Mike Huckabee

Presidential Candidate for President

2008

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Dale Huckabee

 
In office
July 15, 1996 – January 9, 2007
Lieutenant(s) Winthrop Paul Rockefeller (1996-2006)
Preceded by Jim Guy Tucker
Succeeded by Mike Beebe
Born August 24, 1955
Hope, Arkansas
Political party Republican
Spouse Janet Huckabee
Profession Minister
Religion Baptist

Michael Dale "Mike" Huckabee (born August 24, 1955 in Hope, Arkansas) was the governor of the U.S. state of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was the third Republican governor of the state since Reconstruction. In November 2005, TIME named him one of the five best governors in the U.S. He is frequently mentioned as a possible candidate for president in 2008.

Early history

Huckabee was elected Governor of Arkansas Boys State in 1972. He graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University, completing his bachelors degree in 2 1/2 years before attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas.[1]

Prior to his political career, Huckabee was pastor of several Southern Baptist churches in Arkadelphia, Texarkana, and Pine Bluff, Arkansas. He served as President of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention from 1989 to 1991 and as President of a religious-oriented television station.

Early political career

In Huckabee's first political race he lost to incumbent U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers in 1992, receiving about 40 percent of the vote. However, that same election saw Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton ascend to the Presidency, thus elevating Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker to Governor. The 1993 special election was held shortly after the general election; having considerable name recognition from the general election, Huckabee won the special election and became the second Republican since Reconstruction to serve as Arkansas lieutenant governor. As the only Republican in statewide office, he clashed with Democratic leaders over many issues. Nonetheless, Huckabee was re-elected to a full term as lieutenant governor in 1994.

Governor of Arkansas

Ascent to governor

On 15 July 1996 he was sworn in as Governor of Arkansas to fill the vacancy created by Governor Jim Guy Tucker's resignation because of a felony conviction in the Whitewater scandal. This was a dramatic moment for Arkansas as Tucker at first resigned, and then rescinded his resignation as Huckabee was preparing to be sworn in. For a short while the event had the makings of a constitutional crisis not seen in Arkansas since the Brooks-Baxter War in the 19th century. Within a few hours Tucker reinstated his resignation, and Huckabee was sworn in.

Soon after taking office, Huckabee signed legislation creating ARKids First, a health insurance program designed to provide insurance to children of families who could not qualify for Medicaid but could not afford private insurance.[2] He signed legislation to cut taxes, and simplified the automobile registration procedure.

First full term

In November of 1998, Huckabee was elected to a full four-year term, receiving the highest percentage of votes for a Republican seeking statewide office in Arkansas history.

At the beginning of his first full term, Huckabee led a public relations campaign for a bond program to pay for road reconstruction (Arkansas had, at that time, the lowest-rated highway system among the 50 states). Arkansas voters had traditionally shied away from public debt, having experienced a major bond scandal that affected the state's finances for the latter half of the 19th century. This time, however, the voters approved Huckabee's program.

Huckabee also led a campaign to dedicate via constitutional amendment 1/8 of one cent of the state sales tax to improvement of the state's park system and natural resources, which had fallen into serious disrepair (and was an embarrassment for a state billing itself as "The Natural State"). As part of the campaign Huckabee (an avid outdoorsman) traveled the entire length of the Arkansas River (the part within Arkansas) by boat.[3]

In 2000, Huckabee also led a campaign to funnel 100 percent of the state's tobacco settlement revenues into the state's health care system, rather than into the general fund (as other states had done, where it could be used for non-health related purposes).

 Second full term

In November of 2002 he was reelected to another four-year term (due to term limits, this was his final term as governor). By the end of that term, Huckabee owned the third-longest tenure of any Arkansas Governor (only Democrats Orval Faubus, who served 6 consecutive 2-year terms (1955-1967), and Bill Clinton, who served 11 years, 11 months (1979-1981; 1983-1992), had longer tenures).

He was made the chair of the Southern Governors' Association in 1999 and served in that capacity through 2000. He has chaired the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Southern Region Education Board, the Southern Technology Council, and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, and currently serves as Chair of the Education Commission of the States. He is also a member of the Republican Governors Association and former Chairman of the National Governors Association.

