Posted on 11/11/2006 12:38:04 AM PST by JohnHuang2
The Republican Party lost the mid-term elections primarily due to the war in Iraq; however, there were other contributing factors. According to the Pew Research Centre, 78 percent of evangelicals in the United States voted Republican in 2004. This week polls indicate that just 50 percent of evangelicals voted for the Republicans, and evangelical turnout was dramatically lower. The Democrats, with pro same-sex marriage, pro-abortion leader Nancy Pelosi, now control the legislative agenda of the U.S. government. How did this happen?
The Rev. Ted Haggard, the defrocked president of the National Association of Evangelicals led a two-year campaign to subject the evangelical church to the laws of global warming. The introduction of the earth movement has confused the church with neo-pagan teachings. In Romans Chapter 1, God warns us not to place creation over the Creator.
The global warming movement began at the 1992 U.N. Earth Summit where its director, Maurice Strong, started with the statement "We must therefore transform our attitudes and values, and adopt a renewed respect for the superior laws of divine nature." Strong subsequently passed several worldwide laws in 1997 known as the Kyoto Accord. In 1994, the U.N. commissioned Strong to write the Earth Covenant that was introduced in 2000 as the Earth Charter. The new edict was written on papyrus paper, placed in a replica of the Ark of the Covenant, ceremoniously ushered into the U.N. and called "the new 10 commandments," a "Global Ethic" that will transcend all religions and countries.
(Column continues below)
Nearly two years ago, Rev. Haggard began his earth campaign as he threatened the Republican U.S. Senate, stating that he would turn the evangelicals against them if they refused to ratify global warming laws. On March 10, 2005, the New York Times described his efforts with the headline "Evangelical Leaders Swing Influence Behind Effort to Combat Global Warming." Haggard said in the article: "The question is, will evangelicals make a difference? And the answer is, the Senate thinks so. We do represent 30 million people, and we can mobilize them if we have to." Haggard's vice president, Richard Cizik, followed by saying, "When evangelicals speak, Republicans tend to listen, and frankly it's Republicans who need to get the message."
The Republican Senate did not take heed to the threat – therefore, Haggard carried out his plan. By February 2006, Evangelicals Against Climate Change was launched with a joint declaration signed by 86 prominent leaders. They went ahead with the program despite protests from a Who's Who of politically powerful evangelicals, including Chuck Colson, James Dobson and the Rev. D. James Kennedy. The CNN headline read "Strange Bedfellows," as evangelicals had joined forces with environmentalists who are well-known for being ungodly and sexually immoral. James 4:4 says, "Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God." They spent an initial $200,000 on the crusade. "We will see tens of millions of evangelicals engaged in the work we are talking about today," said the Rev. Dr. Leith Anderson, now the interim president of the National Association of Evangelicals.
Haggard's "environmental evangelism" as he calls it, continued. In October, the NAE promoted their program "Is God Green?" The organization then stepped up its efforts and launched a new vision for the church on Oct. 18 called Re:Vision, a new action plan to promote environmental activism.
On the surface, this all seems like harmless activity to ensure clean air and clean water. God does command us to be good stewards of the earth but not subservient to it. Everyone wants to reduce pollution and save cute cuddly animals. Unfortunately, this is not the focus. Instead, the global warming movement seeks to trump all other issues, including spiritual concerns, with threats of catastrophic destruction if we don't follow its precepts plus reduce CO2 production, the very gas every plant on earth needs to survive.
God warns us numerous times in Scripture to never subvert His precepts with that of man or earth. Romans Chapter 1, versus 22-26 says, "Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man – and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. For this reason God gave them up to vile passions."
We all sympathize with Rev. Haggard's pain. He obviously is experienced great torment as he entered into his "vile passions" hiring a homosexual prostitute and buying crystal methamphetamine. His wife and children are devastated by such debauchery, as are the 14,000 members of his church. Haggard confessed that saying, "I am a deceiver and a liar." Millions of airplanes take off and land safely every year, but when one crashes it is headline news around the world. We don't blame all aircraft for the faults of one.
God warns us not to place anything above Him. His first commandment in Exodus 20:3 is "You shall have no other gods before me." We cannot subjugate Father God to mother earth. The original sin of Adam was to trust the creation over the Creator. God gave man dominion over the earth, not subjugation under it. Jesus Himself says to us in Luke 21:34, "And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting (drugs), and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares." The hedonistic cares of this life, including drugs, drink and the earth, must not be our concern. We are to focus on eternal affairs, not temporal things.
Today we live in the last days before the return of Christ. Second Thessalonians 2:3 warns us to "Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition." I believe this "falling away" has begun.
The seductive earth movement has crept into our churches and is leading us to trust the creation over the Creator. The "False Prophet" or Apostate Faith described in Revelation 13 as the lamb with two horns and verse 17 as Mystery Babylon and the Scarlet Harlot clearly lines up with the earth movement of today. My book "The Great Falling Away," to be released Dec. 15, compares 100 aspects of the "Apostate Faith" with the earth worship of today.
Scripture warns us "be not deceived," "beware of the false prophets," "take heed lest you be led astray." Haggard assisted in exalting the Democrats and Nancy Pelosi to power. He was led astray and is now suffering tremendously. We need to pray for him and pray for protection for us. If it can happen to a great leader such as Haggard, the former president of the National Association of Evangelicals representing 51 denominations with 30 million members, then it can happen to you or me. With God's help, we can avoid being seduced into "falling away" as we place Jesus Christ Lord of all, including the earth.
Ya mean Mark, not the last rodent Speaker of the House. The media largely ignored the latter's shenanigans back in '94.
