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Tennessee Pastors Network Rebukes Passage of ‘Despicable’ Bill Allowing Sunday Liquor Sales
TNPN President Dale Walker: Politicians Sold Out to ‘Big Liquor’ Do Not Join Pastors Who Are Ministering ‘After the Bottle Is Empty’
SPARTA, Tenn.—The Tennessee Senate joined the Tennessee House today to pass a bill approving liquor sales in the state on Sundays.
“The Bible Belt state of Tennessee had enjoyed a safe, sacred day of worship with liquor stores being closed on Sunday,” said Pastor Dale Walker, president of the Tennessee Pastors Network (TNPN, www.tnpastors.net). “This will now change radically. The Republican Super Majority in Tennessee has become the party of ‘Big Liquor,’ passing beer, wine and liquor sales in many new venues, including rural areas for the first time.
“Families and church vans will be even in more peril on the roadways now on Sunday,” Walker continued. “I have never had a liquor lobbyist or a liquor-loving politician join me at the grave to help comfort a family of the deceased who died from alcoholism or another tragedy brought on by alcohol. Pastors deal with alcohol ‘after the bottle is empty.’ Now, faith-based addiction ministries will be placed under more pressure from this despicable bill that will increase the need to help the addicted.”
State Sen. Bill Ketron, R-Murfreesboro, was the Senate sponsor of SB2518, while Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, carried HB1540 in the House.
“The politicians who voted against this bill will have clean hands and a clear conscience,” Walker added. “The other politicians who voted for it will have the blood of the innocent on their hands with a trail of misery that always follows alcohol and wicked liquor. Many politicians are addicted to the power they have and will sell out Christian values for a check to their campaign coffers just to get re-elected.”
TNPN is a state chapter of the American Pastors Network (APN, www.americanpastorsnetwork.net), the largest national network dedicated to equipping pastors to be a voice for truth in the public square.
TNPN and APN offer pastors numerous online resources that help clergy choose sermon topics and find information for other church ministries. With some free and some paid resources, topics include abortion, apologetics, creation, the culture crisis, economics, education, the environment, history, homosexuality, Islam and marriage, along with many others.
The Tennessee Pastors Network encourages pastors to bring together biblical and constitutional principles in their sermons and provides resources to pastors throughout the state. For more information on TNPN, visit its website at www.tnpastors.net, its Facebook page or call (931) 267-0816.
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