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Over Half of This Denomination Now Supports Same-Sex Marriage
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Over half of the members of the governing body of the Church in Wales have backed the idea of allowing same-sex couples to marry in church.
A secret ballot was held on taking the issue forward. Of the 120 members present, 61 voted in favour of holding same-sex marriages in church.
However, this falls short of the two-thirds majority needed for change.
Constitution
And any amendment to the Church's constitution requires a new bill to be passed by Parliament.
The governing body comprises of the six diocesan bishops alongside 51 other clerics and 86 lay people.
It is now up to the Bench of Bishops to decide whether to take further steps.
'Very foolish'
The Archbishop of Wales, Dr. Barry Morgan, said it would be "a very brave or perhaps a very foolish Bench of Bishops" who would take the issue forward now.
"Because that might just rip the church apart and lead to the acrimony that has been absent from this debate."
The Church of England and the Church in Wales are legally not allowed to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies.
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Rowan County, Kentucky clerk Kim Davis sits behind bars for refusing to issue marriage licenses to anyone in her tiny district.
In doing so, the Rowan County clerk has become a national symbol for many who oppose gay marriage because of their faith.
The gay couples suing Davis had asked that she be fined. But in a surprise move, the federal judge decided to put her in jail instead, saying a mere fine wouldn't be enough to bring about the desired result of compliance.
At the last minute, Davis rejected a deal to allow her deputies to process same-sex marriage licenses. That could have prompted her release.
"She's been ordered to stay there until she is willing to change her mind, until she is ready to change her conscience about what that belief is," Davis' attorney, Roger Gannam, said.
Within hours of the judge's order, several Republican presidential candidates declared their support for Davis.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said her imprisonment "removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity in our country."
"Who will be next? Pastors? Photographers? Caterers? Florists?" he asked. "This is a reckless, appalling, out-of-control decision that undermines the Constitution – and our fundamental right to religious liberty."
Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also weighed in.
"Today, for the first time ever, the government arrested a Christian woman for living according to her faith. This is wrong. This is not America," he said.
Hillary Clinton disagreed, saying government officials should uphold the law.
The White House echoed that sentiment.
"The success of our democracy depends on the rule of law and there is no public official that is above the rule of law," White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
But a Wall Street Journal editorial suggested the Obama administration's position was hypocritical.
"We don't recall President Obama insisting on the 'rule of law' when his then Attorney General Eric Holder announced in 2011 that he wouldn't defend challenges to what was then the law – the Defense of Marriage Act," the editorial read.
Meanwhile, protesters on both sides of the issue are up in arms in Kentucky.
"If you can't do your job then resign," a Kim Davis opponent said.
But a supporter said, "Today we came to stand for God and support our county clerk Kim Davis."
Davis had hoped Kentucky lawmakers would find a way for her to keep her job – and her conscience. But the governor has refused to call a special session.
In the meantime, her deputies plan to follow a U.S. district judge's orders and issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, starting Friday.
A federal judge has ordered a defiant Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis to jail after she refused to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
U.S. District Judge David Bunning told Davis she would be jailed until she complied with his order to issue the licenses.
Davis said "thank you" before she was led out of the courtroom by a U.S. marshal. She was not in handcuffs.
Earlier, Davis had filed an emergency motion to stop the governor from ordering her to issue same-sex marriage licenses.
Davis says issuing those licenses would violate her beliefs and, she argues, God's authority trumps even the Supreme Court.
Police are now guarding the Rowan County clerk's office, making sure order is maintained. Tempers are flaring from people on both sides of the gay marriage issue.
Davis' supporters say federal courts have violated her First Amendment rights.
"I'm here for religious freedom because it's been stripped away," supporter Serena Smith said.
At the heart of the controversy is disagreement over belief. Davis, a Democrat, refuses to issue marriage licenses to anyone at this time, including homosexual couples.
"We're here to get our marriage license," a gay couple recently told her.
