Saturday, October 17, 2020
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary Bauer
[Special Notice: You are receiving this "End of Day" report from my political action committee, Campaign for Working Families (CWF). CWF is renting the American Values e-mail list at fair market value. If you do not wish to receive messages from CWF, please click here to opt out.]
Friends,
The stakes in this election are enormous. The fate of our country and the future of religious liberty are on the line. To defend our values, we are partnering with various allies, including Lindsey Communications, The Lindsey Foundation, Faith Wins and the Pacific Justice Institute to empower the resurgence of the Church Vote. Below is their latest alert. Please share the resources included here with your pastor and fellow worshippers. – Gary
The Church Finds Its Voice
A Coalition of Lindsey Communications, The Lindsey Foundation, Faith Wins and the Pacific Justice Institute to Empower the Resurgence of the Church Vote!
Comm #9: The Ultimate Check
Good afternoon precious pastors and ministry leaders. This is Joan with warmest greetings to you. You are prayed over daily, I hope you know, and we’re praising God for how your voices are being heard. It’s a heart-moving thing for the four of us in the Coalition to hear the ways it’s happening.
This week we’re all watching the process of a Supreme Court justice being confirmed to fill the newly vacated seat. With some level of stress, we’re watching, because of the pressure being put on the nominee to commit to various policy stances. How would she rule on this? How would she rule on that?
Finally, one of the Republican senators reassured Mrs. Barrett what she already knew...that she wasn’t responsible for legislation or policy, but to be a judge. A judge! A check, a balance to the legislature.
Those on the left who oppose this fine nominee forget the sheer brilliance of our Constitution in its directive to provide three, distinct branches of government. Each branch can stop or ‘check’ the other. The three together balance out the competing views of each.
There’s a really good reason it was written this way, and it’s to do with what the Founders understood the Bible to teach about the propensity of humans to love power and to be tempted to abuse it. The checks and balances in the Constitution prevent that.
And sure enough, this has been an outstanding plan for 244 years. The world has watched us in wonder, as our nation has proved to be exceptional. And as a Christian nation, we have historically been a witness to the world.
But one party would like to soften the edges of that separateness. If they got their way, the appointed Judicial branch would no longer be independent, but just an extension of elected Congress. But that’s ok to them. If they’re the ones whose policies are bleeding over into the Judicial branch, that is.
That’s what the ONE TRUE definition of what court-packing would do; they would flood the Supreme Court with extra judges who agree with the policies of their party that pushed them in there. Many Democrats have praised the idea. Fifteen justices instead of nine? It could be!
Historically this idea has been hugely discredited. If it were to happen, however, the Supreme Court could become a quite different body. And then what would be it’s point? And those edges of the separateness would be softened.
Same for the Electoral College, a brilliant construct that ensures every single state gets a voice in the national vote. So important for the smaller states. And for those with sparse populations. The Electoral College very effectively ensures balance in our national vote. Tara Ross is one of our nation’s best resources and educators on this - https://www.taraross.com.
One example of how lopsided votes and influence could be without the Electoral College, is to think about it this way...abolishing the Electoral College could make Los Angeles County stronger than 43 states. You can read a whole lot more on this in Allen Guelzo’s In Defense of the Electoral College.
If we allow the Electoral College to be hobbled and instead just go by a raw popular vote, where do you think the candidates will do their wooing? And would officeholders work hardest for huge population centers to secure reelection? Very, very possibly and highly likely. How unfair! This would be a disaster.
For the party that wishes to blur the lines of distinction between the three branches of government, these examples we’ve given you would be just the beginning.
One party is strongly for upholding checks and balances. They recognize and respect where the idea comes from. They know that the Constitution reflects the principles of Godly governance they have a duty to protect. As does the Church have a duty to protect them.
However, the other party wishes to ‘re-imagine’ our American governance. In the opinion of many, that would destroy the country.
Checks and balances are crucial to make sure our country runs well. And the ultimate ‘check’ is the Church!
Our Constitution was prayed over each day it was being written. A very many of the Founders later remarked how they felt God’s leading while it was being written. The Constitution is a document that reflects the kind of government described in Scripture. And it has worked!! Oh so well!
Believers are the ultimate check preventing our country from drifting away from the principles laid out in the Constitution by believers, for believers and for those who they prayed might yet believe.
This is why the Church MUST VOTE, and has a duty to vote. And pastors, we are so proud of your leadership in this. We know you are conveying this urgent duty to vote to your congregations. We hear about it all the time, and are so glad.
Chad Connelly has just brought in an update that illustrates how that is happening.
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Hello everyone and thank you for your prayers as our team travels across the U.S. working to maximize the Christian vote in this election at every level.
