Godliness vs. Homosexual Marriage
By: Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
5/19/2008
www.Townhall.com, a forum for conservative columnists, has today posted a column by Steve Chapman, 5/18/2008, declaring the correctness of California Supreme Court’s moral position requiring the State to recognize homosexual marriage. In his column he criticized their timing, rather than their decision. He attempted to use various social arguments (polling numbers, fairness, its equivalence to racial integration, the lack of social consequences, emotional developmental pain to the children of unwed homosexual parents, etc.) to justify the morality of his stand.
In the old story, a preacher gives an inspiring sermon, which he concludes by asking his congregants to stand up if they want to go to heaven. Everyone rises except one nervous-looking fellow. “Brother,” asks the incredulous pastor, “don’t you want to ascend to paradise when you die?” Says the holdout: “When I die? Sure! I thought you were getting up a group to go right now.”
That’s pretty much how I feel about the California Supreme Court’s decision granting the right of same-sex couples to marry. The destination is a good one. I just wish the court weren’t in such a hurry to get there.
Unrighteous Law Condemns a Society to Natural Consequences
By: Thomas Lee Abshier, ND
5/18/2008
Homosexuals defend their position on marriage using arguments invoking virtues such as fairness, equality, tolerance, diversity, human rights, emotional distress, and privacy, etc. Each of these virtues has its appropriate application depending on the circumstance under consideration. But no virtue trumps Godliness. All other considerations have a hierarchy of applicability, but Godliness reigns as the supreme measure, being God’s judgment of appropriate behavior. As men, the highest standard that can guide our thoughts, speech, and actions is Godliness. Perfect Godliness is unattainable in the human form, but we can aspire to it by dwelling on the archetypal patterns and metaphors of the Holy Bible, and by listening to the guidance of the Holy Spirit as He leads our hearts. If the Holy Bible truly reflects the Will and Way of the One True God, then we must resist the homosexuals’ demands for acceptance of the full spectrum of their behaviors in private and public life. (Leviticus 18:22, 18:25, 18:27, 18:28, 20:22)
But, there are those who do not accept the authority of the Holy Bible as the revelation of God, nor do they accept the fact of His existence. This cannot be used as an absolute objection to basing the laws of a nation on a particular set of spiritual values, since all societies are multicultural in the sense of being composed of people with various levels of belief. Thus, every governmental unit will face the objections associated with imposing laws based on an abstract moral standard. A percentage of the populace will always disbelieve in the premise and substance of any chosen standard, including the secular standards of objectivism, since even they have subjective philosophical overtones that can at best only be substantiated by axiomatic belief. Thus, even the attempt to offend no one, and regulate the society according to a totally faith-free standard will fail to meet that goal because embedding faith underneath social regulations is unavoidable. We must relinquish our Politically Correct aspirations to perfect societal non-offense and acknowledge the unavoidability of regulating society based upon an underlying body of philosophical considerations.
Having established that faith is unavoidable in establishing social standards, as a nation we then are faced with the question of which standard to choose to underlie our governmental system. As a first consideration, God’s standards are True, optimize the social order, and hence are worthy of implementing as our standard. God’s standards are unchanging and applicable to all men regardless of the level of belief, disbelief, or acknowledgment of His Law. All men are subject to the consequences of violating Godliness. Irrespective of the scripture one holds as divine, if God exists, and has established a standard of perfection for man, that Law and Standard will have authority and power in our lives.
This essay is written for the Christian who is seeking to justify the rationality of his faith and its applicability to public life. It is written for the skeptic who is willing to consider that there may in fact be an absolute Truth and Law.
1) Our first hypothesis: He is a loving God who desires His creation and creatures to experience perfect peace, joy, life, and fulfillment. This consideration is of the highest importance because His character shapes and flavors the design and structure of His creation. If He is a good God, then His Laws, and the purpose of His creation can be trusted to bring satisfaction, justice, and reward. But, for reward to be meaningful, True choice and Free Will must be available.
