“I had to choose between your law and God’s law, and no matter how much power you have to enforce your law, it is inconsequential next go God’s. His laws are eternal, not merely for the moment. No mortal, not even you, may annul the laws of God.”
Antigone by Sophocles
There has been near saturation coverage of the brief incarceration of Kim Davis. Of course, she is the Clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky who was held in contempt of court after refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Her Christian faith prohibited actions that would publically express her approval of homosexual or lesbian “marriages.”
There is no need to rehash the widespread news coverage of the event. Instead, mentally zoom out for a few thoughtful moments to consider the darker, far more widespread, and sinister cultural damage emerging from Kim’s experience and thousands of similar ones.
Often such incidents are reported by the press, including the Judeo-Christian press, ministers, and nationally known Christian leaders as “infringing on freedom of religion” or “encroaching on religious rights.” Words like infringing and encroaching suggest a nibbling away at the grander, bedrock, freedom of religion that has anchored America since its founding.
For a moment, let’s sidestep the obvious that an aggregation of nibbles eventually consumes the whole. No matter how much you may have overeaten during an annual Thanksgiving feast, you did it one bite at a time. However, there are far larger more insidious and enduring impacts.
Whenever a,
the long-term impact on our nation, culture, and families contributes to a looming darkness.
Each of these seemingly narrowly-focused or targeted incidents unleashes ultimately the full, virtually unlimited might, of the federal government and often the full force of the best-known media to proclaim directly or indirectly any of several false and extremely alarming messages:
Essentially, the government is at war with God. The secular humanists (liberal/progressives) are, knowingly or unknowingly, fighting on behalf of the “‘prince of the power of the air,’ the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience…” [Ephesian 2:2 KJV] to amass as much temporal power as possible, at the expense of the people. “…because the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.” [Romans 8:7 NIV]
Meanwhile, Judeo-Christian believers have been largely shutdown by the cultural pressures of political correctness. They have become too timid to express the courage of their convictions. Far too many have lost the courage of their convictions and some have even lost their convictions. Many believers in the United States are no longer the salt of the earth or the light of the world, at least not visibly.
Apathy comes with a fearful price. Not only is the faith of believers weakened by the relentless pounding of government skepticism, but our children and grandchildren are routinely exposed to the same pounding, during the most vulnerable growing period of their lives. They are constantly exposed to the same alarming messages as everyone else.
Former President Ronald Reagan loudly proclaimed, “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
As free Americans, we must aggressively fight to protect our God-given freedom with,
Kim Davis opted for civil disobedience. Her actions triggered a long overdue national and very public conversation regarding the concept of same-sex “marriage.” Organized resistance to restrictions on religious freedom is no longer an option; it is inescapable—unless we want to see America irretrievably broken, another sad relic of history.
Each case like Kim’s are the ripples in the war to save America. The growing might of the massive government is the tsunami. Are YOU willing to take a stand?
What does it take to wake up the body of believers?
What does it take to wake up the clergy?
The ACLU has filed complaints against four schools in Indiana, California, New Jersey, and Oklahoma and New Jersey. Their crime? The have used a sign with “God Bless America.” The complaints demand that the schools remove the words “God Bless America” from their signs, alleging that the phrase is hurtful, divisive and a violation of the constitution.
How far can America implode? Recall that just a few years ago, all of Congress stood outside the Capitol and sang, “God Bless America.” The occasion was just after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. After that infamous date, the song was heard often. It has been only 14 years!
Irving Berlin composed that song in 1918. It sat in his desk drawer for twenty years until 1938. Here is the original:
God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with a light from above
From the mountains, to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America
My home sweet home
The song was popularized by Kate Smith after a preamble was added. Here’s the complete version:
While the storm clouds gather far across the sea
Let us swear allegiance to a land that’s free
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:
God bless America, land that I love
Stand beside her and guide her
Through the night with a light from above
From the mountains, to the prairies
To the oceans white with foam
God bless America
My home sweet home
Notice that the song, so often sung in a celebratory mood today was popularized as a “solemn prayer.” Why? World War II had not yet broken out, but the rapidly gathering dark clouds of war were unmistakably clear, especially to families who had already lost loved ones in World War just twenty years before.
Famed singer Kate Smith introduced the song in her Armistice Day (now called Veteran’s Day) radio broadcast, November 11, 1938. It was just a day after the senseless, tragic Kristallnacht, a series of deadly Nazi attacks on Jews throughout Germany and Austria.
Estimates vary widely, but hundreds died during that horrific two night period. Another 30,000 Jews were arrested and sent to Nazi concentration camps. Over 1000 synagogues were burned and over 7,000 Jewish businesses were destroyed or damaged.
