An Objective Analysis: TN Prayer; GOP Platform;
Trump Assassination Attempt
July 18, 2024
Host: Hon. Sam Rohrer
Guest(s): David New, Rep. Monty Fritts
Note: This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program aired on 7/18/24. To listen to the podcast, click HERE.
Disclaimer: While reasonable efforts have been made to provide an accurate transcription, the following is a representation of a mechanical transcription and as such, may not be a word for word transcript. Please listen to the audio version for any questions concerning the following dialogue.
Sam Rohrer: Hello and welcome to this Thursday edition of Stand In the Gap Today and it’s also our bimonthly constitutional focused program with constitutional attorney, historian and author David New. Now, the title I’ve chosen for today’s program is this, an Objective Analysis and we’re going to be three things. We’re going to look at actually four, but Tennessee Prayer are going to go there first, the GOP platform and another perspective on the Trump assassination attempt. And we’re also going to talk about the court as well, but you’ll just stay with us. But as indicated in the title, we want to give an objective, though I’m going to say brief analysis of several different themes, all relevant, all very much alive and active as we speak that touch on our nation, our liberty, our constitution, and the culture around us and present genuine interest. We believe to God-fearing and all patriotic citizens. And with that, I want to jump in right now and invite to the program Representative Monty Fritts. He is a state representative from the 32nd House District in Tennessee. He’s traveling, he’s in his car, so if he sounds a little funny on the mic, that’s because he’s traveling and if he drops out, that’s just the way it is. We will proceed. But I thank you Representative Monty Fritts for being with us today.
Monty Fritts: Hey brothers, good to be with you, you all today and talk about House Resolution 8 0 3.
Sam Rohrer: Alright, let’s get right into it. This is talking about you prime sponsored House Joint Resolution 8 0 3. It was then ultimately passed, signed by Governor Bill Lee, your governor, the speaker of your house, the speaker of your Senate, and yourself. If there’s time, I’m going to read a part of this resolution, but in simple terms, what does this resolution do? Representative Fritz.
Monty Fritts: This resolution calls the state of Tennessee into a time of prayer and fasting for the month of July in an effort to seek God’s blessing not be removed from our state. I think we live in probably the best state in the country and the best place in the world it must be Everybody’s moving here and so all that’s good, but our country’s in such trouble. We have so gotten away from what our founders intended of a constitutional republic and this really this resolution calls God’s people to just bow before him, confess, repent, and ask for his forgiveness for what we’ve allowed to happen in my state and across the nation. I started writing this just quickly out of some frustration that our governor and others were calling for red flag laws in the state of Tennessee and that’s unconstitutional. I would offer even immoral and so I started writing it out of a frustration for that.
Monty Fritts: It became those, whereas statements you’re going to read perhaps in a few minutes are what I would consider to be leading indicators of God removing his hand of blessing in Tennessee. When you talk about children without homes and the open southern border and the fentanyl and the violence and all the things we discussed there, the human trafficking, I think those are resultant indicators of us Christians, people like me recalling and not standing up with our godly responsibility to be a righteous people. Our founders, when they declared independence from Great Britain 248 years ago, they also by default declared absolute dependence upon God Almighty. We’ve forgotten that today. We’ve become very much secular and thinking that we can solve all of our problems and control the weather and all these other silly things some of these silly people do. This is really a call for God’s people to get back to honor him and ask him to his hand a blessing on our beautiful state.
Sam Rohrer: Well, I tell you what Representative Fritts, I applaud, thank you so much for this initiative because as this nation sees what’s going on, how we interpret our problems makes all the difference in where we go for solutions and you focused on the fact what God says. If my people humble themselves in pray and seek my face and call out our sins and forsake them, then God will hear. But mostly I don’t think we’re seeing that happen right now. 30 seconds, you’re traveling the state of Tennessee right now calling different counties and people there to join in prayer. How are you finding the response as you’re going through the state of Tennessee right now?
