Showing posts with label David Brody. Show all posts
Showing posts with label David Brody. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

‘God Has a Mission for Me’: Roger Stone Tells CBN News He’s Not Out for Revenge, But On a New Path

‘God Has a Mission for Me’: Roger Stone Tells CBN News He’s Not Out for Revenge, But On a New Path


07-15-2020 CBN News David Brody
WASHINGTON – Now that Roger Stone is no longer going to jail, the former political consultant has quite a few people to thank. Donald Trump is right at the top of the list, but spiritually speaking he has someone even greater than the president to thank, namely Jesus Christ.
In January of this year, in the middle of all his legal troubles, Stone attended an outdoor prayer service in Florida led by Franklin Graham. Stone tells CBN News he was desperate, struggling and stressed out. Graham had met with him before the event and that night Stone made his move. 
“At that moment, I felt the calling,” Stone says. “I stood up with 500 other people. I wasn’t the slightest bit embarrassed. I confess that I was a sinner. I repeated a pledge that he recited, and it was as if a cement block was lifted off my chest. I can’t even explain it.” Stone says it gave him security about his future. “I was never scared. I was never worried. I was completely confident that the Lord would guide the president to do the right thing.”
For decades, the provocateur enjoyed a reputation as the bad boy of politics. Then came convictions of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation into Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. 
“I don’t regret anything that I did in 2016 because I didn’t break the law,” Stone tells CBN News. “They wanted me to lie, to bear false witness against the president in return for some kind of leniency.”
Most political observers would expect Stone to be on the warpath against his enemies. But now, despite anger against prosecutors that he says were dishonest and politically motivated, Stone says he’s on a new path. 
“Here’s the big difference. In the old days, I would have wanted revenge. I would have wanted to take revenge against every one of them but now I’ve realized that vengeance is God’s, it’s not mine,” he explained. 
Stone doesn’t feel a need to go to his original playbook. “I no longer am obsessed with the Sicilian concept of revenge, which generally speaking is a dish that tastes best when eaten cold,” he added. 
Still, Stone couldn’t resist putting what he’s been through in spiritual terms. “I really do believe that those who are trying to undo this president, those who are trying to destroy me, trying to destroy Michael Flynn, who’s a very good man and great American patriot war hero, I do believe they’re satanic,” he said. 
Stone wasn’t done. “They cut corners and what’s outrageous is their arrogance, their moral superiority, when in fact, they have no morals at all,” he said. “I don’t believe that any of these people involved in my prosecution are really believers in God.” 
CBN News reached out to former members of the Office of the Special Counsel about Stone’s satanic remark. A spokesman declined to comment.
Meanwhile, you can be sure that Stone won’t be declining comment as he moves forward with his life. 
“I can guarantee you I don’t intend to become boring,” he says. As for regrets, he has them. “I do regret the fact that it took this long for me to return to the church because I realized that I could have had the solitude and the solace and the strength and the fortitude to fight this much earlier. I went through a year of hell before I found the way.” Will he now find the way to do the hard task the Bible requires of praying for his enemies  “The Lord will deal with them so it’s not like they will go unpunished. That makes it easier to pray for them for when that moment comes.”
As for Stone’s immediate future, he wants to help re-elect President Trump, this time from his perch on the outside. As for his purpose going forward, he’s waiting on God. “I think God put me in this position at this time for a purpose,” Stone tells CBN News. “So if God has a mission for me, He hasn’t revealed it to me yet, but if He does, I’m ready for duty.”
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Tuesday, August 20, 2019