The rapidly gathering dark clouds of war were inescapable. That is why “God Bless America” was a solemn prayer.
But today, it is 2015. There is some saber rattling going on in North Korea. Terrorists from a variety of organizations are wreaking worldwide havoc and causing unspeakable violence, without much apparent opposition. Certainly, those are dark clouds of our time.
But there are even darker clouds with even more formidable consequences. They are the dark clouds of America’s apostasy. America has increasingly abandoned God and the Judeo-Christian principles that made America great.
Others have said that judgment follows desecration. Scripture proclaims, “For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every hidden thing, whether good or evil.” [Ecclesiastes 12:14 NIV] Also, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin condemns any people.” [Proverbs 12:34 NIV]
Now is a good time to go back and read the lyrics (no music please) of the expanded version of “God Bless America.” Read it; pray it as a heart wrenching “solemn prayer.”
While you are at it, pray for the ACLU!
What does it take to wake up the body of believers?
What does it take to wake up the clergy?
The following summarizes an e-mail from a Liberty University history professor to Jason and David Benham (The Benhams have graciously provided a strong endorsement for my book.). It highlights the incredible power of words:
Words are powerful tools. They can be used to build up or tear down. To inspire or incite. To encourage or defeat. To cause trouble or create calm. To unite or divide. To liberate or enslave. Words can, and often are, used to divert, deflect, deceive, or hide the true motives of the one speaking. Words are powerful.
For a people to come together, form a culture, and live in peace and safety, they must be able to communicate with each other. Language, which involves the use of words, is the tool that serves that purpose. And for communication to take place, words must have commonly understood and generally accepted meanings.
All manner of problems emerge when language breaks down. Let me give you an example. What do you hear me saying in this statement? “I am a perfect gay liberal man who can do nothing to stop abortion.” This would be a rather startling announcement from a conservative. But let’s take a look at what I just said.
Some of you may be thinking, “What is he, a homosexual left-wing guy who supports the deliberate killing of unborn babies?” If that is what you think I said, communication between us did not take place. Because I used those words according to their standard and historically accepted meanings; that is, the meaning those words conveyed prior to the time when radicals began deconstructing the English language.
Radicals among us have been busy tearing down our language for more than a hundred years. They disregard the generally accepted meaning of words and use words in ways that are contrary to their intended meanings. The end result of this subterfuge is to make language ultimately meaningless. Justice Antonin Scalia said in his dissenting opinion in the latest Obamacare ruling, that “words no longer have meaning.”
Let me tell you what I meant when I said I am “a perfect gay liberal man who could do nothing to stop abortion.” What I was attempting to communicate to you through the use of those words was this, “I am a mature, happy, liberty-minded man who is unable to prevent expectant mothers from suffering miscarriages.”
Hmm.
Let’s break those words down. “Perfect” means mature, “gay” means happy, “liberal” means the maximizing of liberty, and “abortion” means miscarriage. That was the clear and commonly accepted meaning of those words before radicals started using them for their own purposes.
Did you know that in the first trimester, approximately 20 percent of known pregnancies unfortunately end in miscarriage? However, the medical word for a miscarriage is “spontaneous abortion.” Yes, a miscarriage is called an abortion by the medical community. The deliberate killing of an unborn child is not an abortion. Abortion is the term used by medical professionals, whereas miscarriage is the word used by the general culture to describe the same thing.
The deliberate act of killing an unborn child is a feticide or an aborticide. Just like insecticide is the killing of insects, herbicide is the killing of weeds, homicide is the killing of individual people, and genocide is the killing of a political, or cultural group of people, infanticide is the killing of an infant. So the deliberate killing of a preborn child is a feticide or an aborticide. The English root “cide” comes from the Latin “cidium,” which means the act of killing.
Whenever a group of radicals seeks to mainstream a deviant, disturbing or evil practice, they must first desensitize the general public as to the gravity of their deviancy. To do so, they steal an upright word and by repetitious use superimpose that word on that which the general public finds abhorrent. Their objective is to attach some new meaning to the word in the minds of their hearers and thereby transfer that good feeling people previously associated that word to their diabolical practice.
You see, radicals of all stripes have no principles – they only have goals. Their goal is to destroy everything this country and culture stand for … and to rebuild anew on a man-made foundation. They will twist, distort and misuse language if it advances their agenda and moves them closer to their goal. It is the end that is all-important to them, not the means. Changing language, words and their meanings is a major weapon in their arsenal in doing so.
We must ever be mindful that whoever controls the use and meaning of words comes to control the cultural and political agenda, as well as the emotions of the masses. Right now, more than ever in history, emotions control the agenda far more than facts. So more bluntly stated, “he who defines the terms always wins the debate.”
