On Valley Radio This Weekend, Sept. 5-6,
or Online HERE Anytime
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“The church is the conscience of the nation and a public voice for the eternal truths of God.” (Rakazzi)
“Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) “Not to vote is to vote.” (Rakazzi)
“You are the Salt of the earth and the Light of the world. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven.” (Jesus, Sermon on the Mount, Mt. 5:16)
“Government is downstream from the culture, which is downstream from the church, from “we the people”, and from God. When any of those streams becomes corrupted, our government also becomes corrupted.” (Rakazzi)
“Our weapons are not carnal but mighty through God to pulling down of strong holds … casting down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ.” (II Corinthians 10:3-5)
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Introduction: Putting Our Faith into Action
This is the first chapter of a 6-week series that will take us to the big election on Tuesday, November 3, just over eight weeks away.
It is a great series that challenges us to put our faith into action in every area of our lives, including in the voting booth. I hope it will inform, inspire, and encourage you as it has me.
Therefore, please check the information at the bottom to make sure that you are registered and ready to vote your values in November – because it matters!
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Tom Minnery on “Why You Can’t Stay Silent”
When Tom Minnery was an aspiring journalist in Washington DC, he was asked to cover Capitol Hill. One of his assignments was to report on research that the Reagan Administration was doing on the pornography industry in America.
As a part of that research, he attended a public hearing that included the first-hand account of a girl who had been molested as a child – in part due to the influence of pornography on her abuser. Highly-paid lawyers for the porn industry openly snickered at her and her testimony.
That experience informed and infuriated Mr. Minnery. It was just one more item on a growing list of other concerns he had about the coarsening of our culture and the destructive impact it was having on families across America. Someone had to do something! Someone had to speak out!
As a result, he left a promising career in journalism, joined Focus on the Family headed at that time by founder Dr. James Dobson, and soon became its Vice President for Public Policy.
From that vantage point, and to help others who shared these concerns and wanted to fight back, Minnery wrote a book entitled Why You Can’t Stay Silent: A Biblical Mandate to Shape Our Culture.
Speaking Out – and Why It Matters
At about the same time that Minnery wrote his book, Valley residents were also becoming increasingly concerned about many of the same issues, including attacks on the Sanctity of Life and of Marriage, on our Religious Liberties, and yes, about the destructive impact of pornography on our families and on our communities.
But what could they do to confront, rebuke, and defeat these strongholds of evil while at the same time working to support and advance the core Judeo-Christian values on which America was founded and has prospered? Doesn’t that interfere with our call to proclaim the Gospel and to “evangelize”?
We had just founded the Valley Family Forum, and for answers to those questions, we relied heavily on Minnery’s book for guidance and for inspiration during a 10-week series of Forum-sponsored seminars called “Capstone: The Christian’s Role in Culture and Public Policy”.
For example, what could we do to ban or at least regulate the three SOB’s (Sexually Oriented Businesses) in Harrisonburg? And what could we do to encourage local businesses to remove porn from the shelves of their “family-friendly” stores? In addition, what could we do …
— To help save the lives of unborn babies, even when our own government actively defended and supported the evil of abortion that has now claimed the tortured lives of more than 60 million babies since the tragic Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973?
— To defend marriage as the permanent union of only one man and one woman, even when our own government was working to undermine and even redefine it by including same-sex “unions” as it did in the terribly misguided Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision in 2015?
— To defend our religious liberties as a gift from God when our own government was forcing us to accept its dictates even when they violate God’s laws?
WWJD? Salt and Light
These are not new challenges but have certainly taken a sharp wrong turn in recent years. However, like many others who came before us, we have too often been silent when we should have been speaking up. Sadly, the moral decline we are seeing today is a consequence of that silence.
So, we often wonder, “What would Jesus have done? … What did He mean when He called us to be ‘Salt and Light’ to the world”?
What is the “godly principle” that Minnery refers to which drove a Vermont farmer and three Indiana mothers to stand up for moral virtue in their communities?
What “divine impulse” and “twin truths” have made the church throughout history to be a voice for truth and a “community of compassion” in times of great need?
Finally, what role are we called to play today, both individually and as the Body of Christ, to take a stand for the full Gospel in this great Civil War of Values in America, and for how we are to live?
For example, in response to the problem posed by three SOB shops in Harrisonburg, the Forum led a petition drive to close them down.
With the support of the entire community, including many churches, we then worked with our local officials to pass a strong ordinance that had the effect of driving them out of town. Laus Deo!
Register Now to Vote Your Values on Nov. 3
And that brings us to the ballot box. It seems that we say it every four years: “This is the most important election of our lifetime.” This year is certainly no exception.
The two parties are more deeply divided than ever, with a particularly sharp contrast on our core Judeo-Christian values regarding Life, Faith, Family, and Freedom, as well as our Constitutional principles. One party works to defend and advance those values; the other party is openly hostile and works to defeat those same values.
Against that background, there is no question that who we elect on November 3 will shape the direction of America for generations to come — for better or for worse. Therefore, please be sure you are registered to vote because every vote counts, and the deadline is Tuesday, October 13.
You can register in two ways: 1) You can do it online at www.elections.virginia.gov, or 2) You can also download a Voter Registration Application form from the same website in order to register by mail. Please encourage your values minded family and friends to do the same.
Crossroads: Where Faith and Culture Meet
That’s the background for what Rita Dunaway and I will discuss this weekend as Part I of our revived Crossroads series on Why You Can’t Stay Silent.
You can tune in on the following Valley radio stations: WBTX (1470 AM and 102.1 FM) Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and again on Sunday at 7:30 a.m., followed by WSVA (550 AM and 92.1 FM) at 8:30, ESPN (1360 AM and 106.9 FM) at 9:00, and WNLR (1150) at 11:30.
If you miss the broadcast, you can also listen online by clicking on the menu of Crossroads’ programs that is available on our home page at www.valleyfamilyforum.org.
Crossroads is entirely listener supported, and we are deeply grateful for your prayers, your encouragement, and your financial support. If you would like to help, please send your check to Crossroads at PO Box 881, Harrisonburg, 22803. All donations are tax-deductible.
Thank you, for God and Country,
Dean