2) Our second Hypothesis: He desires to draw us to Himself. The entire creation is a training and testing ground where we are challenged to choose to love Him and His way over the illicit seductive and sensual pleasures of the world. He has created the creation with a beauty that appears to rival His own, but fails to actually satisfy. Souls that cannot perceive true riches and have no real hunger for the genuine gold of Truth, will self-select a life separated from His fellowship. The world was created to winnow souls, giving those who do not resonate with God and His Way, an actual alternative, a true choice in spiritual affiliation. But, He created this universe to raise up souls that desire Him and His fellowship, and He desires that none be lost. He longs for all to embrace Him and embed His character into our own. (Matthew 18:11) Those who reject His leading reveal the contents of their hearts since God forces no one to choose His Way. Nevertheless, He desires a full harvest of obedient and loving children from his garden of souls to adopt into His family. He will give those found worthy the authority to rule on His behalf as trustworthy kings, priests, warriors, and judges. (Revelation 20:6)
3) Our third Hypothesis: All of creation testifies to the Truth of His Law. All of nature is filled with indicators of His wisdom and His care for our righteous development. Each individual will note that obedience to His Law and adherence to His Way eventually produces a rich reward of our heart’s desire, and that following Godliness resolves all personal and public conflicts and replaces strife with joy and justice.
When the California Supreme Court, by judicial fiat, declared homosexual marriage a “Constitutional” right, these men used their positions of power and authority to establish their god and his morality as the moral standard of an entire state. The question is not whether we can or should legislate morality, the only question is, “Whose morality will be legislated?” Law imposed by judicial fiat, which cannot be overturned by the other co-equal branches, subjugates the people to the whims of an oligarchy. Our Constitution has given us a government of, by and for the people, and judicial activism is sufficiently far from accountability that we are rightly concerned that more blatant forms of autocracy may follow. When an unelected minority pronounces new law, the people are subject to the government not participants. Our Constitution delegates the function of legislation to elected representatives. Judges are charged with interpreting law as it applies to specific situations, not generating new law.
The boundary between interpretation of law, and generating new legal concepts is indefinite, but when sufficient public furor arises over suspected judicial activism, the legislature should take its place as a separate branch of government and establish a law that codifies the principle in question. Legislation should trump judicial opinion. And, if the court persists in objecting to the legislation on the basis of Constitutionality, then the legislature and people should amend the Constitution. Constitutionality is ultimately based upon the consistency of a law, ruling, or amendment with the Framer’s original intent and the first principles of God’s Law. It is upon this foundation that all Righteous human laws and rulings are based, and the people, courts, legislature, and executive branch may rightly argue for or against any human law on this basis.
Ideally each legislator should embrace a sincere study of the Word of God, the Holy Bible, and speak his convictions about how these timeless principles apply to any given issue of social regulation. Strong and sincere debate between men who are committed to Truth and Godliness results in legislation that documents and enforces Right human behavior in a wide range of circumstances and considerations. Such inclusion of Christian inspiration and guidance in government does not risk the undesirable theocratic tyranny of autocratic decree based on individual or denominational perspective. The Founders were concerned about the rights of minorities, and their Constitutional framework has given people of all faiths the same secular rights. But, the Founders did not choose Secularism as the ideal underlayment of governmental philosophy. Because of their strong individual Christian faiths (many being pastors themselves) they knew and held dear the Biblical declaration and warning of the shallow and bankrupt standards man embraces without being informed and guided by God’s principles as revealed by the Holy Bible. (Jeremiah 17:9) The central guiding philosophy of the nation and its government should be Truth, and we should remain unafraid to consider and debate the nature and source of Truth as it applies to government and society. As a nation we should take a stand against evil, and restore the various symbols, slogans, and culture of Judeo-Christianity to government, and all other institutions, public and private.
Since every social code will inevitably invoke some moral system, we would be wise to choose the system best reflecting the absolute Truth of Godliness. A vast spectrum of philosophical systems and faiths vie for our loyalty and service. Men are largely drawn to follow the faith of their youth and culture, with few taking the time, exerting the effort, or having the ability to derive, determine, and prove Truth from first principles. Thus, we could argue that our Founding Fathers and their Faith was wrong, that we should correct course and abandon their Faith as our cultural basis because of our current cultural discovery of sexual freedom and the harmlessness of adultery, fornication, bestiality, homosexuality, and infanticide. But, the irony of such a statement is obvious to those who are willing to admit that honoring the marriage vows with sexual fidelity produces a stable society, and honoring life is the foundation of human dignity. God has made them male and female and sanctified their union as the most intimate celebration of the deep penetration of the principle of polarity.
