In this special episode of Washington Watch, host Jody Heiss takes us on a journey through America’s Christian heritage, highlighting the nation’s 250-year historical milestones. Dive into the God and Government series, a compelling course by FRC, which aims to educate listeners on the profound impact of biblical teachings on America’s founding. Understand how sermons influenced colonial America and the pivotal role Christian beliefs played in shaping early state constitutions.
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From the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
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Welcome to Washington Watch. Happy New Year to you. I’m your host today, Jody Heiss, filling in for Tony Perkins. Thank you so much for tuning in today. All right. As our nation this year celebrates its 250th anniversary of independence, it’s our hope here at FRC that more Americans will rediscover the foundation and the foundational principles of our country. So coming up on this special edition of Washington Watch, we’ll be sharing some excerpts from FRC’s God and Government series, which we launched last year and it’s on our Stand Firm app. Now, obviously, we’re not going to be able to share the entire 13 session course today, but we do certainly want to hit on some of the highlights. So we’ve got a great, great program lined up for you today. And of course, as always, if you miss any portion of it, you can find it by going to TonyPerkins.com. So be able to keep that handy, TonyPerkins.com. Now, here’s some of the backdrop of the program today. For at least 30 years, FRC’s president, Tony Perkins, has been teaching a course on God and government. And it all came about from his own personal experience and journey through studying scripture, studying the history of America, and applying that knowledge to the public policy arena. And he’s had tons of people go through this course over the years, and now many of them hold various offices from local school boards to city councils to state legislatures, even House Speaker Mike Johnson. Well, last year, Family Research Council took what Tony’s been teaching and packaged it into a 13 session video course with the goal of equipping even more Christ followers with practical knowledge of biblical guidance for government combined with the Christian history of our nation. and a practical application of both of those to civil government. And we’d like to share with you right now some excerpts from that series as we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary. And we’re going to start with an excerpt from session four on the Christian history of the United States. Now in this part, Tony goes back to the American revolutionary period and discusses some unique power that sermons from church pulpits wielded during that particular era of our nation’s history. So here’s more of what Tony had to say on that issue. Now these sermons not only taught
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know the personal salvation through jesus christ but they also taught how to address the temporal issues that would lead to national prosperity for god’s people and all the events no matter how mundane or how random they might be were patterned from Scripture. They wanted to know how they fit into Scripture. So the sermons were not just theological, far-removed messages, but they were practical, how to, what does this mean, what do I do with it, how then shall we live? That was the messages that were being preached in that time. And so this is why the pulpit was considered the single most powerful element of the war for independence. It’s because people wanted to know. They wanted to know if God’s blessing was going to be on their activities. This was not a rebellion. This was not the French Revolution. This was totally different than the French Revolution. And those that would try to conflate the two were are sadly mistaken if not intentionally being driven because ours was seeking out ordered liberty under the sovereignty of God. And that’s what the pastors were preaching and it had a profound impact on colonial America. Now let’s look just quickly at the signers of the Declaration. In 1776, there were 56 men. All of the delegates in 1787 were professing members of Trinitarian Christian denominations. And in fact, let me quote Ben Franklin when they were debating at the Constitutional Convention in 1787. He said, to that kind Providence, we owe this happy opportunity of consulting in peace on the means of establishing our future national felicity. And have we now forgotten that powerful friend or, and this was coming out of the war for independence, which they succeeded in. And they said, you know, have we forgotten that powerful friend or do we imagine we no longer need his assistance? Because they certainly needed him when they were the underdog in their fight for freedom. I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of this truth that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred writings that except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it. I firmly believe this, and I also believe that without his concurring aid, we shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our partial local interest. Our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a byword down to future generations. They understood the word of God. And the word of God, and probably Benjamin Franklin was probably one of the least religious of the group, but he understood it. He understood the