December 1, 2008
Letter to Governor Sarah Palin
Dear Friends,
I have written and sent on our PCC church letterhead the following letter to Governor Sarah Palin. It is my hope that many other pastors and Christians, including Christian women, will share similar sentiments with her. Neo-evangelical pro-family leaders have heaped praise upon Palin and encouraged her to run for president in 2012. Now would be a good time for her to hear from thousands of Christians who hold to the Word of God in such matters. I hope some of you will also pass this suggestion on to friends. Mrs. Palin's e-mail address is [email protected] (or use the contact form). Her mailing address is below.
Pastor Ralph Ovadal
I have written and sent on our PCC church letterhead the following letter to Governor Sarah Palin. It is my hope that many other pastors and Christians, including Christian women, will share similar sentiments with her. Neo-evangelical pro-family leaders have heaped praise upon Palin and encouraged her to run for president in 2012. Now would be a good time for her to hear from thousands of Christians who hold to the Word of God in such matters. I hope some of you will also pass this suggestion on to friends. Mrs. Palin's e-mail address is [email protected] (or use the contact form). Her mailing address is below.
Pastor Ralph Ovadal
December 1, 2008
Governor Sarah Palin
Alaska State Capitol Building
Third Floor
P.O. Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811-0001
Dear Mrs. Palin,
I do not know you personally but do know that you say that you are a Christian and you attend an evangelical church. And so the context of my letter is that of a minister of the church of Jesus Christ writing to a Christian sister. I know many Christians and conservatives have encouraged you to run for president in 2012. I am writing to ask you not to run for president in 2012. In fact, I would encourage you to remove yourself from political office as soon as possible. In short, I am writing to urge you to obey the Word of God and tend to your duties as a wife and mother. As it is, you have been a very poor example to millions of Christian women.
You have a husband and four children at home, one an infant. Titus 2:4-5 instructs the older women of the church to "teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." I encourage you to look up "keepers at home" in your Strong's Concordance. You will find that it means "a stayer at home" who is a "good housekeeper." If this passage does not apply to a wife and mother with children at home, then it has absolutely no meaning! Clearly, you cannot be a keeper at home and an elected official--especially president of the United States--at the same time! When the Scriptures tell women with children to be keepers at home, that is exactly what the Lord is commanding them to be. When you--such a high-profile, influential woman--so blatantly ignore the Word of God, you are teaching others to likewise hold the Word of God in contempt. Surely your conscience itself must bear witness that you have put your personal ambitions ahead of your children's welfare and the Word of God.
Of course, there are other Scriptures which testify that your political ambitions certainly clash with the God-given responsibilities of a wife and mother. But, in order to be brief, I will simply go on to other reasons why you should not run for president in 2012. Isaiah 3:12 states, "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Now, while the prophet may well have been commenting on the character of the men leading Israel , this text makes it more than clear that it is a tragic and destructive thing, which the Lord condemns, for His people to be ruled by women. So Christian women ought not to take the sort of leadership posts you have been holding and have been seeking after. It does no good to claim that, for instance, as governor, you rule over both Christians and non-Christians. It does no good because, first, you do rule over Christians; and second, the text and others in the Word of God make it clear that a Christian woman is not to be a ruler in either state or church, period.
Another Scripture passage I would ask you to consider is I Peter 3:1-6. There are two issues in that text which have a direct bearing on your political ambitions. First, the Word of God directs that you are to submit to your husband. With regard to any ambitions you might have to be president, how could you claim before the Lord and His people to be in submission to your husband, but at the same time insist that you are fully exercising the powers of the chief executive of the United States and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of our country? What if your husband did not agree with an important political or military decision: would you then disobey the Word of God by refusing to submit to your husband on such a vital matter? Or would you submit to your husband and betray the oath you took as the president-elect of the United States?
The passage in I Peter also instructs women to adorn themselves with "a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Do you have so little regard for the Word of God as to claim a Christian woman can take part in the rough and tumble of politics and political debates while yet retaining a meek and quiet spirit? Your past run for vice president certainly testifies to the contrary. I would like also to know if you really think it would be possible for you to be our nation's president and commander-in-chief of her military, possibly directing our armed forces in a conflict, while at the same time exhibiting a meek and quiet feminine spirit!
There is much more that could be said about a Christian wife and mother holding political office, including being a governor and perhaps aspiring to be president of the United States. But how much more needs to be said, and how much more Scripture needs to be quoted? In your recent run for office, the mainstream media and the liberal left treated you shamefully. I found that disgusting. At the same time, I was deeply troubled by the ungodly witness you gave the world and the terrible example you set for Christian women, especially young women.
Should you decide to run for president in 2012, or to run again for governor of Alaska, you will confirm that you hold your own political ambitions more dear than your own children and the Word of God. Should you decide to run for president, I certainly will use whatever influence I might have for the express goal of seeing you defeated in the primary election. I will encourage other pastors to do the same. This we will do for the good of the church of Christ which "he hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28 ).