Monty Fritts: Tremendous. We’ve seen between dozens to hundreds at county courthouses. We just left the 57th county of our 95 counties that we visited. Someone reads the resolution and pastors and Christians pray. I’ve seen politicians confess their sins and ask God to bless their county. I’ve seen other state reps confess sin and just say, Lord God forgive me and bless this place. I wish you could see with my eyes brother, what we’ve seen. There is a movement of God in sometimes again, a handful of people, a few dozen to hundreds of people they’ve bowed at the courthouse steps and cried out to Jesus. There’s a hunger for this and I think God’s holy Spirit is moving. I just hope we continue to bow our heads to him and ask for his grace and mercy.
Sam Rohrer: Amen. Representative Monty Fritts, thank you so much for being with us House joint resolution number 8 0 3 in the state of Tennessee. Ladies and gentlemen, pray for him as he continues to travel that God would do a work in that state and in all of our states. Now, in the balance of this program right now, I’m going to read as much as I can of the resolution so that you can get a flavor of it. It says a resolution to seek God’s hand of mercy healing on Tennessee, whereas our state and nations suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by our citizens, whereas our state and nations suffer from violence committed upon our citizens by non-citizens, whereas acts of violent crime in our schools are unacceptable, whereas human trafficking is an unacceptable and violent evil in our state. Enslaving lives and violating the core values of our creator endow rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Sam Rohrer: And whereas drug addiction overwhelms our families, our government finances, our workforce productivity as well as our healthcare and our law enforcement resources. Whereas deadly fentanyl flows uncontrollably across our southern US border resulting in the deaths of Tennesseans whereas driving under the influence drunk driving results in great pain and injury for Tennessee families. And whereas we have approximately 9,000 children in need of foster care indicating a brokenness in many Tennessee homes and whereas evidence of corruption in our federal government stands to impact every Tennessean and whereas our national and state founders trusted in the omnipotent hand of providence to guide and bless our land, whereas over decades these leaders called our people to seek out the creator’s favor by issuing proclamations and then cites the one from John Adams on April 15th, 1799 and it goes on. It says, whereas we hold that our founders correctly acknowledge truth in their words whereas we hold that, accept the Lord, keep the city the watchman, wake it, but in vain Psalm 1 27 1.
Sam Rohrer: Now therefore be it resolved that the House of Representatives of the 113th General Assembly, the state of Tennessee be it further resolved that we recognize that God, our creator and king of all glory has the authority to judge and bless nations or states as public servants in Tennessee General Assembly seek God’s mercy upon our land and beseech him to not withdraw his hand. A blessing and I have run out of time, but you get the flavor ladies and gentlemen, if this were to be the model to cross our nation and this humble attitude were to hit the hearts of our people.
Sam Rohrer: Well if you’re just joining us, David New is not going to join me in just a minute and we just had on with us from Tennessee the author of a joint resolution calling for 30 days of prayer and fasting across the state of Tennessee. And what representative Fritz did not say just because of time, it was an incredible thing. He did not expect that it would pass when he got up to the microphone on the floor to inform the members of the house and lead them and ask them to vote. He could not get any words out of his mouth and he said, never has that ever happened before. And he sat down and said to himself, Lord, why did you just have me embarrass myself like that? And another member stood up and spoke a little bit. They called for the vote and it passed nearly unanimously on both sides of the aisle and it went to the Senate and they passed it and it went to the governor, governor Bill Lee and he signed it.
Sam Rohrer: One of our Tennessee Pastors network, Dale Walker has been working with there and has been helping and assisting in the effort to communicate across the state of Tennessee a need to gather together and they’re doing it in front of every courthouse in all of the counties of Tennessee halfway through the month of July now. So anyways, that’s what, if you didn’t catch that in a portion of the resolution that I read, I want you to go back and listen to this program again and share it with a friend. This is good news, this is important, the kind of thing that got hears now, what transition now GOP platform here, conventions going on, we’re going to look at the platform just a little bit of a background before I bring in David New and have him do some compare a contrast as a part of all Democrat and Republican party conventions.