Any society attempting to maximize human joy must regulate its people by laws which coincide with the principles and nature of the God which created the rules which govern the human heart. Our Founders could have been the followers of any religion, but they were Christians, and our nation was based upon the principles of the Holy Bible. In turn, those principles were propagated through all aspects of society from our founding to the present, and the prosperity and goodness of America bear excellent witness to the choice of spiritual standard of our Founders. That which we find objectionable and disgraceful in America’s past, (Watergate, My Lai, Enron, Teapot Dome…) are all examples of government and/or people living outside of the principles of Godliness.
The modern critic may object or disagree with the premise that America was founded with the intent to be governed by Christian principles. Some argue that our Founders were not Christians, and that the Founders did not intend that we legislate and judge on a Christian philosophical base. Thus we should not impose Christianity and its principles on modern culture and government. And while some of the Founders had philosophies with various degrees of divergent orthodoxy, or had questions about Christian doctrine, there is overwhelming evidence that the character and faith of the Founders, and their acts as legislators and philosophers, left us with a rich historical heritage and Constitution that strongly reflect Judeo-Christian principles. (A well-documented defense of our Christian heritage is presented in the books and videos by David Barton. This information may be accessed at: www.wallbuilders.com.)
Some argue against the validity of imposing the Constitution as a binding social contract on an unborn generation, since these future citizens will be involuntarily subject to its provisions, and hence slaves to a document in which they had no voice. The Constitution was established by a group of men who at the time agreed to be subject to that contract, but what right do those from a distant past have to dictate law that binds and subjugates those who cannot participate in choosing the terms of the contract under which they must live? This argument invokes the principles of “choice” and “freedom”, tacitly arguing for their universal application. When invoking virtues to support an argument, we must consider the limits of their applicability since only Godliness has universality. We may quickly identify the error by using the metaphor of a child born into a family. Applying the reasoning against perpetuating the heritage of a culture and the applicability of its laws to the family will lead to the revocation of the right of the fathers to teach their children. It will replace instruction and discipline with childhood autonomy, and allow every child the right to develop his own philosophy and rules of conduct without parental influence. Given the foolishness of children, they will inevitably choose self destructive or hurtful behaviors, either out of ignorance or passion, and do great damage before they learn to regulate themselves. The heritage of social wisdom is of great value, and we should treasure it and seek to build upon the righteous judgment of the previous generations. Those who seek to replace or ignore our Godly heritage do so as rebels against God Himself, and we risk degradation and destruction by allowing such rebellion to go unchecked.
Humanity is not born with understanding and wisdom, and it is the obligation of the fathers to pass on their experience and knowledge to their children to protect them and give them a life of effectiveness and joy. Our Founding Fathers codified their best understanding of human nature as our Constitution, subjected themselves to its provisions, and taught its precepts to their children. We are the beneficiaries of their experience and teaching, and as wise children we will add that experience to our own and build upon it, refining it toward an even more perfect expression of Godliness for each succeeding generation.
The freedoms and prosperity we all enjoy directly result from a group morality that supports the principles of Godliness. But, now we are digging up and casting away our roots as we legislate and amend the Constitution through judicial activism and pass laws based on Secular philosophy. In so doing we are removing the firm foundation of law based upon Holy Scripture and replacing it with the shifting sands of human opinion.
In modern America, we face the challenge of implementing and perpetuating Godliness in the group life because of the emphasis on embracing multicultural neutrality rather than seeking Truth. We even deny the obvious fact that the Secular philosophy we use to replace the timeless truths from our Christian heritage is likewise a religion, faith, and belief system. We have progressed far down the path toward fully expunging any remnant of Christianity from our culture and its people. A multitude of Secular activists in the media and educational establishments now direct these sacred institutions. They have used these positions to indoctrinate the masses with a secular worldview including the embrace of sensual satisfaction, personal fulfillment, and moral relativism. They base their social theories upon the “fact” of man’s meaningless evolution by chance, and use Darwinian based science as their scripture. The schools, media, and government are thus in the process of forming a de facto state religion. We have already seen evidence that those do not endorse the Secular Humanist doctrine can be denied employment. The level of purging of the Christianity philosophy from our group experience will become more blatant and draconian if the current trend continues.