"So, presently we are not issuing marriage license pending an appeal to the system," Davis replied.
Davis is now asking a U.S. district court judge to block an order from the Kentucky governor requiring county clerks to issue marriage licenses to gay couples.
She's set to appear before another judge at a contempt-of-court hearing. Davis could face jail time or at least a major fine for refusing to issue the licenses.
Same-sex couples have been challenging Davis all week.
"Under whose authority are you not issuing licenses?" one gay couple asked her.
"Under God's authority," she responded.
Davis says her religious convictions prevent her from signing the licenses. She proposes that other Rowan County officials sign them instead.
Some Republican presidential candidates have weighed in.
Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul suggests governments get out of the marriage license issuing business. He proposes all couples, heterosexual and homosexual, sign marriage contracts that could be used instead of licenses.
But other candidates, like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, say government employees must comply with the rule of law or resign.
Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, a Republican, has also weighed in. Stivers is asking the federal judge to withhold a ruling on the governor's order until the state passes a new marriage law. The state legislature will not be in session again until January.
Kentucky law, like many other states, must be revised after the Supreme Court's decision in June to legalize same-sex marriage in the United States.
"The Supreme Court ruling has completely obliterated the definition of marriage and the process for obtaining a marriage license in Kentucky," Stivers said in a press release. "The General Assembly will be compelled to amend many sections of Kentucky law, not just for the issuance of marriage licenses, to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision."
Meanwhile, Davis insists she's ready to suffer the consequences rather than compromise her beliefs.
"I'm willing to face my consequences," she told her critics. "And you all will face your consequences when it comes time for judgment."
Chick-fil-A Lands in Another Gay Marriage Firestorm
The gay agenda sought to besmirch Chick-fil-A's business after president and chief operating officer, Dan Cathy, made his beliefs about traditional marriage known to the radio listening world. The company was maligned, protested against and otherwise attacked. (Flickr/Creative Commons)
Jennifer LeClaire is now sharing her reflections and revelations through Walking in the Spirit, a new podcast from Charisma. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
Chick-fil-A took a bold stand against gay marriage in 2012—and the company is still paying the price.
Here's the backstory: The gay agenda sought to besmirch Chick-fil-A's business after president and chief operating officer,Dan Cathy, made his beliefs about traditional marriage known to the radio listening world. The company was maligned, protested against and otherwise attacked.
The Christian world applauded when former Gov. Mike Huckabee declared "Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day." The chicken chain set a world record for sales and the enemy backed down—at least for a season.
Since then we've seen at least one school ban "offensive" Chick-fil-A sandwiches and First Lady Michelle Obama declaring war on the company. One town even canceled a leadership event Chick-fil-A sponsored because of its so-called "homophobia." This all despite the fact that Cathy publicly stated he regretted making the chain a symbol in the same-sex marriage debate.
In the latest turn, Chick-fil-A may be denied the right to open up a store in the Denver International Airport. The Denver City Council is deciding on the chicken chain's fate even now, noting the city "has been at the forefront of honoring gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees and their families with non-discrimination clauses and partner benefits." So apparently that means the First Amendment goes out the window.
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The City Council told CNN Money: "When Denver International Airport proposed a concession with a company that had a history of funding opposition to this recognition, it was important that we as a City Council take a pause to ensure that all the policies are in place with all of the entities involved to ensure there will be no discrimination, and that benefits will be provided equally to all employees and their spouses, regardless of their sexual orientation."
Mark Cowart, Senior Pastor of Church For All Nations, Colorado Springs told Charisma News expressing our First Amendment rights in any situation is one of the cornerstone freedoms that America was founded upon. As he sees it, "This situation is not about politics, it is about something much greater—the disregard and disrespect of God's moral law in America and of those who uphold biblical values and principles."
