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ByGatekeepers Association

Presidential Candidate Comparison

Compare the Trump and Clinton’s positions on various issues. See which seems closest to the Word of God so you may make a Godly decision when you vote.

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From what you discover decide which candidate by intention or without consideration will best lead this country to be closer to the will of God.

ByGatekeepers Association

Hillary or Trump:One Pastor’s Opinion

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DR. JIM GARLOW/SKYLINE CHURCH, SAN DIEGO

I have been asked “the question” so many times regarding Trump or Hillary. By way of background, I have followed every national convention—Republican and Democrat—from the time I was age 9, and have attended most of the GOP Conventions from 1984 to the present. I have watched the news virtually every day from the age of 8. I have never seen anything like what we are observing.

In spite of the unprecedented nature of this election cycle, I will attempt to respond to “the question.” I am not demanding that anyone else share my view. But I was asked. Here is my best attempt to answer as I am able to see things at this time:

1.   The Democratic and Republican party platforms are as different as night and day, in my opinion, as far apart as evil vs. good. The 51-page Democratic platform is the most leftist ever. (I don’t care for the “right vs. left” nomenclature. I am far more concerned with “right vs. wrong.”) The Democratic platform contains many points which are anti-biblical. (Time does not permit me here to identify what is meant by “anti-biblical,” which is covered in my new book Well Versed: Biblical Answers to Today’s Tough Issues.) It is thoroughly socialistic (a socialist is a communist without a gun). The 54-page GOP platform is one of the strongest GOP platforms ever. A biblically alert person could be comfortable with almost all of it. Party platforms are a big issue to me. Although some “blow off” party platforms, I do not. Nor do many people up and down the ballot who are running for office. This is a serious and very important item. I have a hard copy of both platforms in front of me now. Most people have never checked out what the party platforms say. They should. If a person is not drawn to the “top-of-the-ballot” candidate, they ought to at least consider voting for the candidate attached to the best party platform.

2.   Analogy #1: Both candidates are flawed. We all know that. But permit me an analogy: As a pastor, I would rather deal with a church attendee who is blatant and brash in his sinning than one who is devious, lying, cunning and deceptive. Both are problematic, but one is easier to deal with than the other. If I were a pastor bringing correction to a parishioner, I would prefer dealing with a “Trump-type” any day over a “Hillary-type.” The chances of making progress with the “Trump-type” are many times greater than the “Hillary-type.”

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ByGatekeepers Association

An Open Letter To Black Clergy

 

Bishop Harry Jackson

We are in the middle of one of the most volatile and unpredictable presidential elections in living memory. Any political principles at stake are getting swallowed up by daily scandals and larger-than-life personalities.

And as often happens, so much focus has been on the presidential race that many Americans have forgotten that their governors, senators, congressional and state representatives—as well as a litany of local elected officials—will have far more influence on their day-to-day lives than whoever occupies the White House.

“Conservative” is often used interchangeably with “Republican,” but the two words do not always mean the same thing, particularly this year. Although people define conservatism differently, in the American tradition, conservatism generally includes the ideas of restrained government power, affirmation of the traditional family, respect for religious conscience, peace from a place of strength in foreign policy, and respect for the autonomy and dignity of each individual human being.

I believe there are many reasons why conservative political principles are better for all Americans, but in this letter I will share just a few reasons why African Americans in particular should consider voting for Mr. Trump and candidates—at every level of government—who adhere to conservative principles.

1. Restrained Government

Blacks, more than almost any other people group, have good reason to be skeptical of excessive government power. From slavery to Jim Crow and the Tuskegee experiments, government power has been used to enslave, discriminate against and abuse blacks. While many government programs are promoted as “helping” blacks, the help always comes with the authority to regulate and intrude.

2. School Choice

For years, surveys have repeatedly demonstrated that black Americans overwhelmingly support the conservative idea that the zip code in which people can afford to live should not determine the quality of the education their children receive. Yet opponents of school choice repeatedly insist that children whose parents cannot afford private school must attend the public school for which they are zoned, even if that school is unsafe and incompetent.

3. Economic Opportunity

The black unemployment rate remains nearly twice the white unemployment rate, despite a theoretical economic recovery. Conservative elected officials resist the government interference in the labor market that raises unemployment and prevents many from getting needed job experience.

Furthermore, leaders governed by conservative principles will work to remove the stifling regulations and taxes that discourage new businesses from forming and existing businesses from growing.