Sam Rohrer: There comes an official and formally adopted party platform. It always happens. The party platforms are essentially a contract, a promise with the party delegates representing the Republicans from across the country and it’s ultimately that promise that compact more or less is ultimately with all voters all who would vote for the presidential candidate leading that party and all have the expectation that presidential candidate if elected and the members of that party will pursue the vision and the policy reflected in that platform. That’s the purpose for it. The citizens then, after someone gets elected, can then measure the performance of that party and that president and either choose to support them ongoing or to make a change and hold them accountable by either continuing to work for the candidates of that party or refusing to do so. And as part of the political process, there is a platform committee responsible for overseeing the production of the platform which lays out the visions, the goals, and the foundational policy views of the party, but it always aligns in full agreement with the presidential candidate, which of course is the political head of the party now.
Sam Rohrer: That’s how the system works. Now for information’s sake, every adopted party platform is available easily and I find a one place American presidency project Google that you’ll find on their website and it goes all the way back to 1840, all of the party platforms. It includes the Democrat party platform, the Wi Party, which no longer exists, the Republican party beginning in 1860, the Constitutional Union party of 1860 no longer exists, the American Party platform of 1856 and others. So anyways, that background in place. With that David New welcome into the program and we have a lot to cover here.
David New: Well blessings to you and it’s so nice to be with you and God bless all those that are with us today.
Sam Rohrer: David, these platforms are lengthy, some of them are quite long over the years, some shorter. The 2024 is a little shorter in my opinion, the one just adopted, but there’s far too much to comment on. But take two issues that are important to Republicans, well, frankly to all Americans and particularly evangelical Christian Americans and that is the matter of life and that is marriage. We talk about it a lot here, but share your observations on the issues of marriage and life if you can, as you look at the 2024 platform as compared to say the 2016 platform, which is the platform upon which Donald Trump was first elected.
David New: Well Sam, there is a growing hunger for God in America. Without question, many of people don’t know, but in the state of California there is a movement called Baptized California and over 12,000 people have been baptized at a time and this event, it is an unbelievable spontaneous move by God to bring Americans back to God. And so all you need to do to learn about it is just simply put in your computer and your search engine baptize California and it’ll really encourage you and build up your faith. Now getting to the Republican party platform, I am very disappointed with the current platform because the 2016 platform was a really great platform for American family and for the right to life and the value of human life. This current platform basically strips the pro-family plank of the Republican party. It basically strips the pro-life plank of the Republican party.
David New: Now, I do believe that this may be more cosmetic than anything else. The Republican leadership may be doing it for the purposes of getting Donald Trump elected or reelected. And of course President Trump has said when he talks about these two issues, especially the one on life, he said, I’ve got to get elected first. So they may be doing this for the purposes of election only, but it’s very sad that it’s happened anyway, even if that’s true, the 2016 platform had words about the family that are just incredible and they encapsulate so much wisdom. Let me read a short paragraph from the 2016 platform under the title, great American Families, education, healthcare and Criminal Justice. On page 31 of the platform, we find these words foremost among those institutions is the American family. It is the foundation of civil society and the cornerstone of the family is natural marriage.
David New: The union of one man and one woman. It’s daily lessons, cooperation, patience, mutual respect, responsibility, self-reliance lion are fundamental to the order and progress of our republic. Strong families depend upon God and one another and they advance the cause of liberty by lessening the need for government and their daily lives. Conversely, as we have learned over the last five decades, the loss of faith and family life leads to greater dependence upon government. That is why Republicans formulate public policy from taxation to education, from healthcare to welfare with attention to the needs and strengths of the family. Now, here’s some more words, here’s some more words and this is very specific and it’s very good, and it’ll lead into our next section. This is on page 31 and 32 as well. Listen to this quote about gay marriage. Our laws and our government’s regulations should recognize marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and actively promote married life as the basis of a stable and prosperous society. For that reason, as explained elsewhere in this platform, we do not accept the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage and we urge its reversal whether through judicial reconsideration or a constitutional amendment returning control over marriage to the states. These are fantastic words. They’re beautiful words, they’re good words. I am sad to say the current Republican platform doesn’t even come close to representing either one of these paragraphs.
