Save America Ministries

Guest (Male): This is Viewpoint with attorney and author Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is a one-hour talk show confronting the issues of America's heart and home. And now, with today's edition of Viewpoint, here is Chuck Crismier.

Chuck Crismier: What is your view regarding prayer breakfasts? That's going to be the subject of our conversation here today on Viewpoint, having just had a national prayer breakfast there at the White House. It seems that there is so much talk about what happened at that national prayer breakfast. In fact, what happened with regard to the address, a 70-minute address by our president.

Today on Viewpoint, we're going to deal with that. In order to set the stage for that conversation, we're going to take a look at some early words in my book, *Renewing the Soul of America: One Person at a Time Beginning with You*. If we were to take a fleeting glimpse at what has happened in our nation, how has this great house slipped?

It's a painful task. We have to look at the reflection of our souls because America's future, your future, and the future of your children may depend on it. Again, I'm reading from the chapter in *Renewing the Soul of America*, chapter three, called "Remembering Our Foundations." A house with a crumbling foundation will soon be a crumbling house.

With that in mind, we're going to take a look at what Patterson and Kim, two advertising executives for the respected J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency in New York, said about the condition, the moral pulse of our country in the 1990s. In the 1990s, it was the beginning of the great fulcrum move, the radical changes morally and spiritually in our country that set the stage for actually my leaving the practice of law at the height of my career to start Save America Ministries in 1993.

Here's what Patterson and Kim, these national advertising agency executives—I don't believe they're Christians either—but they wrote a book called *The Day America Told the Truth*. It came out in 1991. America has no leaders, and especially no moral leadership, they said. Our void in leadership, moral and otherwise, has reached a critical stage. We still want leadership, we just can't seem to find it.

There's absolutely no moral consensus at all, they said. Americans are making up their own rules, their own laws, and their own moral code. Only 13% of us believe in all of the Ten Commandments. 60% of all Americans have been victims of a major crime, 58% victims twice. One in seven Americans have been sexually abused as a child. One in six Americans physically abused as a child.

The number one cause of our business decline is low ethics by executives. While we still marry, we've lost faith in the institution of marriage. A majority will not take care of their parents in old age. Most Americans have no respect for what the law actually says. The Protestant ethic is long gone from today's American workplace. Every seventh person you pass on the street is carrying a weapon, either on their person or in their car.

Children's television programs average 25 violent acts per hour. The sheer volume of the violence we witness is numbing. Lying has become an integral part of the American character, a trade of the American culture. We can no longer tell right from wrong, they say. It raises fear and doubt that often leads to depression. Americans have more freedom and doubt and depression too than any previous generation.

Patterson and Kim concluded, Americans wrestle with these questions in what often amounts to a moral vacuum. The religious figures and scriptures that gave us rules for so many centuries, the political system that gave us our laws, all have lost their meaning in our moral imagination. We've become wishy-washy as a nation, they said. Some would say we've lost our moral backbone.

The next interjection in the book following that were words that I put in there to divide up that chapter. Here they are. What can we do? What can we do? What should we do? Is there any hope amid all of those characteristics that existed in 1990 that have actually been exacerbated, almost all of them, at this present date?

Noah Webster said—remember, he's the author of the oldest dictionary in America—the moral principles and precepts contained in the Scriptures ought to form the basis of all our civil constitutions and laws. All the miseries and evils which men suffer from vice, crime, ambition, injustice, oppression, slavery, and war proceed from their despising or neglecting the precepts contained in the Bible.

True. But then the state in which the Commonwealth in which I live, Virginia, just elected a new governor and legislature. The first thing that they do is set up to amend the constitution of the state of Virginia to incorporate everything that God says He hates. Can you comprehend the chutzpah that goes along with that? In the midst of that, how do you answer the question, what can or what should we do?

Should we have a national prayer breakfast every month? Should we have a prayer breakfast in all the states of the union once a month? We already have them basically once a year. It's become a virtual fad in America from coast to coast. I saw it happening in Pasadena, California, where I lived and practiced law for 20 years.

In fact, some of my friends in the Christian Businessmen's Committee, of which I was the chairman, some of my friends actually took the lead in that city to form a mayor's prayer breakfast. Their intention was wonderful. It was good. These were honorable and Christian men. But within three years, the mayor's prayer breakfast turned into nothing but getting along with all religions.