4. Family

The decline of marriage has many complex causes, but it has hit the black community the hardest. Yet much of the liberal agenda has been devoted to redefining the traditional family out of existence. Blacks who marry and stay married have drastically better outcomes than those who divorce or do not marry at all. Strong marriages make healthy families and build vibrant communities.

True conservatives also believe that parents should have the right to raise their children how they see fit, as long as they do not abuse or neglect them. In many communities, African American parents have the reputation for being stricter than their white counterparts.

As Nancy Hill wrote this summer in US News and World Report, “To [keep their children safe], African-American parents are often much stricter and require more obedience than do other parents—aptly called ‘no-nonsense parenting.’ From the outside, this parenting may seem harsh and unyielding. However, African-American parents are preparing their children for a harsh and unyielding society.” Hill notes that research confirms these techniques are associated with better academic and life outcomes.

5. Foreign Policy

We are living in a dangerous world, where various entities like ISIS and the regimes in Iran and North Korean openly declare their hatred of our country and desire to destroy us.

Conservatives generally believe that peace must come from a place of military strength, while their opponents tend to think that by making concessions to our enemies we can persuade them to hate us less. Yet history demonstrates that this practice emboldens rogue states and dictators, making them even more dangerous.

6. Religious Liberty

Religious liberty has been under assault for some time now, and African-Americans have been deeply affected. From Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran to Dr. Eric Walsh, well-respected black professionals have been persecuted or even fired because of their faith. Conservatives believe that all Americans should be allowed to do their jobs and run their businesses in accordance with their religious consciences.

7. Self-Respect

Conservatives believe in self-reliance and personal responsibility, as well as the importance of mediating non-governmental institutions like the family and local churches. This viewpoint is deeply compatible with the long, proud African-American tradition which emphasizes strong individuals, families and churches.

This election, I urge African-Americans—and all Americans—to critically evaluate where candidates stand on these principles, and vote accordingly. This means voting for Mr. Trump and true conservative, down ticket candidates.

3 Reasons Why you should read Life in the Spirit. 1) Get to know the Holy Spirit. 2) Learn to enter God’s presence 3) Hear God’s voice clearly! Go deeper!

Has God called you to be a leader? Ministry Today magazine is the source that Christian leaders who want to serve with passion and purpose turn to. Subscribe now and receive a free leadership book.

 

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ByBishop Jim Lowe

Can the American people trust the IRS?

IRS LogoAs a result of a Judge’s order, the IRS will, at long last, be required to disclose the details of the lawless and unconstitutional Tea Party targeting scheme. The court’s requirement that the IRS give account for its conduct is a tacit acknowledgment that plaintiffs—as well as the American public—deserve honesty and transparency from their government. We are pleased that the court has taken this first step and look forward to a resolution of this case that will hopefully include the first judicial acknowledgment of the unmistakably unconstitutional nature of the IRS’s egregious political targeting of U.S. citizens.

Since 2013, the ACLJ has represented more than 41 groups from 22 states across the country in our lawsuits against the IRS.

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ByGatekeepers Association

Wisdom

Wisdom refers to the application of reason to experience. The greater and wider a person’s experience, the better is the field for gaining wisdom. The wise person or sage allows experience to stand on its own so as to incorporate that experience into wisdom. A theory that excludes experiences so as to maintain the theory tends to become folly that reduces the capability of the sage to think wisely. Sufficient exclusion of reality and experience from a person’s views and theories of life can demote the person into a fool. A number of Biblical books make the contrasts between the sage and the fool — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Job, as well as Sirach and the Wisdom of Solomon, which remain in the Catholic and Orthodox canons of Scripture. Since Sirach and Wisdom carry the Biblical wisdom tradition into the 2nd and 1st centuries BC (respectively), the communities that no longer include them in their canon can still gain ancient Jewish insight and wisdom in a variety of areas, including some not treated in Proverbs, e.g., wisdom on God’s gift of physicians (Sirach 38:1-15).

Biblical wisdom is not merely “pure reason,” such as the Enlightenment philosophers have tried to impose on the West. Reason is a tool, similar to a ladder that takes a person step by step in a straight line from point A to point B. However, also like a ladder, the starting point of reason must be pointed to the correct goal: a ladder placed against a blank wall will lead the climber to a blank wall; a ladder placed under an open window will lead one to enter the house. Similarly, reason and logic that are based on ideas that center on the human self will lead its thinkers to the blank wall of human selfishness.
Based on such an understanding, the Bible frequently states that its starting premise for wisdom is “fear of the Lord.”

  • Psalm 111:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who practice it. His praise endures for ever! (Psa 111:10)
  • Job 28:28 And to man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; And to depart from evil is understanding.
  • Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
  • Pro 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
  • Ecc 12:13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
  • Ps. 19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.