If we want to be victorious and see liberty restored and preserved, we must retake command of the words we use and thereby reframe the argument. When we do so, we will win every debate.
I close with a quote from Sam Adams, that revolutionary firebrand, and defender of liberty in the late 18th century. He said, “How strangely will the tools of a tyrant pervert the plain meaning of words.”
http://www.wnd.com/2015/08/a-perfectly-gay-liberal-man-who-cant-stop-abortion/#qy8isQx4kE3dC2Rl.99
A few minutes ago, I watched a short video on The Christian Post. It was billed as a heartwarming reunion of parents and child. Many would agree and even become a bit teary-eyed. I cried because I saw tragedy.
Julia and Brian Woodburn are married and have a daughter, Addison who appears to be 3-4 years old. The difficulty arises because Mom and Dad both serve in the military and have both been deployed. Result? Mom, Dad, and little Addison have been in three different parts of the world for an extended period.
Their surprise for Addison was a reunion during a school-sponsored magic show in a gymnasium. The magician enabled Mom to pop out of an apparently empty box; Dad was costumed as a mascot bear, serving as the magician’s assistant. Just before the unveiling of the parents, the host “magically” selected Addison from the audience and briefly interviewed her. He asked Addison if her Mom was present. Gesturing panoramically, he asked if Addison’s mother was anywhere in the audience. Another off-camera child shouted, “SHE DOESN’T HAVE ONE; SHE’S DEPLOYED.” My tears flowed freely, not because of the reunion, but because the reunion never should have been necessary in the first place.
I have a great deal of respect, appreciation, and admiration for those serving in the military and regularly post Facebook messages to underscore that appreciation. Understandably and regretfully, it is necessary for a parent, often the father, to be deployed for a long period of time. But a young child should never have to be deprived of both parents, for extended periods, even if both are serving in the military. Such a tragic long-term separation is a serious indictment of our falling culture today.
What do YOU think?
If you’re curious, here’s the link: http://www.christianpost.com/buzzvine/soldiers-surprise-their-daughter-with-a-heartwarming-return-at-a-school-magic-show-142626/
Where is the body of believers today?
Where are the clergy?
“If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the Constitution framed by the Convention, where I had the honor to preside, might possibly endanger the religious rights of any ecclesiastical Society, certainly I would never have placed my signature to it.” Founder & President George Washington, May 10, 1789
These fundamental objects of the constitution are in perfect harmony with the revealed objects of the Christian religion. Union, justice, peace, the general welfare, and the blessings of civil and religious liberty, are the objects of Christianity and always secured under its practical and beneficent reign.”
“The state must rest upon the basis of religion, and it must preserve this basis, or itself must fall. But the support which religion gives to the state will obviously cease the moment religion loses it hold upon the popular mind. The very fact that the state must have religion as a support for its own authority demands that some means for teaching religion be employed. Better for it to give up all other instruction than that religion should be disregarded in its schools. The state itself has a more vital interest in this continued influence of religion over its citizens than in their culture in any other respect.” Benjamin Franklin Morris (1864)
Recently, I posted a message about a 95-year old Jewish Holocaust survivor who is personally arranging to rescue over 2,000 Middle East Christians fleeing ISIS. The elderly British man was a child in Austria who was part of a group of children rescued by British Christians and transported to England just before the breakout of World War II. He is flying the Christians to other countries and providing a fund that will support them for 12 to 18 months.
Meanwhile, 28 Iraqi Christians arrived in the United States legally, carrying all the necessary paperwork. They voluntarily reported to the immigration authorities, because they wanted to follow all the proper procedures. They requested sanctuary as refugees fleeing terrorism. How were they treated by the United States government? They have been detained at the Otay Detention Facility in San Diego for 4-6 months. Despite the euphemism, does that sound a bit like incarceration? Most of them have family in the United States and jobs waiting for them. Despite their efforts to honorably follow the rules, it was reported today that at least a dozen of them will be deported back to Iraq. The disposition of the rest remains unknown.
Along the same lines, there is an extraordinary docudrama on Netflix. This is a must see:
If you have access to Netflix, watch Nicky’s Family and keep the tissue nearby. It’s a factual story about Nicholas Winton, a young Brit who, during the run up to WWII, engineered the evacuation of about 669 Jewish children (babies to teenagers) from Czechoslovakia to England. The risks were extraordinarily high; the obstacles were enormous. The parents, knowing that war was coming, anguished over sending their children away—perhaps forever—but were simultaneously eager to save them. Some of the evacuated children received letters from their parents for a time. At varying intervals, the letters stopped. Apparently, all the parents and other adult family members perished in the Holocaust. Although valiant efforts were exerted, there is no evidence of any reunions after the war.