Sam Rohrer: Ladies and gentlemen, let me read to you, I can read it very quickly, what the current 2024 platform says about families, and this is it, three lines, Republicans will promote a culture that values the sanctity of marriage, the blessings of childhood, the foundational role of families and supports working parents. We will end policies that punish families. That’s it. So we have no definition of marriage. That was the major removal, no longer defined marriage. It really becomes whatever you want to make it. It does not say one man and one woman, the union of one man and one woman that 2016 every child deserves a married mom and dad. That was all in 2016. That’s all been taken out. That’s why David said that is not a good change. It makes everybody hope that maybe something will come out, but the guts unfortunately, were cut out.
Sam Rohrer: We’ll be back in just a minute. All right, David, let’s go right back into the platform before we talk about the Supreme Court and some things that you see happening there. We talked about the marriage portion and I think what we shared was significant. Basically it went from very, very developed, very, very clear marriage, man, woman, children, married mom and dad and all of that. Very, very clear in 2016. Now in 2024 that was eviscerated. It’s reduced to three lines. The definition of marriage was removed and all of that changed. That was a big deal and that is very, very important to be aware because the direction is not obviously a good thing. Alright, now let’s go to the matter of life because David, for a long, long, long time in this country it used to be that a lot of people would say the litmus test was life and if somebody could not defend the life even of the unborn from time of conception forward, they weren’t going to get their vote. But things have changed. Well, alright, let’s take a compare contrast at what the language is in the Republican platform of 2024 compared to what was in 2016.
David New: Ladies and gentlemen, if somebody asks you explain Western civilization to me, what is western values? What is western civilization of which the United States is the shining light in that civilization? The number one value that makes Western civilization our civilization is the value of human life. That’s it. It starts there. When you get the value of human life, right, many other things will fall into place throughout your culture and your civilization. So numeral uno of what makes the West different from the East and other cultures throughout the world is how we put a premium, the ultimate premium on the value of human life. And the 2016 Republican party platform caught it very well, very well. I am sad to say there’s nothing like it in the current platform. Let me read to you from the 2016 platform, the constitution’s guarantee that no one can be deprived of life, liberty, or property deliberately echoes the declarations of independence proclamation that all are endowed by their creator with the inalienable right to life. Accordingly, we assert the sanctity of human life and affirm that the unborn child has a fundamental right to life which cannot be infringed. We support a human life amendment to the constitution and legislation to make clear that the 14th amendment’s protection applied to children before birth.
David New: And then it goes on to say this, then it goes on to say this, we support funding for ultrasounds and adoption assistance. Another sentence, we are proud to be the party that protects human life and offers real solutions for women, ladies and gentlemen, that is beautiful and that is the essence of what it means to be a westerner.
Sam Rohrer: Alright, David? Okay, that was ladies and gentlemen 2016. Now again, why the compare contrast? Well, because at one time in our nation I went back and I actually looked at some of the party platforms that go way back. They’re remarkable on a range of things, but here these issues of which we just picked these two, life and marriage, they are fundamental as David said. But there’s also a fundamental change between 2016 when Donald Trump was first elected and what we’re now going into right now. So I’m not going to be given too much commentary as to why, but these were purposeful, intentional changes and they’re not the kind of changes that are good. David, do you have what was in the 2024 or should I read that?
David New: You go ahead and read it because there isn’t very much to say.