Sirach:

  • 1:18 To fear the Lord is the root of wisdom, and her branches are long life. Part of a discourse on “fear of the Lord” in Sirach 1:9-30, resumed in 2:7-18, 10:19-24
  • 19:20 All wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and in all wisdom there is the fulfilment of the law.
  • 21:11 Whoever keeps the law controls his thoughts, and wisdom is the fulfilment of the fear of the Lord.
  • 23:27 Those who survive her [the adulteress] will recognize that nothing is better than the fear of the Lord, and nothing sweeter than to heed the commandments of the Lord.
  • 25:6 Rich experience is the crown of the aged, and their boast is the fear of the Lord.
  • 32:16 Those who fear the Lord will form true judgments, and like a light they will kindle righteous deeds. 17 A sinful man will shun reproof, and will find a decision according to his liking.
  • 34:13 The spirit of those who fear the Lord will live, for their hope is in him who saves them. 14 He who fears the Lord will not be timid, nor play the coward, for he is his hope. 15 Blessed is the soul of the man who fears the Lord! To whom does he look? And who is his support?
  • 40:26 Riches and strength lift up the heart, but the fear of the Lord is better than both. There is no loss in the fear of the Lord, and with it there is no need to seek for help. 27 The fear of the Lord is like a garden of blessing, and covers a man better than any glory.

In contrast to fear of the Lord, Sirach describes the sinful fool:

23:18 A man who breaks his marriage vows says to himself, “Who sees me? Darkness surrounds me, and the walls hide me, and no one sees me. Why should I fear? The Most High will not take notice of my sins.” 19 His fear is confined to the eyes of men, and he does not realize that the eyes of the Lord are ten thousand times brighter than the sun; they look upon all the ways of men, and perceive even the hidden places.

Fear of the Lord is key for the sage, who knows that any of his or her theories and enterprises will all be judged by the infinite wisdom of God. Not merely one’s stated goals but even the underlying motives of any human idea or project will be subject to God’s wisdom. However, fear grows into deep love, as Solomon and Sirach attest in their wisdom. Jesus Christ, whom “whom God made our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Cor. 1:30), will judge every human being and all of their enterprises. We therefore promote wise thinking in all of our political decisions.

The application of wisdom allows Christians to weigh various political proposals in terms of their overall goals, the cleverness and practicality of their means of attaining those goals, and the establishment of the norms by which Christians judge the success or failure of those goals and means.

For instance, Christians do well to assume the good intentions of politicians of both parties until they provably demonstrate corruption or evil intent. Politicians do want all children to be educated, the poor to become wealthy, the sick and infirm to receive care, and the nation to be defended both locally and internationally. The application of wisdom to their various programs goes beyond assuming their good will and considers the value of a program and makes regular judgments on its successful achievement of its goals. This approach binds the Christian first to the fear of the Lord that leads to wisdom rather than letting any party loyalty blind us to folly proposed or perpetrated by politicians. Wisdom grants a freedom to apply the considerations of God’s commandments, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, virtue and practical analysis of means and results over consideration of mere human loyalties.

ByGatekeepers Association

The Virtues or Fruit of the Holy Spirit

Virtue is a term derived from the Latin virtus, which means “strength” as well as virtue. This meaning points out that virtues inhere to a person’s inner character and personal strength. Cicero wrote: “Virtue may be defined as a habit of mind (animi) in harmony with reason and the order of nature” (De Inventione, II, LIII). Unlike the commandments of God, which form a bottom line of moral behavior, virtue does not possess an upper limit. God is the infinite source and norm of all virtue, therefore humans can and ought always to increase in virtue. No human will ever reach the infinite virtue of God our Lord, and he will always help humans reach ever higher in virtue.

Naturally, much of a person’s interior character and virtue remains opaque to other humans. Ultimately only the Lord God can observe the virtues of any and all human beings:

  • Sam. 16:7 The LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.
  • Jer 20:12 Yet, O LORD of hosts, You who tests the righteous, Who sees the mind and the heart.
  • Luke 16:15 You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts.
  • Prov. 16:2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the LORD weighs the motives.
  • Prov. 21:2 Every man’s way is right in his own eyes, But the LORD weighs the hearts.

Yet Christ taught, “Do not judge according to appearance, but judge with righteous judgment” (John 7:24). In that regard, we can consider the manifestation of virtues or lack thereof in the people around us, including politicians. Human behaviors can often, though not in every case, indicate the presence of virtuous character. While absolute certainty about another person’s virtue is impossible for limited human knowledge, we can justify an examination of politicians in this regard, simply keeping ourselves explicitly aware that our knowledge of another person’s virtue is limited.

