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Calvary Press - J. Shedlock David

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272 pages

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WITH CHRIST IN THE VOTING BOOTH is not a dated Voter's guide that promotes certain candidates and after the election becomes as useful as day-old toast. Instead, Shedlock has written a book that addresses issues that crop up in every election. What if the candidate isn't fully pro-life? What if he or she wants to raise my taxes? What about third parties, or sitting it out altogether?"-Governor Mike Huckabee Knowing who to vote for doesn't always come easy for the Christian. No unambiguous voice from heaven whispers: "This is my candidate, vote for him." Even though almost every candidate in America makes a Christian profession, most of us know some Christians we wouldn't trust with a loaded BB gun, let alone access to the launch button of the world's largest cache of nuclear weapons. Thankfully, God has given us His Word, "The Ultimate Voter's Guide." Using the Bible, With Christ in the Voting Booth provides us tools to resist Government Too Small and Government Too Big, While embracing Government Just Right, not based upon false promises and "Christian" utopian fantasies, but rather the most important political success story of all: The Voter (and Governor) Who Pleases God.

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Philosophie et théologie

Christianity

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Publié par	Calvary Press
Date de parution	08 septembre 2013
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781879737983
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0400€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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Foundational principles, seminal truths and central ideas derived from the Scripture, applied to all of life, are the substance of a God-centered
Christian world and life view. This includes the political arena. David
Shedlock, in his work, With Christ in the Voting Booth, sheds the light of
God’s Word upon the subject of politics, which he weaves in with his own
depth of insight and wisdom gleaned from years of experience, aiming
especially at the foundational level. As his pastor, I am very pleased to
recommend his work as an engaging read for those desiring to be salt and
light. The apostle Paul was not unfamiliar with the political situation of his
day, nor was he averse to making his appeal to Caesar. Thus, like him, we
would seek to have the mind of Christ in our dealings with our fellow man.
With Christ in the Voting Booth will be a great benefit to Christ’s people.
Mike Ericson
Pastor
Trinity Presbyterian Reformed Church
Johnston, Iowa
Proverbs 27:17 says, "Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the
countenance of his friend." David has helped to sharpen me, challenge
me, make me reconsider arguments and even at times frustrated me. In the
end though, I know that it has helped me to be certain what I espouse at
Caffeinated Thoughts is coming from a Biblical worldview.
Not that we always get it right. We are not perfect, and neither are our
politicians. Thankfully, we don't go into the voting booth alone; Christ
goes with us. So, what are we to do when faced with two bad choices
in the voting booth? David calls all those who claim Christ as Savior to
filter their politics through what Scripture teaches. It isn't always black and
white, but there is guidance available from Scripture. Readers will benefit
from not only David's handling of Scripture, but also a wealth of experi-
ence in standing up for life, even when it means sacrifice.
You won't put Christ in the Voting Booth down without being challenged—
and sharpened.
Shane Vander Hart
Editor-in-Chief
Caffeinated Thoughts
Des Moines, Iowa
In his book, "With Christ in the Voting Booth," David Shedlock explores the many challenges facing the Christian voter in our current
highly politicized environment. David is certainly not timid about wres-
tling with arduous issues and always seeks for honest and Scriptural
solutions. Obviously, Jesus did not come as a social reformer or political
deliverer, even though His ministry took place in the midst of a very diffi-
cult social and political atmosphere. His primary objective and Divine
calling was to rescue the lost souls of individual men and women from sin
and eternal separation from God through the saving power of the Gospel
and transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
But you'll discover as a reader of Shedlock's book, that even though
in reality the moral, social, and political state of a people may be irrel-
evant to the advance of the Gospel—Christians still have the privilege to
"occupy till He comes" while using the voting booth. One quote I found
particularly instructive was “This does not mean that Christians shouldn’t
do politics; it is that politics shouldn’t do them in.”
I found this to be a good reminder not to fall into the trap of thinking
we must devote all of our time, energy, money, and strategy into putting
a facade of morality on our nation - or the "appearance of righteousness"
over our governmental and political institutions--thus confusing our real
role as Christians in a spiritually lost world. I would encourage every
voter, regardless of your faith or political preference to read this thought-
ful and well researched book.
Randy Davis
Drawing Closer Ministries
Ottumwa, Iowa
With Christ in the Voting Booth
Casting Down Imaginations Before
Casting Your Vote
David J. Shedlock
CALVARY PRESS PUBLISHING
1-855-2-CALVARY (855-222-5827)
www.calvarypress.com
PRINTED IN THE USA
Copyright © 2012 by David J. Shedlock
With Christ in the Voting Booth
Casting Down Imaginations Before Casting Your Vote
by David J. Shedlock
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN 978-1-879737-96-9
All rights reserved solely by the author. The author guarantees all contents
are original and do not infringe upon the legal rights of any other person or
work. No part of this book may be reproduced in anyform without the
permission of the author and publisher.
Unless otherwise indicated, Bible quotations are taken from the King James
Version of the Bible.
Cover Design by Michelle R. Stam.
More information about the book may be found at www.calvarypress.com.
The author may be reached at djshedlock@gmail.com.
www.calvarypress.com
Acknowledgements
Q
To Michelle Stam: I can only hope people will judge this book by its
cover. Thank you.
To Shane Vander Hart: Thanks for permission to reprint portions of
posts made earlier on the websites, Caffeinated Thoughts and Caffeinated Theology . Your support of Sarah Palin while I was supporting Mike Huckabee reminded me to make sure I get my facts straight.
To Christopher Levi, one of my ruling elders, who is also my friend
and fearless editor: Your honest critique on the big things and attention
to detail made this book more readable, yea (yeah!), more Biblical. Your
passion to see the book say what is right without being obnoxious kept me
from being myself, for which I am also thankful. I cannot repay you for
the hours you spent working on this book—unless it becomes a New York
Times bestseller, so I suggest that you get a-promotin’.
To my sister Shirley, with whom I have debated and discussed the
most important things in life for over 35 years: Though we usually dis-
agree on the basics, I have never felt unloved by you. Your reasonable
criticism has encouraged me to make my thoughts clearer and fairer.
To Governor Mike Huckabee: Your belief in this work from the begin-
ning made it possible, and your bold witness for Christ gave me hope that
Christians can rule in a way that is pleasing to Him.
To the staff and faculty at Marshalltown Community College (Linda
Moore, Molly Mauer, Jason Poock, Katie Kothenbeutel and Joanne Car-
penter) whose encouragement, research, critiques and ideas made this
book more professional and helped give me the “ummph” needed to finish:
Thank you.
To my friends and members of my family whose proofreading skills
put to shame this English instructor: Thank you, Mrs. Edward F. Hills,
vii
With Christ in the Voting Booth
Lynn Ericson, Breanne Hammett, Sheryl Stam, Barb Heki, Sanne Guyer
and Michael Herrick for your kind words and help.
To my boss, Tamara Davisson, and the rest of the staff at Woodward
Academy, many who stayed up all night just to make sure I was working
and not sleeping: I couldn’t have done it without you.
Finally, to Pastor Ericson and my other elders, Brian Myers and Ste-
phen Stam, whose gracious, firm and thoroughly Spiritual advice both
now and through the years has seeped through my work here.
viii

