When a pastor leads his church to apply Biblical truths to all areas of life, not excluding politics, those who stand in greatest opposition are Republicans.
Democrats have been defending their ideologies with their interpretation of scripture and inviting candidates to their pulpits for decades. Under Kamala Harris’ campaign, black churches launched “Souls to the Polls”, an initiative to get church-goers to get out and vote for her. She traveled the country attending churches and explicitly asked for votes.
If you do a quick internet search on “Democrat strategies for the church”, you’ll see pages of organizations specifically targeted to equip pastors to educate their parishioners on getting engaged in politics.
But if a church applies Biblical principles to the political landscape and encourages their members to vote Republican, you’ll see an uproar that quite frankly, is rooted in ignorance and a desire to hold onto power. We see Republicans condemning churches for praying over candidates, for encouraging people to get involved, for crossing the misunderstood line of the separation of church and state.
This is why it’s vital for conservatives to understand the founding, the stories behind our guiding documents that we desperately are trying to hold onto.
Two years before our Declaration of Independence was officially adopted, delegates began to gather in Philadelphia in September, 1774. Men we now know today as the giants of their time, like Benjamin Franklin, Sam Adams, John Jay, Patrick Henry, unless they were representing the same state, they were strangers to each other. They came from different backgrounds, had different expectations of what they were walking into, varying strategies to protect the rights of the colonists.
The Boston Massacre happened a few years earlier. The Sons of Liberty were actively fighting against the British soldiers being quartered in their homes. The colonists had successfully dumped boxes of tea into Boston Harbor as a protest to the taxes being demanded from the Crown, without any representation or benefit to the colonies.
These delegates knew the situation was dire, action was necessary on their part to protect what their forefathers, the pilgrims, risked their lives to establish. Time was running out.
On September 14, 1774, a few days into the First Continental Congress, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail. In it, he describes a moment of unity among all the delegates that set the tone for the rest of their time together:
When the Congress first met, Mr. (Thomas) Cushing made a motion, that it should be opened with prayer. It was opposed by Mr. (John) Jay of New York and Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina, because we were so divided in religious sentiments, some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Presbyterians and some Congregationalists, so that we could not join in the same act of worship. Mr. Sam Adams arose and said he was no bigot, and could hear a prayer from a gentleman of piety and virtue, who was at the same time a friend to his country. He was a stranger in Philadelphia, but had heard that Mr. (Jacob) Duche, Dushay they pronounce it, deserved that character, and therefore he moved that Mr. Duche, an Episcopal clergyman, might be desired to read prayers to the Congress tomorrow morning. The motion was seconded and passed in the affirmative. Mr. (Edmund) Randolph our President, waited on Mr. Duche, and received for answer that if his health would permit, he certainly would. Accordingly next morning he appeared with his clerk and in his Pontificallibus, and read several prayers, in the established form; and then read the Collect for the seventh day of September, which was the thirty-fifth Psalm. You must remember this was the next morning after we heard the horrible rumour of the cannonade of Boston. I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if Heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning.
After this Mr. Duche, unexpected to everybody, struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every man present. I must confess I never heard a better prayer or one so well pronounced. Episcopalian as he is, Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor, such ardor, such earnestness and pathos, and in language so elegant and sublime for America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially the town of Boston. It has had an excellent effect upon everybody here.
I must beg you to read that Psalm…It will amuse your friends to read this letter and the 35th Psalm to them. Read it to your Father and Mr. Wibirt. I wonder what our braintree Churchmen would think of this? Mr. Duche is one of the most ingenious men, and best characters, and greatest orators in the Episcopal order, upon this Continent yet a zealous friend of liberty and his country.
I long to see my dear family. God bless, preserve and prosper it.
Adieu. John Adams
Our Founders, from different denominations and therefore different perspectives on Scripture, knew the success of their labor would only be found through prayer and Providential favor.
Together, they prayed and read Psalm 35, then began the political conversation that would forever solidify the independence of our nation from tyranny.
Politics in America began with asking God to enter into the discussion and fight to preserve liberty.
