Released: Friday, November 29, 2019

ONE Voice for Liberties Conference September 24-25, 2020

Heritage Baptist Church—7777 Cogbill Rd, Chesterfield VA

Future meetings at new locations:

Sep. 23-24, 2021 in Fishersville, VA

Sep. 29-30, 2022 in Roanoke, VA

 

As I look over last year’s newsletter for November, I realize the issues highlighted then are the same as now. But the prospects for big changes in Virginia are high. Bible-believing legislators have been in the minority in the General Assembly for some time. But now the most extreme leaders, who aggressively want to set themselves above God’s law, have a green light to execute their agenda to abolish our freedoms, marginalize our values, and punish us for our beliefs.

They have proposed legislation to systematically:

1. make it easier to perpetrate voter fraud to ensure their majority in perpetuity
2. restrict the freedom of law-abiding citizens to protect themselves, their families, their businesses, and their communities
3. legalize abortion and a host of anti-religion/anti-biblical marriage policies through the proposed Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the constitution
4. increase control over more aspects of business and personal freedom under the guise of combatting environmental concerns

They are planning a full legislative and regulatory assault on:

• Gender: God’s plan for marriage, the unique distinctives of women and men
• Life: defense of the unborn, the infirm, and the elderly
• Individual Religious Freedom: the right to exercise our Christian faith
• Privacy and Safety: defense of women’s and children’s privacy and safety in changing areas and restrooms
• Churches and Christian Ministries: equal standing with other community organizations and services without religious discrimination and regulatory harassment

Strengthen: I will continue to build relationships with legislators in Richmond. You can help by joining me at the General Assembly! I am setting aside each Tuesday from January 14 to March 3 to receive visitors at the Capitol and help them navigate the landscape during the legislative session. If you plan to come, send me an email (ealiff@vaib.org) a day or two before the date you plan to come so I can help you with arrangements. We will see committees in action and visit your delegate and senator while you are here. (If Tuesday doesn’t work for you, any other day of the week is fine.)

Educate: I will continue to provide information on issues pertaining to pastors and churches.

Involve: What can you do to help uphold religious liberty in Virginia? First, continue to proclaim the truths of God’s Word with power and courage! Second, prepare your congregants to be a part of the battle by warning them about the changes coming to Richmond! (Our #GivingTuesday effort will help you share the message easily online). Third, you can give!

I learned recently that online giving is preferred by many, but giving platforms are not all equal. Chad Connelly of Faith Wins provides the following insights:

“I am passionate about Christian influence in the public arena but have stumbled on something of vast importance for you as a pastor leader that I wanted to let you know about. Some of you have already begun to launch online giving programs at your church but probably aren’t aware of the ‘data war’ going on.

There are multiple online giving groups that DO NOT promise to protect your church’s data when they gather it, meaning that our folks could possibly receive messages from groups that we do not and cannot support since the data gatherers are most interested in holding, swapping, and selling that data to other companies for profit.

There is only one firm that I know of, Anedot, which is owned by a Christian friend of mine, who promises to never share your data in any way. At the very least, you should sign up for free and try out their text-to-give capabilities. Let’s face it, young folks don’t carry cash and don’t write checks and if we don’t have avenues for them to give, they just don’t do that. Pastor buddies of mine have seen tremendous growth in their giving by going to an online platform like Anedot.”

This Christmas season, we are more than conquerors because of Christ’s work on the Cross, and we are very much in a battle! So, let’s take the Bible admonition in Matthew 10:16 to be “wise as serpents, and harmless as doves” as we fight with courage, gratitude, and humility.

Your voice for Christian liberties!

Sincerely,

Rev. Eddy Aliff

Executive Director