<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">"TWO ARE BETTER THAN ONE" MINISTRIES</font>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Jim & Marie Watt – Beth Chesed, </span>
</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Tacoma</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">PO Box </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">
<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">25116 – Federal Way</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">WA</span>
</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">98093-2116</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
</span></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Web: </font><a href="http://www.2rbetter.org/">
<font face="Times New Roman">www.2rbetter.org</font></a><font face="Times New Roman"> – Fax: 253.474.0189</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Tel: 253.874.4265 – Email: </font><a href="mailto:jmbetter@gmail.com">
<font face="Times New Roman">jmbetter@gmail.com</font></a></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">May 11, 2007</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">
<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"></span></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">CHRISTIAN MARTYRDOM – Gary Bauer's "End of Day" – May 9, 2007
</font></span></u></b></p>
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</font></span></span></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">A few weeks ago three Christians working at a Bible publishing house in </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Turkey
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> were brutally murdered by a group of young </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Islamofascist</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">University</span>
<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> students. Reports indicate they were tortured for three hours before finally having their throats slit. </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">U.S.</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> media generally relegated the story to the back pages. I can only imagine what the head lines would be if a group of Evangelicals or Jews had murdered three Islamists. But we don't murder in cold blood.
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Our friend Chuck Colson did a moving radio editorial on the funeral for the three men. He reported that as one coffin was brought into the churchyard five hundred mourners broke into a chorus based on the book of Lamentations: "The compassion of the Lord never fails; His mercy never ceases." One of the men's wives quoted Christ on the Cross, saying of her husband's killers, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do."
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">The following is a corrected Update on the situation in </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Turkey</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
re the massacre of the Christians last week. Please pass on to others the final truth of this whole dreadful saga. May the Lord remind us all to keep praying for the saints in </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Turkey</span>
<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> – Merv & Merla Watson, </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">May 8, 2007</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Please read the attached file about the massacre in </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Turkey</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
. This is the most detailed report yet to come out from those church leaders who were eyewitnesses. If you have read reports of hundreds of stab wounds, body parts being cut off, etc., then you need to know that these were exaggerations, possibly by the perpetrators themselves to inflame the situation and achieve their ends.
<span style="mso-tab-count: 2"> </span>Thank you, Jim Mellis (close friend to the Watsons)</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">CORRECTION FROM </span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">
<u><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">TURKEY</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> – </span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">SMYRNA
</span></u></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><u><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> REPORT</span></u></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">(From Ahmet Guvener, pastor of </span>
</b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Diyarbakir Church</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">, </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">
<span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Turkey</span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">, </span></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">April 30 2007</span></b>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">)</span></b></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center" align="center"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Dear brothers and sisters:</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>I greet you in the peace and love of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the Lord abundantly bless you, your families, your churches, and your work. We know and appreciate very much your heart for us.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Brothers and sisters, in the last ten days we have experienced very painful moments, which words cannot begin to express. Our painful experience has shown us that our lives are as the Lord describes:
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">"What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." </b>For this reason we have understood one more time how holy and close to the Lord we should live our lives.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>We have also understood that our society is easily given to emotion and that in such painful moments some people, whether intentionally or not, report certain events inaccurately and we have not prevented this nor have been able to do so.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">When the </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Malatya</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> massacre happened we, the brothers from
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Diyarbakir</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">, besides those already on the scene at the time of the crime, were the first to get there. When we got to </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
Malatya</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> our brother Ugur was still alive, but his condition was critical. Around 5:30 PM Ugur entrusted his spirit to the Lord.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Dear brothers and sisters, that painful moment has slowly come into perspective for us so that now we have begun to see some things as we should. For example, it appears that those who murdered or arranged for the murder of these brothers are getting what they hoped for. By means of our reactions we may unwittingly help them. If we do not bring the facts into the light, these people will end up getting what they desired.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Brothers Tilmann, Necati, and Ugur were murdered in a bloodthirsty way. This is a fact. But there are also some inaccurate claims about this massacre and one of these is the extent of the torture. According to rumors brother Tilmann was stabbed with a knife 156 times. Brother Ugur had countless knife wounds, it has been said. These rumors, however, are unfounded. At the morgue we wanted to put brother Tilmann's body, which was in a plastic bag, into the coffin, but the officials and police did not like this. "It is sinful to do it this way; we should wrap the corpse in a shroud," they said. I accepted this idea and did what was right in their eyes. I asked them for a shroud (white cloth) and the officials moved Tilmann's body out of the plastic bag, which they placed to the side. I took advantage of this opportunity to examine brother Tilmann's body as far down as his stomach. I did not see any knife wounds. Only Tilmann's throat had been slit 8-10 centimeters and there was the stitched autopsy incision down the middle of Tilmann's chest. Unfortunately there are very different rumors circulating about brothers Tilmann and Necati. It has been said that their noses, lips, and ears were cut. These rumors do not reflect the truth. I telephoned our brother Ed Grudier in
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Adana</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> because I knew he had seen brother Tilmann's body. I asked him about the knife wounds on brother Tilmann's body. Ed said to me, "Brother, I came across three or four knife blows in the chest area. I didn't see his back. On his face I can't say there were knife wounds, but scratches, maybe from hitting his face when he fell down." I knew that Ihsan Ozbek from
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Ankara</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> had seen bodies. I asked him which bodies he had seen and he said, "I saw the chest area of both Tilmann and Necati. I saw purple [from bruising] on Necati's lips and chin, but I did not see knife wounds. I looked at brother Tilmann's chest, but I did not see knife wounds." These are the statements of those who saw the bodies of these two brothers.
