'76 Blog

(Centennial Student Intern) The past few days, with CCU sophomore Drew Goorabian, I have had the distinct pleasure of making a brief pre-Christmas stop in the frozen swamp that is Washington D.C. in the winter. AIPAC or the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee has been both our motivation and gracious host for this trip bringing Drew and me to D.C. to attend the biannual Saban Leadership Seminar. It is quite noteworthy to understand the prevalence of AIPAC as one of America’s most influential political lobbies. AIPAC is better known as “America’s Pro-Israel Lobby” and one of the top five most powerful lobbies in the country ranking alongside the AARP and NRA in lobbing effectiveness, all quite a feat in consideration of their smaller size and lesser funding. It is events like the Saban Leadership Seminar that have boosted AIPAC into their top 5 position. The impact is twofold: first, Saban reaches out to educate and empower over 400 of the top students from a mass of colleges across the country, and second, those same students then go out and educate and impact the rest of the country. Over the past three days, we’ve sat through a myriad of sessions with subjects ranging from international affairs briefings to the etiquette and best practices of lobbying one’s representative. The point being to educate and motivate the next generation of Americans on how to be proactive citizens geared towards making a positive impact on the world.  Below: Lenell, right, and Goorabian paid a call at the White House on Sunday, but Obama refused to see them

“A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes - and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent."  Those words of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian prisoner and eventual martyr in Hitler's Germany, were the concluding line in remarks at a world religions panel on Dec. 10 by Ryan Murphy, CCU Assistant Professor of Christian Thought.  Addressing a convocation of faculty and staff two weeks before Christmas, Murphy pointed out that Advent is unique for the same reason Christianity itself is.  His talk began this way: One question we were each asked to address was: “What is the most serious misunderstanding of you by outsiders?”  It would have to be that Christianity is yet another variant of religion.... Why?  Because in Christianity we have a fundamentally different assessment of the human condition.  That’s what sets Christianity apart.   The assessment is not that vice is ignorance (as per the classical conception, Plato, etc.); it is not that we have corrupted our revelation, lost knowledge of God, and we required simply a better prophet, a more sound revelation, as per Islam, or Joseph Smith). What’s unique, is that Christianity posits that humankind is unable to bridge the gap between ourselves and God – not just ignorant of how, in which case further instruction would be necessary;  Not just unwilling, in which case a helpful example would be called for.   Unable.  In which case, if this gap is to be bridged, it will be bridged by God himself.    This is Anselm’s conviction – Man owes a debt he cannot pay, God wishes to pay a debt he does not owe – the elegant divine solution?  The God-Man.  God incarnate in the person of Christ, reconciling the world to himself.   Read the full text here. Ryan Murphy - This I Believe - 121010  And have a blessed Christmas, a liberating time in the highest and holiest sense of that word, a passage through that door of ultimate freedom of which Bonhoeffer wrote and Murphy spoke.      

Centennial Institute assisted Bill Armstrong, president of Colorado Christian University, in presenting a world religions panel for a half-day workshop of all CCU faculty and staff at the Lakewood campus on Friday, Dec. 10.  With a theme of "This I Believe," thought-leaders of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and atheism offered summations of their faith and sparred amicably with each other in response to audience questions. The panel was one in a series of CCU Strategic Objectives Workshops, designed to help everyone in the community stay on track with the institution's 13 core values, spelled out here.  John Andrews, Centennial Institute director, said that three of those in particular would be served by the Dec. 10 program, including: *  Be seekers of truth  *  Honor Christ and share the love of Christ on campus and around the world;  *  Teach students to trust the Bible, live holy lives, and be evangelists.  The panel was moderated by Dr. Sid Buzzell, Dean of the CCU School of Theology.  The panelists were Rabbi Hillel Goldberg, editor of the Intermountain Jewish News; Ryan Murphy, CCU Assistant Professor of Christian Thought; Imam Karim Abuzaid of the Colorado Muslim Society; and Dan Barker, co-president of the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wisconsin. For the opening round of comments, each panelist was asked to address some or all of the following questions: 1- What core beliefs define your overall faith or worldview? 2- What variations of belief characterize the major subgroups? 3- What is the most serious misunderstanding of you by outsiders? 4- What collective self-criticism could be made by you and fellow believers? 5- What is the most important ongoing contribution of your belief system to mankind's wellbeing? 6- Is your belief system more in coexistence, competition, or conflict with other systems? Ryan Murphy's position statement comparing and contrasting Christianity with the other three belief systems will be posted here in full, next week.  A complete video record of the program will be up on CCU.edu in January 2011. Below: CCU's Murphy, atheist Barker, and Rabbi Goldberg listen as Imam Abuzaid states, "We eagerly await the second coming of Jesus, who will return as a Muslim."

