Introduction
Though I am a political individual by nature, within this ministry, I teach Jesus Christ and His word; and therefore trust the leading of the Holy Spirit to guide people into truth concerning the choices that they would make for the highest office of the land. (There are other venues that are more appropriate for which I would utilize concerning law, public policy and politics)

However, there are obvious observations concerning mankind, his nature, God’s Word, and life which I believe we could profit by in reexamining during this political season.

Therefore, I would like to put forth for your consideration some wise expressions I have collected over the years, many of which I’m not aware of the author, but still desire to present as food for thought.  

Of these few opinions I present, none regard God directly out of reverence for Him, and as the Bible is meant for this purpose. 

I have broken down the expressions into different groups (If known, the author is listed), starting with the most important; God’s Word, and ending with society and  politics, freedom and liberty.  

The Word of God

“The Bible is such a book, as man could not write if he would,
& would not write if he could.”

“The New Testament is concealed in the Old,
and the Old is revealed in the New”
(Augustine?)

“The Bible: in the old the new is concealed,
in the new the old is revealed.”

“The Bible: in the old the new is contained,
in the new the old is explained.”

“An apparent Biblical contradiction is the Holy Spirit’s
way of getting the reader’s attention so as to point out a
hidden deep truth, which must be examined at great
expense, in order to discover the precious
faith building treasure it contains.” 
(Brent Bolin)

“To most Christians, the Bible is like a software license.
Nobody actually reads it. They just scroll to the bottom and click ‘I agree.'”

“This book contains the mind of God, the state of man, the way of salvation, the doom of sinners and that happiness of believers.  Its doctrines are holy, its precepts are binding, its histories are true, and its decisions are immutable.  Read it to be wise, believe it to be safe and practice it to be holy.  It contains light to direct you, food to support you and comfort to cheer you.  It is the travelers map, the Pilgrims staff, the pilots compass, the soldier sword and the Christians character.  Here paradise is restored, heaven opened and the gates of hell disclosed.  Christ is its grand object, our good is its design and the glory of God its end.  It should fill the memory, rule the heart, and guide the feet.  Read it slowly, frequently, and prayerfully.  It is given to you in life and it will be opened in the judgment and will be remembered forever.  It involves the highest responsibility, will reward the greatest labor, and will condemn all who trifle with its sacred contents.”

 “Liberal (Interpretation) theology has a God without wrath,
who brought men without sin, into a kingdom without judgment,
through the ministration of a Christ without a cross.” 
(Reinhold Niebuhr)

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Faith

“Faith (The function of it) can be represented by the
acronym of ABC: Faith is Action, Based upon Belief,
Sustained by Confidence.”
(E. Scott)

“Faith is believing (B) what God has said in His Word,
due to the confidence (C) it has earned, to the point that
actions (A) are affected.” [Romans 10:17]  
(Brent Bolin)

“There is no other virtue known to man
that pleases God (Hebrews 11:6), therefore, it is faith
that deserves our unending attention in learning
how to please God more and more.” 
(Brent Bolin)

  “There are two ways to slide through life:
One is to believe everything you hear,
the other is to doubt everything you hear;
both ways are the same in that you need not think.”  
(A. Berlenske)

.

Grace

“Sometimes a man can meet his destiny
on the road he took to avoid it”

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Christianity

“Christian idolatry is when believers:
worship their work,
work at their play,
and
play at their worship.”

“Christianity began in Judea as a community,
was taught in Greece as a philosophy,
was conducted in Rome as an institution,
  permeated Europe as a culture,
  in America became a lifestyle,
 which today has turned into a business.” 

“Christianity began as a company of lay witnesses,
that has become a professional troop of performers,
financed by lay spectators.”

“Many of us are loyal to our notions of Jesus Christ,
but how many of us are loyal to Him?
Loyalty to Jesus means I have to step out
where I do not see anything (ref Matt 14:29);
loyalty to my notions means that I clear the
ground first by my intelligence.
Faith is not intelligent understanding,
faith is deliberate commitment
to a Person where I see no way.”
(Oswald Chambers)

“Many folks want to serve God, but only as advisers.” 

“Coincidence is when God chooses to remain anonymous.” 

“God doesn’t call the qualified, He qualifies the called.”

“God promises a safe landing, not a calm trip.” 

“Without Him, we can’t; without us, He won’t.”    

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Serenity

The Original / Full Serenity Prayer:
“God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things
that cannot be changed, Courage to change
the things which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish the
one from the other.  Living one day at a time,
enjoying one moment at a time, Accepting hardship as a
pathway to peace, Taking, as Jesus did, This sinful world
as it is, Not as I would have it, Trusting that You
will make all things right, If I surrender to
Your will, So that I may be reasonably happy
in this life, And supremely happy
with You forever in the next.”
 (Reinhold Nieber)

Short Serenity Prayer:
   “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot
change, the courage to change the things I can, and the
wisdom to know the difference.” 
(Reinhold Nieber)

For the Substance Abuse Counselor:
“God grant me the serenity to accept the person I cannot
change, the courage to change the person I can,
and the wisdom to know that I am that person.” 
(An exhausted Substance Abuse Counselor)

For the Elderly:
“God grant me the senility to forget the people
I never liked, the good fortune to run into the ones I do,
and the eyesight to tell the difference.”