language, the currency of the day, and it clearly was a biblical understanding of God. And God was not far removed. This is not the words of a deist who would say, God put this thing in order and left. He recognizes that God is the one who gave them favor to be established as a nation. Now, let me go to some of the state constitutions, okay? So we kind of get a sense of what those documents say. Again, these things are placed in writing, and they’re there for the historical record. And for those that would want to just kind of sweep them away, say, oh, well, that’s old. It’s a statement of principle, it’s a statement of focus, it’s a statement of priority. Various state constitutions, again, there’s many of the 13 you can look at. Pennsylvania, the frame of government section 10, this is what it says, and each member of the legislature before he takes his seat shall make and subscribe the following declaration. Okay, before they could take their seat in the state legislature, this is what they had to say. I do believe in one God, the creator and the governor of the universe, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked, and I do acknowledge the scripture of the Old and New Testament to be given by divine inspiration. I don’t think many churches would even do that for membership. But that was the oath of office that had to be taken. Delaware’s Constitution, which was framed in 1776, says, Everyone appointed to public office must say, I do profess faith in God the Father and in the Lord Jesus Christ, his only Son, and the Holy Ghost, on God and blessed forevermore. And I do acknowledge the holy scriptures of the Old and New Testaments be given by divine inspiration. That’s in the Constitution. South Carolina, the Christian Protestant religion shall be deemed and is hereby constituted and declared to be the established religion of the state. No person shall be eligible to a seat in the Senate unless he be of the Protestant religion. So the US Supreme Court, more evidence. In 1892, the US Supreme Court determined in the case the Church of the Holy Trinity versus the United States that America was a Christian nation from its earliest days. The court opinion delivered by Justice Josiah Brewer was an exhaustive study of the historical and legal evidence for America’s Christian heritage. So after examining hundreds of court cases, state constitutions, and other historical documents, the court came to the following conclusion. This is it. Quote, our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. And in this sense, and to this extent, our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian. This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of the continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation. We find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth. These and many other matters which might be noticed add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation. That was the Supreme Court of the United States. There’s other evidence. Let me give you, I’ve got 10 of them, and I’m sure there’s more. This is not exhaustive. Number one, the Ten Commandments hang over the head of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. If Christianity played no role in our government or in our justice, then why would we have the Ten Commandments hanging over the head of the Chief Justice? Second, in the House and Senate chambers appear the words in God we trust. Third, in the rotundas, the figure of the crucified Christ. Fourth, on the walls of the Capitol Dome, these words appear, the New Testament according to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Fifth, on the Great Seal of the United States is inscribed the phrase God. It’s in Latin. It means God has smiled on our undertaking. And sixth, under the seal in the phrase of Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, this nation under God. Seventh, President Elliot of Harvard shows Micah 6.8 for the walls of the nation’s library. Quote, he has showed thee, O man, what is good and what did God require thee but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. The eighth, the lawmaker’s library quotes the Psalmist acknowledgement of the beauty and order of creation. Psalm 19.1, the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament showeth his handiwork. Ninth, engraved on the metal cap atop of Washington Monument are the words, praise be to God. In fact, when the sun comes up in the east, the first place that the sun shines on the District of Columbia is that metal, that aluminum cap with the words, praise be to God. That’s by design. That can only be the highest building in the District of Columbia. Lining the walls of the stairwell are numerous Bible verses. Search the scriptures, holiness to the Lord, train up a child in the way that they should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And then tenth, the Liberty Bell, which is in Philadelphia, is inscribed with Leviticus 25.10, proclaim liberty throughout all the land and to all the inhabitants thereof. The history is very clear that this nation was not founded to be an agnostic nation. It was not founded to be a Muslim nation. It was not founded to be anything other than a nation built upon the truths and principles of God’s Word as a nation that would honor Him and be the recipient of His blessing. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and that demands a nation which will operate according to God’s word, by his word, according to those principles. And this is God’s design for government.