The continuity of our Godly heritage was broken by the Supreme Court’s 1948 Everson v Board of Education ruling where the Court introduced the pseudo-Constitutional principle of “Separation of Church and State”. Citizens of this Brave New World 60 years later must now speak with tentative tones, attempting to appeal to the sensibilities of Politically Correct speech and concepts, lest they suffer social censure. Science and its theories of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics have been incorrectly applied to support and validate Secular philosophies. And the improbable theory of Evolution has been elevated to the level of fact. The consideration of Intelligent Design and its evidence has been banned from classroom examination. (See the movie “Expelled” for documentary evidence of the Education Establishment’s intolerance for intellectual diversity that contradicts their Secular religion.)
The forces of evil have used these false premises (absolute relativism, objectivism, and secularism…) to justify removing the Holy Bible from our consideration in establishing proper societal conduct. A voting block of Politically Correct activists has formed to oppose any discussion or consideration of True Godliness in Law. This loose cabal includes those who deny God’s existence, those who rebel against His authority, those who wish to impose their immoral concept of morality upon us to validate their sin, and those who have the moral notion (held with a passion ranging from vague to rabid) that government should not impose Biblical morality on a multicultural society.
But, given that we still have a democratic electoral process, it is possible for those who honor Godliness to restore a proper moral standard as the basis for legislation. Godliness can again rise as the central consideration in crafting social policy. As the moral minority becomes stronger in living Righteousness, our influence will spread and affect the majority. We must commit to voting only for Righteous men, rather than compromising and selecting men who are simply less evil than the other choices. We should never grow weary in doing good work, since human effort combined with God’s power will eventually produce the good fruit of divine results.
We must reject absolutely pure Secularism as the pinnacle of governmental perfection. Yes, giving the power of the state to a denominational clergy will produce theological tyranny, just like the religion of secularism. The balance between secularism and theocracy has already been realized in our history, we merely need to return to our spiritual roots and return to the public embrace of the Judeo-Christian God as our de facto guide. Such debates have at their center questions about the proof of the existence of God, and the propriety of imposing theological values on a secular government in a multicultural society. “Separation of Church and State” has become the epithet and command used against any action or word spoken in public connected in any way to government that has a hint of Christian influence. The concept of “Separation” has become so accepted and challenge so frequent, that the group mind has begun to reflexly concede and accept the premise that anything Christian should be expressed only in private.
But, Godliness is not a religion; it is Truth, and I personally believe that Christianity has embodied Godliness more fully and closely than other faiths. But personal belief is not enough to convince an unbelieving society to implement social policy. Thus, we are faced with the task of arguing for the validity of a particular spiritual Faith as the basis of earthly policy. But, until the Lord returns with power, there will be no absolute earthly proof of God’s existence, His Will, or the Truth of any particular Way. Still, there is good objective and historical evidence combined with metaphorical and symbolic logic that can convince the sincere seeker of the Truth of the existence of God and the validity of the Holy Bible. Those who sincerely desire Righteousness will find good moral guidance in the Word, and those who cry out for Truth to light to their path will find a witness of the Holy Spirit in their hearts. Those who search for justification of the Judeo-Christian faith will find satisfaction.
Likewise, those who disbelieve the authority and veracity of the Holy Bible will find plausible justification for their doubt and faith in other gods and spiritual paths. And, those who choose to rebel against God, or are led astray by erroneous teaching, will find that the voice of Truth grows dimmer as error becomes habitual and comfortable. Time, practice, and company can also harden men’s souls and strengthen their confidence in erroneous teachings. Thus, men’s beliefs are not proof of truth; their beliefs simply reflect the condition of their hearts. Nevertheless belief is of primary social significance, because it is around seeds of Faith that men organize their lives and the group behavior.
