Tim LaHaye, an influential evangelical leader and author of the best-selling Christian book series, Left Behind, and his wife Beverly, the founder of Concerned Women of America, endorsed former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and LaHaye wrote a letter to pastors and evangelical leaders in South Carolina asking them to unify behind Gingrich.
In the letter obtained by HUMAN EVENTS, Tim LaHaye urges South Carolina’s religious leaders to unite “behind a proven conservative who has the best chance of replacing the present occupant of the White House with a man with a proven record of appointing conservatives to office who can return this country to the constitutional principles that God has chosen to bless [us with] for over two hundred years.”
This significant endorsement may signal other evangelicals to unite behind Gingrich in South Carolina and beyond to defeat former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential primary.
LaHaye writes that he has known Gingrich for thirty years and acknowledges that though Gingrich “is not perfect, none of us is," and notes that despite Gingrich’s past, which has made some religious voters hesitant, Gingrich can be trusted on issues that are important to social conservatives.
“During the last three years our nation has been led by liberal secularists who have tried their best to remove God from our public square and the elimination of the Biblical principles our founding fathers built this nation on,” LaHaye argues. “Their financial policies have already brought us to the brink of bankruptcy and their government policies of over-regulation has prolonged our recession and will, if continued for four more years, destroy this country as we know it.”
“If we do not change our leaders in the next election we will end up being like the godless socialist countries of Europe,” LaHaye writes. “That will so destroy our country in four years that many experts believe we will never be able to reclaim it for moral and physical sanity.”
LaHaye writes that in 1980, he helped Jerry Falwell start the influential Moral Majority, which was instrumental in electing Ronald Reagan, because America was “on a decline not unlike our country today” and “liberal secularists had brought our nation to the verge of malaise and stagnation because over half the Christians in America didn’t even bother to vote.”
According to LaHaye, Falwell told him personally that, “Speaker Gingrich is the most qualified man in America to run as president of the United States.”
LaHaye notes that he is one of two original Moral Majority board members who is still alive and writes to South Carolina’s religious leaders, “Now it is your turn.”
“As a South Carolinian, you are in a strategic position to help America at this historic time in our nation’s history,” LaHaye writes. “As a voter, you can go to the polls and elect the one man in the upcoming primary with the intelligence, conservative philosophy and hands on experience in government that is so needed today to return our country to the God honoring principles that made our nation the greatest country in world history.”
Gingrich is competing with former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum for the conservative and evangelical vote and to be the last anti-Romney candidate standing. But the longer the conservative vote is splintered, the easier it becomes for Romney to glide to the nomination.
If Gingrich can consolidate the support of evangelicals and conservatives in South Carolina and beyond, he will have a chance to defeat Romney, who has had difficulty persuading more than 30 percent.
The letter in its entirety appears below:
Dear fellow South Carolina Evangelicals and pastors:
You may find this hard to believe, but in 1947-48 I was the pastor of the Oolenoy Baptist church in Pumpkintown, S.C, thirty five miles out in the country from Greenville. It was there that I was ordained to the Gospel ministry and have been in the Lord’s work for over 64 happy years.
The reason I am writing you is because as a South Carolinian, you are in a strategic position to help America at this historic time in our nation’s history. During the last three years our nation has been led by liberal secularists who have tried their best to remove God from our public square and the elimination of the Biblical principles our founding fathers built this nation on. Their financial policies have already brought us to the brink of bankruptcy and their government policies of over regulation has prolonged our recession and will, if continued for four more years, destroy this country as we know it.
Some in this government want to tell churches who they can hire or fire to run their church, which is the very thing our forefathers wanted to keep the King and his government from doing. If we do not change our leaders in the next election we will end up being like the godless socialist countries of Europe. That will so destroy our country in four years that many experts believe we will never be able to reclaim it for moral and physical sanity.
That is where you come in!
As a voter you can go to the polls and elect the one man in the upcoming primary with the intelligence, conservative philosophy and hands on experience in government that is so needed today to return our country to the God honoring principles that made our nation the greatest country in world history. That man is our personal friend, Speaker Newt Gingrich. My wife Beverly, the Founder and Chairman of Concerned Women For America based in Washington D.C., and I believe he is the only man running for the office of President of America who shares our conservative principles who can beat the present leader in open debate. And win!
As my friend, the late Dr. Jerry Falwell told me personally, “Speaker Newt Gingrich is the most qualified man in America to run as president of the United States”… We agree!
In 1980, America was on a decline not unlike our country is today. Liberal secularists had brought our nation to the verge of “malaise and stagnation” because over half the Christians in America didn’t even bother to vote.
That’s why we started the Moral Majority that helped elect conservative Ronald Regan and with God’s help he changed the direction of our country. I am one of the two minister board members still living who helped Jerry get that majority started. Today we have no regrets!
Now it is your turn.
It seems apparent the Republican candidates have come down to two possible winners. Please prayerfully consider going to the polls on (date) and help elect Newt Gingrich, a proven conservative who has the best chance of replacing the present occupant of the White House with a man with a proven record of appointing conservatives to office that can return this country to the constitutional principles that God has chosen to bless for over two hundred years. Not just for ourselves, but for our children and to maintain the religious freedom that is so important today in preserving our nation’s future.
