This is why Christian voters instinctively focus on abortion and religious liberty. These are key issues. Protecting innocent life and worshiping God freely are at the heart of God's purpose for government. Any vote destructive of those ends defies God's created order. As Christians, we should vote for candidates who best further these policy goals." - Capstone Report
Pro tip? Are you serious? First if all, there is no threat to religious liberty in this country. It is the freest in the world. What the dominionist wants however is a borderline theocracy where people who do not share our faith are forced to adhere to what we feel we need to adhere to for Christianity. Life is not just babies. The pursuit of ending abortion, which will never happen in this fallen world, has become an idol to the church because of reports like this. Because everything else that matters to God is automatically deemed lesser. God however, does not deem them as such. There are no "destructive" votes. The concept eternally is absurd. This report is basically saying we must vote for anyone who is Republican because they are the "prolife" party. Never mind that they are the party of impoverishing and punishing the poor. God speaks far more about protecting the least in society, but today's church does not seem to care. An additional point ignored is the vast majority of candidates that we vote for based on these promises never deliver on them. Why would we vote solely based on empty promises and think that is a God thing. Mao and Stalin may have killed millions, but George W. Bush presided over the deaths of over a million people in the Middle East and only our arrogance convinces us that they did not matter to God. It took five pages to get here but this paragraph was the entire point of this report. They want to consolidate the power of this country into the Republican Party, but they need evangelicals to vote for their candidates regardless of how morally vacuous they might be. So, they reduce all of their guys evil down to character flaws and trump up the other side as un-votable by insisting their hierarchy of greater immorality is the only thing that matters.
"But what about other issues? Aren't they important too? Of course, but is any issue more fundamental to the purpose of government than the protection of innocent life? Isn't that the cornerstone of justice? Evangelical Christians in 2018 must continue their efforts from 2016 to defeat the attacks on life and liberty. Christians with a consistent Christian worldview must prioritize protecting innocent life and religious liberty. At a minimum, that means opposing the party of abortion and religious oppression (the Democratic Party) at every opportunity. Politics requires discipline. To achieve results, Christians must be consistent voters and able to ignore the distractions from political opponents (even when they are or claim to be fellow Christians.) Christians must remember that heading into the 2018 election and beyond." - Capstone Report
The NAR false teacher worships this life. They worship this world. That is why "prolife" has become the mantra for them. All life matters to God of course. Jesus came to save the world, not just the people in mega-churches. Here we see the naked politicization of this report's position. Remember that the Democratic Party is the defender of religious freedom but ALL religions. We are not charged as the church with creating a theocracy. Forcing Muslim children to recite prayers in school is not a Christian endeavor. Forcing Hindu high school football players to kneel and be led in a Christian prayer is not a matter of "freedom." God cannot be "thrown out of schools." It is beyond arrogant and insulting to keep saying so. As if God is leaning up against the school gates wishing He would be allowed in. Stop selling your impotent god! Note that the inference here is that anyone disagreeing politically are just "claiming" to be fellow Christians. We have seen rabid dominionists such as Greg Locke and Mario Murillo take this even further to claim anyone voting Democratic are demons and witches and should be expelled from their churches. The Capstone Report pays lip service to "other issues" but they are not relegated as lesser by God. Dr. Michael Brown remains nothing more than a political operative furthering the goals of the Republican Party at the expense of the gospel. In closing, I want to be clear. Neither party cares about the cause of Jesus Christ. Voting is a civil responsibility, not a Christian imperative. Vote for who you want but stop short of telling your neighbor that they are somehow a lesser brother or sister for their vote. Your decision of defending the lesser evil is not righteous. Your gradation of greater and lesser is fundamentally wrong as well. Political henchmen disguised as Christian leaders who only care about your vote should not be followed by Christians. You have every right to allow yourself to be used by them but you have no right or footing to claim your obedience to them is somehow a greater commandment than those pesky "lesser" ones found in the bible. None.
Reverend Anthony Wade - September 13, 2023