EXCLUSIVE: Trump Administration Plans Big International Cuts Including Abortion Funding in Africa - CBN News David Brody

whitehouse2
EXCLUSIVE: Trump Administration Plans Big International Cuts Including Abortion Funding in Africa
08-19-2019
CBN News David Brody
A senior Trump administration official tells CBN News that the White House plans to cut abortion funding in West Africa as part of their goal to drastically cut America's international foreign aid around the world. 
Specifically, the blueprint would no longer provide 'voluntary family planning money' to the countries of Sierra Leone, Niger, Burkina Faso, and Benin. 
"The President himself has stated that there is a lot of fat in the foreign assistance we provide," according to the senior official. "While there are many great programs we support around the world, taxpayer dollars should not be spent on 'voluntary family planning' in Africa—which could include abortion. This administration is committed to cutting wasteful spending and protecting the unborn." 
The release of the specific international aid cuts is expected as early as Tuesday.
The moves are part of what is known as a "rescissions package," meaning the canceling of billions of unspent foreign assistance funds, which could total more than four billion dollars. Administration officials tell CBN News more than 100 countries overall will be targeted for international aid cuts. 
As for the 'voluntary family planning' funds, they are typically dispersed through the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).  The administration has discovered that some of those family planning funds used in West African nations actually evade or skirt around what is known as America's, 'Mexico City Policy,' which requires non-governmental organizations to agree not to "perform nor actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations." That is the reason the rescissions money specifically looks to get rid of funds going to those individual programs in West Africa.
Beyond family planning, White House officials are also looking to cut funding to many other programs including investing in Guatemalan agriculture technology, solar panels in Central Asia, crop diversity in Bangladesh, desert survival courses in Egypt and cuts to border security funds provided to more than a dozen countries including El Salvador.
Democrats in Congress and even some top Republicans like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)  are against the proposed cuts. White House officials believe they have the power to cancel the funds without approval from Congress. That's a point of contention moving forward.
The overall argument by senior officials inside the Trump administration is that many of these foreign aid programs that are targeted in the current rescissions package have had a history of waste and abuse and therefore the view that US tax dollar money is being used to fund corruption around the world. 
The competing view is that the money spent by America overseas is crucial for national security. Proponents of this approach say the funds help unstable countries become more self-sufficient, which in turn keeps them from becoming bad international actors, which would make the world a more dangerous place.

Thursday, August 8, 2019

Let the 2020 Race Begin: Evangelicals, Pastors Set To Mobilize, Change America - CBN News David Brody