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Well, that was an excerpt from FRC’s brand new God and Government series, and you’re tuned in, of course, to Washington Watch in a very special edition. Today, we’re broadcasting content from the 13-session video course, God and Government. Now, it’s available on the FRC Stand Firm app, and if you don’t have that app, Friends, let me just tell you, you want it, and you need to get it. If you would like to get more information, you’d like to grab it yourself. Go to the App Store, wherever it is that you typically get your apps, or you can simply text the word APP to 67742. All right, now, after the break, we’re going to share some more with you. We’re going to zero in on the all-important issue of separation of church and state. Yeah, you’ve heard a lot about that here recently. We want to give you the truth of it all. So stick around. Tony will break it down for us right after the break.
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The book of Hebrews says that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Stand on the Word is Family Research Council’s journey through the living and active Word of God. Follow the plan with us. Spend 10 to 15 minutes a day reading God’s word, and over the course of two years, discover that the Bible is one big story, a story of many words pointing to the word, the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. because the Word is alive and His name is Jesus. Find our Bible reading plan and daily devotionals from Tony Perkins at frc.org slash Bible. Join us as we stand on the Word.
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At Family Research Council, we believe religious freedom is a fundamental human right that all governments must protect. For years, Islamist militants in Nigeria have targeted Christians and other religious minority groups with brutal violence. Since 2009, 52,000 Christians have been slaughtered, a staggering 89% of Christian martyrs in the world today are from Nigeria. The first Trump administration declared Nigeria a country of particular concern, a designation reserved for countries whose governments engage in or tolerate religious freedom violations. However, this designation of Nigeria was quickly reversed by the Biden administration. Following consistent calls from FRC President Tony Perkins and other religious leaders across the U.S., President Donald Trump has responded.
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DONALD TRUMP, President of the United States of America, Christianity is facing an existential threat in Nigeria. Thousands and thousands of Christians are being killed. I am hereby making Nigeria a country of particular concern.
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this is a huge step forward for the protection of christians in nigeria as well as religious freedom across the world while this opens the door for the u.s government to pressure nigerian leaders to protect vulnerable christians it is only the beginning we must continue to pray diligently work strategically and stand firm for the protection of religious liberty across the globe looking for a trusted source of news that shares your christian values
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Turn to The Washington Stand, your ultimate destination for informed, faith-centered reporting. Our dedicated team goes beyond the headlines, delivering stories that matter most to believers. From breaking events to cultural insights, we provide clear, compassionate coverage through a biblical lens. Discover news you can trust at The Washington Stand, where faith and facts meet every day.
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Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss filling in today for Tony. And the website, of course, TonyPerkins.com. We’re broadcasting today some very special content from FRC’s 13-week session called God and Government. It’s a powerful, powerful series. Now, in this next part, which, by the way, is coming from session five of that series, Tony dives into the relationship between church and state. And we’ll begin where all that phrase came from to begin with.
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So we’re going to look at this issue, is this phrase of the separation of church and state. We kind of dismissed earlier where that came from. It’s not in the Constitution. It’s not in the Declaration of Independence. In fact, it’s not in any government document other than some court cases that have appealed to it. It was originally in a letter that Thomas Jefferson sent to a group of Baptists. It was the Danbury Connecticut Baptists. Now, Let me read a portion of that letter to you. Now the Baptists at the time were a small, small religious sect. They were not very big, and they did not have a lot of influence. So they were concerned, as Jefferson was positioning himself, they did not want to be taxed to pay for another church. They didn’t want to be, they just wanted their own rights. They wanted to be left alone. And so Jefferson writes this letter and he says, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that the act of the whole American people, which declared that their legislature should, quote, make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and state. So he’s talking about the free exercise clause and the establishment clause, which is the First Amendment. And he says, I see this as a wall of separation between the church and the state. Well, that has become an entire legal theory, if not doctrine, that has made its way into a lot of government policies. And it should be stated that Jefferson When the Constitution was written, now he did draft the Declaration of Independence, but he wasn’t even here when the Constitution and the Bill of Rights were written. He was in France. So he’s not an authority on the meaning of the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. In