Scripture alone is sufficient for our salvation, but we also know and practice that the written Scriptures alone are sufficient for our daily lives and practices as well…Advice given by worldly-wisemen may sound convincing, but if they are not found in the written word “expressly set down or necessarily contained” (explicitly or deduced from Scripture), it is to be rejected. 

In the perennial classic, The Pilgrim’s Progress, Christian comes across a man named, “Mr. Worldly-Wiseman.” Mr. Worldly-Wiseman lived in a town called “Carnal Policy,” otherwise known as Ways of the World, and it was a close neighbor of the City of Destruction (where Christian was originally from). Mr. Worldly-Wiseman was a perceptive man and recognized that Christian was in need of some help on his difficult journey. So Mr. Worldly-Wiseman asked Christian, “If I give you counsel will you take my advice?” Christian responded, “If it is good counsel, I will.” This was a great attitude for Christian to display, as he should be discerning of any advice given to him.
However, Mr. Worldly-Wiseman did not have good advice. He told Christian that his way was burdensome because of the book he read. Mr. Worldly-Wiseman reviled Christian’s book and told him another to be rid of the burden on his back. Mr. Worldly-Wiseman’s suggestion was to go to a man named Legality who lived in a village called Morality. If you’ve read the story, you know that Christian never arrives because this hill was too vast. It was also not the way that the book in his hand instructed him to go. Christian learned the hard way by not trusting what was not written in the book.
Why the Hair-Splitting?
What does the question, “Is God’s Word only found in the written Bible?” even mean?  Is the Bible truly authoritative for life? Why ask these kinds of questions to people in the pews? I do find it necessary to bring this truth to the pew, for there are many problems within Christianity. Specifically, certain denominations and Christian universities openly deny that the written word of Scripture is God’s final word of authority.
This is important for it has tremendous pastoral implications. Outside of Christianity, we see many religions that reject a written document and prefer passing down faith through other means. Some of these methods involve narratives, legends, rituals, etc. Christianity, on the other hand, is different as it is a word-based religion. Christianity also has a God who covenants with His people through His written word. We see this in Exodus 24:4, 7, “And Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel… Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” We also see this in Exodus 34:27, where God commands Moses to write so that He can covenant with His people, “And the LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” Thus is also true in Isaiah when he says, “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they will not speak according to this word, it is because they have no dawn” Isaiah 8:20. So while many people take away from God’s word (some take it away entirely), do people actually add to God’s word?
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As the Church of England tightened its rules in preventing dissenters from obtaining a license to preach, she found a loophole in the legislation by calling preachers to minister in her private chapels, which was allowed. She stretched however the rule by enlarging her chapels and inviting thousands to attend the services. By the end of her life, she had 64 chapels registered under her name. But dissenting preachers faced another obstacle. Struggling to find admission to most colleges and seminaries, they lacked in proper education. Selina sought to remedy this too, by opening her own school, Trevecca College, in a renovated farmhouse. The college opened in 1768, with John Fletcher as principal.

And what if you save (under God) but one soul? [1]
This question, addressed to a still hesitant John Wesley, is a good summary of the life goal and drive of Selina Hastings, countess of Huntingdon.
Selina’s Early Life
Born in 1707 to an upper-class family in Northamptonshire, England, Selina faced challenges from an early age. She was only six when her parents separated over issues of money and alleged infidelity. She and her older sister Elizabeth stayed with their father, rejecting her mother’s claims over the family’s estate. Only after her mother’s death, Selina extended her assistance to her younger sister Mary, who had lived with their mother.
Selina’s marriage, at 21 years of age, to Theophilus Hastings, ninth earl of Huntingdon, brought her much happiness. Her letters reveal her love for her husband and their seven children, all born within the first ten years of marriage. But this early joy was marred by persistent health problems that forced Selina to spend much time at the thermal springs of Bath. She profoundly disliked the decadence of the place and missed her family, yearning to return home.
This dissatisfaction was only one aspect of her overall discontent. Amid problems of various kind, she was mostly dissatisfied with herself, a feeling that didn’t find relief in the Christianity she tried to live out in church attendance and charitable acts. What she lacked was a clear understanding of the gospel of grace.
From an early age, when the sight of a child in an open casket impressed on her the nearness of death, Selina had tried to live a godly life, but had felt increasingly inadequate. It was only in 1739 that her sister-in-law Margaret explained how she had finally found peace and assurance by simply believing that Christ had won the battle she had tried so hard to fight. Margaret directed Selina to some young pastors who were known by the disparaging name of Methodists. Selina thrived under their preaching.
Developments in Selina’s Theology
The countess’s sudden turn to Methodism was seen with disapproval by many of her relatives, who considered these preachers fanatic. Seven years later, her daughter Elizabeth, then 15, complained that her mother had become “righteous overmuch.”[2]
But Selina persisted. John and Charles Wesley became some of her closest friends and she supported their ministry. It was around this time that she encouraged John Wesley to preach to the miners near her home. To his objection, “Have they no churches and ministers already?” she replied, “They have churches, but they never go to them! And ministers, but they seldom or never hear them! Perhaps they might hear you.”[3]
John followed her advice in 1742, beginning a ministry that revolutionized his views and methods of preaching.
Eventually, Selina turned away from some of John Wesley’s teachings, particularly his belief that Christians can reach and must strive for perfection in this life. This doctrine, she felt, was driving her away from the assurance she had found in the simple message of salvation by faith alone. Because of this, she developed closer ties George Whitefield, who had also diverged from John Wesley on other issues, such as predestination. She appointed Whitefield as her chaplain in 1748.
Hard Providence
This change in her theology followed a difficult time of her life, when two of her children died of smallpox and, three years later, her husband died of a stroke. More than ever, she needed to hear the good news of the gospel, free from any condition.
But her trials didn’t stop. In 1758, her son Henry died of a mysterious illness which had deprived him of his sight. In 1763, her daughter Selina died of a violent fever. Throughout this trying time, she found much comfort in the words of preachers who had become her close friends, such as Howell Harris, John Berridge, John Fletcher, and William Romaine.
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The evangelical world still holds a powerful weapon in its hands.  Because of the electoral college, what really matters in elections is what happens in each states.  In 2020 Biden beat Trump in Arizona by 10,935 votes.  In Georgia, Biden won by 14,152 votes.  In Wisconsin, Biden won by 20,546 votes.  That’s a total of around 46,000 votes in an election where the total number of votes cast was over 150 million.

