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The city’s “gatekeepers” were ready when an adult-use marijuana cultivator and processor came to Chardon, Ohio, last March. Longtime intercessor Keith Landies and his fellow church members and concerned citizens found out that a proposed marijuana operation was to be on the City Council’s next meeting agenda. So they decided to show up at City Hall en force.
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As the second-eldest in a family of six patriotic brothers in Chardon, (one of whom is a firearms manufacturer who spoke on the Second Amendment at IFA’s Policy and Prayer event in Cleveland), Keith displays obvious joy in his community, where he has managed a construction business for 51 years. He first came to Christ during the Jesus Movement of the 1970s, and then he met IFA co-founder John Beckett by way of the Northern Ohio Christian Conference. Keith has been a prayer warrior with IFA since its founding.
He draws courage from Daniel 11:32: “ … but the people who know their God shall stand firm and take action.” Based on that, he says: “They do exploits. They pray, but they also do something.”
And that’s exactly what happened last March. Keith and his group sent out an email alert, trusting that God would show up in power at the meeting, and He did.
The marijuana distributor came with several colleagues, an attorney, and a sharp PowerPoint presentation detailing the proposal — along with promising the council $500,000 in annual revenue. At the end of the marijuana distributor’s presentation, the mayor offered two minutes speaking time to anyone wishing to comment.
“For me it was overwhelming,” says Keith. One warning followed another about the dangers of marijuana. “When one woman said, ‘My son died from a marijuana cigarette laced with poison,’ you could have heard a pin drop in that room.” Keith and his group wondered where she came from, and scanning the room, they realized there were others present whom they didn’t know.
“I’m going to say it was a ‘God thing,’ ” says Keith, describing how he watched the council members’ expressions as they heard each testimony, and he could tell that God was speaking to their hearts. Another man spoke of how he officiated at a funeral for a young man who died of a drug overdose. Keith’s younger brother, Gordon, spoke about how he had played a part in outlawing marijuana in Novato, California, and how that decision benefited the community.
The next day, Keith called the mayor to encourage him as the “Gatekeeper” of Chardon and to remind him that the mayor and the council have a moral duty to protect the citizens and to determine who enters the city. Keith’s heart behind his message to the mayor was that Chardon might be “a city set on a hill,” recalling Matthew 5:14.
“Keith, I don’t think you’re going to have to speak,” the mayor said when Keith asked for eight minutes speaking time at the next council meeting. The mayor signaled that he already felt confident the council would rule against the marijuana dispensary in town.
“I didn’t speak at that Town Council meeting, because I couldn’t do it in two minutes,” says Keith. Still, he walked away feeling triumphant because God had so graciously gathered the right people and orchestrated the right words to be shared that Thursday evening. The Holy Spirit caused those words to resonate with the council members.
Since then, the council outlawed marijuana in the city of Chardon. Keith’s coalition also worked to have it outlawed in the three adjoining townships that make up their school district. Building a “10-mile wall” around the city, they illustrated how swiftly legislation can change when people get involved.
Keith emphasizes that action is inseparable from prayer, and the testimony from Chardon, he says, was a divine reward for those who took action. He points to Habakkuk 2:1 to show how we might view standing upon the walls, facing out onto no man’s land — onto “disputed territory”:
I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me … (Habakkuk 2:1 NIV).
“It’s not in the dugout,” Keith insists. “That’s not where God visits you; God visits you where the battle is raging!”
Keith challenges everyone: “Sound the trumpet, protect the gates, lead, and God will show up.”
TAKE ACTION! In Pennsylvania, state Rep. Amen Brown introduced HB 2210, which threatens to flood Pennsylvania neighborhoods with pot shops selling high-potency THC marijuana products. This bill not only legalizes marijuana for retail sale but also restricts local municipalities from opting out of having these establishments in their communities. If you are a Pennsylvania resident, click here to contact your elected officials. And continue to cover this decision-making process with prayer.
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Photo credits: Keith Landies, pabradyphoto/Getty Images via Canva Pro.