Critical Time...Critical Election...Getting the Candidate Right!

            With the Republican Primary just three weeks out, it is imperative to understand the ramifications for South Carolina’s 1^st Congressional District. Democrat Congressman Joe Cunningham is coming to the end of his first term in the Democrat controlled U.S. House of Representatives. Cunningham who barely won the seat in 2018 in a Congressional district long held by Republicans has been voting in lock step with Nancy Pelosi and the most radical elements of the Democrat held House. SC-01 should be considered ground zero for Republicans needing to take back majority control—which heightens the imperative that we not make a crucial mistake in whom we cast our vote for in the Primary!

            I’ve been teaching Constitutional Law to home schooled high school students for 17 years and have served as a personal Constitutional mentor and advisor to several United States Congressional and Senate candidates over the past ten years, including my friend United States Senator Tim Scott during his run for Congress in 2010. About eight months ago, I was asked by a mutual friend to meet candidate Kathy Landing. I don’t typically go looking for work with candidates, I have a full-time job and a full schedule. However, my passion for Constitutionally limited government under the rule of law always drives me every federal election to find and help the candidate that best fits that mold. With that in mind, I agreed to meet with Kathy and was impressed almost immediately with not only her genuine humility but her expertise in things financial—something sorely lacking in the 435-spending drunk members of the United States Congress. Shortly after that meeting Kathy asked me if I would meet with her and discuss the United States Constitution and limited government principles as they pertain to actual policy making. Her request demonstrated rare humility that she was dead serious about wanting to fit those two things together.

            I think it’s important to point out that very few candidates ever consider doing something like this. If we are honest with ourselves, we know how many times we have been burned by candidates that simply run for office—and if they win, they jettison all the lip service that they gave about the Constitution. Anyone paying attention to politics knows exactly what I’m talking about. Here, we have a candidate that is taking time out of her schedule to specifically sharpen her already keen Constitutional moorings on issues that are crucial to conservatives and our nation today. This is hard evidence of her commitment to being faithful to the United States Constitution. Kathy is not playing games. she is a solid constitutionalist who should be commended for understanding this and taking steps to be a serious Congressional Representative governing from a limited government and Constitutional position on every issue.

            All that said, here’s what makes Kathy the best candidate in this race. She is a solid Constitutionalist and a financial expert that has a tremendous grasp of what is going to happen to our nation financially if we do not take action to stop the out of control spending taking place. This expertise enables her to offer real limited government, free market solutions beyond the typical candidate platitudes. The truth of the matter is she understands finance and free market economics like none of the other candidates because she’s lived it every day for the last 35 years. We need Congressional office holders that have varying expertise AND command of the United States Constitution in order to frame that expertise. Put these things together and you have a very rare candidate indeed for federal office today. Kathy’s worldview, heart, intellect, and command of things concerning limited government make her the best candidate for us to elect and send into the Leviathan to take back territory. We simply cannot get this one wrong, I encourage you to support her with your vote in the Republican Primary coming up June 9th.

"Play the man Master Ridley"

The Martyrs' Memorial stands partway down St. Giles street in the city of Oxford, England. It was built in the mid-19th century to commemorate the lives of Oxford Bishops Thomas Cranmer, Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley. I walked right past this memorial one Saturday morning while exploring this historic and incredible city about 14 years ago with my good friend Jim Dewitt while on business in the UK.

I have to admit, I had not heard of these three men prior to that morning. These three men, sometimes referred to as “Prelates of the Church” were bishops in the Anglican Church of England. All three men were involved in the Protestant Reformation. Latimer began to preach publicly on the need for the translation of the Bible into English. This was a dangerous move because the first translation of the New Testament by William Tyndale, had recently been banned. When the Church of England moved from Anglicanism back toward the Roman Catholic Church under Queen Mary in 1553, these three men came under intense persecution.

Eventually these three men were burned at the stake right near the spot of this memorial. Ridley and Latimer first in October of 1555 and then Cranmer in March of 1556. It is interesting to note that Cranmer was executed a little over five months later because the Queen ordered these men to “recant” or take back their statements and renounce their beliefs. Ridley and Latimer refused…Cranmer on the other hand, recanted, but could not live with himself afterwards…and then recanted his recant. While preparations were being made to burn Cranmer at the stake, he asked if his right hand could be untied so that he could put that hand first into the fire. That was the hand that he had used to sign his original recant that spared him the fate of his friends five months earlier at the very same spot in Oxford.

Ok, so why the church history lesson Bob? Well, it occurs to me that we take an awful lot for granted today in the times in which we live. How many of us believers have multiple copies of the Bible around our homes? How many of you now have the Bible on an App, either for your I phone, your I pad, or your laptop? We have incredible access to the Word of God that these men and many others like them gave their lives for us to have. They gave their very lives for us to be able have the Bible in our own language. These men believed that God’s word was meant for you and I to have in order that we might come directly to God. They believed that, because they understood that the Bible contained the powerful, living, Word of God! Do we really understand what we have on those pages? If we do, we will make it part of our everyday lives, both in the practice of reading and in the practice of telling others what it says.

I think about the mindset of men like this…and I ask myself if I can measure up to them. We are called to take Christ to a world around us that is entirely hostile to the Christ of the Bible…I say the “Christ of the Bible” because many today are offering a “christ” that is foreign to the Christ of the Bible. But make no mistake about it; the world around us is hostile towards Him. Even so, we are reminded that in this world, God is always at work…He is about the work of drawing His people to Himself all the time. Our job is to be faithful to point others to Him, not knowing upon who’s hearts He is working. In a time of increasing hostility towards Christ, we must not shrink back from proclaiming the truth.

Hugh Latimer is quoted as having said to Nicholas Ridley as the fires were being lit: “Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light a candle, by God’s grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.” Take the time to read about men like this…let God use these fallen but great men from history to put “steel” in our spine to engage the world around us with the truths of the scriptures.