"We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times." --George Washington

Both of these headlines were on http://www.foxnews.com today, one right over the other:

Battleground Contests TightenFOX News/Rasmussen Reports poll shows McCain gaining ground in swing states one day before election

FNC Poll: Obama Lead Widens

 

The price of gas here in Byram, Mississippi is -- are you ready for this? -- $1.99 a gallon!

This from David Barton and WallBuilders (http://www.wallbuilders.com):

October 20, 2008

In Matthew 22:21, Jesus commanded His followers: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."

Today, many mistakenly act as if the conjunction in this verse is "or" -- that is, "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, or unto God the things that are God's," but to the contrary, the verse deliberately uses the conjunction "and" -- that is, "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Very simply, Christians are commanded to do their duty in both the spiritual and the civil arenas -- to fulfill a dual responsibility in both.

Christians in previous generations fully understood the scope of this command. For example, the Rev. Charles Finney, a minister and leader in America's Second Great Awakening, reminded Christians in his generation:

The Church must take right ground in regard to politics. . . . God cannot sustain this free and blessed country which we love and pray for unless the Church will take right ground. . . . God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.

There are three weekends left before the November elections, and churches can do five things during that time to help ensure that Christians fulfill their civic responsibilities in this election.

1. Preach an ELECTION SERMON.
Election sermons began in America in 1633 and continued for the next 270 years. These sermons reminded Christians of their Biblical responsibilities in the civic arena, addressing the issues of the day from a Biblical perspective. As the Rev. Ebenezer Thayer noted in 1725, the preachers of Election Sermons were to offer thanks for the blessings received and also were to be "watchmen upon Jerusalem's wall, whose proper business is to decry dangers and give seasonable notice thereof -- to observe the sins of the times and the awful symptoms of God's departure." Dr. Timothy Stone's Election Sermon from 1792 can be read online.

  2. Utilize these BULLETIN INSERTS.
We have a church bulletin insert with quotes from five famous American ministers on the importance of Christians voting according to Biblical standards and values. Obtain these bulletin inserts in packages of 50 or 100, and distribute them on Sunday, November 2 before the November 4th election. These bulletin inserts are offered at a 50% discount.

 3. Make VOTERS GUIDES available to parishioners.
In the three weeks leading up to the election, make these guides available so that the people will be equipped to cast an informed vote either in early voting or in on site voting on Election Day. Those voters guides are available free on our website and are downloadable so that they can be printed in whatever quantities are needed by each church or group.
 
4. Show "YOUR VOTE COUNTS" DVD.
We have produced a 3-minute DVD, "Your Vote Counts," showing the historic role and importance of Christians voting. This DVD can be shown in church the Sunday preceding the election to encourage voter participation. (This video can be downloaded from our website or you can email us to order a copy of the DVD.)

5. All of the above activities are completely legal.
To assuage any concerns that pastors or parishioners might have, we not only have a letter from the IRS setting forth the freedoms of churches to engage in these activities but also the legal analyses of several national legal groups (including Liberty Legal Institute and Liberty Counsel) further affirming the right of churches to engage in these activities. In fact, these legal groups will represent free of charge any church that is attacked for engaging in these constitutionally protected activities.

Let's do all we can to be salt and light in the civil arena this election cycle, and these five things will help achieve that objective. (Feel free to forward this information on to other pastors, churches, or Biblical voters.)

God Bless!

David Barton

To sign up on the WallBuilders email list and receive future information about historical issues and Biblical values in the culture, visit www.wallbuilders.com.

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Don't forget to listen to WallBuilders' daily radio program, WallBuilders Live!, the intersection of faith and culture, or you can download the daily podcast. Visit www.wallbuilderslive.com for more information.

Please sign my petition to make Columbus Day a state holiday in the Great State of Mississippi! Go to http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/columbusdayholidayms.

They keep saying that the economy is bad and that the Dow is down, but the price of gas at our neighborhood Kroger is $2.999, and with the Kroger card, it's $2.969. Big corporations may be making less of a profit, but our family's economy is finally seeing a recovery. I hope that gas prices continue to drop! Now, if we could only get the majority back in Congress and do away with the law that the Democrats made (and President Bush signed! Grrr!) forcing the price of corn up, then maybe we could see a drop in the price of food at the grocery store as well.

SRN (Salem Radio Network) News reports this morning that protestors at the Republican National Convention (RNC) threw a brick through the window of a bus carrying delegates from Alabama to the convention, and FOX News reports that anti-war protestors at the GOP convention turned violent and up to 256 have been arrested. We don't need these type of people running our country.

Joe Biden is a good pick for Barack Obama - from the Republican point of view. Biden was caught plagiarizing during a prior run for president. His character and Obama's match up pretty well. Thanks for helping us, Obama! Now, if John McCain will only choose a good running mate, like former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and be careful not to commit any more gaffs between now and Election Day, then we will have a good chance of not only keeping the White House, but of taking back Congress.

Hallmark is now endorsing homosexual "marriage." They make enough money to have two television networks (The Hallmark Channel and the Hallmark Movie Channel), and they don't give their retail merchandisers (the people who take of their displays in stores) enough hours to make hardly any money at all. And now, they're part of the group who's pushing homosexuality down our throats. If you care enough to send the very best, then boycott Hallmark, since they're now the worst!

In an article titled, Pastor Warren: Stop Politicizing Religion, Star Parker says "What exactly is going on in America when our obsession is to cleanse every inch of public space from religion, yet somehow we think it is appropriate to bring a presidential political forum into church?" I vehemently disagree with her.

Church is exactly the place where candidates should come to share their views. Chrisitans need to know for what kind of person God wants for us to vote, and need to know where candidates stand on the issues so that we can make the best decision. All that was changed, for the worse, in 1954 when then-Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, in a move designed to get back at Texas churches for opposing him in the election, got a law passed barring pastors and churches from supporting or opposing a candidate, and threatening them with taking away their IRS tax-exempt status if they did.

Pastors used to preach election sermons, informing or reminding believers what it is that God wants for us to look for in a candidate. Since only God can see the heart, and we can only see a person's actions, then we have to judge a candidate's worthiness for an office based on what they have done, and that includes what they have publicly said, and how they have voted if they have previously held office. And the Founders knew that since we can't tell for sure whether someone is a Christian, then we need to choose the one who comes closer to being what God wants for him to be, and who is more likely to do the will of God in office. As one of our Founders said, none of us is perfect, so we need to vote for the one who is the least imperfect, and church is a great place for us to ask questions, listen to candidates' answers, and find out who is the least imperfect.

The proper response to Obama's "Yes, We Can!": "No, You Don't!" They can only if good men do nothing.

CNN reporters embedded with the soldiers were ordered by their bosses to submit only negative stories about the war - no positive stories allowed. I know that other "news" outlets engage in the same thing. In my opinion, this amounts to treason. Hear it for yourself by following the instructions below.

Go to your internet browser. Type in:

http://www.wallbuilderslive.com/audio/mp3/high/WBLive07-15-08.mp3

Hit "Enter."

Choose "Save."

You can save this onto your computer's hard drive, or onto your MP3 player.

The information is about 15 minutes into the program. The entire program lasts for about 27 minutes.