Open Borders, Abortion, Election Engagement -What is the Christian Perspective?

This is Stu Epperson from the Truth Talk Podcast, connecting current events, pop culture, and theology, and we're so grateful for you that you've chosen the Truth Podcast Network. It's about to start in just a few seconds.

Enjoy it, and please share it around with all your friends. Thanks for listening, and thanks for choosing the Truth Podcast Network. Hello, and welcome to Christian Perspective.

I'm Chris Hughes, and I'm so glad to have you with us today. We're broadcasting in the studios in Memphis, Tennessee, on the campus of the beautiful Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. If you're looking for a college to attend, I hope that you will look at College of Mid-America. They have a great undergrad program there, and the neat thing about it is not only do you get a great education, but they will give you a firm biblical foundation as well. You'll develop a biblical worldview if you go to school there. You won't get any of this critical race theory or other nonsense, so be sure to go to mabts.edu. That's mabts.edu. Also, look at their seminary. Maybe you already have a college degree, and you want to get a master's degree or a doctorate degree.

It is a great school, and they have a new program that I'm so excited about. It's called apologetics. As Christians, we need to understand what we believe and why we believe it, and that's what apologetics does. It teaches us how to defend our faith and be able to explain various issues. We do that at the Citizens for America Foundation. If you want to stay in the loop and know what's going on all the time, I encourage you to go to citizensforamericafoundation.com.

That's citizensforamericafoundation.com, and sign up to get our newsletter. In about a month, we're going to start doing monthly webinars, sometimes twice a month on various topics. Issues like abortion, traditional family, same-sex marriage, homeschooling, all kinds of different issues. Family issues, cultural issues, social issues.

Christians can become educated on these issues and know what they believe and why they believe it. Our guest today is somebody we've had on before, just a couple of weeks ago. He was recently a speaker at the Culture Engagement Summit that we held in Memphis, Tennessee, back in April.

Dr. Frederick Tappan. Dr. Tappan, I'm so excited to have you back with us today. Thank you so much for joining The Christian Perspective. Dr. Hughes, I am honored and blessed to be a part of this astounding program that you have. I just praise God for it, that we're giving Christian people that love God an opportunity to share their thoughts and their views and their mores related to how we as Christians can affect our country, not only in our neighborhoods, not only in our cities, but in our country.

I'm so glad you're with us. For those of you that are listening, you know that I harp every day about how Christians need to be involved in the political process, particularly in this election year of 2022. I want to encourage you to be praying for Dr. Tappan. He is a pastor in the Memphis area. He has his own radio program there as well. And boy, he's blessed because I don't know how many of you listen to Todd Starnes. If you don't, you need to listen to the great Todd Starnes. He's really filling a void since Rush Limbaugh passed away and Todd's on hundreds of radio stations across the country. But his flagship station where he actually records his show is in Memphis, Tennessee.

And Dr. Tappan has a show on that very network there in Memphis. And he gets to be around the great one Todd Starnes all the time. So I'm jealous that you get to be in Todd's presence.

I'm jealous. I tell you what, I gleaned from him all the time. You know, when he calls me in the office, I feel like I'm being called to the principal's office. But it's usually him giving me some great advice and, you know, pointing me in a direction that's going to be a blessing to my show. And so it is an honor to be there with him every day. And he's so open and honest about everything. And it's, you know, he is a cherished cherub in order to be around. And I have grown so much in the time that I've known him. And I just see that our relationship continues to grow as well as our relationship as far as the news media is concerned.

Actually, I want to share this with you, Dr. Hughes. First time. And this was the first time for the station.

It was the first time for me. We did election coverage. I felt like I was on Fox News. And it was the first time that the station had done election coverage. And he tapped me to be one of those individuals from the station to anchor the election coverage. So that was a great, great opportunity.

Again, that's just the type person he is. And we look forward to doing more things like that. That's right. You just had a primary there in the Memphis area. I forgot about that. So did. Hey, I've got a question.

So this is the national audience just going to have to bear with me here for just a minute while we're talking about this. But you had an interesting situation about a week before the election there in Memphis. There was a man running for State House that his wife was a county commissioner. I don't remember the name, but she was a county commissioner and he had run for state house before. But the state election board deemed that he was not living in the district in Shelby. I think it's Shelby County there, right? Shelby County, even though his house had been recorded in the register of deeds office or the clerk of court's office like seven years ago.

You'd be paying property tax all these years. And his wife was on the county commission of Shelby County. Did they get that worked out before the election? It actually, from what I remember, it's going to be the judge put it on hold until sometime in June.

You're exactly correct. He was deemed to live in Fayette County, which is the next county east of Shelby County. But his wife, living in the same house, was deemed to be in Shelby County.

