Thoughts on SCOTUS Ruling on Marriage

5 solasThere is probably a lot that needs to be said about yesterday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling on marriage. It is a ruling that has many far reaching effects beyond the actual ruling that was made.  In one sense it is a narrow ruling only on a few facts and most of them technical ones that the average citizen will not understand (I know it is somewhat strange and foreign to me!).

I will have a lot more to say about it in the days to come, no doubt. It is a bad ruling for our culture, our nation, because it just shows how far we are adrift from God and His plans and purposes we truly are. The basic building block of society is marriage. It was before the law, before government, and before the church ever came into existence. As I say when I stand before a couple to do their wedding (I said it just last Saturday):

“We are not gathered here today in order to observe a social convention devised by human wisdom for the mutual comfort and happiness of men and women. Nor do we assemble here to participate in a mere tradition which has come down to us from ages past and which we have deemed worthy of preserving among ourselves.

We are gathered in this place in order to acknowledge, celebrate, and solemnize the divine institution of marriage, which is ordained by the Creator and Savior of the world, sealed and governed by His authority, and entered into by His people with humble obedience and heartfelt rejoicing for the wondrous provision of the Lord for their mutual happiness and completion.”

However, this can, and prayerfully will be good for the church, if it causes us to wake up and realize that we are failing in our mission to take the gospel to the nation and nations! An acquaintance of mine wrote this (and correctly I believe) after the ruling by SCOTUS.  These threats may bring about in the church a much-needed change of mindset. It’s time we recognized we are no longer the “moral majority” and embrace our identity as the “missional minority.”

The SCOTUS may rule, legislatures may pass laws, people may live in utter disregard to our Lord . . . but some things never change: His word, His truth, and His reign.  I cannot wait to worship again this Sunday, as we exalt the power and authority of King Jesus!!

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History Repeats Itself . . . so it seems!!

A couple of months back we spent a few days in Chicago doing the tourist thing.  We saw a lot of the Untouchable sites from the gangster days (no, not these gangster days but the ones of the Roaring 20s) and the beautiful archetecture on the river.  One of the most interesting things we saw was an exhibit in the old city library, now the Chicago Cultural Center.  The exhibit was of some Pulitizer Prize winning editorial cartoons from the early days of the Chicago Tribune.  It was amazing how some of the issues in the those days are the same issues we face today.  Of all the cartoons, this one was my favorite . . . it grieves me, but it it is so true.  I pray that our nation will wake up before it is too late.Chicago Tribune 1934

Thomas Paine . . . if only men like him were alive today

This actor captures Paine with his Founder’s mentality and spirit quite well. Take 6 minutes and get a little historical perspective!!

Most Outragous Nomination to date

us-constitution-1I really do try and reserve this blog for Biblical, theological and ethical issues rather than political. It is no surprise to those who know me that I am a conservative politically as I am theologically. However, I have found myself of late reading books such as Thornton’s The Pulpit of the American Revolution. The pastors of that era were vigilant for freedom and preached sermons about “the Christian duty of resistance to tyrants” and “the true principles of government”. Theologically I may have differed with some of these preachers, but as to liberty I would wholeheartedly agree!!

As I read the arrogance of the Obama administration in their almost monarchical views of themselves I wonder if a second American revolution is not in our future. In the two months he has been in office he has changed the core of who America is . . . or has been for over 230 years. I know it is scoffed at when commentators refer to him as a socialist, but everything he does with the economy proves him to be just that, or worse. I never thought I would see the day when a CEO of a private enterprise corporation was forced to resign by the president of the United States. Or another corporation would be told by the president that it must merge with a foreign corporation or risk bankruptcy. But even this disaster is not the worst so far.

harold_kohIt has been reported in the New York Post that President Obama has nominated as the State Department’s legal adviser Harold Koh, until last week the dean of Yale Law School. The beliefs of this lawyer on the place of other nation’s laws being used in decisions in our courts, even Islamic sharia law. Please take a couple of minutes to read Obama’s Most Perilous Legal Pick and pass it along to all those you know who care about our nation. The radicals cannot win . . . there is too much at stake!!!

Better to Do Nothing Rather than This “Porkulus” Package

I realize that we have crossed the line long ago where case law began to rule the day instead of the U.S. Constitution. But the way our Congress and Executive branch of our government are behaving now it is basically the end of the constitution. Limited government is gone. The nanny-state has arrived. And we are sitting around and just taking it. We have elected officials who are only concerned with one thing–remaining in office and raiding the public funds for their area. No longer does there seem to be those in office who think of the good of the country first. We are going down a road that is heading to the end of the United States as we have known it to be.

porkulusTonight President Obama said that he had inherited this economic mess. I agree that he is right, but he inherited it from a Congress that wants to control your life and make you dependent on it, and a President (Bush) who acted more like a Democrat, economically, the last two years of his presidency than a free market Republican. Bush’s “stimulus package” and TARP plan for the banks were supposed to be the events to save the economy. They didn’t!!! In fact it just got worse. So now Congress and the new president want to do more of the same!! God help us! That is the classic definition of a fool–keep doing the same thing and expect different results.

We need to STOP and take a deep breath and stop expecting the government to be our savior. They are not and cannot be. There are a couple of things you need to read. Walter Williams, Economics professor at George Mason University, wrote an insightful article today in Investor’s Business Daily, entitled “Stimulus Can Sink Recession into Depression“. Please read it. If you prefer more Ivy League economists, then read the article by Robert Barro, Economics professor at Harvard, “Government Spending is No Free Lunch“, in the Wall Street Journal. There is also a great interview with Barro on The Atlantic website worth reading.

If you are really wanting to see why these policies will not help, but most likely harm, our economy read the book The Forgotten Man, by Amity Shlaes. Shlaes looks at the same policies that were used, and failed, in the “great depression.” I repeat, and I will shout, THE GOVERNMENT IS NOT OUR SAVIOR!! Wake up America, before it is too late and our constitutional republic is no more.

A Drunken Sailor?!?!

I have heard repeatedly that our government spends money “like a drunken sailor.” Upon pondering the following data, I don’t think the sailor in question can hold a candle to our congress.

How much is a billion?

A billion seconds ago was 1959 . . . I was only 8 years old.

A billion minutes ago, Jesus was alive.

A billion hours ago, the earth was in the stone age.

. . . and a billion dollars ago was 8 hours and 20 minutes at the rate our government spends money!!