I agree. It's ridiculous that Denver is compelled to waste time discussing what should be a non-issue. Tim Wildmon, President of the American Family Association, told me, Chick-fil-A is the highest ranking fast food restaurant for customer satisfaction, according to the 2015 American Customer Satisfaction Index Restaurant Report. Why deny travelers a tasty sandwich because of moral values? Selah.
"Based on this fact alone, we can see that customers around the country are pleased with Chick-fil-A's service and way of doing business as a whole," Wildmon says. "Therefore, members of the Denver City Council are acting on their own activist beliefs to keep the chain from serving customers at the Denver International Airport, making it obvious that the problem is with their bias against and intolerance of Christianity and those who choose to uphold it in all areas of their lives."
Sam Rohrer, President of the American Pastors Network, agrees—and asks a pointed question: Where does it end when activists are now blocking businesses from operating in the marketplace because of the Christian views of their leaders? I can answer that. It won't end unless we enact laws that end it—or, even better, preach the gospel with signs following and open the eyes and hearts of those who don't yet know Christ. Laws can only do so much. The real power is in the gospel.
"This is yet another example of the faithful being pushed aside—from doing business, from making decisions based on their faith, and even from being welcomed to certain cities to serve customers," Rohrer told me. "We should applaud those who base business decisions on biblical and constitutional principles rather than punish them."
Dr. Alex McFarland, author, speaker and religion and culture expert, argues that what appears obvious to most: stalling of a business location based on its religious beliefs goes against First Amendment rights. That's really the bottom line here, but it shouldn't be surprising—and we should expect more of this in the days ahead unless God breaks in with power and wakes up the church and the world to His love.
"All Americans have the right to provide a service to our nation's people, no matter what skill set they offer, in addition to their political and religious views," McFarland told me. "Our nation should respect the religious liberties of all American businesses, and not be deterred by a changing cultural environment."
I agree, but what should be is not what's happening. I am believing for a Third Great Awakening in America that will see mass repentance. Everyone won't respond to this outpouring—the religious-minded and lost souls alike will reject it—but many will. Will you believe with me?
Jennifer LeClaireis senior editor of Charisma. She is also director of Awakening House of Prayer in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, co-founder of awakeningtv.com, on the leadership team of the New Breed Revival Network and author of several books, including The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening; Mornings With the Holy Spirit, Listening Daily to the Still, Small Voice of God; The Making of a Prophet and Satan's Deadly Trio: Defeating the Deceptions of Jezebel, Religion and Witchcraft. You can visit her website here. You can also join Jennifer on Facebook or follow her on Twitter. Jennifer's Periscope handle is @propheticbooks.
I'm sure you are getting flooded with words of congratulations from your admirers and words of criticism from your detractors, but please allow me to offer my own hearty "thank" you—yet as a staunch critic of your decision, one of the most infamous in the history of our nation.
Why then do I thank you?
I thank you first for helping to galvanize the opposition to redefining marriage, much as the Roe v. Wade decision helped galvanize the pro-life movement.
In a moment of time, you have done more to energize our side than a string of political victories for us could ever have done.
You have so painted us into a corner and so overstepped the bounds of your office that you have singlehandedly strengthened our resolve to stand, even unifying groups and individuals that had not worked together before now.
For that, sir, I sincerely thank you.
I also want to thank you for confirming what we have been saying for many years now, namely, that gay activism is the principle threat to our freedoms of speech, religion and conscience.
With a stroke of your pen, you have given justification to a torrent of hatred aimed at conservative Christians and Jews (and even Muslims), despite the fact that you were quite aware of the very real danger of antireligious persecution arising from your decision (as indicated by the questioning of U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli by Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito during the oral hearings).
Professor Robert Gagnon, a fine New Testament scholar, was not exaggerating when he wrote: "As individuals, people of faith will be aggressively indoctrinated, fined, denied advancement, fired, intimidated and subjected to ceaseless verbal abuse in public and private schools, at institutions of higher learning, at places of employment in public and private sectors, and throughout the main communication organs of the media and entertainment industry. Their institutions and businesses will be set on a collision course with the state: denied government funding, contracts and loans; denied accreditation and tax-exempt status; and subjected to government harassment."