It was just absolutely, absolutely crazy. And, you know, there were like jokes coming around and say, well, is it the side of the bed that they sleep on? But what happened, the redistricting lines, it had a gray area there and they were a little ambiguous. And I think that's what this was all about. And yeah, they're going to there was a hold on it on the case until June, sometime in June. And that's when they will reopen the case and relitigate it in relation to exactly where he lives.

But I think it's going to work out again. We just finished a redistricting and there was some ambiguity related to the redistricting. And I believe they're going to get that straightened out because they don't have a choice. Well, politics is just so interesting. When I heard that case, I mean, I've heard a lot of crazy things, you know, travel around the country and be involved in a lot of campaigns. But I'd never heard where a guy was married to a county commissioner and she was elected in that one county. But the state said, no, you're not in that county.

So you can't run for that seat. So I'm going to have to I didn't realize it was still continuing to follow that with great interest. Well, Dr. Taffer, last time you were on here, we were talking about the border crisis in our country today. And and maybe if some of our listeners missed that, I thought we'd go back to just kind of touch on that issue for a minute. We're talking about a lot of things today going on in our country.

But, you know, there's been a lot in the news really since. Well, even before when President Trump was in office, you know, he wanted to build a wall. And the Bible talks about how nations are independent and even, you know, Jerusalem. I don't know if you've ever been to Israel, but you know, from studying the Bible, they have a wall that a lot of cities, the ancient cities in the Bible had a wall to keep enemies out and people that were not of that nation out of those cities.

And the same is true in the United States of America. And so President Trump was building a wall to stop the flow of illegal immigrants coming across the border and to try to slow down the drug trade, and particularly the sex trafficking trade at the Culture Engagement Summit where you spoke a couple of weeks ago. We had a congresswoman from Mexico, Congresswoman Orozco, come and talk about if you got to go to her presentation to talk about the terrible.

Did you get to hear her? Yes. Talk about human trafficking. And so when President Biden took office, he, you know, stopped the construction of the wall. And, you know, the wall wasn't going to stop everything. But it's really become terrible where hundreds of thousands of people are just coming across the border. Many terrorists have come across the border. And in recent weeks, a lot of people are drowning crossing the river. So I wanted you to kind of recap what's going on down there for us.

I'll tell you what, Dr. Hughes, it is terrible. I've got some numbers that are staggering here that I believe the listeners will be very interested in. In 2020, there were 400,000 border encounters. In 2021, just one year later, that number quadrupled almost. It went from 400,000 to 1.6 million. It is a record, the highest annual total of border encounters in the history of the United States, from 400,000 to 1.6 million. And about 30 percent of those individuals were repeat crossers.

So what does that say? The border is out of control. In one year, it went from 400,000 to 1.6 million.

It's just crazy. And we're talking about a change in administration, a change in how they're doing things on the border. And when you become lackadaisical, the numbers go up. And I remember reading about this after the election. And when Biden took office, the numbers immediately started to go up because he vowed that he was going to relax the laws and relax many of the number of the border agents that were down there fighting for our lives and fighting for their own lives.

He was going to make it a little bit more lax and make it easier for them to come across. And like you said, you've got the number of individuals, of migrants that are crossing the Rio Grande. Children are drowning.

Adults are drowning. And so with that number increasing, it increases casualties right there on the border. And we've got to do something about it.

To go from 400,000 to 1.6 million in one year is a travesty. And again, we need someone that's going to be tough on the border. We don't mean hurting people. We don't mean being cruel to individuals. But anything that we have control over, we need to have control. We need to be able to set standards. We need to be able to have a certain number of border patrol agents that are working and that they're well paid and they're well supported and they're not being overworked. The key of it is we've got to put more money into it. We've got to reinvest in it. And we've got to come up with plans that will attach to what's going on right now. Because in 2020, when we only had 400,000 border encounters, if we look at the number, the way that it has tripled, then maybe we need to look at tripling the number of border agents that we have down there.

Because if we had enough for 400, the number for 400 is not going to be a requisite for the new number of 1.6 million. So we've got to look at it in a different way because if we continue to do the same thing, it's insanity and it's not going to work. And that's what's happening now. It's not working.

It's such a problem. Well, I'll tell you what, let's take a quick commercial break. When we come back, I want to ask you to think about the Christian perspective and how Christians should react to this. Folks, we're going to take a break here. We'll be right back.

Or the causes you care about. We'll be right back. Get ready for an unforgettable trip and memories that will last a lifetime.

To help you navigate the seasons of motherhood, faith and life with confidence and joy. History was made on today's date. Stay tuned for an American Minute with Bill Federer. The invincible Spanish Armada sailed off this day, May 19th, 1588, to conquer England. Queen Elizabeth relied on Sir Francis Drake, who used smaller, faster vessels and ingeniously sent burning ships at midnight downwind where the Spaniards were anchored, dispersing them in a panic. Aided by gale force winds, half the Spanish fleet was wrecked. Had England lost, there would have been no pilgrims, no New England and no United States. A coin minted after the event showed ships sinking and men kneeling under the inscription, Man Proposeth, God Disposeth. This has been an American Minute with Bill Federer. For a free transcript, call American Minute at 1-888-USA-WITH. Welcome back to Christian Perspective.