Republicans across Tennessee have lost sight of this. They fight for churches to promote ignorance rather than applying God’s Word to all areas of our lives. They argue that pastors can help families, promote healthy marriages, provide benevolence to those in need, but must stop before speaking one word about liberty.
In this election, candidates who are running to represent constituents, who are only seeking donations from those in their districts, who value the local church that understands God’s power does not stop at the line of politics, they are all being fought by Republicans who have lost sight of how and why our representative government was founded.
On September 14, 1776, the Founders listened as Psalm 35 was read over them. John Adams shared with his wife, “I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if Heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning.”
Knowing the battle they were in, the fight to preserve values unique to the colonies, the words of David brought a comfort and confidence to the men who were delegated to fight a similar power-hungry King.
David wrote this Psalm as King Saul was spreading lies about him and persecuting him for his faithfulness to God rather than him, a King who was gripping onto his power so tightly that it blinded him to the needs of his people.
It seems many of us are in a similar situation here in Tennessee. Power corrupts, and it has caused those who hold onto it to lose sight of the honor and privilege it is to be elected to serve. Perhaps we all need to read Psalm 35 as we head into election week, and remember the same God who protected David from King Saul, is the same God who the pilgrims risked their lives to freely worship, and is the same God who was invited into the First Continental Congress in 1774.
“Oppose my opponents, Lord; fight those who fight me. Take Your shields – large and small – and come to my aid. Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers, and assure me, “I am your deliverance”. Let those who seek to kill me be disgraced and humiliated; let those who plan to harm me be turned back and ashamed. Let them be like chaff in the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away. Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. They hid their net for me without cause; they dug a pit for me without cause. Let ruin come on him unexpectedly, and let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it – to his ruin. Then I will rejoice in the Lord; I will delight in His deliverance.” Psalm 35: 1-8
Four Days Before Election Day: An Election “Sermon” for Tennessee
When a pastor leads his church to apply Biblical truths to all areas of life, not excluding politics, those who stand in greatest opposition are Republicans.
Democrats have been defending their ideologies with their interpretation of scripture and inviting candidates to their pulpits for decades. Under Kamala Harris’ campaign, black churches launched “Souls to the Polls”, an initiative to get church-goers to get out and vote for her. She traveled the country attending churches and explicitly asked for votes.
If you do a quick internet search on “Democrat strategies for the church”, you’ll see pages of organizations specifically targeted to equip pastors to educate their parishioners on getting engaged in politics.
But if a church applies Biblical principles to the political landscape and encourages their members to vote Republican, you’ll see an uproar that quite frankly, is rooted in ignorance and a desire to hold onto power. We see Republicans condemning churches for praying over candidates, for encouraging people to get involved, for crossing the misunderstood line of the separation of church and state.
This is why it’s vital for conservatives to understand the founding, the stories behind our guiding documents that we desperately are trying to hold onto.
Two years before our Declaration of Independence was officially adopted, delegates began to gather in Philadelphia in September, 1774. Men we now know today as the giants of their time, like Benjamin Franklin, Sam Adams, John Jay, Patrick Henry, unless they were representing the same state, they were strangers to each other. They came from different backgrounds, had different expectations of what they were walking into, varying strategies to protect the rights of the colonists.
The Boston Massacre happened a few years earlier. The Sons of Liberty were actively fighting against the British soldiers being quartered in their homes. The colonists had successfully dumped boxes of tea into Boston Harbor as a protest to the taxes being demanded from the Crown, without any representation or benefit to the colonies.
These delegates knew the situation was dire, action was necessary on their part to protect what their forefathers, the pilgrims, risked their lives to establish. Time was running out.
