miércoles, 22 de octubre de 2014

Idaho Couple Facing Fines, Jail Time for Not Hosting Gay Weddings May Be Saved by State Law

BY MICHAEL GRYBOSKI , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER

Hitching Post Lakeside Chapel of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Idaho couple Donald and Evelyn Knapp, ordained ministers and owners of the Hitching Post Lakeside Chapel of Coeur d'Alene, are facing thousands of dollars in fines and possible jail time for refusing to host gay wedding ceremonies, which the city claims violates its anti-discrimination ordinance. The couple has since filed their business as a religious organization, which means they might be saved by an Idaho law that protects religious freedom.

Jeremy Tedesco, senior legal counsel for the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom legal organization, told The Christian Post that while Coeur d'Alene has an ordinance saying that under "public accommodation" businesses cannot discriminate, state law offeres a possible exemption for the Knapps.

"In addition to our federal claims (i.e. First Amendment), our complaint brings a cause of action under the Idaho Free Exercise of Religion Protected Act," Tedesco said. "[Under] Idaho Code § 73–401 et seq., this state law says 'government shall not substantially burden a person's exercise of religion ...'"

Tedesco recently filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Knapps in district court, as well as a motion to provide immediate relief.

"We are now waiting for the court to decide whether to grant or deny our request for a temporary restraining order," Tedesco said. "By filing a motion for a temporary restraining order, we are asking the court to act as soon as possible and order the city not to enforce its ordinance against the Knapps while our case proceeds."

City officials, who did not provide comment to CP by press time, have argued that the Hitching Post is in violation of ordinance §9.56, which bars facilities of public accommodation from discrimination.

According to the ordinance, this discrimination can include denying "any person because of sexual orientation and/or gender identity/expression, the full enjoyment of any of the accommodations, advantages, facilities or privileges of any place of public resort, accommodation, assemblage, or amusement."

When asked by CP if religious institutions such as churches and church-owned properties are exempt from ordinances like the one in Coeur d'Alene, Tedesco said, "Same-sex marriage advocates have always said that pastors would 'never' be forced to perform same-sex marriages. Well, 'never' came quick as pastors are being threatened with jail and criminal fines for not participating in ceremonies that contradict the definition of marriage."

He continued, "No one is safe — even religious institutions currently exempt under this ordinance and others are on notice. It's foolish to depend on the very same politicians and bureaucrats who have already threatened pastors with six months in jail and $1,000 per day to respect anyone's freedom."

"Under this ordinance, our clients face up to up to 180 days in jail and up to a $1,000 fine each day they follow their religious beliefs and ministerial vows and decline to perform a same-sex wedding ceremony."

Speaking about the Knapps decision to file as a religious organization in an effort to gain exemption from performing gay wedding ceremonies at their chapel, Coeur d'Alene Councilman Dan Gookin told Fox News, "I understand that the way the law is currently written right now that the religious freedom has a priority. It trumps that other desire of mine to see more equality in that area."

martes, 21 de octubre de 2014

Halloween, a covenant with DEATH and Hell

“. . . We have made a covenant with DEATH,
and with HELL are we at agreement;. . .”
Isaiah 28:15

Dr. Terry Watkins

Dial-the-Truth Ministries

When you hear the word "halloween" what images appear? What "spirit" is invoked at the whisper of Halloween? Halloween openly promotes death, devils, witches and flagrant "appearances of evil" (1 Thess. 5:22). Halloween leaves most people scratching their heads questioning, "How and where did Halloween come from"? This article unearths the hellish tomb of Halloween to exhume its sinister "covenant with death and hell."

Halloween began over 2,000 years ago among the Celts and their pagan priests called the Druids. The Druids are, without question, history’s king of the occult. Witchcraft, Satanism, paganism and virtually all facets of the occult acquire instruction from the Druids. From the popular jack-o’-lantern, trick-or-treat, costumes, to the pranks, ghoulish ghosts, demons, goblins and witches – Halloween owes its morbid birth to the Druids.

Halloween—the day itself is of Druidic origin. (Myers, Robert J. Celebrations: The Complete Book of American Holidays, p. 258)
The mystic rites and ceremonies with which Hallow’en was originally observed had their origin among the Druids. . . (Douglas, George William. The American Book of Days, p. 566)

The Druids celebrated two special nights of the year: Beltane and Samhain. Beltane took place on May 1 and marked the birth of summer. Samhain occurred on November 1 and signified the death of summer. Samhain, a night celebrating death and hell, was the Druids most important ritual. It was a terrifying night of human sacrifices. And it was the original Halloween.

The Druids believed, during Samhain, the mystic veil separating the dead from the living opened. The Druids taught these roaming spirits loosed on Samhain went searching for a body to possess. The frightened Celts would masquerade as demons, evil spirits and ghosts, hoping to convince the roaming evil spirits, they were another evil spirit, and leave them alone. The Celts also prepared meals as "treats" to appease the evil spirits from "tricks" or malicious acts; hence our custom of "trick or treat." The Druids performed horrifying human sacrifices and other vile rituals during Samhain. Let there be no doubt—Samhain night was a terrifying "covenant with death, and with hell." And let there be no doubt – Samhain was the original Halloween night.

All histories of Halloween inevitably wind back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. . . (Skal, David J. Death Makes a Holiday: The Cultural History of Halloween, p. 20)
Halloween had its origins in the festival of Samhain among the Celts of ancient Britain and Ireland. (Encyclopedia Britannica 2005 "Halloween")
Halloween can be traced directly back to Samhain, the ancient Celtic harvest festival honoring the Lord of the Dead. (Thompson, Sue Ellen. Holiday Symbols and Customs, p. 251)

The rituals of the Druids reek from the deepest hell. Their most repulsive activities involve their human sacrifices of children on the night of Samhain or Halloween.