Many declare that there is no God, and that no standard of Truth exists, therefore they argue that no God-given rules of conduct should be imposed upon society. Others argue that all truth is relative, and therefore the choice of societal standards depends only on cultural programming and tradition. Still others argue that man is the measure of all things, and that the standards that direct the establishment of social regulation should depend upon our concepts of human dignity. The Secularist argues against using Christian concepts as the standard for governing society because of the lack of absolute objective evidence that Christianity is the Truth and reflects the will of God. This argument hinges on the concept that Truth should be obvious if it is Truth.
But this concept is a flawed premise; Truth must be hidden like a precious jewel for life to have the deep significance of a meaningful experience. God has purposefully embedded confusion plausible options about the actual content of Absolute Truth into the structure of the moral universe. This principle of moral confusion deeply integrates with the human experience of Free Will. If God made His existence so clear that we could see or visit Him in the flesh, and punishment for violation of every large and small principle of Godliness was swift and certain, there would be no doubters. Such a world would be very different than this one and be more like Heaven than Earth. In Heaven the rules are clear and the degrees of freedom well defined, but the total freedom to reject Godliness probably does not exist (largely because the truth and benefit of following God is so obvious). Thus, God has created this world for another purpose besides simply filling it with obedient souls who love Him.
God has created this world as an entrance to Heaven. He made this a Free Will universe to allow us the opportunity to choose to love Him and follow His ways, and then join Him in eternity if our heart resonated with His. He desires our love, obedience, and devotion, but wants the gratification of love given freely, rather than required by the force of obvious truth or strong consequence. Some will grow well in His soil and way, and others will fall away after a short enthusiasm. Some will find the competition with other ideas too confusing or tempting and then follow other teachers, paths, and philosophies. (Matthew 13:37) This world is truly a field where the souls of men can choose to grow to love Him, or reject His Way. God desires that all come to Him in fellowship, but He cannot embrace or allow those into His intimate fellowship who reject Him and His Way. (John 10:1) The door is always open, and He has established a method of reconciliation. (John 3:16, Revelation 3:20) But it is the free will choice of every man to surrender his heart to God’s way.
Obvious Truth does not allow for deep Faith, and by extension absolute certainty limits the expression and experience of Free Will. For example, those who doubt gravity can choose to ignore or deny its existence, but those who rebel against this “hypothetical force” have such strong feedback confirming its existence that the terminology of Faith and choice is not applied to gravity. Thus, the concept of Faith is meaningful only in the presence of uncertain outcomes. As such, the concept of Faith applies equally to saint and sinner; it is only the content of the belief that separates the two.
For Christians to again have their will, faith, and judgment of right choice declared the Law of the Land, we must be an example of True “Right thought, speech, and action”. If we live Truth, the fruit of our excellent lives will be sweet and give plausible justification and argument for choosing the Biblical standards of Godliness as our nation’s moral guide. But, good works, charity, industry, kindness, and sharing the Good News will not be enough to turn the world to Christ. Our works and prayers must be answered with His power. (James 2:20) In time, God will work miracles and heal our land when those of us who call ourselves by His name bow to True Righteousness in our own lives. (II Chronicles 7:14)
Until the Lord returns and a new order is established, we will continue live in a world where the hearts of men love sin. Those who rebel against God band together and attempt to establish a kingdom ruled by man and his ideals. We only see dimly into the spiritual realm, but those with eyes to see realize that we either serve God and obey His Law, or darker spiritual forces. The freedom America has enjoyed can only continue if Godly Law is embedded in the general culture, because the heart of man is desperately wicked, and without internal regulation we would require to strong control of outside powers. God has allowed us the freedom to follow the passions of man, but the outcome of unregulated “freedom” produces anarchy. We then demand protection from the chaos of unregulated men, and impose ever more strict controls upon our community in a vain attempt to maintain safety in the social order. Men either voluntarily bow to the Laws and principles of God or control will be imposed upon them.
As James Madison wrote on June 20, 1785, in regard to the relationship between religion and civil government; “Religion is the basis and Foundation of Government…. We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self government; upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”
The future looks dark given the tide of unGodliness being embraced by the culture. By allowing expression of the autocratic powers of the judiciary we are following the same path to terror and tyranny used by Hitler as he used the courts and judges to issue decrees against the Jews. This sign clearly indicates our movement closer to subjugation and government by men and their passions, ideas, and beliefs, which are easily misled. (Romans 3:4)
Regardless of the spiritual power and the seeming odds against the remnant of the Righteous, we should never concede or surrender control of the social order to those who rebel against Him. It is our duty to spread the Word to the Nations and bring His Lordship to Earth. (Matthew 28:19) As mere mortals we have the right to call on the Lord to act in our world to bring restitution and rectification. Our hearts should hold fast to the expectation of Faith producing fruit. Our minimum duty in public life is to act according to the principles of Righteousness and vote for representatives who likewise hold the standards of God dear.
