first-ever raid on the personal property of a former president.   But that was preceded with the FBI storming the homes of Project Veritas employees who obtained the diary of Biden’s daughter, Ashley.  Even prior to President Biden, you have the arrests of George Popadopoulis, Paul Manafort, Colonel Michael Flynn, Steve Bannon, and Roger Stone -- some on legitimate causes but more often than not, for purely political matters.

Even in the last few weeks, heavily armed agents have arrested pro-life advocates on charges stretching back more than a year.  Black Lives Matter officials have been accused of misappropriating millions of dollars in tax-exempt donations.  Thousands of demonstrations the past five or so years have erupted into violence and property destruction, but without arrests or prosecution.  Mob robberies have become a trademark of young rebels.  Most recently, more than 100 pro-life churches and pregnancy resource centers have been attacked, burned, or otherwise destroyed since this past May.

They all have two  things in common: -- a sense of morality and integrity were nowhere to be found, and . . .

Nothing has ever been done about them.

In the interview, Senator Cruz told Perkins. “The double standard is glaringly obvious, and it is remarkable. Merrick Garland is perfectly willing to have the DOJ function in a nakedly partisan way, and it’s completely unjustifiable.”

The Perkins/Cruz article went on to say, . . .

"Most recently, three national medical industry organizations, including the American Medical Association, asked Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate 'high-profile users on social media' allegedly sharing 'misleading information' the groups blame for 'provoking' purported threats against hospitals that carry out double mastectomies and/or surgical castrations of minors. The AMA appeal resembled a similar entreaty from the National School Board Association, which came almost exactly one year earlier, for Garland to investigate parents voicing opposition to transgender restroom policies, pornographic books, and controversial curricula such as critical race theory."

Now, some congressional members such as Cruz and five other U.S. senators have put their reputations on the block by calling out these irregularities and inconsistencies.  Even on yesterday's news media programs the inconsistencies have been pointed out again by members of Congress in both houses, and by a handful of news media personalities.

We are learning the hard way what it means when a culture loses -- or abandons -- its moral core.  Our founding fathers were right -- all along, they were right.

Since the end of World War II the effort to secularize America has been ramped up by people who see no connection between moral conviction and political activity.  Their efforts to deny God and eliminate all accountability to Him has led them down the pathway of "the great lie" -- "You won't surely die; . . . you will be like God!" (Gen 3:4-5).  Our political system now reeks with the stench of such a deception.  And, tragically, many who profess to be Christians are not only practicing such godlessness, but are, as did the citizens of Sodom, ". . . they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them." (Rom 1:32).

"One can be a good moral person without being a true Christian, but a person cannot be a true Christian and still remain immoral.   He can even be religious and be immoral, but to become a true Christian explicitly indicates he has abandoned all willful immoral behavior." -- Donte' Neetu Gnomee

VIRTUE IS VITAL:

Last Friday I stumbled onto this article from the news service, allisrael.com.  As I read it, I was immediately stunned at how it addresses the current "ancient path" we're examining.  I was even more convinced as to its relevance when I saw who some of the people were who are quoted in the article -- an intellect who is an internationally known clinical psychologist, a conservative Jewish media notable who is devout both religiously and politically, a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, and the CEO of the Tikvah Fund Israel, an Israeli conservative think tank.

The article was a report on a recent event, hosted by Tikvah Fund Israel, that took place earlier last week where a sold-out event of more than 3,000 people at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem on Thursday night.   The host's CEO, Amiad Cohen, kicked the conference off by stating, . . .

"It is easy to talk about freedom, but it is not easy to live a life of freedom -- especially in the American media".

He went on, introduce former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, who was instrumental in coordinating that now-acclaimed but previously doubted Abraham Accord agenda that led to the U.S. Embassy being moved to Jerusalem and peace agreements being signed between Israel and several Arab nations.  Friedman, in turn, moderated a panel discussion between Canadian Jordan Peterson, a media personality, clinical psychologist, author, professor emeritus at the University of Toronto (until he was recently "WOKED"), and new Christian, and Ben Shapiro, a devout Jew, public speaker, conservative TV personality, and a major thorn in the side of liberals.

Early in the discussion, Peterson told the mostly Jewish audience that that when individuals lack moral courage, evil has the opportunity to creep in.