I'm Chris Hughes. My guest today is Dr. Frederick Tappan. We're talking about the border crisis in America today. It is such an issue. As Dr. Tappan just shared with us, the numbers have astronomically increased over the last couple of years from the number of people that are coming across the border. Dr. Tappan, a lot of Christians, you know, you and I travel across the country speaking and we saw a lot of people at the Culture Engagement Summit a few weeks ago, and some Christians are confused on the issue. You know, they want to be compassionate and to talk about how Jesus loved everybody. You know, shouldn't we just welcome these people in? You know, because the left has really fooled a lot of people in the churches in particular, saying that, well, these are, you know, refugees or they're seeking asylum for some crime in their country.

What would your answer be? I mean, how should a Christian respond? Should we just let them come in or is there a right way to do it? Are we not being Christ-like if we tell everybody they can't come in? Well, Dr. Hughes, Christ had standards, and standards for everything. And again, we have to have standards. We have to, the Bible tells us to make sure that we take care of the sick, that we take care of those that are incarcerated, that we take care of those that are hungry and take care of those that are needy.

Yeah, that's our job. But the key of it is, when it comes to protecting our country, we have to have standards to take care of our country. You mentioned earlier, there were walls around Jerusalem, and there were only certain gates that people could come through, that migrants could come through. And so there were standards, and there was only a certain number of people that were allowed to come through at a particular time. So this is not anything new. This is not, as far as putting standards on how many people come in, that's not new.

This is a standard procedure. You cannot allow anyone to come into the country without being vetted, without going through the process, because you don't know who's coming through. You don't know if there are terrorists coming through. You don't know if there are people that are coming through that are here to harm our children, that are here to commit crimes. It must be a standard.

And when we set that standard, we must keep that standard. And so in those individuals that don't go through the process, there are two types of encounters that they will see. Either expulsions or apprehensions. If you come across and you are illegal, the two types of encounters, again, are expulsions and apprehensions. And do I have a minute to explain those two?

Yeah, please do. Yeah. An expulsion is when a migrant, if a migrant is encountered and they are, if there's an expulsion, they are immediately expelled to their home country or to the last country of transit. And most of them is what happened during, since COVID.

That's what happened. Most of them were expelled because they were illegal. They were vetted and found that they were illegal and they were expelled.

Then you have apprehensions. And those are migrants that have crossed the border into our country without being detected. And when they are apprehended, they are detained in the United States temporarily until there is an expulsion hearing. And so they will do an investigation to find out if they are here illegally or not.

But are they really detained or are they just told, OK, we're going to set you free and we hope that you show up to court one day? Well, we're talking about what the rules say. Now, actual application is some people, as you and I know, were secretly flown into different areas of the United States secretly and set up by the government because they're not following their own rules.

There were there were there were plane loads of individuals and busloads of individual migrants that were sent to different areas of our country violating the rules of our border patrols. And that's I mean, how can you have a rule and you not follow the rule? That's the reason that it is out of control. We have well in place and because you're not following the rules, then it gets out of control.

I think it's called Title 42. Well, you know, a lot of people might have watched the news in recent weeks where the governor, Governor Abbott of Texas, was pitting people on buses and sending them to Washington, D.C. and dumping them out in Washington, D.C. And he did that. You know, a lot of people didn't maybe understand why he did that because of what you just said. The Biden administration was literally I mean, I live in the mountains of North Carolina about an hour and a half from me, not even that far. There's a little country airport.

And I know people that were at the airport watching where they flew people in and unloaded them like at one or two in the morning in the middle of night where nobody where the press wouldn't be aware of it. This was happening all over the country and they would dump these illegals out. And this is happening at a time, you know, when we're being told that COVID is going to kill the world and we need to wear masks. We have to be vaccinated. We can't go to school.

We can't go to church or do anything like that. And they're letting these people cross the border that haven't been vaccinated, haven't been tested or or quarantined. And they're shipping COVID all across the country through these illegal immigrants, illegal aliens across the nation.

You know, I don't I can't understand it, Dr. Tappan. I mean, there could be terrorists and it's not just Mexicans or people from South America. There are people from all over the world coming across that border. And it's just like an open gate. Come on in. Come blow us up or kill us or spread disease. You know, bring in your sleeper cells to wait for trouble down the line. I cannot understand the rationale for letting these people in.

I don't get it. Yeah, it is ridiculous because what we're dealing with here are individuals from all over the world. Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Russia, Ukraine, people from from everywhere that are coming in.

And you don't know who these people are. They're not being vetted. They're not being tested for COVID. We have to be tested for COVID, but the individuals that are coming into our country don't have to be tested.