David French is at it again.  In the New York Times he recently pinned an opinion piece entitled To Save Conservativism from Itself, I Am Voting for Harris. Now he is making his rounds on anti-Christian platforms like MSNBC.  He is also part of a movement called “Evangelicals for Kamala.”  French was blocked from a round-table discussion at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) this past summer, but he is welcomed with open arms by those who hate Christianity.  You can tell a lot about a man by who his friends are.
I voted for Donald Trump in the last two presidential elections and I will be voting for him again.  See the reasons for my vote four years ago in an article on the Aquila Report: Why I Am Voting for President Trump – Again!.
My goal here is not to discuss all of the political issues surrounding this presidential election.  If you have not made up your mind on these issues, then you are probably sinking in spiritual quicksand. I simply want to remind the reader of two things—how critical this election is, and what part evangelicals must play in it. Elections have consequences.
The great battle in America in this election is not between personalities, or even between political parties.  There is a war going on in this nation between Christianity and Marxism (I prefer the term Neo-Marxism). Neo-Marxism has captured all of the major institutions in this country including the federal government, the educational institutions, the media, and even the military.  Now, it is infiltrating the church.  See Megan Basham’s book on Shepherds for Sale. The Church was sleeping while the enemy sowed his seeds.
Kamala Harris is a puppet for the power behind her campaign which is Neo-Marxism.  Trump with all his failures, sins, inconsistencies, and fiascos holds some hope for Christianity, or at least the last flicker of what is left of Christianity in this nation.  Trump is no savior.  Some of his positions are anti-Christian, but he may be able to buy us a little more time to fight for biblical liberty and freedom in America.
Four more years of Neo-Marxist insanity will either make America a third world country or bring about a civil war.  Our foreign adversaries are ready to take advantage of our weakness and to shame us.  Kamala Harris with lipstick and high-heals cannot negotiate with the likes of men as Putin or Xi Jinping.
The evangelical world still holds a powerful weapon in its hands.  Because of the electoral college, what really matters in elections is what happens in each states.  In 2020 Biden beat Trump in Arizona by 10,935 votes.  In Georgia, Biden won by 14,152 votes.  In Wisconsin, Biden won by 20,546 votes.  That’s a total of around 46,000 votes in an election where the total number of votes cast was over 150 million. Probably, if evangelicals had turned out in full force and voted for Trump, the results of the election (even discounting fraud) would have been different.  That’s a lot of power in the hands of evangelicals.
The bottom line is that if movements like “Evangelicals for Kamala” have only a minimal influence over evangelicals, then it may push the election in the favor of Kamala Harris and her coterie of Neo-Marxists. According to a Gallup Poll, the Trump vote by white evangelicals declined from 2016 to 2020 by about 4%.  With all the anti-Trump rhetoric that came out of evangelical networks, that sounds about right.  This 4% decline in the white evangelical vote was probably enough to defeat Trump in 2020.
I hope evangelicals will rise up and choose to have a major impact in this election. We do live in a democracy.  We are not living in the New Testament age where Christians had no freedom or responsibility to vote.
If need be, hold your nose, and vote for Trump.  “Evangelicals for Harris” will have a tremendous influence with their purity claims and their guilt manipulation. All they need is a small incremental change for Kamala to win.  Remember, too, that refusing to vote for Trump guarantees a victory for Harris.
Will the influence of men like David French carry the day in the evangelical church by switching the votes of just few thousand evangelicals for Harris, or will the evangelicals that I know turn out and vote for a future that will restrain Neo-Marxism?  I hope I will not be disappointed in the evangelical church again in 2024 as I was in 2020.
Yes, God is sovereign.  In the end we all have to learn to live with his will, even in presidential elections.  However, God has given to each of us both responsibility and accountability, and we need to be faithful in all things.
Larry E. Ball is a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tenn.
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