Special Acknowledgement
Q
The year goes wrong,
And tares grow strong,
Hope starves without a crumb;
But God’s time is our harvest time,
And that is sure to come.
Lewis J. Bates
To my wife, Judy, whom the Lord has graciously made my helpmate
in life: You know what a sinner I am, and love me, still. When I am
tempted to pursue the meaningless or harmful, you pull me to safety. You
are primarily responsible for what is not in this book: the trivial, the mun-
ix
With Christ in the Voting Booth
dane, the temporal. You kept me focused on the eternal Son of God and
His Lordship, rather than political fads.
We talked through every page of this book and though your lovely
fingerprints are invisible to the dear reader, I can see them everywhere. I
love you.
x
Dedication
Q
By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing
of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his
bones.
Hebrews 11:21
And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God
will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.
So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they
embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.Genesis 50:25f
And the bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought up
out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which
Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for an
hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the chil-
dren of Joseph.
Joshua 24:32
This is dedicated to the memory of my father, Clarence Joseph Shed-
lock, who by faith made promise from his hospital bed that when
he got out of the hospital he would attend church, even if he had to be
wheeled inside the doors.
Just as the bones of Joseph were taken in a coffin to a place symbolic
of eternal life, my own father’s body was wheeled in a casket to a place
symbolic of eternal fellowship with the saints of God, an Assembly of God
church in little Byesville, Ohio.
xi
With Christ in the Voting Booth
May this work remind us to join these two men in looking, not for
a temporal city made by the hands of man, but the Eternal City, whose
builder and maker is God.
xii
Author’s Preface
Q
Theologian Frances Turretin wrote, “We give to the Scriptures such a
sufficiency and perfection as is immediate and explicit. There is no
need to have recourse to any tradition independent of them.”
I have tried to abide by this principle in this book. I believe every word
in the Bible is infallible, and that none of the words that have come from
my own imagination are infallible. Readers should examine each of my
claims against the Scriptures, chewing on the meat and throwing away the
bones.
I have quoted or cited many sources. This does not mean I endorse
the viewpoints of those sources. Some of them are professing unbelievers
(even some of our nation’s founders), so I won’t try to make them into
something they co