Truth is on ballot in ’24
Many of you have already voted in the presidential election. But unlike any other election, a new thing is on the ballot – truth.
In John 1:17, the Bible says, “Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”
Four years ago, Donald Trump said the election was rigged and he really didn’t lose. He had no proof, and no proof was ever found. Many people of his own party said he lost fair and square.
What do you think Jesus would think of you voting for Trump? Do you think Jesus would want you voting for a liar?
But some might tell God, “I voted for Trump because he is against abortion.” The fact is there are more abortions going on now than before Roe vs. Wade was overturned. How can you claim to be against abortion when your own actions lead to even more abortions?
Then there is the fact Trump is running against a black woman. Do you think God wants you to be a racist? The Bible answer for that is no. Colossians 3:11 says there are no differences in people. There are only those who belong to Jesus and those who don’t.
Some may want to vote for Trump thinking he might be better for the economy. Do you think God would want you to accept lies because you want more money in your pocket? Colossians 3:5 says those things are idolatry. Money has become your god.
If Trump is elected, truth has become a flexible, changeable thing. If you lie and keep lying, given time people will begin to believe it. In this way, the devil – not God – is being served.
Are we going to choose Trump, lies, the devil and pain? Or God, the truth, our laws and a black woman?
That is how important this election is.
Keith Williamson, Turtletown, Tenn.
Giants still are roaming
There are giants still roaming the Earth; Saturdays, on campuses, in stadiums, magic still happens.
Donald Trump’s Project 2025 proposes shutting down schools and offering up urban campuses as valuable real estate, to be developed as such. In 2024, the fools have almost won; before the giants began to walk and breathe and move.
In Lincoln, the Husker’s Black Shirts stopped Rutgers; on the 1 yard line, many times. In Nashville, the Vandys took on big No. 1 Alabama. scored and scored again, for 43 minutes. Diego Pavia had 70 family members there, as he became a Hispanic giant, like Jesse Owens, 90 years ago, standing up to Hitler.
Harry Holdorf, Blairsville, Ga.
Let’s not go backward
As I write this on Oct. 17, the Dow Jones Industrial Average just set an all-time high.
If you ignore all the liars, it is easy to see that our economy is doing great. Incomes continue to go up, as the rate of inflation continues to decline.
When I recently bought gasoline, I paid 11 cents more per gallon than when Trump was president.
The United States has had 44 straight months of job growth, longest ever. There are still 8 million job openings.
Our country is the world leader in oil and gas production. We’re also exporting more oil and gas than any other country.
Starting trade wars will destabilize the U.S. economy.
If you vote to go backward, you are voting against yourself.
Jack Montgomery, Ogreeta
Do the right thing voting
There’s no point in most of you reading this. You’ve probably decided whom you’ll be voting for and nothing is going to change your mind. If, however, you still have a few lingering doubts, I hope you’ll give me a minute of your time.
If most members of the church you attend support a particular presidential candidate but you have a hard time reconciling many of his words and actions with the teachings of Jesus, please continue reading.
Maybe you don’t really approve of abortion but think it should be a personal choice between a woman and her doctor without the government becoming involved.
Perhaps you have a problem believing that a multi-millionaire from birth whose campaign has been financed by the wealthiest individuals and corporations is really going to look out for your best interests.
Maybe you think that the president should be someone of high moral character and integrity who respects the electoral process.
Or maybe you just don’t want another four years of confusion, deception and division.
If so, please remember that when you step into the voting booth, nobody but you will know your selection – not your friends, neighbors or relatives. It’s going to be a close election with far reaching consequences.
I hope you’ll take your decision very seriously, and do the right thing.
Bob Kilpatrick, Murphy
Fascism not U.S. quality
Out of the darkness on Sept. 29, I woke to the crash of a giant oak slamming onto our house. Tornado touchdowns brought four trees onto our house and car, leaving a tangled wasteland of our once-sheltering tree canopy.