The homosexual Left has attempted to influence the political process by dominating the media and its propaganda, programming, and teaching function so as to direct public opinion in their favor. Without God and His Law as the standard of Truth by which society judges behavior, the opinions and values of men become the basis for law. We do not want a theocracy, a body of men who interpret scripture and impose it upon our nation. Rather, we desire a nation of men well versed in the principles of God and sensitive to the leading of His Spirit. Every legislator should have a deep and well developed sense of moral conscience, he should avoid the extremes of Pharisaical legalism, and he should advocate for the perspective and principles laid upon his heart by the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Following the Law without filtering it through the grace of the Savior brings death and slavery. (Romans 7:6) Removing faith from the public sphere is impossible since all concepts and actions reflect a spiritual reality. Majority rule is a tool for creating social agreement since it reflects the people’s faith at any moment, but legislation solves one problem and creates others by changing the forces acting within a complex system. Legislating on divine principles minimizes the potentially catastrophic possibilities that may arise from those unintended consequences of a well-intended law. In a society of Spirit-led believers, democracy works well to moderate the extreme views of theological zealots and the tyranny their well-intended legalism may bring.
Our representative democracy provides a thin layer of protection against the passion and foolishness of the masses. The wise and Righteous should be the choice of the people as their moral proxies to exercise judgment in legislating the boundaries of social behavior. But, when the majority of the people have turned away from God, and followed their own desires, they choose leaders who excel in human passion. A republic, and its body of righteous law will sustain its heritage of moral law only to the extent that the younger generation develops a taste for Truth. Human passion easily deceives the well-intentioned, and without divine wisdom, human error embeds itself like a virus in the body of legislative and case law. Law and precedent then become agents to justify slavery, theft, and death.
As President John Adams stated on October 11, 1798, in his address to the military: “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.”
In America, we are free to sow Righteous action, and reap the rewards of our excellent and Godly choices. We are likewise free to sow the wind and reap the whirlwind. (Hosea 8:7) Our economic and legal system reflects the freedom that God has given every man, to choose to love Him and His Way, or to follow other paths of pleasure and philosophy. The cost and benefit of each choice is bound tightly within each choice. Wisdom, knowledge, and the leadings of the Holy Spirit are our defenses against error. The summary of the Law of God is to Love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves. (Mark 12:30)
Every man justifies his choices using feeling, reason, and example. (Proverbs 12:15) Premises and their connecting arguments form the loose logic behind our beliefs. But, the validity of that logic fails if there is any error embedded within the premises or their causal connection. For example, an unseen cost or benefit changes the weight of the arguments and thus alters the outcome of the logic. Likewise, misunderstanding the fundamental rules governing the physical universe yields an outcome not correspondent with experiment. When seen clearly, only one logical choice in all arenas of life emerges — the Way of God. All other choices fail to maximize life satisfaction. God has designed the heart and we must use His standard to rightly judge each moment, situation, and transaction. Choosing His Way satisfies the yearning of our hearts. But, learning to know His way takes a lifetime of studying the Word, observing Life, and prayer.
God has given us Free Will, along with the authority and power to make the decisions that further our advancement toward experiencing a meaningful life. The omnipotent, eternal Creator has purposely limited His intervention in life and His revelation of Law. But, the clues given are adequate to know that Truth exists and find it if we are committed.