Worshipper in church.
Let the 2020 Race Begin: Evangelicals, Pastors Set To Mobilize, Change America
08-06-2019
CBN News David Brody
Roughly 400 pastors and faith leaders will descend on Lynchburg, Virginia later this week as two major evangelical forces unite together in the beginning efforts of a 2020 national ground game aimed at restoring Judeo-Christian principles across the country and mobilizing an evangelical army of pastors to lead the way. 
The closed-door two-day event will be held at Liberty University, one of the largest evangelical universities in the country and is organized by the American Renewal Project, led by influential political mechanic David Lane. They're bringing in the pastors for the affair, many of whom are expected to take part in a political training session as they mull whether to run for local or statewide office. 
"The Pastor and Pews events have been extremely valuable in mobilizing church-going voters and illuminating critical issues for elections," said former presidential candidate and Fox News Contributor Mike Huckabee. 
Huckabee, a former pastor himself, has spoken at these events many times before and understands their value. 
"I am convinced that the pastor and pews model was instrumental in the 2016 election of President Trump and has been instrumental in numerous statewide elections for congressional, US Senate and gubernatorial races."
President Trump won 81 percent of the white conservative evangelical vote in 2016 and during it all, the American Renewal Project was on the ground and extremely active. In the 60 days before the General Election, ARP spent $9 million in six battleground states, including some big prizes like Florida, Ohio and North Carolina.  Now they're back at it looking for a repeat. 
"It is the single, largest, most cohesive voter bloc in the last election," said Doug Wead, a noted historian, and best-selling author and advisor to two U.S. Presidents. "Now its all about voter ID and turnout."
With all the extra vitriol, animosity and energy aimed at Trump this time around, the president will need a similar showing or even better to win in 2020.  
"Evangelicals propelled Donald Trump to victory in 2016 and if he's going to win again in 2020, it must be an all hands on deck approach," said Scott Lamb, senior vice president for the office of communications and public engagement for Liberty University. "Pastor events like this one truly are the Ground Zero launching pad for mobilizing the evangelical crowd." 
Of note, some members of President Trump's unofficial evangelical advisory group are expected to attend including Pastor Paula White and evangelical leader Johnnie Moore. 
The emphasis of the American Renewal Project event will be focused on pastor involvement; not only to get their flocks to the polls but also to possibly get involved in politics themselves. The genesis for this started back in 2014 when Lane's pastor, Rob McCoy, ran for the California State Assembly. He lost a very close race but in the process, assembled hundreds of volunteers from the church. Lane says it was after that race that he heard from the Lord about this idea of pastors running for office in an effort to change the moral fabric of America. He asked his network of pastors to pray about it. It's caught on like wildfire.
In 2015, the first "Issachar Training Sessions" began. The men of Issachar are mentioned in the Bible. They were, "men who understood the times." (1 Chronicles 12:32) 
What followed? In 2016, roughly two hundred pastors stepped up to run for office. Two years later in 2018, the figure was about 300 more. In 2020, the goal is to have 1,000 pastors running across the country. 
"David Lane's Pastors and Pews training sessions are having an effect across the country," Newt Gingrich told CBN News
You only need to look at the state of Missouri for proof. In 2018, six pastors in the, 'Show Me State' ran for state legislator and five of them were elected. Three of them won seats in the Missouri House, which just this year, passed a ban on abortions after eight weeks of pregnancy, without exceptions for rape and incest. 
In this 2020 cycle, CBN News has learned that two more Missouri pastors have announced they will run in GOP primaries for the Missouri House. 
The pastors' movement, engineered by the American Renewal Project takes plenty of prayer and persistence. In California, Pastor Rob McCoy, who lost that close election back in 2014, never gave up in the desire to be a light for Christ in his community and local politics. He is now the mayor of Thousand Oaks, California.  
Meanwhile, ARP has been extremely active in recruiting pastors to the cause. In 2018, nearly 600 California pastors took part in the Issachar Training Sessions.  The hope is that if just a couple dozen of them ran for office in Southern California in 2020, it would be a game-changer in the very liberal state.
"In California and Missouri we have evidence that trained and courageous pastors can change history," Gingrich said.
Most Conservative Evangelicals see a culture spiraling out of control and drifting further away from Judeo-Christian principles. They are well aware of America's spiritual roots and it was pastors, especially back in the Revolutionary War period, that led the way speaking out boldly from the pulpit on the moral and cultural issues of the day. This effort is clearly an attempt to see a new generation of pastors step up. 
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK), a former Southern Baptist church leader himself, who has spoken at past ARP events, told CBN News the time is now to rise up. 
"Some in our society try to silence people of faith so their voices are not heard," Lankford explained. "But faith leaders, like any other American, have a role in our government and in our elections.  We are grateful to live in a country where any person can speak and organize.  If people of faith sit in silence, we surrender our right to speak out for the importance of every life and to wisely stand up for our core values in this culture."

Wednesday, June 19, 2019

EXCLUSIVE: President Trump to Address Huge Evangelical Conference Next Week - CBN News David Brody

EXCLUSIVE: President Trump to Address Huge Evangelical Conference Next Week
06-19-2019
CBN News David Brody
WASHINGTON, DC – A senior White House official tells CBN News that President Trump will speak to thousands of conservative Christians next Wednesday, June 26, at the Faith and Freedom Coalition's Road to Majority Conference in Washington, DC.  
The plan is for him to speak for roughly 60 minutes, just hours before Democrats begin holding their first debates of the presidential primary season. This will be President Trump's sixth time since 2011 addressing this influential crowd of evangelical political activists. He and the group's chairman Ralph Reed have been friends since 2010. Since that time, Trump has spoken to them twice before he ran for president and twice as a presidential candidate. The last time he addressed the group was as president in 2017.

