Special Message - 10-31-2020 - The Church Finds Its Voice

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 church leaders 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 #11: Heroes of the Republic

Good evening, wonderful pastors and ministry leaders. Joan speaking, and greeting you with our coalition's biggest warmest hello. We just think about you guys all the time, and thank God so fully for how He has been strengthening the voice of the Church. It just wows us.

He is trying to save our Constitutional Republic, seems to me. Yep that is what we are. Not a Democracy which can vote by raw majority, over any question at all, and according to how voters feel at the time. (See Article IV, Section IV of the U.S. Constitution).

But a Constitutional Republic. Our unique Constitution lays out certain rights for us as a nation of faith that we can never vote away. They are rights spelled out in Scripture. The right to our life, to speak up, to own property, to know our homes are safe, to call stealing wrong, to worship as God directs, for some examples. These are givens. We can't lose them, or be alienated from them. They are "inalienable rights" because they are God-given.

A Constitutional Republic recognizes an authority higher than that of people; God and His word. A Democracy doesn't.

We now have one presidential candidate that would like us to be much more of a Democracy. He and his party wish for government to be expanded and for the Church to step back. But that has never ever been the direction the Constitution nor the Godly men who wrote it, ever pointed us.

If we lose our standing as a Constitutional Republic, it is unlikely we'd ever get it back. And it is very likely that the voice of the church would be told to barely whisper.

So we must pray and we must vote. Every one of us must vote. . . and by "us," I mean we who live by the faith that produced this Constitution, which in turn produced this country that has been a living witness to the world throughout its history.

Our country has pastor-heroes to whom God has given voice recently and they've been standing for our Republic and our rights more and more these days. Want to hear?

We could tell you stories, and in fact we're going to. Because men and women of faith are coming into their own best place in American life, bringing strong wisdom into this time of the nation’s vote.

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Here is Chad Connelly, President of Faith Wins and also a coalition member who would like to cheer you with these examples:

A short bit of honest research will show anyone that our nation was largely created because pastors took a stand for truth and led their congregations with the truth from the Word of God.

During the time of the American Revolution, a leader who became our second President, John Adams, famously rejoiced that "the pulpits have thundered" and actually identified several ministers who were among the "characters the most conspicuous, the most ardent, and influential" in what he called "the awakening and a revival of American principles and feelings that led to our American independence."

Boy do we need that leadership today. Most pastors I've met with personally in the past ten years traveling the nation would agree that American Christians, and pastors in particular, have gotten complacent and happy with our ease of life, and far too many have avoided teaching Biblical truth or taking stands that they didn't see as politically correct.

I have dozens of these stories and NONE of them sought any attention, nor do they want anything -- they just found themselves in a place where they felt compelled to take a righteous stand of leadership in their church and community and received unfair, discriminatory and punitive treatment from elected officials and unelected bureaucrats for standing up for their Biblical beliefs.

Pastor Charlie Clark of Solid Rock Baptist in Berlin, NJ, has defied the governor's orders against churches opening and is meeting inside. "Church is essential," he says. "These people have discouragement and depression and problems, including economic problems. They want to be with their pastors."

Pastor Clark and his church are suing Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey as we write these words. Their lawsuit says in part:

"The Executive Order's virtual ban of religious assembly is unconstitutional on-its-face and as applied...and disparately and discriminatorily allows so-called 'essential' commercial and other secular entities (e.g., liquor stores, licensed medical marijuana retailers, transportation carriers, grocery stores, hotels, professional offices, commercial retail stores that supply essential sectors) to accommodate gatherings of more than 10 people without scrutiny or numerical limits."

Of course, the media has tried to spin it that the church has endangered people and even accused the church of meeting because "they need to pass the plate." Pastor Clark explains on his website why Christians support the local church--it always amazes me how uninformed the media is about Christians and church!

We shouldn't be surprised, but truly, the media has lost its mission and the vast majority don't seem committed to reporting a story as much as they seek to push a liberal narrative that is hostile and punitive to believers.

Pastor Clark took a stand and maybe his most powerful argument revolves around noting the obvious discrepancy in how bureaucrats allow people to gather in shopping stores, liquor stores, etc., and yet, severely restrict church gatherings and worship services. This case could be one that directs our nation's path and how religious liberty is perceived in the coming years. We'll keep you posted.

In another example, Pastor Rob McCoy of Godspeak Calvary Chapel in Thousand Oaks, California, may very well be a pastor who takes his fight for religious liberty all the way to the Supreme Court.

Pastor McCoy said in one interview, "Who would ever have thought you're standing on the front lines because you're going to church on a Sunday?!"

Pastor McCoy and the members of his church, located about an hour north of Los Angeles, currently remain in a battle with county officials. Local officials filed a temporary restraining order forbidding them from holding indoor worship services, but Pastor McCoy has held services each weekend since May, in violation of the order.

In an interview with Just the News, titled, "Pastor defies health officials: Restriction on worship 'has nothing to do with the virus'," Pastor McCoy maintained that church is especially essential and having it outdoors is problematic. "Where are we going to go with 1,500 people?" McCoy asks. "And secondly, we've received death threats. We have protesters out here. We have a secure building on private property."

From the article, McCoy sees something larger at play, citing California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's embrace of the Black Lives Matter protests.

