Elaine Beck 0:11
Hey, everyone. I’m Elaine Beck and This is It’s Not About Us. We are so happy you’re here today, this is going to be a wonderful show. We’re doing something new and different, but we’re going to be doing this right, you’re learning now, we’re going to have panels, because it’s so important. I know that we all have opinions. But it’s so nice to get a varied opinion. And that way we all feel like it’s okay to think differently. It’s okay to be different. You know, all this hate that’s going around. We don’t need that. I remember when I was young, and we learned that it’s okay to disagree. It’s just not okay to fight. It’s not okay to hurt the other person. It’s not okay to, you know, think that you have to get back. Let’s just try and hear everybody’s opinion, and appreciate that God gave us each and individual mind that thinks something differently. So today, my guests are. This is my wonderful friend who works at the front desk here at the office. Her name is Stephanie Lowe. Stephanie say hello,

Stephanie Lowe 1:16
hello, thank you for this opportunity. It’s going to be fun.

Elaine Beck 1:19
It is going to be fun. It’s wonderful that God gave us all opinions, right?

Stephanie Lowe 1:24
Yes.

Elaine Beck 1:25
And then here we have Carleen and Carleen say your last name for me.

Carleen Lundquist 1:29
Lundquist

Elaine Beck 1:30
Lundquist that is really a pretty name. I what I think when I was younger, well, as you were growing up, you learned all these different names, and some of them sounded more rich, some of them sounded more professional. And some of them just sounded like mine too confusing. My maiden name was Eichelberger. so wonderful to have you Carleen. And then this is my dear friend of 14 years. Her name is Jeanette Sawyer, Janette say hello,

Jeanette Sawyer 2:01
Hello, thank you for inviting me.

Elaine Beck 2:03
oh, this is wonderful. Because like I said, all of us want to hear that we’re not the only one with a certain kind of opinion on something. And we’re going to be talking about something so exciting today, that is so important, and has gone so wrong in our country. And that is, are we supposed to be Christians When it comes to politics? Are we supposed to voice our opinion? Are we supposed to expect our pastors in our churches, or our ministers or whatever you call yours? Are we supposed to expect them to be honest with us about everything, including what’s happening in our country? Is it good that for years, it was all said that you need to separate church and state? Was that a good thing or a bad thing? And now, what are the repercussions of all that? So that’s our subject matter today. And I know that my audience is going to love this, because we all understand that my show is about God and country. And so that is the mix. And it is what’s important in my life. How I live, is based on God first, no matter what I’m doing, and how I live my life in a wonderful free country is also a passion of mine. So I’m going to ask him each questions, and just be yourself and answer them to the best of your ability. And I’m this is going to be fun. So relax and enjoy. Stephanie, we will start with you since we started introducing you, Stephanie. You know, I’m not asking anybody to share what denomination or what church that that’s your business. But if you’d like to you may. But I would like to hear what your take is on whether or not a church should be talking about what’s happening currently in the world.

Stephanie Lowe 4:13
I think we have to go back and what did our founding fathers start on? A lot of the founding fathers were a lot of them were ministers or they had rich faith. And they didn’t shy away from that. I think of George Washington on his his farewell address he I mean, he made a statement if I can just read it. I don’t want to misquote, “that you cannot have national morality, apart from religious principle.” they understood that there is that’s a bedrock That’s my understanding of of principles and morality and goodness for our country. And I think There’s a reason why we have the 10 commandments still, thankfully, on the marble at the Supreme Court. Because I mean, that’s Moses. And you know, he was a leader of the law. There was good principles. And that was important to our nation at one time, and unfortunately, not as much as it needs to be now.

Elaine Beck 5:23
thank you so much for that answer. I think you’re so right. I do know that I love to point out to everybody, because a lot of people don’t know this. But the first Bibles that were produced in the United States, once we became a country, were created by and managed by the Congress of the United States. And they did that for one purpose, to use them as classroom books to teach. And we all know, I just spoke to somebody today earlier on a show about the fact that proverbs teaches right and wrong and basic principles and biblical values. And that’s where we all got it from, you know what I’m, I’m, I’m older than all of you. And I know that when I was young, you know, we practiced everything about our religion in school. because we were a Judeo Christian country. And we still are. So I think these things are wonderful. Thank you for that answer. So how do you feel about what the way that churches seem to be ignoring these things nowadays? What what, what do you think about that?

