PRAYERS AND BALLOTS – FINDING BALANCE IN A FRANTIC ELECTION SEASON
- Rick Scarborough
- Jul 23, 2012
In the past week, the presidential campaign got hot. In the news were Governor Romney’s record at Bain Capital, his tax returns, White House favors for the president’s campaign contributors and Mr. Obama’s suggestion that business owners really didn’t “build it” themselves.
In the background were the highest long-term unemployment rate since the Great Depression, ongoing persecution of Christians in the Middle East and Africa and America’s continuing slide to socialism.
With so much at stake in this election, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture. Our chronic problems began long before the current administration and will continue long after it ends.
Regardless of the outcome on November 6, America will still be burdened with a National Debt that’s grown by more than 50% since January 2009. We will still be a nation of debased morals, where 40% of children are born out-of-wedlock. We will still be a people who refuse to recognize the roots of terrorism. And, each year, America will grow more dependent on energy from the most unstable part of the world.
Important as they are, taking part in get-out-the vote efforts and volunteering for your favorite candidate will not reverse our national decline.
No candidate, campaign promise, platform or sound-byte can save a nation teetering on the brink. Only God can.
That’s why the most important things you can do this year are to fast, ask for forgiveness and pray to God to heal our nation.
In times of national crisis, our greatest leaders turned to God – George Washington at Valley Forge, Abraham Lincoln during the bloodiest days of the Civil War, Franklin Delano Roosevelt after the attack on Pearl Harbor and Ronald Reagan when Soviet power waxed in the early 1980s.
Each of these men was involved in a titanic struggle. Each faced challenges we can barely imagine. But each understood that, at the outset, praising the Lord was more important than passing the ammunition.
That reality is the basis for our 40 DAYS TO SAVE AMERICA -- a national call to prayer, healing and repentance in the 40 days before the election.
It’s based on the firm conviction that whatever else we do in this fateful year – and we all have a duty to do all we can – the place to begin is by asking God’s forgiveness for our national and individual transgressions, and for his guidance in the crucial task of choosing our leaders.
We are calling on pastors, priests and rabbis to open houses of worship across America for special services dedicated to seeking the nation’s salvation through another great awakening.
We hope the period from September 28 through November 6 will be a time for all of us to rededicate our lives to God, and to make informed choices at the polls, in full awareness of the responsibilities of citizenship and our duty as Christians and Jews.
Ballots are important to changing the course this country is on – but not as important as the Bible. Prayers beat bumper stickers.
While J.C. Penney Bets on Gay Marriage, Its Stock Tumbles
In what should be a cautionary note to corporate America, my friend Tim Wildmon of American Family Association (and a member of the board of Governors of the 40 DAYS TO SAVE AMERICA) recently reported on the precipitous decline in the company’s stock, from $41.32 in February of this year to $20.02 today.
J.C. Penney has gone out of its way to alienate families – hiring lesbian Ellen DeGeneres as its spokesman in February, and launching catalogues featuring two “moms” in May and two “dads” in June. Since AFA starting alerting consumers to the company’s betrayal of families, J.C. Penney’s stock has taken a nosedive. You can learn more by clicking here. http://www.afa.net/Detail.aspx?id=2147524240
40 DAYS TO SAVE AMERICA – a Season of Prayer, Fasting And Action (September 28-November 6)
The Church must be involved in our nation’s renewal. Vision America has enlisted over 90 member organizations to the growingAlliance of Participating Organizations.
The Board of Governors includes Tim Wildmon, American Family Association; Tony Perkins, Family Research Council; Penny Nance, Concerned Women of America; Jim Garlow, Renewing American Leadership, Bishop Harry Jackson, the Hope Connection, Samuel Rodriguez, National Christian Leadership Conference; Fr. Frank Pavone, Priests for Life; Mat Staver, Liberty Council, Kelly Shackelford, Liberty Institute; General Jerry Boykin, Kingdom Warriors; David Butts, Harvest Prayer Ministries; David Bereit, 40 Days for Life, Dr. Robert Jeffress, First Baptist Church, Dallas; Bishop Ann Gimenez, Rock Church International; Dran Reese, Salt and Light Council; Janet Folger-Porter, Faith2Action; and Rick Scarborough, Vision America.
Will you join us? Please select here to find out more about 40 DAYS TO SAVE AMERICA – A Season of Prayer, Fasting And Action. (Our new interactive website went live June 22nd) Please forward this email to help us get this message out.
God bless you.
Pastor Rick Scarborough