Three of these virtues – faith, hope and love – are themselves unwarranted free gifts of God. Possession of them will be judged by the God who gave them rather than by human beings who can.

Other virtues are called the “fruit of the Holy Spirit”:

  • Gal. 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such there is no law.

Cardinal Virtues:

  • Plato (The Republic, 427e; see also 435b), Cicero (De Inventione, II, LIII), and others listed four key natural virtues, which the Church fathers such as St.
  • Ambrose (Commentary on Luke, V, 62) and St. Augustine (De moribus eccl., Chap. xv), identified as “cardinal” or “hinge” virtues:
    • Prudence (phronesis; Latin: prudentia): is the ability to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time
    • Justice (dikaiosyne; Latin: iustitia): fair and equitable treatment of people in terms of natural law and civil law.
    • Temperance (sophrosyne; Latin: temperantia): the ability to restrain and apply self-control to the various natural appetites, which otherwise left on their own would go out of control.
    • Courage (andreia; Latin: fortitudo): is the ability to confront and overcome one’s fears in order to accomplish one’s duties.
ByGatekeepers Association

The Commandments of God

The Bible sets out two basic kinds of commandments (Hebrew: mitzvah): unconditional, apodictic commandments (Hebrew hoq) that must never be broken, and case laws (Hebrew: mishpat) which are based on specific situations and contain certain conditions for the law to apply in a case.

The Ten Commandments are apodictic, unconditional laws that maintain their full validity into the New Testament, since Jesus Christ considered them to be one answer to the rich young man’s question: “What must I do to gain eternal life?” While different Christian communities number them differently, based on differences of numbering between the Diaspora Jews who used the Septuagint (the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox numbering of the Commandments) of the Pharisees’ numbering (Jews and Protestants), no one discounts any of these commandments (except in personal life).

These Commandments form a bottom line of moral expectation below which a person can never go with impunity.

Exodus 20:1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 “You shall have no other gods before me.”

4 “You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

7 “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”

8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work;”

10 “But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your manservant, or your maidservant, or your cattle, or the sojourner who is within your gates; 11 for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it.

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you.”

13 “You shall not kill.”

14 “You shall not commit adultery.”

15 “You shall not steal.

16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is y”(Exo 20:1-17).

ByGatekeepers Association

Baker Under Gay Agenda Threat For Refusing To Bake Wedding Cake

Flickr-Cake-FanEdie and David Delorme own the Kern’s Bake Shop in Longview, Texas — known around town for their petit fours and sugar cookies — and also their custom-made wedding cakes. The Delormes are also devout Christians — faithful members of a nearby Baptist church — and they run their bakery according to the tenets of their religious beliefs. That became a problem on Feb. 17 when Ben Valencia and Luis Marmolejo requested the bakers make a cake for their upcoming wedding. “I was up front with them,” Edie told me. “I said, ‘I’m sorry but we don’t provide wedding cakes for homosexual marriages.” “We don’t do cakes that might conflict with our spiritual convictions,” she said. “It was not something personal against the two young men. We just need to be able to run our business in a way that honors God.” She offered to provide the gay couple with a list of bakeries that would meet their needs, but she said the men simply walked out of the store. A few days later she received a telephone call from the local newspaper. The gay couple had gone public — and had accused the Delorme family of discrimination. Read Original Article >

Original Article By: Todd Starnes

ByGatekeepers Association

David Barton Tells Glenn He Thinks The Third Great Awakening Has Now Begun

davidbarton_facebook_120906_largeI think this is — I think we’re at the beginning. I flew back with David Barton yesterday. And David said, just matter-of-factly, he said, we’re in the awakening. And I said, I leaned up and I said, hold on. What did you just say. And he said, we’re in the awakening. And I said, the third great awakening? And he said, oh, yeah. I truly believe it’s happening now. That’s great that’s great. He’s the one that told me about the great awakening. He’s like, we need the great awakening to happen. And we had people of all different faiths walking together. Read More >

Original Article By: The Glenn Beck Program

ByGatekeepers Association

Glenn Beck Talks Faith & Tells Pastors To Speak Out

gb14“I beg the pulpits, the preachers, the rabbis and the priests, the time is here,” Beck said. “I’m trying to hold onto ratings talking about God on a secular (show) – that’s not easy. You guys need to do it.” Read More >

Original Article By: Greg Garrison