When President Trump takes the stage, he can expect multiple standing ovations. Each time, he has been fervently received. During his speech two years ago in front of this significant crowd, he received huge applause throughout with lines like, "we don't worship government; we worship God" and, "You fought hard for me, and now I'm fighting hard for all of you." But most of all, Trump was able to immensely satisfy the gathering with a list of victories vitally important to evangelicals: a newly confirmed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court; executive actions on religious freedom; and pro-life moves such as significantly expanding funding for the Mexico City Policy, which requires that non-governmental organizations agree not to "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning in other nations." 
In 2019, President Trump will have an even longer list of evangelical accomplishments. One of the biggest is the victorious outcome during the bruising confirmation battle over his nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Just as important, the president's 2019 speech will no doubt discuss what could be one of his most substantial lasting legacies: the confirmation of a slew of federal appeals judges that is expected to reshape the judiciary for decades. 
But now that the 2020 presidential election season is here, the topic of abortion has been front and center. The president will no doubt be discussing how all the Democrats running for president support late-term abortion – a practice that most Americans disagree with and want to be illegal.
In his presidential campaign kickoff speech in Orlando, Florida Tuesday, Trump hammered home the point on abortion extremism, asking Congress to protect unborn children from abortions that happen in the third trimester. "Virtually every top Democrat also now supports taxpayer-funded abortion right up to the moment of birth – ripping babies straight from the mothers' womb," Trump told the huge crowd. "Leading Democrats have even opposed measures to prevent the execution of children after birth. You saw that in Virginia." It's that sort of rhetoric and moral issue that is expected to galvanize the conservative Christian crowd assembled next week in Washington.

The multitudes of faithful that will show up at the conference represent a group of evangelicals and conservative Catholics that are largely responsible for President Trump's victory in 2016.  According to exit polls, born-again or white evangelical Christians made up nearly one-fourth of the 2016 electorate, and 81 percent of them cast their vote for Trump. Currently, a new Public Opinion Strategies poll has President Trump's approval rating sitting at 83 percent among this same group. He'll need support like that, possibly even greater, to win in 2020 due to the anger and fervor coming from the progressive Left even more so this time around. 
The Faith and Freedom Coalition prides itself on the work they did in helping to elect Trump. They point to a mobilizing ground force in 2016 that knocked on over one million doors and distributed over 50 million voter guides and mail pieces to evangelical voters. The plan for 2020 is even bolder: the goal is to knock on three million doors and circulate 70 million voter guides and mail pieces. In addition, their Get Out The Vote effort will also include making 10 million phone calls and sending out 20 million text messages. As for Ralph Reed, he's been a helpful and important advisor for President Trump. His Faith and Freedom Coalition helped push key White House initiatives and efforts like judicial nominations, the child tax credit, and criminal justice reform, along with executive actions on religious freedom and the sanctity of life. 

Sunday, May 26, 2019

Mark Levin: Trump a 'Victim of Activist Media, Most Persecuted President in My Lifetime' - CBN News David Brody


Mark Levin: Trump a 'Victim of Activist Media, Most Persecuted President in My Lifetime'
05-24-2019
CBN News David Brody
Mark Levin, the author of America's number one best-selling book, Unfreedom of the Press, tells CBN News that Donald Trump is the most persecuted president in his lifetime and a victim of the liberal media's quest to destroy him. 

"Trump is a vocal opponent of what the press is doing," Levin told me during a one-on-one interview at his television studio. "Trump is a unique and peculiar victim of what the press is doing. The press laughed off this man. The press thought he didn't have a chance. The press threw in with the Democrat Party and the Republican Establishment to try and stop him …I think the press wanted a third Obama term," he said.