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>It is true that our brothers were knifed and tortured. But it was not to the extent of statements such as "too many wounds to count, beyond description." Apparently Ed Grudier looked more carefully that brother Ihsan and I did. Ed saw three or four knife wounds in the chest.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>No one saw brother Ugur's body because on the night of the same day the murder happened, around
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">midnight</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">, his family took his body for burial.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>I believe that brother Ugur had knife wounds similar to those of our other two brothers. It has been said that Ugur was stabbed all over his body, including his genitals. I do not believe this. You may ask why I don't believe this. I think someone stabbed this much would die on the spot. Ugur would not have been able to remain alive until
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">5:30 PM</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> if he had been stabbed so much. That nothing abnormal happened to Ugur can be understood [from the fact that] exaggerated statements have been about our other two brothers, too.
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Therefore we reach the following conclusion: yes, these brothers were tortured, but not to the extent that has been explained.
</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">We are sons and daughters of the truth. Unfortunately unfounded news reports and media exaggerations have now gone out all over the world. Our brothers and sisters and people sensitive [to such news] have been misinformed. We do not intend to offend anyone. But whatever the true facts are, let us report them without exaggeration. Let people everywhere think about the plain facts.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Who started these exaggerated facts [about the </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Malatya</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
massacre]? We propose two possibilities:</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">(1)
<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Those who perpetrated the crime planned this [the spreading of exaggerated facts] from the beginning and the murderers were simply tools for these people [who had planned to blow the murder into exaggerated proportions]. The goal of those who planned this murder and the exaggerated claims was both to frighten the Christians living in
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Turkey</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">, causing them to shrink back and be timid, and to humiliate </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Turkey</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
as a country that invites and causes such bloodthirsty massacres, thereby damaging </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Turkey</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">'s chances of entering the European Union and making matters worse in the country. Furthermore, [the planners of this massacre] wanted to give the government and our people the impression that Christians distort and exaggerate everything.
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt 0.75in; TEXT-INDENT: -0.25in; tab-stops: list .75in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-list: Ignore">(2)
<span style="FONT: 7pt 'Times New Roman'"> </span></span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>In every situation we see that the media either totally disregards something we say or totally exploits it. We investigated the bloody clothing that was submitted to the public as the underclothing of our brothers. None of this clothing belonged to our brothers. That clothing had been taken off the bodies of people shot to death weeks earlier. But what did the media do? They took this clothing and presented it as freshly removed from the bodies of our brothers. Is there anyone who does not yet know about the exaggerations and sometimes boldfaced lies of the media?
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Therefore, brothers and sisters, if we do not explain the true facts to you our hearts will not find peace. I have written this report because I have read exaggerated or unfounded facts in news both home and abroad. The true facts are those in this report. Before sending these facts to you, as you will see below, I have requested statements from our brothers Ihsan Ozbek and Ed Grudier. I have had these statement translated into English in order to pass them on to you
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>May the Lord bless you abundantly.</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Ahmet Guvener, pastor of </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
Diyarbakir</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"> </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">Church</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Brother Ihsan Ozbek's remarks:</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>"</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
Brother Ahmet, your report of my testimony is entirely accurate. I have no problem with anything else you have written in this report. Thank you for writing this report. It would be good for everybody to read what you have written.
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Peace, Ihsan Ozbek"</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Brother Ed Grudier's remarks:</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>"</span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
Brother Ahmet, Thank you for writing this report. It is necessary for wrong information to be corrected. Everything you have written is correct.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>May the peace of the Lord be with you, Ed"</font></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman">Zekai Tanyar's remarks:</font></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span></span></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt">
"Dear Ahmet – I cannot make any firsthand comments on the subject. But I have spoken in person with Necati and Tilmann's wives, Semsa and Susanne. Their impressions link up best with yours. Unfounded exaggerations about the wounds and torture are circulating and apparently some brothers and sisters, still affected by the shock of the massacre, are repeating these exaggerations to others everywhere. This is unfortunate.
