CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA OF WASHINGTON
ACTION ALERT MARCH 9, 2012
Be sober, be vigilant
Dear CWA of Washington Member,
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 1 Peter 5:8-9
Have you been standing in the gap of the culture wall for our Lord? Do you feel isolated? Be not discouraged because you are in good company with millions of other believers who are running the race of righteousness with endurance, yet also feel lonely at times. Keep resisting God’s enemy, the father of lies, and stand fast therefore, putting on that spiritual armor Paul described in chapter 6:10-18 of the Book of Ephesians.
Speaking of lies and truths, what do you believe marriage is and how important is marriage to you and to the culture? Are you willing to protect and preserve God’s creation of marriage between a man and a woman as defined with His creation of Adam and Eve? The war wages on! The first battlefront was in the Washington State Legislature, where the majority of legislators voted to re-define marriage to include same-sex couples, despite thousands of years of human history declaring that real, natural marriage is only between man and woman. God and God’s nature make it very clear that the unity of a man and a woman and any children born to that natural relationship preceded any other form of government and was not created by or for government. However, it is in the interest of government to protect that unit and the resulting bonding in order to strengthen and stabilize that most basic level of human society and to lessen the burden on the government set up to protect that unit. When families function well, they protect and provide for one another and raise up the next generation to be self-sufficient and to duplicate the process.
When government interferes with the family unit, as it has done through the welfare system by displacing husbands and fathers in favor of government subsidies or enabling couples to divorce without serious grounds to dissolve that most important unit, government begins to disrupt the proper order of the man-woman-children formula, causing it to disintegrate. When feminism gained momentum in the American culture, too many men were gradually displaced as the head of the family (remember the comment, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle”?), women were encouraged that they could have and do it all without the men and even abort children they didn’t want without the father’s involvement. Who reading this can look around at today’s culture and seriously believe that we are all better off for these changes?
One-man plus one-woman for a lifetime is our ultimate goal. I read a quote from an African pastor lately that says, “The condition of the culture is the report card of the church.” How are we doing, church? The role of the church is to teach what God’s plan is and help us all to follow it. The role of the family is to carry out that plan and pass along God’s principles to the next generation. One of those principles is that God created man and woman with equal essence, but for different roles. We often need to shift those roles around, depending on our circumstances, but still there is a balance and a mutual understanding that Adam and Eve were created for one another as helpmates and appropriate companions in all things. It’s that simple: 1 + 1 = 2 and one man + one woman = marriage/balance/ mutual love and respect. Physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, men and women complement one another when that mutual love and respect are present in a relationship. We humans just have such a tough time reaching that perfect balance! However, single, married, divorced, widowed, we all long to find that balance and harmony in life, don’t we?
After the bruising battle over redefining marriage, CWA of Washington is now engaged in two campaigns to place both Initiative 1192 and Referendum 74 on the November ballot. We have determined with the advice of legal counsel that both the initiative and the referendum are necessary and complementary and that CWA of Washington’s role will be to educate its members on the role each of those petitions plays in protecting and strengthening natural, Biblical marriage.
Are you with us? Will you be involved? Your help is very, very much needed to protect and preserve marriage between one man and one woman in Washington State. We DO NOT want to be the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage, do we? I am calling on each of our 10,000 state members to take leadership on this issue in your Prayer/Action Chapters, on your Home Teams, in your churches and in your communities. If we lose the marriage battle, we might as well throw the First Amendment out the window, because there will be no religious liberty allowed on this issue or eventually on any others. If the government is allowed to edit our beliefs with regard to marriage as well as abortion, they can dictate other religious tenets. The First Amendment clearly states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” We are standing on those words and that promise of the Founders and going forth into this battle for marriage in full obedience to God’s Holy Bible. Your prayers for unity, strength, perseverance and humility to follow God’s guidance will be appreciated. Your active participation is vital for the success of promoting and preserving one-man plus one-woman marriage.
If you don’t yet believe that this issue is very serious and a threat to our First Amendment rights, take a look at this article about the threats to a 14-year-old girl who testified against same-sex marriage: http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/14-year-old-homeschooled-girl-receives-death-threats-for-defending-marriage?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=36157a6914-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines_02_22_2012&utm_medium=email
PRAY, pray, pray that both Initiative 1192 and Referendum 74 collect sufficient signatures to make it to the November ballot, that people understand the need to sign both petitions, and then consider circulating them yourself! I will send them to you if you contact me at the state office, but you can more quickly download them and have them printed according to instructions. YOU MUST PRINT THE PROPER SIZE AND PRECISELY ACCORDING TO DIRECTIONS OR YOUR FORMS AND SIGNATURES WILL BE REJECTED!
