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Patti Hays's avatar

When churches become involved in political sway, they should absolutely lose their non-profit status. They are, at that point, just one more lobbyist.

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DebbieY's avatar

Great point!

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Patti J Jones's avatar

Great article. I have too many friends and some family that are GCC members. It is terrifying to observe how their ideology has transformed over the past few years to support the views of Mcpherson. I am hoping that history repeats itself and institutions like this find their demise in their leader's endless pursuit of power. For Wenatchee- Bethesda - take two.

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John Schwarzkopf's avatar

McPherson is one of the most frightening white nationalists out there and he has a huge well funder cult following. Grace City should absolutely lose their tax exempt status for his telling his cult followers how to vote. Although as I keep saying, all churches should be taxed out of existence and America would be a far better place.

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Barbara B.'s avatar

No wonder this church opened their own school. So little of their ideology stands up to scrutiny

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Wendy's avatar

When is the IRS going to revoke their status?

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Mike Magnotti's avatar

I am gobsmacked by these people who claim to be Christian who totally ignore Jesus' teaching, particularly the Sermon on the Mount and instead work solely for political power. Joshy appears to be losing it; his sycophants' loyalty and mindless acceptance of the nonsense of "chrisitian nationalism" apparently is encouraging him to go to extremes. I'm sure he and his ilk are rejecting concepts such as "love your neighbor as yourself," "turn the other cheek," "give to those who ask," "being blessed as a peacemaker," and recognizing that it will the the "meek who inherit the earth," because these teachings don't align with their idea that "Jesus is stronger." As Matthew Taylor says in his recent book about this current power based political stance of some in Christianity, "The Violent Take It By Force," it's time for Christian leaders to recognize what is going on with "christian nationalism," and speak out against it.

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Claire's avatar

All those guns, warfare gear, training youth to be militia and labeling community neighbors as "the enemy" and "demonic" is a serious death threat. He will kill people. He has been preparing for it for years.

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Priscilla Selden's avatar

I'm an Entiat Valley neighbor of these folks, and have my Harris Walz sign up, visible from the road. Makes me feel a touch exposed, but not afraid.

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Claire's avatar

Good for you! Being afraid only serves to empower them.

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Claire's avatar

[In 1954, Congress approved an amendment by Sen. Lyndon Johnson to prohibit 501(c)(3) organizations, which includes charities and churches, from engaging in any political campaign activity. To the extent Congress has revisited the ban over the years, it has in fact strengthened the ban. The most recent change came in 1987 when Congress amended the language to clarify that the prohibition also applies to statements opposing candidates.

Currently, the law prohibits political campaign activity by charities and churches by defining a 501(c)(3) organization as one "which does not participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office."]

https://tinyurl.com/ypcdm845

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Corey Magin's avatar

Was just reading this. Here's the link to the court case: https://www.irs.gov/pub/newsroom/branch_ministries.pdf

It's worth looking into if anyone has the time.

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Claire's avatar

Thank you for posting this!

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Sandy's avatar

It should be added that the Founders of the Constitution were influenced by Native Americans.

Here is an article on that subject you may find of interest:

https://edtechbooks.org/democracy/nativeinfluence

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Patient Pilot's avatar

The indigenous people of North America had developed and perfected the concept of democracies long before Europeans invaded

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Lindsey Weidenbach's avatar

It’s so gross and terrifying. And it’s a violation of his nonprofit status, in my opinion.

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Julie Jones's avatar

Thanks for the article. I spent some time listening to the podcast "The Rise And Fall of Mars Hill". Quote from one of the episodes "Building an institution on celebrity power, charisma, and a spirit of grandiosity attracts a lot of people, money and a certain kind of cachet for everyone involved. It helps them all to feel like they’re part of something that’s big—a movement providing a sense of meaning and purpose. But too often, these movements crumble, and those inside are crushed by the process."

As a counter narrative about our constitution - I'd love to read an interview with Wenatchee native Heidi Schreck whose play "What the Constitution Means To Me" was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

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Ron Trickett's avatar

We just discussed the topic of Christian Nationalism in a Truth Townhall this past week in Manson and called out the idols of power, fear and violence that are associated with this apostate movement. Here is the link to that conversation. https://missionridgebiblechurch.com/media/xw76fpp/addressing-christian-nationalism

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DebbieY's avatar

So..did he make specific revommendations on who to vote for? Or do they have a voting ballot seminar?

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Steve Hawes's avatar

From what I’ve read here, McPherson appears savvy enough to carefully avoid endorsing specific candidates, instead simply counseling voters to bear in mind his stated principles (wink, wink) when choosing a candidate.

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Bruce Clark's avatar

It appears that he does know what an ellipsis is (which is more than I can say for Trump) but does not know how to use them. Ellipsis as bullets‽‽‽

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Patient Pilot's avatar

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't trump sign an official order ending the prohibition of political dialogues in churches? I think it was very early in his term.

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