It doesn't make any sense. And so we've got to get this thing under control. You've got people from Brazil, Venezuela, Haiti, from Cuba. And these are just countries that are nearer to us that are coming in every day. And again, they must be vetted. We need to find out who these people are and why they came. If they come through legitimately, I have no problem with immigrants coming to America.

We're all immigrants unless you are a Native American. So with that fact stated, everyone needs to be vetted. We need to find out who they are, why they're here and follow the rules. Don't make a rule to break it. Follow the rules. And again, that's not anti-Christian. There's nothing anti-Christian about following the rules. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

Follow the rules of the government. And I believe if we follow the rules of the government, then we can get this under control and have some semblance of control and understanding in relation to our border situation. Well, you were talking about Jerusalem and other cities throughout the Bible that had walls. You know, we want to be honest about it, Christians that are listening. Heaven has a gate. The Bible talks about that gate. And the wall is really the cross of Jesus Christ. In Jesus, there's only one way in. I mean, it's not an open flood gate. The Bible tells us Jesus himself said it's a narrow path. And the only way to get there is through Jesus Christ. So having borders and walls is biblical. And so Christians need to understand that. I want to put you on the spot here.

I wanted to ask you. You mentioned when you were talking a while ago, you mentioned the word migrant. And I've noticed a shift in the last couple of weeks in the press. You know, we used to call them illegal aliens.

And and then, you know, that was too offensive. So we couldn't call them illegal aliens. I think it was just a media ploy because, you know, they didn't want people to think that they were illegal. And then they called them refugees. Well, the new buzzword of the last few weeks is migrants.

And where I live, we have a huge Christmas tree, like the largest Christmas tree production area in the country is here in the mountains of North Carolina. And a lot of particularly Mexican people are brought here. But there's a very specific legal process where they're only allowed to be here for a specific period of time. Their living conditions have to be very well documented.

You know, it's not just a free for all. There's a specific way for them to come to work. And just like in Florida, where they have migrant workers for strawberries and oranges, I always thought migrants were people that came here to work. But I've noticed the media is now calling all these people migrants.

Is my definition wrong? What is or was a migrant? What's the difference in a migrant and illegal alien? Well, from what I understood, the migrants are any individual that's trying to get into the country.

That's just the general understanding. Isn't that different from how it used to be? Because they used to be workers, right? Well, migrant workers are those individuals that usually worked on farms or worked here seasonally. But those were individuals that were already in the country. And those were individuals that either had a green card or they were here legally for a specific amount of time. And they were called migrant workers. I guess the new term, I don't know.

I don't know what it means. I just consider it, I consider it to be anyone that was trying to come across the border, whether it was in a legal manner or if it was illegal. Once you get it, once you cross the border and you're illegal, then you become an illegal alien. But those individuals, the way I look at it, are those that are trying to get in legally. But those that are not in legally, once you're in and you're here and you're not legal, you're an illegal alien. Yeah, I just love the way they keep changing the terms because they want you to have this warm, fuzzy person feeling.

And they do not want you to think that they're illegal in any way, shape or form. Folks, we're talking to Dr. Fred Tappan. He's a pastor in the Memphis, Tennessee area. He's a pastor who actually takes a stand on the word of God, preaches the whole word of God and addresses the issue of our culture.

And we're so thankful for his friendship. When we come back, we're going to continue talking about the border issue a little bit and we're going to jump into issues like abortion and other things. So stick around.

Be right back. Much of America's forgotten Christian heritage, your tour will include an up close and personal look at the nation's establishment and how it's evolved over the centuries. Learn about the government and the men who helped forge this new kind of republic, one that acknowledged the creator from its very inception.

Know the truth about the creation of the United States of America, about the faith of the founding fathers and how Christian principles were used to establish this form of government. Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com today and secure your spot to join Chris Hughes in Washington, DC this June. This show is brought to you by Generous Joe's, the coffee company with the Christian perspective. This is the answer that Christians and conservatives have been looking for. A coffee company that gives back to causes you care about.

Order your coffee today at ShopGenerousJoes.org and even subscribe to a subscription coffee plan and never forget the coffee you love or the causes you care about. The Conservative Baptist Network is a dynamic movement of Southern Baptist pastors, churches and Christians committed to standing for the sufficiency of God's word in the face of a culture of compromise. Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com today at ConservativeBaptistNetwork.com to learn how you and your church can join and support this exciting movement. Welcome back to the Christian perspective. We're talking to Dr. Frederick Tappan, the pastor in the Memphis, Tennessee area, radio show host.

And before we jump in, I just want to plug Dr. Tappan. We were at the Culture Engagement Summit a couple of weeks ago, and one of the sponsors, the main sponsor of that event was Patriot Mobile. And I just want to tell our listeners, if you're looking for a cell phone company or whether you're looking or not, I would encourage you to go to PatriotMobile.com.