Almost 2,000 years ago, Jesus said to His followers, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matt. 5:11-12).
Within a day of your ruling, I received tweets with messages like these: "@DrMichaelLBrown MOVE TO THE MOON, RELIGIOUS TERRORIST AND HATER" and "Christian hater riffraff like @DrMichaelLBrown ... must be brought to justice ... zero tolerance for this scum."
You have helped fuel these ugly fires, sir, thereby revealing the depth of hatred that exists towards people of faith in America today, bringing the words of Jesus to life for His dedicated followers. And with major gay activist organizations having won their long-envisioned victory, they will doubtless turn their attention to crushing all dissent.
Thank you, Justice Kennedy, for bringing unprecedented religious persecution to the shores of our nation. Despite the darkness and pain ahead, this will only cause the church to wake up and grow stronger.
Finally, I want to thank you for confirming something else I and others have said many times before, namely, if you redefine marriage, you make it meaningless. Your ruling does that in the most articulate way, as your dissenting colleagues also indicated in their brilliant and penetrating opinions.
You offered as a fundamental reason for same-sex "marriage" the argument that "the nature of marriage is that, through its enduring bond, two persons together can find other freedoms, such as expression, intimacy and spirituality."
Yet with your brilliant legal mind you must have recognized that the number "two," inserted at random points in your ruling, no longer has any special significance, and so every other configuration of consenting adults that wants to be "married" can appeal to your reasoning here as well.
Aside from your argument having no grounding whatsoever in the Constitution or Bill of Rights—again, your dissenting colleagues made this abundantly clear as well—it is an argument that other "marriage equality" advocates have already seized, be it for the recognition of polygamy or any other consensual adult union.
Why must it be two, Justice Kennedy? If marriage is not the union of a man and a woman, with all that entails, why must it be limited to two people (or require two people)?
You further argued that same-sex "marriage" should be recognized because "it safeguards children and families and thus draws meaning from related rights of childrearing, procreation and education."
Yet this could be argued far more effectively for polygamy, which has the possibility of natural procreation, in contrast with homosexual "marriage," which does not, and which can also join a child to its mother and father, something homosexual couples cannot do.
While your admirers are praising your "manifesto" for same-sex "marriage," I must thank you for proving our point once again: To redefine marriage is to render it meaningless.
I will certainly pray for you, Justice Kennedy, that God would grant you repentance and forgiveness for the horrific decision you have made, one that will result in much lasting pain for our country.
But you have succeeded in galvanizing the pro-marriage side and confirmed our warnings and concerns.
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Judgment or Awakening? My Response to America's Great Fall
The Supreme Court voted to overturn a ban on gay marriage, causing a massive ripple effect. (Reuters)
Jennifer LeClaire is now sharing her reflections and revelations through Walking in the Spirit, a new podcast from Charisma. Listen at charismapodcastnetwork.com.
When I learned the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage I went into what you might call spiritual shock. I almost felt like someone had died. Someone didn't, but something did. True liberty and justice for all. I am grieving right now over the false freedom that was birthed out of a false equality movement. I am mourning because true freedom and true equality have been replaced by a counterfeit crusade that truly sets no one free. I am weeping because America has fallen and many in the church are being caught up in the Great Falling Away.
A line in the sand was long ago drawn. Our tyrannical government crossed that line on June 26, 2015. When five Supreme Court justices trampled state rights they knew all too well Christian rights would be trampled along with them. Call it a betrayal of our Constitution. Call it an anti-Christ agenda. Call it an assault on religious freedom. It's all that and more.
