The event organizers hoped the meeting would spark meaningful
conversation and a desire for unity among evangelicals in the upcoming
presidential election.
Bishop E.W. Jackson tweeted
quotes and videos of Trump's speech throughout the gathering. His
tweets reveal that Trump placed significant emphasis on the strength of
the evangelical Christian vote in the upcoming election. Trump believes
he owes his success to evangelicals.
"I owe so much to Christianity," Trump said in his talk. "I owe it,
quite frankly, to be standing here because the evangelical vote was
mostly gotten by me."
Trump said the current leaders are "selling the evangelicals down the
tubes" and urged Christians to do more than just pray for their
leaders, but to vote, too.
"You can pray for our leaders, and I agree with that. Pray for
everyone," he said. "But what you really have to do is pray to get
everybody out to vote for one specific person."
President and CEO of First Liberty Law Institute Kelly Shackelford
attended the gathering and was one of six people selected to ask Trump
questions.
"For me, there are two ultimate issues in this election: religious
freedom and the federal courts," Shackelford said following the meeting.
"I was grateful that the number one topic of today's conversation was
religious liberty, giving us a good starting point to understand where
Mr. Trump stands on the issue."
According to Shackelford, Trump noted current religious freedom battles facing Christians today.
"I appreciated how, very early in the meeting, Mr. Trump brought up
First Liberty's client, Coach Joe Kennedy, and expressed his concern
that a high school football coach would be fired for praying after a
game. Mr. Trump said attacks on faith like this need to stop and I
agree."
Shackelford believes the meeting signified one step toward a brighter future.
"I think today was a good start and I look forward to continuing the conversation," he said.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, was
also pleased with Trump's committment to appoint pro-life justices to
the Supreme court.
"I was encouraged when Mr. Trump reiterated the most important
pro-life commitment he has made to date: that he would appoint pro-life
judges to SCOTUS," she said. "To quote him verbatim, "We are going to
appoint great Supreme Court justices... These will be justices of great
intellect... And they will be pro-life."
Trump's comments in the highly anticipated meeting with evangelicals come after a concerning Barna Group poll out earlier in the year about the missing evangelical vote.
According to the study, 40 to 50 million Christians, many of them
evangelicals, failed to vote in the last presidential election. There
are 82 million practicing Christians in the country, meaning almost half
didn't practice their right to vote.
CBN News spoke with Chad Connelly, the Republican National Committee director of faith, to talk about the importance of the evangelical vote.
"I think the Left in the media have been really good at telling us,
'You Christians are really good at evangelism and missions, but you
shouldn't be involved in politics,'" Connelly said.
However, he disagrees with their message, saying "It's time we get involved."
Connelly believes the first step towards getting involved is for
evangelical Christians to build relationships with their leaders first.
Trump tried building trust with faith leaders Tuesday by focusing on
issues that are of key importance of evangelical voters, like religious
liberty. However, it is yet to be seen if he can get evangelical voters
to unite around him in November.
*CBN neither supports nor opposes any candidate for public office.
Presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump
announced on Tuesday that his campaign is establishing an evangelical
executive advisory board, composed of 25 faith leaders who will advise
him on issues “important to evangelicals and other people of faith in
America,” read the statement.
The announcement stressed that the
advisors chosen were not asked to endorse Trump, but to meet his “desire
to have access to the wise counsel of such leaders”.
“I have such tremendous respect and
admiration for this group and I look forward to continuing to talk about
the issues important to evangelicals, and all Americans, and the common
sense solutions I will implement when I am President,” Trump said of
the new board, which will convene on a “regular basis.”
The announcement was made on the same
day that Trump appeared before hundreds of Christian conservatives in
New York City in order to court the evangelical vote.
Later this month, the board will launch a larger Faith and Cultural Advisory Committee.
The list of board members includes many prominent evangelical names, including former congresswoman Michele Bachmann; Jerry Falwell Jr., president of the evangelical Liberty University;
James Dobson, host of the popular radio program “Family Talk” and
founder of Focus on the Family; and Ralph Reed, the founder of the
influential lobbying group Faith and Freedom Coalition.
Not all of the figures are pro-Trump.