On November 21, 2002, the Arkansas State Supreme Court declared that the state's school funding procedure was unconstitutional and ordered the state to produce a fair system. Huckabee proposed a controversial plan that would consolidate many of the state's smaller school districts. School consolidation is very unpopular in rural Arkansas and may be the "third rail" of Arkansas politics. Huckabee's plan was not accepted by the legislature, and the court order has not yet been satisfied.

After Hurricane Katrina made landfall and numerous evacuees fled to Arkansas (the total number was estimated at around 70,000), Huckabee ordered state agencies to "take care of those human needs first and worry about the paperwork later". State parks offered deep discounts, waived pet restrictions, and bumped other reservations in favor of evacuees. Pharmacists were given emergency authority to dispense prescriptions and provide access to dialysis machines. Shelters opened up in nearly every portion of the state, and Huckabee requested that the entire state be declared a disaster area. Many of these shelters, either closed or set to close, were reopened or kept open to process a "second wave" of Katrina evacuees being moved from Texas in the wake of arriving Hurricane Rita. (See also Hurricane Katrina disaster relief).

In early 2006, Huckabee - along with fellow governors Rick Perry (R-TX); Jim Doyle (D-WI); and Dave Freudenthal (D-WY) - travelled to the Middle East and South Asia as part of Department of Defense-sponsored trip to provide the state leaders with an idea of the conditions under which American forces are serving. While visiting Baghdad and Tikrit, Huckabee and the governors received briefings from Gen. George Casey and Amb. Zalmay Khalilzad.[4]

Health advocacy and personal weight loss

When elected governor of Arkansas, Mike Huckabee was significantly overweight. During 2003, physicians diagnosed the governor with adult-onset diabetes and informed him that he would not live more than 10 years if he did not lose weight. This diagnosis (as well as the subsequent death of former Governor Frank D. White, whose obesity led to a fatal heart attack) shocked the governor into reflecting on his own mortality, and his ability to serve as the governor of Arkansas. Huckabee subsequently lost over 110 pounds through a disciplined diet and exercise,[5][6] according to a New York Times article at a pace so rapid that "it was as if he simply unzipped a fat suit and stepped out." [7] The governor now wakes up at approximately 5 a.m. for a five-mile jog, and he and his wife routinely pack his own healthy meals for lunch and dinner in a portable cooler--even when attending political, ceremonial, or fund-raising events.

He has publicly recounted his previous burdens as an overweight man: the steps of the Arkansas capitol building from the entrance of the building up to the Governor's office were so long and steep that Huckabee would be out of breath and exhausted by the time he reached the top of the stairs; Huckabee secretly feared that he would be interviewed by media at the top of the steps, and that he would be unable to respond appropriately due to his overexertion and breathlessness.[8]

Huckabee has trumpeted his weight loss and made health care reform a major component of his later tenure as governor, promoting both his own life story as well as his decision to dedicate 100 percent of tobacco settlement proceeds to health-related issues.

Huckabee ran in the 2006 New York City Marathon.[9]

Criticisms

Huckabee has been criticized for his support of creationism. He was quoted in July 2004 on "Arkansans Ask," his regular show on the Arkansas Educational Television Network: "I think that [students] also should be given exposure to the theories not only of evolution but to the basis of those who believe in creationism." Huckabee also stated "I do not necessarily buy into the traditional Darwinian theory, personally."[10]

Huckabee drew criticism in October 2006 for referring to his significant weight loss as being the result of a stay at "a concentration camp held by the Democrat Party of Arkansas". [11]

In November 2006, both Huckabee and his wife drew criticism for creating wedding registries in the amount of over $6000 at both the Target and Dillard's web sites, in conjunction with a housewarming party to celebrate a new $525,000 house they had purchased in Little Rock. The Arkansas Times, which first reported the story, noted that wedding gifts represent one of the exceptions to a $100 cap on gifts to political leaders under Arkansas law.[12] Huckabee claimed that the registries were intended only for those who were invited to the event, that he was not involved in organizing the event, and that they were classified as wedding registries only because those sites did not have separate categories for housewarming parties.[13]

