Tag: sermons

Gay Marriage and American Christianity: Intended Consequences

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics5 Comments

American Christianity 2Friday, President Barack Hussein Obama did a Victory Lap around the Rose Garden, in celebration of the 5-4 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, legalizing “Gay Marriage”.

Here is the speech, courtesy of whitehouse.gov:

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning.  Our nation was founded on a bedrock principle that we are all created equal.  The project of each generation is to bridge the meaning of those founding words with the realities of changing times — a never-ending quest to ensure those words ring true for every single American.  
 
Progress on this journey often comes in small increments, sometimes two steps forward, one step back, propelled by the persistent effort of dedicated citizens.  And then sometimes, there are days like this when that slow, steady effort is rewarded with justice that arrives like a thunderbolt.  
    
This morning, the Supreme Court recognized that the Constitution guarantees marriage equality.  In doing so, they’ve reaffirmed that all Americans are entitled to the equal protection of the law.  That all people should be treated equally, regardless of who they are or who they love. This decision will end the patchwork system we currently have.  It will end the uncertainty hundreds of thousands of same-sex couples face from not knowing whether their marriage, legitimate in the eyes of one state, will remain if they decide to move [to] or even visit another.  This ruling will strengthen all of our communities by offering to all loving same-sex couples the dignity of marriage across this great land.

In my second inaugural address, I said that if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.  It is gratifying to see that principle enshrined into law by this decision.  

This ruling is a victory for Jim Obergefell and the other plaintiffs in the case.  It’s a victory for gay and lesbian couples who have fought so long for their basic civil rights.  It’s a victory for their children, whose families will now be recognized as equal to any other.  It’s a victory for the allies and friends and supporters who spent years, even decades, working and praying for change to come.

And this ruling is a victory for America.  This decision affirms what millions of Americans already believe in their hearts:  When all Americans are treated as equal we are all more free.  

My administration has been guided by that idea.  It’s why we stopped defending the so-called Defense of Marriage Act, and why we were pleased when the Court finally struck down a central provision of that discriminatory law.  It’s why we ended “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”  From extending full marital benefits to federal employees and their spouses, to expanding hospital visitation rights for LGBT patients and their loved ones, we’ve made real progress in advancing equality for LGBT Americans in ways that were unimaginable not too long ago.  

I know change for many of our LGBT brothers and sisters must have seemed so slow for so long.  But compared to so many other issues, America’s shift has been so quick.  I know that Americans of goodwill continue to hold a wide range of views on this issue. Opposition in some cases has been based on sincere and deeply held beliefs.  All of us who welcome today’s news should be mindful of that fact; recognize different viewpoints; revere our deep commitment to religious freedom.  

But today should also give us hope that on the many issues with which we grapple, often painfully, real change is possible. Shifts in hearts and minds is possible.  And those who have come so far on their journey to equality have a responsibility to reach back and help others join them.  Because for all our differences, we are one people, stronger together than we could ever be alone.  That’s always been our story. 

We are big and vast and diverse; a nation of people with different backgrounds and beliefs, different experiences and stories, but bound by our shared ideal that no matter who you are or what you look like, how you started off, or how and who you love, America is a place where you can write your own destiny.
We are a people who believe that every single child is entitled to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.  

There’s so much more work to be done to extend the full promise of America to every American.  But today, we can say in no uncertain terms that we’ve made our union a little more perfect.  

That’s the consequence of a decision from the Supreme Court, but, more importantly, it is a consequence of the countless small acts of courage of millions of people across decades who stood up, who came out, who talked to parents — parents who loved their children no matter what.  Folks who were willing to endure bullying and taunts, and stayed strong, and came to believe in themselves and who they were, and slowly made an entire country realize that love is love.

What an extraordinary achievement.  What a vindication of the belief that ordinary people can do extraordinary things.  What a reminder of what Bobby Kennedy once said about how small actions can be like pebbles being thrown into a still lake, and ripples of hope cascade outwards and change the world.  

Those countless, often anonymous heroes — they deserve our thanks.  They should be very proud.  America should be very proud.  

Thank you.  (Applause.)

Guess what, Scooter. We’re not. 

Recently, a Gallup Poll showed that a little less than 3/4 of Americans proclaim Jesus Christ as their Personal Savior and half of Americans attend Religious Services on a regular basis.