Levin, who hosts both wildly successful radio and television shows, says despite the media's best attempts to take down the president, Trump has triumphed. "Donald Trump was running against the Democrat Party, the Republican Establishment and the press and they all lost and they're all angry," Levin says. "I think the press wants to show that they don't get to lose because it's an unfree press."


Unfreedom of the Press takes an in-depth constitutional and historical look at what the origins of the free press were supposed to be compared to what they've turned into. 
"The mass media today is destroying freedom of the press. Not the government, not the president, the mass media…they've abandoned seeking objective truth. Nobody is perfect in seeking objective truth but you'll be more perfect if you give it a try now and then," says Levin. "We have journalists who are social activists, democrats, progressives who are pushing their agendas. That is destructive. That is not news."

Levin says all you need to do is look at how the media has been pushing the non-story of how the Trump campaign supposedly colluded and conspired with the Russians in the 2016 election. "They've spent his entire presidency, and even before his presidency, trying to destroy his reputation and his character, his family, his business."

Levin says the story the media has no desire to cover is the one that is actually news. "You have police state activity going on, the greatest interference in the last election was by the Obama administration," Levin says. "The Russians are our enemy and they're going to interfere in our election and we need to fight that but we have a problem from within. I would argue it's a Fifth Column. When you have the head of the FBI, the Justice Department, the intelligence agencies under Obama and the media trying to take out a candidate using the police powers of the state and now trying to take out a president in what I call a silent coup, that's the news! That's a big deal. But when the news throws in with that activity, that's a big deal too and the American People need to understand that's why they are never going to apologize. They're the problem."

When asked if Donald Trump is the most persecuted president ever, Levin responds, "Certainly in my lifetime. They went after Nixon pretty hard but the truth is Trump hasn't done anything."

A full interview with Levin about Unfreedom of the Press will air the first week of June on The 700 Club.

Tuesday, July 24, 2018

'We Stand With Israel': Nikki Haley Cites Her Faith in Jesus as Reason for Support of Israel - CBN News Emily Jones,David Brody


'We Stand With Israel': Nikki Haley Cites Her Faith in Jesus 
as Reason for Support of Israel
07-24-2018
CBN News Emily Jones,
United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley delivered the keynote address before an audience of 
thousands at the Christians United for Israel Summit in DC Monday night.

The crowd honored Haley with a standing ovation as CUFI founder Pastor John Hagee presented 
her with the Defender of Israel Award.

"Each year the leadership of CUFI elects the one person in America that we feel has done the most 
to defend and protect Israel. We are delighted and highly honored to present this award to Ambassador 
Haley," Hagee said as he gave her a golden plaque.

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Haley is known as a loud defender of Israel at the United Nations – a place she refers to as the "global 
epicenter of anti-Semitism."

"The United Nations is an interesting place. There are times when it can be a force for good," she said. "The UN can also be an enormously frustrating and bizarre place. Nowhere is that more pronounced than in the truly awful way that the UN has treated Israel for decades"

Despite the United Nation's repeated attempts to condemn and undermine the Jewish State, Haley says 
the US is changing that behavior.

"Change comes with leadership and clarity from the United States. That leadership and clarity was on 
full display when President Trump made the bold and right decision to move the United States embassy to Jerusalem," she said. "Jerusalem has historically been, is now, and will always be the capital of Israel."

Haley also took a stand for Israel amidst violent protests on the Gaza border in May. While most of the 
world condemned the Jewish State for responding to the molotov cocktails and flaming tire attacks, 
Haley made her voice loud and clear in the United Nations.

"When I heard country after country in the United Nations Security Council critically standing in 
judgment of Israel, I spoke out. What I said shocked the people at the UN, but I'll say it again because 
it's the truth. Israel has acted with more restraint than just about any country would under those same 
conditions," she said.

During that time, Haley vetoed a resolution that condemned Israel and ignored Hamas' actions on the 
border.

Now it appears her actions are beginning to pay off as skeptical UN members begin to see the 
anti-Israel terrorist group Hamas for what it is.

