Education - Ensure that parents have primary say on what their children are taught
Reduce Crime - Crime rates are at record highs. We must properly fund the police, hold all accountable, and ensure that our court system is doing its job.
Close the Border - Thousands illegally cross our border daily. Many are well-meaning, but some bring crime, Covid, and worse. We must close the border and screen who comes in for our safety.
Defend Oil & Gas - Electric and Wind are great, but in the winter, they will not suffice alone. Nothing compares to the power, efficiency, and economy of oil and gas.
Balance the Federal Budget - The Government's debt is unsustainable. Our nation grows weaker by the day because of it. We must balance the budget, set the annual budget based on annual tax revenues and nothing above that, and pay down our debt.
Build Our National Defense - Russia upgraded 80% of their nuclear weapons. China's naval power has surpassed ours. Both have become overly aggressive and now act in concert. The only way to hold our enemies at bay is to remain strong militarily.
Set Term Limits for government officials - The longer a politician serves, the less attentive they are to their constituents. Government officials must serve the people and not themselves.
Eliminate Property Taxes - Mankind needs food, water, and shelter. Food and water are not taxed. Shelter should not be either. Each citizen should be able to own a home and pass it on to family.
Dr. Johnny Teague, Senior Pastor of the Church at the Cross in west Houston, is running to represent Texas’ 7th Congressional District against a big-government and anti-oil and gas incumbent.
He was born in a small ranch house in Flat Top Ranch, TX to loving parents who had to work multiple jobs just to provide for their family. He has carried their ethic of hard work and putting God over everything through-out his life and this has contributed to his success. After graduating from high school, he attended Tarleton State University, where he lettered in football and earned degrees in Mathematics and Accounting. He later obtained his MBA from the University of Houston, a Master’s in Ministry, and eventually his Doctorate in Exposition from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Married with two grown daughters, he is also an accomplished author, entrepreneur, cattle rancher, businessman and patented inventor. His successes in these fields did not come easy. He worked hard for it without any government handout. He wants to give back to the country that has given him so much and allow for others the same chance to be successful in their life endeavors.
Dr. Teague is the pro-Second Amendment, Pro-Life, small-government candidate we need for Houston and America. Getting big government out of the way and putting God, family and country first so that Americans have their chance and opportunity to create their own success is what Dr. Johnny Teague is all about.
Our nation has always welcomed the immigrant who is tired, hungry, and longing to be free. But this hand was extended to all who came through legal means. This is the whole reason there was an Ellis Island and a Statue of Liberty. Illegal immigration exposes our kids to sickness, our cities to terrorism, and our citizens to lost jobs and lower pay.
There is a cry to allow anyone to come into this nation without screening or questioning. This opens our nation to violence and danger. Some say that we should let those who came here illegally stay because they are good citizens. But there is a problem with that belief. If they broke the law to come here, will they not break the next law that gets in their way too?
Here is the rule of thumb we should use - The safeguards we exercise in deciding who we allow into our homes should be the rules we apply to those who come into this nation. This is just good common sense. It is also a caution realizing that the people we let in will one day be our neighbors. Choosing our neighbors is important based on no other metric other than our safety and their ability to support themselves. We should also add one more desire. Those who come here should come here longing to be what we are - Americans.
Borders are as important as front doors and back doors. Borders are as helpful as locks on both. They protect us. They aren’t meant to shut out those who mean us no harm, but they are to give us time to check and verify all who may enter.
Some say we don’t need a wall, we just need electronic surveillance. Electronic surveillance is like a bell on a store door. It just tells us someone came into the store. It does not prevent the thief from entering. It just makes us aware they are there. A family does not take the lock off their door and put a bell on the front so they can know someone has entered in the middle of the night. By then, it may be too late to protect themselves.
Biblical Support – On Borders - Exodus 23:31 "I will establish your borders from the Red Sea to the Sea of the
Philistines, and from the desert to the River. I will hand over to you the people who live in the land and you will drive them out before you. Isaiah 26:15 You have enlarged the nation, O Lord; you have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land. Psalm 147:14 He grants peace to your borders and satisfies you with the finest of wheat. On Immigrants -
Deuteronomy 28:15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands…43 The alien who lives among you will rise above you higher and higher, but you will sink lower and lower. Jerermiah 22:3 This is what the Lord says: Do what is just and right. Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
Our nation is in trillions of dollars of debt, and yet our people keep asking the government to do more for them. How do children feel when their parents die and leave them with debts and funeral costs? We’re doing that with our budget. We need to cut back now. We need to make the hard decisions now so that when we leave, our kids have something we’ve left them – a surplus. How do we cut our budget and spending?
1. We quit giving money to countries that don’t need it. We don’t give money to nations who are corrupt and who use little of it for the reason we gave it. We don’t give money to nations that don’t appreciate it. We surely don’t give money to those who hate us and seek to undermine us.
2. Internally, we cut our budget through attrition. When a government official retires or dies, we don’t replace them. We do more with less.
3. We cut our budget by 10% across the board, in every area except our military.
4. We quit promising free, free, free to our people. It’s not free and our people need to realize everything we give comes at a cost to someone – ultimately the very recipients of the government.
5. We quit borrowing money to pay our bills and then say we have to do this to pay our bills. All we are doing is creating more bills.
6. We use the previous years tax revenues as our maximum budget. We dedicate 10% to reduce the debt and commit the rest to the areas of need in our nation – just like any family would do.
Our Church was running low in our bank account. What did I do? I cut my pay by 20%, and I cut every possible expense. Then I asked the members to voluntarily give as God led them to help. I can’t tax our Church members, nor would I. I just asked them for help. You know what? They gave, because they love this Church, and we are in this together. It can work the same in our government – cut our expenses; and instead of taxing, we ask those who are able to give more to reduce the debt - voluntarily. Why would they do that? They should because we are in this together as Americans.