The Christian Post reported a couple of weeks ago, that Ronnie Floyd, President of the Southern Baptist Convention and Pastor of Cross Church in Arkansas, spoke during AVANCE 2015 at the Greater Columbus Convention Center in Ohio, June 14, 2015.

Referring to the U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming decision on whether gays and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry or whether state bans against same-sex marriage can remain in place, Floyd took a firm stance in his religious conviction that marriage is strictly between one man and one woman.

“We do not need to redefine what God himself has defined already,” he said.

Floyd explained to the audience that they will be asked to approve a resolution that affirms Southern Baptist beliefs on marriage. The resolution also reminds Christians to love our neighbors and extend respect to all people, even those who disagree with them.

“While we affirm our love for all people, including those struggling with same-sex attractions, we cannot and will not affirm any behavior that deviates from God’s design for marriage,” said Floyd. “Our first commitment is to God and nothing else and no one else. I humbly remind everyone today the Supreme Court of the United States is not the final authority, nor is the culture itself, but the Bible is God’s final authority about marriage and on this book we stand.”

In his final comment on same-sex marriage, Floyd took an oath to never sanct
ify gay marriage.

“I declare to everyone today as a minister of the Gospel, I will not officiate over any same-sex unions or same-sex marriage ceremonies, I completely refuse,” said the pastor.

While the five wannabe “legislators” on the Supreme Court of the United States of America” “promised” that their decision would not interfere with the Religious Freedom which our Constitution guarantees us as Americans, we, as practical people, must also realize that, if an inanimate Confederate Flag can be vilified and removed as “Hate Speech”, so can a Pastor’s Sermon be censored by a Federal Government, who has left behind the “Faith of Our Fathers”, to worship at the Altar of Political Correctness.

Not only that, but like a Christian Baker, a Christian Pastor can be sued for “not providing services”, i.e., performing a “Gay Marriage”.

While Modern American Liberals, under the rights granted to us by our Constitution, have every right to speak their mind, blackmail and intimidation of the Majority, is not a guaranteed right.

Our nation may be witnessing the Hand of God being taken off of us.

…since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. – Romans 1:28

 Without being anchored on the Solid Rock, America would have been a failed experiment, assigned to the dustbin of history, years ago.

That still, small voice which resides within each one of us, has led Americans to do great things, in service to their country and the concept of American Freedom, as personified by Lady Liberty, standing so majestically in New York Harbor.

God gave us this nation, ensconced in the concept of “Liberty and Justice for all”.

By His Grace, we will keep it.

Without it, we will surely find out why America is not mentioned in the Book of Revelation.

Until He Comes,

KJ

The War Against Christianity: Liberals Step Up Efforts to Control What is Said From the Pulpit

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics2 Comments

American Christianity 2In the last few years, during the Obama Administration, there has been a concerted effort by American Liberals to enforce the fallacy known as “The Separation of Church and State”.

Those behind this fascist initiative are so adamant about it, that they are trying to limit what American Christian Leaders can say from the pulpit, a clear violation of the First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America.

If  the “Smartest People in the Room” thought that Men of God would acquiesce to their edicts, they gravely overestimated their own authority, as The Blaze.com reports…

After a church-state watchdog sent out 84,000 letters urging faith leaders and churches, alike, to be mindful of IRS restrictions that govern political activity, the organization claims it received dozens of fiery responses from religious leaders who were less than content with the group’s warning.

Americans United for Separation of Church and State announced earlier this month that it had recently sent the letter to houses of worship and sectarian leaders across the nation, warning in the text against endorsing candidates from the pulpit.

“We merely want houses of worship to follow the rules, stay out of partisan politics and keep their tax exemption,” Simon Brown, the assistant director of communications for Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said in a blog post. “And when we explain to clergy what the law requires, we do so in a respectful way.”

But Brown said that some of the recipients didn’t appreciate the reminder, as numerous faith leaders opted to send the letters back along with some fiery messages expressing their dissatisfaction; others called or emailed Americans United with similar sentiment.

A representative for the organization told TheBlaze Thursday that 45 angry responses have already come flooding in and that more are expected in the coming days.

Among the surprising mix of messages came a fiery letter addressed to the Rev. Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United, from a man described as a Catholic priest.

It read, in part, “As for your solicitude regarding our legal well-being, I ask that you shove it up your fat white a–.”

Another unnamed religious leader wrote the words “drop dead” on the document before sending it back.

