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Alan Keyes digest 10/16/96 19:00

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Oct 16, 1996, 3:00:00 AM10/16/96

** Alan-Keyes mailing list digest. Wednesday, 10/16/96 19:00 **

This digest was prepared 10/16/96 19:00

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------------------- List of Messages -------------------
1: C-News: Church Needs a Backbone (in this election) (jga...@pop.uky.edu)

=============================== Message 1 ===============================
Subject: C-News: Church Needs a Backbone (in this election)
From: jga...@pop.uky.edu

------------------------------
From: "Mark E. Howerter" <othe...@misslink.net>
Date: Sat, 5 Oct 1996 21:39:32 -0600
Subject: C-NEWS: church needs backbone

May God Give the Church a Backbone

The following list of requirements for churches is excerpted from an
IRS publication that never saw the light of day. These policies were
never adopted into law, but it will give you an idea what the IRS
would like to do. The publication in question is not available from
the IRS. It was replaced by a newer version and toned down
considerably. The version of the publication that the excerpts came
from is only available from:

Indianapolis Baptist Temple (for a gift of $5.00)
19th Judicial District
2711 South East St.
Indianapolis, Indiana

These propositions and many more (a total of 30) have been taken
from IRS Service Publication 1828 (9-94) Cat. # 21096G, Tax Guide for
Churches, Other Religious Organizations, and 501-C3 Not for Profit
Religious Organizations, Draft July 26, 1994.

Churches must:

1. Have ordained ministers educated in state accredited
colleges.

2. Be neutral on political issues.

3. Have tax exempt status issued by IRS.

4. Pastor must answer to the IRS as to daily activities of the
church.

5. The IRS must be privy to all financial transactions of the
church.

6. Pastor must supply names of all donors - make books, records
available.

7. May only use IRS approved fundraising methods.

8. May not support legislation saying children belong to
parents rather than the state.

9. May not form a Political Action Committee nor support legislation
opposing lotteries and gambling activity.

10. May not oppose the public school system.

I would advise everyone to get a copy of of the current Pub. 1828, Tax
Guide for Churches and Other Religious Organizations. You can receive
a copy by calling the IRS toll free at 1-800-829-3676. This updated
publication is much tamer than the outrageous one excerpted above, but
it is bad enough and it is currently in effect.

The real problem, as I see it, is that churches and pastors stifle
themselves more effectively than the government could ever stifle
them. Yes, the government and particularly the IRS is oppressive, but
the reason the church has been largely ineffective is not the
government's fault.

Perception of the laws is so much worse than the laws themselves. So
many pastors are scared poopless when it comes to anything political.
Therefore, they allow no voters guides or anything that might be
remotely seen as political in their churches.

I used to try to go around to churches in Warren County (IL) to
register people to vote--which is perfectly legal. Nine out of ten
pastors would not allow it.

The church has become anemic and pathetic as a whole, not because of
the laws, but because of wimpy pastors who are too scared to take a
stand. And it isn't just pastors. Pews are full of wimpy laymen as
well.

I know of rare pastors who say free speech will be practiced in
their pulpits and that includes politics. Randall Terry said, "Our
tax-exempt status be damned if it keeps us from declaring the whole
counsel of God." Amen. Oh, for more men of God like that!

It is sad to think that churches voluntarily bow down at the idol of
compromise just to keep their tax exempt status--which is probably not
really in much danger, anyway.

What if we did lose it? Most families do not give enough to itemize
their taxes, anyway. And so what if we had to pay tax on our church
property? I'd rather not have to, but I'd rather pay the taxes than to
be ineffective! And ineffective is what the church has been of late.

Would that God's Spirit would get inside more pastors and laymen and
give them backbones of steel. The Bible says that the body of Christ
is made up of many members. The members that have been sadly lacking
are guts and a backbone. Bob Dornan has more guts than most pastors I
have ever seen. It ought to be the pastors and churches at the front
lines of the battle leading the fight. That is not the case, and why
is it that way? Too many pulpits are filled with spineless ministers
who would compromise the Word of God to keep their tax exempt status,
that's why. May God have mercy on us all.

It was Patrick Henry who said, "Give me liberty or give me death."
Patrick Henry's words are probably the best remembered patriotic
phrase ever uttered. Two hundred years ago those immortal words of
Patrick Henry were seen by the British as treasonous. Today in this
age of political correctness, Randell Terry is seen as extreme and
treasonous. His words, "Our tax-exempt status be damned" will
hopefully be remembered and honored 200 years from now just like
Patrick Henry's are today. Terry is a modern-day Patrick Henry. It is
too bad more pew sitters and wimpy pastors don't realize that right
now.

It is high time that churches quit caring about what Uncle Sam
thinks and start caring more what Jesus thinks. If we keep doing
things the same way we have been doing them for the last 30 years
chances are we will get the same results, and they have been dismal.

We need a whole new paradigm if we are going to have any effect on
this lost world. It's high time for the church to come out of hiding
and get involved. We have left politics alone because it was dirty.
Now, all too often only the lowest forms of life are very interested
in politics. Most races are a choice between bad and worse, and why?
Because the church dug a hole and crawled in a generation or two ago.

