Failed Congressional candidate and NAR operative says God told her to run even though she scored 5% of the vote...

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Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? - James 2:21 (ESV)

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The onslaught has begun. Charisma news is run by uber-dominionist Steven Strang. Mr. Strang is a political operative disguised as a Christian and he wields his media platform at Charisma to do all of the bidding of his political masters in the Republican Party. I wrote a few weeks ago that Charisma would soon be starting this deluge of articles designed to appear Chrisian but are only focused on co-opting your vote for everything Republican. To that end, more than half of the offerings on the site are now laser focused on the upcoming election and even though sometimes they disguise what they are influencing you to do, it becomes all too obvious. The above link is to an article from a failed 2020 Republican Congressional candidate from Alabama name Terri Hasdorff. The article was excessively long so I am not responding line by line. The overall point is the assertion that Christians who choose to not to vote are somehow wrong. So, let us reason once more through this piece and I will start somewhere in the middle.

In that middle she tells of attending a fundraiser in 2019 where she sat next to a very rich Christian who was bemoaning the state of the country and the leaders we have. Fast forward six months and a congressional seat opened up and voila! The Lord spoke to her, after the requisite fasting and prayer of course, to run for this open seat. Did you get that? God told her to run for the seat. Hold that thought. She realized early on that she needed enormous amounts of money to run for any office in this country. This is a fact because of the very party she supports but she never brings that up. Instead, she says this:

"Serious questions existed about the integrity of my main opponents, and thousands of dollars were being poured into their races. The consultants believed that I had a good shot at winning if I could raise enough money to let people know they had a solid, honest alternative who would stand up for faith and family values. I had spent years working on Capitol Hill as a legislative staffer, and I knew how to get things done in Washington. My great desire was to put my knowledge and experience to work to help the people I would represent. But if the voters didn't even know who I was, none of that would matter." - Terri Hasdorff

Wait a minute. I thought God told you to run. Doesn't it matter more that the creator of the entire universe is the one backing you? What is also telling here is that she now is disparaging her main opponents and keep in mind this was the Republican Primary election. That means I can only assume she then voted in the general election for the eventual Republican candidate that she knows was corrupt and had integrity issues. That in a nutshell is dominionist theology. Integrity no longer matters in a purely carnal and transactional political world. It gets worse. She then turns to the rich Christian she had spoken with six months earlier for cash. Unfortunately for Hasdorff, the man said that he only gives to Christian non-profits. Terri reflects on that:

I am disappointed to say that over and over, people told me, "I'm sorry; we just don't get involved in politics." This came from strong Christians"friends, colleagues and people from church or Bible study groups. Many of them said things like, "Politics is just so nasty," "Everyone is so corrupt" and "You really can't change the system." And on the criticisms went. When I looked back at the end of my race, only a few solid, committed people had stepped up and said yes. Their friendship and support meant everything to me and still does. It mattered to them because they got it. In their minds, they were investing in the kingdom and in me. That was the paradigm shift. - Terri Hasdorrf

The inference Hasdorff is making here is pretty obvious. The problem she has is that what she is hearing is correct. Politics is nasty. Everyone is so corrupt, even the other Republicans running against her. What Hasdorff does not get because she has twisted NAR theology is that investing in any politician is not investing in the kingdom. To be honest, if a Christian non-profit is truly doing the Lord's work than the rich guy probably has it right. To cut to the chase here, Hasdorff not only lost but she got destroyed. She scored 5% of the vote with a little over 5000 votes. I agree money is what you need to run but remember, she said God told her to run. What happened to that? Did God want to humiliate her? Was this some kind of a joke on the Almighty's part? Of course not. In all likelihood, Hasdorff saw the open seat and wanted to run. Maybe she truly fasted and I will grant her the benefit of the doubt that she prayed. Unfortunately, because of the pagan beliefs we are taught, we seek coincidental signs to "confirm" what we wanted all along. The apostate church is rife with what is known as confirmation bias. God does not appear to have told Ms. Hasdorff to run because if He did, she should have actually won. In the end she blames it on a lack of money but the God I serve is not short of cash. She now laments her loss:

"After my race ended and I had some time to reflect on what happened, I was truly the most aggrieved by how incredibly hard it is for anyone to get elected who is not willing to take money from special interests. Our system seems to be slanted more and more toward candidates who are willing to compromise heavily to get money. In addition, if you have a very short lead time to raise money, as I did, how can you possibly compete with someone who can bring in millions of dollars? Unless you have a major force behind you, such as a huge amount of grassroots support or many people willing to donate, fundraise and personally get involved in other ways, it's not possible. And that major force is what I believe God wants to stir up through the body of Christ.