fact, a number of years ago, I was… went with a member of Congress. The members of Congress have special privileges at the National Archives building. And I was able to go into the archives, into what they call the vault, where uncirculated documents are. And I was able to go in and actually hold, I had a sneeze guard on, a little plastic stuff on it, but actually hold and see the markup of the Bill of Rights that came over from the House to the Senate. And that there were there was not ten originally there was a couple that didn’t make it but the First Amendment which became the First Amendment it wasn’t in the original until the Senate took it up was that it also provided for the rights of conscience and religious freedom. And those were separate from freedom of speech, from the press, and from right of assembly. And so they were all merged together to create the First Amendment in one. But when they came over from the House, the number one issue was rights of conscience and religious freedom. So this was top of mind for the founders to make sure that when we settled the Bill of Rights enumerating what the Constitution did to assure people that the freedom of religion would continue and that the government would not be a national government. So that was the real issue there because at the time there were a number of state churches that had already been established. And there were nine of the 13 colonies had state churches. And so there was just, the idea was they didn’t want a national church, a federal church, that all the colonies would then have to support. So that was really the issue there was a national church. It was not the influence of Christianity in government. So what does the First Amendment actually say? Well, this is what it says. Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press or the right of the peaceful people peacefully to assemble and to petition the government for redress of grievances. So what does it prohibit? Well, it prohibits a state-sponsored church. That’s an establishment clause. That means the federal government cannot establish a church, a national denomination, a national church. It also prohibits, so there’s two parts to the First Amendment as it pertains to religion. There is the establishment, which is for the government, and then there’s the free exercise clause. That means that the government cannot restrict religious liberties. Now, what were the historical purposes behind this? Well, as I said, it was the desire to establish a church free of government interference and no state church. Really, the reason, part of the reason for the pilgrims and others coming over, as we talked about religious freedom, but it was also to, they wanted separation of church and state, okay? They didn’t want the state and the church to be merged, just like in England, and we’re watching it today. where the church becomes a useful tool of the government. And so what happens is you have a church that becomes corrupt, and then government becomes corrupt because the church has lost its prophetic voice. So we want separation. We want separation. We do not want a state church. But what they’re really saying is they want the separation of government from God. meaning God’s principles and God’s word. That we cannot live with because all of creation, all nations, whether they acknowledge it or not, are under the authority of God.
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Well, that was an excerpt from FRC’s God and Government series. You’re tuning in to Washington Watch, and a very special edition today is we’re broadcasting content from the 13-session video course, which is available on the FRC Stand Firm app, which you can get by simply texting APP to 67742. Folks, that whole issue of separation from church and state is a powerful issue, and I hope you find that extremely helpful as you’ll be talking to some of your friends about that issue. All right, much more coming your way right after the break, so don’t go anywhere. We’ll be back in just a moment.
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For over 4,000 years, the Jewish people have had legal, historical, and biblical ties to the land of Israel, especially the heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria, which much of the world still calls the West Bank. To Israelis, Judea and Samaria is far more than a name. It’s the center of their ancestral homeland where nearly 80% of the Bible’s events took place. Abraham purchased property in Hebron, Jacob in Shechem, Joshua made an altar on Mount Ebal and led the Israelites into a covenant before God. On Mount Gerizim, overlooking Shechem, Jesus talked to the Samaritan woman at the well about worshiping neither on Mount Gerizim nor in Jerusalem, but in spirit and in truth. Judea and Samaria is nearly a quarter of Israel’s current land mass, not a small strip of land on the Jordan River, but a vital and strategic part of the nation’s identity. The October 7th massacre, launched from Gaza, shattered the illusion that giving away territory brings peace. Gaza, which was once seen as the cornerstone of a two-state solution, became a launchpad for terror. Today, only 21% of Israelis support a Palestinian state. Trust in a two-state solution has all but collapsed. The Middle East is changing. Iran’s grip is weakening. New alliances are forming. But Western countries and some US officials still chase the mirage of a two-state solution. History speaks clearly. The 2005 Gaza withdrawal, backed by the US, led not to peace, but to a terrorist regime. Judea and Samaria are 24 times larger than Gaza, deeply woven into Israel’s geographic and spiritual fabric. To surrender them would not bring peace. It would invite conflict and existential danger. Family Research Council stands with Israel’s rightful claim to sovereignty. It’s time for America to do the same for history, for justice, and for lasting security in the Middle East.
