The Republican Meltdown is more than meets the eye.

The Crumbling of the GOP aka the Republican party Is not a light matter as far as history and Bible prophecy has shown.... The Video from MSNBC chronicles a pivotal point in America's History and by extension the world . 

To say this is big deal is a understatement of enormous proportions in the eyes of student of Bible prophecy .Even if you are not a student of Bible prophecy or a Christian of any sought but a citizen of this planet ,there are some things you ought to be aware of. 

Why ?  your life , our lives are about to change very soon. Before you look at the video let me elaborate.

Using the King James bible which most believe is the most accurate transcription of sacred scriptures.

The Bible shows in Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

In Bible prophecy a Beast  Represents something special ! What does it represent?
Daniel 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

So the two beasts one and two in Revelation 13 are kingdoms. The Second "Beast" in Verse 11 is making an image to the first ,in other words beast two is copying the history of beast one.

Identifying the second beast the one that comes up out of the earth is crucial .
Where is "the earth" or what represents "the Earth"?

Notice beast one came up out of the sea, if we can find what the sea represents then we can figure out what the earth represent for the second beast.

Look at Revelation 17  Verse  which says "15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

In the Bible seas and waters equate to a very populated place, however "the earth" is decoded as the opposite ;that is a sparsely populated place.

Thus in Revelation 13:11 this Beast rise up out of a very sparsley populated place, a new place. We can conclude this to be the United States of America where the founding fathers of that Land fled from Europe a populated place on earth ,the Old World, to this unpopulated haven from kingly rule and Papal persecution.

History furnishes us with the facts that they came over in 1620 from London landing on a place call Plymouth  see the evidence here .

Thus we are led to believe the Beast in Revelation 13:11 To be none other than The United States of America.

The Capital point of appreciating the prophetic significance of the video in the News below is understanding the feature of the beast under investigation "Two Horns". 

What does Horns represent in the Bible and why does the bible points our attention to the fact that it has two and not one?

Horns
Habakkuk 3:4  And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.

The bible as its own interpreter tells us that horns equals power...This principle is illustrated in the following scriptures.
Daniel 8:7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with choler against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns: and there was no power in the ram to stand before him, but he cast him down to the ground, and stamped upon him: and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand.

We observe that when the horns of the Beast Daniel 8:7 which is a kingdom by the way was broken its power was lost (and there was no power in the ram to stand before him).

So America had two things special that gave it its power its strength as a Nation.
History proves its strength, its powers to be Protestantism and Republicanism .






As a Lamb
Bible tells us who is the lamb.
John 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Christ is the Lamb according to the Bible so the Beast power has Christian features in its beginning. History clearly articulates this fact. The book "Great Controversy"  puts it nicely. 

It says :
"The lamblike horns indicate youth, innocence, and gentleness, fitly representing the character of the United States when presented to the prophet as “coming up” in 1798. 
Among the Christian exiles who first fled to America and sought an asylum from royal oppression and priestly intolerance were many who determined to establish a government upon the broad foundation of civil and religious liberty. Their views found place in the Declaration of Independence, which sets forth the great truth that “all men are created equal” and endowed with the inalienable right to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” And the Constitution guarantees to the people the right of self-government, providing that representatives elected by the popular vote shall enact and administer the laws. Freedom of religious faith was also granted, every man being permitted to worship God according to the dictates of his conscience. Republicanism and Protestantism became the fundamental principles of the nation. These principles are the secret of its power and prosperity. The oppressed and downtrodden throughout Christendom have turned to this land with interest and hope. Millions have sought its shores, and the United States has risen to a place among the most powerful nations of the earth"  
{The Great Controversy page 441.1}     



The video from Morning Joe aptly describe a crumbling of The Republican Party in which the principles of The Constitution is supposed to be most evidently reflected.

The pivotal point 
In the Bible When a power falls another power takes its place ,in sacred history all the time one power gives way to another,one falls and and another stands up,one gives way to another..
The bible says concerning America the second Beast in Revelation 13 :11 That the Lamb will speak as a dragon. Nations speak by thier laws, The dragon spirit is one of opression.
But note the following verse in the the chapter verse 12, It reads thus:

12 And he (USA) exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.


Who is the first beast and how did it exercise it's power ? By answering this we will have an additional clue as to what will happen when the Republican Party is made of none effect,We will understand clearly Who the Republican party will give way to.