I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. Not because of what we lost, but because of what we gained. It was all hands on deck: Neighbors made their way through downed trees to check on one another, teams of church volunteers joined my husband and son with chain saws. Fema was ready with supplies when we were caught short, and teams from Canada and out of state worked 24-hour shifts to restore power and water.
The shock of that storm remains in the background, but another storm has been blowing through our country. Ever since 2015, when Donald Trump rode his elevator into the presidential race, he has made it his business to divide Americans.
Trump’s latest outrage comes from Marine general and former Trump Chief of Staff John Kelley, who sounds an urgent warning about a second Trump presidency. Kelley warns Trump will rule as a dictator and fascist. He will “go after” those he calls “the enemy within.”
That’s me, that’s most of my family and probably many of your own. My dad spent five years serving in the U.S.. army Air Force in World War II, serving to end Hitler’s Nazi fascist dictatorship and stop the killing.
All Americans share so many values, whether we vote republican or democrat. And just as so much good came in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene, I believe good will come from this upcoming election.
Jesus has laid out a path of love, compassion and forgiveness for all of us to follow. I pray we will meet one another on that path.
Joan Tidwell, Murphy
Vote for life at ballot box
Remember your first lick of delicious ice cream? Fun-filled birthday party? Snowflake tickling your nose? Best friend? Bike riding lesson? Delightful dip in the ocean? High school dance, football game or heart-fluttering crush? Warm kiss? Driver’s license and finally owning a vehicle, no matter its age or condition? Apartment? Roommate? Marriage proposal?
What if your mother aborted you because you were thought of as a big inconvenience, a clump of tissue or inhuman, even though you had a heartbeat 21-23 days after conception?
What if you were denied seeing a glorious sunrise or beautifully colored fall leaves? Discovering Santa? Finding money the Tooth Fairy left? Snuggling with grandma? A sports lesson from grandpa? Christmas and birthday presents? Holding an energetic, squirming puppy? A magnificent wedding day? Watching a baby take the first step?
Gone because your mother selfishly aborted you.
What if life’s joys, ups and downs, failures and successes never happened because your earthly existence was ended before you could experience these natural human events? There would be no memories, family or friends.
Today, abortion for convenience is commonplace. Yet, someone who kills a woman’s unborn child is held accountable and jailed for homicide. Where is the justice? This hypocrisy makes no sense.
If you believe in God, recall Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you.”
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13).
We and America are drastically paying the consequences for more than 63 million babies murdered here, most for self-serving reasons.
Wisely vote for life and those who support it in every election. God will not be mocked, whether you believe in Him or not.
Tamara Phillips, Murphy
They have been lying
To those of Democrat persuasion, the unaffiliated and never-Trumpers:
- They lied to you for three years about Trump colluding with Russia.
- They lied to you in 2020 about Joe Biden being sharp as a tack.
- They lied to you for three years about the border being secure.
- They lied to you about inflation being no big deal.
- They lied to you in 2024 about Biden’s mental acuity.
- They are still lying to you about Kamala Harris.
- And they are still lying to you, denying Harris was the most radical senator and a do-nothing vice president.
So why would you believe anything they say now?
W. Arthur Hays Jr., Murphy
U.S. needs awakening
I’m encouraged by the folks who have come to the realization that Donald Trump is not fit to serve in any position of leadership in this great nation.
Even the most self-righteous evangelical cannot stomach the idea of having to face the Lord on their day of reckoning and explain their support of a rapist (he was convicted), who cheated on all three of his wives, bragged of being able to grope women in their privates and get away with it, and had a relationship with Stormy Daniels, a porn star.
Nearly every major figure who served under him, those who know him best, have sounded a warning of the dire consequences of another Trump presidency. This has never happened before in American history.
I don’t believe they can
all be wrong, and I’m delighted to hear many of you agree with me. It may be a bridge too far for you to vote for Kamala Harris, a Democrat.