Carleen Lundquist 6:47
Well, I feel like politics and religion, Christianity are inextricably woven together. You can’t have one without the other and going on with what Stephanie said. It’s what our country is based on. my ability to worship, the God we choose and the way we choose. And they broke that down very distinctly for us. And the Constitution is not a living document. It is a solid document. All of our foundations are based on that document, including the right to free speech and the right to religious expression. And the Bible, in those early days, as you were taught, was also used as a instruction book, in the schools. And the children were taught in the schools about the Bible, and everything we do within our government works If we are a Christian nation. and I believe it was John Adams that said, it won’t work for anything other than a Christian nation. That’s why our documents are designed. And that’s why right now, I think we see such confusion and fighting. And because there’s groups that don’t believe that, and they want to take that away. And so letting everybody choose to worship or not to worship as they choose. They don’t want anybody to worship the living God.

Elaine Beck 8:24
that’s true. That’s so true. We’re seeing that we’re feeling it. We’re feeling it.

Carleen Lundquist 8:29
And our churches are afraid. pastors in a lot of instances are just afraid to speak the truth. They don’t want to offend anybody. They don’t want to lose a base or have substantial giving base. They are afraid that, you know, their support will be gone. And I think, fear has taken over.

Elaine Beck 8:51
I think that fear stems from the fact that as a church, you are exempt from taxes. And years ago, when that first came into play, it was done because it was the right thing to do. Period. The churches shouldn’t have to bear that burden, right. However, time started passing, and people started turning away from the church. And people, a groups of people decided that, you know, if you get behind the pulpit now we’re going to start a new role. You get behind the pulpit, and you say anything about, you know, the government, and we’re going to take that privilege away from you. So they spread the fear. They they started something that causes the pastors and the ministers and the priests or whomever in the different churches to feel that they can’t speak out and they can’t be themselves when the little girl went to church. When the pastor got up, the first thing you heard was the update on what was happening in the community and, and what was happening in the school and what was happening in the the government. And then they got into the Bible, okay. Nowadays, it’s been a real hardship for pastors to get bold again, and realize because thankfully, President Trump changed something in the wording in one of the I don’t know what Bill it was, I’m not good at that. But he did pass a bill that said that they were allowed to speak about the country behind the pulpit without getting in trouble. And even at that people still fear. Because we all know that our freedoms are tested every day, when you look at things like January 6, when you look at things like, you know, voting at all, and that’s why I’m having these panels. And that’s why we’re going to have these talks, we are literally nine and a half months away from a vote that was stolen the last time and that we need to be prepared to do the right thing. And as Christians, the next question goes to you, Jeanette, as a Christian, you know, is it fair for you to have to worry about whether your vote is counted or not? Or if somebody has to identify and prove that they are, who they say they are, and that they are a citizen, and all of these things in order to vote? Is it fair? For that to be under question?

Jeanette Sawyer 11:48
I voted every time I’ve had an opportunity since I was old enough. I think it’s a right of, of mine in this country. Lately, I’m very frustrated, I’ve actually changed how I’ve, I mean, the party I belong to, because there’s so much fighting, there’s so much just not nice stuff going on it you know, you want to vote and you want to make a difference in your country, and you want God to be you know, paramount in your country, and you go to vote, and you can’t even trust your vote is going to be counted. And personally, I think we should go back to showing our ID and proving who we are. And, you know, I feel like there needs to be more people watching how we vote that we’re not getting illegals in and we’re not getting. Let’s just, you know, what is it overload the ballot box with who you want.

Elaine Beck 12:48
Right, stuffing it.

Jeanette Sawyer 12:49
Yeah, you know, and then they call you if you’re independent, and they ask you questions, they know how many illegals they have to put in to get their their person. You know, I just I’m saddened. I guess its absolutely it’s scary. Yes, I’m very disappointed. Because I’m, I don’t lie, I don’t cheat. God would like it. And I think that my votes gonna matter. And I kind of felt last time like it didn’t.