Everything that is religious, anything that has any smattering of religion, is going to be included because, after all, multiculturalism and religious pluralism had taken over. Even to the point of offering prayers for the advancement of actions, behaviors, political actions, laws, and so on that were completely antithetical to the word, will, and ways of God.

All that having been said, having been there at the very heart of this movement, but having never attended a presidential prayer breakfast, let's take a look at what happened at that prayer breakfast just a couple of days ago. In fact, maybe it was yesterday. I believe it was yesterday in February. Prayer breakfast. We'll take a look at a little bit of the history of the prayer breakfast, the national prayer breakfast, that is, and we're going to see whether our president believes he's even going to heaven. Again, not quite sure. What kind of a statement is this at a national prayer breakfast where we need spiritual certainty? Just asking, friends. Just asking. We'll be right back.

Guest (Male): Once upon a time, children could pray and read their Bibles in school. Divorces were practically unknown, as was child abuse. In our once great America, virginity and chastity were popular virtues, and homosexuality was an abomination. What happened in just one generation? Hi, I'm Chuck Crismier, and I urge you to join me daily on Viewpoint, where we discuss the most challenging issues touching our hearts and homes. Could America's moral slide relate to the Fourth Commandment? Listen to Viewpoint on this radio station or anytime at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Yesterday was the 64th annual national prayer breakfast, attended by every president of the United States for decades since 1953. How did it become a presidential institution all those years ago? It began back with President Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1953. But the credit for the idea went to Abraham Vereide, a Norwegian immigrant and Methodist minister who lived in Seattle.

In the mid-1930s, Vereide organized local groups of politicians and businessmen to talk and pray together before work. It would be at a time which wouldn't interfere with professional or family obligations. Seeking to motivate invitees to address the problem of poverty, he relied on the personal connections forged at the meetings and the personal evangelism of the attendees to spread the idea.

His initiative grew, expanded to other major cities, including New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In 1942, Vereide moved to Washington, DC, where he started a prayer breakfast group for members of the House and the Senate. Republican Senator Frank Carlson of Kansas, a close friend and advisor to Eisenhower, attended one of those prayer groups. It was through him that the 1953 breakfast connected the House, Senate, and president.

That's how it began. By the way, it was President Eisenhower who inserted the words "under God"—one nation under God, indivisible. He inserted the words "under God" in our Pledge of Allegiance, just for information's sake. As President Reagan explained during his own speech at the 1986 national prayer breakfast, Eisenhower had told Carlson that the White House was the loneliest house I've ever been in.

Carlson suggested that Eisenhower meet with his prayer group. That meeting turned out to be the first joint prayer breakfast. So on February 5, 1953, just over two weeks after he was inaugurated, Eisenhower attended the dedicatory prayer breakfast of the International Christian Leadership. That's how it began. We can say, what a wonderful thing.

I'm not saying it's a terrible thing. But when you can't stay on point, when the prayer breakfast becomes nothing but a political pandering event and where it's all about playing religious in order to pander to political power, then what are you accomplishing? You see, prayer is great. Men ought always to pray and not to faint. I resoundingly believe in prayer.

I don't think it has to be long prayers and certainly not necessarily pontificated prayers, but they have to be sincere, come from sincere hearts, and be rooted in reality—spiritual reality. What happens in a nation when we say that we have a complete separation of church and state? It's not constitutional to say that, but that's what was said in 1947 by our Supreme Court.

That being the case, how do we bring so-called religion into the national floor of the country? Well, that's what the prayer breakfast is about. But it's more symbolic than real. It's more symbolic than sincere. Oh, it's sincerely held because they know that if they don't attend it—which Mr. Trump said, I have to be there—why would he have to be there? Because it's expected.

Why is it expected? Because we purport to be a nation under God. If you can't go along with that, you're risking your political status, your bona fides with the people. And so we have a very, very confused situation. While on the surface, everybody gets excited about a prayer breakfast and I'm going to be at the national prayer breakfast or I'm going to, and I've been at these breakfasts, mayor's prayer breakfast, other prayer breakfasts.