This weekend I am fortunate enough, along with my schoolmate, Drew Goorabian, to represent Colorado Christian University at The Young America’s Foundation’s West Coast Leadership Conference at the Reagan Ranch in Santa Barbara.  Throughout this weekend we hope to bring the ‘76 Blog audience along through short stories, photos and anecdotes from our trip. Our first day in Santa Barbara – I am truly amazed.  Three months ago I was in Doylestown Pennsylvania and had not yet traveled beyond the western boarder of my state.  Today I am writing this posting 2,800 miles away from my small-town beginnings.  Colorado, the center of our great nation, is now my home.  And thanks to one more facet of the blessing CCU’s political science department has been to me, I now bear witness to the great expanse of the country I love so deeply.  The opening speaker of the conference, held at the Ronald Reagan Ranch Welcoming Center, was none other than the Gipper’s son, Michael Reagan.  Michael’s speech gave incredible insight to the man that Reagan was on and off “duty”.  He went on to describe how conservative values infiltrated every area of life in the Reagan household.  Michael gave one example of this that took place while riding in his father’s jeep on their ranch.  He recalled asking his father for a raise in allowance at the age of eight.  Ronald Reagan responded by describing all the responsibilities he had as father, head of the household and operator of the ranch.  He, without complaining, laid out, for his son, the responsibilities of an adult and drew parallels of the federal government’s tax policy.  After hearing this, Michael promptly offered to take a “pay-cut” after realizing how gracious his father was already being.  Ronald Reagan denied his son’s offering but instead proposed a deal – if a president would cut his tax rate, Reagan would allow that benefit to trickle down to his son and give him the raise he had requested.         Years later while Michael was in high school John F. Kennedy introduced a tax cut for Americans.  Without needing to be reminded, Ronald Reagan promptly raised his son’s allowance.  Ronald Reagan’s heart pumped conservatism, hard work and reason through his veins.  What made him so impactful was his ability to apply conservatism to any issue.  He was not an elitist pretentiously ordering the masses to do what he thought was in their best interest.  He was a man who could simplify the issues and present them calmly, in a way that even an eight year old could understand.   Today, my second day in California started quite early.  We had breakfast with Senator-elect Michael Lee (Utah) who spoke of his battle to become senator and the help he received from the Tea Party movement.   Next, there was a seminar on government spending, healthcare and its effects on business by Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE restaurants and Dr. David Newton.  Following this, seasoned Congressman Tom McClintock (California 4th) spoke of what congress must do moving forward through 2011 with a majority.  I am truly amazed by the wealth of knowledge that is present here at the Young America’s Foundation’s West Coast Leadership Conference.   Within one hour I was able to hear from and ask questions of members from both sides of the Legislative branch of government in addition to seeing the detailed perspective of economists and successful businessmen. And now for what I had truly been waiting for- a visit to the Reagan Ranch.  After hearing Congressman McClintock speak, we boarded a bus and headed into the mountains for Rancho De Ciello.  I have to comment, leading up to this point I had been nearly bursting with anticipation, but sitting on the bus heading up to Reagan’s Ranch, I reflected on what a treat this whole event had already been.  I looked around, noticing that every conversation on this bus was about conservatism or Reagan or lauding the recent election.   Still, I could not wait to see the place the greatest president loved so much, but I made sure to consciously enjoy the special environment on this trip. I just hope that in time this type of collection of minds is not so rare in everyday life. I really did not know what to expect.  Zigzagging up the steep hillside, our bus felt as if it might not make it to the top.  The view of the pacific kept me occupied however.  We crested the hill and there it was… A proud yet humble proclamation spanned two erected telephone post, “Rancho De Ciello”- beyond that lay a quaint little ranch in a small valley.  I could feel what made Reagan long for this place above all others.  <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]-->  <!--[if !vml]--><!--[endif]--> After exiting the bus, we were led down the driveway past fences built by Ronald Reagan using discarded telephone poles.   I had heard of his homes modest stature, but was amazed to hear that it was no larger than 1600 square feet and had no central air or heating.  This was all fitting though.  Reagan was a man who always had the right priorities.  He built his home in such a way that you could not help but take in the full majesty of God’s surrounding works.  The interior arrangement of his home was in the same priority; there were no fancy appliances, elaborate furniture pieces, just bedrooms, a kitchen, two fireplaces and hundreds of books. I’ll leave you with an interesting anecdote told by the tour guide.  When Gorbachev came to visit the Reagan Ranch he was insulted by the modest stature of Reagan’s home.  It is quite Ironic that the leader of a Communist country would criticize the leader of the free world’s modest home.      

