Tuesday
THE WORDS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
SO MANY READERS LIKED OUR VOTING
SUGGESTIONS LAST WEEK -- WE HAVE
BEEN URGED TO REPEAT THEM:
BEFORE YOU VOTE . . .
1. THINK . . . if what you are going to do is best
for America;
2. PRAY . . . ask God what He wants you to do;
3. VOTE . . . in confidence that you are doing
what is right.
- - - - - - - - - -
THERE ARE TIMES -- LIKE RIGHT NOW --
WHEN IT IS APPROPRIATE TO RECALL
THE WORDS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN
Before he was President, Mr. Lincoln used these
words in a speech on May 29, 1849 -- just a few
days after he received a US Patent for an invention,
the only patent ever awarded to a US President:
"You can fool all the people some of the time,
and some of the people all the time, but you
cannot fool all the people all the time." He
apparently so liked the statement that he repeated it
while running for president in 1856: "It is true that
you may fool all of the people some of the time;
you can even fool some of the people all the time;
but you can't fool all of the people all the time."
If Mr. Lincoln could repeat it -- we should also be
able to do so. Because that simple truth remains very
evident in our present presidential campaign.
And this same thought became part of world
history in the 20th century. Joseph Goebbels,
propaganda minister for Adolph Hitler, expressed
a similar view in these words: “If you tell a lie big
enough and keep repeating it, people will
eventually come to believe it." Later his leader,
Hitler, himself, adapted that view to his own words:
"Make the lie big, make it simple, keep repeating
it, and eventually they will believe it."
And with a similar concept as a background fact,
Edmund Burke, the oft quoted 18th century British
statesman, said, "Those who don't know history
are destined to repeat it.” Two centuries later,
George Santayana, Spanish-born philosopher of
the 20th century expressed Burke's thought in these
words, "Those who cannot remember the past
are condemned to repeat it."
The point of these reflections on the past? As
Americans during this presidential election campaign
we are being subjected to what seems to be endless
mishandling of the truth and threats, promises and
dire warnings about both opposing parties. That
is why we were inclined to repeat out suggestions
for procedure in voting: Think . . . Pray . . . and
then Vote.
With respect to election issues, for the Christian
moral value issues remain as of primary importance.
While they are not the only issues involving moral
values, abortion and homosexual marriage remain
as most significant moral value issues. We have
previously quoted Dr. Scott Lively, founder of
Abiding Truth Ministry, and do so again with his
very perceptive observation: "As simplified as it
may sound, the culture war in America is at its
core a battle between Christians and
homosexuals. It is a winner-take-all fight to
determine whose presuppositions about sexual
morality will form the foundation of all of our
laws and policies. Frankly, the homosexuals
have been winning this fight for many decades
because the church has been asleep."
And while we were dozing, you have probably
noted that in Connecticut, as in Massachusetts and
California, the state Supreme Court, by the same
narrow 4-3 vote, ignored the law of the state and
made same-sex "marriage" legal in Connecticut.
Once again the homosexuals have won a victory
through judges legislating from the bench and
overturning the law of the state. In the upcoming
election in November, Christians have a distinct
challenge in ballot initiatives in California, Florida
and Arizona.
We have previously cited other major issues
America has to face -- foremost among them being
the new aggression being demonstrated by Vladimir
Putin's Russia in his new alliances with America's
enemies in Latin America. Now a ship carrying
Russian missiles and other armament apparently
destined for Iran has been captured at sea by
pirates, with American naval vessels preventing
any movement. Meantime a Russian ship is heading
toward the scene as the pirates threaten to blow up
the ship, killing the crew and themselves if their
ransom demands are not met..
Another aspect of the increasing tension between
America and Russia is the assessment that if present
demographic trends continue, Muslims may be the
majority in Russia by mid-century. Ilshat Alsayef,
former Russian military officer, drew this conclusion:
"If the trends of isolation and radicalization
continue, along with current demographic trends
and rising oil prices, it is quite possible that by
mid-century Russia will become a radical Muslim
superpower."
And one side issue of interest: NASA is facing the
impossibility of sending any more US astronauts to
the international space station. Our nation's aging
space vehicles will be retired in 2010, and their
replacements will not be available until 2015 at the
earliest. One option is to employ Russian Soyuz
spacecraft to transport our astronauts to and from
the space station -- paying fares amounting to
hundreds of millions of dollars like space tourists.
Given the current tension between the two nations
this does not appear to be a simple arrangement to
complete -- mainly because of a US law enacted in
2000 prohibiting any government contract with any
nation which has aided North Korea or Iran in
their nuclear programs -- as Russia has done.
So there are other problems facing us besides the
election campaign and the current financial debacle.
And there is the persecuted church, worldwide.
This is just a reminder that Sunday, November 16
has been designated as the International Day of
Prayer (IDOP) when thousands of churches in
more than 100 countries around the world will be
sharing in this annual special day to focus prayer
for and with persecuted Christians everywhere.
The World Evangelical Alliance is the coordinating
body, and further details will be available in this
newsletter and from many other sources.
A thought about a popular theme: "Change"
"Progress, far from consisting in change, depends
on retentiveness. When change is absolute there
remains no being to improve and no direction is
set for possible improvement: and when experience
is not retained, as among savages, infancy is
perpetual." -- George Santayana
Some Random Afterthoughts . . .
New approaches to marketing the Bible. The
perennial world's best selling book is currently
appearing in new formats, and more extensive
changes are apparently in store. One edition has
a high gloss, magazine style appearance, and
features pictures of present day stars like Angelina
Jolie. Reportedly in preparation are comic book
style versions, with a chronological version due
to be released yet this year. Somehow the old
story comes to mind about the lady who said
"If the King James version was good enough
for the Apostle Paul, it's good enough for me."
A couple of items you may have missed.
(1) US Representative Yvette Clarke (D-NY)
objected to Governor Palin’s references to “Joe
Six-Pack” and “hockey moms.” As reported in the
New York Observer, Clarke said, “Who exactly
is Joe Six-Pack and who are these hockey moms?
Is that supposed to be terminology that is of
common ground to all Americans? It leaves a
lot of people out.”
(2) It is known that Mohammed Atta, the 9/11 ring
leader, had a valid Florida driver's license -- and
13 of the 19 9/11 hijackers also had valid driver's
licenses. Using those licenses, 8 of those hijackers
were registered to vote. Somehow related to those
disclosures is the disturbing fact that Barack Obama
strongly supports giving illegal aliens valid American
driving licenses. This fits in under the suggestion
above to think before you vote.
A Founding Father's warning: "Democracy
will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an
anarchy that every man will do what is right in
his own eyes and no man's life or property or
reputation or liberty will be secure, and every
one of these will soon mold itself into a system
of subordination of all the moral virtues and
intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth,
beauty, wit and science, to the wanton pleasures,
the capricious will, and the execrable cruelty of
one or a very few." -- John Adams, 1763
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