"The idea that we could get the majority of the General Assembly for the first time to even 
acknowledge that Hamas was an issue is a fantastic win," she said.

She also pulled the United States out the UN Human Rights Council, a body known for its 
unbalanced attacks against Israel.

"The Human Rights Council is a farce," she charged. "What we've said is you've got serious human 
rights abuses, whether it's in Venezuela, whether it's in Iran where they are protesting their regime, 
whether it's in Nicaragua, and they're doing nothing about it."

"America will always be the world's leader in advocating for human rights, but we will not do that in 
a place that makes a mockery of the very human rights ideals it is supposed to uphold," she added. 
"It's very important to me that we represent truth and reality at the UN, even if it makes other countries uncomfortable."

READ: 'We Don't Trust Russia': Nikki Haley Lowers the Boom on Putin, Puts Iran on Notice

Haley doesn't plan on stopping there or shutting her mouth any time soon.

"Being silent was never something I've been good at," she joked.

Haley also sees a winning team in the support evangelicals have shown Israel for decades.

"When you look at the anti-Semitism, when you look at all the harassment that they're getting from 
around the world, you do feel for them because you know these are good people trying to live a good 
life that are in a dangerous region, and I think Christians United sees that for what it is," she said.

Speaking at the CUFI summit Monday evening, Haley told the crowd of Christians and Jews that it 
is her faith in Christ that has driven her strong support of Israel.

"I am not Jewish, even though that surprises some people. I was not raised as a Christian either. 
Twenty years ago, my faith journey brought me to Christianity, where I have found strength in my 
faith and trust in my heart," she explained.

"But I am also a person who is humble in her faith. I don't claim to have the wisdom of what God has 
in store for me or for other people," Haley continued. "What I do know is that God has blessed 
America with greatness and with goodness and I know that in the dangerous world we live in, it 
is absolutely critical for America to stand up and have the backs of our friends."

Haley summed up her message with a simple phrase: "We stand with Israel."


Sunday, January 21, 2018

Brody File: Trump Gets A+ on 'Evangelical Report Card' for His First Year - David Brody CBN News


Brody File: Trump Gets A+ on 'Evangelical Report Card' for His First Year
David Brody  CBN News 01-20-2018
On the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump's inauguration, CBN News Chief Political Correspondent David Brody gives him high marks on issues important to evangelicals.
Saturday morning, Brody tweeted:

Just this week, Trump became the first president to make a live address to the annual March for Life and the Department of Health and Human Services announced a Conscience and Religious Freedom Division to protect health care workers with religious or moral objections to peforming tasks that violate their conscience.
In addition to policy decisions addressing evangelical issues, Trump has appointed many evangelicals to Cabinet and sub-cabinet positions and granted unprecedented White House access to their leaders. Images of the president receiving prayer in the Oval Office and Vice-President Pence's statement that Trump is a believer only strengthen their support.
Here are some of the reasons evangelicals give the president top marks for his first year in office.
The meeting between President Trump and evangelical leaders was planned by the White House in advance, but the prayer time was totally spontaneous. It came during a daylong listening session with the Office of Public Liaison.
After the meeting, Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council told his supporters that he's found the Trump administration to be "genuinely interested and responsive to the concerns of the evangelical community" and added that after 14 years in Washington, DC "I am more optimistic that we can change the course of this country. "This was much more than a photo-op. The relationship between evangelicals and this White House is palpable."
Many Christians are celebrating President Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his plan to move the US embassy to the city of Jerusalem. It is seen as the fulfillment of biblical prophecy for the Jewish people.
White House officials say the decision is based on the "recognition of reality," affirming the fact that Jerusalem has been Israel's seat of power for the last seven decades.