Huckabee has also been criticized for his fiscal record as governor. The CATO Institute gave him an F grade for spending and tax policy in 2006, and an overall grade of D for his governorship. [14]

Wayne Dumond, who was convicted for the rape of Ashley Stevens, a Forrest City high school student, was released from prison in Arkansas, allegedly by pressure from Huckabee, and subsequently sexually assaulted and murdered a Missouri woman.[15]

While Huckabee has been, on the one hand, criticised for granting a relatively high rate of clemency to criminals during his tenure[16], he has, on the other hand, also been criticised for refusing to reopen investigation into the well-known case of the West Memphis Three (CrimeLibrary profile), a group of convicts whom many believe are innocent of the crimes of which they are accused.[17] During Gov. Huckabee's administration (and since then, as well), there has been a notable movement amongst politicians and celebrities to press for the reopening of the West Memphis Three case. Noteworthy supporters of the "Free the West Memphis Three" cause include Jack Black, Jello Biafra, Marilyn Manson, Winona Ryder, Tom Waits, South Park creator Trey Parker, and even former President Bill Clinton (also a former Arkansas governor), who has called it a "troubling case."[18] Two major films have since been released documenting the situation, including an Emmy award-winning documentary on the WM3 case, which aired in the 1990's. Huckabee himself has had little to say on the matter, though the Governor's office did, on March 23, 2003, send out an error-filled e-mail to address the matter, which claimed that DNA evidence had conclusively linked the WM3 to their accused crimes and that HBO's documentary was actually fiction.[19] In actuality, DNA testing for the case has never been completed and test results have never been released,[20] and had the HBO documentary been a "fictionalized account," it would have been disqualified for the Emmy for "Outstanding Achievement in Informational Programming," which it won in 1997 alongside a National Geographic Special.[21] Huckabee's office thereafter refused to comment on the matter.[22]

Books

Huckabee has authored or co-authored four books, with the most recent published in January 2007 by Center Street:

  • Character is the Issue (1997), a memoir (inspired by the crisis surrounding the incidents prior to his taking office as governor)
  • Kids Who Kill (1998), a book about juvenile violence (inspired by the Jonesboro massacre, which took place during his tenure as governor)
  • Living Beyond Your Lifetime (2000), a guide for leaving a personal legacy
  • Quit Digging Your Grave with a Knife and Fork (2005), a health and exercise inspirational guide (based on his personal health experience) Publisher: Center Street
  • From Hope to Higher Ground: 12 Stops to Restoring America's Greatness (2007) Publisher: Center Street

Other accomplishments

Ouachita Baptist University recently renamed its School of Education the Michael D. Huckabee School of Education. In addition, his hometown of Hope named a recently-completed lake inside its Fair Park after Huckabee and his wife.

Huckabee was 1 of 10 recipients of a 2006 American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) Impact Award acknowledging his work as a "Health Crusader".

Huckabee has run the 2005 Marine Corps Marathon, the 2005 and 2006 Little Rock Marathon, and the 2006 New York City Marathon. The 2005 Little Rock Marathon had a contest between Huckabee and Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack (D). Huckabee completed the marathon in 4:38:31, defeating Vilsack by 50 minutes. (Interestingly, Huckabee was assigned runner number "2008").

Presidential ambitions

Huckabee has been mentioned as a possible candidate for President in 2008 [1] and, alternatively, as a possible challenger to incumbent Democratic senator Mark Pryor in that same year. He has reportedly told close friends that he will seek the Republican Presidential nomination in 2008. He has made several trips to important primary states, including a four-day trip to New Hampshire in August, 2006.

Regarding a possible Presidential candidacy, several similarities have already been drawn between Huckabee and former President Clinton:

In a January 24, 2007 interview with Norah O'Donnell he called an announcement "imminent".

