Matt Wells, Ex-Republican

My experiences over the last 9 months of this campaign season have been well documented on this blog. I've been all over the country and especially, Southeast Iowa representing principles I found in a candidate running for President of the United States. Many voters agreed but a large plurality didn't and Donald Trump is the presumed nominee for the Republican Party in this fall's election. This is my party getting off point. I attended my final Republican Central Committee meeting on Monday. After I was told by nearly everyone in the room to put aside my principles and "get on board the Trump train", I'd had enough. I requested time and was granted it. I spoke up. I told them that I could, in no uncertain words, support Donald Trump or give credence to his supporters. I explained how I'd seen so much all over the country. Here is what I posted to Facebook after coming home.

"Tonight, I attended my final Johnson County, Iowa Republican Central Committee meeting. I can no longer be associated with a group tasked with electing Donald Trump. 

I spoke before the committee telling them of my convictions and concerns. I didn't hold back. I didn't parse words. I referred to my faith and the fact that Donald Trump was unrepentant and in using Christianity as a tool for his gain, was a blasphemous man.
After the meeting, I was besieged by half of the group and yelled at and one little old lady, my guess is she is around 80, screamed at me, "What makes you so holy?!" She continued, "I've been a Methodist for 53 years and I know I'm a good Christian!"
I replied, "I'm a dirty sinner saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. If you died today, do you know where you'd go? Would you go to heaven?" 
She was dumbfounded. Nobody in her church had ever asked her to take Jesus Christ at His word."

This post has become the most interacted with post I've ever done on Facebook. I was thinking it wouldn't matter but to just a few local Iowans. I was wrong. It's been shared all over the country in the circles I happen to have a bit of influence in.

The evening disturbed me, for their sake, but it also helped me grow. All but a few people at that meeting were hostile to my remarks. Many are just Republicans because they've always been Republicans. Their hatred for Democrats has impaired their abilities to hold anyone with an R behind their name accountable. It is quite apparent that change in the party will not come from within, but from people leaving and taking their principles with them. 

This is really the crux of the issue. The false religion people have bought into has become my greatest pain. This final meeting as a member of the party turned my attentions completely toward more eternal goals. My involvement in politics will be limited to very special candidates worthy of extreme efforts and worthy of asking my friends to get on board. Sure, I'll continue to vote, but our nation's ills won't be cured until our nation get's on the side of Jesus. Our continued slide toward complete debauchery and moral relativism has led us to accept anything from anyone who has the ability to grab headlines, regardless of their wickedness or depravity.  

If someone were to ask me to describe myself with adjectives, I would say this; I am Born Again Christian American Conservative...full stop. Notice, there were no party identifiers. Unless the delegates to the Republican National Convention in Cleveland choose to form a barrier, to be a remnant, if you will, and deny Donald Trump the nomination next month, my divorce from the party will be permanent and complete. 

If you agree or disagree, comment below.

You can find me on Twitter here.

On a final, more personal note, I ask you to join me in praying for my friends, the Bontrager family, as they get ready to leave tonight on a seven week music mission tour of the Northeast US and eastern Canadian Provinces. I have seen them touch so many lives(mine included) that while I'm disappointed they are leaving Iowa and I won't be able to sit amongst them in church and adult bible fellowship, I know they are doing God's work and helping people to know Jesus in a more personal way.

Below, you'll find my email sent to the secretary of the Johnson County Central Committee. 

Johnson County Central Committee members,

I can no longer, in good conscience, be a member of the Republican party. I resign my position immediately on Johnson County Central Committee. The hatred and vile attitude of Trump are sweeping the party nationwide. I cannot be apart of anything associated with Donald Trump. My faith informs me to eschew wickedness and choose good. Donald Trump's bigoted comments about an American citizen this week, who happens to also be a federal judge adjudicating his fraud case, are just more evidence that he is manifestly unqualified for the highest office in the land. I will actively work against Donald Trump this fall. I also will advise people to not vote for Hillary Clinton. I hope this presidential election has the lowest turnout in modern history. The Republican party deserves to feel the brunt of this. They are partially to blame for the rise of a populist nationalist movement behind Trump. Make no mistake, this is a progressive movement, with elements of fascism seeping in. They've stopped advocating for conservative policies and principles. I will vote for only bonafide conservatives with a record to back their claims. No more campaign conservatives. I look forward to opposing anyone associated with Governor Branstad in the next gubernatorial election here in Iowa in addition to working against Donald Trump. Our politicians must be held to higher standards than they currently are.
You will likely see me outside of the GOP and Democrat offices this fall telling people about their choices and why they should turn away from both this November. A gospel tract will likely be my literature.
The reasons I am set so strongly in my principles are Biblical in nature.

Daniel 9:14   Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.

Proverbs 29:2   When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn. 

Ezekiel 18:24   But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned: in his trespass that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die. 

Luckily, Jesus delivered those that call upon his name.

 John 3:15   That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 

  John 3:16   For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

  John 3:17   For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 

  John 3:18   He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 

  John 3:19   And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 

  John 3:20   For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. 