See, crossing this line in the name of equality was a spiritual assault on every believer who calls on the name of Jesus. This isn't about allowing gays to get married. No, not really. While I stand against gay marriage, it's not the letter of the law that concerns me most. It the spirit behind the law that truly grieves me. This ruling will open the floodgates to a tsunami of perversion in the land. Pedophiles now want the same rights as same-sex couples. But that's the topic of another column.
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Of course, we wrestle not against flesh and blood (see Eph. 6:12). Our nemesis here is essentially the spirit of the world (see 1 Cor. 2:12). The church opened the door to the spirit of the world long ago, as is evidenced by the adultery, child molestation, financial improprieties and other scandals running rampant in the body of Christ. Unfortunately, we've discovered it's not so easy to shut the door. High-profile pastors and entire denominations are capitulating to the popular opinion on gay marriage. As Charisma Media founder Steve Strang so aptly wrote, it's time to stand up and be counted.
I would say that persecution is coming except that it's already here. Bakeries, bed and breakfasts, pizza shops and farmers are being sued for refusing to accommodate gay weddings. Public officials are being fired for standing for the truth and military chaplains are being told they cannot pray in the name of Jesus. As the saying goes, you ain't seen nothing yet.
So what is my response to America's great fall? Will we see a great judgment as so many are saying in this hour? Or will we see a great awakening that spills over into the nations of the earth? This is my response: I am grieving, but I will not fear. I am mourning, but I will not compromise. I am weeping, but I know joy will come in the morning and that joy will strengthen my hope. All is not lost. Yes, we deserve judgment, but I am still believing for mercy. If Jesus gave Jezebel and Nineveh a space to repent, there is still hope for America. And faith is the substance of things hoped for. So I hope and I believe that it will be just as the Lord told me. The Holy Spirit woke me up after midnight on April 21, 2007—long before I ever discerned the need for a Great Awakening—and told me this:
There is a great awakening coming to this nation. For I have heard your cries and I long to heal your land. I am a covenant God and I will not forget the covenant I made with your Founding Forefathers. Yes, there will be a shaking, but the foundations will not crack and they will not crumble. Only those things which can be shaken will be shaken that the sin in the land may be laid bare.
Repentance. I require repentance from My people who have through the generations allowed the enemy to take ground in this nation. I require repentance for the abortions and for the prayerlessness. I require repentance for the apathy and for the idolatry. You shall have no other Gods before me. I am indeed the God of America.
Yes, there is a great awakening coming to this nation. I am the Author of it and I will bring it to pass. Just turn from your wicked ways and humble yourselves. Stand in the gap and make up the hedge. I am the Lord and I am a Warrior. I will not leave or forsake this country. I will fight through you and with you to regain what has been lost.
Be encouraged now because as you go forth boldly with My Word and My Spirit there will be the sound of truth and it will prevail in the land. Speak boldly and clearly and watch as the mighty men arise to take their positions on the wall and in the churches and in the marketplaces. For I am raising up deliverers and reformers in this generation who will not shrink back at the challenge that is coming in the days ahead.
Yes, it will grow darker before My light shines brightly from this nation again. But the light has not been extinguished and will not be extinguished. The time to rise up is now. I am calling you to war. I am calling you to repentance. I am calling you to My side. I am the captain of the hosts. I am calling you to victory. I am calling you to destiny. Will you answer?
I believe this so much that I've set my heart labor for it with everything in me until I see it come to pass. I wrote a book on the topic that released almost eight years to the day after I received that prophetic word. In The Next Great Move of God: An Appeal to Heaven for Spiritual Awakening, I included thoughts and perspectives from the likes of Franklin Graham, Reinhard Bonnke, Greg Laurie, Dr. Michael Brown, the late Steve Hill and many others and we're all agreeing for a spiritual awakening.
I have to keep believing even in the midst of a raging spiritual war. I believe America as we know it died last Friday but I believe America can be born again. Like Winston Churchill said during World War II when the situation looked dire, "Never, never, never, never give up."
