ARE CHRISTIANS REGISTERED TO VOTE?

          As we approach what could well be the most important presidential election of our lives, I have a crucial question for pastors: Is every member of your church registered to vote?

          Don’t assume that because you have preached the Christian duty of political participation that everyone sitting in the pews has taken your words to heart.

          We’ve just received disturbing news from our friend Father Frank Pavone, the head of Priests for Life.

His group recently surveyed its supporters and discovered that nearly 44 percent of them aren’t even registered! Priests for Life estimates that in Florida alone, 3,215 of its donors aren’t registered. That’s 5 times the vote by which George W. Bush carried the state in the 2000 election.

          The deadline for voter registration for the upcoming election fast approaches. (This varies from state to state, but usually is about a month before Election Day, or October 2^nd ). I would urge you to do the following in the next two weeks:

1)     Preach a sermon on the Christian duty to cast an informed vote.

2)     Discuss the issues confronting our nation.

3)     Combine the above with a voter-registration table in your church. 

At this critical juncture, with the fate of our nation hanging in the balance, pastors must take nothing for granted.

FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION – NOT FOR CHRISTIANS

The latest politically correct attack on Christian values occurred at the Washburn University School of Law in Topeka, Kansas. The school has revoked funding of the Christian Legal Society (CLS) chapter, based on the complaint of a member of the Latter-Day Saints Church who was denied permission to lead a CLS-sponsored Bible study group.

The student admitted that, as a Mormon, he disagreed with all five points in the society’s statement of faith, but nevertheless demanded the “right” to lead the study group. When refused, he successfully petitioned the school to de-fund CLS for religious discrimination.

Based on this reasoning, a Republican could demand a leadership position in the local College Democrats, or a member of the Flat Earth Society could petition for chairmanship of the school’s Physics Club.

The Law School is giving Christians a choice – deny the tenets of their faith or receive second-class treatment.

With the support of the Center for Law and Religious Freedom, the Society has filed a federal civil rights suit against school officials. Pray for its success – if that doesn’t offend atheists at the Washburn University School of Law.

RATHER BIASED, WOULDN’T YOU SAY

          I’m sure you’ve all been following the fiasco of CBS News and Dan Rather trying to torpedo the president with forged documents about Bush’s National Guard service.

          There’s a larger lesson  here which transcends this election. What Rather and CBS tried to do to the president they’ve been doing to Christians for decades – presenting a false and distorted picture of Christian America, slandering us, and propagandizing viewers on issues of vital concern to Christians, like abortion, homosexuality and so-called church/state concerns. (All of this was amply documented by Bernard Goldberg, a CBS executive for over 30 years, in his book, ”Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News”).

Vision America exists to bring pastors the unvarnished truth about the moral crisis that confronts us, thus allowing them to do an end run around the media and bring the facts directly to the faithful.

ENGLISH ASK: THE TEN WHAT?     

          A recent survey in the United Kingdom showed appalling ignorance of The Ten Commandments. Less than half of the adults surveyed knew that the Decalogue contained prohibitions against murder, theft and adultery. Only 9 percent recalled “Thou Shalt Not Lie.” And only 4 percent had heard of “Remember the Sabbath and keep it Holy.”

Before we get too smug over the sad state of faith in the UK, we should be honest enough to admit that Americans probably wouldn’t fare much better in such a survey.

Vision America has labored long and hard for public display of The Ten Commandments. If the ACLU and Americans United For Separation of Church and State have their way and God’s law is banished from public places, expect more and more Americans to be as ignorant as their British counterparts. 

ACTION TODAY

WEBSTER’S REDEFINES MARRIAGE 

The world’s most famous dictionary has decided to re-define marriage. Merriam-Webster Online now defines marriage as: 1) the state of being united to a person of the opposite sex as husband or wife in a consensual relationship recognized by law 2) the state of being united to a person of the same sex in a relationship like that of a traditional marriage. 

Apparently, the company couldn’t even wait for judges to mandate homosexual marriage, but determined single-handedly to re-write 3,300 years of Judeo-Christian tradition.

Please register your protest to this affront by writing to John Morse, President and Publisher of Merriam-Webster, at: 47 Federal Street, Post Office Box 281, Springfield, MA. 01102 or call (413) 731-5979. 

ROCK THE HOUSE ON FEDERAL MARRIAGE AMENDMENT

As we mentioned in the last Alert, House Majority Whip Tom DeLay has scheduled a vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment (FMA) for September 30^th . Since every member of the House who’s running for reelection will go before the voters in roughly 4 weeks from that date, the pressure will be intense.

 The FMA is the only way to protect marriage from the utopian whims of judges – state or federal. Pastors, please pass this information on to your congregation and urge them to call their Congressman and demand a yes vote on the Federal Marriage Amendment. If they don’t know their Congressman’s office number, they can reach him or her through the Capitol switchboard at (202) 225-3121.

Be sure the other side is doing everything in its power to pressure Congressmen to vote no. We must be equally energetic for faith, family and freedom.

         

 

If you would like a fellow pastor or friend to receive Vision America’s twice-weekly PATRIOT PASTOR E-MAIL ALERT, please call our office at (936) 699-1131 or enter their e-mail address at our newsletter site – http://www.visionamerica.us Contributions to further Vision America’s vital work are deeply appreciated. You may also contribute with a credit card online at http://www.visionamerica.us.

 

Register Voters – Pastors, the deadline is fast approaching to register voters. These vary from state to state, from as many as 30 days to as few as 10 days prior to Election Day. For registration requirements in your state, contact the secretary of state’s office or go to our website, http://www.visionamerica.us and use the “register to vote” link.

 

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