Friends I have deliberately taken some time to consider the Supreme Court decision that created legislation making homosexual marriage legal in all fifty states. I want to address this in as clear a fashion as possible.
One thing that has become painfully apparent to me is that the Christian Church in America and by that I mean the big “C” Church, has been deceived into believing that life would continue on like it has always been and our Disneyland existence in the land of milk and honey would go on uninterrupted indefinitely.
On what do I base this assessment you ask? It is based in part on the exasperation and in some cases despair that abounds in American Christendom in response to the June 26, 2015 Supreme Court decision that effective created legislation out of thin air. Calling the Supreme Court decision vacuous and devoid of any legal standing is too kind. Chief Justice John Roberts, who of late has been a tremendous disappointment to those of us hoping for a return to sanity in political and cultural life in America, did get one thing right concerning the homosexual marriage debacle when he stated “The Constitution had nothing to do with it.”
How have we arrived at a place that clearly represents a seismic shift in the moral foundation of a nation founded upon the Judeo-Christian faith and ethic? The place we find ourselves in as Americans is the result of a long and deliberate orchestration by the enemies of Christ. Their perseverance in undermining and effectively destroying the influence of Christianity has resulted in the rotten fruit we now see in America and which in my view has marked the beginning of the end for Christianity as a molder and shaper of culture. Voicing this perspective has resulted in me being labeled as a defeatist and unbiblical. The opposite is actually true. Let me explain.
A people or nation who tolerates evil will become numb to its presence and influence over time. What was once unthinkable becomes the norm. Once a new norm is achieved a new evil is advocated and it in turn soon becomes the new norm. This is a process of change employed by the enemies of Christ with much effectiveness. Hegel defined this process in his dialectic philosophy and it has been employed masterfully in America. Proof of this is found in the number of Americans who rushed to the defense of Planned Parenthood when it was revealed that they are cannibalizing babies in the womb in order to harvest their organs for sale on the medical marketplace.
Romans chapter one speaks to this process. Please note that when a people become so deceived that they believe evil is enlightenment or to use the current subterfuged verbiage “tolerance and inclusiveness,” God will turn them over to pursue this line of reasoning and behavior as well as all the detrimental results that arise from this thinking and behavior. No less than three times we are told that pursuing evil results in God allowing people to gorge themselves on it until they arrive at a place where they are unable to do anything else.
I see the members of the Supreme Court who voted in favor of creating homosexual marriage legislation as well as those who argued for its creation and even those tares among the wheat who celebrated this evil, being described in Romans 1:32 with these words: “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” The Supreme Court’s decision to force the evil of homosexual marriage upon America is the moral equivalent of “giving hearty approval to those who practice” this sin.
It is time for the Remnant to rise up and be the Church God intends His people to be. It will require much change and most all of this change is going to come with a cost. When you challenge the evil power presiding over America you can expect nothing less than an evil response.
Gone are the days of assuming respectability within your communities because you’re a Christian and you “just want to love people.” This type of sentimentality masquerading as Christian faith will not stand the rigors of challenge by the ungodly. Perhaps that is why many professing Christians have made the serious error of capitulation and acceptance of this sin.
While you were sleeping Christian, the world changed the definition of love by removing any aspects of truth and righteousness. Those characteristics now belong in the realm of pure subjectivity and thus beyond the reach of any objective moral standard.
While Christians have been cloistered Sunday after Sunday learning how to be better husbands, wives, parents, coaches, friends to their neighbors, etcetera ad nauseum, the world has been fed a steady diet of anti-Christian hatred and now sees Christian beliefs and values as a liability to modern life and worthy of marginalization as much as possible. Look around the world today and you see the results – more oppressive laws restricting expressions of Christian faith, government intrusions upon the Church’s rightful place of authority, rewriting the history of America to exclude the foundations of Christianity, and the ultimate expression of hatred – Christian martyrs.
What can Christians do in this brave new world being fashioned by the god-haters in America who now clearly have the law on their side? The answer may surprise you but I believe it is time to rejoice. Not rejoice in the escalating evil all around us but rejoice that God has counted you worthy to have eyes that see and ears that hear the Master calling you to active mission. Even in these new dark days God still desires to save people from their sin and He desires to use you in that work.
Secondly, resolve to stand firm in your faith and to contend earnestly for the faith even more so than before knowing that God is actively identifying those who have left the faith, those who have denied the faith, those who were really tares among the wheat. The Church has suffered for far too long because of ungodly leadership, fellowship, and misguided, misplaced ministry. Rejoice that God is marking these things so that the mission of Christ on this earth can be more effective and less impeded in this day.
Finally, never give up your hope. Instead always be ready to give a reason for why you hope in Christ. In the midst of the darkest hour the glory of God shines the brightest. Be ready to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with those who are bound up by sin. There will be many who will leave the homosexual lifestyle behind when they discover its empty promise of happiness and joy. Be ready to help put lives back together again with a message of forgiveness and mercy to all who will turn from their sin.
The serpent questioning God’s Word set in motion a dramatic shift in the created order which resulted in judgment upon evil and a promise of a deliverer. Has the Supreme Court really said that homosexual marriage is normal and right? Challenging God’s Word will bring judgment upon this evil and a reminder for the Remnant – stand firm for your redemption draws near.
Dr. Mike Spaulding
July 25, 2015