North Dakota

Dear friends,

At the end of June, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Mr. Jack Philips of Masterpiece Cakeshop.   Concerned Women for America (CWA) of North Dakota is pleased the case will be heard!   We agree with Mr. Philips that religious freedom allows him to choose not to make a cake for a same-sex wedding ceremony.  Mr. Philips explained, “Somebody requested I do something that I can’t in good conscience do.”   Watch the discussion held on the View to see how our culture twists definitions of love and morality.

This situation, along with many similar cases, brings the issue of moral truth to light.

When truth is considered relative and good and evil are not objective, everyone pursues his or her own truth.  Consider the act of murder.  Most people agree that murder is morally and offensively wrong. However, when the framework of morality is just “it feels wrong”, the ability to logically consider objective principles diminishes, and we are left with only outrage.

The truth found in God’s Word about immorality doesn’t change when an individual or culture rejects them.  Furthermore, the existence of moral truths doesn’t change nor disappear because truth is objective.

Morality isn’t about personal preferences or tastes, and it goes beyond pleasure and self-interest.  It answers the question, “What is good?” and not “What feels good?”

Moral truth has a profound impact on behavior and on the way we treat other human beings. Human dignity depends on the existence of objective moral truths.

When all morality is equal, there is no reason to take a stand against evil.

We are to put our trust in God’s ways and not our own!

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.  Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and depart from evil.  It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones.” (Proverbs 3:5-8)

God’s Word teaches that our hearts are evil.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give every man according to his ways, According to the fruit of his doings.” (Jeremiah 17:9-10)

To Do:

• Regularly read God’s Word. We must seek wisdom and gain moral truth through God’s Word.  God’s Word is truth, and moral benefits are received through wisdom.
• Visit CWA’s national website for an insightful article by CWA’s Legal Counsel, Mario Diaz, Esq.  Good First Step on Religious Freedom by President Trump, May 4, 2017.
• Stand Fast and Pray! “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)

“My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out of insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.  For the Lord gives wisdom, and form his mouth comes knowledge and understanding.  He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones.  Then you will understand what is right and just and fair – every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.  Discretion will protect you and understanding will guard you.  Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose words are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their ways.  It will save you also from the adulteress, from the wayward wife with her seductive words, who has left the partner of her youth and ignored the covenant she made before God.  For her house leads down to death and her paths to the spirits of the dead.  None who go to her return or attain the paths of life. Thus you will walk in the ways of good men and keep to the paths of the righteous.  For the upright will live in the land, and the blameless will remain in it; but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the unfaithful will be torn from it.”  (Proverbs 2:1-15)

In His service,

Linda Thorson
State Director
CWA of North Dakota
[email protected]
nd.cwfa.org

Justice Gorsuch of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10^th Circuit has been confirmed to succeed the late Justice Antonin Scalia and is now an Associate Supreme Court Justice of the United States!

CWA of North Dakota is grateful for Sen. Heidi Heitkamp’s (D) vote to confirm Judge Gorsuch.  CWA of North Dakota agrees with Penny Nance, CEO and President of Concerned Women for America,
“Today we witnessed a historic victory for our country. One that proves government ‘for the People, by the People’ is alive and well. The Senate overcame historic partisan obstructionism and restored original Senate precedent.

“Judge Gorsuch will elevate the proper role of the judiciary and refuse to legislate from the bench. He is what America needs in this time of partisan dysfunction and obstructionism from the far left – the bipartisan support for his confirmation is proof.”

Go to our webpage to read our April 7 letter of thanks to Sen. Heitkamp.

Act: Please contact Sen. Heitkamp and thank her!  It is as Penny Nance stated, “I would be remiss not to thank the Democrats who had the conviction to listen to their constituents rather than toeing the party line. I applaud their willingness to rise above the political fray in favor of their constituents.  In spite of partisan gridlock, we see the symphony of the three branches of government and their checks and balances function as our Founders intended.”

Send an email message thanking Sen. Heitkamp for her vote to confirm Judge Gorsuch to the U.S. Supreme Court:   https://www.heitkamp.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/email-heidi

 Pray:  Let us now follow the example of David in I Chronicles 29: 10-13 and praise God for His good favor!

 ^“David praised the Lord in the presence of the whole assembly, saying,

‘Praise be to you, Lord,
the God of our father Israel,
from everlasting to everlasting.
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power
and the glory and the majesty and the splendor,
for everything in heaven and earth is yours.
Yours, Lord, is the kingdom;
you are exalted as head over all.
Wealth and honor come from you;
you are the ruler of all things.
In your hands are strength and power
to exalt and give strength to all.
 Now, our God, we give you thanks,
and praise your glorious name.’”

Grateful for Answered Prayer!

