Grace Covenant Church

Election Perspective

1. Reconciliation is Grace Covenant Church’s calling—a key to unity is understanding, not just tolerance.

2. This pulpit is called to influence how people think, not how they vote.

3. Whoever is elected is God's choice:

   • Ps 75:6-7 “Promotion does not come from the eat or the west, but from the Lord.”
   • Rom 13:1-7 “…ministers of God for our good…”

4. Question: Could it be that the election of Barak Obama is the beginning of an answer to the prayers of the saints who picked cotton as slaves? A righting of a 400 year injustice? Many African American Christians believe “yes,” and are praising God for His listening ear. Could it be that the beginning of the line for the “nationally need to be addressed issues” did not start 40 years ago with abortion being legalized or the gay rights agenda endangering biblical family values? Maybe, at the beginning of the prayer-line started 400 years ago when a grave ethnic injustice was committed when 25 million people died in the transatlantic slave trade. Where black folks were Constituntionally dehumanized, beaten, and denied basic human rights. Could this election be the beginning of God answering prayers in connection with this prior sin? Who knows, but something really big is being fixed. With President-elect Obama transitioning into the White house, racism is now localized, not nationalized. With this great advancement, The NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) must now justify its need to exist and Jesse Jackson may become just another very important historical American figure. Again, something really big is being fixed! Heb 11:13 “All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.”

5. GCC tries embrace a complete Biblical World view. Some have accussed us of being theolgically liberal, thereby consenting to same sex marriage and the pro-choice agenda. Others have said we are overly conservative and are only concerned about pro-life issues and the antibiblical redefinition of marriage by the gay rights activist. They contend that we have no heart for the poor. May I set the record straight…

   • Pro-life to the grave
   • Started “Black Americans For Life” with Kay Cole James 1984
   • I have been arrested twice for peacefully trying to stop women from killing their babies
   • GCC Spent 3 years of Saturday mornings counseling women to not make the worst decision of their lives
   • Granted up to $5k those who wished to adopt
   • GCC gives approximately $50k per year to orphange projects every year and has established 4 in Africa
   • GCC gives $25–35k to assist inner city kids in education, morals, salvation and good citizenry
   • Cynthia and I have adopted
   • Pro-Biblical Marriage ($60k on canvassing pastors to sign Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as being between a man and a woman in 2004)

6. We don’t believe that October & November are the only times to present a Biblical World View. April, June and February are great months. If one doesn’t hear me in April, they won’t in November either.

By the way, I favored neither candidate because neither embraced a most Biblical World view. However, the one I voted for will not be moving into the White House in January.

When I voted, it was one of the saddest days of my life because my version of a biblical conscience would not let me vote for a man who believes it’s alright to end the life of a child before he/she is born. Yet, I was filled with memories of being the first family to break the color barrier in our neighborhood. I remember no realtor would sell to us so we had to pay over what the house was worth when we bought from an individual owner. I remember reading about the cross burning in my neighborhood. Memories of being called unmentionable epithets freshly came back to me. Our property was destroyed, our family was denied access to our neighborhood pool and I had to fight physically and mentally just to be equal. All of this ridicule strongly drew me to participate on Tuesday in God’s rectification of history—indeed, His answer to my prayers & the prayers of my ancestors. However, my version of a biblical conscience would not let me vote for history. Like those abolitionists who had to speak up for those who had no voice, I had to use my vote to be in concert with the spirit of my ancestors, not just their particular cause. Therefore, I voted for the policies of the man which I believed were most proper. On Wednesday I cried for joy and for sorrow, but I felt God had done something right and so had I. I think I’m living right and I feel like I’m living well…