“The youth of our country is our greatest strength. The fact is that we are still young; the country is only a few centuries old. However, it is full of youthful idealism that will return us to greatness. "These words, spoken by Senator elect Mike Lee (R-UT), shored up a stirring and inspiring weekend at the Ronald Reagan Center in Santa Barbara, CA. Along with fellow CCU sophomore Bela Franklin, I had the extraordinary opportunity to attend the West Coast Leadership Conference put on by Young America’s Foundation. According to YAF, the purpose of conferences such as these is to teach young people about individual freedom, a strong national defense, free enterprise, and traditional values. Their mission was sustained exceedingly this past weekend, as over 100 students from universities nationwide gathered in Santa Barbara to hear from many of the most prominent speakers inside the conservative movement. Keynote speakers for the weekend consisted of: ·      Michael Reagan, son of President Ronald Reagan .      Wayne Thorburn, author of From Goldwater to Reagan ·      Ron Nehring, GOP Chairman of California ·      Marc Theissen, best selling author and speechwriter for President George W. Bush ·      Mike Lee, Senator-Elect of Utah ·      Dr. David Newton, economist and professor of entrepreneurial finance at Westmont College ·      Andy Puzder, CEO of CKE restaurants (Carl’s Jr.) ·      Cong. Tom McClintock, California 4th District ·      Ben Stein, acclaimed author and actor The overarching theme of the weekend, as displayed on each attendees t-shirt, was “Reject Socialism.” The melancholy association with socialism was certainly rejected, as conversations between students, speakers, and staff reflected individuals willing to place their life work towards the advocating of conservative ideology to the young generation. With countless keynote addresses prompting collegiate conservative leaders to become active on their campuses, the powerful message of sustaining freedom and liberty resonated in a highly impactful way throughout the conference. From Michael Reagan’s lecture on The New Reagan Revolution, to Ben Stein discuss ‘Freedom being God’s plan for man’ Live from Rancho Del Cielo, the inclusive experience of the museum and ranch alike is a captivating and inspirational adventure. As stated by Ron Johnson, President of Young America’s Foundation, “(YAF) is preserving and protecting the Reagan Ranch and using this historic presidential property to pass on to our children and grandchildren the ideas and lasting accomplishments of this great leader.” Students were taken to on many of the same trails that President Reagan would take his daily horse-riding session upon, and visited areas of the ranch that had sentimental and endearing value to Mr. and Mrs. Reagan. In addition, students took a first-hand look inside the home in which the Reagan’s presided; a house that was built in the early 1800’s and was scarcely altered from its original composition. Illustrating this experience into words is merely insurmountable, in that the charm, breathtaking outlooks, and rich history of Rancho Del Cielo define the character of the man who inhabited this incredible domain. President Reagan was a man with a message: the message of individual freedom, limited government, and free enterprise. This is a leader who led by example, through his vast knowledge of historical events and sanguine approach in leadership. The ranch was a portrayal of these his inner core, which depicted a place in which history, fascination, and excitement bestowed upon each individual who stepped foot on its premises. And as Reagan once stated: “No place before or since has ever given Nancy and me the joy and serenity it does.” This opportunity maintained itself as the premier venue for conservatives nationwide on the beautiful California coast. Reagan must have been looking down from Heaven this weekend smiling, in that the prospect of hundreds of college students fighting for the explicit constitutional principles that he had spent his life work striving to accomplish was his vision for the youth of America. As leaders on our campuses, it is imperative that we proceed to address and convey the pressing issues facing college students in the current political climate. Because, as Senator Mike Lee stated, the youth are the greatest strength and asset that conservatives possess; they are the key towards uniting and inspiring the upcoming generation towards ideology that reflects constitutional limited government, traditional values, and individual freedom.

