Hundreds of pro-life pastors from across the nation are running for various political offices this year in order to restore some sense of values and decency in a political world where abortion still flourishes. With a culture of death that is pushing for more and abortion abortions and trampling on the conscience and free speech rights of Christians, these pastors have had enough.
Ironically, as David Brody of CBN News reports, this wave of pastors seeking elected office has its epicenter in California, one of the most liberal, pro-abortion states where Democrats run the state government with little opposition.
Calvary Chapel’s Rob McCoy took the plunge by running for City Council in Thousand Oaks, California.
“I’m in exile in my own state and my own nation and this is a directive that God gave me, praying for the peace of the city locally,” McCoy explained.
McCoy joins more than 200 pastors who jumped into politics this year alone. A couple hundred others plan to join the ranks next year. They’re popping up all over the country from local school boards to Congress.
Charlotte pastor Mark Harris is running for Congress in North Carolina. Others, like Oklahoma pastor Paul Blair, are starting at the state level. Many of them are seeking help to get started.
The American Renewal Project holds “Issachar Training Sessions” across the country. In the Old Testament, the men of Issachar understood the serious times they lived in and took action for Israel.
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“I want you to know that it doesn’t take experience; it doesn’t take qualifications. God will call you and if you are called, He will qualify you,” California Assemblywoman Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, told CBN News.
Pastors looking for advice can call on U.S. Sen. James Lankford. The Oklahoma Republican spent 15 years in the Southern Baptist ministry before running for Congress. Lankford told CBN News he’s excited about the current movement.
“While some people try and paint it as extraordinary, it’s not. It’s actually a very normal American thing – people who love our country and who love God and love other people to get engaged in the political process. I’m excited it’s happening. It should be a conversation that’s bubbling up around the country,” stated Lankford.
As LifeNews has reported, Obamacare and the state of California are doing their very best to force churches to pay for abortions.
Churches in California are headed to court last month to fight an onerous state regulation that requires them to pay for abortions.
Alliance Defending Freedom, which is representing three churches in the case Foothill Church v. Rouillard, will ask a federal court to allow the lawsuit against California to proceed. The troubling situation began in 2014 when the California Department of Managed Health Care reclassified abortion as a “basic health service” under the Affordable Care Act and ordered all insurance plans in the state to begin covering surgical abortions immediately. Even churches are not exempt from funding abortions.
The churches filed a lawsuit against the regulation last October, and it has been moving through the courts.
Jeremiah Galus, legal counsel for ADF, said in a statement: “The government shouldn’t be forcing churches to pay for the killing of innocent human life. These churches have no way to avoid paying for abortions because Obamacare requires health insurance coverage, and the California mandate requires abortion coverage in any health plan. What’s bizarre, though, is that the same government that quite rightfully does not require California churches to pay for contraceptive coverage nonetheless requires them to pay for elective abortion coverage. We trust the court will allow the churches to proceed with challenging this obviously inconsistent and unconstitutional mandate.”
If the pastors seeking political office have any say, churches like these will be protected from being forced to be involved in abortions.