You may access both the initiative and the referendum from the CWA of Washington website: http://wa.cwfa.org. Initiative 1192 is available NOW for distribution and can be found at http://protectmarriagewa.com/petition.html.
Referendum 74 should be available by March 17 (please pray for a proper title) at this website: http://preservemarriagewashington.com/.
Need some encouragement? CWA has asked you in the past to pray for the Stormans’ freedom-of-conscience legal defense against the state government’s insistence that they stock and fill prescriptions for abortifacients. On February 22, Federal Court Judge Leighton issued his decision in which he stated that the state Board of Pharmacy cannot force pharmacists or pharmacy owners with religious, moral, or ethical objections to stock or provide abortion-inducing drugs. The Stormans have maintained from the beginning of this case in 2007 that they should be able to refer patients seeking such drugs to other pharmacies, and Judge Leighton concurred with that policy. This is a huge victory for freedom of conscience. However, both the Governor and Attorney General are considering taking this case to a higher court. Please pray that they choose NOT to waste more of our tax dollars on this continuing egregious attack on religious liberty and freedom of conscience.
LEGISLATION
March 2, 2012 Last day to consider opposite house bills (5:00 p.m.) (except initiatives and alternatives to initiatives, budgets and matters necessary to implement budgets, differences between the houses, and matters incident to the interim and closing of the session).
March 8, 2012 Last day allowed for regular session under state constitution.
Please refer to recent action alerts for more information on any of the listed bills: http://wa.cwfa.org
FAMILY:
HB 2193 re: third-party visitations.
Died in Rules Committee. Thank you for our prayers and contacting your legislators!
SANCTITY OF LIFE:
SB 6185/HB 2330 re: all insurance policies forced to cover abortion
House bill 2330 passed in the House and then moved to the Senate, but was not voted on by the March 2 deadline. Therefore, it is considered dead. Praise God that this attempt to force every insurer and purchaser to fund abortions did not succeed.
EDUCATION:
HB 2448 re: government control of all preschools, birth until Kindergarten with absolutely no religious content or influence allowed and a new entitlement program
This bill died in the Rules Committee. Again, praise God and thank you for your prayers and action.
Please pray for our legislators and consider joining our Encourage-A-Legislator prayer program next year! Form attached.
UPCOMING EVENTS
FORTY DAYS FOR LIFE is happening around the nation right now! Please join this pro-life action between February 22 – April 1 in any of the following Washington cities: Everett, Issaquah, Olympia, Renton, Spokane, Tacoma, Tri-Cities. There are 251 cities across the nation joining together for the largest and longest coordinated pro-life mobilization in history — the 40 Days for Life campaign. More details can be found at http://www.40daysforlife.com/location.cfm.
SUPPORT TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE: Join us for a night of information on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 – 7:00 p.m. at the Pierce County Library Admin Bldg (3005 112th St. E. Tacoma, WA 98446). Learn the facts about the initiative and referendum processes and pick up your copies of Initiative 1192 and Referendum 74. You will also have the opportunity to meet people who have already joined us in these two campaigns. Come learn how to stand in the gap!
DAY OF SILENCE WALK-OUT: On Friday April, 20, 2012, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) is once again exploiting public schools to promote homosexuality and gender confusion as moral and normative through the political protest called the Day of Silence. Please call your children out of school if your administration permits students to refuse to speak on the Day of Silence. Make that phone call to your child’s school to ascertain their status. Be informed, be vigilant!
For further information, including parental instructions and a sample calling-out letter, visit http://www.doswalkout.net/
Let us know if you have a group that would like to have a CWA speaker, and we would be happy to work with you. We are also looking for more prayer warriors to lead Prayer/Action Chapters or Home Teams as well as leaders to join the state Steering Committee, so please consider becoming more involved with CWA of Washington and contact us.
Thank you for standing with Concerned Women for America (www.concernedwomen.org)!
Together, let’s pray, be informed, and take action! Please consider renewing your CWA membership through the state office (see contact information below) or on the state website: http://wa.cwfa.org.
In His Service,
Maureen Richardson, State Director
Concerned Women for America of Washington
P. O. Box 143 Woodinville, WA 98072; 425-869-1923
director@washington.ccwfa.org