Others wrote messages telling Americans United that they have no plans to comply with the organization’s reminder to follow tax law.

One faith leader took to his red marker to write, “Come and get me; I DARE YOU!”

There was also another faith leader who simply tore the letter up into tiny pieces and sent it back to the organization with no accompanying message.

It’s clear from the responses that some faith leaders clearly oppose the IRS regulations that come along with their tax-exempt status, though contention surrounding these legal parameters is nothing new.

At the center of the debate over church politicking is the Johnson Amendment, a controversial IRS code added in 1954 that precludes nonprofit organizations — churches included — from engaging in campaign activity.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation, an atheist activist group and Americans United, among others, have long clashed with conservative groups over the issue of church politicking, with the right-leaning legal firm Alliance Defending Freedom organizing the annual “Pulpit Freedom Sunday” event.

The initiative, which last unfolded October 5, encourages pastors “to reclaim their right to speak freely from the pulpit by preaching an election-related sermon” — an act that flies in the face of the letter that Americans United sent to preachers.

Have you ever wondered where the expression “separation of church and state” came from?

David Barton, writing at wallbuilders.com, presents the following explanation:

In 1947, in the case Everson v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared, “The First Amendment has erected a wall between church and state. That wall must be kept high and impregnable. We could not approve the slightest breach.” The “separation of church and state” phrase which they invoked, and which has today become so familiar, was taken from an exchange of letters between President Thomas Jefferson and the Baptist Association of Danbury, Connecticut, shortly after Jefferson became President.

…Jefferson had committed himself as President to pursuing the purpose of the First Amendment: preventing the “establishment of a particular form of Christianity” by the Episcopalians, Congregationalists, or any other denomination.

Since this was Jefferson’s view concerning religious expression, in his short and polite reply to the Danbury Baptists on January 1, 1802, he assured them that they need not fear; that the free exercise of religion would never be interfered with by the federal government. As he explained:

Gentlemen, – The affectionate sentiments of esteem and approbation which you are so good as to express towards me on behalf of the Danbury Baptist Association give me the highest satisfaction. . . . Believing with you that religion is a matter which lies solely between man and his God; that he owes account to none other for his faith or his worship; that the legislative powers of government reach actions only and not opinions, I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. Adhering to this expression of the supreme will of the nation in behalf of the rights of conscience, I shall see with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments which tend to restore to man all his natural rights, convinced he has no natural right in opposition to his social duties. I reciprocate your kind prayers for the protection and blessing of the common Father and Creator of man, and tender you for yourselves and your religious association assurances of my high respect and esteem.

Jefferson’s reference to “natural rights” invoked an important legal phrase which was part of the rhetoric of that day and which reaffirmed his belief that religious liberties were inalienable rights. While the phrase “natural rights” communicated much to people then, to most citizens today those words mean little.

By definition, “natural rights” included “that which the Books of the Law and the Gospel do contain.” That is, “natural rights” incorporated what God Himself had guaranteed to man in the Scriptures. Thus, when Jefferson assured the Baptists that by following their “natural rights” they would violate no social duty, he was affirming to them that the free exercise of religion was their inalienable God-given right and therefore was protected from federal regulation or interference.

So clearly did Jefferson understand the Source of America’s inalienable rights that he even doubted whether America could survive if we ever lost that knowledge. He queried:

And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure if we have lost the only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are the gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?

Jefferson believed that God, not government, was the Author and Source of our rights and that the government, therefore, was to be prevented from interference with those rights. Very simply, the “fence” of the Webster letter and the “wall” of the Danbury letter were not to limit religious activities in public; rather they were to limit the power of the government to prohibit or interfere with those expressions.

Liberals wish to silence the voices and sublimate the rights of Christian Americans, who actually constitute  76% of America’s population, per Gallup.

And, as the systematic overturning of the will of the American People concerning Homosexual Marriage through government-backed Judicial Activism has shown us, they will eliminate the Christian Viewpoint from America’s Political Arena, by any means necessary.

That is why it is so important for Americans to vote this coming Tuesday.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. – Edmund Burke

Now, as I sit back and wait for the inevitable wailing and gnashing of teeth, allow me to leave you with this thought:

Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise. In this sense and to this extent, our civilizations and our institutions are emphatically Christian.

