The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (or more precisely, The Man Who Shot "Liberty Violence") In 1962 the classic black-and-white movie, "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was released starring John Wayne and Jimmy Stewart and directed by Richard Ford. A word the Lord has given me for 2001 is "Liberty". As I explained in part one, liberty is defined as "freedom from despotic or arbitrary government." The 1962 movie is about bringing government to the wilderness and overcoming the resistence of tyranny. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" is told in flashback style. I pick it up at the beginning of the flashback as an idealistic young lawyer from the East -- Ransom Stoddard -- arrives in the Wild West. The stagecoach he's on is held up by highwaymen -- led by a masked Liberty Valance -- and when Stoddard tries to be heroic he is scourged and left for dead. Eventually he's found by a smalltime rancher -- Tom Doniphan -- who brings him to the town of Shinbone and a cafe run by Swiss immigrants. Doniphan's would-be flame, Hallie, works in the cafe and nurses Stoddard back to health. Stoddard lost all his money ($14.80) in the robbery and must work at the cafe washing dishes and waiting tables. He studies his law books to convince the town's likeable but ineffective marshall, Linc Appleyard, to take action against Valance, played menacingly by Lee Marvin. Doniphan, the only man in town not afraid of Valance, mocks Stoddard and tells him it is the gun, not a set of law books, that rules the West. Doniphan and Stoddard become friendly rivals for the hand of Hallie. Doniphan brings her a flowering cactus while Stoddard promises to teach the illiterate maiden to read and write. Hallie is thrilled. She knows the Good Book, she tells the young lawyer, from listening to preachers, but she would love to read it for herself. Stoddard soon starts a school with students of all ages and written on the blackboard is the theme: "Education is the basis of Law and Order." The political backdrop is that the territory has aspirations of becoming a state and Shinbone hopes statehood will bring the railroad to their dying community. Cattle barons are resisting statehood knowing it would bring encroaching homesteaders and have hired Valance to control the people through terror. Stoddard eventually inspires the town's newspaper editor, Dutton Peabody, to action and a grassroots movement is formed to elect two delegates to the territorial convention. In the town meeting Stoddard nominates Doniphan, who declines. He has personal ambitions of building his ranch and marrying Hallie. Stoddard, in turn, is nominated, as is Dutton Peabody. Peabody, an alcoholic, tries to decline saying he is already "the conscience, the watchdog, the still small voice" of the region. Valance and his henchmen then burst into the meeting and Valance nominates himself. He is, of course, defeated in the voting and Stoddard and Peabody are elected. An enraged Valance then challenges Stoddard to a gunfight later that night. Doniphan urges Stoddard to flee, but later, in the longcast shadows of moonlight, Ransom -- still clad in an apron from doing kitchen work -- enters the street with a borrowed revolver. Valance staggers from a saloon and yells at Stoddard to come forward out of the shadows. He shoots and shatters a hanging clay pot near Stoddard's head then shoots again, wounding Stoddard in his gun arm. The eastern lawyer crawls to the handgun, picks it up and staggers forward. "All right, dude," Valance says. "This time right between the eyes." Valance aims, Stoddard fires, and Valance falls over dead. The town breaks into celebration. Later, Stoddard and Peabody attend the territorial convention where Stoddard is nominated to go to Washington D.C. but nearly declines when he is accused by the adversaries of being a murderer. Wallowing in self-condemnation, he is confronted by Doniphan who, realizing the loss of his intended bride, has burned his house down. Doniphan informs Stoddard that it was he, standing in the shadows, who gunned down Liberty Valance. Stoddard is shocked by relieved. Both men keep the secret and Stoddard accepts the nomination. The territory becomes a stat, Shinbome gets its railroad, and Stoddard goes on to a distinquished political career. He only later returns to Shinbone as an aged statesman to attend Doniphan's funeral. Doniphan never achieved success and is laid to rest in a plain pine box. TYPES AND SHADOWS Ransom (the ransomed of the Lord) represents the apostolic bringing government to an assembly shepherded by a marshall who is more intent on being fed than doing his job and a rugged individualist, Doniphan, who represents the prophetic. Both the apostolic and the prophetic have their eye on Hallie, who represents the Bride. Doniphan stays aloof and forceful while Ransom is humbled and puts on the apron of a servant. He has lost all his wealth, $14.80, representing perfection doubled (2x7) and judgement doubled (2x40), but he understands that education is the key to transformation and becomes an apostolic teacher. His leadership inspires the town editor who is a symbol of the evangelist. Soon the town's newspaper, The Shinbone Star, is proclaiming good news. As the black principality of the region, Valance discerns that Stoddard is a greater threat than Doniphan. Doniphan is tough and bold but he is focused on personal goals. Stoddard, though meek, has corporate principles. When the showdown comes both the apostolic and the prophetic offer a great sacrifice. Stoddard steps into the street clad in a servant's apron, knowing he is likely to die. Valance first shoots an earthen clay vessel, then Stoddard's right arm. Both symbols of the flesh. When Stoddard is about to be murdered Doniphan shoots secretly from the shadows. His is not a cowardly act -- he'd never been afraid of Liberty Valance -- it is an intercessory act and an execution of judgement. By seeing Stoddard spared, Doniphan knowingly relinquishes his hopes of claiming Hallie, the Bride of Christ, for his own. There are many spiritual "Shinbones" today. Dying little assemblies shepherded by a powerless marshall while watched over loosely by a gunfighting prophet. Meanwhile. black terror keeps the people captive and silences the voice of the evangelist. (Interestingly, Valance shows no interest in Hallie in the movie, probably knowing that would bring death from Doniphan's hands.) The apostolic arrived in a wooden vessel, a stagecoach, which can carry little provision. At first idealistic and presumptuous, the apostolic is soon humbled and becomes servant. Servanthood promotes him to being a teacher. Education enlightens the need for government. Government unifies the people under statehood and brings the railroad to Shinbone. The railroad, made of iron and holding great supply, brings prosperity. The word the Lord actually gave me regarding this movie was "The Man Who Shot Liberty Violence." This play on words was to say it is time to execute judgement on the one who does violence to Liberty. ("Now the Spirit is the Lord, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.") It is time for the boldly prophetic to execute judgement from the shadows. They must allow the servant/teacher/apostle to take his place or proper government and provision will not come to the Body. It is also the time for good apostolic teaching, but the apostle must be one of the people and not just an outsider with all the answers. The Bride, when given the choice between the rose of a cactus or the promise of a real rose will choose the hope of a greater glory. Doniphan was busy building an addition to his small dwelling to house his bride. Stoddard chose the greater house of government and won the bride. We must remember that Stoddard and Doniphan were friends even in rivalry. When Stoddard returns to Shinbone a famous man and is asked why he is there, he explains it is for the funeral of Tom Doniphan. Doniphan has been forgotten through the years. 'Who was Tom Doniphan?" a newspaperman asks. "He was a friend," Senator Ransom Stoddard explains. 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" was the only screen pairing of film's two greatest male icons. It is this movie where John Wayne repeatedly uses the word, "Pilgrim", that would so mark his career. Early in the movie he says to Stoddard, "You're a persistent, cuss, Pilgrim." Perseverance is one of the marks of the apostolic, so the prophetic Doniphan is recognizing Stoddard not merely as a pilgrim, but as an apostle. The pairing of the two could symbolize the two end-time witnesses. Prosperity came to Shinbone when the law became a servant and the servant took action. Valance was not merely destroyed. He was displaced. Stoddard simply took his rightful position while his friend, Doniphan, shot secretly and accurately from the shadows. When the false Liberty Valance fell, true liberty reigned. John L. Moore sundaycreek@midrivers.com http://www.johnlmoore.com