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Well, thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch. Welcome back. I’m Jody Heiss filling in today for Tony. Of course, the website Tony Perkins dot com. Today, we are broadcasting a very special content regarding FRC’s 13 week session entitled God in Government, a powerful, powerful series that you can enjoy if you have the stand firm app. And there’s so much in this series to cover and unfortunately we can’t obviously cover it all today. But we do have the entire course again. Now what I’m gonna do is jump to session 13 right now. This deals with some action items and to set the stage, Tony shares a story of something that happened to him during his very first general session as a state legislator way back in 1997. Here’s what Tony had to share.
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Now, having been a police officer and understanding the consequences of the breakdown of the family, I worked with a law professor at LSU to craft what became known as a covenant marriage law. It was designed to strengthen by option. People could choose it. They would get premarital counseling, and then they would be held to a stronger covenant relationship in marriage. They wouldn’t be able to easily walk away from it. And so I went to a number of pastors and said, would you come and testify on behalf of this bill in the legislature? Well, almost all of them waved me off. And I said, we don’t get involved in politics. So I countered and said, will you come pray? They did. And they came and they sat in the back of the committee rooms when the bill was heard. And I could tell you story after story, miraculous moves of people’s hearts being changed, people being out of the room, and the bill actually passing from one chamber to the next. And that takes me to the final story, final day of the legislature. We were working late into the night. It was about 1 a.m. in the morning. And if the bill didn’t pass, this time it was dead. It wasn’t going anywhere. The opposition got up and they railed against the bill. And there was debate back and forth. People were praying. I was speaking on behalf of it. And someone called the question for a vote to be taken. And I was anticipating a lot of opposition as I looked at the vote tally behind the speaker’s dais where all of the record, the votes were recorded. And all of a sudden, all the lights turned green. Even the gentleman who had argued so viciously against the bill And after the vote was taken, it passed 105 to 0. I was amazed. And I went down to the man’s desk to see what had happened, why he changed his mind, and the coalition that he was leading. Well, he wasn’t there. I talked to his seatmate, who sat next to him at the desk. They said, oh, he went to get a Coke, and so I just voted his machine for him. Well, they thought all of the opposition had been resolved, and so everyone voted for the bill. That was the power of prayer. And it went on to be the first law that had been passed by a state in over 200 years that strengthened the institution of marriage. Arizona, Arkansas went on to follow Louisiana’s lead with that law. There are a number of incidents I could share with you about the power of prayer. And so as we conclude this time together, there are a number of takeaways, action steps that I could encourage you to take. But let me narrow it down to three simple but powerfully proven things that you can do that I promise you will make an incredible difference. Pray, vote, and stand. And to talk more about prayer, let’s go back to a very special room in Washington, DC. The first action step is to pray. And we’re privileged to be in the Congressional Prayer Room in the US Capitol with this beautiful stained glass. And it’s a portrait of George Washington kneeling in prayer. In the snow of Valley Forge, when the American cause was hanging by a thread, eyewitnesses saw George Washington cry out to God. The words of Psalm 16-1 are enshrined in this stained glass, and it is the basis of our declaration of faith expressed in the national motto, Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. What Washington understood then is what we need to rediscover today. We desperately need the Lord to intervene, so we must humbly cry out to God. We need to pray for a nation that is fractured, that’s splintered and divided. The worst I’ve seen in my entire life. We need to pray that God, in His mercy, would unite us once again as a people. One nation under God, indivisible, as we declare in our pledge. With all the challenges and the threats that we’re experiencing as a nation, we need to pray in alignment with 2 Chronicles 7, verse 14. For the sake of America, we need to pray. Certainly, we need to pray for those who serve in government, as Paul says in 1 Timothy 2, that first of all, we are to pray for all people, but particularly for kings and all those in authority. Pray for your leaders. Pray that they would live in awe and reverence of God. that God would give them wisdom to lead and that they would be ethical and just in all of their dealings. And then God would bless and protect their families as they serve us. And we certainly need to pray for the election of godly leaders, whether at the federal, state, or local level. Prayer is vitally important. Without God providentially guiding and intervening, all is in vain. But with God, there is no challenge that we cannot meet and no problem that we cannot solve. So pray.