Linda Thorson
State Director
CWA of North Dakota
P.O. Box 213
Park River, ND 58270
[email protected]
nd.cwfa.org

What does it mean?  It means through the ministry of CWA of North Dakota, together, we were part of persuading Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-North Dakota) to support Judge Gorsuch.  We regularly highlighted Judge Gorsuch’s qualifications in our communications to her.  We continually expressed that, similar to Scalia, he is a constitutionalist, who believes the Constitution should be interpreted as written and rejects the liberal proposition of a “living, breathing document.” Plus, we wouldn’t let Heitkamp forget the fact that no one on either side of the aisle opposed Gorsuch when he was up for confirmation for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.

Since January of 2017, CWA of North Dakota and its members have asked Sen. Heitkamp  to support the confirmation of Judge Neil Gorsuch.  We have sent countless emails and phone calls to her office.  I have met with her staff and repeatedly asked for a meeting with her in person which I never did obtain.  I’ve written letters to the editor that were published expressing our desire for Heitkamp to support Gorsuch and to meet with me concerning it.  On March 1 we met on the steps of the Bismarck Capitol Building for the Support Gorsuch Rally at which I spoke.  CWA national sent me to Washington, D.C., to participate in their Support Gorsuch Rally.

Thank you!  Thank you all for your participation in these efforts.

Please take a quick minute and email Sen. Heitkamp.  You can be sure that she is hearing from the opposition today.  She needs to know that we appreciate her decision to support Gorsuch!

Click here to e-mail her right now.

CWA of North Dakota will continue to shine the light on the issues of our day: sanctity of life, defense of the family, education, religious liberty, sexual exploitation, support for Israel, and national sovereignty.

Have you joined the team?

• Please share who CWA of North Dakota is with friends and family! I have been asked when giving testimony during the 2017 North Dakota Legislative Session about our membership rolls. Let’s keep Concerned Women for America the largest public policy women’s organization in our nation!  Anyone who shares our passion for the issues above is welcome to join – women, men and teens are all welcome to participate.  Know that we welcome like-minded men as well.
• Continue responding to our e-alerts and forward them on to like-minded friends, family and pastors. It is your prayers and action that make all the difference.
• Participate in a local Prayer/Action Chapter in your area.
• Consider being a Prayer/Action Chapter Leader. The Prayer/Action Chapter Leader plans and oversees monthly Prayer/Action Chapter meetings in a church or community. The emphasis is threefold: pray, educate and act.  Each leader is provided with a monthly Prayer/Action Newsletter that includes an inspirational piece, legislative updates and action items and prayer and praises.  The newsletter is designed for use as a guide for the monthly meetings.
• Partner with us by giving a tax-deductible gift towards the work of CWA of North Dakota. We are run by all volunteers. Therefore all contributions go straight to the work at hand for education materials, gas money for trips to the state capitol, postcards for our Encourage-A-Legislator project, events and more.  Click here to contribute online to CWA of North Dakota or send us a check to the address below written out to “Concerned Women for America.”  Be sure to put “CWA of North Dakota” on the memo line.

Psalm 43: 2-4

“Oh, send out Your light and Your truth!
Let them lead me;
Let them bring me to Your holy hill
And to Your tabernacle.
Then I will go to the altar of God,
To God my exceeding joy;
And on the harp I will praise You,
O God, my God.”

Blessings,

Linda Thorson

State Director
CWA of North Dakota
P.O. Box 213
Park River, ND 58270
[email protected]
nd.cwfa.org

Senator Heitkamp shows encouraging signs of being open to the idea of voting to confirm Judge Neil Gorsuch for the Supreme Court following the hearings starting on March 20.

It would not only be the right thing for Sen. Heitkamp to do, but it would also be the best political strategy for her, being a Democratic Senator here in North Dakota, which went so heavily for President Trump.

A recent Politico article quotes her recent statements about Gorsuch: “We should be open to supporting any nominee. … I wasn’t sent here to respond to [the] pressure [from my fellow Democrats to vote against him].”

People in our state have shown not just support, but downright enthusiasm for Gorsuch.  I see it in the ladies I lead as the state director for Concerned Women for America (CWA) of North Dakota, the largest public policy organization for women in the country. CWA women understand and appreciate the limited role of judges, and they love Judge Gorsuch’s embrace of judicial restraint.

As he said the day of his nomination:

I respect, too, the fact that in our legal order it is for Congress and not the courts to write new laws. It is the role of judges to apply, not alter, the work of the people’s representatives. A judge who likes every outcome he reaches is very likely a bad judge stretching for results he prefers rather than those the law demands.

Gorsuch puts the law above politics.  That is why he enjoys bi-partisan support.

Liberal Democratic lawyer David Frederick rightly wrote in a recent Washington Post article that there is “no principled reason” to vote against Gorsuch.

And Frederick is not the only liberal supporting Gorsuch.  In a recent letter, more than 50 of his Harvard Law classmates, spanning the political spectrum, expressed the same sentiment, writing:

We are Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians and independents; progressives, conservatives and moderates; religious and non-observant; married, single and divorced; men and women; straight and gay. … What unites us is that… we unanimously believe Neil possesses the exemplary character, outstanding intellect, steady temperament, humility and open-mindedness to be an excellent addition to the United States Supreme Court.