One other thing to remember is that when we follow God, He provides. When we don’t, He doesn’t. Do you wonder why we are in this mess?
Biblical Support - Deuteronmy 28:1 If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I
give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. Deuteronomy 28:12 You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. Proverbs 22:7 The rich rule over the poor,and the borrower is servant to the lender.
The District Attorney in Dallas recently said that he would not convict anyone found stealing anything of value under $750 as long as it was for survival. Unbelievable!
I took a young man in the Church to find work because he was tired of getting a check from the government. A company hired him, but while he was filling out the paperwork, his sister called and told him not to take the job because he would lose his government check. That check was $700 per month. The job he was just hired for would pay $1,500 a month for starters. She told me that may be true, but the $700 was guaranteed. Do you see the problem?
If a person is physically able, he or she should work. If they find themselves in a period of unemployment, they should be able to receive unemployment provided they actively look for work. I think having people work in some government capacity like cleaning parks, helping in an office, doing data input during this time would help them network, learn new skills, and motivate them to find a job with better pay than what welfare or unemployment offers.
Granted, this is simplistic, but the true values of the United States are that our citizens strive for self-reliance. Each person should be responsible for himself or herself. We need to get away from always claiming to be the victim waiting on a check. If a person runs into financial trouble, the support should then fall to the family. When that runs out, it should then fall to the Church. The last safety net should be the government, and that support from the government is a net not a hammock. All this said, not all should get the help, just those who are truly in need and those who are truly making an effort to rise above their situation. In this country, we can truly succeed by the content of our character. And the government should remove any roadblock that keeps a person from working and succeeding – always standing for the little guy or gal.
The Church I pastor prepares meals for the homeless, clothes for the prostitutes, gifts for the kids of those imprisoned, benevolence for those short on rent and electric bills. We believe in giving and helping. And, we encourage and help people rise above by helping them find work as well as make and stay within a budget. We give because we love. We love too much to leave people in a needy situation.
Biblical Support - Ecclesiastes 10:18 If a man is lazy, the rafters sag; if his hands are idle, the house leaks.
2 Thessalonians 3:10 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." Ecclesiastes 11:6 Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. Proverbs 10:4 Lazy hands make a man poor. 1 Timothy 5:4 But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. 5 The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. 6 But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. 7 Give the people these instructions, too, so that no one may be open to blame. 8 If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 9 No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over sixty, has been faithful to her husband, 10 and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds. Proverbs 29:7 The righteous care about justice for the poor, Matthew 25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.' 37 "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?' 40 "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'
This nation was founded upon God. It has sought to do right, to be self-governed, meaning not just our people governing our people, but more - each individual governing themselves. This nation has always entered war to end atrocities – tyranny brought by Great Britain, slaughter brought by Nazi Germany and Emperor-led Japan, terrorism brought by radicals, and even slavery brought and propagated by our own people. In every war, God has given us victory and righted wrongs, but this nation had done more than that – we cared for the ones we defeated. It is only an America that has made great allies out of once horrific foes – Britain, Germany, Japan, and the American reunification of the North and South. We have always depended on our own industry and the free market based on the morality learned in our Churches. We are the first to help those in need, the first to go, the first to help, and the first to write a check. We are the land of opportunity. This is why people do all they can to come here, and very few pack-up to leave. De Tocqueville said America is great because America is good. We need to return this nation to being good again.
Biblical Support - 1 Peter 2:13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men:
whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.
When people have a hunger problem, many look to the government to fix it. Others decide to care for their fellow man and take steps to feed the hungry as a ministry or an act of love. Sadly, recently, the government has stepped in to say they can’t. Many in our Church were cooking food for the homeless each week, but were ticketed because they did not have a food service license. Why? It seems the government’s overreach purposely makes us dependent upon it.
We have had extensive flooding. Some in this community wanted to fix this problem. They traveled all the way to the Netherlands to see how that country handles flooding. They got great insight, but financially, they couldn’t afford to take on this endeavor. Even if they could, the government would not allow them. Our government makes us dependent upon it for a solution, and then it is paralyzed with inaction and half-measures.
Today many want the government to feed us, to house us, to educate us, to doctor us, to pay us, to fix our problems, to tell us when to put on a coat, and to advise us when to carry an umbrella. Do you see a problem with that? Do we really want government to decide what we can do, how much we can make, how much medical care we should get and what education our kids should receive?
It’s time we retake our stand, solve our own problems, and tell government to get out of the way so we can. Our nation was founded with a can-do spirit. Our Founders took an untamed wilderness with buried resources, and went to work bringing about an unmatched civilization with prosperity and productivity. They succeeded on their own, depending only on the Lord. It is time we go back to that. It is called freedom and liberty.
Biblical support - 1 Timothy 3:1 Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his (or her) heart on being an overseer,
he (or she) desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect….7 He (or she) must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap.
Office holders should not seek their own gain. They should leave office on the same financial level as when they entered. They are not smarter than those they represent and should not behave in an unbecoming manner. They should not demand the chief seats, or the first-class tickets or limo rides to their offices. They are to serve. They should be people from among us – our plumbers, our teachers, our neighbors, our preachers, our highway department workers, our farmers, and our ranchers. Each in every office should serve for a limited time and return to their field They should keep every promise they make or voluntarily step down.
Biblical support - Exodus 18:17 Moses' father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. 18 You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him. 20 Teach them the decrees and laws and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. 21 But select capable men from all the people — men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain