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Well, that was an excerpt from FRC’s God and Government series. And you’re tuning in to a special edition of Washington Watch. All right. Now, after the break, Tony will go over the remaining two action steps and share with you the dramatic story of Patriot Pastor Peter Muhlenberg. So stick around. We’ll be back.
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Should a Christian support Israel? That question has become one of the most emotionally charged issues of our time, both in the world and within the church. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins offers a clear biblical and prophetic answer. In his latest book, he examines Israel’s past, present, and future through the lens of Scripture, revealing why support for Israel is not rooted in politics, partisanship, or cultural sentiment, but in the unchanging promises of God. Drawing from Genesis to Revelation, Tony Perkins demonstrates that the ultimate rationale for a Christian’s support for Israel is spiritual. Should a Christian Support Israel invites believers to see beyond headlines and ideologies, returning to the foundation of God’s Word to understand His heart for His chosen people and the blessings that flow when we stand with what He has established forever. Text the word Israel to 67742 for more information.
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Thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch. Welcome back. I’m Jody Heiss filling in for Tony. And thank you for tuning in to this special edition as we’re sharing content from FRC’s 13-session series called God in Government. And now to close out today’s special edition, we’re going to finish up with the last two action steps, the second being voting. Very important issue. And it may be hard to believe, but your vote does make a difference. In fact, every vote matters. And to illustrate this, Tony shared some examples in this last excerpt that we have for you. And we want to pick it up right there. Tune in. This is an extremely important topic.
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Now, some of you may remember back to the 2000 presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore that was so close that people are still debating who won. 547 votes in Florida out of more than 105 million cast nationwide determined the outcome of that election. That’s significant. That election determined the president who would respond to the terrorist attacks on 9 11 and who would eventually choose two supreme court justices elections matter and your vote it counts senator bernie sanders won his first race in burlington vermont and he won by only 10 votes yet that win launched his political career Not to be outdone, U.S. Congresswoman Miller Meeks won by six votes in 2020. Yet Virginia has one of the most compelling stories. Back in 2017 in their elections for their state assembly, Republicans had won 50 seats and the Democrats had won 49 seats out of 100. Control of the Virginia House of Commons came down to one race. When the votes were tallied out of the over 20,000 cast, guess what? It was exactly tied. So they determined the winner by drawing one of the two candidates’ names out of a bowl. Republican David Yancey won the draw, and the control of the legislature went to the Republicans. Wow. When I think of voting and the commitment to vote, I think of Founding Father Cesar Rodney from Delaware. He was the grandson of a minister. And Rodney was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, when they made states with their coins, his likeness can be found on the Delaware Quarter. It’s a rider at full gallop. You know what kind of horse it was? It was a quarter horse. Save that for later. There’s a statue which proudly resides at the state capitol in Wilmington. There is a story behind that iconic image. The Delaware delegation was deadlocked, one in favor and the other opposed to independence. Now word by express rider, Reach Rodney, and even though he was suffering from asthma and skin cancer that was eating away at his face, He famously rode his horse all night through a driving rain and thunderstorms, an 80-mile journey from Dover to Philadelphia. Caesar Rodney arrived just in time, dramatically entering the room in muddy boots and spurs, a scarf partially covering his face, to cast the deciding vote for independence. If Caesar Rodney went to all of that trouble, the least we can do is vote. We’re here in the House chamber of the Louisiana Capitol where I served as a state legislator. And, you know, in the most recent presidential election, more than four out of 10 self-identified Christians did not vote. Now just imagine the difference those who sat on the sidelines could have made in some of the elections where the candidate who more closely aligned with biblical values lost for a lack of support while the other candidate prevailed. Now, there’s an old saying that bad politicians are elected by good people who don’t vote. Can you imagine the difference just 10, 15, or even 20% more Christian voters could make in any given election? Now, each and every vote can and