The Elections, Churches, and Voter Turnout

This from David Barton and WallBuilders (http://www.wallbuilders.com):

October 20, 2008

In Matthew 22:21, Jesus commanded His followers: "Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's."

Today, many mistakenly act as if the conjunction in this verse is "or" -- that is, "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, or unto God the things that are God's," but to the contrary, the verse deliberately uses the conjunction "and" -- that is, "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's." Very simply, Christians are commanded to do their duty in both the spiritual and the civil arenas -- to fulfill a dual responsibility in both.

Christians in previous generations fully understood the scope of this command. For example, the Rev. Charles Finney, a minister and leader in America's Second Great Awakening, reminded Christians in his generation:

The Church must take right ground in regard to politics. . . . God cannot sustain this free and blessed country which we love and pray for unless the Church will take right ground. . . . God will bless or curse this nation according to the course Christians take in politics.

There are three weekends left before the November elections, and churches can do five things during that time to help ensure that Christians fulfill their civic responsibilities in this election.

1. Preach an ELECTION SERMON.
Election sermons began in America in 1633 and continued for the next 270 years. These sermons reminded Christians of their Biblical responsibilities in the civic arena, addressing the issues of the day from a Biblical perspective. As the Rev. Ebenezer Thayer noted in 1725, the preachers of Election Sermons were to offer thanks for the blessings received and also were to be "watchmen upon Jerusalem's wall, whose proper business is to decry dangers and give seasonable notice thereof -- to observe the sins of the times and the awful symptoms of God's departure." Dr. Timothy Stone's Election Sermon from 1792 can be read online.

2. Utilize these BULLETIN INSERTS.
We have a church bulletin insert with quotes from five famous American ministers on the importance of Christians voting according to Biblical standards and values. Obtain these bulletin inserts in packages of 50 or 100, and distribute them on Sunday, November 2 before the November 4th election. These bulletin inserts are offered at a 50% discount.

3. Make VOTERS GUIDES available to parishioners.
In the three weeks leading up to the election, make these guides available so that the people will be equipped to cast an informed vote either in early voting or in on site voting on Election Day. Those voters guides are available free on our website and are downloadable so that they can be printed in whatever quantities are needed by each church or group.

4. Show "YOUR VOTE COUNTS" DVD.
We have produced a 3-minute DVD, "Your Vote Counts," showing the historic role and importance of Christians voting. This DVD can be shown in church the Sunday preceding the election to encourage voter participation. (This video can be downloaded from our website or you can email us to order a copy of the DVD.)

5. All of the above activities are completely legal.
To assuage any concerns that pastors or parishioners might have, we not only have a letter from the IRS setting forth the freedoms of churches to engage in these activities but also the legal analyses of several national legal groups (including Liberty Legal Institute and Liberty Counsel) further affirming the right of churches to engage in these activities. In fact, these legal groups will represent free of charge any church that is attacked for engaging in these constitutionally protected activities.

Let's do all we can to be salt and light in the civil arena this election cycle, and these five things will help achieve that objective. (Feel free to forward this information on to other pastors, churches, or Biblical voters.)

God Bless!

David Barton

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Christian Persecution, Abortion, and Immigration (Both Illegal and Legal)

Every year, 200 million Christians are persecuted for their faith worldwide, and 45,000 are martyred (read murdered) for the same reason every year – because they chose to follow Jesus Christ, the One True God, the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

There are at least 12 million illegal aliens in our country right now. We have also murdered right around 50 million of our own unborn children while still inside their mothers’ wombs through “abortion.” “To abort” means “to stop” or “to end.” What is being ended in an “abortion”? What is being ended is an innocent human life. It is being ended wrongly, and their blood is crying out to God for justice.

We can, and we should, repent of our sins of baby murder and of failing to protect our national borders and our national security by bringing in those 200 million brothers and sisters in Christ to live and work here permanently, by deporting those 12 million or so illegal aliens and not allowing them to re-enter our country (or by shooting and killing them), and by kicking all the liberals out of our State Department, because they are largely to blame for a lot of the problems we have with the illegal alien issue.

We were founded as a Christian Nation, and a Federal, Constitutional Republic. It has been said that if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great. The world needs for us to be great. We are the last, best hope (in the way of nations) for the world, because we - with all of our problems and all of our faults - come closer to being what a nation should be than any other nation on earth.

I want for America to return to God immediately. Now is always the appointed time to obey God, isn't it? And I want for all of the other formerly Christian nations of the earth to return to God. And we all need to work to evangelize all of the nations of the earth. We are commanded to do so. It will be done before the end will come (Matthew 24:14). Why not in our generation? We are called to be faithful. It is not being faithful to say, "When Jesus returns, He will set everything straight. There's nothing I can do." Jesus has commanded us to occupy until He returns, to take the glorious Gospel to the ends of the earth, and to do all that He has commanded. He has made it clear that the Master of the house will not happy if He finds His servants being disobedient when He returns. Let's make Him proud of us! Let's obey His commands! And let's pile up heavenly rewards for ourselves! He has promised to give them to us for our obedience. It would not be right for us to turn our noses up at what He has offered to us. It is not arrogance to want to be rewarded by God. He wants to reward us! We should want to receive all that He wants to give us!

Blessings,

Rev. James Broadwater, M.Div.
Byram (Metro Jackson), MS