Contact: Rev. Clenard Childress Jr., 201-704-9325

OPINION, Aug. 15, 2013 /Christian Newswire/ -- The following is submitted by Rev. Clenard Childress Jr. of LEARN:

These were the words of Cory Booker at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Newark as he received the endorsement of nearly 40 African-American Clergy for the US Senate seat of New Jersey.

"The leaders gathered here today are working every day to improve the lives of the people in their communities, and I am extraordinarily humbled and grateful for their support..." "...They are on the front lines, fighting to make sure that this nation lives up to its ideals."

It never ceases to amaze me the blatant disregard of the Church and it's values by elected officials, yet, the Shepherds of the Church willingly bow to, acquiesce, and endorse them. Is it any wonder our people are so deceived and depleted of moral consciousness by these mixed messages? In an era where morality is eroding, and godliness is outlawed, we have Pastors endorsing a candidate who nationally announced the dismissal of God from the democrat platform.

Often Pastors have selective memory when advantage is within reach, so I will remind them: in 2012, the first speaker for the Democrat Convention was Mayor Cory Booker. Repeatedly he heralded, often at the top of his lungs, this is our platform! During his speech, he often recalled the great accomplishments of a culture and individuals of the past, without mentioning the God of those individuals, and the Judeo-Christian ethic of the culture. One reason he couldn't, was because the platform he called for the adoption of, had the name of God removed from that very same platform. Can you imagine? Yes, the Democrat Committee, with Obama's approval, removed the name of God and the recognition of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel from the platform. We all should remember the attempt to hastily put it back in -- after polling had come in and the party faired badly -- and the quorum present in the hall riotously opposing with boo's, but ignored by party officials, who had received their marching orders to force the modified passage. And how many times did they vote on this... After such madness, you would think God-fearing men of reasonable mind within the party would speak up and recognize the deterioration of the Democrat Party in general. Not a peep! The silence is deafening; the reverence for the principles of faith and the church, non-existent. Remember Rodney Dangerfield? The church has the same problem... it has "no respect."

But why should the Democrat Party give respect to the church when it still gives its allegiance after such heretical acts? The party uses the bully pulpit of the presidency to push homosexual marriages and calls those who won't perform them, bigots.

Corey Booker supports homosexual marriages.

This same Democrat Party endorses the slaughter of the innocent and fully supports the efforts of Black Genocide at the rate of 1,786 babies a day by the leading abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.

Cory Booker supports abortion killing or womb lynching.

This same Democrat Party has been the single greatest hindrance to educational reform in the urban communities primarily due to the pressure and control of the Teachers Union who insist the "status quo" of failing schools remains. This is criminal and it continues unimpeded by this party.

Cory Booker has done nothing in Newark to bring about education reform.

Even after all this these blasphemous deeds, the Shepherds of the Flock, continue to give their approval to a candidate that has proclaimed he is going to continue in the vein of this madness. No... No need to change when you can gain the support of Pastors by dangling the possibility of 'favor' at the price of surrendering their values and principles, and thus their God. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King expresses it best in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail; a letter that speaks more powerfully today than in the time he penned this missive. Let us look at a relevant portion of his insightful message:

There was a time when the church was very powerful -- in the time when the early Christians rejoiced at being deemed worthy to suffer for what they believed. In those days the church was not merely a thermometer that recorded the ideas and principles of popular opinion; it was a thermostat that transformed the mores of society. Whenever the early Christians entered a town, the people in power became disturbed and immediately sought to convict the Christians for being "disturbers of the peace" and "outside agitators." But the Christians pressed on, in the conviction that they were "a colony of heaven," called to obey God rather than man. Small in number, they were big in commitment. They were too God-intoxicated to be "astronomically intimidated." By their effort and example they brought an end to such ancient evils as infanticide and gladiatorial contests. Things are different now. So often the contemporary church is a weak, ineffectual voice with an uncertain sound. So often it is an arch defender of the status quo. Far from being disturbed by the presence of the church, the power structure of the average community is consoled by the church's silent -- and often even vocal -- sanction of things as they are.

Cory Booker received the vocal sanction by apparent "thermometers" who dare not demand change from Cory Booker. The persistent attack on the church, and its values by him and the Obama Administration, has been torrid. No doubt from listening to sermons some of these Pastors, there is an "uncertain sound" bringing confusion and doubt to their congregants about the priority of God's Word over the ephemeral promise of politics. Their actions sanction things as they are with no challenge to attain the "highest good."

Lord Help Us!