So finally power of the first beast is seen where? Lets back up to the previous Verses to see the First Beast's power of which the second Beast America will make an image or copy from History past

Revelation 13: verse 4
4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?

5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.

6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. 

The first Beast's / Kingdom's list of powers:

1. This Beast / Kingdom Receives Worship.
2. None can make war with The Beast / Kingdom .
3. This Beast / Kingdom speaking Great things and commit blasphemies as bible show is to claim to forgive sins as God (Mark 2:7)  & claims it is God on earth John 10:33)
4. This Beast / Kingdom had power for 42 months ie 1260 days ( based on yr for day Principle in Eze 4:6 & Num 14;34 This Beast / Kingdom ruled for 1260 literal years).
5. This  Beast / kingdom  wared against the Saints ...Christians . 
6. This Beast / Kingdom not only to warred against but overcame them( Christians) during this 1260 yrs When they did not obey its dogmas and traditions.
7. This Beast / Kingdom  took over from its predecessor the Roman empire and had power over the then known world.

This is none other than the Papal Roman Religious system that exist today. 

So who will make and image to The Papal Roman Religious System?
Its America, but notice that this second Beast does miracles and  is a replica of the first Beast (The Papal Roman System ) ?It not Just plain old United States but the Protestants of The United States Of America).

That which they fled from in the 1700s as protestants they will imitate, the bible says form an image. Protestantism will change. The Religious communities will back and support  Politics with Political Religious  men who will take over the Republican Party .
The news clip above may be chronicling the decline of the Republicans as we know it to give way to a stricter form of the party lurking in the background to take its chance.

Remember we said that Protestants makes and image ,a replica of the Roman Religious system? How did The Papal Roman Religious system come into being in the first place?

It was the Caesars of Rome that gave way to the Bishops of Rome When Rome was falling.
When Rome as a Political power was falling due to the The Arab–Byzantine wars.
The Islamic wars Weaken Rome to the point where the Bishops of Rome ascended in power within the Roman empire..
Here we see the repeat of Sacred History. Where the alliances have world have been weakened by Islamic wars. And in America there is a vital call to go back to "Moral" standards. But when Religion takes hold of the State power which is apostasy by the way . The temptation for complete control is unavoidable .Religious laws will be put into place to dictate conscience.Then persecution will follow. 

Daniel 12:1 Is about to go down.

Protestants are doing two things at the same time. 
One,they are getting more involved in Government directly or by strongly influencing the election outcome. 

see the following...  Donald Trump Vowed to Close the Gap Between Church and State

Two ,They the protestant churches  are returning to the mother church and are uniting under her leadership and direction see the following . https://www.kairos2017.com/ 
and also http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2017/08/25/pope,_wcc_leaders_talk_ecumenism,_ecology,_economic_justice/1332849.

This is unprecedented in Protestantism to the point where protestants have joined in the proclamation that the protest will be declared over come October 31st 2017...  

As far as we know Rome has not change,but protestants have change what make them protestants in the first place has change in thier eyes.  

Does God change? Was the protestant reformation a mistake?

All in all the News media chronicles a step in the great process of sacred History.

The Great San Francisco Earthquake Just before it happened.

“While at Loma Linda, Cal., April 16, 1906, there passed before me a most wonderful representation. During a vision of the night, I stood on an eminence, from which I could see houses shaken like a reed in the wind. Buildings, great and small, were falling to the ground. Pleasure resorts, theaters, hotels, and the homes of the wealthy were shaken and shattered. Many lives were blotted out of existence, and the air was filled with the shrieks of the injured and the terrified.

“The destroying angels of God were at work. One touch, and buildings so thoroughly constructed that men regarded them as secure against every danger, quickly became heaps of rubbish. There was no assurance of safety in any place. I did not feel in any special peril, but the awfulness of the scenes that passed before me I cannot find words to describe. It seemed that the forbearance of God was exhausted, and that the judgment day had come.