As the Centennial Institute / Heritage Foundation seminar on "Seek the Welfare of the City" approached its climax on Nov. 11 with a talk by Robert Woodson of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise, CCU senior Cha'Rel Wright brought down the house with an a capella performance of her own spiritual solo, "In Dire Need to End Poverty."  Here are the lyrics: In Dire Need to End Poverty Written by Cha’Rel Wright Who will lead us? Who will go? Stand up for us. Do you know we need the help of your hands? Please say you do understand. We’re in dire need, to end poverty. It’s a big task, but all things are possible through Jesus Christ; that’s one reason He gave His life. No matter what the others say, we will win if we start today. We’re in dire need, to end poverty. Children are dying because there isn’t much to eat. Mothers are crying as they’re on their way to sleep. And it’s not because of you, and it’s not because of me. But understand there is no “I” when we spell “WE”. We will lead them! We will go! Stand up for them! Yes we know they need the help of our hands.  We can’t say we don’t understand. We can’t say we don’t understand. We’re in dire need, to end poverty. Copyright (c) 2010 - Cha'Rel Wright

(See Editor's Note) Dear Dr. Watson: Recent news reports have shown that less that 1% of our great nation has fought in Operation Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.  We have a population of over 310 million people and about 2.2 million soldiers have served in both wars.  Defense Secretary Gates brought this fact to light at Duke trying to encourage more people to volunteer their service to this nation.  Of the 2.2 million soldiers that have fought or are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan about half of them are from the Army.  The Army is about the size of the Air Force, Navy, and Marines combined.  So it is natural the Army bears the burden of these two wars.  Editor: Joshua Ruskiewicz was commissioned through ROTC as an Army 2nd lieutenant upon his graduation from CCU in May 2009.  He had returned to college after prior enlisted service in Iraq, as explained below.  His wife Cherise and young son Tiberius, 11 months old, currently reside at Fort Hood, Texas.  This is from a letter he sent by email to William Watson, CCU history professor and Centennial Institute Fellow. This is only my second deployment, and many soldiers have done upwards for four and five deployments.  Is it fair that so few bear the burden for so many? Probably not, but each soldier knows that the person to his or her left or right is a volunteer.  Maybe tough economic times have motivated more people to volunteer, but in order to volunteer, one has to understand the risks associated with the job.  It is not only us who our volunteers though, our families bear the burden of our deployments.  Our wives, husbands, children, and parents all deal with the deployment.  They all wonder when will I talk to my soldier next? Is my soldier ok? Moms and dads become single parents for a year at a time.  The deployed soldier misses a lot of firsts like teeth, words, steps, etc.  We sacrifice a lot for this great nation and we are proud to do it.  Tiberius is getting ready to take his first steps, he recently got his first teeth, and his first words came a couple weeks after I left and that has all been in the last 79 days.  I still have around 290 to 376 days to go. My first deployment was in 2003-2004.  We came into the country to liberate it from Saddam Hussein and make the world a safer place.  We went to fight the Iraqi Army and quickly found ourselves in a counterinsurgency.  We went from fighting conventional warfare to counterinsurgency, which involves a whole different skill set.  We still have to fight the insurgents and terrorist, but we also have to focus on the population.  We have been asked to be fighters and nation builders.  We interact with Provincial Council members, governors, judges, ministry officials, Iraqi Police, and the Iraqi Army.  We are now advising and assisting the Iraqis to protect their country. The population is the key to winning in Iraq.  We have helped to provide security with the surge in 2006.  Now, we are here to close out a war that people said was unwinnable.  People wanted for us to leave Iraq in defeat, there were chants for us to leave Iraq immediately.  We held on fought the fight and now are about to close out the Iraq War with a “W”.  Was it always pretty? No.  Are there rough patches ahead? Most likely.  The biggest questions we now face are: will the US armed forces really leave on December 31, 2011? That answer depends on the formation of the new government.  There are many Iraqis who want us to stay to continue to provide security.  The other question is what happens when we do leave?  That question is a lot harder to answer.  The Iraqi Security Forces are more competent but the Shia/Sunni issue will always exist.  And of course there is also the Kurdistan issue.  The Iraqi Security Forces have to be able to look past the sectarian lines in order to provide security to the entire country when we leave.  There are many problems that the Iraqi government needs to come together on and work as a nation to solve.  Iraq is still a young democracy and I think for us to assume their democracy is going to advance quickly is naïve.  The Iraqi’s are more competent than they were a few years ago.  For now though, I am ready to end this war, and be able to put a mark in the win column.  This is a different kind of win though.  In the World Wars, we were able to beat our enemies into submission by bombing them and beating their armies.  This time we beat the Iraqi Army pretty quickly in March 2003 -- but win here is leaving a functioning country behind.  It will not be perfect by any means, but they have the tools and the ability to run their country now.  What they do with it is their fate now. "Bear in mind your past battles and fight like brave men worthy of yourselves and your country." -- Publius Scipio Africanus