Another letter featured more than 150 of his Columbia classmates who also span the political spectrum but were, “united in [their] belief that [Gorsuch] would serve our country with honor and distinction on the Supreme Court.”

Even the liberal American Bar Association recently gave Gorsuch its highest rating of “unanimous well qualified.”

This is simply a non-controversial nominee.

Gorsuch was even confirmed to the Tenth Circuit appeals court by a simple voice vote — unopposed.  Why should Heitkamp oppose him now?

Thankfully, I don’t think she will.  Some liberals continue to pressure her to vote against him, but their arguments are hollow or plain dishonest.  Heitkamp knows she’s in the Senate because North Dakota voters put her there, and we want her to confirm him.

Furthermore, it looks like Heitkamp won’t try to filibuster or stop Gorsuch with some extreme political antic.  When asked directly if Gorsuch should get a vote instead of being blocked by filibuster, she said, “Absolutely.”

CWA of North Dakota supports her in that stance, and we will continue to urge her to resist extreme liberal pressures to disregard the facts and record of this well-qualified nominee and vote against him because of party loyalty or some sort of symbolical stance against President Trump.  That is the sort of irrational, political gridlock with which North Dakotans are so fed up.

Heitkamp should actually change her openness to Gorsuch to downright support and, in that way, lead the Senate in a new kind of approach to politics — one that puts loyalty to constituents ahead of party. It would be quite a statement.

State Director’s letter to the editor posted on the The Bismarck Tribune.

HB 1275 makes it clear that prayer at athletic activities at parochial and private schools is allowed.  Some say we don’t need this legislation because schools already have the right.  Untrue.  Just last year, private schools Shiloh Christian School in Bismarck and Shanley Catholic School in Fargo were prohibited from having students pray over the public address system during a home game when previously it was allowed. Click here to read more about it.

Earlier this year I testified on behalf of HB 1275 before the House Judiciary Committee. Click here to read it.

Our children must speak and hear the Truth, even in the middle of much darkness, because this Truth is the light of the World and it will shine forth as the only hope for them personally and for our country as a whole.

Take Action: Please e-mail and/or these Senators on the Education Committee:

Sen. Donald Schaible at [email protected] or call 701-824-3168

Sen. David Rust at [email protected] or call 701-216-0270

Sen. Kyle Davison at [email protected] or call 701-261-8703

Sen. Jordan Kannianen at [email protected] or call 701-421-8813

Sen. Erin Oban at [email protected] or call 701-955-3188

Sen. Shawn Vedaa at [email protected] or call 701 626-7495

Please Pray: Pray for our legislators by name.  May God give them wisdom and confidence to allow prayers to be heard in our schools.   “Jesus called the children to him and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.’” Luke 18:16,17

Question: “Will this bill open the doors to prayers of other faiths?”

Answer: “We do not fear anyone praying to any other god.  We know there is only One True God, Creator of all things visible and invisible.  So, as Elijah on Mt. Carmel, we invite “the prophets of Baal” to pray to their god, that perhaps they might realize that no one is listening because there is no such god.

“As a matter of public policy, it would be disastrous for us to suppress the Gospel (which we have been commanded to take to the ends of the earth) because we want to suppress other religious speech.  On the contrary, our children must speak and hear the Truth, even in the middle of much darkness, because this Truth is the light of the World and it will shine forth as the only hope for them personally and for our country as a whole.”  Mario Diaz, CWA Legal Counsel

Linda Thorson
State Director
CWA of North Dakota
[email protected]
nd.cwfa.org

Thank you, CWA friends, for responding to the e-alerts sent out from CWA of North Dakota! Our legislators listen.  Every email and phone call is counted.

 Your voice is needed again, this time, on  HB 1163, a bill to repeal our Sunday Closing Law.  The Senate Political Subdivision Committee gave the bill a Do Pass recommendation on March 9 reporting that they had not heard from constituents! It is now due to be voted on by the full senate in the very near future. 

 The time to act is now!  Setting aside a common day of rest honors God and allows the majority of retail employees’ opportunities to worship on Sunday mornings.

“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.  Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.”  Genesis 2: 2, 3

Take Action:

1. Call your specific state senator and urge him/her to oppose HB 1163. To find out who your senator is and how to contact them click here.
2. E-mail all the senators and ask them to vote NO on HB 1163. Simply cut and paste these addresses below.

[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected];[email protected]

3. Forward this e-mail onto friends and family and ask them to pray and act on this important issue.

Please Pray:  Pray that our state leaders do not change our laws in our state Century Code to uphold the Sunday Closing Law.  

Thank you in advance for your diligent prayers and actions.

Linda Thorson
State Director
CWA of North Dakota
[email protected]
nd.cwfa.org