“The angel that stood by my side then instructed me that but few have any conception of the wickedness existing in our world today, and especially the wickedness in the large cities. He declared that the Lord has appointed a time when He will visit transgressors in wrath for persistent disregard of His law.

“Terrible as was the representation that passed before me, that which impressed itself most vividly upon my mind was the instruction given me in connection with it. The angel that stood by my side declared that God's supreme rulership, and the sacredness of His law, must be revealed to those who persistently refuse to render obedience to the King of kings. Those who choose to remain disloyal, must be visited in mercy with judgments, in order that, if possible, they may be aroused to a realization of the sinfulness of their course.

( Life Sketches pg 408-409)

“On April 18, two days after the scene of falling buildings had passed before me, I went to fill an appointment in the Carr Street church, Los Angeles. As we neared the church, we heard the newsboys crying, ‘San Francisco destroyed by an earthquake!’ With a heavy heart I read the first hastily printed news of the terrible disaster.” Testimonies for the Church 9:94. Life Sketches of Ellen White, page 409

The Disaster a few days later

The Parable of the Lost Sheep. Jamal Sankey

Day of Atonement Series.

Below is a link to my Day of Atonement Audio Series.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bzh2D_mX5p7DOF82T0Nwa0x5S00

Who Is the Beast and what is his mark,

Who is the Beast of Revelation 13 and what is his image namely the Image of the Beast.

The Beast

Bible says : Revelation 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

Rise up out of the Sea ! what does sea represent in bible 

Bible says:

Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

seas or waters = people ,multitudes and nations and tongues. 

So the place that the Beast rise up out of or grew out of was a populated place on the planet, but not only that, it had varied people ,with varied tongues or languages and varied nations. 

The beast has Ten horns

Where in the bible do u see a ten horn Beast and what are these horns representing ?

bible says concerning horns : 

Habakkuk 3:4 says :

And his brightness was as the light; he had horns coming out of his hand: and there was the hiding of his power.

Horns =power So this Beast rose up among a populated place in the earth and had power . IN the book of Daniel chapter 8 we see that Horn represent power in a specific form. What is this form power .

Daniel 8 :20 The ram which thou sawest having two horns are the kings of Media and Persia.

in another place it says Beast = kingdom

Daniel 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,

So Horns represents kingly power 

Lets consider the other fact of this Beast the Bible says  upon his heads the name Blasphemy

what is Blasphemy ? 

John10:33 The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

Mark 2:7 Why doth this man thus speak blasphemies? who can forgivesins but God only?

So this Beast in Revelation 13 

. come up from a populated area on the earth.

. it has ten kings .

. it is part of a Kingdom.

. blasphemes as  man by making himself a God. A man because he is a King with a kingdom.

Where on planet earth ?

.Was a populated place 

.Ten kings came up and a man stood up among them being like a God forgives sins.

.This man who forgives sins is also a king .He has state power or kingly rule.

. Or where church and state is combined?

This is none other than the Vatican Pope of Rome.

Was Rome once made up of 10 parts ?

Yes Rome was once 1. Alemanni–Germany. 2. Franks–France. 3. Anglo-Saxons–England. 4. Burgundians–Switzerland. 5. Visigoths –Spain. 6. Suevi–Portugal. 7. Lombards–Italy. 8. Heruli. 9. Vandals. 10. Ostrogoths.

So how did this Beast power,The Bishops of Rome  Rise out of The roman Empire ?

lets look in Daniel which shows the same beast with ten horns

Daniel 7:7 After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

8 I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

Notice the little horn come up in the Roman empire among the other 10 kings but he removes or replace 3 horns.

History proves that the Bishop of Rome with the Help of Clovis the king of the Franks (now france) Baptise and became a Roman Catholic and assisted in the removal of the resistant 3 tribes namely the Heruli, Vandals and Ostrogoths.

The Beast Power fits all the historical data as the Bishop of Rome .

We know as fact because the Capitol of The Roman Empire in 330 AD was moved to the East Constantinople Rome, the Bishops of Rome was primarily ruling western Rome. Here we see state power was given to religious entity in 330 AD.