The act and anguish of the parents sending their children away is reminiscent of Moses’ mother placing the baby Moses in the basket along the Nile River. Surely his mother experienced the same indescribable anguish as the Czech parents. It’s difficult to imagine the extent of the anguish in both cases.
When the War broke out, Nicky’s efforts to save the children were forcibly blocked by the Nazis. He said the only thing left for him to do was to defend his country. Nicky joined the British Royal Air Force. He never had any contact with the children he saved. The children never knew who it was that saved their lives. Until now! Fifty years after the war, Nicky’s wife found an old scrapbook in the attic that told the story. After repeated efforts to publicize the story, it was picked up by the BBC. Many of the now aging children along with their children and grandchildren were rounded up on at least two occasions to honor Nicky—50 years after the war and again 70 years after the war (Nicky’s 100th birthday party). It’s truly amazing how many of the children and grandchildren of the original 669 have been driven to lives of extraordinary service, inspired by the earthly savior of their parents or grandparents. The story continues even today.
NOW THAT’S GOD’S LOVE IN ACTION!
The movie is an incredibly powerful and gripping docudrama. Don’t miss it!
Where is the body of believers today?
Where are the clergy?
“Better known works which rely on allusions from the Bible include Milton’s Paradise Lost … Shakespeare … and Melville’s Moby Dick. … Secular education … demands that the student have a good knowledge of the Bible.”
Today, I discovered something surprising. Perhaps disturbing, troubling, or even terrifying would be better descriptors. The discovery was published in the Congressional Record, January 10, 1963, fifty-two years ago. What was so terrifying? It was a list of “Current Communist Goals.” The shock is that today, in 2015, most of the goals have been achieved.
The list, published in the Congressional Record, was abstracted from a wildly popular book, “The Naked Communist,” by Cleon Skousen. Mr. Skousen was a Washington, DC attorney who passed away in 2006. By then, he had published 23 books, including, “The 5000 Year Leap.” It was book about the principles of freedom that President Reagan wanted taught in all of the nation’s schools. It did not happen, but Reagan’s desire attaches great credibility to Skousen and his work.
But how could it happen? We haven’t heard much about communism in a long time. Younger generations cannot even relate to, what to them, is a strange sounding word. Fast forward 53 years. Today, we do hear a great deal about the liberal/progressive movement. The goals of the modern liberal/progressive movement and those of the old communist movement are virtually identical. The differences are indistinguishable Only the names have changed. The modern movement has relentlessly pursued the goals for decades.
That is how most of the goals have been achieved, but at a fearful price. The cost of achieving the goals has been an enormous loss of freedom.
In a recently published piece, I observed that Freedom is a Gift from God, Not a Grant from Government. Only Judeo-Christian believers know, or should know, that freedom is a gift from God. Only Judeo-Christian believers understand, or should understand, at a soul-deep level the preciousness and fragility of that freedom. As a gift from God, freedom carries huge responsibilities for the believer:
Since freedom is undeniably a gift from God, we are accountable to Him for it. One day He may ask of each of us, “What did you do with My incomparable gift of freedom?”
Throughout most of world history, mankind has repeatedly been the tragic victim of his own uncontrollable pride. “Man’s inhumanity to man,” need not be further documented here. Nevertheless, in the midst of man’s morass, God had provided at least two spectacularly noticeable chances for real freedom. The first was the Exodus of the ancient Israelites from Egypt, an event sometimes referred to as the birth of freedom. They enjoyed that freedom for most of the 400-year period of the Judges, until they demanded a king like other nations. That demand precipitated a centuries-long downfall.
God granted a second spectacular chance at freedom to the settlers that came to America seeking freedom to worship Him. After several hundred years, freedom was temporally secured by the Revolutionary War. Freedom was anchored by the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution. After the completion of the Constitution, a lady asked Benjamin Franklin, “What do we have, Dr. Franklin, a monarchy or a republic?” He replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
We kept the republic for about 200 years, until Judeo-Christian believers lost touch with their responsibility to protect God’s awesome gift of freedom. It is time to wake up and appreciate what we have lost.
The following list has been copied directly from the Congressional Record, January 10, 1963. No changes have been made; no editorial comments have been offered. Please—I beg of you, take the time to read all 45 items. The high percentage of these goals that have been achieved, is a measure of how far America has fallen. The only possible push back can come from Judeo-Christian believers or direct intervention by God.
Read them; read them all. You may find yourself shedding tears, getting angry, or even inspired to take action—hopefully and prayerfully, all three.
CURRENT COMMUNIST GOALS
What does it take to wake up the body of believers?
