Newt Gingrich to Pastors: Take Courage, Run For Office

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich is encouraging pastors to step away from the pew and run for political office.

During a Pastors and Pews event in South Carolina, Gingrich told the American Renewal Project that the United States is at a critical moment in history and church leaders have a unique opportunity to shape her future.

"You're at a moment in history that is as defining as anything in the Old Testament," he said. "You're at a point where some people have to have the courage to witness for Christ, some people have to have the courage to stand up and tell the truth to their flock, and some people have to have the courage to get into the public arena themselves."

Watch Newt Gingrich's address to pastors above.

He explained that America is in the midst of a cultural war and the secular government wants to determine what citizens should think and say.

"We're now engaged in a two-front war. On the one front you have a secular totalitarianism that wants to use the power of government to coerce us on every level," he said.

He added that the government even wants to control what happens inside the church.

"You're allowed to sort of, vaguely, believe in your faith as long as you don't talk about it, certainly don't do anything in public about it, and that religion should be reduced to one-hour on Sundays; and even then you better be careful what you say," he said.

"So on the one front we're in a huge struggle, particularly with the academic, news media, and the judicial, world over just survival, and having the right to go to God, having the right to preach salvation through Christ," he said.

Gingrich noted that it is not too late for America to change her course. He said that pastors could be instrumental in upholding Christian values and advancing the Christian faith.

"We have not seen the Judeo-Christian historic traditions threatened the way they are today, ever in American history...you have a chance to turn all this around," he said.

He encouraged pastors to run for political office and told them to encourage church members to run for office as well.

"You have a duty to have the courage to stand up and tell the truth," Gingrich said. "Tell the truth about those who would....force us to bow to the power of the government in order to do things that our religion forbids."