In recent years, the left has employed a new tactic in their efforts to redesign our culture. In legislative hearings and city council meetings across the state, they trot out ministers from so-called “Christian” churches who unapologetically claim that the Bible allows, and even celebrates, same sex marriage, abortion on demand and gender fluidity. It requires verbal and literary gymnastics, and they’re good at it…at least to the Biblically illiterate. The result has been a weakening of the understanding of the principles required to place our founding documents in proper context. And this, by extension, has resulted in a weakening of the long-held beliefs in things like freedom of speech, freedom of religion and the freedom of association.
Year after year I’ve watched these so-called “experts” on the Bible and Christianity claim that everything is allowable because “God is love.” They forget that true love is a balance between grace and justice. God is still God, and He still gets to make the rules. Now after years of this nonsense, pastors from across the state are rising up and speaking the truth. They’ve formed the Montana Pastors Network modeled after a similar successful effort in Wyoming. And they’ve committed to speaking God’s truth to the culturally relevant issues of our day in public settings like the Montana legislature. They will be the balance to the liberal theologians who have had free run of the Capitol for far too long, and for that, we say thank goodness.
For nearly 15 years, the Montana Family Foundation has been fighting these battles in the legislature and in the courts. We have a strong team, but we’re missing one crucial component: the title and anointing of a pastor. There’s something special that happens when a minister of the Gospel of Christ steps to the lectern. They have a standing that we don’t have, and legislators hold them in higher regard when it comes to interpreting the Bible, as they should.
Unlike Hillary Clinton who believes that the Gospel should be confined to the inside of the four walls of a church, we take the Great Commission literally, as did the founders of our nation. When Jesus said in Matthew 28, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you”, He meant it. And that command is as valid and important today as it was 2000 years ago.
The members of the Montana Pastors Network come from every corner of Montana and from many different denominations. Their common goal is to be that missing voice that has allowed our state to drift further and further from God’s Truth. Tomorrow, January 17th, the Montana Pastors Network is hosting a legislative luncheon at the Capitol. It’s a chance for the pastors to put a face to a name and get to know their individual legislators. Over the course of the next four months, members of the Network will come back to Helena to testify on bills, as needed. What an amazing thing to see members of the clergy from across the state come together to bring God’s Truth to the legislative process.
If you’d like more information on the Montana Pastors Network, go to mtpastors.org.
