HOUSTON - Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee urged Southern Baptist pastors to stand firm in their faith even if it means giving up their churches’ tax-exempt status.
“I think we need to recognize it may be time to quit worrying so much about the tax code and start thinking more about the truth of the living God, and if that means we give up our tax-exempt status, I choose freedom more than I choose a deduction,” the Southern Baptist preacher and one-time presidential candidate told a crowd of thousands during the 2013 Pastors’ Conference on Monday night. “I never gave a dime to God solely because it was a tax decision.”
Huckabee made the comments while discussing the IRS’ targeting of conservative political groups, including Christian groups. The event was held a day before the nation’s largest Protestant denomination has its annual meeting, where issues of religious freedom will almost surely be discussed.
In a 40-minute sermon at the close of the conference, Huckabee lamented that the growing secularization of American society and proclaimed his allegiance to his faith despite political pressures.
“[Republicans] are saying we evangelicals need to dial it back,” he said to a crowd in the cavernous exhibit hall of Houston’s George R. Brown Convention Center. “Well, I’ve got a news flash for the GOP. I plan to take my last ride in life on a white horse, not an elephant or a donkey. If any party goes another way, I stick with Jesus. I believe he is forever.”
The former governor and host of the Fox News cable television show Huckabee said he “didn’t come here to be political,” but his remarks on hot-button political issues - often met by tidal waves of applause - studded his sermon. He spoke against same sex marriage, the repeal of the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and government handouts.
The pastors’ conference precedes the 2013 annual meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention, which begins today and continues Wednesday. Thousands will gather from across the United States to discuss issues within the denomination and to worship together.
But the gathering takes place as membership numbers plummet for the denomination.
Huckabee described it as an age of “biblical ignorance.”
“We’ve got people who think Adam and Eve were on Season 5 of Dancing with the Stars, and Daniel in the lion’s den was a special on Nat Geo,” he said. “And that Paul and John wrote books of the Bible just before they joined up with George and Ringo to form the Beatles.”
The Southern Baptist preacher said even young evangelicals have little biblical knowledge, and that it’s time for parents and pastors to change that. Parents should be raising their children to know the Bible, and pastors should preach it, he said.
“It’s almost as if we are afraid to be straightforward with the truth of the Gospel,” he said. “We’re raising an entire generation of young believers who do not really know the biblical message of marriage, and that really does concern me.”
Huckabee said these young believers joined with many of their peers in congratulating professional basketball player Jason Collins when he announced he was a homosexual.
“They proclaimed him a hero,” he said. “Where are the accolades for Tim Tebow who follows Jesus? He was told to shut up.”
Children, he said, need someone to lead them and then equip them to follow Christ.
“We must feed those little children and lead them and equip them where they can stand on their own and take on hell with a water pistol if necessary because that’s what they’re facing in this world,” he said.
Huckabee said he wouldn’t urge pastors to turn their pulpits into a political podium, but it should be used to “deliver a powerful, prophetic and purposeful punch in the gut to a culture that is ungodly and unholy.”
“We ought to challenge the culture in which we live, which has turned it’s back on God,” he said.
Front Section, Pages 1 on 06/11/2013