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The latest polls show nearly 60% of Americans support the legalization of same-sex marriage. (graphic credit: Five-Thirty-Eight)
(Washington, D.C.) -- What are the implications of the Supreme Court's 5-4 decisionon Friday to make same-sex marriage a Constitutionally-protected civil right? Is the Court's decision to change the definition of marriage really such a big deal, or are Christians hyperventilating over the issue for nothing?
Let me walk through four key things Christians ought consider at this critical time.
First, the Supreme Court is overreaching its Constitutional authority, and is thus undermining its own legitimacy and pouring gasoline on a highly-politicized issue that will deeply divide Americans for years to come.
If the Constitution even mentioned the word "marriage," the Court might theoretically have the right to address the subject. But the word is never mentioned in the text. Thus, the Framers of the Constitution never intended the federal government to define or regulate marriage. The 10th Amendment plainly states that "the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people." So the issue must be left to the people and the States.
The 14th Amendment does not provide the Court the authority to redefine marriage and cannot be used to create a Constitutional right to a same-sex marriage. "In 1972, in a moment of lucidity, the Supreme Court rejected a 14th Amendment-based appeal on gay marriage," notes a legal scholar at George Mason University. "The case sprang to life when a gay man attempted to obtain a marriage license in Minnesota. The Supreme Court of Minnesota rejected all of the Constitutional arguments made by the Plaintiff. The U.S. Supreme Court found a 'want of federal jurisdiction' in rejecting the appeal."
Tragically, by overreaching its Constitutional authority, the current Court is undermining its own legitimacy. It is also taking an already-incendiary cultural issue and throwing gasoline on a growing political fire.
Second, the Court's ruling forces 320 million Americans to embrace overnight a radical reengineering of the entire social compact of marriage that even some of the nation's most liberal political leaders strongly opposed just a few years ago.
For more than 5,000 years, Judeo-Christian civilization has been built on the definition of marriage as one man and one woman in a sacred compact before God, creating a family that can bear children and raise them with the loving care of a father and a mother. Now, five unelected Justices of the Court are undermining the fundamental building block of healthy, stable Western civilization with no idea what the down-stream implications and ramifications will be.
Third, the Court's ruling opens the door for a frontal and massive assault on religious liberty. Christians all over the country who hold to the Biblical definition of marriage are beginning to be taken to court and fined -- some are even in danger of losing their businesses and their homes -- if they do not agree to bake cakes for same-sex weddings, or cater such weddings, or take photographs at such weddings, and so forth. Other Americans are being subjected to government-mandated "sensitivity training" for not helping homosexuals celebrate their lifestyle. Still other Americans are being fired from their jobs for holding and teaching the Biblical principles of marriage.
For example, "the owners of an Oregon bakery learned [in April] that there is a severe price to pay for following their Christian faith," reported the New York Post. "A judge for the Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries (BOLI) recommended a lesbian couple should receive $135,000 in damages for their emotional suffering after Sweet Cakes by Melissa refused to make them a wedding cake. As a result – Aaron and Melissa Klein could lose everything they own — including their home." (For some other examples, seehere, here, here, here and here.)
The assaults on religious freedoms that are happening with growing frequency at the local and state level could now explode at the national level. The First Amendment to the Constitution plainly states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." But the Court's ruling seems to put the un-enumerated "civil right" of a same-sex marriage above the enumerated right of religious freedom. Thus, the ruling now appears to give the federal government the power to force Christians, Jews and other religious people to embrace, sanction, support and serve same-sex marriage ceremonies -- and embrace and support, or at least not oppose, homosexual marriage and lifestyles -- or risk being sued or prosecuted for federal civil rights violations.
Those Christians who say, "Let's live and let live -- just let homosexuals marry whomever they want and don't make such a big deal of this issue," are, unfortunately, being naïve. Many in the homosexual community -- certainly the gay political activists -- are not content with the mere legalization of same-sex marriage. They want to force the rest of the country to embrace and support them. Thus, they and their supporters in Washington will likely move aggressively to criminalize the Biblical definition of marriage and to severely penalize those who teach and follow it.