They have great phone plans. And when you go to check out, they have a promo code area. If you put in promo code Citizens, which is a special code they've given to members of Citizens for America. So if you have checked out our website, we'd love you to use this code.

It'll save you some money. It's a way for us to say thank you for what you do to support our ministry. If you go to PatriotMobile.com, you can sign up today. And I'm not speaking ill of Verizon or Cricket or any of these other companies, Sprint, that are out there. But I want to tell you, this is a Christian company I got to visit and spend a lot of time with. I don't know if you met Scott Coburn at the event. Dr. Tappan, Scott Coburn is the executive with them. And Glenn Storey is the founder and president of Patriot Mobile. And they are both strong Christians. They are a Christian company.

It's unreal. When you go to your website, I've never seen a public company take a stand for Jesus like they do. They want to impact the culture for Jesus. They share our mission at Citizens for America. So I encourage you. I'm a new customer of Patriot Mobile. I want to support Christian companies.

That's something the liberals are good at. They support each other. They boycott companies they don't like. I would encourage you to do business with a great Christian company. Visit PatriotMobile.com when you check out. Put in promo code Citizens and you will save a lot of money when you do that. Anyway, I just want to give them a plug.

They're not a paid advertiser for the show, Dr. Tappan. But I love supporting Christians that are that have the courage to take a stand out there. And I know you feel the same way.

I want to hear yours. Did you get to meet them while they were there at the culture? I did not.

I did not. I did get a card from them, but I did not get a chance to sit down and speak with them. Yeah, they sent Scott Coburn and he's just a great guy. Boy, they love the Lord. So I encourage you to get to know them and they support Christian causes all over the country.

Just a great, great company. I want to shift gears. We've been talking about immigration. And another hot topic in our country right now is abortion. And I mean, it's really been a hot topic really since 1973 and even before. But in the last couple of weeks, there were some documents released that allege that the Supreme Court is going to overturn Roe v. Wade. And so for our listeners who may not be familiar, back in 1973, there was a Supreme Court case that is now referred to as Roe v. Wade. So when you hear that, it's talking about a Supreme Court case and several things were determined. But basically what happened, and I'm oversimplifying, but what happened at that time is the United States Supreme Court said that women had a constitutional right under the United States Constitution to have an abortion and to murder babies through abortion. And Dr. Tappan, I know you've read the Constitution, too.

I've never seen that even hinted at in the United States Constitution. Neither. You haven't either, have you? No, neither have I.

And I kind of laugh. The liberals like to say now, well, we don't want men telling us what to do with our bodies, but yet they support that decision. And I don't know if you know this, Dr. Tappan, but the people that were on the Supreme Court at that time, every one of them was a man. They sure loved the decision when it was in their favor, but today they ought to say, we don't want a man telling us what to do with our body. But what's happened, folks, is back in, and I'm not trying to draw Dr. Tappan into a controversial subject. No, no, no.

It's my turn. Back in December, really since 1973, there hasn't been a whole lot coming before the United States Supreme Court, even on the issue of abortion. But President Trump, as we know, got the opportunity. So love him or hate him. I can tell you as a Christian, I'm thankful that there were a group of us, he prayed regularly.

I mean, believe it or not, I can't speak as to whether he is or isn't a Christian, and he certainly says things that I don't like all the time. But I've been on many calls with the President, had a chance to pray with him, and he made a commitment to us before, when I say us, a group of Christian leaders before taking office, that if he was elected, that he would appoint Supreme Court justices from a list that we prepared. And he kept his word, and he did that, and he had the opportunity to nominate three justices to the United States Supreme Court and over 300 federal judges, all of whom served for life.

And so it's an important thing that he did, and he kept his word. And so back in December, a case came before the court. It's called the Dobbs case, and it's based on a piece of legislation that came out of the state of Mississippi. I think it was after 15, it's either 12 or 15, I think it's 15 weeks, it said there would be no abortions once, basically, I mean, it's not really the heartbeat bill, but basically it's saying after a universally accepted time of a heartbeat for that baby, which I think they listed 15 weeks, but really the heartbeat is detected as early as six weeks. Well, the court heard what's called oral arguments in December, and we've been waiting and we think that the opinion will be issued in June, but Dr. Tappan, just a couple weeks ago, you probably saw on the news, where somebody liberal within the courts leaked a document that was supposed to be a rough draft of the opinion, and praise the Lord, the opinion says that they are going to send Roe v. Wade back to the states. I know that you rejoice with me that, I mean, it's not throwing out abortion completely, but at least this will say that there is not a federal constitutional right to have an abortion. It's a great day for America.

Most definitely. I tell you what, I did a little research, and let me share this with you, this was something compelling that I did not know. We called it Roe v. Wade. Well, Roe was not even the person's name. Jane Roe is the name of the, supposedly the name of the individual involved with the case. Well, Jane Roe is a euphemism just like John Doe, and so they did not want to use the person's name, so they used Jane Roe.