Quite frankly, I have not detected in most of them any real spiritual sincerity. A dear friend of mine was asked to speak, a wonderful Christian brother who was one of the first advisory board members of our advisory board for Save America Ministries, Dr. John Perkins. He was to speak at a prayer breakfast in Pasadena, California, where we both lived.

I went to that event and was heartbroken over what I saw. First of all, a man gets up and speaks everything contrary to what my brother in Christ John Perkins believes about Christ, His lordship, and so on. Then John Perkins is supposed to follow him, being a very respected black spokesperson concerning our cities and so on.

I thought, what a mockery. A total mockery. That's what concerns me. I'm just being very honest with you, my friends. We can go through all the mumbo-jumbo of God and country religion. That's really what it is—God and country religion. But it's not changing anything, except perhaps diluting the very substance of what we say we believe and what we think is going to take place there.

Unless, of course, you have somebody like a true Christian, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson. Now there is a man who truly seems to love Jesus, and I appreciate that so much. I believe that there are other congressmen, perhaps senators, John Thune, who is heading up the United States Senate, as true followers of Jesus Christ.

But in general, the spirit of it is not consistent with our unity in mind, heart, and expression with the will of God. So the question still hovering over our broadcast here today is, what do we do then? What can we do? What should we do? Since we're told men always to pray and not to faint, since the Apostle Paul told us that we should pray for all those who are in authority, that we might lead a quiet and peaceable life, I still agree with that.

I still agree that we should pray for them, but it doesn't necessarily mean we should pray with them. Because when you purport to pray with them and they don't believe, then what you're doing is engaging most likely in a pretense from which you think that the whole thing is a very righteous enterprise, when in fact you're just going through the motions.

Yes, pray. But prayer is no substitute for obedience. That was the words of a famous pastor a number of years ago. Prayer is no substitute for obedience. What we're missing in America and in the church house is obedience. That's what we're missing. So when we ask, what can we do? We need to decide we're going to obey God.

We're going to obey God rather than men. We're going to do His will rather than our will. We're not going to do what the people in Virginia did in electing a governor and a house and senate that are rabidly contrary to the word, will, and ways of God. Openly, egregiously contrary to the word, wills, and ways of God. But that's what we're having. That's the problem that we have in our country today. It's a terrifying problem.

Patterson and Kim, two advertising executives for the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency, back in 1990—and I don't believe these fellows were Christians—but they did a massive study and poll determining what people believe, what Americans believe, not what they want us to think they believe, but what they really believe in their hearts. And that's what that book, *The Day America Told the Truth*, was all about.

Again, I remind you with the words that they concluded with. Americans wrestle with these questions in what often amounts to a moral vacuum. The religious figures and scriptures that gave us rules for so many centuries in our country, the political system that gave us our laws, all have lost their meaning in our moral imagination. We've become totally wishy-washy as a nation, lost our moral backbone.

Before we go further and look at some of the comments that were made by our president yesterday at the prayer breakfast, let me make available to you my first book, *Renewing the Soul of America: One Person at a Time Beginning with You*. This book has sold more copies than any of my other the other 10 books that I've had so far.

It's been endorsed by 38 national Christian leaders, has been read from the pulpits of America, and I urge you to get a copy of it. Just the endorsements themselves would be very encouraging to you. For instance, the late Pat Robertson said, what would happen to America and to the world if the people of this generation rediscover our spiritual heritage and commit their lives and the life of this nation to it? Chuck Crismier tells us in *Renewing the Soul of America* what can be done if we have the courage to make the right decisions.

You may remember Bill McCartney, the founder of and president of Promise Keepers. He said, Crismier's call for repentance, racial reconciliation, and revival in the Christian community is extremely timely and important, resonating strongly with Promise Keepers' call for a return to genuine moral integrity, courageous faith, and unity in the church.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss, who married, her last name became Wolgemuth and her husband just passed away. She is an author and broadcaster of her own program. She said, Chuck probes the heart and conscience of our nation with a rare combination of insight, directness, urgency, and compassion. This message desperately needs to be heard and heeded before it is too late.