  John 3:21   But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. 

  John 3:22   After these things came Jesus and his disciples into the land of Judaea; and there he tarried with them, and baptized. 

  John 3:23   And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, because there was much water there: and they came, and were baptized. 

  John 3:24   For John was not yet cast into prison. 

  John 3:25   Then there arose a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about purifying. 

  John 3:26   And they came unto John, and said unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom thou barest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him. 

  John 3:27   John answered and said, A man can receive nothing, except it be given him from heaven. 

  John 3:28   Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him. 

  John 3:29   He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. 

  John 3:30   He must increase, but I must decrease. 

  

Romans 8:1   There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 

  Romans 8:2   For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 

  Romans 8:3   For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: 

  Romans 8:4   That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 

  Romans 8:5   For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 

  Romans 8:6   For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 

  Romans 8:7   Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 

  Romans 8:8   So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 

  Romans 8:9   But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. 

  Romans 8:10   And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spiritis life because of righteousness. 

  Romans 8:11   But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. 

  Romans 8:12   Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 

  Romans 8:13   For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

My efforts will be focused on eternal truths and not the ways of the world any longer. This is why neither Hillary or Trump are worthy of the vote of any born again Christian.

Thank you and God bless,

Matt Wells

bigredmatt1011.blogspot.com

A Gift

On the Thursday before my birthday this last October, I was given one of the greatest gifts anyone could ever ask for.

I was at a Cruz campaign strategy meeting with radio talk show host, Steve Deace, getting the lay of the Iowa political land. I sat next to Marlin Bontrager and his son Josh. During the course of the evening, we talked and found out we lived just a few miles from each other and the topic of churches came up. I had told him that I was looking for a place to attend worship on Sundays. All he did was invite me to his church in Washington, Iowa. That Sunday morning, I got up and made the choice to go to Marion Avenue Baptist Church. That decision changed my life. 

From the moment I walked into Marion Avenue, I felt welcomed. I instantly had things in common with the people there. They spoke my language. They have a clarity of purpose and a vision of what a church should be and that is a place to hear the truth and proclaim the good news. Pastor Joseph Brown, whom I now call my friend, welcomed me that very morning. I heard a Bible based sermon that actually related to issues facing everyday Americans. I was blown away. This wasn't just a theoretical church, this was a church equipping the people in the pews to do battle with today's crumbling society. Near the end of the service, Marlin Bontrager leaned over and asked me to join his family for Sunday dinner. That was the second part of his gift to me that day.

Mitchell Bontrager rode with me so that he could show me the way to his family farm. We talked and I got the sense that I wasn't going to just any place, but a very special place. What I saw and experienced that Sunday afternoon will be with me for the rest of my life. It was a family of 12 people under one roof that work in concert with one another. The love they show for one another is nothing short of amazing. Maybe it shouldn't be but in today's culture, it is.

I'm writing this piece because the Iowa Caucuses are near and what I've known for the past 5 months is almost over. My friends that are from all corners of the country with the campaign will move on and the Bontragers are getting ready for another season of touring the country to minister to people all over. Lord knows that we need the ministering. I want to say thank you to every last one of them and I look forward to remaining friends with them for as long as I walk this earth.

Marlin, Becky, Chelsy, Mitchell, Allison, Carson, Josh, Denver, Taylor, Elizabeth, Hudson, and Rebecca have shown me Christian love and I just hope I've been able to return just a small amount of that same Christian love to them. I'll miss the conversations with Mitchell and Denver about college football. I'll miss seeing Elizabeth smile and be a light to all those around her. I'll miss Allison's no bake cookies and her playing violin while hanging from the ceiling. I'll also miss talking to her about faith and gratitude. I'll miss Taylor's wisdom that belies his age. I'll miss Carson's straightforwardness. I'll miss hearing Hudson singing along with the hymns. I'll miss Marlin's kind words and encouragement. I'll miss Becky's kindness. I'll miss Josh's biblical knowledge and I'll miss Chelsy's unvarnished opinions and I'll also miss seeing her with all the little children at church. Chelsy has a heart for little children like no one else I've ever seen. I think she's some kind of baby whisperer and it is quite a sight to behold. God has shown Himself to me through every member of this family and I praise Him for it.

I will keep every member of this family in my prayers. I pray for their safety in their travels and I pray that they are able to help lead others to know Jesus as the one true way to salvation. I knew that I was saved but I just needed a reminder. Marion Avenue and the Bontragers have done that.

I will stay in Iowa as long as I feel God working through me here. I look forward to joining Marion Avenue Baptist Church as a full member and seeing where God leads me in this area.

I encourage every one that reads this to find a Bible believing and Bible teaching church. If your church doesn't keep fast to biblical truth, find a church that does. Knowing that you are a believer saved by grace through faith in Jesus is the best feeling in the world. When I first became involved with this presidential campaign, I thought meeting all of these important and impressive people would be the most impressive thing I'd done in my life. How wrong I was. Finding my way back to a Christian life was the best thing to happen to me.

2 Chronicles 7:14   If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 

Bontragerfamilysingers.com