Carol and I were relaxing [Thursday] night when my iPhone pinged. Looking down, I saw these unnerving words: “Our plane just skidded off the runway.”

The text was from our son, Zach, who is a special assistant to Governor Pence, and is traveling with him around the country in this grueling campaign.

The next words eased my fears. “You’ll see it on the news, but everyone is fine.” As you can imagine, there were a lot of prayers of thanksgiving going up from the Bauer family and our extended family.

It was also a reminder that as this battle continues, Donald Trump and Mike Pence not only deserve our votes but also our prayers for their safety in what has been one of the ugliest and mean-spirited campaigns in presidential history.

Speaking Of Skidding Off The End…

That is exactly where our country is headed if Hillary Clinton is elected. Every day brings more evidence of just how deep the corruption flows through the veins of Clinton Incorporated.

We shared with you yesterday about how Bill and Hillary became super rich off their public service. They accumulated hundreds of millions of dollars during a time when the American middle class was being crushed.

Voters who don’t want to support Donald Trump must understand just how corrupt the Clintons are.

Day after day, new leaks show that even Clinton’s own staff marveled at her inability to discern where ethical lines were.

They celebrated when Hillary finished an interview and didn’t come across as a “b-tch.”

They have spoken derisively about young people and men and women of faith.

Here’s the latest: When Hillary Clinton served as secretary of state, her campaign chairman, John Podesta, served with her at the State Department. When Raytheon, a major defense contractor, wanted to boost foreign military sales, who did Raytheon hire to lobby the State Department? Heather Podesta, John Podesta’s sister. Her lobbying contract was terminated just as Hillary Clinton stepped down as secretary of state.

And don’t forget, as I mentioned yesterday, that Podesta — Hillary’s campaign chairman — was having regular dinners with top Justice Department officials while she was under investigation. But just like Bill’s tarmac visit with Attorney General Lynch, I’m sure John and his DOJ buddies were just talking about golf and grandkids.

If Hillary wins, the lesson she will learn is that there is nothing she and Bill can’t do. If she wins, those who voted for her, or voted in ways that allowed her to win, will have empowered the corruption that will inevitably follow.

Coming Home

More Republican office holders are coming home, and publicly stating that they will vote for Donald Trump. Senators Thune and Fischer are on board, as is Rep. Jason Chaffetz.

The latest to come around is South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. As Gov. Haley explained, it’s not about personalities, but policies.

I suspect part of this trend — GOP officials backing the nominee — may be the result of some quiet reflection over the possibilities on November 8th. Possibilities such as Trump narrowly losing and GOP holdouts being blamed for every horrible thing that Hillary does. That will be a huge burden for elected Republicans to carry.

For example, on the date we lose the next religious liberty case at the Supreme Court or when the court effectively repeals the Second Amendment, millions of Americans will ask, “What did my senator/governor do to help Trump/Pence prevail?”

Elections have consequences.

The first corruption scandal that breaks or when the White House and various government agencies launch a full-throated attack to muzzle talk radio and right-leaning Internet sites, conservatives will remember the circular firing squads and the Republicans who attacked Trump/Pence with more vehemence than they ever demonstrated against Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

I suspect it is this realization that is causing some Republicans to reconsider and man up.

Pastor Endorses Trump

Pastor Saeed Abedini is an Iranian-American Christian. For that “crime,” he spent three and a half years locked up in one of Iran’s worst prisons while the Obama Administration negotiated a terrible nuclear deal with the tyrants in Tehran.

Pastor Abedini voted last week. He voted for Donald Trump and he is urging fellow Christians to do the same. Here’s what Pastor Abedini wrote about Trump in a recent Facebook post:

“I am finally free in a free country. Last year on the same day I was sick and in chains for Christ, and now I can vote to choose my next president. And most amazingly, I can vote for someone that I know fought for me and called my name so many times. He met my family and gave them a $10,000 gift. I think his ideas are more biblical than the other candidates.”

As for Hillary Clinton, Abedini wrote:

“As a woman who says she stands for women’s rights when she was [secretary of state], she never contacted my mom, wife, sister or my daughter. She never did anything to help when I was in prison as an American pastor who was detained in Iran as a hostage.”

I want to issue a challenge to all the pastors reading this report. I suspect many have already planned sermons for this Sunday and perhaps even the next. But I urge you to please stress the necessity of voting and voting in defense of religious liberty because our First Amendment freedoms are under attack.

I urge you to remind your congregations that just a few weeks ago, the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights labeled phrases like “religious freedom” and “religious liberty” as code for bigotry and intolerance.

Tell your congregations about Dr. Eric Walsh, a lay minister who was fired from his job for what he said in a sermon about traditional marriage. Now the state of Georgia is demanding that he surrender his sermons.

Tell them about the court ruling that is forcing crisis pregnancy centers to promote abortion.

Tell your congregations to vote!