Sam Rohrer: No, that’s correct. It’s very small. Said only few lines. We proudly stand for families and life. We believe that the 14th amendment to the Constitution of the United States guarantees that no person can be denied life or liberty without due process and that the states are free. Therefore, to pass laws protecting those rights, we will oppose late term abortion while supporting mothers and policies that advance prenatal care, access to birth control and fertility treatments. Okay, David, that’s it. So the change ladies and gentlemen is that the aspect that life of the child is before birth has now been replaced with we let the first part of the child’s birth out and we just now only oppose late term abortion. And one of the problems in the addition in the new platform is that inclusion of access to birth control has to do with the birth control, well not birth control, but the actual, the pill that they’re calling birth control.
Sam Rohrer: But it’s actually an abor face that this plant, the fertilized egg always before in the past that has always been viewed as an abortion pill, but now we’re really talking up to 15 weeks. You can do kind of whatever that is a part of this platform. David, that is a significant change. I mean I know that, yeah, there’s always reasons why we get more people on board If we don’t support the standard of life as it used to be, more people will come on board with you, but that’s kind of a tough way to go when you’re laying down a platform for public policy, isn’t it?
David New: Yes, Sam, about 20 years ago I wrote an article called the Pro-Life History of US Treaties, and what I did in that article is I took the record of all the US trees of the United States has ever signed during the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th century. And when you look up how America handled abortion, it was very clear it was a crime in most of the US treaties that the United States signed with other foreign nations. When they dealt with abortion, they were treated under extradition treaties. So if you committed an abortion in the United States and you flee to another country, we would have an extradition treaty to bring you back to the United States for prosecution and vice versa. Now, it’s interesting in these treaties, which I have noticed many, many times, and I noticed them and I pointed them out in my article where the abortionist is listed of crimes for extradition that the United States gave. The first was murder, the second generally was rape and the third was abortion. They ranked the abortionists with murderers and rapists in the supreme law of the land because a US treaty is the supreme law of the land and that’s how the United States handled abortion in the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th century. A lot of people don’t know that, but it’s quite true. I read every one of those treaties fully and the abortionist is treated as a criminal.
Sam Rohrer: And David, what you’re saying, I am sure that probably most of our listeners were not aware of that. I wasn’t aware of all that you were saying there in that listing of murder, rape, and then abortion. But ladies and gentlemen, what’s the point for sharing this? We don’t share this with Greg Lee, but in an objective analysis, which is what I said we would do, this is the very time that citizens need to evaluate platforms. Now the thing of the matter is once the Democrat comes around, if they even have a convention, who knows what’s going to happen with the Democrat party. They’re in such asray, but their platform is aggressively kill the baby, so they’re a pro murderer. By comparison, this is better, but on the other hand, this is not better. It’s much worse than it was in 2016. Now we’re basically out of time, but I mentioned this and I wanted to bring this up because it is appropriate for people to know so that we can communicate our dissatisfaction.
Sam Rohrer: I know that were, that were a part of the platform committee who were there to make sure that the life and the marriage parts weren’t weakened and they weren’t able to prevail. That’s a significant thing for us to know, for us to be aware and for us to pray about through our implication. When we come back, we’re going to go to some thoughts on the assassination attempt that David has. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, we have a lot to put in this last segment, but David, I want to get to this as well. The US Supreme Court, you believe is well put this way on a journey to change of some type. Explain a little bit of what that is before I come and ask you your thoughts on the attempted assassination on Donald Trump.
David New: Yes sir. Ladies and gentlemen, many people today are talking about the dangers of a violent revolution coming to America. Many people believe a civil war would have occurred or started if President Trump was assassinated. Some believe that President Trump loses this election, a civil war will occur. In fact, ladies and gentlemen, there is a revolution in progress in the United States right now. The public can’t see this revolution very well, but it is going on in a very powerful way in the United States Supreme Court. If President Trump is reelected, he will, in my opinion, continue this revelation, a revolution that is in progress in the United States Supreme Court. I support the revolution.