What does it take to wake up the clergy?
When was the last time you heard anyone use the word “posterity?” Ever? Certainly not often. Posterity is a concern for all future generations until the end of time or until the Messiah comes. Posterity was an overarching concern of the Founders of the United States. Their often stated goal was to establish a country that would be safe and free for the citizens for posterity. They guarded against a runaway government and were particularly concerned about a potentially runaway judiciary. Their provision for posterity was the tightly written Constitution of the United States.
Today, it is difficult to find people concerned about the country and culture that will be handed to their children and grandchildren, much less posterity. Until now, every generation throughout our country’s existence and the colonies’ existence before independence (over 400 years combined) handed the baton of time to the succeeding generation after a net improvement to life in America. Today’s generation is the first one who will leave our nation in substantially worse condition than the one inherited. We have witnessed the greatest cultural collapse in recorded history. Even America’s continued existence is threatened, not so much from without, but from within.
Why? Judeo-Christian believers have their collective head in the sand. Pursuing the image one step further, if our head is in the sand, what part of our anatomy is exposed? That’s the image we are presenting to unbelievers.
A recent message declared, “Freedom is a gift from God not a grant from government.” For doubters, the statement is explained and supported on my blog site at lloydstebbins.com.
“God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.” Thomas Jefferson
As a gift from God, freedom carries huge responsibilities for the believer:
Since freedom is undeniably a gift from God, we are accountable to Him for it. One day He may ask of each of us, “What did you do with My incomparable gift of freedom?”
Judeo-Christian believers are the only ones who care or should care about freedom, precisely because it is a gift from God. Believers are made in the image of God [Genesis 1:26:27 KJV] and created to be free representatives of God, continually fellowshipping with God. The individual are more important than the state. Individuals (souls) are eternal. God created individuals; man created the state. The state only exists to assure individual freedom and protect that freedom from encroachment from outside powers. Freedom is paramount. That is the Biblical worldview.
The opposing and mutually exclusive worldview is the evolution-rooted Humanistic worldview. The state is more important than the individual. The state is “eternal” and the individuals are merely tools to support the state. Individuals are dispensable when not considered useful (abortion, infanticide, assisted suicide, euthanasia, etc.). Freedom is inconsequential or perhaps a tool to be dribbled out to manage the masses. A few years ago, when one party controlled all three branches of government, Congressman Barney Frank was heard to say, “We must control the people.” On another occasion, he remarked, “We’re gobbling up power as fast as we can.” Such comments starkly summarize the Humanistic worldview that currently dominates the leadership of America.
If YOU are at all concerned about assuring that your children, grandchildren and beyond will be able to enjoy the freedom that was handed to you, at great sacrifice, by your ancestors, America must have a sustainable culture. Sustainability must have a sense of order. There are only to ways to achieve such order:
For centuries, the America culture was largely driven by Judeo-Christian tradition. Temporally, the culture was anchored and protected by the United States Constitution, which was rooted on Biblical principles. Our leaders today have found a great way to get around the limits of the Constitution. They simply ignore it. For centuries, the overarching authority of the Constitution was guaranteed by the U.S. Supreme Court. But the Court abandoned that responsibility decades ago. Since then there has been declining accountability to the Constitution and growing rebellion against God. The results have been tragic.
“…we have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams, Founder and President
The Apostle Paul said, “…why should my freedom be judged by another man’s conscience?” [1 Corinthians 10:29 NIV] What do YOU say? What will YOU say, when God asks, “What did YOU do with my wonderful gift?”
What does it take to wake up the body of believers?
What does it take to wake up the clergy?
Christians and Jews are increasingly disliked and targeted for the same reason. A conspicuous godly lifestyle creates a standard of comparison:
Exposure by godly believers triggers unwanted guilt, stress, disorder, and negative emotions in others. The reactions range from cynical criticism to powerful lawsuits and sometimes violence.
Believers are, or should be, the ‘light of the world’ [Isaiah 42:6; Matthew 5:15-16] exposing hidden wrongdoing to the extent that they live their lives as God intended. Because they aspire to live on a higher plane, the cultural impact of Christians and Jews greatly exceeds the number or proportion of believers in any culture. Unbelievers will respond or react even to the perceived righteousness of believers.
The impact of believers can be positive or negative. For the last 50 years, the American culture has been drifting away from God. The collective body of American believers has been caught in the backdraft of the cultural drift, always a few steps behind, but still drifting away from God. The light of believers has grown dim.