– Richmond v. Moore, (Illinois Supreme Court, 1883)

Until He Comes,

KJ

 

Houston Mayor Withdraws Subpoenas of Pastors’ Sermons

On By kingsjesterIn Christianity, Politics1 Comment

American Christianity 2A rebuke of Biblical proportions happened in Houston, Texas, yesterday.

The Christian Post reports that

Houston Mayor Annise Parker has announced that she will withdraw the subpoenas against five pastors who have spoken out against the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance, an LGBT city ordinance that some opponents claim would allow men to use women’s public restrooms.

“After much contemplation and discussion, I am directing the city legal department to withdraw the subpoenas issued to the five Houston pastors who delivered the petitions, the anti-HERO petitions, to the city of Houston and who indicated that they were responsible for the overall petition effort,” Parker said during Wednesday’s press conference.

“It is extremely important to me to protect our equal rights ordinance from repeal, and it is extremely important to me to make sure that every Houstonian knows that their lives are valid and protected and acknowledged,” added Parker, who’s the city’s first openly-gay mayor.

Earlier this month it was revealed that the city of Houston had subpoenaed five pastors regarding a rejected referendum about a recently passed LGBT city ordinance, known by the acronym, HERO.

HERO amended Houston’s Code of Ordinances, prohibiting discrimination in public facilities and private employment on the basis of “protected characteristics.”

This list of protected characteristics included race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, sex, familial and marital status, military status, disability, religion, genetic information, pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity.

Opponents of HERO claim it will have several unintended consequences, such as allowing transgender men to use women’s restrooms.

Critics turned in a petition to get the ordinance repealed or put on the ballot, which Houston’s city attorney rejected. In response, conservatives filed suit.

Five Houston pastors whom city officials believed opposed the ordinance were told they had to turn over all sermons they had preached regarding homosexuality, HERO, and about the mayor, who is a practicing lesbian.

The subpoenas garnered nationwide criticism from liberal and conservative organizations alike, with Parker initially narrowing the scope of the subpoenas to include “speeches” rather than “sermons.”

Parker’s decision to drop the subpoenas came days in advance of the “I Stand Sunday,” event in which multiple conservative groups, along with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, the Benham brothers, and members of the “Duck Dynasty” cast united for a 90-minute simulcast in solidarity with the five pastors.

Hours before the Mayor’s change of heart was announced, Fox News Insider reported that

In a fiery commentary on Mayor Annise Parker’s actions, Mike Huckabee called for American pastors to show their opposition by sending her their sermons and a Bible.

“So, I’ve got an idea – if she wants some sermons, here’s my suggestion. I’d like to ask every pastor in America, not just the ones in Houston, send her your sermons. Obviously, she could use a few. So, if you’re a pastor, send them to her. And here’s another thought, everybody watching the show ought to send her a Bible. That’s right, everybody. I hope she gets thousands and thousands of sermons and Bibles,” said the former governor on Oct. 20. 

Well, now the mayor’s office has said that it has gotten between 500-1,000 Bibles and that they will be distributed to churches.

I wonder if this tremendous backlash had anything to do with the Mayor’s stopping the subpoenas.

Could be.

This attempt by the Houston Mayor to control what the pastors in her city said from the pulpit is a direct attack on the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.

Let’s review the First Amendment, shall we?

The First Amendment (1791)

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for redress of grievances.

The following are quotes by famous Americans about this American Right:

If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter. – George Washington

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either of them. – Mark Twain

I live in America. I have the right to write whatever I want. And it’s equaled by another right just as powerful: the right not to read it. Freedom of speech includes the freedom to offend people. – Brad Thor

I begin to feel like most Americans don’t understand the First Amendment, don’t understand the idea of freedom of speech, and don’t understand that it’s the responsibility of the citizen to speak out. – Roger Ebert

We don’t have an Official Secrets Act in the United States, as other countries do. Under the First Amendment, freedom of the press, freedom of speech, and freedom of association are more important than protecting secrets. – Alan Dershowitz

Freedom of speech is always under attack by Fascist mentality, which exists in all parts of the world, unfortunately. – Lawrence Ferlinghetti

If Her Honor…err…His Honor…err…umm…whatever…thought that Houston’s Men of God were just going to meekly hand over their Sermon Notes, foregoing their Ordination as Preachers of God’s Word and simultaneously giving up their First Amendment Rights, she overestimated her position of authority greatly.

The Houston Pastors answer to Someone with a higher pay grade.

She was outranked all along.

…and, outnumbered.

Until He Comes,

KJ