What Athol Wrote...

I’m not a political spokesperson, and have never blogged about politics before. But it’s no secret that I’m a conservative. As we approach the next presidential election, I feel I have to speak out, since I’m concerned about conservatives allowing the media to determine who our candidates should be. How many times have we heard lately that Giuliani is going to be our nominee? I want to remind you that we are in a primary season, and we get to decide who our candidate will be. Yes, the media would love to choose our candidate. They'd love to choose someone who doesn't share our values. Then they'd have a win/win. But if we choose someone who doesn't share our values just to beat Hillary, what have we won? But if we have a Pro-Choice president in the White House--one who hasn't been able to keep his promises even to his wife--how can we be sure that he'll do what he says and appoint constructionist judges?

I'm currently teaching a Bible study course on some of the kings and prophets in the Old Testament. The northern kingdom of Israel allowed leaders to come and go and lead them into sins so serious that they were throwing their children into fire to sacrifice to the god of Molech. (To me, abortion is the same kind of offense to God.) God gave them chance after chance to repent, yet they followed their leaders into worse and worse sin. Eventually, the people paid the consequences, when their men were slaughtered and they were marched out of Samaria--losing everything they owned-- and moved to an Assyrian area. God said, "Ephraim is no longer a people." But in the southern kingdom of Judah, they were able to buy some time when Hezekiah began to reign. He led the people into righteousness and destroyed all their altars to false gods, knocked down the Asherah poles and the high places, and made the priests consecrate themselves and the temple so they could worship again.

We need to pray that God will raise up a Hezekiah for us, and we need to pray it like we believe it, not just roll over and accept the candidate the media is salivating over. I, for one, am about to donate money to the Huckabee campaign, because he is a godly man who will not lead our country into more sin. I like what he believes and what he stands for, and I like the fact that he has the judgment to at least hold the line on abortion in this country by appointing Pro-Life judges. Of all the candidates, he's the only one I've seen so far who has the moral fortitude to do that. I’m also very impressed with his performance in the debates, and think he has what it takes to win.

I'm looking at the character of the man. Has he kept other covenants in his life, for instance with his wife? Then maybe he'll keep his campaign promises. Is he Pro-Life as a political stance, or does he believe deeply in his heart that killing babies is wrong and has to be stopped? If he does, then maybe he can make an impact on that. Does he truly and honestly worship Jesus Christ, or does he just say he does because it's politically expedient right now? And if he does truly worship God, then maybe he'll look to Him for guidance for our country.

Some would say that I’m a one-issue voter. I’m not. There are several issues that are extremely important to me. The abortion issue is not one of those issues. It’s the foundation on which any candidate I consider must stand. You must understand, if a man or woman believes that it’s okay to kill babies, that tells me that their judgment is severely impaired. They are not fit to run our country.

I'm not giving up in the primary season. We can choose whatever candidate we want. There were enough of us Christians to elect George Bush in the last two elections. We can elect Huckabee or any Hezekiah God raises up between now and the primaries. We can win again if we stand up for our issues. We have an incredibly strong voice, and we've proven that it can be louder than that of the media. Some of you say we have to pick a candidate who can win against Hillary. We did pick a candidate who won against Al Gore and John Kerry. We got to choose because there were enough of us! If we had a candidate who represented our values, why couldn't we do it again, even if the media said it was impossible? They thought it was impossible last time. What have we won if we get a man with the same basic values as Hillary? So what if he's a strong leader, if he leads us further into the pit?

I love America and the Church, and I don't want to see us follow the path of some European countries in which Christianity has all but died, because they let the world have its way in their elections. America has been set apart, protected, blessed ... but if the Bible is a warning to us, and we can learn anything about God's nature by his dealings with Israel in the Old Testament, we will pay severe consequences for our country's moral decline. I refuse to roll over.

Unless something changes drastically before my state’s primary election, I’m voting for Mike Huckabee.

Terri