David New: Now, if you listen to the Thursday edition of the Constitution on the stand in the gap, I have said many, many times that I have said that there is one word in the 14th Amendment that is supreme above all other words in the US Constitution when it comes to social issues of abortion and gay sex and gay marriage and all that stuff, it’s the word liberty. In the 14th Amendment, you’ve heard me say this repeatedly over the years. Now, as you know, there was a Dobbs case in 2022 that reversed Roe v. Wade, and if you read the Dobbs case, you’ll see the revolution in plain sight.
David New: The Dobbs decision that reverse Rowe v Wade is 213 pages long, and the bulk of the fight in that one case of 213 pages was over the meaning of one single word in the Constitution. It was the word liberty. That is the foundation for gay marriage, for decriminalizing homosexuality and abortion on demand, all on one single word, which is a complete farce. The word liberty appears 97 times in the Dobbs decision, the majority decision, which I support, used the word liberty 58 times the minority position that wanted to uphold Roe v. Wade used the word liberty 39 times, and it’s fascinating to watch nine intelligent people fight over the meaning of one single word. That is a revolution. If the Supreme Court continues down this path, all kinds of good things can come to America. For example, one of the things that can happen if the majority revolution wins and the word liberty is given its true ordinary meaning, it’s not something invented out of thin air, then gay marriage could fall by the wayside as a federal constitutional right. It may continue in states, but it will fall as a federal 14th amendment right under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, and that will have consequences and federal law in a thousand ways. American federal government could be a pro-family government. Again, that’s all I wanted to say about Dobbs.
Sam Rohrer: Alright, a few minutes left here. Your thoughts on the attempted assassination and the long-term implications as well as I do, ladies and gentlemen, the whole world is aware, all of Americans are aware it’s got to have some impact. David, what kind of impact do you think it might have?
David New: Presidents, almost all of them believe that they hold their office not by divine right, but by God’s will. They believe God has appointed them to that position. This is almost invariably what American presidents believe, and I think they are right. God rules. God is sovereign, God is in control. Now, when President Reagan came to office in 1981, he in a news conference on Jar January 29th, 1981, had some of the most harshest words ever for the Soviet Union. He talks about them who, and here’s what he said. They have openly and publicly declared that the only morality they recognize is what will further their cause, meaning they reserve unto themselves the right to commit any crime, to lie, to cheat, in order to attain that, and that is moral not immoral. That’s what the communists are claiming and we operate on a different set of standards, and I think when you do business with them even at a deton, you must keep this in mind.
David New: He accused this whole government of the SSR as to being one giant crime family, which it is, which it was. Then he gets an assassination attempt a couple of months later on March 30th, 1989, by a real nutcase named John Hinkley. This assassination attempt had a profound impact on Ronald Reagan. He became religious far more than he ever was before and in ways he never was before. Look what he said in 1983 before the National Association of Evangelicals, tell me if you’ve ever heard president any of the modern presidents talk like this or since this is what he said. This is March 8th, 1983. Quote, there is sin and evil in the world and we’re enjoined by scripture and the Lord Jesus to oppose it with all our might what? Have you ever heard a president talk like that now as a result of his conversion? You might say, what was the end result? It ended in Avik in 1986. President Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev met at Reik to bring disarmament of nuclear weapons. That’s what happens when men or women have a crisis of the magnitude of an attempt assassination, which does not succeed. I don’t know what’s going to happen with Donald Trump, but I think we’ve just begun to see it. As you know, ladies and gentlemen, he has publicly stated he has scrapped the lecture, the speech he was going to give for a different one based on unity. Already the assassination attempt is having an effect on national policy
Sam Rohrer: And David New. Thank you so much. All this information, ladies and gentlemen. That’s great and that’s why I said on Monday we’re going to talk about it. We’ll talk about today and I’ll talk about it tomorrow, the necessity to pray that the Holy Spirit would bring a humility and repentance to Donald Trump and those around him as a result of seeing God’s hand of intervention. For that, we must pray.
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