A rut is just a grave with the ends kicked out of it, and the church
has been in a grave. If we kick hard enough and long enough we can turn
a grave into a rut and walk right out of the rut. Let's start doing
some kicking. We have enough "rear end" members who merely occupy
pews. We need some members to become the guts and the backbone of the
church. Maybe He is speaking to you?

*************************************************************
Mark E. Howerter, "The Other Side of the News"
Conservative commentary on news events the media
either ignores or slants to the left. Check us out at:
http://www.cris.com/~dhathaw/otherside
*************************************************************

"Politicians used to kiss babies, now they promise to let you kill them!"

------------Jonathan's comments follow:-------------------

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

I read with deep interest Mark's post in C-NEWS about wimpy Christians and
share his anger, the anger that comes from the heart of Jesus towards those
who would call themselves by His Name but who will do nothing to defend or
promote His purposes. They will be vomited out of His mouth (Rev. 3) if they
don't change (repent). And Keyes is right, abortion is the epitomy of
what's wrong in this nation today.

I hate to burst anyone's bubble about Dornan, if you don't already know
about this, but he did succumb to the demands of N. Gingrich to stop backing
a pro-life candidate to the U.S. House, former GOP Rep. Joe Dioguardi, who
was running against pro-abortion, feminist, GOP incumbent Sue Kelly in the
New York primary which was held early Sept. (unfortunately, I still don't
know the outcome). Gingrich threatened Dornan and (Rep.-NY) Chris Smith who
were backing DioGuardi with severe punishment for not supporting this ultra
liberal GOP incumbent, including no foreign government-paid travel (Smith
was visiting Bosnia), no service on conference committees (Dornan had an
important position in Defense matters and would have been on conference
committees, the ones that iron out differences between Rep. and Senate
bills), and a ban on any amendments to the House floor from the two for the
duration of Congress' session. Can you imagine your own Rep. who is
supposed to represent you being barred from making amendments?!! Talk about
an abuse of power and disrespect for the Constitution!!

God help him, Dornan came crawling on his knees to sign a document that he
would withdraw his support of DioGuardi, while Chris Smith said he would not
as a matter of conscience, no matter the consequences. Praise God for Chris
Smith!

And I haven't even started talking about how this shows Gingrich's
complicity with the abortionists! Gingrich, by this atrocity and I'm sure
others (I'm not familiar with his record), shows that he has no conviction
to stand up against abortion and therefore is an accomplice to these evil
abortion-murders.

But you know, Gingrich is not the only elected official who is a shameful
accomplice to abortion. We have a Republican presidential nominee who has
convinced a whole lot of people that he is pro-life.

Well, if he is pro-life, how do you explain his voting again this year for
funding for Planned Parenthood, an abortion provider (he's paying the
abortionists to do their dirty deeds?); voting to use Federal funds to
perform experiments on the corpses of unborn children; voting for the FACE
bill which stripped away the Constitutional rights of anti-abortion
activists to defend the unborn in front of abortion mills; voting to confirm
the nomination of six pro-abortion Supreme Court justices including John
Paul Stevens, Sandra Day O'Connor, Anthony Kennedy, David Souter, Ruth Bader
Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer?

How do you explain, during Reagan's term, his proposing for nomination to
the Federal bench judges who are pro-abortion; approving the nomination to
the U.S. Senate of Sheila Frahm, who favors the performance of abortion at
U.S. military hospitals; and voting to confirm *182* out of 185 Clinton
judicial nominees, who passed the litmus test to be pro-abortion; or that he
even considered selecting a pro-abortion V.P.; or that he tried to trash the
pro-life plank of the GOP with an "it's a matter of conscience" insert that
was a direct slap in the face to God and His Sanctity of Life? How can
anyone explain what good the platform is if, after it didn't turn out the
way he wanted it, he says, "It's not my platform," and, "I haven't read it."(??)

If he's pro-life, why doesn't he have a pro-life litmus test for judges? He
repeatedly has refused to take such a stance, and we can see from his record
that he is just being consistent. He's just using his so-called pro-life
position as an election ruse to fool a bunch of church people who haven't
discovered how to stand alone on God's principles, just like Keyes says but
doesn't do (he supports Dole). And what's worse, by not standing in the way
to defend the defenseless when he has had opportunity, he is an accomplice
to their murders! He's worse than Saul who guarded the cloaks of those who
stoned Stephen because he has repeatedly helped fund the murderers (Planned
Parenthood)!

And so what if he voted pro-life on some legislative issues. They will be
rendered null and void by the conscience-less judges he has helped install.
He's not stupid, he knows how to coddle the unprincipled, wavering moral
relativists on one side and the total reprobates on the other at the same time!

If we want church people to wake up and have some backbone, we better tell
them to start standing with Jesus Christ and stop standing with those who
help the Devil! Or we, too, will be shameful accomplices with them, if we
support them and vote for them.