Social conservative issues win more than 51% of the vote. It is the other issues of war, corruption, spending where the GOP is losing the majority.
Some do, some don't.
Minding other people's business is electoral death.
If left wingers pretending to be christians left we would be better off.
We had a drug addict, apparent closted homosexual, who was evanglical as a means to aquire personal power.
How many other such fakes are out there?
The democrats knew EXACTLY how conservatives react to fraud, they punish it.
"this is the dumbest reason given for why the Republicans lost this election"
agree with you!
Good morning everybody! What an amazing website this is, where a posting can start at midnight and well-informed, intelligent people can argue all night and still not come up with a consensus (except that NOBODY ever heard of this guy until the MSM made him a overnight nutcase celebrity).
Maybe I need a little more caffeine here but it looks to me like the important part of this story is that a large part of the evangelical movement is apparently getting cozy with environmentalist socialist scum who are guaranteed to lead us all straight to H*** or at least into a new dark age.
I agree with you...
It seems that part of the problem is that the republicans have a communication glitch. They need to work on how they communicate their message and who they use to do the communicating.
I say it's a communication problem, at least in part...
Dear Jim Noble,
It is true that the most "radical" version of any social conservative issue will not gain 51% support in the electorate. Thus, 51% of the electorate, at this time and for the foreseeable future, would never agree to an absolute ban on abortion, including chemical abortions occurring from certain forms of birth control. Neither would 51% of the electorate agree to legislate a ban on any and all formal contractual relationships between homosexuals.
But polls show regularly that majorities, even fairly hefty majorities of, say, 65%, would support a ban on all medical abortions except in cases of the life of the mother (not health), rape, incest, and severe genetic deformity.
I'm a "radical" pro-lifer, and I'd go farther.
However, such a ban, with those exceptions, would outlaw 96% of surgical abortions. For me, that's a pretty good start.
And in many states, bans on "homosexual marriage" have passed easily, because these bans have not prevented the ability of the state to set up alternative legal arrangements for homosexuals.
Thus, the heart of social conservative issues will usually carry the day with the electorate in most states. It is the Democrats who are afraid of the ballot box, and who endeavor to nullify the will of the people through judicial activism. Even in states like Massachusetts and Maryland, the liberal scum Dems have tried to prevent the people from voting on the issue of homosexual marriage.
Folks are generally against abortion, and believe it should be generally illegal, with exceptions. Folks are generally against homosexual marriage, and believe it should be illegal, but that homosexuals should be able to order their lives according to alternative legal regimes.
As long as the mainstream of social conservatives are willing to accept half-loafs and slices in the meantime, social conservatives can readily build coalitions and alliances that advance our causes.
With abortion, of course, we will have to overcome the satanic regime of Roe, and this election has set us back tremendously. But that's not because people voted up or down on the issue of abortion on demand, but rather a by-product of the failure of the Republican Party to act like... conservative Republicans.
sitetest
Thanks for the link to the list of churches who are included in Haggard's group. I'm surprised some of those churches would be following the United Nations and their opinion on global warming. I wonder if the members of those churches are aware of the ads being run to support the agenda the UN. I doubt it.
I never heard of Haggard before his recent 15 minutes of fame. Maybe he was a wolf in sheep's clothing all along, considering his stance with leftiest groups.
I think his outing (of whatever it was that he did) effected the results in Colorado. Outside Colorado, the effect was minor.
Dear Clintonfatigued,
I don't think his outing had a big effect, but the article makes a good case that his other activities may have helped to draw away a significant percentage of evangelical Christians from voting Republican.
His efforts to balance out the agenda of evangelicals with the issue of global warming specifically, and environmentalism generally, may have been a significant part of why support for Republican candidates fell from 78% of evangelicals to 50% this year.
That's a devastating blow. If Mr. Haggard's efforts was a substantial part of the reason for that decline, then his effect on the election was pretty significant.
sitetest
Going too far with an issue is what causes electoral death. For instance, if we limit restrictions on abortions like banning partial birth abortions or parental notification, it is a huge winning issue. Even if we just exclude things like life of mother, rape, incest, it is still a winning issue. It is only when they try to ban all abortions with life of mother as the only exception where the pro-'choice' position becomes the majority. Likewise, with gay marriage. It is a big winning issue if you are just wanting to limit marriage between a man and a woman. But when you also try to ban civil unions you lose support. For the most part, social conservative issues were a winner in this election. There were three states where ballot initiatives went too far and probably hurt us.
But really, this election was backlash against Bush mostly. The MSM was very successful the last few years at beating Bush down, and Bush did not take the attacks seriously enough until it was too late. The MSM media talked down a great economy and talked down a semi-successful war effort and was able to drive Bush's support way down.
Ohhhhh....You had me going for a second! I thought that when you wrote "we would win," you were talking about Republicans!
I attend a "religious right" church. When Haggard's scandal came out, we were like, "Who's Haggard?".
Haggard was accused of buying meth for a gay lover.
Haggard's is in the CO-05. We still held that seat and CO's gay marriage ban passed.
I'm not sure about his case, but i heard that he "admitted to" some of the allegations, guess he is at least looking for forgiveness.
Dumbest thing I've ever heard. He had nothing to do with the elections.
That was a completely unnecessary and insulting statement.
Does anyone know how the Democrats won this election?? I would like to know. Not one Dim complained this time around, that votes were illegal, messed with the counting electronic black boxes or anything else they usually come up with. The GOP didn't complain either which I found totally amazing. The Democrats ran a video on HBO the week before the election called HACKING DEMOCRACY..which is still running. It is a real hit piece..and I am sure was run with the idea it would be the jump off place after the election if they won. Does anyone know how they won and if they have seen the HBO video??
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.