As I watched the results of the 2008 federal election, my eye was caught by something I'd never seen before: a "runner" giving the vote total for the NDP incumbent-and for our Christian Heritage Party candidate!

In 20 years with the Party, I can't recall ever seeing the words "Christian Heritage Party" on a network television vote-tally. And although the final results were disappointing, that moment stirred a glimmer of hope for me: it's really possible to break through media censorship!

As I analyzed the results, riding-by-riding, I saw a consistent pattern: in almost every riding where the CHP ran, our candidate came fifth-following the four parties that were repeatedly mentioned by the media and the polls during the campaign.

"What would have happened," I wondered, "if these men and women—who offered their neighbours policy options distinctly different (and more moral) than the four big taxpayer-funded parties—had been given equal treatment by the media?

What if the four parties already in Parliament had not cut off 95% of our fund-raising capacity, when they voted to share $30 million a year of taxpayers' money among themselves?

What would have happened if the biggest pro-life and pro-family organizations had mobilized their members' votes behind the CHP?

What would have happened if churches had found the courage to shake off Revenue Canada's golden shackles and tell their congregations that it's immoral to vote for the defenders of the abortion industry?

What would have happened? We'll never know, because those things didn't happen—again.

Nevertheless, in several places, the results were encouraging: Manitoba president Dave Reimer-who was also a leading vote-getter in 1988-took 3.23% of the votes in Provencher. Rod Taylor got 3.19% in Skeena. Len Lodder got 3% in Portage-Lisgar. Shaun MacDonald took 2.3% in Oxford. Irma Devries in Perth-Wellington and Chris Desormeaux-Malm in Sarnia-Lambton both got 2%. Jim Hnatiuk took 1.9% in his Nova Scotia riding. Harold Ludwig took 1.5% in Chilliwack; I had 1.4% in Langley.

Sure, those are small returns for a lot of hard work-but they are results that indicate that this Party is on the Canadian scene to stay. And the number of young CHP candidates was a further indication that this Party has a future.

Among national parties, we placed fifth-without having been mentioned on national network television, except for two brief mentions on CTV's Mike Duffy Live. (The BQ, which is not a national party, got 10% of the vote; two independents who won seats garnered 0.7%; and the CHP's overall 0.2% exceeded the Libertarian and Marxist-Leninist total vote combined.)

Those results certainly didn't reflect the level of interest experienced by CHP candidates and their teams. The near-collapse of the Liberal Party and the economic turmoil of the global banking crisis had many voters worried-and nervous voters tend to cling to what seems known and secure.

But the most important factor to remember is this: for believers, obedience is already success. He who raises up rulers and puts down rulers, gives a disobedient people the leadership they deserve.

So pray for Canada, and resolve-in the words of Winston Churchill—to "never, never, never give up!"