And 34 other endorsements. You begin to get the picture. Get a copy of the book, friends. It will encourage your heart. It will go back and help us as we approach our 250th anniversary of the political birth of our country. It will really help us to get a picture. It will translate in very, very practical ways what all of that looks like, what it looked like, the challenges that we have faced and where we go from here. It's a book of hope and direction. Your gift of $15 or more to Save America Ministries will put it in your hands, *Renewing the Soul of America: One Person at a Time Beginning with You*. On the website saveus.org, call us 1-800-SAVE-USA, 1-800-SAVE-USA, or write to us at Save America Ministries, PO Box 70879, Richmond, Virginia, 23255. Add $6 for postage and handling.

Is there hope? Yes, there's hope. But hope is not just hope in hope. We can't hope in hope. Hope has to be based on something solid, something worthy of the foundation for that hope. As the song says, my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. We dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

On Christ the solid rock we stand, all other ground—Republican, Democrat, whatever—is sinking sand. All of it is sinking sand. All is sinking sand. So that we have to set our trust, our absolute trust in the Lord. Yes, we have to vote. It's our responsibility, in fact our privilege to vote. But when Christians by the millions do not vote, can you imagine the horrible desecration brought to the kingdom of God and to God's will and ways and word with regard to what privilege we have been given like no other nation on the planet?

And yet millions of Christians just can't be bothered to vote. That's what brought in such a wicked government in Virginia, by the way, just in the last month. Millions of Christians refused to vote. Unbelievable. How about you? How about you, my friend? Just asking. It's a privilege, but it's also a responsibility for us because in this government, it's a government of people, right? We'll be back.

Guest (Male): There is so much more about Chuck Crismier and Save America Ministries on our website, saveus.org. For example, under the marriage section, God has marriage on His mind. Chuck has some great resources to strengthen your marriage. First off, a fact sheet on the state of the marital union, a fact sheet on the state of ministry marriage and morals, saveus.org. Marriage, divorce, and remarry. What does the Bible really teach about this? Find all of this at saveus.org. Also, a letter to pastors, the Hosea Project, saveus.org, and many more resources to strengthen your marriage. It's all on Chuck's website, saveus.org. Again, you can listen to Chuck's Viewpoint broadcast live and archived on Save America Ministries' website at saveus.org.

Chuck Crismier: Welcome back to Viewpoint, I'm Chuck Crismier. USA Today had an interesting article concerning our president's address at the 74th national prayer breakfast on February 5. He contemplated a lot lately about one of life's big questions: getting into heaven. Getting into heaven. By the way, this is what everybody has written about. The various news media and so on, this is what caught their attention.

The president who wants to believe, wants people to believe that he is a spiritually-minded follower of Jesus Christ. Many in—and let me put it this way—I know of some of the individuals who have boldly claimed that they were present when Donald Trump gave his life to the Lord. But he doesn't seem to have any idea what that means. And apparently they did the usual—just make a profession of faith and you're in.

But I don't think they did any effort to, shall we say, lead the president to know what he was getting into if indeed he made such a confession. Because he has no assurance whatsoever of what he did and therefore believes he must earn his way. So, according to this article in USA Today, the president previously suggested—and that was last year—that he's not so sure he's going to heaven.

But speaking before the 74th national prayer breakfast on February 5, Trump told the crowd that he likes his chances, his chances of getting in. He said, I really think I probably should make it. I mean, I'm not a perfect candidate, he said, but I did a hell of a lot of good for perfect people. Okay. I couldn't argue with that. In the speech, 77 minutes long, he boasted that he's done more for religion than any other president. It could be.

He said, I don't know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. Well, I agree, I don't understand that either because the Democrat Party has almost carte blanche rejected the authority of God in their lives and certainly in their party. But this was supposed to be a non-partisan event. Well, is it partisan to say that you don't know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat?

Well, maybe the other way to say it is I don't understand how so many people in our country can carry positions and vote for people that carry positions that are totally contrary to the Bible, to the word, will, and ways of God. That would probably be the better way to put it. He claimed, that is, Trump claimed that he brought religion and Christianity back to center of American politics and culture.

I agree at least in terms of the words "Christian," "Christianity," and "religion." So he touted efforts to support prayer in the schools. He said we're targeting transgender people in the creation of a White House faith office. He announced plans to hold an event at the National Mall on May 17 to, quote, "rededicate America as one nation under God," unquote.