I get that. Everyone you know and love is in the MAGA cult. They’ve been spoon-fed a steady diet by Fox News, News Max and
One America, none of which are actual news organizations.
I’m most concerned for the young people of our country. In many homes all they hear are the lies and propaganda of a media machine engineered to appeal to their deepest fears. Once they have them scared, it’s a short hop to anger and then hatred.
It’s straight out of Hitler’s playbook. Trump mimics him word for word when he speaks of the “enemy within.”
When you enter that voting booth, don’t for a moment entertain the notion that there won’t be an accounting one day. As your finger hovers over the name Trump, know in your heart what a mistake this choice may be.
Glenn Kolp, Andrews
Democratic Party lawfare
An opinion piece authored by a Mr. Bruce of Andrews list symptoms from his Trump Derangement Syndrome affliction.
The accusations serve to highlight how the GOP Idiot Savants wing of the Republican Party is impervious to middle class voters’ concerns about Democrat Party law-fare against Donald Trump utilizing Democrat prosecutors, judges, juries and George Soros-funded Marxist district attorneys. GIS membership is characterized by a low political acumen (i.e., IQ 70) in every policy area except one – hypocrisy IQ 140.
The president of the GIS is anti-Trumper Liz Cheney, whose skills at destroying evidence that exonerated Mr. Trump of insurrection charges investigated by the U.S. House Select Committee Investigating the Jan. 6 attack, are legendary. The GIS vice president is anti-Trumper Adam Kinzinger skilled at emotional meltdowns and providing leftist commentary on the Clinton News Network (CNN).
The best antidote to TDS is to sample actions and policies of the Democrat Party and the Biden/Harris administration, that, unfortunately, our adversaries would implement if they wanted to destroy America from within and control our leadership.
u Introduce economic policies and massively increase spending without regard to their impact on inflation and the consequences for low-income Americans and the increase in our deficit and national debt.
u Introduce thousands of unnecessary regulations in addition to existing regulatory policies that interfere with our businesses’ ability to compete, restraining the development of desperately needed housing, infrastructure and energy production.
u Litigate to make it illegal for states to require proof of citizenship, voter ID and/or residence in order to vote when many Americans have lost confidence in the accuracy and trustworthiness of our voting system.
Dear GIS and Marxists, this is a partial list of reasons to avoid supporting Kamala Harris and voting for Trump without reservation or apology.
Terry Payne, Marble
Let Trump destroy it
In this election, paramount to preserving our more perfect union, it seems appropriate that early voters have turned out in record numbers. Most are largely decided, as expected in this age of polarization.
The polarization is not necessarily bad, because it clears up the gray area, which must happen according to end-time prophecy.
In the gray area are a lot of misconceptions in this battle of good vs. evil. A millionaire who has sacrificed his ease in retirement for endless ridicule, even taking a bullet and narrowly escaping death, is the one painted as evil.
In psychology, there is a term called projection, where one person projects their acts and misdeeds onto someone else as if the innocent party is responsible. One merely needs to watch the latest slur against Trump to see what the others are hiding. Accusing Trump of destroying democracy is their way of acknowledging his efforts to “drain the swamp.”
This nation is not a democracy, but a constitutional republic. In a democracy, everyone votes (regardless of citizenship status) and majority rules. A republic maintains its power by “the people,” but it is limited to citizens who are entitled to vote. Then the elected officials execute the will of the people. If not, the people fire them and install someone who will.
Critical examination of the last 100 years has seen America slipping into socialism in the teachings of Karl Marx, whose goal was “to dethrone God and destroy capitalism.”
So with this modern form of democracy, being touted by the party that abandoned JFK’s nephew and many generations of devoted voters, being laced with godless progressivism, I say let Trump destroy “democracy.”
As President Ronald Reagan said, “Socialism only works in two places: heaven, where they don’t need it; and hell, where they already have it.”
Robert Lowe, Bryson City