‘We need to step on toes’

Robbinsville – In 2018, Mark Robinson spoke at a Greensboro City Council meeting: just an average citizen, a church-goer and Army veteran, defending gun rights.

A video of him went viral.

Later that year, he was invited to speak at the National Rifle Association’s annual convention. In another two years, Robinson was elected North Carolina’s lieutenant governor, the second-highest elected official in North Carolina – the only elected official to have powers in both the legislative and executive branches of state government.

And two years after that, Robinson was in Robbinsville.

The lieutenant governor appeared with Phillip Fulmer, one of the University of Tennessee Volunteers’ winningest football coaches, signing autographs, and delivering words of encouragement and emboldenment to an audience of believers at Robbinsville High School’s auditorium.

The two were in Robbinsville on Oct. 27 as part of the “Bold & Courageous Tour” organized by the Gastonia-based N.C. Faith & Freedom Coalition.

The theater at Robbinsville High was at near capacity, with local churches well represented by almost two-dozen pastors, including a cluster who sat front and center in VIP seats.

Local politicians and candidates were also well represented. The audience itself was overwhelmingly local. As show runners probed for information (trying to find how far people came to attend the event), a few came from other counties and one drove 230 miles from Virginia, but most were either from Graham County – or don’t raise their hands in public.

Jason Williams, executive director of the N.C. Faith & Freedom Coalition, described the group as non-profit and non-partisan. He was on stage in Robbinsville, as well. He even managed to find something President Obama once said that the audience could agree with – that Southerners will never give up their Bibles or guns.

Before the 7 p.m. main event, Coach Fulmer gave a pep talk to the Robbinsville High School football team (which went on to win Friday’s game) and joined them for dinner, before he rejoined his group.

It’s hard to tell who drew the bigger crowd, but both top-billing men – Robinson and Fulmer – had Jesus in their heart and messages of being saved and redeemed to share.

Fulmer put it this way: nearing the end of his career – during a convention where Div. 1 head coaches gather en masse – he ran into a Texas A&M coach, who demonstrated using a roll of 100 pennies how much time Fulmer had left to make a difference.

“It’s really important to count your pennies,” Fulmer said. “It’s much more important to make your pennies count.”

Fulmer said voters have a responsibility to elect people who believe in the Bible. Attendees were given voter guides identifying where each statewide candidate stands on issues important to the Faith & Freedom Coalition: Oppose abortion on demand, the Build Back Better Act and Freedom to Vote Act, and special rights for LGBTQ, and support voter ID laws, Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Southern Border Wall and protections for girls in sports against transgender athletes.

In introducing the lieutenant governor, Jason Williams said conservatives are under attack – but that Robinson is fighting back.

“He’s been a thorn in the sides of liberals in Raleigh every day,” Williams said.

Robinson gave his speech as if it was a church sermon, one that described a nation that was not living up to the Bible’s standards and that will sometime soon pay the price in the form of a wrathful God. And, he adds, God does not want His followers to be silent about it.

“We need to step on toes,” Robinson said. “We need our own toes stepped on.”

He blames un-Christian politicians and pastors who he said are weak and ineffective.

He said among politicians, most just get elected to get rich, he said. They put the Constitution last and their self interests first, he said.

“I’m still not sure about those 83 million votes,” he added, referring to the number of votes President Joe Biden received.

That comment was followed by enthusiastic applause. He said pastors have become so weak and ineffective, “people don’t even pay attention anymore.”

“Pastors no longer pay attention to the Word of God,” he said.

They pastor at mega churches with micro Gospel, he said.

“They refuse to teach the whole word of God,” he said, accusing them of leaving out parts that might offend people.

He said much of the New Testament describes a young Jesus Christ learning to be human and – for the most part – showing human vulnerabilities that ultimately led to his Sacrifice. Jesus won’t be so vulnerable in the Second Coming; He will judge and make war, Robinson said.

“When Jesus comes back, there will be no excuses,” he said.

Robinson covered a lot of ground over the few minutes that he spoke, touching on:

ν Transgender issues. He called gender reassignment surgery for children immoral and said you are either a man or a woman. “I can’t think of a bigger fool than a man who thinks he can have a baby,” he said;

ν Homosexuality. “Homosexuals ain’t got no place in anyone’s Christian Church,” he said, adding that homosexuals are “straight on your way to hell”;

ν Border security, pointing out the $40 billion set aside to protect Ukraine – but nothing allotted to protect the U.S. Southern Border;

ν Consequences of an un-secured border (drug traffickers and gangs are pouring over the border, he said).

Note: Budgets to fund U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement totaled $85.6 billion in 2022. Of that, about $4 billion goes to border protection.

Robinson said his priorities include protecting the lives of the unborn, the Second Amendment, police, kids in schools and soldiers.