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Character, Commitment, and Integrity

“Adversity doesn’t necessarily build character,
but it does display it”

I’m a great believer in luck, and I find that the
harder I work the more of it I have.” 
(Thomas Jefferson)

“Watch your thoughts, they become words;
watch your words, they become actions;
watch your actions, they become habits;
watch your habits, they become character;
watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
(Frank Outlaw)

“Intimacy can be defined as: “In-to-me-you-see.”

“The difference between ‘involvement’ and ‘commitment’
is like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
the chicken was ‘involved’ – the pig was ‘committed’.”

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The Lack of Character & Integrity

 “The key is sincerity, once you learn to fake that, you have it made.”
(Movie studio executive)   

“Nothing does so much harm as good intentions”

“What one generation tolerates, the next generation embraces”

“When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually
to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly
preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic”
(Dresden James) 

“Gossip is vice enjoyed vicariously.”

“A secret is something you tell one person at a time.” 

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Legalism

“Self-control without humility is legalism.”

“God made man in His own image and
man has been returning the favor ever since.”
(Mark Twain)

“The law is for the proud and grace is for the humble.”

    “The law is to convict the comfortable –
grace is to bring comfort to the convicted.”

       “Legalism butchers the sheep, but grace covers them.”

.

Pride

“If I bought you for what I thought you were worth,
and sold you for what you thought you were worth,
I’d make a small fortune.”          

“Pride can’t grow where humility is already planted.” 
(Brent Bolin)

“Pride is preoccupation with self, either through
grandiosity or self-loathing; the common denominator
is the focus of attention, which is on self.”
(Russell Kelfer)

“Pride has to do with one’s focus (on self): not one’s value.”

“Proud men usually bask in humiliating others,
while humble men usually find pride repulsive.” 

“An agnostic Jew is a Jew who knows what the God
that he doesn’t believe in, requires of him.”

“Denial can be defined as,
Don’t Even kNow I’m Lying… to myself.”

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Planning and Preparation

“For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost;
for the want of a shoe the horse was lost;
and for the want of a horse the rider was lost,
being overtaken and slain by the enemy,
all for the want of care about a horseshoe nail.” 
 (Benjamin Franklin)

“We have a tendency in our planning to confuse the
unfamiliar with the improbable.  If the contingency
we have not considered looks strange; what looks
strange is therefore improbable; what seems
improbable need not be considered seriously”
– thus failure.
(Thomas C. Schelling)

“A lack of planning on your part
does not necessitate an emergency on my part”

.

 Investigation and Discretion

“There is a principle which is a bar against all information,
which is proof against all arguments, and which
cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance –
that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”
(William Paley)

“All of us are subject to the limitations imposed by the
presumptions we bring to a topic, and it may be essential
to step back from time to time and reestablish a fresh perspective.
Because the only certain barrier to truth
is the presumption that you already have it.”
(Chuck Missler)

“Sometimes in life the hardest thing to know is which bridges
to cross and which bridges to burn”

“Expediency & practicality are no excuse for compromise,
no matter how sincere the motive.”

“Don’t let the tyranny of the urgent,
preempt what is most important, the priority.” 

“You are still wrong if you achieve a right
conclusion based on a wrong hypothesis.”

“The worst mistake a Christian can make
is to substitute their will for God’s.”

“Once you eliminate the impossible,
whatever remains, no matter how improbable,
must be the truth.” – Sherlock Holmes
(by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1859-1930)

 .

Politics and Society

“Blaming the prince of the fools, should not blind anyone
to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince”
(Prager Zeitung)

“Socialism is the exploitation of the
productive by the unaccountable.”

“A government big enough to give you everything
you want is strong enough to take everything you have.”  
(Thomas Jefferson)

“You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away
people’s initiative and independence.  You cannot help people
permanently by doing for them,
what they could and should do for themselves.”  
(Abraham Lincoln)

 .

Freedom and Liberty

“The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and
everywhere restrains evil interference –
they deserve a place of honor with all that’s good.”  
(George Washington)

“He that exchanges security for liberty deserves neither.”  
(Benjamin Franklin)

“The value of any commodity depends on its scarcity.”

”Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you.
May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may
posterity forget that ye were our countrymen” 
(Samuel Adams)

“A truth not worth fighting for is not worth dying for.”
(DB Warfield)

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil
is that good men do nothing”  
(Edmund Burke)

“Freedoms given away are seldom returned
without the spilling of blood.” 
(Benjamin Franklin)

Yet we have this consolation with us,
that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph,” 
(Thomas Pain)

“What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly:” 
(Thomas Pain)

“It is dearness only that gives everything its value,”
(Thomas Pain)

“Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods;
and it would be strange indeed if so celestial
an article as freedom should not be highly rated” 
(Thomas Pain)

“Those who expect to reap the blessing of freedom
must understand the fatigue of supporting it”
(Thomas Pain)

“There are five things that you cannot recover in life:

The Stone………..after it’s thrown

The Word……………after it’s said

The Occasion……after it’s missed

The Time………….after it’s gone

A person……………after they die

I would simply add to this unknown Arthur’s list………a vote not cast.

Brent