I'm not opposed to that. Rededicate. But how many of these national solemn assemblies do we have to have? How many rededications have we had over and over and over again? Rededications of the nation back to God. But we haven't come back to God, not even a little bit. Not even a little bit. When the leaders of 11 of the most prominent Christian evangelical churches, radio, and television programs in America and some of the best-selling authors were removed from their churches and their ministries in the last 18 months because of various nefarious sins disqualifying themselves from leadership in the body of Christ in one city alone, Dallas, Texas.

What does that say? Are we really coming to renew the soul of America? Are we really serious about rededicating America as one nation under God? Doesn't seem so. It's one nation under our religious feelings, maybe, but not one nation under God. And there's a difference, a radical difference, because what it's doing is removing the authority away from God to our feelings about government, about religion, about education, about sexual relationships. It's all about feelings. And that's our new religion, the religion of I feel, I feel, I feel. Or I don't feel.

Trump went on to say, major politicians refuse to say the word "God." They don't want to say it, but I say it. Trump said adding that there are many signs that religion is coming back under his watch. It's coming back so strong, he said. You know, your churches are filling up. You didn't have that two years ago. Well, why are they filling up? Well, they were filling up because of Charlie Kirk and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

So it took the killing of a young leader to get the mind and heart and attention of many of the younger folk. But the people that were coming to fill up the churches were guys, not so much gals. And there's a lot of concern. Why is it that the young men were coming back to church but not the young ladies? Because of feelings. The same reason, my friend, why Satan went to Eve in the garden.

Let's be honest about it. That's why he went to Eve in the garden. He didn't go to Adam. He went to Eve. The Bible says that Eve was deceived, but not Adam. Yet the more we are lifting up the leadership in our country to women—nothing wrong with women. I love my wife. She knows that. We've been married 59 years now. But God didn't ordain for women to be the leaders.

Because when that happens, gradually feelings become dominant. And feelings then become to define faith. And it leads to a whole lot of problems, as it did in the garden. That doesn't mean that our men are doing a righteous job. They're not. Why are they not? For one thing, they don't read anymore. How many times have I heard a man, a Christian man say, well, I just don't read?

I said, are you reading the Bible daily? Are you reading it with your wife? I don't read. So I said, okay, well, I have written some books that I think would be very, very good for men to read. For instance, *Hearts of the Fathers*. That would be a great book for men to read. They say, I don't read. How does God get through to men like that? All they want to do is view a TV program or a football program or basketball program or something that will entertain them.

That they can dink out at, but they don't want to have to read. Why? No wonder Patterson and Kim said back in 1990, we've become wishy-washy as a nation. We have. In God's own house. Why is it that after talking with pastors from coast to coast about gathering men together for serious conversations, perhaps a men's breakfast once a month where you really deal with hard issues of the Bible as it relates to men's leadership in the home?

Not playing around with sports and so on, but real serious discipleship for men. You know what the pastors tell me? They won't come. They won't come. So you've got to gimmick in. You've got to do gimmickry for them. You've got to get some sports figure out there to entice them. Or as one church did, they had to offer a—I'm not sure even how you would talk about it.

It was a rough and tumble kind of meal where there would be no utensils provided and men would just eat with their fingers, some sort of caveman style. And that was supposed to attract them to this great ministry for men for that night. Eating caveman style. Whatever you got to do, but you can't get them. God is trying to get a few good men. He really is. He wants to get a few good men, but where are they?

When my book *Renewing the Soul of America* came—excuse me, when my book *Hearts of the Fathers* came out, *Leaving a Legacy that Lasts*, what I discovered was that it was women that wanted to hear about the book. I remember being asked to speak to a group of mostly African American women one day in Richmond, Virginia.

And there were about a hundred women there. And as I was explaining things to them and encouraging them and talking about their men, they were getting all excited because what they realize is we don't have any spiritual leadership in our home. So guess what? Two-thirds of all those books instead of being purchased by women—by men were purchased by women. Why? Where are God's men? We'll be right back.