On January 27, 2007, the Associated Press reported that Huckabee plans to file papers to form a presidential exploratory committee on January 29.[23]

Trivia

  • Appeared on Canadian comedian Rick Mercer's show Talking to Americans where he congratulated the Canadian government on building a dome over its "national igloo" (apparently a downsized version of the United States Capitol) to protect it from global warming.
  • Plays bass guitar in a band called Capitol Offense. Their performance in New Hampshire on August 10, 2006 was shown on C-SPAN.
  • Appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on January 10th, 2007.
  • Mentioned on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on January 23rd, 2007 after a CNN poll showed Huckabee polling at 1%, with a margin of error of ±5%. "According to that poll, Mike Huckabee might be imaginary." --Jon Stewart

Notes and references

  1. ^ Official biography
  2. ^ AR Kids First website
  3. ^ http://www.state.ar.us/governor/media/columns/text/c07052003.html
  4. ^ http://www.arkansasnews.com/archive/2006/02/02/News/333735.html
  5. ^ MSNBC article
  6. ^ Washington Post article
  7. ^ New York Times article
  8. ^ http://www.state.ar.us/governor/media/radio/text/r07242004.html
  9. ^ Jane McManus. "At NYC Marathon, there's no telling who you may run into", The Journal News, November 5, 2006.
  10. ^ Arkansas Ask
  11. ^ DeMillo, Andrew. "Ark. Governor Criticized Over Joke", Associated Press, 2006-10-20. Retrieved on 2007-01-24.
  12. ^ "Gifts solicited for Gov. Huckabee", Arkansas Times, November 11, 2006
  13. ^ "Arkansas Governor Defends Gift Registry", Associated Press
  14. ^ "CATO Governors Report Card"
  15. ^ Arkansas Times article
  16. ^ Stop Huckabee Clemencies
  17. ^ Free the West Memphis Three
  18. ^ West Memphis Three Notable Quotes
  19. ^ The West Memphis Three: Did Satanists murder 3 boys?
  20. ^ LEGAL UPDATE
  21. ^ IMDb: Emmy Awards: 1997
  22. ^ The West Memphis Three: Did Satanists murder 3 boys?
  23. ^ "Former Gov. Huckabee to jump into 2008 race". Associated Press, January 27, 2007

 See also

 External links

 
Wikisource has original works written by or about:
 
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Preceded by
Jim Guy Tucker		 Governor of Arkansas
1996–2007		 Succeeded by
Mike Beebe

 

Former Arkansan Governor Huckabee to run for president
Web posted at: 1/29/2007 2:32:48
Source ::: REUTERS

WASHINGTON • Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee said yesterday he would take the first step toward a longshot campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

"Tomorrow I'll be filing papers to launch an exploratory committee and yes I'll be out there," he said on NBC's "Meet the Press." Such a committee will allow him to raise money and hire campaign staff. "I think America needs positive optimistic leadership to kind of turn this country around to see a revival of our national soul and to reclaim a sense of the greatness of this country that we love," he said.

Huckabee, 51, who served more than 10 years as governor, said he supported President George W Bush on the Iraq war and defended his conservative record, even though taxes in Arkansas were raised several times during his time as governor.

He said he also cut some taxes and was under court order to improve education, which required raising others like cigarette and road taxes as the only way to bring in the money.

"No one can question the conservative record over 10 years," said Huckabee, who also defended his anti-abortion stand.

Huckabee joined a crowded field of Republican candidates who have taken the first exploratory steps toward running for president. But he enters the race near the bottom of the recognition polls led by Sen. John McCain of Arizona and former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Huckabee had been elected lieutenant governor in Arkansas and took over as governor in 1996 when Democrat Jim Guy Tucker resigned because he was convicted of a felony in the Whitewater scandal.

Huckabee Defends Traditional Marriages

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: February 9, 2007
Filed at 10:43 p.m. ET
 
NASHUA, N.H. (AP) -- Republican Mike Huckabee said Friday that marriage shouldn't be treated as an experiment in response to questions about whether Vice President Dick Cheney's lesbian daughter should have the right to wed.

The former Arkansas governor, who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, said heterosexual marriages face enough challenges without adding new configurations to the mix.

''Taking on a new definition doesn't make sense right now,'' Huckabee said in an interview with The Associated Press after speaking to business leaders in New Hampshire.

Mary Cheney, 37, announced in December that she and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, were starting a family. She has not said how the child was conceived. The baby is due in the spring and will be the vice president's sixth grandchild.

Huckabee declined to comment on Mary Cheney's decision.

''I wouldn't get near specific cases,'' he said.