So Rev 13 in symbols has shown us who the beast is Where he originates from and  and how he gained his power.

.Was a populated place old World

.Ten kings came up another horn or power  man stood up among them being like a God 

  forgives sins.

.This man who forgives sins is also a king .He has state power or kingly rule.

. Or where church and state is combined?

This is none other than the Vatican Pope of Rome which removed three Barbarian tribes and 

France being the first of them to renounce its former Religion and the other tribes follow. 

The 3tribes rooted up or removed resisted and was destroyed.

So now that the bible has shown us who is the Beast what is His mark?

what does a mark in the Bible represent ?

Genesis 4:15

And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the Lord set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

It seems in the bible a mark is an article of distinction!

Again Ezekiel 9:4

And the Lord said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.

Noticed The mark is the mark of His name, If you have his mark you belong to him ,same as your name tells what family you come from.

Revelation 14:11

And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Since we know the Beast is Roman and Catholic what is that which distinguish you as a Roman Catholic.Whats distinguishing mark of Catholicism? The Best person to Ask would be a Bishop ,A Priest some one of that nature wouldn't it? lets here what they say :

"The Church, on the other hand, after changing the day of rest from the Jewish Sabbath, or seventh day of the week, to the first, made the Third Commandment refer to Sunday as the day to be kept holy as the Lord's Day. The Council of Trent (Sess. VI, can. xix) condemns those who deny that the Ten Commandments are binding on Christians." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Commandments of God, Volume IV, © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company, Online Edition © 1999 by Kevin Knight, Nihil Obstat - Remy Lafort, Censor Imprimatur - +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York, page 153.

They refer above  to the 3rd Commandment as the Holy Rest day commandment But this is not the case in the bible. In Exodus 20 the 4th is the Holy Day commandment, not the 3rd.
So what happened. The Catholic church claims its has the authority to change Laws. Thus it has removed the 2nd concerning bowing to images etc and split the 10th to maintain the list of ten commandments.

Continues ,The Catholic mark of distinction.

''The [Roman Catholic] Church changed the observance of the Sabbath to Sunday by right of the divine, infallible authority given to her by her founder, Jesus Christ. The Protestant claiming the Bible to be the only guide of faith, has no warrant for observing Sunday. In this matter the Seventh-day Adventist is the only consistent Protestant.'' The Catholic Universe Bulletin, August 14, 1942, p. 4. 

"All of us believe many things in regard to religion that we do not find in the Bible. For example, nowhere in the Bible do we find that Christ or the Apostles ordered that the Sabbath be changed from Saturday to Sunday. We have the commandment of God given to Moses to keep holy the Sabbath Day, that is the 7th day of the week, Saturday. Today most Christians keep Sunday because it has been revealed to us by the Church outside the Bible." The Catholic Virginian, "To Tell You The Truth,” Vol. 22, No. 49 (Oct. 3, 1947).

"... you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, and you will not find a single line authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of Saturday, a day which we never sanctify." The Faith of Our Fathers, by James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, 88th edition, page 89. Originally published in 1876, republished and Copyright 1980 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc., pages 72-73.

So its mark is Sunday Worship, Which comes from the Old pagan idea of sun worship.

The beast mark is Sunday worship.

The number of its name is 666 which means mans way three times. 

 

The Most Evangelical Cabinet in History ... image of the Beast test is coming..

source :  https://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/politics/2017/july/bible-studies-at-the-white-house-whos-at-the-heart-of-this-spiritual-awakening




Revelation 13 image of the Beast /church And State about to be fulfilled.

Ralph Drollinger of Capitol Ministries said, “These are godly individuals that God has risen to a position of prominence in our culture.” They’re all handpicked by President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

“I don’t think Donald Trump has figured out that he chained himself to the Apostle Paul,” Drollinger laughed. Drollinger is a former NBA-playing giant of a man with an even bigger calling. He’s started Bible studies in 40 state capitols, a number of foreign capitols, teaches weekly studies in the U.S. House and Senate and now leads about a dozen members of President Trump’s Cabinet in weekly studies of the scriptures.