Wow!  Visions of Washington, Adams, Franklin, and others!!!  Reading it this past Friday was like someone had hit a huge gong with a giant hammer, reverberating through my soul -- something so powerful one would have thought it was divinely inspired.  The following quote magnifies that concept:

""Morality is meaningless unless it is courageously expressed in the culture.  Otherwise, it is nothing more than self-exalting arrogance.  When morality is willfully put on public display, integrity will soon be established and observed." -- T. Allen Robburts

Our morality -- or lack thereof -- is put on public display by how we live, how we treat others, how we engage in politics, how we serve, what we cherish, and dozens of other things including . . . . how we speak.  The Bible has much to say about honesty, dishonesty, lies, and truth.  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, rescued from a Socialistic Communism he knew all to well, stated, . . .

"One man who stopped lying could bring down a tyranny."

Ben Shapiro, who is devoutly Jewish made an observation about the Jewish people whom God called out to follow, serve, and represent Him.  He referred to the principles found in the principles of the Torah and said all truth is based on three principles: God is one; human beings are to live by God's standard of morality; and God chose a nation—the Jewish people—through which to exemplify his values.  He went on to state, . . .

"Is our society -- a society that currently argues in the West that men can be women, that inequality of results automatically means discrimination, where evil terrorist groups and immoral armies are engaged in cycles of violence -- a truly better or more moral society? The answer, of course, is no."

He went on to remind the audience that . . .

"God does not randomly change His standards."

Jordan Peterson addressed that idea by stating,

"When you are called upon to hold your tongue for ideological reasons now, don't you think you are doing the same thing -- and where do you think it will end?"

FINALLY:

Outspoken founding father, Sam Adams (cousin to John Adams) stated, . . .

"[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally corrupt. He therefore is the truest friend of the liberty of his country who tries most to promote its virtue, and who, so far as his power and influence extend, will not suffer a man to be chosen onto any office of power and trust who is not a wise and virtuous man." -- Samuel Adams

So, then, if morality and integrity are to be the foundation for our upcoming voting in our respective states, counties, and towns, what must we do to be sure we've made the absolutely best decisions we can possibly make -- under the circumstances of being a mere human from a fallen race trying to choose which other mere human from that same fallen race will be our choice?  Again, Adams, gave us as good a "heads up" as you can find among humanity.  He stated it simply: --

“If Virtue and Knowledge are diffused among the People, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great Security.”

Historically the Family Research Council has had a very long track record of providing trustworthy voter guides and other materials that give a generally accurate sketch of your candidates and mine.  If you go to their website for this current election cycle, you'll find this motto: ----

"Grounded in God"
"Rooted in Research"  

If you will click on the link just below, you will find excellent information regarding party, biological info, background, values, position on issues, and other resources you can use in making your prayerful decisions.  In doing so, you will be spared all the "talk", media mumbo-jumbo, accusations, claims, and all the rest.  You will find information that comes from the documented record of each person.  In researching it out, you will be able to have all the "chaff" shaken out and only the facts before you.

Also, by going to the appropriate link you can pull up the information for your own specific state.  You can also access numerous other helpful resources including a sample of your own ballot, and, perhaps most important of all, a comparison of the two parties' official positions on six major issues facing us this election, accompanied by specific things the Bible says about each issue.   I'm disappointed that other issues are not addressed, but these six are -- Right to Life, Religious Liberty, National Defense, Healthcare, Economy, and Border Security.  So, click on this:

https://ivoterguide.com/?partner=FRCA/

Near the conclusion of the Jerusalem panel discussion, Jordan Peterson became very emotional as he spoke of the uniqueness of the Nation of Israel.  He concluded by saying, . . .

"You have a tremendous moral responsibility like you have perhaps had for your entire history for reasons that are very difficult to understand.  Make yourself a shining light on a hill. Show the world what the holy city could look like -- because we need it."

He not only speaks to Israel, but he also speaks, I believe, to us -- to you and me -- to every Christian -- to every citizen.

Is it possible for morality and integrity to return with culture changing -- heart changing -- impact?  Absolutely it is possible!

Will it happen?

Well, . . . that depends -- on us, doesn't it.

In His Bond, By His Grace, and for His Kingdom,

Bob Tolliver -- Romans 1:11

"Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness,
    examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so." -- Dr. Luke (Acts 17:11)

"A fire kept burning on the hearthstone of my heart, and I took up the burden of the day with fresh courage and hope." -- Charles F. McKoy

Life Unlimited Ministries
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Copyright October, 2022

"If Jesus had preached the same message that many ministers preach today, He would never have been crucified." -- Leonard Ravenhill

"The time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep,  the Church will have clowns entertaining the goats." -- Charles H. Spurgeon

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Please do NOT hit reply to this letter.  This is an automated unmanned system.
If you want to write Bob, send directly to lifeunlimited@pobox.com.
Replying to "Shoulder To Shoulder" mailer gets you nowhere.