"With this move, President Trump demonstrates the benefit of his outsider status. It's a reality other presidents allowed decades of politics, failed diplomacy and Arab threats to cloud," says CBN White House Correspondent Jennifer Wishon.
CBN News Senior Editor John Waage says, "Christians should celebrate the pending embassy move to Jerusalem despite the difficulties because it is part of the great miracle of our time: the return of the Jewish people to the land and the city the Lord promised to them."
After all, the Bible focuses clearly on Jerusalem in many places: "Thus says the Lord: I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the Lord of hosts, the Holy Mountain." - Zechariah 8:3
Neil Gorsuch was President Trump's first nominee to the US Supreme Court.  
"He's a true conservative," evangelist Franklin Graham told CBN News. "This man, certainly, for all of us Christians, we are very, very thankful that President Trump has nominated him, because he will protect religious liberty."
As a justice on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, Gorsuch ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby and Little Sisters of the Poor in their legal battles against being forced to cover abortifacient contraceptives for their employees – something that would've violated their religious beliefs.
Evangelist and Pastor Greg Laurie said, "As Jefferson so eloquently reminded us, the God who gave us life gave us liberty, so I pray Judge Gorsuch never forgets to value each and every American as our Maker does."
During his campaign, President Trump said he was going to bring "Merry Christmas" back, and he's done just that.
"As president of the United States it's my tremendous honor to finally wish America and the world a very Merry Christmas," he said at the annual lighting of the National Christmas Tree.  
And he took it a step further, putting the focus on Jesus.
"From the earliest days of our nation, Americans have known Christmas is a time for prayer and worship, for gratitude and good will, for peace and renewal. For Christians, this is a holy season, a celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," the president said.
"The Christmas story began 2,000 years ago with a mother, a father, their baby son, and the most extraordinary gift of all – the gift of God's love for all of humanity," he continued. "Each one of us is a child of God. That is the true source of joy this time of year," President Trump said.
The president and First Lady Melania Trump also restored "Merry Christmas" to the White House Christmas card, which had not included that phrase during President Barack Obama's tenure.
Vice President Mike Pence wasted no time showing how the new Trump Administration would be different in scope than the previous administration.  
Just one week after being sworn into office, Pence made history by addressing tens of thousands of pro-life supporters at January's March for Life. It was the first time a US vice president ever spoke at the event.
During his 12-year tenure as a congressman from Indiana, Pence was a leading advocate against abortion on Capitol Hill.
"In many ways Vice President Mike Pence is President Trump's North Star," says CBN News White House Correspondent Jennifer Wishon.
Less than one month after taking office, President Donald Trump told thousands of faith leaders he would "destroy" a law that keeps pastors from speaking about politics from the pulpit.   
The Johnson Amendment was created in 1954 by then Sen. Lyndon B. Johnson. It limits the free speech of pastors, essentially threatening to take away a church or non-profit's tax-exempt status for endorsing or opposing a political candidate.
"I will get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution," he promised at the National Prayer Breakfast in February.
The president has tried to make good on his promise but still needs help from Congress to do it.
President Trump has aggressively followed through with his campaign promise to support the pro-life agenda – a promise that won over a demographic key to his electoral victory: evangelical Christians.
One of his very first actions as president was to reinstate the Mexico City Policy. With a stroke of his pen, Trump withheld US tax dollars from foreign non-governmental organizations that perform abortions or provide abortion referrals.

He's also vowed to make the Hyde Amendment law. That means instead of lawmakers having to attach the amendment to spending bills, it would become the law of the land that no federal tax dollars can be used to fund abortion-on-demand in the US.
The president also took a stand against China's forced abortions by cutting $32.5 million to the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). Those funds were redirected to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), which provides medical care to families across the world.
"The outrage of the Obama administration's 'see no evil' policy that financed forced abortions and coerced sterilizations in China and other dictatorships is finally over," said Fr. Pavone, national director of Priests for Life. "The United Nations Population Fund is a broker of oppression. That our country funded this organization in violation of federal law is a disgrace."
Shortly before leaving office, former President Barack Obama imposed a regulation that prohibited states from withdrawing their funding to Planned Parenthood. Obama imposed the ban after several states began taking action in the wake of undercover videotapes exposing Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of aborted baby body parts.