Guest (Male): Have you ever considered what the early church was like? Many people are developing a heart longing for a greater fulfillment in our practices as Christians. A recent study shows 53,000 people a week are leaving the back door of America's churches in frustration. What is going on? Why has there not been even a 1% gain among followers of Christ in the last 25 years? Could it be that God is seeking to restore first-century Christianity for the 21st century? Jesus said, "I'll build my church." Is Christ by His spirit stirring to prepare the church for the 21st century? The early church prayed together and broke bread from house to house. They were family, and it was said by all who observed, "Behold how they love one another." Incredible, but the same can be found right now. Go to saveus.org and click Cell Church. We can revive first-century Christianity for the 21st century. It's about people, not programs. It's about the Bible, not a building. That's saveus.org. Click Cell Church.

Chuck Crismier: Again, I welcome back to Viewpoint, friends. We're talking about the aftermath of a national prayer breakfast. A national prayer breakfast in Washington, DC, where our president gave a 77-minute address, the keynote address that people—many say—was just a rambling address. But he speaks—Donald Trump speaks a bit casually as he's prompted in his mind to do.

But he said that he emerged to be the strong ally of the Christian right movement during his first term and has continued to be that, have that kind of bond in his second term. But as USA Today said, it seemed to be an unlikely marriage for a president who does not attend church regularly. Well, I would agree with that. Attending church isn't what makes you a Christian.

But Mr. Trump thinks that he can earn his way into heaven, apparently, and he's not sure whether he'll get there, but he thinks he stands a good chance because of all the good things that he's doing. Well, it's important that he's doing good things, but not you nor he can earn his way into heaven. On the other hand, we are to do good works that exemplify our faith.

So we're in a situation where very similar, not that dissimilar to what happened with George W. Bush. George W. Bush carried the banner for the evangelical church, and the evangelical church carried the banner for George W. Bush. When George W. Bush went to the National Religious Broadcasters Convention, I'm a member of the NRB, the National Religious Broadcasters, and I was there at that gathering where the president, George W. Bush, was the keynote speaker.

And everybody flooded into the room to hear George W. Bush that was being touted as our Christian president. That he had once been an alcoholic but had been redeemed, was no longer on alcohol and was on Christ. So I listened to him speak to the national religious broadcasters. Here is the largest gathering, one of the largest gatherings collected from the broader Christian church not only in the country but the world, the NRB.

And as I listened, the more I listened, not once did George Ever Bush, George W. Bush ever make a claim to be a Christian. Never talked about the Lord, not once. He had the ideal audience to do that. Complete freedom. And not once did he ever attest to that relationship. In fact, his wife later said she never heard him claim to be an evangelical Christian or born-again Christian. His own wife said that.

But the evangelical community is so easily seduced. We want to be seduced by power. So that same president, you may recall, after 9/11, within a few days after 9/11, he declared publicly that Jews, Muslims, and Christians all worship the same God. Within two weeks, that same president declared all religions worship the same God.

Yet the most fundamental doctrine or truth concerning the Christian faith is as Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. So how easily are Christian leaders seduced by wannabe Christians in positions of power, or that they want to be Christians to carry their banner in the White House or other positions of power?

Well, after that gathering at the NRB, there was a breakout session with three leaders, very well-known leaders on radio and television, who were heading up this gathering of about, I'd say there were about 75 to 100 people in the room. And afterward, they were talking about, touting about George W. Bush and his faith and all of that, and how great it was that he was there.

And afterward, I went to one of those leaders who also had a national talk show like what we do here. I knew that person, and that person knew me. And I said, how is it that you can continue to unabashedly tout George W. Bush as a born-again believer and one to lead the banner of the church in our time? When he clearly said in his own words that all religions worship the same God.

And that Jews, Muslims, and Christians worship the same God. How can you do that? And here was the person's response. Well, he's not the theologian in chief, he's just the commander in chief. I said, you have got to be kidding me. You would give me that line? Here is a man who purports to be, and you're taking as an evangelical spiritual leader in the White House.

And you can't even hold him to the simplest, most fundamental of commitments as a Christian? What that showed me, friends, is that there is just an unbelievable willingness among professing Christians to embrace people for their own power purposes. That's our person. That's our this. Well, that's okay. But don't try to tout them as this great Christian leader.

Don't try to put upon them the mantle of Jesus. It's blasphemy. It's blasphemous to do that. Obviously that's an opinion, friends, that's an opinion and a strong one, but I believe it's true. Look, I've been around a long time from coast to coast through this ministry for the past 32 years and before that for 20 years where 80% of my clientele as a lawyer came from the broader body of Christ.