does make a tremendous difference. However, our voting needs to line up with biblical truth. Followers of the Lord Jesus Christ should take our values from the Word of God. Consequently, we should vote for candidates whose policies and positions best align with biblical principles. Unfortunately, many professing Christians don’t consider their own biblical beliefs and convictions when voting. often choosing candidates whose policies and positions are actually at odds with biblical truth. A study by Barna Research found that religious beliefs were the top influence for only 33% of Americans. Now, according to Gallup, two-thirds of Americans claim to be Christian. So that means only about half of us put our faith first when it comes to voting decisions. Well, that should not be. Founding Father Samuel Adams said this, he said, quote, let each citizen remember at the moment he is offering his vote that he is executing one of the most solemn trust in human society for which he is accountable to God and his country, end quote. We’re accountable to God for how we vote. Again, we should vote for candidates whose policies and positions best line up with biblical values. Another of our founding fathers, John Jay, who served as our nation’s first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, chosen by George Washington, had this to say about voting. Quote, he said, Providence has given to our people the choice of their rulers. And it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our Christian nation to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.” But not Christians in name only. We need to ensure those we support have positions that actually line up with Scripture. Fortunately, scripture spells out some of the fundamental values that we should look for in the first 12 chapters of the book of Genesis. Number one, acknowledging God as the creator in Genesis 1.1. Protecting human life in Genesis 1.26. promoting man-woman marriage in Genesis 2.22, and preserving human sexuality as created male and female in Genesis 1.26, and defending and blessing Israel, Genesis 12.3. Those are the biblical values that I use to measure whether or not a candidate deserves my support. So for the sake of America, we need to vote biblical values. Again, we offer help with all of that at FRCaction.org. Again, look past the crafty commercials, the pie in the sky promises and the flowery rhetoric and see the record of how they voted and where they stand on the values we care about as believers. Do your homework. then prayerfully vote for the candidate who best lines up the biblical truth. So now we come to the third and final action step. First, pray, then vote, and finally, for the sake of America, we must stand. My favorite scripture is from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians in chapter 6, verse 10 and following, where he says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord. the power of his might put on the whole armor of god that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil for we do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers of the darkness of this age you can spiritual host of wickedness in heavenly places therefore take up the whole armor of god that you may be able to withstand an evil day and having done all to stand Again, we need to pray, we need to vote, and then finally, we need to take our stand. Like these pilgrims who took their stand against the hostile king of England, who insisted that they conform to his brand of religion or be fined and jailed, lose their jobs and have their property confiscated and threatened with expulsion from their nation. These principled pilgrims refused to cow down to the king and chose instead to conform only to biblical truth. And it led them here to America, where they helped lay the foundation for our freedom. The centrality of the scriptures is portrayed in this painting. If we hope to see a return to our godly foundations, we need to get back to the Bible. And I invite you to join me in reading through the Bible chronologically in our Stand on the Word Bible reading plan. Just text the word Bible to 67742, that’s 67742, the word Bible, or visit frc.org slash Bible. Like these brave pilgrims, we need to take our stand on the word of God. Speaking of taking a stand, there are few more dramatic stories from the American Revolution than that of Patriot Pastor Peter Muhlenberg, captured here in marble. Muhlenberg was an American-born son of a German immigrant who was the founder of the Lutheran Church in America. Peter became a circuit-riding minister to several German Lutheran churches and one English-speaking Episcopal congregation in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. Pastor Muhlenberg served alongside George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Patrick Henry as a member of the Virginia Colonial Legislature, where he heard Henry’s famous Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death speech in the St. John’s Church in Richmond, where the legislature met to evade the British. A few weeks later, Peter Muhlenberg was shocked to learn that the Royal Governor of