Though my words in this letter may seem harsh to you, they are written not as an enemy but as a Christian brother with a concern for you and your family also. May the Lord convict your heart in this matter. It does not take any great spiritual insight to know that unless you submit to the Word of God and go home to your children, you will some day reap a bitter harvest from your reckless and rebellious sowing.
Sincerely,
Pastor Ralph Ovadal
Pilgrims Covenant Church
Monroe , Wisconsin
Governor Sarah Palin
Alaska State Capitol Building
Third Floor
P.O. Box 110001
Juneau, AK 99811-0001
Dear Mrs. Palin,
I do not know you personally but do know that you say that you are a Christian and you attend an evangelical church. And so the context of my letter is that of a minister of the church of Jesus Christ writing to a Christian sister. I know many Christians and conservatives have encouraged you to run for president in 2012. I am writing to ask you not to run for president in 2012. In fact, I would encourage you to remove yourself from political office as soon as possible. In short, I am writing to urge you to obey the Word of God and tend to your duties as a wife and mother. As it is, you have been a very poor example to millions of Christian women.
You have a husband and four children at home, one an infant. Titus 2:4-5 instructs the older women of the church to "teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed." I encourage you to look up "keepers at home" in your Strong's Concordance. You will find that it means "a stayer at home" who is a "good housekeeper." If this passage does not apply to a wife and mother with children at home, then it has absolutely no meaning! Clearly, you cannot be a keeper at home and an elected official--especially president of the United States--at the same time! When the Scriptures tell women with children to be keepers at home, that is exactly what the Lord is commanding them to be. When you--such a high-profile, influential woman--so blatantly ignore the Word of God, you are teaching others to likewise hold the Word of God in contempt. Surely your conscience itself must bear witness that you have put your personal ambitions ahead of your children's welfare and the Word of God.
Of course, there are other Scriptures which testify that your political ambitions certainly clash with the God-given responsibilities of a wife and mother. But, in order to be brief, I will simply go on to other reasons why you should not run for president in 2012. Isaiah 3:12 states, "As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths." Now, while the prophet may well have been commenting on the character of the men leading Israel , this text makes it more than clear that it is a tragic and destructive thing, which the Lord condemns, for His people to be ruled by women. So Christian women ought not to take the sort of leadership posts you have been holding and have been seeking after. It does no good to claim that, for instance, as governor, you rule over both Christians and non-Christians. It does no good because, first, you do rule over Christians; and second, the text and others in the Word of God make it clear that a Christian woman is not to be a ruler in either state or church, period.
Another Scripture passage I would ask you to consider is I Peter 3:1-6. There are two issues in that text which have a direct bearing on your political ambitions. First, the Word of God directs that you are to submit to your husband. With regard to any ambitions you might have to be president, how could you claim before the Lord and His people to be in submission to your husband, but at the same time insist that you are fully exercising the powers of the chief executive of the United States and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of our country? What if your husband did not agree with an important political or military decision: would you then disobey the Word of God by refusing to submit to your husband on such a vital matter? Or would you submit to your husband and betray the oath you took as the president-elect of the United States?
The passage in I Peter also instructs women to adorn themselves with "a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price." Do you have so little regard for the Word of God as to claim a Christian woman can take part in the rough and tumble of politics and political debates while yet retaining a meek and quiet spirit? Your past run for vice president certainly testifies to the contrary. I would like also to know if you really think it would be possible for you to be our nation's president and commander-in-chief of her military, possibly directing our armed forces in a conflict, while at the same time exhibiting a meek and quiet feminine spirit!
There is much more that could be said about a Christian wife and mother holding political office, including being a governor and perhaps aspiring to be president of the United States. But how much more needs to be said, and how much more Scripture needs to be quoted? In your recent run for office, the mainstream media and the liberal left treated you shamefully. I found that disgusting. At the same time, I was deeply troubled by the ungodly witness you gave the world and the terrible example you set for Christian women, especially young women.
Should you decide to run for president in 2012, or to run again for governor of Alaska, you will confirm that you hold your own political ambitions more dear than your own children and the Word of God. Should you decide to run for president, I certainly will use whatever influence I might have for the express goal of seeing you defeated in the primary election. I will encourage other pastors to do the same. This we will do for the good of the church of Christ which "he hath purchased with his own blood" (Acts 20:28 ).
Though my words in this letter may seem harsh to you, they are written not as an enemy but as a Christian brother with a concern for you and your family also. May the Lord convict your heart in this matter. It does not take any great spiritual insight to know that unless you submit to the Word of God and go home to your children, you will some day reap a bitter harvest from your reckless and rebellious sowing.
Sincerely,
Pastor Ralph Ovadal
Pilgrims Covenant Church
Monroe , Wisconsin