Dr. Creech gives Powerful Speech during Faith and Freedom Coalition Prayer Breakfast
By L.A. Williams
Christian Action League
June 9, 2017
WILMINGTON – A culture threatened with collapse but able to stand as a free, prosperous and long-enduring nation if its people will embrace four basic principles — that’s how the Rev. Mark Creech characterized America in his June 4 address to the North Carolina GOP Convention.
Former N.C. Rep. Carolyn Justice, who also served as the party’s vice chair, introduced the executive director of the Christian Action League at the Hilton Wilmington Riverside during the group’s Sunday morning Prayer Breakfast. The event was sponsored by the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
“I served with Reverend Creech for 10 years, while I was a legislator and he lobbied there on behalf of Christian Action League,” Justice said. “You see — just when you thought it was OK to hate lobbyists, you find there are some great things to lobby on behalf of.”
“Without a watchdog, our legislators pass laws that allow our Christian values to slip just a little bit at a time until one day we have slid all the way into hell,” Justice added. “Mark Creech is that watchdog in the North Carolina General Assembly.”
Beginning his remarks with the wisdom of Psalm 11:3 — “When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” — Dr. Creech laid out four “ageless, timeless and eternal verities,” beginning with self-government.
Using Benjamin Franklin’s definition of self-control, “the habit of holding passion and prejudice and evil tendencies subject to an upright and reasoning will,” he said the more internal self-government we possess, the less external government we’ll need.
Next, Creech extolled the virtues of union, the quality of a people who voluntarily consent together for the common good. He challenged the false notions of equality that pervade society, pointing out the simple facts that we are not equal in our talents and abilities nor is there equality among all claims of truth.
“Behavior is not equal and certain behaviors should never be countenanced in law,” he said.
Forced to pause several times as his audience broke into applause, Creech went on to explain the need for balance between these virtues.
“A government where people are free and stay free is a government that balances self-government, individuality or diversity by their proper definitions with union,” he said.
The speaker next turned to the topic of education, asserting that a nation cannot remain free unless its people are taught its roots and know how it works.
“The greatest source of Anti-American sentiment today is coming from public universities and colleges,” he lamented.
Finally, the Rev. Creech turned to the fourth and most important principle necessary for a nation to endure — morality.
“It’s good morals that make people have concern for the common good above their own self-interest. It’s good morals that drive people to vigorously support their government by participating in its political process – that make them willing to risk their lives, their fortunes, and even their honor for their country,” he said.
“Good morals are essential to a free market economy. Without them employers steal from their employees and vice-versa – without them there is no strong work ethic so that the economy can grow.”
This morality doesn’t operate in a vacuum, Dr. Creech told the crowd.
“This being said, I want to commend to you the faith that gave us all of these foundational, ageless, eternal principles that make for a free society,” he said. “They come from the Bible, the Christian religion.”
Not content to simply recommend faith as the answer for America, Dr. Creech pointed to the author and finisher of that faith as the true source of the four guiding principles he had outlined.
“It is Christ in the heart and conscience of a man that gives the capacity, as nothing else, to govern oneself. The strongest force to bring union between a people is a common faith in Christ,” he said. “Education that propagates liberty must be sown from the truth. Christ is truth personified, and it is by His Spirit and the Word that all truth originates. It is when God in his grace and mercy stamps the image of Christ on our characters, that we will live characteristically consistent with those morals that sustain a free people.”
Having told his audience that he was still hopeful and “very optimistic” for the country, because of its firm foundation, he urged them to seek God’s help.
“Our state and nation today is under tremendous pressures. We face new and complicated issues. Our freedoms are fragile. But the same God who gives grace to the soul is the same God who saves and redeems the nations,” Dr. Creech proclaimed.
“So let us recommit ourselves to those principles that transcend time and work to meet every challenge to keep us free, and let us live out zealously the axiom of our national identity – ‘In God We Trust.’”
The speech brought the crowd to its feet and former U.S. Congressman Robin Hayes, the re-elected NCGOP chair, came to the podium to request a copy to distribute to all of the party’s county chairpersons.
“Your speech was so timely,” Hayes told Creech later in the week. “Our nation’s history and future are so dependent on a Christian worldview. We must be able to govern ourselves before we can aspire to govern others. We must base our lives and politics on eternal truth, not on contemporary feelings.”
State lawmakers offered similar praise for the speech.
“Thank the Lord for pastors like Mark Creech who aren’t afraid to speak the truth and who love and serve our Lord Jesus Christ,” said Rep. Pat Hurley (R-Randolph), who called the speech “honest and inspiring.”
Rep. Mark Brody (R-Union) said Dr. Creech’s understanding of Scripture and ability to apply it to today’s situations is what makes him “a joy to hear and learn from.”
“The Rev. Creech has the ability to state what is truthful but not always recognizable,” the lawmaker added.