A few of the regular members of the White House Bible Study are Health Secretary Tom Price, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Agriculture Secretary Sunny Perdue, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, and America’s top cop, Attorney General Jeff Sessions, also attends the study. “It’s the best Bible study that I’ve ever taught in my life,” Drollinger said. “They are so teachable; they’re so noble; they’re so learned.”

It’s unprecedented. Drollinger doesn’t think a formal Bible study among executive Cabinet members has been done in at least 100 years.

“[Attorney General Jeff Sessions will] go out the same day I teach him something and I’ll see him do it on camera and I just think, ‘Wow, these guys are faithful, available and teachable and they’re at Bible study every week they’re in town,'” Drollinger said.

President Trump is invited to attend the Bible studies, too. Each week he receives a copy of Drollinger’s teaching. And Vice President Pence is also planning to join the study as his schedule permits. He also serves as a sponsor. In Pence, Drollinger sees many similarities to biblical figures like Joseph, Mordecai and Daniel – all men who rose to the number two position in governments at different times in history.

“Mike Pence has respect for the office. He dresses right – like it says Joseph cleaned himself up before he went to stand before the Pharaoh,” Drollinger said. “Mike Pence has uncompromising biblical tenacity and he has a loving tone about him that’s not just a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal,” he continued. “And then fourthly, he brings real value to the head of the nation.”   

Like others, Drollinger often compares President Trump to biblical strongman Samson. “I just praise God for them,” he said. “And I praise God for Mike Pence, who I think with Donald Trump chose great people to lead our nation.”

Johnson Amendment ,Church and State is soon to Come But God is Holding the winds till His servants are sealed

The VP candidate made a last-ditch pitch to evangelicals on November 6.

Some evangelical Christians in America saw Mike Pence at church on November 6.

Not Pence in the flesh, of course — the Republican vice presidential candidate was on the campaign trail in Panama City, Florida, and Hickory, North Carolina. But a five-minute video in which Pence, clad in a navy blue suit, stands in front of a white wall and delivers a direct pitch to congregants in churches was uploaded to Vimeo on Thursday under the title “Church Greeting.”

The video seems like it was produced in some kind of parallel universe to the actual Trump campaign, with its references to the civil rights movement and slavery and its very specific bid for evangelical votes made in clean, positive evangelical lingo. 

But the video also encapsulates the campaign’s promises to evangelicals that it hopes will sway their vote, despite widespread reticence due to Trump’s behavior and promises on many fronts. And furthermore — especially in its reiteration of Trump’s pledge to repeal the Johnson Amendment — it’s an indicator of the greatest anxiety among the aging moral majority, who feel their influence waning: a lessening grip on the political power they’ve enjoyed over the past few decades.

Reports on Friday from right-leaning sources the Blaze, the Christian Post, and the Christian Broadcasting Network (founded by Pat Robertson) said that “thousands” of churches would be airing the ad. That’s hard to substantiate. And it’s not clear how the churches were alerted to the ad; Pence’s Twitter account, for instance, didn’t mention it. 

But from Twitter it’s clear at least a few churches did screen the ad during their morning services:

The Johnson Amendment first became interesting to Trump in June

Pence made sure to mention the Johnson Amendment, which seems to have first surfaced among Trump’s talking points on June 22, a month before his nomination as his party’s presidential candidate, when Trump met in New York City with hundreds of evangelical leaders in a closed-door meeting in New York City. 

During that meeting, Trump delivered the outlines of what would be one of his two promises to woo evangelicals:

The government has gotten so involved in your religion. Especially your religion, that it makes it very difficult. We’ll talk about that. Mike and I have been discussing it, and I think we have some very important things to say. The next president — it’s going to be vital. Not only with Supreme Court justices, which we’ll also talk about at length. But also in things like freeing up your religion, freeing up your thoughts, freeing up your… 

You talk about religious liberty and religious freedom. You really don’t have religious freedom, if you really think about it, because when President Johnson had his tenure, he passed something that makes people very, very nervous to even talk to preserve their tax-exempt status. It’s taken a lot of power away from Christianity and other religions. 