Not only that, but the Lord requires of us that we stand with those who
stand with Him! And He weeps and cries out to us to turn and repent of our
double-minded relativism! If there is a righteous man doing the work of
Christ, we must not be apathetic to his cause, but we must intercede for him
and support him, including those running for office, or we will have
forsaken and abandoned the Lord's work through that person. How will we
answer the Lord when he asks us why we turned our heads and looked the other
way when our brother in Christ needed help and we refused?

Those fearful of what the devil can do think they have no choice but to vote
for Dole and miss the whole point. We are not called to live in fear of the
Devil! We are called to fear God and serve Him only! We are called to
stand with Him and having stood, to stand firm, never wavering! The gates
of hell will not prevail against our onslaught if we are indeed doing the
work of God, but we definitely won't break them down if our goal is to run
*from* the worst candidate by voting for someone who not only is almost as
bad, but who obviously and definitely is not going to represent the heart of
Christ!

The point is that we want to get rid of Clinton now, NOW, but it may not be
the Sovereign God's timing. Will we discover His will through prayer and
Scripture and aid Him in his will, or tell Him what to do?

And it doesn't matter how many *pro-life* leaders have endorsed him, because
if they won't face the truth of his despicable voting record they are
accomplices with him to spread moral relativism to the end of the globe
instead of spreading God's immovable truth and God's indestructible
principles! They are not joing God in His battles, they are joining the
Devil to fight God!

The moral relativism that says, "Oh, some life is expendable, not worthy of
protecting or existing," i.e., Dole's *exceptions* (rape, incest, life of
mother), is not only not a part of God's battle plan, it's a slap in the
face to the truth and the principle that *all* life is sacred and created in
His image! If you help install Dole in the White House, you will be
promoting the Devil's agenda that will do anything to lead us away from the
truth!

The Christian Coalition may be telling the FEC that they are non-partisan
with words, but what are they going to say when confronted with these
partisan statements?:

Ralph Reed at the GOP convention: "As long as we're here (the
Christian Coalition), the Republican Party will always be pro-life!"

Pat Robertson at the "Road to Victory" Conf: "Bob Dole is 20 points
behind in the polls, we better pray" (paraphrased)

And what defense will they have that they refused to allow the only truly
pro-life candidate to speak at the Road to Victory conference while they
invited Perot, Dole, and Clinton (Clinton declined)??? And if they leave
this candidate off their voter guides, how will they explain it?

All of this may be disconcerting, but the good news is that we can again
vote our consciences in November. The truly pro-life candidate I mentioned
is Howard Phillips, and you need to get informed and find out more about him
in order to decide if you can believe he will do what he says (don't take my
word for it). If you haven't visited the U.S. Taxpayers Party website
(www.ustaxpayers.org), or called 1-800-2-VETO-IRS to hear Phillips' recorded
message of the week, *do it now.* And if you determine God wants you to join
in His battle for the heart and soul of America, immediately begin spreading
the word that we can vote and support this man who will not only stand up
and defend the defenseless, but will finally defend the U.S. Constitution
from the onslaught of the plethora of unprincipled, wimpy, elected officials
and other political activists who have been plowing it under, and who will
openly and unashamedly recognize God as our Sovereign just as our founders did.

Mark spoke highly of Randall Terry. Terry, the founder of Operation Rescue
and its current president, Flip Bennett, have endorsed Phillips, as has also
the New York State Right to Life Party (visit the below and download
Phillips' abortion message in TrueSpeech (audio):
http://members.tripod.com/~Sovereign1/nyrtl.htm), and numerous other
pro-life leaders (George Grant, Judie Brown, who heads American Life League,
Peg Luksik, Joe Scheidler). They have seen the writing on the wall, that
someone who is willing to let even a few innocent babes be ruthlessly
murdered, does not believe in the sanctity of life, and therefore cannot be
trusted to defend life itself, let alone the Constitution ("I am committed
never again to cast a vote for a politician who would kill one innocent
baby...Never will I use my influence, however remotely, to support the
shedding of their blood," Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family, March 1995
monthly letter).

If the church takes a stand in the race for President such as this, not only
will it have a backbone, but it will be standing on the immovable Rock of
Jesus Christ! God grant us the courage to remain on His Rock, take firm
ground in politics, and stand with those who stand with Him!

To God Be the Glory!
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"The Lord requires of us that we stand with those who stand
with Him!"

"The time has come that Christians must vote for honest men,
and take consistent ground in politics." -Charles G. Finney

"I am committed never again to cast a vote for a politician
who would kill one innocent baby...Never will I use my influence,
however remotely, to support the shedding of their blood."
-Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family
March 1995 newsletter

"Those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord."
-Abraham Lincoln

"Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political
prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports."
-George Washington

"If we will not be governed by God, we must be governed by
tyrants." -William Penn

"Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her
pulpits aflame with righteousness did I understand the greatness
and genius of America. America is good. And if America ever ceases
to be good, America will cease to be great."
-Alexis de Tocqueville

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