Several, including Dobson and Richard Land, president of the Southern
Evangelical Seminary, have spoken out publically in criticism of Trump,
who, while very popular among white evangelicals, has also sparked a difficult dilemma
among many Christians who question his commitment to Biblical values.
Another board member, Kenneth Copeland, had previously proclaimed that
former Trump opponent Ted Cruz was “called and anointed to be the next president of the United States”.
Thus far, Trump’s appeal to
evangelicals has carried him to the nomination. His new advisory board
is a clear attempt to extend that support towards clinching the
presidency. With some prominent evangelicals switching sides to endorse
Democratic rival Hillary Trump, the outcome remains murky.
Full list of board members:
Michele Bachmann – Former Congresswoman A.R. Bernard – Senior Pastor and CEO, Christian Cultural Center Mark Burns – Pastor, Harvest Praise and Worship Center Tim Clinton – President, American Association of Christian Counselors Kenneth and Gloria Copeland – Founders, Kenneth Copeland Ministries James Dobson – Author, Psychologist and Host, My Family Talk Jerry Falwell, Jr. – President, Liberty University Ronnie Floyd – Senior Pastor, Cross Church Jentezen Franklin – Senior Pastor, Free Chapel Jack Graham – Senior Pastor, Prestonwood Baptist Church Harry Jackson – Senior Pastor, Hope Christian Church Robert Jeffress – Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church of Dallas David Jeremiah – Senior Pastor, Shadow Mountain Community Church Richard Land – President, Southern Evangelical Seminar James MacDonald – Founder and Senior Pastor, Harvest Bible Chapel Johnnie Moore – Author, President of The KAIROS Company Robert Morris – Senior Pastor, Gateway Church Tom Mullins – Senior Pastor, Christ Fellowship Ralph Reed – Founder, Faith and Freedom Coalition James Robison – Founder, Life OUTREACH International Tony Suarez – Executive Vice President, National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference Jay Strack – President, Student Leadership University Paula White – Senior Pastor, New Destiny Christian Center Tom Winters – Attorney, Winters and King, Inc. Sealy Yates – Attorney, Yates and Yates
Read
more at
http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/70315/trumps-new-evangel ical-advisory-board-includes-michele-bachmann-jerry-falwell- jr/#VDcb3ZK0ipm6sqQ1.99
Alveda King's Take Home Message From Donald Trump: Now Pray!
by Dr. Alveda King : Jun 22, 2016 : Priests for Life-African American Blog http://www.priestsforlife.org/africanamerican/blog/index.php /what-these-ears-heard-donald-trump-say
"Please join me now in praying for Mr. Trump, Mrs.
Clinton, all congressional, gubernatorial, state, county and local
candidates, that God will, according to Romans 13 and 1 Timothy 2:2
bless us so that America can have peace and prosperity." -Alveda King
(New York, NY)—[Dr. Alveda King's Blog] The following was submitted by Alveda King after attending the recent Evangelical meeting with Donald Trump: (Photo via Gospel Herald)
Yesterday, sitting among 1,000
Judeo-Christian apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers,
all spiritual leaders in America at a "Conversation with Donald Trump
and Ben Carson" and emceed by Mike Huckabee, I heard Donald Trump say "pray for everybody" but "don't be politically correct."
Since the meeting was closed to media
reporting, we need to understand that information can only trickle out
through the biased perspectives of the attendees, me included.
If we are completely honest, we can
agree that the main, number one issue of concern presented to Mr. Trump
by the body as a whole was religious liberty. Mr. Trump assured the
attendees that protecting religious liberty is a primary concern for him
and is at the top of his to do list.
He further promised to appoint Prolife
Supreme Court justices. He promised that "America will be free to say
'Merry Christmas'" again. He promised economic justice as a means of
lessening the bands of racism. He promised safe borders for America. He
promised to strengthen our military to protect our nation. He gave God
the credit for giving him intelligent children. So sorry you couldn't be
there to hear all of this.
At no time did Mr. Trump advise that Americans need to disobey the Bible. Those words did not come out of his mouth.
Looking forward, the estimated 1,000 leaders in
the room have platforms that impact millions of Americans. Now our
challenge is to now turn away from railing at each other and the
candidates and truly obey the Bible ourselves.
Please join me now in praying for Mr. Trump,
Mrs. Clinton, all congressional, gubernatorial, state, county and local
candidates, that God will, according to Romans 13 and 1 Timothy 2:2 bless us so that America can have peace and prosperity.