A few months into the Trump administration the Senate voted to overthrow the regulation. That resulted in a 50-50 tie, which allowed Vice President Pence to step in and cast the tie-breaking vote.
"I've been in the political realm for 20 years and have been in pro-life advocacy for 30 years. We're nine months into his administration and he's been keeping his word. I'll go back to a Ronald Reagan slogan: 'Trust but Verify.' We'll continue to trust and hold him accountable, but we are on track to seeing the most pro-life president this country has ever seen," said Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council.
The president's efforts to roll back the Obamacare contraceptive coverage mandate that employers must provide birth control to workers at no cost was recently blocked by a federal judge's ruling.
In April, CBN News White House Correspondent Jennifer Wishon broke the story that members of President Trump's cabinet are meeting together weekly for a Bible study.

The meetings are led by Ralph Drollinger, the founder of Capitol Ministries, who started working on arranging the Bible study during the Trump team's transition to the White House.
"In terms of a country's health and direction, when its leaders are seeking God, the nation is in a position to be blessed by God in ways that are 'far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,'" Drollinger told CBN News referring to Ephesians 3:20.

"These are the most influential people of the US government meeting weekly to study the Bible verse by verse and grow themselves spiritually, it's truly remarkable," says Wishon.
Drollinger sends his weekly Bible study to President Trump too and says he's welcome to attend the meeting anytime.
Since Nikki Haley headed to New York as President Trump's UN ambassador, the Trump administration has demonstrated time after time that it will not stand for the UN's ongoing hostility towards Israel.
In an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in early December, Ambassador Haley defended Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
She also criticized the UN for its hostility against the state of Israel.
"Over many years the United Nations has outrageously been one of the world's foremost centers of hostility towards Israel. The UN has done far more damage to the prospects of Middle East peace than to advance them," she told the assembled ambassadors. "We will not be a party to that. The United States no longer stands by when Israel is unfairly attacked in the United Nations."
In a separate move, the State Department withdrew from the United Nations Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) after a series of decisions by the UN body displayed what the Trump administration sees as clear hostility toward Israel.
Those moves include a May vote, on Israel's Independence Day, to approve a resolution rejecting any legal or historical claims by Israel to the city of Jerusalem. Then came a July vote to declare the city of Hebron in biblical Judea, which is the final resting place of the Jewish patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to be a Palestinian World Heritage site.
Vice President Pence announced this fall the Trump administration has decided to bypass the UN in helping the Mideast victims of Islamic genocide to rebuild.
"The UN has too often failed to help the most vulnerable communities - especially religious minorities," Pence explained. "And while faith-based groups with proven track records and deep roots in the region are more than willing to assist, the United Nations continues to deny their funding requests."
"It is my privilege to announce that President Trump has ordered the State Department to stop funding the ineffective relief efforts of the United Nations and from this day forward, America will provide support directly to persecuted communities through USAID," Pence said.

12. President Trump's Journey to Jesus
In an interview with CBN News in November, Vice President Pence spoke about his and President Trump's Christian faith.
"The president and I are believers," Pence told CBN News.
"I've been with this president in the Oval Office with religious leaders when people have asked to pause for a moment of prayer, and the president readily embraces that. I think he's always very humbled and grateful by the support of believers," Pence said.
And evangelicals from Trump's team of advisers say they've seen the change in his life.
"I can tell you Donald Trump is not the same man that you are hearing about from his past. He has had a radical change in his heart. He has had a heart change toward the things of God and the people of God, and he is surrounding himself with prayer warriors," says Mary Colbert, an evangelical leader who has attended meetings with the president.
President Trump even confirmed his Christian faith once again during his Christmas announcement when he referred to "OUR Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."