Large numbers of Christian and Jewish believers have compromised in every cultural, social, and family-linked controversy. Examples are legion and include the areas of abortion, divorce, cohabitation, “same-sex marriage,” and many others. As believers continue to drift away from God, the standard of comparison weakens. Unbelievers perceive the lifestyle compromises adopted by Christians and Jews as approval by God and license for even further compromises by the secular public. Believers are facilitating the destruction of the American culture and family.
Today, the drift has become a spiraling free fall into the storm of chaos as American believers have increasingly allowed themselves to be sequestered by the pressures of political correctness to within the four walls of their homes and the four walls of their places of worship.
Of course, God is still in charge. He is the source of infinite love and is always available. Believers can once again become the light of the world to the extent that they soulfully repent of their own wrongdoings and aggressively pursue the life that God clearly intended. Believers must be willing to personally go into the storm and publically let His light shine through them, regardless of the cost. Political correctness is nothing more than aggregated secular pressure to turn off God’s spotlight on their widespread and growing wrongdoing. It cannot continue. Believers must be willing to stand up and let God’s light shine through them once again.
It begins with YOU!
Are YOU willing to drive into the storm?
Your children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren and God are depending on YOU.
The Fourth of July (Independence Day) , “…will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America. I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever.”
Founder John Adams
“Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife:
and they shall be one flesh.” [Genesis 2:24 KJV]
That’s marriage—one man and one woman for one lifetime, an institution created by God, defined by God, and accountable to God. On 6-26-2015, five of the nine unelected and unaccountable United States Supreme Court Justices voted to overrule God. They voted to codify same-sex marriage as the law of the land in all 50 states. With the stroke of a pen, they declared sin to be a Constitutional “right.”
Intimate same-sex relationships are immoral. Formally codifying them within the institution of marriage is unconscionable. The Biblical condemnations of such relationships, primarily in the Books of Leviticus and Romans are well known. Nevertheless, the Supreme Court Justices have shaken their fists in the face of God effectively proclaiming, “God—We don’t care what you think! We know better and are determined to do it our way.” “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” [Galatians 6:7 KJV]
For believers, God’s Word, the Bible, is the final authority. No outside support is necessary. He established certain moral limits as an expression of His infinite love, knowing that painful natural consequences lurk outside those limits. Let’s take a look.
Holistically, when people live happily within God’s moral requirements, including limiting sexual intimacy to within marriage, the result is cohesive families and a strong sustainable culture throughout the generations. Flagrant flouting of God’s requirements produces weakened and failed families as well as an unstable and eventually collapsed culture. “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.” [Hebrews 13:4 NAS] Same-sex ‘marriage’ will weaken the traditional family and ultimately lead to an acceleration of the downfall of America. No civilization or culture has ever survived the breakdown of the family!
God designed a man and a woman to complement each other in awesome and miraculous ways. He designed them to have vital complementary roles for raising children. Consider the devastating impact of same-sex adoptions on children.
The birth of a child is the greatest expression of the love between a man and a woman. The conception of a child is a miracle from God; the birth of a child is a gift from God. After conception, the mother bonds with the child throughout the nine months of pregnancy. She bonds with the child during childbirth and continues bonding with the child throughout the period she is nursing the child. Her husband does not participate in the physical bonding. He nevertheless bonds with his wife and child emotionally and spiritually throughout that period. A gay or lesbian couple cannot participate in any of these events and therefore do not have the soul-deep roots necessary to sustain them throughout the child rearing years.
What happens during the growing years after birth? A boy must have a role-model father to learn what it means and how to be a man, husband and father. He needs a role-model mother so that when he reaches the age of searching for a wife of his own he knows how and where to look. A girl must have a role-model mother to learn what it means and how to be a woman, wife, and mother. She needs a role-model father so that when she reaches the age of searching for a husband of her own she knows how and where to look.
A powerful Sunday school lesson will not do it; an emotion-charged message at a summer camp for teens cannot do it. Even the best of churches cannot do what God designed Mom and Dad to do. Same-sex couples not only cannot do it, they may and often do damage the child and his or her future. The damage, cited in numerous studies, seriously weakens the traditional family and substantially damages the national culture.
The massive difference between natural God-given biological parents and artificial same-sex adoptive ‘parents’ is like the difference between and emotional passion and a spiritual passion. Perhaps a sports analogy illustrates it best.
An emotional passion is like a short-term roller coaster ride that arises when your favorite NFL team makes it to the Super Bowl. For a week or so before the big event that’s all you can talk about. The anticipation and excitement builds. On the big day, you invite your friends and put on a pot of your favorite chili. You spend the evening cheering loud and often until your overworked voice is reduced to a whisper. Win or lose, the Super Bowl is all the water cooler talk at work for a day or so afterwards. Then—it’s gone. It’s over. It’s forgotten. Forever!