Elaine Beck 13:19
Amen. Honey, you said that so well, and, and I love your heart that, you know, like you said, it’s not that we’re angry or mad, or we want to get back or anything, we just wanted to be right. We want to feel confident, again, that, you know, that we matter. And our vote matters. And that, you know, we we want to stand for the good things, the telling the truth. You know, we want our our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, to look at us and know that we did the right thing, and we care. And, you know, as far as showing an ID, there isn’t anything else you can do. You can’t get on a plane, unless you’re an illegal. Throw that out there. You can’t get on a plane, you can’t go buy a car. You can’t go and register for a license or anything else without showing your ID. You can’t get your social security number. You can’t change anything like that. You must have that. So all of these lame excuses like because they’re poor, they can’t get their to do it. Come on everybody. Let’s wake up and smell the roses.

Stephanie Lowe 14:39
That’s really insulting to the people they’re accusing they’re they’re not smart enough to be able to do it or they don’t have an ID. It’s insulting, right.

Elaine Beck 14:48
And then, you know, another good question, and I’ll ask this of you. What do you think about the fact that they think that they can continue to do This mail in balloting? I mean, what’s that going to do to us?

Carleen Lundquist 15:08
if the I’m going to use the GOP right now, because they’ve never stood behind mail in balloting very much, and the Democrats have run away with it. And that is one of their tricks and schemes that the GOP is going to have to really get behind mail in balloting. I don’t feel it is the correct way to do it. But right now, you’ve got to, to fight back against the demon with this, you know, the same type of trick they’re using. And so I know there are a lot of people who like to use mail in balloting, because that is a really easy way to cheat.

Elaine Beck 15:47
It’s the lazy way, too.

Carleen Lundquist 15:49
It’s the lazy way. So if you can get to the grocery store, or the doctor’s office, or to wherever you get your food stamps, you can get to the polling place, right, and you can show an ID, you can’t travel to another country, you can’t buy a house, just like you’re saying all the other things. You can’t get a mortgage, or a credit card, unless you prove you can get a bank account. If they don’t see an ID. So there’s, there should be no reason for not showing an ID, we need to be back to one day voting, paper ballots, get rid of the machines. Yeah, and show an ID when you walk in the door. And then you know that your ballot has been placed in the box before you leave there.

Elaine Beck 16:32
Well, I the only thing that I would say is rather than looking at it as Democrat or GOP, I like to look at it as the people that realize and just use common sense, and decency, that we have to understand that our voice does matter. And that if we’re Christians, especially, you know, we have to stand up for what’s right.

Carleen Lundquist 17:02
And we have a lot of Christians, and we don’t show up, we’ll see where, oh, this is a huge, huge problem, that they don’t appreciate the country they live in, and take the responsibility the God given responsibility to get up and get to the pole. Whether or not you think your vote is going to count, or do anything you still vote.

Elaine Beck 17:22
Well, you know, I will say that I think that we have to understand that there’s been a lot of brainwashing in this country. And it started with a subject we talked about earlier. And that is that you shouldn’t mix religion and politics. So there’s a lot of people that were innocently lied to, and told, you know, well, you know, you know, voting isn’t that important, you know, things will take care of themselves. You know, I think that we have to realize that there’s a wonderful organizations out there right now that are standing up for good. I work with an organization called Faith Wins. Chad Conley runs Faith Wins that and man tirelessly, practically 365 days a year, he and his wife or just him. And a group of pastors cover blanket this entire United States, churches everywhere, going in to do one thing and one thing only, and that’s to talk to the parishioners and get them to register. They literally register them at the churches during these meetings. And help them understand that if you’re voting, you’re voting for one person, Jesus Christ. Because if you let down and you don’t understand that in the Bible, where it says that God is over the nation’s right, if you don’t go vote, you’re letting the devil run the country. That’s why we have all of this sick, perverted stuff going on with our children, and all of this weird stuff that we know isn’t righteous or true. homosexuality and transgenderism and woke ism, and all this kinds of stuff. This is all been brought about by people being lied to.