I’ve seen it … I said, “Why is it that the whole thing with Christianity, it’s not going in the right direction? It’s getting weaker, weaker, weaker from a societal standpoint?” And over the course of various meetings, I realized that there are petrified ministers and churches. They speak before 25,000 people, the most incredible speakers you could ever see, better than any politician by far. And yet when it comes to talking about it openly or who they support or why they support somebody because he’s a person — a man or a woman — who is into their values, they’re petrified to do it.

And I couldn’t get the answer. And then one day, at one of our meetings, somebody said, “They’re petrified of losing their tax-exempt status.” And I said, “What is that all about?” And they went into it. It was what happened during the Johnson administration. And I will tell you folks that some of you will agree, some of you will disagree, and some of you, it’s been ingrained and that’s the worst thing because you don’t even think about it. You can’t see the forest for the trees, some of you are so close to it. But I can tell you, I watched this during the last year, and I watched fear in the hearts of brave, incredible people. And we are going to get rid of that, because you should have the right to speak.

Here, Trump incorrectly says that Johnson passed the amendment while president — Johnson served as president from 1963 to 1969, and the amendment was passed by Congress in 1954. Johnson was then a senator, and the amendment was designed at least in part to keep tax-exempt organizations from endorsing or opposing candidates during the McCarthy era. 

The issue resurfaced in Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention on July 21, in which he talked about “an amendment, pushed by Lyndon Johnson many years ago, threatens religious institutions with a loss of their tax-exempt status if they openly advocate their political views." (We fact-checked.)

Alex Wong/Getty

The Johnson Amendment is about churches — and a lot of other organizations

The Johnson Amendment doesn’t only target churches. About a million and a half organizations in the US are registered as tax-exempt. As of May 2016, only 312,373 of those were congregations (which includes congregations of all religions). 

As the Internal Revenue Service interprets the Johnson Amendment, tax-exempt organizations — that is, those which fall under the 501(c)(3) designation — include “religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, testing for public safety, to foster national or international sports competition, or prevention of cruelty to children or animals organizations,” according to IRS code. That includes fraternities, civic leagues, and chambers of commerce. 

Such an organization “may not attempt to influence legislation as a substantial part of its activities and it may not participate in any campaign activity for or against political candidates.” 

Interestingly, the Donald J. Trump Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization, as is the Clinton Foundation.

The Johnson Amendment has been a special interest of the right-wing Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a legal fund that litigates on behalf of conservative Christian causes. A blog post on the organization’s website mirrors Pence’s take, but with a stronger statement about actual endorsement:

Historically, churches frequently spoke for and against candidates for government office. Such sermons date from the founding of the United States, including those against Thomas Jefferson for being a deist and sermons opposing William Howard Taft as a Unitarian. Churches have also been at the forefront of most of the significant societal and governmental changes in our history, including ending segregation and child labor, and advancing civil rights.

The ADF maintains that the amendment unconstitutionally restricts the First Amendment rights of pastors and churches (an argument that is disputed by others) as well as the Free Exercise clause in the Constitution, which states that Congress cannot make laws that keeps people from freely exercising their religion. 

The ADF’s blog post concludes on what might be a surprising note:

After the 1954 Johnson Amendment, churches faced a choice: speak freely on all issues addressed by Scripture and potentially risk their tax exemption, or remain silent and protect their tax-exempt status. Unfortunately, many churches have silenced their speech, even from the pulpit. Ironically, after 60-plus years of the IRS strictly interpreting the amendment, there is no reported situation where a church lost its tax-exempt status or was punished for sermons delivered from the pulpit. Nonetheless, the law remains unchanged and many churches remain silent due to the IRS’s interpretation of the amendment.

That is, the Johnson Amendment is rarely enforced. And it has never been actually used to strip a congregation of its 501(c)(3) status. 

It is challenged at times, though. For instance, in 2014, Houston Mayor Annise Parker subpoenaed five sermons from churches in her city. After widespread outcry, Parker dropped the subpoena. Though, interestingly, the story is referenced in the successful 2016 Christian film God’s Not Dead 2 and teased as the probable plot for the inevitable God’s Not Dead 3. 