So I thought that was a bit of trivia in relation to it, and it lays the foundation for this travesty that has marred our nation since 1973. 62 million children have been aborted since 1973. 62 million of the voiceless unborn. Their lives have been taken away.

And I'm just really proud of Tennessee. There's a House bill, HB 2779, actually that was officially filed in February as a caption bill, and it will substantially change what Roe v. Wade set out to do. And it would ban abortion except to prevent the death or substantial, irreversible impairment of a major bodily function of the pregnant woman.

So it did have some special circumstances built into the law, but this is the law, I think we called it a trigger law, that once Roe v. Wade is abolished, then this law would be triggered into use here in the state of Tennessee. And I just think about this, I want to share a story with you if I could, Dr. Hughes. My daughter, who was born at 26 weeks, she was one pound four ounces, she had sickle cell disease, she had biopulmonary dysplasia, she could only see out of one eye. They said that she would not be able to speak. When she was born, they were giving her occupational therapy, teaching her how to use sign language and trying to teach her how to talk, and she would have been a prime candidate for abortion. But this young lady, who they said would not be able to speak, this young lady, who they said would be developmentally retarded all of her life, she graduated ninth in her high school class. This same young lady, who would have been a prime candidate for abortion, she graduated from the University of Memphis magna cum laude, this same individual who could have been a prime candidate for abortion. Now, she is the teacher of our children's church at our church, and you can't tell me that there are other kids that were in that same situation that were aborted, that their lives were snuffed out. The choice is not whether it's a child or not. When that zygote happens, the zygote is the meeting between the sperm and the egg, when that zygote happens, to me, that is life. You make a choice before the act is committed.

After the act is committed and a child's life has begun, it's not a choice, it's a life. And so I am pro-life, and I will forever be pro-life, because I have a daughter. What a powerful testimony. Is that the young lady? You had a daughter with you at the culture engagement? That was the one that was with me, yes sir.

Wow, I wish I had known that. We would have put her on the stage, brother. Wow, what a powerful, powerful testimony. There's another famous, there's probably a lot of them, but Tim Tebow, the famous football player, same situation where his mother, the doctors told her to have an abortion, and she didn't. What a powerful testimony of your daughter.

Thank you and your wife so much for standing on the Word of God and not aborting that pressure. She is a beautiful and very intelligent young lady. I talked to her, but I had no clue. I didn't know she was your daughter at first at the event. What a great testimony.

I'm not that attractive. She got it from Mama, didn't she? That's how it is with our family too. Amen. Well, what a powerful testimony. I'll tell you what, let's take a quick break and we'll come back and talk more about this issue and how Christians can make a difference. We'll be right back.

Media graphics, cards, weddings, clothings, prints, photo editing, and much more. Give us a call today at 704-984-2432 or connect with Diggs Design on social media. In a world crowded with viewpoints and voices, critical condition after ASUM, I believe the message of this financial problems.

Only one voice matters. Gods. At the College at Mid-America and Mid-America Seminary, we equip leaders to think from a biblical worldview online or on our Memphis campus.

Check out the College at Mid-America and Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary at mabts.edu and be equipped to light the way. This show is brought to you by Generous Joe's. The coffee company with the Christian perspective.

This is the answer that Christians and conservatives have been looking for. A coffee company that gives back to causes you care about. Order your coffee today at shopgenerousjoes.org and even subscribe to a subscription coffee plan and never forget the coffee you love or the causes you care about. Do you desire to build family relationships that stand the test of time? Does creating a Godly family seem like a daunting challenge?

You're not alone. I'm Connie Yaupers, author of Parenting Beyond the Rules and host of Equipped to Be. As a mother of five, I understand your struggles.

For 35 years, I have been helping families just like yours build lasting relationships. I'd like to invite you to tune in to Equipped to Be and visit connyyaupers.com where I share useful tips and proven strategies to help you navigate the seasons of motherhood, faith, and life with confidence and joy. The United States of America has a strong Christian heritage, but most Americans don't know the truly important role that God in the Bible played in the founding of this great nation. This June, join nationally syndicated radio host and founder of the Citizens for America Foundation, Dr. Chris Hughes, for four amazing days in our nation's capital. With Chris, you'll embark on a journey of discovering the hidden secrets of Washington, D.C. and rediscover much of America's forgotten Christian heritage. Your tour will include an up-close and personal look at the nation's establishment and how it's evolved over the centuries. Learn about the government and the men who helped forge this new kind of republic, one that acknowledged the creator from its very inception.

Know the truth about the creation of the United States of America, about the faith of the founding fathers, and how Christian principles were used to establish this form of government. Visit CitizensForAmericaFoundation.com today and secure your spot to join Chris Hughes in Washington, D.C. this June. Folks, welcome back to The Christian Perspective.