I try hard to ignore negativity in my life, therefore, I avoid TV pundits, polls and the so-called “political experts” at all costs! We certainly can’t avoid those things completely, so if you have seen some of the “news”, you’re maybe a little bit discouraged.
I have to tell you -- DON’T be! Our God is bigger than the problems we face, and as a pastor buddy quoted to me in North Carolina the other day from Mark 11:22 “...Have faith in God.”
I know that you do know that, but we all need a reminder when we see the kinds of blatant attacks on our faith from progressive mayors, governors, and even unelected bureaucrats like we’ve witnessed in the past few months.
I want you to know that our people are fired up and READY to make their voices heard at the voting booth! I believe that pastors and faith leaders across the board are paying attention to what is going on in America like never before.
It used to be that we as Christians paid close attention to pro-life, Biblical marriage, religious liberty and the treatment of Israel as our top issues. I would guess that most of us never believed our nation’s flag, or our law enforcement officers, or even local officials allowing the destruction of businesses, homes and even large parts of their own cities would be issues we had to watch!
There is no doubt that the attacks we’ve seen are not about politics or the President or statues -- the left is in a determined war against God Himself and is committed to undermining the freedoms that have been the hallmark of our nation. We are the counter in that battle as we pray and vote!
I have now been in 14 different states and have had over 2,000 pastors from multiple denominations in meetings in those states. I am sure this effect doesn’t show up in the polling, but less than 5% of those pastors had EVER done voter registration.
But now, over 98% of them are conducting voter registration and are telling their congregations to go vote Biblical values!
We have compiled dozens of videos, podcasts, Facebook live videos, voter guides and other material that you can share with your friends. Make sure you go to www.Faithwins.us to access those videos and other materials, and also go to the Faith Wins Facebook page to keep up with our meetings, travel and on-the-spot video updates. I’m sure you’ll be encouraged and will get some ideas of some things you can share with your church and pastor.
Finally, between long lines and various concerns about safety and voting security, we’re encouraging Christians to GO. VOTE. NOW.
Do not procrastinate, vote early and avoid the hassles and lines by voting in person early. The resources you need for early, absentee voting and voter guides are on our website for your use at http://faithwins.us/resources/.
Please share that information, go cast your vote early so you definitely won’t miss out, and also so you can spend these last few weeks making sure that EVERYONE you know -- at your job, in your family and in your church -- go vote their Biblical values too!
God Bless you and God Bless America!
-Chad
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Thanks so much, Chad! Hello pastors, Kielle here with you, and so glad to be talking about the process of safe voting and the Electoral College, as Joan mentioned at the beginning of this Comm.
Our nation’s governing documents and systems of electing good leaders were carefully, thoughtfully, and prayerfully composed...guardrails put in place with the best intentions for the ultimate and long-lasting success of our Christian nation and its citizens...you! The Electoral College was created with that same mindset of safeguarding the integrity of the voting process.
It sounds so easy to simply unwind all of that tough-to-understand process of the Electoral College and just count a national vote, doesn’t it? Why go through such a complicated process when we could just count each voter’s vote?
Well, that complicated process - the brilliantly conceived Electoral College - is the BEST way to prevent the authoritarian majority from ruling over the minority...to be sure that every vote really, actually counts, and to prevent a system of campaigning and the creation of party platforms that would only be based on the needs and voices of those in our most populated areas of the country.
Dr. Jim Dennison says this so well, "Our republic exists to protect individual rights from the state and the majority, a fact enshrined in the Bill of Rights. And so the Electoral College, despite its flaws and frustrations, is an extension of America’s historic commitment to the assertion that ‘all men are created equal.’”
I love that our nation’s systems were built on, and to this day still rely upon, fairness (where those checks and balances came from). The Bible shares example after example of it...fairness, integrity, righteousness. The Electoral College preserves it and, as believers, we must defend it.
Praying for you all!
-Kielle
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And now here are related links and resources again from Coalition member and Pacific Justice Institute President, Brad Dacus:
Now where was that again?
And Brad Dacus reminds you if you need additional resources, or should you need to talk with a pro bono attorney if you are being threatened in any way, go to https://www.pacificjustice.org or please call the Pacific Justice Institute at (916) 857-6900.
Praying for God’s blessing over you all,
-Your Church Finds Its Voice Leadership
*Please share and forward on to your networks!
Contact Us:
Chad Connelly
President, Faith Wins
To read more about Church Do’s and Don’ts and for an expanded list of resources and contacts to call for help, please visit: http://faithwins.us/resources/
Brad Dacus
President, Pacific Justice Institute
Joan Holt Lindsey
Founder and President, Lindsey Communications
Kielle C. Horton
President, the Lindsey Foundation