So it’s easy to reason that in the background of Trump’s sudden interest in the laws about speech in tax-exempt status for churches is the specific case in Houston, which rattled congregations across the country, in which clergy are understandably reticent to submit their sermons for approval every week. 

But the Pence’s argument also rests on the idea that churches and other congregations are restricting their speech for fear of something that has not happened.

And there’s at least a few additionally disingenuous matters in Pence’s statements about civil rights, the Revolution, and slavery (even leaving aside the campaign’s and the GOP’s handling of matters around race): As it’s practiced, the Johnson Amendment would never have kept clergy from preaching that slavery — the practice of one human owning another human — is a violation of God’s law. It would just keep them from endorsing Abraham Lincoln. 

The ad points to the waning influence of the old religious right — and that they know it

But that fact that some churches even showed the Pence ad is an indicator of the state of the Johnson Amendment. (Under the IRS’s interpretation, 501(c)(3) organizations are allowed to provide a forum for candidates, which “is not, in and of itself, prohibited political activity,” so this may technically fall under that provision. But without an accompanying voice from the Clinton campaign, this seems a bit blurry — especially with Pence’s hard sell for a Trump vote.)

More interestingly, the Pence video articulates what the Trump/Pence campaign thinks is important to the evangelical voter. Since the Reagan era, white evangelicals have been a solid and reliable voting bloc, but that has been thrown into question during this election, largely because of Trump. Pence does take pains to underline his own personal common ground with congregants’ faith — while not mentioning Trump’s — and talks briefly about Supreme Court appointments, two points rooted in traditional conservative Christian conviction.

(Ralph Freso/Getty Images)

But the third seems tied to the decline of the traditional religious right as embodied in aging leaders like James Dobson and Jerry Falwell, who no longer hold the same sort of influence over evangelicals and, by extension, the political establishment as they did in their heyday.

The former moral majority is giving way to what is increasingly being called the “moral minority,” a term some younger evangelicals and their leaders — like Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore — are embracing. “Moore thinks that the idea of a moral majority is wrong, and was probably wrong when it was created: he suspects that earnest, orthodox Christians have always been outnumbered,” Kelefa Sanneh wrote of Moore in the November 7, 2016, issue of the New Yorker. “Like any believer, he wants his church to grow, but he doesn’t seem particularly threatened by the thought that it might not.”

However, that same loss of power, which has been going on for a while, does threaten some leaders. And Trump and Pence have managed to identify this and find a way to tap into it: suggesting the Johnson Amendment is to blame for churches’ declining influence. At the meeting of evangelical leaders in June, Trump spoke further:

And I say to you folks, because you have such power, such influence. Unfortunately the government has weeded it away from you pretty strongly. But you’re going to get it back. Remember this: If you ever add up, the men and women here are the most important, powerful lobbyists. You’re more powerful. Because you have men and women, you probably have something like 75, 80 percent of the country believing. But you don’t use your power. You don’t use your power…

You used to go to church, and you know, when I’d go there … It’s much different today. I know, as an example, the young people aren’t going as much.

But we have to bring that back. We have to bring those values back. We have to bring that spirit back. And in a way, it’s been taken away from you by the federal government and by these horrendous things that have been allowed in the past. But just remember this: You are the most powerful group in this country. But you have to realize that. You have to band together. You have to band together. If you don’t band together, you’re really not powerful. You have a powerful church. I see it. I see some of these incredible pastors and ministers and people that speak so brilliantly. And I see it. But they’re great within their audience, but then outside they don’t have it. You have to band together as a group. And if you do that, you will bring it back like nothing has ever been brought back.

Power, as the Trump campaign sees it, is the greatest good — and it’s what has been stolen from churches. The way to please churches is to bring power back.

Ironically, it’s become increasingly clear that Donald Trump’s candidacy has created rifts that may keep the group from ever “banding back together.” Near the end of the ad, Pence quotes the Pledge of Allegiance — “one nation, under God” — but it’s hard not to think about Lincoln quoting Mark 3:25, that a house divided itself cannot stand. That’s something no five-minute Sunday morning ad can fix.

source https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2016/11/7/13546186/johnson-amendment-mike-pence-donald-trump-evangelicals-religious-right-moral-majority