Virginia sent British Royal Marines under the cover of darkness to the Powder Magazine in the capital of Williamsburg to seize the town’s military arsenal for defense, disarming them. Their own government had turned against them and was using the military to try and make them knuckle under and give up their call for liberty. Well, about the same time, word came of the battles in Lexington and Concord, where again, the British’s goal, it was to disarm the Patriots. In December of 1775, there was armed conflict between British and Patriot militia forces at the Battle of the Great Bridge. America was at war, and it had come to Virginia. Pastor Muhlenberg thought first about signing up as a military chaplain, but George Washington and Patrick Henry convinced him to recruit and lead a regiment of German settlers in the fight for freedom. He mounted his pulpit in Woodstock, Virginia. in early 1776. Dressed in his black clerical robe, he recounted the clear and the present dangers of British tyranny and the need to stand up for their liberty. His scripture reading for that morning was from Ecclesiastes 3, verses 1 through 8. To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven, a time to be born and a time to die, a time to sow and a time to reap, a time to kill and a time to heal. And then he went on and got all the way down to verse 8, where he said, there’s a time for war and a time for peace. And according to tradition, handed down by family, his message reached a climax with this. In the language of the Holy Writ, there is a time for all things, a time to preach and a time to pray. But those times have passed away. There is a time to fight, and that time has now come. Then Pastor Muhlenberg dramatically took off his black clerical robe in the pulpit, and in the shock of his congregation, there he stood in the military uniform of a colonel for the Virginia militia. The pastor, now clad as a soldier, stepped down from the pulpit, strode through the log church building to the front, calling on the men and the congregation to join the fight for freedom. He had a young man drum for recruits at the door. And by March, when they mustered for their first mission, Muhlenberg led 300 men. They became the 8th Virginia, or the German, Regiment. And Muhlenberg became one of George Washington’s most trusted generals, and one of only 17 major generals in the Revolutionary War. If you ever go to Valley Forge, the first group of barracks you come to on the hill are those of the Muhlenberg Brigade, built by members of his churches who fought side by side with him all the way to Yorktown, the final battle of the Revolution. Well, Patriot Pastor Peter Muhlenberg not only served as a soldier, but also as a congressman in the first federal Congress that gave us our First Amendment. And ultimately, the good people of Pennsylvania commissioned this marble statue of Muhlenberg to be placed right here in the U.S. Capitol, recalling the iconic moment when that pastor took off his minister’s robe to reveal his military uniform before going out to lead in the fight for liberty. That is our heritage. That is our calling, to fight for our faith, our families, and our freedom. Well, as we come to the conclusion of this God in Government course today, It should be obvious by now that we’re in the spiritual battle. We don’t use swords and muskets, cannons and cavalry like they did in the American Revolution. You know, Paul declared that the weapons of our warfare are not carnal or fleshly, but they are mighty through God for the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations and every proud thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Consequently, as Paul put it, we must put on the full armor of God and take our stand in this evil day. As we conclude our course of God and government, I want to commission you and I want to charge you. If we hope to see this nation return to its biblical foundations that were laid by the founders, which resulted in America enjoying the special favor and the blessing of God, well, now is the time for us to pray. Now is the time for us to vote. Now is the time for us to stand.
SPEAKER 10 :
Yes, every vote matters. Wow, thank you for tuning in today on this special edition of Washington Watch. Hope you’ve been inspired and hope you have been edified by these excerpts from FRC’s God and Government course that we’ve been able to share with you today. And by the way, you can get it only on FRC’s Stand Firm app. Don’t have the app? Well, now’s a great time to get it. Simply text the word APP to 67742. That’s APP to 67742. All right, unfortunately, that’s all the time that we have today. Hope you’ve been inspired. Hope you’ve been encouraged to keep the torch ablaze as we enter this new year. Thanks so much for joining us. We’ll see you next week right here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 07 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council. To support our efforts to advance faith, family, and freedom, please text GIVE to 67742. That’s GIVE to 67742. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information, please visit TonyPerkins.com.