I'm Chris Hughes. My guest today is Dr. Frederick Tappan. He's a pastor in the Memphis area. Dr. Tappan just shared, I mean, I've got tears in my eyes, what a powerful testimony.

If you missed it, you need to, this will be released in a podcast later today after it's on your favorite radio station. And hear the testimony of his beautiful daughter and how doctors tried to get them to abort his baby girl. And she graduated magna cum laude from her school and in high school was ninth in her class. And she is such a smart and intelligent and brilliant young woman, and God is using her in a mighty, mighty way. Praise the Lord for that. What a great testimony, sir.

Well, you know, this issue, you were talking about the trigger law that you have in Tennessee. That's why, Pastor, it's so important. You know, there are over 40 million Christians in this country, people that claim to be Christians, that are not registered to vote, that are eligible to vote. This is why Christians need to get registered to vote and why they need to pay attention in this election cycle. So every two years, every House member across the country, both the State House and the U.S. House, are up for re-election. And then large portions of the Senate on our rotation, depending on how long their term is, four years, six years, whatever it may be. Every State House member and many State Senate members, and I'm not talking right now about United States Congress, United States House. I'm talking about State House, the representative that lives around the corner from you, the man or woman in the State Senate that may go to your church or their kids go to school with you.

They're up for re-election this year in November of 2022. And Christians need to get registered to vote and vote because this is more important, Dr. Tappan, than ever before to elect godly men and women to the State House and the State Senate because this Roe decision. I mean, there are many important issues out there, but the Supreme Court, it looks like, is almost positively going to overturn Roe v. Wade. And that does not end the abortion issue. All that's going to do is say it's not a federal constitutional issue, but it's a state rights issue and it's going to send abortion back to the states.

And so these state legislatures like yours in Tennessee are going to have to vote on bills or they're going to have to determine what is a viable human being. When does life begin for that unborn baby? Can abortions be held at all in your state? You know, is your legislature in your state, your state house, state senator, are they going to have the courage to say we're not going to allow abortion at all? Or are they going to say, you know, at the heartbeat of six weeks or 12 or 15? At what point and under what circumstances are we going to offer exemptions, which I hope they won't in the case of ripe rape, incest and the life of the mother?

At what point would this happen? And so those of you that are listening, we need to elect godly men and women to the state house and the state senate who will be brave because this is going to be the new battleground. Dr. Tappan, it's going to be a huge issue coming up, not just in November, but the next year or two, as state legislatures are going to be forced by both sides to decide, you know, when is life and when can it happen? We also need to let godly men and women to district judge positions and state supreme court. So I know you're a Christian, you're a pastor, and many pastors skirt this issue.

I wanted to take this last segment, Dr. Tappan, knowing what's coming for us as Christians, should Christians engage in the political process? Do you think it's important or should we continue to stay away from it and say there's separation of church and state? I'll tell you what, again, you know, people have misinterpreted the Constitution for so many years in relation to separation of church and state. When the pilgrims came to the Americas, it was because of religious freedom.

One of the reasons, one of the big issues that we are, who we are in America is because of our freedom to be able to choose the way that we want to worship our God. And when this position of running for state senate came before me, one of my good friends, Representative Mark White, came to me and he said, look, man, I've thought about running for office. And of course, I retorted like many Christians, I said, no, man, I don't want to be a part of that, it's a sewer, you know, it's just a bunch of bad people making bad law. And he proposed several different questions, but the last one touched my heart. He said, pastor, if godly people are not availing themselves to run for office, what are we left with?

I said, ungodly people. And it was at that time that I said, you know what, God is showing me that, you know, I need to take a stand because of my faith, because of my morality, because of whom I belong to, because of whose I am. It is time for the Christians to cease being silent, and now to be resilient and stand firm on the word of God. And I remember the young lady that was, her life was put in jeopardy back in Colorado at a school shooting, and one of the guys asked her, are you a Christian? And she boldly said yes, and she was killed.

She gave literally her life for Jesus Christ. And I should be able to put my reputation on the line, I should be able to put my faith on the line. So if one person asks me, why are you running? I'm running first because I'm a Christian and I want to make sure that God's people are taken care of in the right way. I'm here to stand firm on the word of God and to make sure that the people are given an opportunity to share their faith and to stand firm on their faith without the threat of retribution. That's one of the things that I stand firm on, and every Christian has a right and a responsibility to get involved in the political process because that's the way that we can win this country back to Christ.

Amen. I love what you said, that they have a responsibility, and they're not seeing it as such. And pastors are not telling people. But it is a responsibility.

In the book of Genesis, the Bible tells us that we were created in God's image, and God created everything, and He gave man as the creature creating God's image, as dominion over that. And politics and government is part of this world, and God did not intend for us to step aside and let evil reign in those areas. And we have done a terrible job as a church of engaging the culture in the arena of public policy and politics, and we've got to take it back and we've got to engage. And I know another good friend of ours that spoke at the Culture Engagement Summit is Chad Conley.

