About CPN

Think for a few moments about the significance of the title, Christian.

• The great privilege that God has bestowed on us in His infinite mercy and grace.
• The great price that was paid so we might bear the name of Christ.

Then ask yourself why we are hesitant to refer to ourselves as Christians at all times: whether at work, in school, on the playground, on a date, or anywhere? Christians are the only people on the face of the earth who have been given the answers to how to live and govern, yet all too often we ignore our Lord, Savior, and King's wisdom and turn to fellow fallen creatures in an effort to solve our culture's problems. Then we wonder why things continue to get worse!

Our culture is rapidly declining not because Christians don't know the answers, but because we haven't "connected our Spiritual Dots" to the problems that face us. This is preventing us from seeing God's complete picture of the way our civil government should operate.

Jesus is not interested in how many biblical truths we know, but in how many we apply to our lifestyle. Our calling is not to be the smartest person in the Concentration Camp, but to prevent the Concentration Camp from happening. He is not only our personal Savior. He is our Lord (instructing us how to live in all situations and circumstances ), and He is our King (instructing civil rulers how to govern).

The Christian Policy Network's objective is to facilitate fidelity to Scripture by conforming legislation to God's Word and to undo or unfund existing unbiblical legislation. Our Mission is to extend God's Kingdom by conforming legislation to His Word. We do this by informing civil rulers at the Local, State, and Federal levels of the biblical basis for supporting or opposing legislation. It is critical that we "connect" the truths we know about God to our feet so that we will "walk our talk" and present a Godly alternative to those with whom we come in contact. Unless and until we do that our lifestyle will continue to bring honor and glory to Satan, instead of to our sovereign God. Our ultimate goal is to restore the biblical foundation and original checks and balances between the legislative, judicial, and executive branches. Services include:

• Critiquing and/or helping draft proposed legislation
• Tracking legislation
• Sending updates to our Church Network
• Posting Policy Papers on www.graceandlaw.com
• Distributing information to congregations and civic groups
• Providing publications, seminars and conferences
• Training individuals to run for office, have a Christian worldview, and more.

If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him

We must get over the attitude that it is not right to impose our beliefs on others. Had earlier Christians acted like we have for the last few generations, we would still be sacrificing children, (instead of baptizing them) , and rather than having someone over to supper, we likely would be having them for supper. The reason we should not feel guilty or be hesitant about promoting God's laws is that all law is "religious." Someone may object: "Wait a minute, law is law, and religion is religion." But it should be remembered that a religion is nothing more than a system of beliefs and values, and that a society's laws simply reflect that system of beliefs . For example, if law is based upon man's reason, then man's reason is the god of that society.

• By not "imposing" Christian beliefs on others, we allow them to "impose" their beliefs on us.
• We say we believe in God, but we live for and daily follow another god (i.e., man, science, the State, etc.).

The Difference Between Conservative and Christian Civil Rulers

At any moment we are either imaging Christ (keeping His laws), or Satan (breaking Christ's laws by living according to a different set of rules). Approaching your legislative duties from an exclusively Christian perspective (imaging Christ) may seem an undoable task. And well it would be without the Creator God's help . The thought of having the Creator God in your corner, watching over you and directing your every move through His revealed Word should more than offset any "peer pressure" to image Satan. The difference it makes in being a Christian is that we have God guiding us, blessing our obedience!

• How can we expect to improve on God's will by living according to our ideas?
• Since the Triune God has brought us out of darkness and into light, why are we more concerned about how people will respond to His truth, than we are about how He will respond to our compromising His truth?

Who's Framing The Debate?

The most critical issue facing Christian civil rulers is to make certain the legislative debates include a Christian alternative . As long as issues are debated along (non-Christian) Conservative and (non-Christian) Liberal lines only non-Christian ideas will prevail. There is no biblical warrant for religious pluralism. The ultimate question is under which ideas shall we live " true or false ones? To compromise with the proponents of false ideas is to agree that society's problems are not inside us (a sinful heart) , but are outside us (bad environment, bad education) . Such a position leads to dealing only with the symptoms of what ills society . The results are:

• more government programs
• higher taxes, and
• the continuation of the problems

Scripture teaches that God is primarily concerned with a society's ethics. We live in an orderly universe where predictable results follow our actions (policy decisions). This means that good (or Godly) legislation will produce good results. Why, then, leave God out of your strategy to govern Alabamians? Our duty is to be Biblically correct, not politically correct.

Is God's Rule Limited To The Cozy Confines Of Our Churches and Homes?

We are commanded not to serve two masters . It is not enough to "love" Christ inside our Churches and homes, while we "hate (or "despise") Him by obeying unGodly laws in the workplace, the State House, the school, and in our day-to-day activities. The purpose of God's Word is to show us how to live. It gives us direction. When God's laws are taken away, so is the true meaning of life.

There is no need to speculate about how to govern because His Word provides clear and concise instructions. To keep God's truths on the sidelines of life and not advocate and promote His principles, is to live as if His Word is meaningless to day-to-day activities, and to infer that man's will is superior to God's.

What's The Biblical Precedent?

Citizens of Alabama and America know that our culture is declining at a rapid rate and are looking for answers and leadership they can trust. As a Christian lawmaker you can serve our Lord, Savior, and King greatly by voting for biblically based legislation and voting to remove unbiblical programs or their funding. God will bless us if we are advocating, upholding, and supporting His principles, but if we're advocating, upholding, and supporting man's principles, even conservative-man's principles, He won't bless us.

The Proper Role of Civil Government

In Old Testament Israel there was a separation of priest and king , and between the temple and the palace. Israel had a harmony of church and state under God, not a union of the two . Moses was Israel 's civil ruler, and Aaron was her priest, as God kept the civil and ecclesiastical offices separate from Israel 's very beginning. Both the civil and the ecclesiastical realms operated according to God's laws. How could it be expected to be otherwise? If God is not in control of the events outside of our homes and Churches, how can it be imagined that He is in charge of events inside them? Indeed, if Jesus is not Lord of all, He is not Lord at all.

For too long we have been approaching life in a schizophrenic manner: professing to be Christians, and proclaiming that God's Word is truth, yet living as though He has nothing to say about everyday life! As a result civil government is not fulfilling its God-appointed role of protecting citizens and prosecuting law-breakers. By living in accordance with the four self-governing spheres (Individual, Family, Church, State) we will:

• increase our personal liberty
• reduce the amount of all taxes to below 10 percent (since to pay Caesar more than God is to dishonor God), and
• have peaceful communities in which to raise our families.