Inaction is no longer an option. Your life and the lives of your children depend on it. If our nation continues to consume the garbage that is the fruit of corruption, selfishness and bad decision-making because we sit back and do nothing, our country will die." - Terri Hasdorff

Again, the party she shills for is the party that ensured unlimited money in campaigns. She complains here about the fruit of corruption but she surely voted for the corrupt candidate that defeated her! This is why the NAR dominionist leaders have zero credibility. They take a man who appears imminently decent. Lifelong Catholic with never a hint of scandal. Lost his kids and first wife in a horrible car accident. Lost another son to cancer after he fought for this country. Stood by his last son during his dark days of addiction. He is presented as a caricature of evil. The one they insist the church must vote for has been married three times and unfaithful to all three women. The latest one he cheated on with a porn star while his wife was home with their new born son. He has bragged about grabbing women by their genitalia. He has bankrupted six companies. He has been convicted for raping a woman and defaming her. He also recently was convicted 34 times by a jury of his peers. Yet this man is presented as the righteous choice. Maybe inaction is exactly what God expects. Even if you make the lesser of two evils argument your choice of the lesser evil is merely your opinion. You should not be caught defending that lesser evil as a righteous choice. Keep in mind that Hasdorff is someone who lost after claiming God told her to run, and is now bemoaning that you can only win if you have a major force behind you and she probably voted for the candidate that was corrupt and defeated her. That is the absurdity of NAR politics.

"As James 2:20b says, "Faith without works is dead." Putting that faith into action is powerful. I want to help you see that you have power, a power you may not realize, to change the world, starting with your city or hometown and spreading throughout the rest of your country. Our country. One nation under God. As Christians, we are personally responsible for government at the local, state and federal levels. If we don't like what we see, it's our job to change it. Authentic Christians have divorced themselves from politics and government for far too long out of fear, apathy or ignorance. We must be educated regarding what the Bible says about our involvement in government and then train and support others who want to make a difference. You simply don't have the luxury of merely voting at the ballot box anymore. You also need to vote with your wallet, time, influence and personal involvement." - Terri Hasdorff

Voting lock step for one political party and conferring righteousness upon them they do not deserve is not "works." This is a horrible abuse of scripture. The context of the very next verse is our key verse above. God explains that the works He is referring to can be seen when Abraham offered up his son Isaac upon the altar. To compare such faith to voting for a compromised carnal political candidate is blasphemous. This may come as a shock to NAR Christians but we are not personally responsible for local, state and federal governments. Not even close. There is not one scintilla of a bible fragment that would support such a stupid notion. What we are responsible for is the gospel, which seems to get lost in this carnal shuffle. Now, if you do not like what you see in this country and think your candidate will help relieve that somehow, knock yourself out and vote for them. Just stop pretending that your candidate is God's candidate. He is no respecter of person, let alone political party. He does not care one iota about our system and who we might think is a lesser evil. I always go back to the late nineties for a stark example of why this conferred righteousness theology is bunk. At the height of the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal there were three political figures who led the church in the charge that character counts and decried Bill Clinton's lecherous behavior. They were Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich, and Representatives Bob Livingston and Dennis Hastert. Along with their early NAR operatives such as James Dobson, these three men went to the cameras every day for infinity to say how evil what Clinton did was and the church ate it up. They eventually convinced many to vote for George W. Bush in 2000, which gave us record deficits and a million dead in Iraq for the weapons of mass destruction lie. Oh, and now with the benefit of hindsight we know that Newt Gingrich was having an affair with a woman half his age at the exact same time. He would divorce his wife to marry her. Bob Livingston had so many affairs his own party made him resign. Dennis Hastert? Turns out he had been molesting little boys for decades. So, spare me your self-righteous babble about what people "say." You want to make a kingdom difference? Find a church that preaches the gospel and not politics. Show people the love of Christ in all areas of your life. Stop pursuing evil, no matter how "lesser" you have convinced yourself it is.

Reverend Anthony Wade - July 20, 2024

Authors Bio:
Credentialed Minister of the Gospel for the Assemblies of God. Owner and founder of 828 ministries. Vice President for Goodwill Industries. Always remember that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.