A spiritual passion is what drives and Olympic athlete to painfully train for 4, 8, 12, 16 years or longer for the privilege of participating in one or a few events with the possibility of winning a medal. The medal actually has little intrinsic value. But it creates significance and meaning in the life of the athlete who has become part of something much bigger than the athlete.
Now, return to the comparison of God-given biological parents with artificial same-sex adoptive ‘parents.’ Biological parents have a strongly bonded soul-deep passionate love for their children. The family has meaning because it is bigger than either parent alone. It’s God’s picture of the church and its relationship to Him. Even if their teenagers are found to have committed a crime, the natural parents will be among the first to forgive their children and search for ways to overcome the impact of the crime. The offending children may have a public price to pay for their crimes, but they can count on their parents to love them for a lifetime.
Artificial same-sex adoptive parents cannot love as deeply or provide for the children in many other ways that can only be provided by traditional parents. The same-sex parents necessarily have more of an emotional passion for the children. Some people try to argue that same-sex parents love their children the same as natural parents. It is not the same.
Although not often publicized in the main stream media, there are growing numbers of adults raised in ‘families’ with same-sex ‘parents’ who report seriously troubled childhoods. One young woman was interviewed by The Christian Post, an outstanding online Christian news service. The woman was raised by two lesbians, one of whom was bio-mom. The woman said that throughout childhood she felt an emotional vacuum, because of not having a father. She reported seeing things at gay pride parades that no child should ever have to see.
When the woman, raised by lesbians grew up and went to college, she met a young Christian man who was different than the negative, bigoted stereotype she had been taught. Eventually, he took her home to meet his parents. His parents turned out to be loving and not negative in any way. The family began taking her to church regularly. She maintained a pretty face on the outside, but inwardly mocked the “hypocritical Christians.”
Nevertheless, the “Great Hound of Heaven” eventually captured her attention. She became a believer. The young couple were married. In scriptural terms, in the fullness of time she gave birth. The moment the new mother held her baby for the first time, she reported that the vital importance of a father hit her “like a ton of bricks.” Her long-term emotional longing for a father, became a soul-deep understanding through the birth of her child.
The impact of licensing same-sex marriages will be devastating. It may ratchet the body of believers even further from the anchor of Scripture. The reason? Many believers have come to view same-sex marriage as a responsible concept, because they simply do not understand this message and have been caught up in the cultural flow.
The good news is that God is still in charge! Pray the all believers will come to understand the true nature of this vitally important issue. Pray that God will unleash the greatest awakening of all time. Otherwise, prepare for His judgment.
“The germ of dissolution of our federal government is in … the federal judiciary; an irresponsible body (for impeachment is scarcely a scare-crow) working like gravity by night and by day, gaining a little today and a little tomorrow, and advancing its noiseless step like a thief, over the field of jurisdiction, until all shall be usurped from the States.” Thomas Jefferson
“It is not our duty to leave our children wealth, it is our duty to leave our children Liberty.” – Chaim Solomon – Financier of The American Revolution
An old man tells a profound story about a childhood experience. As a young boy during World War II, he lived in Nazi-controlled Germany. His family regularly attended a church located along side railroad tracks. Trains regularly passed the church during the church services.
They were long strings of cattle cars painfully overloaded with terrified Jews destined for work camps, concentration camps, and usually death. There was no food, no provisions for personal hygiene, and no considerations for people with special needs. In the heat of summer, the extremely cramped cattle cars became ovens. The stench from accumulating body waste was suffocating.
On at least one occasion, a train stopped outside the church. In the absence of air conditioning, the windows were frequently open. The congregation could hear anguished cries of pain and desperate pleas for help.
The pastor raised his voice so he could be heard above the din. When it was time for the choir to sing, the pastor instructed them to, “Sing a little louder,” to cover the disturbing sounds from outside. The compelling experience seared into the boys mind and changed his life forever. The story has become a book and recently a movie.
What about today? Are we being told to “Sing a little louder?”
Who among the clergy or laity has the courage to stand up and demand that we sing a new song? No—not the one we will sing in glory, but the new song for today that actively confronts the exponentially increasing evils of 21st Century America.
What would the Apostles Paul, Peter, and John say if they were with us today?
The movie, Sing a Little Louder, is now available for viewing in places of worship. Find it at http://singloudermovie.com/
What will YOU do?
The United States Supreme Court is nearing a decision on a case that could mandate recognition of same-sex marriage nationwide. If so, nine unaccountable, unelected black-robed justices will have succeeded in turning the sin of homosexuality, an abomination to God, into a government endorsed Constitutional Right. The results would be devastating.