10 Takeaways From Donald Trump's Big Meeting With Christian Leaders
What started as an interesting idea to convene 300 Christian leaders
in New York for a time with Donald Trump exploded in a matter of weeks.
The interest was so overwhelming that special ID badges had to be made
to accommodate over 1,000 who eventually came from all over America.
"A
Conversation About America's Future With Donald Trump and Ben Carson"
is now in the books. It truly was an experience in genuine humility and
unity at a time when "our country is in trouble," as Franklin Graham
stated in his opening remarks.
I personally counted it an honor to
interact with Rev. Graham and others like David Barton, James and
Shirley Dobson, Ben Carson and multitudes of humble servants who, like
me, came to learn about the man who could be our next president. We want
to serve our constituencies well by conveying an accurate
representation of who he is and what he's really about. Here are 10
takeaways:
1. Dr. George Barna, "the most quoted Christian in America" according to Christianity Today
magazine, painted a bleak picture of America's current state. Words he
used: "Disillusionment"..."transformational shift"... "anything goes
morality" ... "confusion and chaos"..."disengagement"... "polarized" and
"highly contentious."
2. Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn from my
home state of Tennessee described the critical House hearings she's
leading to stop illegal procurement and sale of unborn baby body parts.
While Hillary Clinton receives applause and endorsement from Planned
Parenthood, America's primary abortion provider, Mr. Trump told us he is
uncompromisingly pro-life and committed to appointing pro-life Supreme
Court justices, contrary to Mrs. Clinton and the Democratic Party.
3.
Franklin Graham encouraged us to look at Biblical leaders like Abraham,
Moses, David and the apostles, and to recognize all of them had major
flaws."None were perfect. Only One is perfect—Jesus—and He's not running for president!"
4.
Jerry Falwell Jr., who knows Mr. Trump up close and personal, affirmed
the honor and loyalty he receives from his employees and family. Former
presidential candidate and governor Mike Huckabee also affirmed these
same qualities in Mr. Trump. "Backstage at the debates I saw how real
this love and respect was."
5. Mr. Trump was asked, "What is so
special regarding your relationship with your five children?" He
replied, "God blessed them with intelligence, but I instilled in them
to stay away from cigarettes, alcohol and drugs." Donald Trump never
partakes of any of these.
6. Dr. James Dobson said the number one issue in America is religious
liberty and that we've been losing it dramatically under the Obama
administration. Mr. Trump reassured us of his commitment to counter this
by appointing Constitution-upholding, conservative Supreme Court
Justices. He added emphatically that he will "eliminate the Johnson
amendment that paralyzes pastors from speaking on religious issues for
fear of losing their tax-exempt status."
When this last point was repeated, a collective sigh of relief spread throughout the auditorium.
7.
Ronnie Floyd, leader of the Southern Baptist Convention, asked Mr.
Trump about alleviating inner-city violence and poverty. Mr. Trump
unhesitatingly and quickly responded with one word, "Jobs!" He exposed
phony statistics currently quoted by our president regarding
unemployment and economic growth, and pledged to use his vast business
experience to straighten out the issues currently facing inner cities.
8.
When Hispanic leader Sammy Rodriguez inquired about immigration and
Hispanics coming illegally across the border, Trump contrasted himself
with Hillary Clinton and other politicians who endorse open borders and
lawlessness. "Hispanic people are some of my great employees and they
will tell you they too don't want people coming here illegally and
taking jobs away from them." He added that the elements of terrorism and
infusion of drugs must be stopped.
9. When Family Research
Council leader Tony Perkins asked Mr. Trump about the military and its
decline under Obama, Trump came on strong talking about its currently
depleted state and need to be retooled to once again "become the
greatest fighting force in the world so we never have to use it."
10.
Mr. Trump emphasized that he believes the Second Amendment will be gone
if liberal Supreme Court justices are appointed under Hillary Clinton.
"Rogue judges reinterpreting the Constitution would bring an end to our
Second Amendment right to bear arms to protect ourselves."
There
was much more that took place at this significant event. When we all
knelt down and prayed to God, I personally believe the many who came
were ready to leave and process what they heard so they could better
serve those who look to them for guidance in this critical time.
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