On September 14, 1774, a few days into the First Continental Congress, John Adams wrote to his wife Abigail. In it, he describes a moment of unity among all the delegates that set the tone for the rest of their time together:
When the Congress first met, Mr. (Thomas) Cushing made a motion, that it should be opened with prayer. It was opposed by Mr. (John) Jay of New York and Mr. Rutledge of South Carolina, because we were so divided in religious sentiments, some Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Presbyterians and some Congregationalists, so that we could not join in the same act of worship. Mr. Sam Adams arose and said he was no bigot, and could hear a prayer from a gentleman of piety and virtue, who was at the same time a friend to his country. He was a stranger in Philadelphia, but had heard that Mr. (Jacob) Duche, Dushay they pronounce it, deserved that character, and therefore he moved that Mr. Duche, an Episcopal clergyman, might be desired to read prayers to the Congress tomorrow morning. The motion was seconded and passed in the affirmative. Mr. (Edmund) Randolph our President, waited on Mr. Duche, and received for answer that if his health would permit, he certainly would. Accordingly next morning he appeared with his clerk and in his Pontificallibus, and read several prayers, in the established form; and then read the Collect for the seventh day of September, which was the thirty-fifth Psalm. You must remember this was the next morning after we heard the horrible rumour of the cannonade of Boston. I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if Heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning.
After this Mr. Duche, unexpected to everybody, struck out into an extemporary prayer, which filled the bosom of every man present. I must confess I never heard a better prayer or one so well pronounced. Episcopalian as he is, Dr. Cooper himself never prayed with such fervor, such ardor, such earnestness and pathos, and in language so elegant and sublime for America, for the Congress, for the province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially the town of Boston. It has had an excellent effect upon everybody here.
I must beg you to read that Psalm…It will amuse your friends to read this letter and the 35th Psalm to them. Read it to your Father and Mr. Wibirt. I wonder what our braintree Churchmen would think of this? Mr. Duche is one of the most ingenious men, and best characters, and greatest orators in the Episcopal order, upon this Continent yet a zealous friend of liberty and his country.
I long to see my dear family. God bless, preserve and prosper it.
Adieu. John Adams
Our Founders, from different denominations and therefore different perspectives on Scripture, knew the success of their labor would only be found through prayer and Providential favor.
Together, they prayed and read Psalm 35, then began the political conversation that would forever solidify the independence of our nation from tyranny.
Politics in America began with asking God to enter into the discussion and fight to preserve liberty.
Republicans across Tennessee have lost sight of this. They fight for churches to promote ignorance rather than applying God’s Word to all areas of our lives. They argue that pastors can help families, promote healthy marriages, provide benevolence to those in need, but must stop before speaking one word about liberty.
In this election, candidates who are running to represent constituents, who are only seeking donations from those in their districts, who value the local church that understands God’s power does not stop at the line of politics, they are all being fought by Republicans who have lost sight of how and why our representative government was founded.
On September 14, 1776, the Founders listened as Psalm 35 was read over them. John Adams shared with his wife, “I never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if Heaven had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning.”
Knowing the battle they were in, the fight to preserve values unique to the colonies, the words of David brought a comfort and confidence to the men who were delegated to fight a similar power-hungry King.
David wrote this Psalm as King Saul was spreading lies about him and persecuting him for his faithfulness to God rather than him, a King who was gripping onto his power so tightly that it blinded him to the needs of his people.
It seems many of us are in a similar situation here in Tennessee. Power corrupts, and it has caused those who hold onto it to lose sight of the honor and privilege it is to be elected to serve. Perhaps we all need to read Psalm 35 as we head into election week, and remember the same God who protected David from King Saul, is the same God who the pilgrims risked their lives to freely worship, and is the same God who was invited into the First Continental Congress in 1774.
“Oppose my opponents, Lord; fight those who fight me. Take Your shields – large and small – and come to my aid. Draw the spear and javelin against my pursuers, and assure me, “I am your deliverance”. Let those who seek to kill me be disgraced and humiliated; let those who plan to harm me be turned back and ashamed. Let them be like chaff in the wind, with the angel of the Lord driving them away. Let their way be dark and slippery, with the angel of the Lord pursuing them. They hid their net for me without cause; they dug a pit for me without cause. Let ruin come on him unexpectedly, and let the net that he hid ensnare him; let him fall into it – to his ruin. Then I will rejoice in the Lord; I will delight in His deliverance.” Psalm 35: 1-8
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Anne Lowery
Anne Lowery