</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>The report that you have prepared in order to correct wrong information has been done well and at the first opportunity should be sent to all interested people at home and abroad.
</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1"> </span>Peace, Zekai"</font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt"><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><u><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">NOTE:</span></u></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>And how would Abraham Lincoln have responded to it? In Doris Kearns Goodwin's "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln," 2005, Simon & Schuster, ISBN-10: 0-7432-7075-4 (Pbk) – she records how
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Lincoln</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
took more than a dozen trips to the front (of the Civil War), both to consult with his generals and to inspire the troops. Scenes of the dead littered on the battlefield tore at his heart.</span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1">
</span>Speaking in </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Springfield</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
, </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Lincoln</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
attacked the decision of the Supreme Court in characteristic fashion, NOT BY CASTIGATING THE COURT but by meticulously exposing flaws of logic. The Chief Justice, </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
Lincoln</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> said, "insists at great length that negroes were no part of the people who made, or for whom was made, the Declaration of Independence, or the Constitution." Yet in at least five states, black voters acted on the ratification of the Constitution and were among the "We the People" by whom the Constitution was ordained and established. The founders, he acknowledged, did not "declare all men equal
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">in all respects. </i>They did not mean to say all were equal in color, size, intellect, moral developments, or social capacity." But they did declare all men "equal in 'certain inalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.' … They meant simply to declare the
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">right</i>, so the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">enforcement</i> of it might follow as fast as circumstances should permit." (p. 190)</span></font></p>
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</span>"A house divided against itself cannot stand," </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Lincoln</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
said, echoing the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, as he began his now famous acceptance speech at </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
Springfield</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">. Straightaway, he set forth an instantly accessible image of the </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
Union</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> as a house in danger of collapse under the relentless pressure of the slavery issue. "I believe this government cannot endure, permanently half
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">slave</i> and half <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">free</i>," he continued. "I do not expect the house to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">fall</i> – but I <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">
do</i> expect it will cease to be divided. It will become <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">all</i> one thing, or <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">all</i> the other." (p. 198)</span></font></p>
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</span>As </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Lincoln</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
repeatedly said in many forums, slavery was a violation of the Declaration's "majestic interpretation of the economy of the Universe," allowed by the founders because it was already among us, but placed by them in the course of ultimate extinction. Although unfulfilled in the present, the Declaration's promise of equality was "a beacon to guide" not only "the whole race of man then living" but "their children and their children's children, and the countless myriads who should inhabit the earth in other ages."
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</span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Lincoln</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
agreed that "the doctrine of self government is right – absolutely and eternally right," but argued that "it has no just application" to slavery. "When the white man governs himself," he asserted, "that is self-government; but when he governs himself, and also governs
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">another</i> man, that is <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">more</i> than self-government – that is despotism. If the negro is a <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">man</i>, why then my ancient faith teaches me that 'all men are created equal'; and that there can be no moral right in connection with one man's making a slave of another." (p. 203)
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><font face="Times New Roman"><b><u><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">NOTE:</span></u></b><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Lincoln</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
was not in the habit of castigating individuals. From a position of careful research, thoughtfulness and logic – he set forth his beliefs and a practical solution to problems of his day.</span></font></p>
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</span>Now back to the appalling action of the above Islamic Terrorists – How would </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
Lincoln</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial"> put himself in the shoes of an Osama bin Laden? I believe he would seek to understand how he would react had he been born a Muslim. He would seek to show his search from a book majoring on hate and death to a Bible majoring on the love of God and His desire for Redemption through the life of His only begotten Son – so that people of all races should not perish but have eternal life.
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</span>God would have parents to be like </span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Lincoln</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
. We should say to our children – "We love you, but we do not accept all the things you do." In like manner we love Muslims – but we do not approve of Terrorism, nor of seeking to make the Koran the leading light of other nations they settle in. We pray for
</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">Turkey</span><span style="FONT-SIZE: 11pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Lucida Grande'; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">
. We desire God's best for this nation – but we deplore the action of these 5 young men.</span></font></p>
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</span>In the book of Jude, not even Michael the archangel castigated the devil – but had the Lord rebuke him.</font></span></p>
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</span>May God help us to be like Lincoln and Michael. May we stand against evil deeds, but not reject the doers of such deeds.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Jim Watt
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