According to the Holy Bible, God the Father assigned the task of Creation to the Son, and by so doing the Father remains perfect and untouched by evil. (John 1:1, Matthew 19:17) The Father continues to Love the essence and perfection of each spirit, but he cannot look upon or see the blemishes of each man’s soul. God the Son actually participates in the moment-by-moment drama of life to win, cleanse, and redeem the hearts of His sheep. The Son is thus the mediator between the Father and man. (1 Timothy 2:5) He moves in each man’s heart with the power and voice of the Holy Spirit to lead the lost sheep back to Himself. The disconnection between the perfection of the Father, and the imperfection of man, is bridged through the Son, Jesus, Yeshua (Savior), Immanuel (God with us). This separation of spiritual function allows for the coexistence and relationship between the omnipotence and perfection of the Father and imperfect man. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. (Matthew 5:8)
Free will allows us to make wrong choices, experience consequences, and to thus learn and grow as we struggle to understand Truth. The punishment of error and reward of obedience, give significance to our daily decisions and work. God has built consequences into the very fabric of life and nature, and the Holy Bible provides a light to our feet, and a lamp to our path. (Psalm 119:105) But, its truth is hidden from those who rebel; they cannot see its brilliance and beauty, and declare it foolish. Thus, the possibility of sincere heartfelt ignorance and error allows the child and rebel to choose to exercise wrong choice on all levels from philosophy to sexuality. (Proverbs 14:12) As error matures it hardens into rebellion, and such men band together to war against those who align with God. But God will not be defeated; in the end His plan will prevail. Each choice has an effect and the entire hierarchy of the creation, Holy Spirit, heavenly hosts, and nature, generate forces to oppose man’s errors. As a result, we eventually feel pain in response to our error. This feedback is designed to move our hearts back to right action and the peace and joy that accompanies following His Way. Evil does not go unnoticed, the entire nervous system of the spiritual and physical universe winces and recoils in response to the errors of man.
We may then ask, “How has God implemented this response system in His universe?” The Deist chooses to believe that God is uninvolved with the creation, having only established the machinery of response, and then abandoned the universe to function according to its own mechanical nature. Others feel that Satan or God punishes them for every wrong deed of omission or commission, and thus divine and demonic powers are responsible for every detail of life’s consequences.
Scripture declares that, “In Him we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17:28) This does not indicate that God created a world and then retreated from involvement and presence. The Spirit of God actively judges perfection each moment against the patterns established by His own Law. Likewise, His Spirit operates through all the events of life and administers its naturalistic consequences, moral rebuffs, and rewards. And, God intervenes with sovereign power when His eternal plan has been sufficiently subverted by man’s ignorance and rebellion. He likewise enters the world of man’s circumstances to answer prayer, and administer healing, justice, and comfort. But, He has built the universe on a system of layers and delegated authority, and to a great extent He has established the machinery of nature and the spirit worlds to administer His Law. Thus, consequence arises naturally out of the Law embedded within the very structure of the universe.
Regardless of the spiritual mechanism by which God judges and enforces His Will, as people we live in a worldly system that is blind to the perfect judgment, Law, and Way of God. As a result, we all judge Righteousness through the filter of our faith, but because of our blindness, we all make errors in judgment. But, those whose hearts are dedicated to serving Him, loving His Way, and finding Truth, will eventually be led by God’s spirit to find the Truth they seek. Likewise, those who reject God’s way, and passionately follow their own desires, beliefs, conceptions, and models of life will eventually experience the pain of error and rebellion.
In the case of homosexuality, those advocating for its honor, respect, and integration into society do so using the claim of various virtues, and may even claim Godliness. But, it is not man who makes such declarations True. Only God decides the rules and consequences of life; it is our job as His children to learn His ways, and walk in them. Unpleasant consequences follow error.
Those who choose to rebel against Biblical Christianity, and its definition of True Godliness, usually will not recognize or concede to the validity of any argument opposing the exaltation of homosexuality in personal behavior and society. Such people worship a god and moral system that rationalizes their behavior. But, the society will suffer if we adopt such behavior (or any other form of unGodliness) as a legislated and enforced standard of law.
Four out of seven California judges formed the majority opinion that declared homosexuality is right, moral, and sanctioned for 20 million Californians. And soon, these rebels against God will probably falsely invoke the sacred principles of the US Constitution to force other states to honor the marriage contracts made under the authority of this new law. But, laws that violate the Law of God should not be obeyed, nor should they be propagated across the nation.