"They want churches outside because they realized they didn't have a leg to stand on when they embraced the BLM riots," McCoy says. "[Because of] The 14th amendment and an equal application of the law, they had to say, 'Well, okay, churches can meet, but outside just like the rioters.' Really??"

Pastor McCoy has stood his ground, and stood on American principles of religious freedom, and has correctly pointed out that the government has not treated churches equitably and we need to keep him in our prayers as this battle unfolds!

The oppression and true tyranny against churches has been well-documented in California with their Governor Gavin Newsom. Even with Covid cases significantly declining amid his partial reopening of the state, the governor is even trying to tell people to put their masks on between bites in a restaurant while they eat!

As if that's not enough, he's published guidelines for how you and your family can celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. You just can't make this stuff up, but even the celebrities are complaining!

Finally, I wanted to briefly tell the story of Pastor Jack Trieber of North Valley Baptist Church in Santa Clara, California. Of all the stories I'm familiar with, this church has been more severely punished than any other I know nationwide.

Pastor Jack Trieber typically held in-person services with around 3,000 people before the pandemic. But since then, things have changed, and the attempt to hold onto services inside has racked up fines of $112,000 with no forgiveness of cuts.

If the governor and local officials were fining abortion clinics, or casinos or big box stores the way they are Pastor Trieber's church, maybe we wouldn't notice as much since they'd at least look consistent.

The wide array of arbitrary rules and regulations surely appear more harsh and more punitive than those that other organizations and businesses face.

I have learned that pastors are like most other people -- politics and the impact of who is in charge at the city, state and national level just isn't on their daily radar. Many pastors have told me over years that "we just don't do politics."

Well, maybe it has taken these situations around the country for some of those pastors to wake up and get involved, because, whether they like it or not, POLITICS affects their lives and their churches, and our VOICES desperately need to be heard!

Like I mentioned at the outset, I could have chosen any of dozens of pastors I've met or worked with personally in our effort to maximize the faith vote. But I picked these three stories that seem to me to sum up the wide range of overreaching government regulations that have particularly targeted churches and tell the story of the pastor who has stood strong.

John Wingate Thornton (1818-1878), an attorney and historian, summed it up most succinctly in the following statement from his book, The Pulpit of the American Revolution: "To the pulpit, the Puritan pulpit, we owe the moral force which won our independence."

We enjoy the freedoms we enjoy today due, in large part, to the pastors who motivated our forefathers to rise up and break free from their bondage to British tyranny, and who then willingly laid their lives on the line by taking up arms and leading their congregations in fighting for that freedom.

May God raise up a Black Robe Regiment today with the same courage of conviction to stand boldly in their pulpits and call the people to freedom in Christ and freedom from tyranny, both religious and secular. A nation is lost when its pastors fail the people from the pulpits!

These pastors, and MANY others, aren't failing us. They're leading! God Bless them. GO VOTE Biblical values and make sure everyone you know does the same! God Bless America!

-Chad

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Thank you, Chad. Those are powerful examples and so inspirational to read! Kielle here, now, offering prayers of thanks this week for you all and for the brilliant and just Republic that God has allowed our nation to be. . . this extraordinary Republic we are all working so hard to preserve.

Our Founding Fathers knew to share with us, so that we could be reminded for generations, why our nation was formed as a Republic and not a democracy - to always hold God's desire above our own. John Adams explained it this way:

"Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide. . . That the desires of the majority of the people are often for injustice and inhumanity against the minority, is demonstrated by every page of the history of the world."

The left is operating with that mob mentality right now. . . doing everything it can to push its candidate for president forward, with a strong desire to lean on their own understanding and not look to God for discernment on how to lead our nation. They're utilizing every trick in their bag to make this happen. . . propaganda, misinformation, fear, fraud and voter suppression.

You've probably heard about the more blatant forms of voter suppression, but there is one that happens as Election Day nears, as well as most prominently on Election Day. This is a form of voter intimidation through manipulation of a perceived outcome.

If they can get you to think the election is already won for one candidate early enough before Election Day is done, you may not think your vote matters, and decide to stay home instead of casting your vote. Don't buy it!!

We must ALL vote, now and through Election Day, no matter what the media tells us!

Every single vote will matter in this election - particularly in this election. Please share with your congregations, with your networks, contacts, families and friends to VOTE no matter what!!

Now where was that again?

How to Hold a Voter Registration Drive
Voter Registration Resources by State
Ballot Gathering Training Video
Ballot Gathering Procedures
Church Dos and Don’ts
Five Ways Pastors Can Encourage Their Members To Vote
Find My State or Local Elections Office Website

For a recording of the PJI Zoom Call on all of these topics, click here: https://youtu.be/3hPaai7TUZM

Our coalition is lifting you all and your efforts in prayer to the Lord. His will be done! Bless you all!

--Joan, Brad, Chad and Kielle - Your Church Finds Its Voice Leadership

*Please share and forward on to your networks!

Contact Us:

Chad Connelly
President, Faith Wins
[email protected]
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
[email protected]

Joan Holt Lindsey
Founder and President, Lindsey Communications
[email protected]

Kielle C. Horton
President, the Lindsey Foundation
[email protected]