But when pressed, he said the historic definition of marriage has worked for so long for a reason.

''People have a right to decide how they live their lives. But they have to respect not changing the definition of marriage,'' said Huckabee, who served as a pastor in Baptist churches before becoming governor in 1996.
In 2004, the year Arkansas approved a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, Huckabee said the ban was needed to quiet activists looking to rewrite the nation's social code. But Huckabee also said it was OK to say a person's sexual preference was nobody's business, ''even though it's not consistent with the Biblical norm of male and female.''

In 2006, when the Arkansas Supreme Court rejected a ban on gay foster parents that had been put in by a state board, Huckabee said through a spokeswoman: ''I'm very disappointed that the court seems more interested in what's good for gay couples than what's good for children needing foster care.''

 

November 25, 2007
Huckabee would strike Pakistan in case of "imminent threat"

Mike Huckabee said he would strike Pakistan in the case of an 'imminent threat'.

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) - Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said Saturday he would take military action inside Pakistan's borders if there were an "imminent" terrorist threat within the country.

"We need to make sure we are clear that if we have an actionable target in Pakistan, that we will take action on that target because if that helps save and preserve American people, that's the foremost thing we need to be worried about," Huckabee said at a campaign event in Columbia.

"We need to remember that the next terrorist attack will most likely be postmarked Pakistan," he said. "I mean, that's where we will likely see the origins of a terrorist attack, given Osama bin Laden's whereabouts."

Huckabee's comments are similar to those of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who came under fire in August for saying at a speech, "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and President Musharraf will not act, we will."

Several of Obama's Democratic rivals, as well as Republican candidates John McCain and Mitt Romney, criticized Obama's Pakistan comments at the time, suggesting that using force within Pakistan could jeopardize the United States' relationship with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, who remains a key U.S. ally in the Middle East despite the recent turmoil in the country.

Asked by CNN if such actions might violate Pakistan's sovereignty under international law, Huckabee said U.S. national security would take precedent.

"The sovereignty of the United States is the single most important sovereignty the American president has to deal with, and the safety of the American people," Huckabee said. "And certainly we would like to have the cooperation of Pakistan, and I think we should have it and will have it."

"But if there is an imminent threat to the American people, then I think it is the responsibility of a president of this country to do whatever he has to do to protect you me and the rest of us standing here today."

Click here to see CNN's new political portal: CNNPolitics.com

 

October 15, 2007

Gov. Mike Huckabee: Create Palestinian State Outside of Israel

The Yeshiva World:

Orthodox Jew Hosts Presidential Candidate

By Shmuel Hakoton) Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican presidential contender, gave a stump speech and answered questions today at the home of New Hampshire State Representative Jason Bedrick, the first Orthodox Jew elected to the NH House of Representatives.

“People often tell me that they agree with what Huckabee has to say, but don’t think he can win,” said Bedrick, “Not only can he win, he must win if we’re going to put this country back on track.”

Bedrick also noted that though Huckabee isn’t a household name yet, he believes that he will be. “No one had ever heard of the last governor from Hope, Arkansas, Bill Clinton, the summer before he was elected. Huckabee is polling well in all the early states; he’s a long shot but he’s the best shot we’ve got.”

New Hampshire is the home of the first primary in the nation and it has a history of picking lesser-known candidates who go on to become President.

In response to a question about the Middle East from Rabbi Moshe Bleich of the Wellesley-Weston Chabad Center, Gov. Huckabee expressed frustration with Israeli politicians who wanted to give away the Golan Heights and firmly opposed dividing Jerusalem.

When asked about a Palestinian state, Gov. Huckabee stated that he supports creating a Palestinian state, but believes that it should be formed outside of Israel. He named Egypt and Saudi Arabia as possible alternatives, noting that the Arabs have far more land than the Israelis and that it would only be fair for other Arab nations to give the Palestinians land for a state, rather than carving it out of the tiny Israeli state.

Gov. Huckabee, who has visited Israel nine times, also expressed support for moving the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and stressed the importance of making America energy independent in ten years for both environmental and national security reasons. “We just can’t continue to be dependent on Saudi oil,” explained Huckabee, “I want to be able to tell the Saudis that we need their oil about as much as we need their sand.”