The division of powers was intended to counter the supremacy of any one branch of government, but it appears that both the Executive and Legislative branches have conceded to submit to the Court for final judgment. This principle of Judicial Review was established in the Marbury vs. Madison ruling of 1803. Jefferson commented that this decision made the Constitution a mere thing wax in the hands of the Judiciary.
“The Constitution . . . meant that its coordinate branches should be checks on each other. But the opinion which gives to the judges the right to decide what laws are constitutional and what not, not only for themselves in their own sphere of action but for the Legislature and Executive also in their spheres, would make the Judiciary a despotic branch.” —Thomas Jefferson to Abigail Adams, 1804. ME 11:51
“In denying the right [the Supreme Court usurps] of exclusively explaining the Constitution, I go further than [others] do, if I understand rightly [this] quotation from the Federalist of an opinion that ‘the judiciary is the last resort in relation to the other departments of the government, but not in relation to the rights of the parties to the compact under which the judiciary is derived.’ If this opinion be sound, then indeed is our Constitution a complete felo de se [act of suicide]. For intending to establish three departments, coordinate and independent, that they might check and balance one another, it has given, according to this opinion, to one of them alone the right to prescribe rules for the government of the others, and to that one, too, which is unelected by and independent of the nation. For experience has already shown that the impeachment it has provided is not even a scare-crow . . . The Constitution on this hypothesis is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist and shape into any form they please.” —Thomas Jefferson to Spencer Roane, 1819. ME 15:212
Through Judicial Activism the virus of unrighteous fiat law has entered our body of law, and those sensitive to the spirit can see the disease developing. Through the misguided philosophies of a few judges, our nation has been made subject to forces that will degrade and destroy us. The infection penetrated our susceptible society when the courts outlawed the expression of Godliness in the form of prayer and Bible reading. After first removing God from the schools, the courts then ruled to actively bring evil into the culture by authorizing abortion, and then later homosexuality. The suppression of every form of Christian influence and embrace of evil is now accelerating. The downward spiral is well in progress.
We could claim victimization by the judicial juggernaut, but we are not fully innocent. As a society, we are reaping our collective reward for the tacit compliance with identifiable evil. We have not bred and elected righteous men who would lead us and cast the unrighteous judges and administrators out. We have compromised by voting for the lesser of two evils, and too few Righteous men have endured the hardship of the political world and refused to compromise. The current state of degradation was predictable. Unrighteousness will not be tolerated forever. Even the earth will vomit out the abomination of our sexual impurity. (Leviticus 18:22, 18:25, 18:27, 18:28, 20:22) Our worship of other gods (money, sensuality, self) has left us susceptible to the locust and cankerworm. But, we can repent, and the Lord will restore us. (Joel 2:25)
In this great nation, we Americans are blessed to have a republic where we have the amount of influence appropriate to any one citizen. And, unless the electoral process is totally subverted to give false reports, we still have power, though small and indirect, to influence public policy. But, that power will only manifest in action when we choose to act and vote en masse to cast off the tyranny of the unrighteous judges and defeat incumbents who vote for ungodly legislation. Returning the Judiciary to its proper role of interpreting law may require impeachment, legislation, and/or Constitutional amendments. Returning the legislature to a body of Righteous men requires an involved and informed public, well versed in Godly principles, willing to live under the legislated constraints of law based upon the principles of the Holy Bible.
As long as we have a social voice, we are responsible to God for our vote; it is our sacred spiritual seed. God gave us the good seeds of the Word, and it will result in an eventual harvest of lush bounty and prosperity if we plant and cultivate it in our lives, nation, and world. The seed of our group intentions will spring up eventually to yield a harvest of life or death dependent upon the seed we choose. As such, we have an opportunity and obligation to have an influence on the future. We are thus responsible for the destruction or deliverance that results from our judgment, authorization, and action. In this great country, we have the power to make our choices reality at the ballot box. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. (Galatians 6:7) If we vote to destroy life and the family unit, we vote against the God who created them both, and we will receive our just personal and eternal reward for helping to support and sustain evil within our culture and society. A vote for abortion and homosexuality puts us as companions, co-conspirators, and enablers of those in rebellion against God and His Righteous Principles of Truth. Now is not the time for compromise or apathy; we must choose Godly leaders who will seek His face and act on our behalf to turn our nation away from its offense against God.