This is a special edition of our President’s Letter by Bunni Pounds for Giving Tuesday 2021. Read our report on our first 2 years and hear what we have planned for 2022 and beyond.

If we insist on viewing history through an inverted ideological periscope, our vision of the future will be irretrievably blurred. Without the guidance and wisdom of the past, we will drift off course, and our Ship of State will lie at anchor.

It is right to be aware and concerned. For the follower of Jesus Christ who loves and cares about people, ignorance can never be bliss. The eagle, not the ostrich, is our example. Neither must the state of our times rob us of our Christian joy and hope.

If you are reading this blog, it is because at some level you care deeply about our country and your community and you are concerned about the trajectory of both.

Winston Churchill insisted that courage was the greatest virtue - the virtue that made all others possible.

In his leadership of Great Britain during World War II, Churchill demonstrated the truth of his assertion. It was his courage that marshalled and united the English people against the Nazi war machine.

Check out the vision behind the Wake Up! Conference on November 5th and 6th. We are hoping this is a spot of inspiration for you in your journey connecting your faith with your civic duties and burden for America. Join us!

A brief perusal of media including social media clearly reveals that this is a time for ALL hands to be “on deck” and engaged.

We, as Christians, must stand up for the issues that we care about, and we cannot be silent. Age should not be a deterrent – we need everyone in their 60’s, 70’s, and even 80’s – the gray-haired generation to rise up. 

*** On September 29th - Bunni Pounds, President of Christians Engaged, testified in front of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on the weaponization of the IRS. Here are her remarks in writing.

Mrs. Powell asked him a thought-out question about the proceedings inside – “Well, doctor,” she asked, “what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?”

Dr. Franklin shot back – “A republic, madam – if you can keep it.”

Never in the history of the world had a nation set up a system of government that would REQUIRE the people to govern themselves. It was unheard of.

How could the founders have trusted the people of America to keep our system of government strong? Ultimately in this republic – “We the People” are tasked with being the governing authority.

Judge Gus Jones was the circuit judge in Eldorado, AR, for many years. He was also my grandfather and my father frequently reminded me of this aphorism of his. Now by equity, he did not mean the contemporary idea that if you have something I don’t, then you are oppressing me and equity demands I get it. Equity in the traditional sense means: Justice, what is right. As Noah Webster reminds us:

In practice, equity is the impartial distribution of justice, or the doing that to another which the laws of God and man, and of reason, give him right to claim. It is the treating of a person according to justice and reason. (Webster 1828)

Justice and equity are attributes of God. In His Word, He repeatedly demonstrates that justice and equity are important to righteousness.

It is the oldest institution of higher education in the United States.

Few are more prestigious anywhere in the world.

It is sweeping in its academic presence, comprising ten scholastic facilities.

It boasts the largest academic library system in the world - 79 individual libraries, containing over 20 million items.

It has an endowment of $42 billion, the largest of any academic institution on earth.

Thinking of politics and civics, I would argue that the dire situation in which we find ourselves today in the United States, stems largely from the passivity of the Church.

For almost 100 years, the Church has withdrawn passively from confronting the encroaching tyranny of the state. Church leaders invoke Romans 13 out of context and instruct their flock to “stay in their own lane”. When the Church passively fails to speak truth to power, the powerful will inevitably seize more and more power for themselves.

We see things.

We discern things.

We know something is not right.

When we watch the news and see corruption, political games, or injustice in our cities - we shudder.

Our eyes are wide open.

The vanity of men - there is nothing like the pull of power, influence, and the love of money. The Bible is full of admonishments to be aware and to be watchful as it relates to our own hearts.

Although we may be confident that the word of God is absolute truth, it can still be a lonely task to speak the truth to a society that has embraced postmodernism and has thus abandoned any notion of truth.

The setting sun was drawing another momentous day to a gentle close.

The candles were lighted in the upper room of the small boarding house on Market Street in Philadelphia…

Over the last decade there has been heightened debate about the importance of the Electoral College. Because of increasingly close elections and several elections in recent memory…

Are God’s principles relevant in the civil society? In the political arena, we are often told to be pragmatic and to support the candidate that can win…

I know there are others who might benefit from these SECRETS, so I wanted to share them with you. Maybe they will bring a little more color to your life…