Chad has a ministry called Faith Wins, and Chad's doing a tour right now with evangelists Byron Mixon and David Barton of WallBuilders, and this week they're hitting like 15 different churches in like three days. And what they do, pastor, is they encourage Christians to register people to vote. Now, you're a pastor of, I think, a predominantly African-American church, and African-American church has done a great job of being engaged over the years.

White churches, no, we're not done it. We can register people to vote. Every pastor listening, I encourage you to have voter registration drives, and not just one, several throughout the year.

Maybe you're not a pastor, but you go to a church and you believe this is important. All you've got to do is go down to your local board of elections or supervisor elections, whatever they call it in your state, and tell them you want to have a voter registration drive. You can register voters online or take paper copies of applications and have a table in the vestibule of the foyer of your church. And pastors, get a spine. Pastors, maybe preach a sermon on the responsibility, as Dr. Tappan just said, that we have a responsibility to be engaged in the civic process in our community, and one way to do that is to be registered to vote. I mean, not just the state house and state senate races that I talked about just a minute ago, but our school boards across the country felt as being a pornography, just terrible things, Dr. Tappan, are being paid for with taxpayer dollars in public schools across the country today. And there are churches, if two or three churches in your community turned out voters, you could control every member. When I say control, I mean, you know, elect godly men and women for every position on your school board, county commission, city council, mayors. Those are local positions and churches can make a huge difference, but the first step is to register to vote.

It is not illegal to register to vote. And also, as Dr. Tappan said, there's no such thing as separation of church and state. Pastors, shame on you if you believe that lie. Get a copy of the Constitution, Google it, it doesn't take 30 minutes.

Pastor, I know you've read it, I've read it. There's never a mention anywhere of separation of church and state of the Constitution. And that comes from a liberal lie because there was a letter sent from a group of Danbury Baptists to Thomas Jefferson years ago asking him about the situation. And it wasn't keeping the church out of the state, it was trying to keep the state from controlling what happened in churches. In the church, exactly.

It was just the opposite of what's being propagated. And because we're too lazy to read the Constitution and have apathy and ignorant about the situation, we believe that lie and the churches have gone silent. Another big thing that churches fear is, oh, I'll lose my 501c3 status. That is a lie from the pit of hell. One, who cares about stupid, stand on the word of God and not worry about some stupid 501c3 status.

A church, even if you had a lawyer tell you, you don't even really need it. But even if you got it, there's never been one case, I'm sorry, I'm starting to preach, Pastor, I'm getting excited. Preach, man. There's never been one case. Not one case in the history of the United States where a church has lost their 501c3 status for having candidates in their church, for having voter registration drives.

It has never happened. The only thing that the federal tax code prevents you from doing is saying you cannot, you can't tell somebody they can't be a member of your church because they support a certain candidate. Pastor, do you know that you even, you might not have the guts to do it, some pastors do, and I praise God for them, but pastors listening, do you know that you can even stand in the pulpit and say that I, Chris, used? Excuse me, you know, I'm going to endorse and vote for Fred Tappan for State Senate in Tennessee because he's a man of God that stands on the word of God. Do you know that you can legally say that from the pulpit? You can. Again, you might be spineless.

You might not take a stand. I know, you know, I was in your area of Memphis recently, Dr. Tappan, and I know that there are pastors of mega churches. I mean, one of the biggest churches in the country that don't have the spine to support godly men and women, even from their own church that are running for public office. And shame on pastors who won't take a stand and be bold in saying that we need to elect godly men and women to public office. And I have just about eaten up your time, Dr. Tappan, but I'm fired up, as you can tell.

No, no, but that's something to be fired up about. We have a food drive or we feed the community once a month in our community because we're in a food desert. And so we're setting up opportunities. We have a table out there.

We have a praying table. We also have a table to sign people up to vote. So we have a voter registration guide once a month. And as the people are coming in, those who don't have not registered, we register them right there on the spot.

And that is so important. So y'all, we've run out of time, but I encourage you pastors and church members to get registered to vote. And then how do you get educated?

Well, there are a lot of ways. You can go to citizensfromamericafoundation.com. We'll sure help you. Or check out our friends at iVoterGuide.com. You put in your zip code.

They'll tell you who's running for office in your area, where you can vote, and where the candidates stand on the issues. Dr. Tappan, thank you for being with us today. We sure appreciate you and what you stand for.

Dr. Hughes, I'm honored. Anytime you need me, I am here. I thank God for you. I thank God for your audience. And may God richly bless you and keep you. Thank you, brother. Folks, listen here each and every day in our favorite radio station across the country and know that these shows are released in podcast format later on.

Download it and share it with your friends. Now let's go impact the culture for Jesus. Thank you for listening. The Christian Perspective with Chris Hughes. Learn more about impacting the culture for Jesus. Visit citizensforamericafoundation.com. This is the Truth Network.