In which time I was speaking throughout Southern California in churches all over, was involved with the greater body of Christ as the chairman for the Christian Businessmen's Committee in the Crown City of the San Gabriel Valley in Southern California, Pasadena. Been around. And it's not a statement of pride, it's a statement of exposure to understand the dynamics of what is taking place and why we have no revival.

What we want is political revival rather than spiritual revival. And I'm not—I'm not afraid, I'm not against some of the wonderful things that I think Donald Trump has done. Really. I'm not here to downgrade Donald Trump in that regard. But another article says Trump mocks the mealtime prayer at national prayer breakfast. What does that mean?

Well, he was talking about the genuine Christian Speaker of the House. He ribbed Speaker Mike Johnson for praying before meals during the speech at the prayer breakfast. He said—well, let's see here. He said, did you know that Mr. Speaker, looking at Speaker Johnson, an evangelical Southern Baptist, he said, you know Mike Johnson is a very religious person.

And he doesn't hide it. He'll say to me sometimes at lunch, sir, may we pray? And I say, excuse me, we're having lunch, you know? It's okay with me, but he's a very religious person. And he's popular, and he's doing an unbelievable job, so I think God is watching over you. All right. So what is Trump actually saying here? He's not claiming to be a Christian at all.

Not even close. He uses the word "religion" and "religious." He doesn't say Johnson is a very strong Christian believer, he's just religious. I've got a problem here. Do you have a problem? I do. Now I am very grateful that we have a strong Christian leader, Mike Johnson, who is highly respected even by his fellows, even on the Democrat side, highly respected as a man not only of Christian principle and lifestyle but of attitude and behavior.

I think the same is true with John Thune there in the Senate. But certainly Mike Johnson. They're good representatives of a Christian in politics. But I'm concerned that when we put our trust in a leader in the name of Christ who doesn't even use the name of Christ for identification in his own life, I got a problem. Do you?

So what is the purpose of the prayer? Who is praying at the prayer breakfast? What are we praying about? What are we praying for? Are we praying for everything and his brother, praying to advance the cause of homosexuality and transgenderism, together with praying that God will help us to straighten out our morality and live righteous lives? Prayers that are totally opposite.

That's what's happening. And it's an abomination. And it becomes a pretense, a pretense of Christian religiosity when in fact in very many respects it's not about Christ at all. It's about giving the impression of being religious. So when Trump stumbled onto the—Air Force One last October in route to Israel, he told reporters, I don't think there's anything good to get me in heaven. I really don't. I think I'm not maybe—maybe I'm not even heaven-bound.

What's he talking about? And now he says, you know, I'm doing so much good. It's really giving me a real chance to get in the pearly gate. So let me ask you a question. What's the chance for you to get in the pearly gate? Forget about all that's going on in the national prayer breakfast or any other mayor's prayer breakfast across the country, or even the National Day of Prayer where all of these celebrations, all of these big get-togethers, national solemn assemblies and so on have taken place.

And they have over the past 25, 30 years, they've been all over the country. I've attended a number of them from Washington, DC to St. Louis. Big deals. But there's been no transformation. I think Nancy Leigh DeMoss was right when she addressed the large gathering, 4,000 Christian leaders, evangelical leaders gathered in St. Louis for the first-ever prayer gathering concerning the heart of the church.

And her address was under this title: "Begin at My Sanctuary." It was the most powerful address I think given in the United States to a national group telling us what we had to do if we had any hope to renew the soul of America. Begin at My sanctuary. If you're interested in getting a copy of that, let me know. Give us a call 1-800-SAVE-USA. Thanks for joining us. Become a partner, friends. Get a copy of the book *Renewing the Soul of America*. You'll be encouraged. $15 will put it in your hands on the website saveus.org. Write to us. $6 for postage and handling. And again, seriously consider becoming a partner. We truly are confronting the deepest issues of our hearts and homes. Make no mistake about it on the near end of the second coming.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Viewpoint with Chuck Crismier. Viewpoint is supported by the faithful gifts of our listeners. Let me urge you to become a partner with Chuck as a voice to the church, declaring vision for the nation. Join us again next time on Viewpoint, as we confront the issues of America's heart and home.