(CCU Student) Ignorance is not bliss! In Oklahoma, the blood of the people runs crimson and cream. The people vote red (for the most part), and the paper of a small Green County town conveniently forgot to print the election of the recent democratic president. Political issues were not spoken of in school or family settings because it was assumed that if you voted it was more than likely a vote for the Elephant. Every once in a while a donkey would slip through the cracks and take office. When I came to be of voting age, I was told that my vote didn’t matter anyway. I couldn’t change anything, so why bother. I never cared. Plain and simple. This is the environment I grew up in. The only time politics were expressly spoken about was during times of crisis: the Oklahoma City bombing, Katrina, 9/11. I had no idea how the government really worked, and had no desire to. I had no idea how much power we had given away to the federal system or that we may never be able to get any of that power back. I knew it was a corrupted institution, just as the public education system would have me believe, and the American system was a horrible detriment to society. Yet who is truly willing to give up the cushy lifestyle provided by this intrusive system? I also had no idea just how far into debt the country was because of the social welfare programs. I knew that the government paid for the lunches of most of the kids in the Creek County school district and that most of those families were on either welfare or food stamps. The town was full of teenage moms trying to live off of state assistance, that is when they care enough to keep the baby (some began to use abortion as a means of birth control). I lived in a poverty area, and this was just how things were. When I worked at Dollar General I always knew the busiest times of the month are always the days that people received their benefits checks. Life in the eyes of many was just sex, drugs, government assistance, and typical Bible belt preaching (a lot of hot air with no substance). Then I moved to Colorado with the dream of becoming an elementary teacher, and while it may seem that politics still should not have entered the picture, I realized that I had lived a life of blinded ignorance to the reality of the state we have put ourselves in. Politics is going to affect my job every day of my life. There is not a year that passes by that some reform for education is not put before state and federal legislators (most of whom are not and have never been educators in any sense of the word) in order to improve the school system in some way. From the national level right down to the local school districts, bills are drafted and presented to the legislators in order to make a change in something that makes a change to how future children are educated and how the teachers are to implement new methods. Remember the “No Child Left Behind Act?” The CSAP came from its implementation. President Bush had a wonderful idea that with this Act every child will be able to read and do math at grade level by the year 2014. It is a good cause, but it is not test scores alone that will be able to track learning. Now there is President Obama’s “Race to the Top” that is trying to incentivize schools into testing higher in order to gain funding. If you do not get the desired scores you can lose some vital funding, and this will happen in schools that are already in troubled areas. I am not sure about you, but it takes more than just money put into a school district to ensure a child is learning enough. It takes an understanding of learning styles and methods and teachers who care. It does not take the government telling the school what or how to do things in order to have incentives. Funding must also be filtered into the correct places, which the local districts would be able to know where it is needed most. After all, a surgeon cannot perform surgery on you while he/she is in another state or even know exactly how you are doing. They have to be in the same locale to know the pertinent information about what is going on. These are just a few of the things that are already affecting my future job. I cannot turn a blind eye to them anymore. I cannot just sit back in ignorance and let others run/ruin my life. If anyone does then they have automatically lost the right to complain about anything that goes wrong because of the government. Everyday there is something going on within the system of government that is going to affect all of us here. We cannot use our religion as an out. I do not mean that we are to look at the government as our savior by any means, but we have been called by God to be good stewards of what we have been given. We have been given our lives in the United States and we should not turn our back on it. There is a reason why the founders left us with a representative republic and would be rolling in their graves if only they could see the bankrupt mess we have become. How much longer are we going to impoverish our own future children? I have woken up and I challenge you to do the same—look deeper than the surface claims and do not trust everything you see. If you can truly hate this country and all of its faults just know this is the only country that allows you the luxury to do so. I will do everything that I can in order to move into the future as a beacon of light. God gave us the government and we have a chance to make a difference if only we start to move before it is too late. Our faith calls us to move, and we have an opportunity to let the world see that we are not just a group of fanatical hypocrites that like to blow up abortion clinics and wave hate-speech filled signs. So now I would like to honestly know, what it is that the readers will do in order to make something better of the future? How uncomfortable do you need to feel in order to start caring? How far does the government need to go in your life before enough is truly enough? Remember our country's government is not a democracy. It never has been, and there has never been a true democracy that has not collapsed into ruin…Ben Franklin succinctly states what we are in a reply to a woman’s question about the newly founded United States: We are “A republic, madam, if you can keep it."  

