Consider the two interviews below — one by Christianity Today, and the other by The Christian Post:

In March of 2011, Christianity Today spoke with the Rev. Cain—he’s also an associate minister at Antioch Baptist Church North in Atlanta.  C. M. Alexander, Antoch’s senior pastor, strongly emphasizes civil rights in his ministry, and is a long time member of the NAACP (http://www.antiochnorth.org/ourpastor.htm).  It’s said that Alexander and Cain don’t share the same political philosophy.

Here are portions of the Christianity Today interview with Herman Cain:

How long have you been involved in active ministry?

I was licensed in 2002. Like most ministers, I felt called to preach the word of God and minister to the least, the last, and the lost, and minister to His people. In addition to delivering sermons, I’m very involved with the scholarship ministry. I believe, as you know, education is the key, and one of the reasons that I got involved with the scholarship ministry is that we need to encourage kids as well as assist them in getting off to a good educational start, and even going on to college.

In a recent speech at a church in Milner, Georgia, you talked about feeling a Jeremiah-like burden on your heart to run for President. Can you tell me more about that?

Jeremiah for a while refused to speak on God’s behalf. But as he watched the condition of his people, and he felt the burden that they needed to hear a word from God, he couldn’t stand not doing what he could do. That’s the burden of Jeremiah. That’s also the burden of Herman Cain.

I cannot sit still and watch the direction of this country towards radical socialism and not do what I can do. Is there somebody else who might be better at being President of the United States than Herman Cain? There might be. But the people are going to determine that. But I couldn’t sit back and hope that a great leader emerges, or hope that someone becomes President that would tackle the issues the way I would tackle them.

How important would evangelical Christians be in a coalition supporting Herman Cain for President?

How about critical? You see, evangelical Christians have the potential, if they vote in large numbers, to offset the union vote, to offset the gay vote, and to offset the vote of those that don’t particularly have any religion at all. And so that’s why it would be so critical. Some of these rank-and-file union members might vote for Herman Cain. But I know that the union leadership is going to be encouraging their members to vote for Barack Obama because he has not hidden his partiality toward unions in this country. But evangelicals can offset that in a big way.

Evangelicals can help offset the number of government workers who are enjoying the status quo. Most of the bureaucrats don’t want dramatic changes in Washington, D.C. It’s not just the people that we elect. It’s the ones that we don’t elect, that are there continuously until they finish their career. So I happen to believe that evangelical Christians can be the critical swing vote, along with independents, to elect Herman Cain for President.

For the full Christianity Today article, consult the link below:

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/marchweb-only/qahermancain.html?start=1

In April of 2011, The Christian Post interviewed Herman Cain regarding his faith.  Here is a selected portion of this interview:

CP: Talk briefly about your faith.

Cain: My faith plays a very big part in all the decisions that I make. Faith makes up a big part of most of my life. I’ve been involved with the church since I was young. As you get older, your faith gets stronger because of your own personal experiences where you know the only way you could have made it through some of those personal experiences was by the grace of God. Faith plays a very big part in my life, especially when I’m having to wrestle with some major decisions.

CP: Why are you considering a run for president?

Cain: I think it began with my thinking about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25. Throughout my life, I have been blessed to have had a successful career, a loving wife of 42 years, two adult children and now three grandkids. I’ve developed my problem-solving skills as a businessman, developed my leadership skills as a businessman, developed my communications skills as a businessman, developed my radio talk show. One day, I sat down and looked at all the talents I had been allowed to develop and after going through some other personal life-threatening things, I asked myself what should I do with these talents? Should I stay on cruise control for the rest of my life? Or should I do something truly significant with them? That led me to consider a presidential exploratory committee. I was inspired because of discomfort in the direction of the country. I was inspired by thinking about my grandkids’ generation and what they would inherit if we did not stop this rapid train to destruction for this country.

I was also inspired by the life-threatening experience I had with cancer nearly five years ago, when I was told I had a 30 percent chance of being alive today. I am totally cancer free. I believe that was God’s way of saying “Herman, not yet, I want you to do something with the talents that I have allowed you to develop.” I could go out and start another company and make some more money, play some more golf. But a year ago, I started to seriously consider putting together an exploratory committee, thinking that maybe my skill set could help this country. I didn’t have a lifelong aspiration to be president. It wasn’t until I saw the direction that President Obama and his administration were taking this country, that I really got concerned like a lot of people. That’s when God started to lay on my heart that maybe I needed to be one of the choices for the American people.

CP: How did your faith influence your decision to set up an exploratory presidential committee?

Cain: Very simply, prayer. I believe in prayer and I believe in the power of prayer. I pray multiple times a day. This is a constant part of how I assess and evaluate things. I look for that inspiration when I have to make a decision. I believe in God, I believe in his son Jesus Christ, and I believe in the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer and you know how to pray, and you understand how and when God is trying to talk to you, it is one of the most liberating feelings in the world.

For the full Christian Post interview, see the link below.

http://www.christianpost.com/news/herman-cain-talks-about-his-faith-possible-presidential-run-49761/