According to Franklin Graham, freedom of speech, press, and religion “have suffered greatly” in Canada since it began federally mandating same-sex marriage in 2005. “[In Canada] If you say or write anything questioning same-sex marriage you could face discipline, termination of employment , or prosecution by the government!” (Graham’s Facebook page) We can expect the same here if the Supreme Court federally sanctions same-sex marriage.
For 7,000 years, marriage has been defined in virtually all cultures as a man and a woman married in a lifetime commitment. The Christian scriptures are clear, “Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.” [Hebrews 13:4 KJV] Many cultures elevate traditional marriage because it is the incomparable nucleus of a cohesive culture that is sustainable across many generations. Since the traditional family was created by God, it cannot be arbitrarily redefined by the government or anyone else. No culture has ever survived the breakdown of the traditional family.
A majority vote cannot overrule God
A majority vote cannot turn a vice into a virtue.
A majority vote cannot declare a sin to be non-sin.
Are you willing to sign the “Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage” at http://www.defendmarriage.org/pledge-in-solidarity-to-defend-marriage lead by Dr. James Dobson and other prominent Judeo-Christian Leaders? The exact language was crafted in part by Mathew Staver, Chairman of Liberty Counsel Action. Many of the signers have pledged civil disobedience as necessary if the Supreme Court hands down a ruling establishing same-sex marriage as a nationwide new norm that defies God and millennia of worldwide experience. Rev. Rick Scarborough, president of Vision America Action, says our nation is approaching a Bonhoeffer moment. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German minister who sacrificed his own life for his faith in Nazi-controlled WWII Germany.
You must save America and the family. The rest is up to YOU!
“We are not to simply bandage the wounds of victims beneath the wheels of injustice, we are to drive a spoke into the wheel itself.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
The Declaration of Independence firmly embedded God’s gift of freedom in the souls of all Americans, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men…are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…”
All civilizations begin in a condition of chaos and anarchy with no external control by government or any other authority. Consider what might happen if you went down in a commercial airliner crash and became part of 100 survivors stranded on a remote uncharted island with no means of communication and little chance of rescue. You and the other survivors initially work together for survival determining how to meet the immediate needs for food and shelter. Soon, however, disagreements break out, tending to escalate with time. At some point, a council of volunteers or elected members forms to draft guidelines for assuring more harmonious living among the survivors. The guidelines prohibit certain actions and mandate others. But the voluntary guidelines are only partially effective and conflict continues. A mechanism is designed and designated people are given the authority to monitor compliance with the guidelines, seek violators, and punish them in a predetermined fashion. The guidelines have now become the beginnings of enforceable law.
Whoa! What just happened? All freedom…that’s right, all freedom comes from God as the incredible gift of free will, bounded only by certain moral limitations that He applies for harmonious living and to protect you and others from physical, emotional, and spiritual harm. Any form of government can only can only limit or deny any particular freedoms. Governments can only wield money and power in an impersonal way; they have no moral authority or ability.
Government continues to be “of the people, by the people, and for the people” as long as the laws passed and regulations adopted conform to or are aligned with Scriptural mandates. God-given freedom powered by His love and limited by Scriptural boundaries—primarily the prohibitions of the Ten Commandments and moral/ethical limitations on behavior—depend on voluntary restraint. The prohibitions and limitations were given for the benefit of mankind to assure the richness of the human experience.
“…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” [2 Corinthians 3:17 KJV ]
“Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” [Galatians 5:1 KJV ]
“From the day of the Declaration…they [the American people] were bound by the laws of God, which they all, and by the laws of the gospel, which they nearly all, acknowledged as the rules of their conduct” John Quincy Adams
Freedom is provided by God (“endowed by our Creator”) as the awesome gift of free will. Freedom, enshrined in the Declaration of Independence as “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness,” can only be curtailed or restricted by a government that exceeds the moral limits defined by God. Government can only become the source of freedom after the government has seized total control of every aspect of life, then doles out a sort of pseudo-freedom in bits and pieces as incentives to control the people. That is not freedom.
The constitutional form of the United States government was designed to protect the God-given freedom, which was won by great sacrifice in the Revolutionary War and preserved by great sacrifices in all later wars. The Constitution provided for the military to protect American citizens from foreign intervention and a network of separation of powers as well as limiting checks and balances to protect the citizens from progressive government intrusion.
It has been the Great American Experiment in self-rule, “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” The military protects the freedom in America from external invasion. However, freedom will decay from within unless our culture is constantly nourished with a spiritual and emotional passion for freedom and the people defend it vigorously.
“God grants liberty only to those who love it, and are always ready to guard and defend it.”Daniel Webster
“Though, when a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes.” George Washington
Dr. Lloyd Stebbins 