A crowd of over seventy people came to meet Gov. Huckabee and listen to him answer questions while they enjoyed kosher pastries and coffee. Gov. Huckabee also spoke of the need to overhaul the tax code, eliminating the IRS and replacing all taxes on income and production with a consumption tax.

Gov. Mike Huckabee served as governor of Arkansas for ten years and he is a past chairman of the National Governors’ Association. Rep. Jason Bedrick is a first-term state representative serving the towns of Windham and Salem, NH. He is also the gabbai of the Wellesley-Weston Chabad synagogue in Wellesley, MA. [link]

posted by: jrtelegraph

From:http://www.jrtelegraph.com/2007/10/gov-mike-huckab.html

Archive for the 'Christian Zionism' Category

 

Ties Between Mike Huckabee And John Hagee Discovered! (He Also Has Ties To Kenneth Copeland, Tim LaHaye, And Rick Warren)

Posted by Job on December 6, 2007

It is getting harder and harder to avoid applying the “how can two walk together unless they be agreed”of Amos 3:3 to Mike Huckabee. I have already given you the ties between Huckabee and Kenneth Copeland: Mike Huckabee Defends Kenneth Copeland!, as well as those between Huckabee and Rick Warren: Why The Media Likes Mike Huckabee So Much: He Is A Rick Warren Worker!. Well, now here comes news that Tim LaHaye of the false doctrine Left Behind novels (I am not calling it false doctrine because of the pretribulation stance but rather because of many other things see More “Left Behind” False Doctrine Exposed, Should Christians Commit Murder For “The Cause”? and False Doctrine In “Left Behind”: The Remnant Teaches Against the Doctrine of the God-Sent Strong Delusion) as well as a “Christian marital sexuality” book that is just as perverse as the teachings of Juanita Bynum and Thomas Weeks III (like them he takes the false position that it is OK to defile someone with ungodly sexual activity so long as that person is your spouse). Well, LaHaye just endorsed Huckabee. 

Now Tim LaHaye with his books and movies promotes the flavor of pretribulation dispensationalism that is heavily contributed to the creation of precisely the “attack Iran to protect Israel” Christian Zionism political worldview that has allowed John Hagee to exploit it and become a political player. (LaHaye is also himself a leading figure of the religious right through the Council For National Policy, a group heavily indebted to cult leader Sun Myung Moon behind the scenes … see Want A List Of Pastors Who Took Sun Myung Moon’s Money?, and a Christian Zionist in his own right.)

Well, the Christian brother at Pro Libertate has discovered a longtime connection between Hagee’s people and Huckabee.

Quoting him: “Late last Summer, a cover story in Strang’s New Man magazine anointed Huckabee as the heir apparent to George W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. In recent weeks, Huckabee has tapped Strang to serve on his “Faith and Values Coalition,” which is intended to attract money from, and consolidate support within, the Christian Right. Strang served a similar role in the early days of Bush the Lesser’s first presidential campaign. Strang is also a regional director of Hagee’s Christians United for Israel, a pressure group that describes itself – without a detectable hint of irony – as a “Christian AIPAC,” as if one such organization weren’t a sufficient burden and blight upon our land .. Stephen Strang is the human vinculum between Huckabee and Hagee. Strang, a long-time friend and business associate of Hagee, presides over a Pentecostal publishing empire; among Strang’s imprints is Front Line books, which has published several of Hagee’s books, including his latest, In Defense of Israel.” Now this “In Defense of Israel” is the same one where Hagee denies that Jesus Christ is the Messiah! See John Hagee Claims That Jesus Christ Was Not The Messiah, More On John Hagee Jesus Did Not Come To Be The Messiah Apostasy Book, and Can We Do Anything To Speed The Return Of Jesus Christ? Why I Say NO!

And this goes back to Amos 3:3. See how these people who agree walk together? It is no coincidence, but rather because they are dealing with the same evil spirits: a lust for power and wealth that causes them to come together in like mind and united purpose because they have given themselves over to them. Folks, this is serious business, and it is for God’s people, not those who have sold out to the world and believe that the kingdom of God can be advanced through its ways rather than by what Jesus Christ did