A Blog Article Posted by ACLA President & Church Lobbyist Darrin Mitchell:

“You cannot divorce religious belief from public service. I’ve never detected any conflict between God’s will and my political duty. If you violate one, you violate the other.” President Jimmy Carter, 39th President of the United States • 1977-1981

Today as I post this blog article there are 30,015 Mitt Romney supporters who feel good about their participation and vote in the Iowa caucus. Why? Because their candidate won the Iowa caucus. In contrast, no matter how much the media crows about Rick Santorum’s 2nd place vote finish of 30,007 it was a political loss. 9 votes short of victory.

I've been asked over the past week: How could this have happened? Well, it's simple. It happened because nine of Rick Santorum supporters choose not to attend the Iowa caucus. Why? Probably for a variety of personal reasons, but I'm sure that they now realize how much their vote would have counted had they stood up and did their duty and participated in their neighborhood caucus.

The one thing that the media has not been reporting on is the real number that matters and that is the delegate count to the Republican National Convention that will be held in Tampa Bay, Florida on August 27-30, 2012. Coming out of Iowa, the following 28 delegates from the Iowa caucus to the national convention were divided as follows:

Mitt Romney 6, Rick Santorum 6, Ron Paul 6, Newt Gingrich 4 and Rick Perry 3.

One of these candidates will need 1,144 state delegates to pledge their support in order to win the Republican parties nomination to become the endorsed candidate for the office of President of the The United States. So we have a long way to go.

However, the important lesson from the Iowa caucus needs to be learned today. Your vote matters and each state has a method on how they will distribute their delegates. Some states will distribute them based on the percentage of the vote and others will distribute them based on the winner only.

Is this blog article a personal endorsement for any candidate? No. But it is a careful warning on the finality of the votes tallied from each of the remaining 11 state caucus votes between February 4th and March 17th and the 38 state primary votes that will begin today in New Hampshire and ending on June 26th in Utah.

In truth caucus and primary election days are judgment days for the candidates of both major political parties in the United States. Whether a candidate is running for the U.S. Congress or for the office of President of the United States your participation makes the difference on whether they move forward with their candidacy or if they bow out narrowing the field. When that happens will your candidate be the one that’s left standing at the national convention?

In the Bible, John the Baptist talks about judgment as the separating of the wheat and chaff: “I baptize with water those who repent of their sins and turn to God. But someone is coming soon who is greater than I am—so much greater that I’m not worthy even to be his slave and carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. He is ready to separate the chaff from the wheat with his winnowing fork. Then he will clean up the threshing area, gathering the wheat into his barn but burning the chaff with never-ending fire.” Matthew 3:11-12 (NLT)

Knowing this, as a conservative Christian American citizen what are your guidelines when it comes to voting and seperating the political wheat from the chaff among the political candidates? Why? Because someday we will all stand before God in judgment and give an account for the candidates and party platforms we voted for and they supported.

For the past several weeks, I have had dozens of individuals ask me about the guidelines they should use when voting for a candidate. In response I make the follow suggestions based on the conviction that we give an account for our political choices as follows:

(1) Did you support candidates who were really against abortion as a birth control choice within the United States of America?

(2) Did your candidates support your right to Christian Free Speech in the United States?

(3) Did your candidates supported marriage as an institution as an act between one man and one woman as protected under DOMA?

Unlike a caucus where you have the opportunity to use your political witness to discuss and voice your opinion to try to convince your fellow neighbors to support your candidates and Abortion-Life, Christian Free Speech and Marriage issues the primary places you in a voting booth with only God as your witness. It's in this moment that you need to serve Him with your vote by separating the political wheat from the chaff in regards to the candidates and the issues they oppose or support. So don’t miss on your moment to serve God by participating in your states political caucuses or primaries and vote.

2012 Caucus Schedule: January 3: Iowa, February 4: Nevada, February 4-11: Maine, February 7: Colorado and Minnesota, March 3: Washington, March 6 (Super Tuesday): Alaska, Idaho and North Dakota, March 6-10: Wyoming, March 10: Kansas and U.S. Virgin Islands, March 13: Hawaii and March 17, 2012: Missouri (GOP).

2012 Primary Schedule:  January 10: New Hampshire, January 21: South Carolina, January 31: Florida, February 7: Missouri, February 28: Arizona and Michigan, March 6 (Super Tuesday): Georgia, Massachusetts, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Vermont and Virginia, March 20: Illinois, March 24: Louisiana, April 3: District of Columbia, Maryland. Texas, and Wisconsin. April 24: Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island, May 8: Indiana, North Carolina and West Virginia, May 15: Nebraska and Oregon, May 22: Arkansas and Kentucky, June 5: California, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota, June 26: Utah.