Fourth and most troubling, the Court has acted in direct and brazen defiance of the Word of God -- and as painful as it is for me to say it, this will likely accelerate us towards judgment if America does not soon change course.
God, not government, created marriage. Indeed, God defined marriage in the very first book of the Bible (Genesis 2:23-24) as a sacred union between one man and one woman. In the New Testament, the Lord Jesus Christ reaffirmed this Biblical definition of marriage. Jesus said, "'Have you not read that He who created them from the beginningmade them male and female, and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh"?So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate.'" (Matthew 19:4-6)
Tragically, this is not the first time the Court has gotten a major policy issue wrong, or the first time it has acted in defiance of the Word of God. In 1973, the Court ruled in theRoe v. Wade abortion case that Americans had a Constitutionally-protected right to murder their unborn children. This was a morally unconscionably decision which has led directly to the death of more than 57 million children as well as terrible emotional and spiritual pain and suffering for millions of women. The Court's decision to undermine Biblical marriage and attack religious liberty will also lead to great sadness and suffering, not freedom and joy as its supporters contend.
The members of the Supreme Court have forgotten they are not truly the highest or "supreme" court in the land. There is a higher authority, and there is a grave cost to defying the Supreme Judge of the universe.
In Romans 1:18-32, the Apostle Paul warns societies that turn away from God and His Word. Three times in this passage, the Apostle warns that God will allow societies that rebellious against Him to slide deep into heterosexual and homosexual sin, along with many other sinful practices. Indeed, God vows to turn such societies over to debauchery if they will not repent, and He warns that such societies will, in time, face judgment and the "wrath of God."
These are some of the reasons I wrote the non-fiction book, Implosion, in 2012, because I'm deeply concerned that we are on a fast-track towards judgment unless we repent and radically change course. And as I wrote in the book, it is the responsibility of those who love God and follow the Bible to lovingly and clearly explain to individuals, societies and entire nations what God says in the Bible, what He offers mankind, and what He requires of us, and the grave consequences of refusing to listen to or obey the Lord and His Word. It is not our job to force people to obey Christ, or to be unkind or angry towards those who deny Him. Rather, it is our job to "hold fast the faithful Word," even to a society that won't listen.
How then should Christians respond to the latest developments?
The Court's latest decision must not lead Christians to anger or hatred or violence.
Rather:
Let us be moved to brokenness before God, to deep repentance and to ceaseless prayer -- many Americans don't take God and His Word seriously because they don't see Christians taking God and His Word seriously; for this and much else we need to repent and ask God to show mercy us and forgive us.
Let us plead with our Father in heaven to pour out His Holy Spirit and grant us a massive spiritual revival within the Church that will draw us back to a close walk with Christ and faithful obedience to the Word of God.
Let us keep become far more faithful to teach and preach the Word of God, the "whole counsel of God," and clearly and lovingly explain to all people the Gospel -- the Good News of God's love and forgiveness for all who will turn to Christ -- and not be intimidated into silence.
Let us plead with the Lord to grant a Great Awakening to America at large -- as we preach (and live) the Gospel, let us pray that God chooses to move so powerfully that millions of lost, unsaved people repent and turn to faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and Redeemer of their lives, marriages and families.
Let us always be gracious and kind to those who disagree with us (on the marriage issue and/or other Biblical issues), constantly seeking to obey Christ's command to "love your neighbor" and to "pray for those who persecute you."
Here are some other excellent resources and suggestions as we enter this dark period in our nation's history:
Pastor John MacArthur has also written an excellent article with suggestions for fellow pastors on how to address the latest developments. I hope you will read this, also, and share it with others. "An Open Letter" to pastors, by John MacArthur.