Conservative strategist Ralph Reed drew on his storied career in politics, his doctorate in American history, and his deep-dyed Christian convictions, seasoned with an impish self-deprecating wit, to deliver the first Centennial Institute lecture of the fall season, October 12 at the CCU Music Center, on "Faith and Politics in a Secular Age: What Citizenship Requires of Us, Beyond 2010 and 2012."  Listen to full audio here: John Andrews, director of the Centennial Institute, set the scene for a full house of students, faculty, and guests from the community, by noting that the Founders’ understanding of America as a nation under God has lost its unifying force for citizens amid the materialism and multiculturalism of today. Yet there is the danger that a faithless society cannot long remain a free society.  The question for today, he said, is how can we “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,” acting individually and together? Centennial Intern Matt Lenell, a junior communications major, gave the introduction for Reed, whom he called one of the most acclaimed political strategists of our time.  He currently directs the Faith and Freedom Coalition, a national voter mobilization effort he founded to help conservatives rebound after 2008. Reed also heads the consulting firm Century Strategies and has just published his first novel, The Confirmation.  As executive director of the Christian Coalition while barely in his thirties (see Time cover below), Reed helped sustain the Reagan Revolution, and later chaired the Republican Party in his native Georgia.

Bill Armstrong, President of Colorado Christian University, has officially proclaimed Tuesday, Oct. 19, as "A Day of Confession, Repentance,Thanksgiving and Supplication" for the university community and its friends.  As classes are suspended for the beginning of an all-campus symposium on evangelism on the 19th and 20th, individual and group activities will mark observance of this solemn day.  CCU undertook a similar observance in 2008.  Here is President Armstrong's proclamation: In just a few days, our nation’s voters will elect one-third of the members of the U.S. Senate, all members of the U.S. House of Representatives and countless governors, state legislators and other state and local officials. As voters, we will be making momentous decisions that will affect the future of our country and state for generations to come. America remains the greatest nation on earth – blessed by God with a large degree of personal freedom, prosperity, progress in health care, education, science, technology and more.  But much of what God has given us is threatened by terrorism, financial crisis, stock market losses, energy and environmental issues, budget deficits, taxes, big government and other strategic threats. Even more ominous are the nation’s growing number of broken families, lives lost to abortion, sexual permissiveness and perversion, illicit drugs, and corruption in public and private life. Surely God is calling us to pray for our culture and to pray most earnestly for our fellow citizens who have not yet responded to the call of Jesus. Two years ago, I was reminded that President George Washington announced a day of prayer and supplication. Similarly, President Abraham Lincoln called for a national day of humiliation, fasting and prayer. Throughout our history, our greatest leaders have summoned our nation to honor the One who is the “author of liberty… great God our King.” Following the example of these leaders, as President of Colorado Christian University, I promulgated a day for the university community to join together to ask God’s blessing in accordance with His promise. “… If my people will humble themselves and pray, and search for me, and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear them from heaven  and forgive their sins and heal their land.” - 2 Chronicles 7:14 Considering the hurts and cares of our beloved country, nothing could be more timely. Therefore, I designate and proclaim Tuesday, October 19, 2010, A Day of Confession, Repentance, Thanksgiving and Supplication for this university and all who wish to join us in asking Him to “heal our land.” Confession, repentance, thanksgiving and supplication should be part of our prayer life every day. But exactly two weeks before Election Day – with America’s future at stake –on Tuesday, October 19th , let us pause throughout the day, individually and in groups, to accord Him honor and to pray and be reminded of our dependence on the One whom Presidents Washington and Lincoln called “Almighty God.”  Let us realize, as did President Lincoln, that “We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power … and we have vainly imagined … that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It behooves us to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.” Let us thank God over and over for the way He has blessed our country. Ask God to inspire His people to vote in record numbers. Pray that He will give voters perspicacity, integrity and wisdom. Humbly request that those who are elected will be a blessing to our country. Ask God to mend broken relationships, turn our nation away from abortion, pornography, drugs, sexual sin, hedonism and corruption. Pray that God will draw the people of our nation closer to each other and to Him. Ask God to hear our prayers, forgive our sins and heal our land. Ask God to bless Colorado Christian University and our beloved country. William L. Armstrong, President