First-born sacrifices are mentioned in a poem in the Dindshenchas, which records that children were sacrificed each Samhain . . . (Rogers, Nicholas. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, p. 17)
Halloween. That was the eve of Samhain . . . firstborn children were sacrificed. . . Samhain eve was a night of dread and danger. (National Geographic. May 1977, pp. 625-626)

The Druids would drink their victim’s blood and eat their flesh.

They [Druids] sacrificed victims by shooting them with arrows, impaling them on stakes, stabbing them, slitting their throats over cauldrons (and then drinking the blood). . . (Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. Harper’s Encyclopedia of Mystical & Paranormal Experience, p. 167)
Therefore we cannot too highly appreciate our debt to the Romans for having put an end to this monstrous cult,whereby to murder a man was an act of the greatest devoutness, and to eat his flesh most beneficial. (Pliny, Natural History, xxx, 13)

The Druids "counted it an honourable thing" to eat their father’s flesh and perform incest with their mothers and sisters.

. . . since they are man-eaters as well as heavy eaters, and since, further, they count it an honourable thing, when their fathers die, to devour them, and openly to have intercourse, not only with the other women, but also with their mothers and sisters;. . . (Strabo, Geography)

May I remind you, this is what occurred on the original Halloween night! Today, Halloween lives and breathes with the foul stench of the diabolical Druids.The Druids also celebrated the festival of Beltane. The word Beltane (Beltaine, Beltinne, Beltain, Beiltein) literally means the "fires of Bel." Bel is the same god called Baal, found over 80 times in the King James Bible. The Lord condemns Baal worship probably more than any other false "god."

. . . then the Druids lit the Baal-Tinne, the holy, goodly fire of Baal. (Wilde, Lady Francesca Speranza. Ancient Legends, Mystic Charms, and Superstitions of Ireland)
The god whom the Druids worshipped was Baal, as the blazing Baal-fires show, and . . . children were offered in sacrifice to Baal. (Hislop, Alexander. The Two Babylons, p. 232)

• HALLOWEEN: BAAL WORSHIP •

The original Halloween was a hellish night of Baal worship and child sacrifice. And most of our current Halloween customs derived directly from Baal rituals!

On November first was Samhain [Halloween] . . . Fires were built as a thanksgiving to Baal. . . (Kelley, Ruth Edna,The Book of Hallowe'en, Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co. Boston, 1919)
The mystic rites and ceremonies with which Hallow’en was originally observed had their origin among the Druids . . .ancient Baal festivals from which many of the Hallow’en customs are derived. (Douglas, George William. The American Book of Days, p. 569)
Baal is also a synonym for the devil. (Burns, Cathy. Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated, p. 327)

Halloween glorifies death in worship to Baal or the devil!The Druid festival of Samhain was a celebration of death. Strutting its hellish death images of skulls, skeletons, ghosts, demons, devils and incarnate evil – today’s Halloween glorifies Death. David Skal titled his history of Halloween—Death Makes a Holiday:

The grand marshal of the Halloween parade is, and always has been, Death. (Skal, David J. Death Makes a Holiday: The Cultural History of Halloween, p. 18)
Halloween can be traced directly back to Samhain, the ancient Celtic harvest festival honoring the Lord of the Dead.(Thompson, Sue Ellen. Holiday Symbols and Customs, p. 251)

The Devil glorifies death. Hebrews 2:14 says, ". . . that through death he [Jesus] might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;" Proverbs 8:36 says all they that hate the Lord ". . . love death." Revelation 6:8 says the rider of the antichrist’s pale horse, ". . . and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him."

• THE ORDINATION OF HALLOWEEN •

Understanding the hellish history of Halloween—why in the world did decent people so embrace it? What magic "trick" transformed rancid Samhain into the giddy Halloween?
As the Catholic missionaries swarmed Britain and Ireland seeking the mass conversion to Catholicism their orders from Pope Gregory in 601 A.D. was to cunningly convert the Druid rituals into Catholic rituals. The Catholics converted the ritual of Samhain into the festival of All Saint’s Day, a day of celebration and prayer to dead "Saints."

Halloween begins well over 2,000 years ago in the British Isles. Here, we find the holiday stripped to its most essential element: a night when Celtic tribes communed with the spirits of the ancestral dead. These grand and glorious pagan celebrations were assimilated by the Catholic church. . . Rather than extinguish old customs, the church leaders provided Christian versions of them: from the Middles Ages on, All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day replaced the ancient Celtic celebrations of the dead. (Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt, Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, Facts on File, Inc., New York, 1990 p. x)

The Catholic festival of All Saints Day was also known as All Hallows Day, with the word "hallow" replacing "saints." The day before All Hallows Day (October 31) was recognized as All Hallows Eve. Eventually, All Hallows Eve became Hallows Eve; hallow’even; hallow’en and ultimately today’s Halloween.

All Saints' Day perpetuated the pagan Samhain of November Eve. (Bonwick, James, Irish Druids and Old Irish Religions, Dorset Press, 1984 (1986ed), p.87)
Many traditional beliefs and customs associated with Samhain . . . continued to be practiced on 31 October, known as the Eve of All Saints, the Eve of All Hallows, or Hallows Even. It is the glossing of the name Hallow Even that has given us the name Hallowe’en. (Santino, Jack editor, Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life, The University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, TN 1994 p. xvi)

In 835, Pope Gregory IV "blessed" All Saint’s Day as a sacred "day of obligation," consequently on that day, the Catholic Church officially "ordained" Halloween. Halloween owes its very life and breath to the "blessing" of the Catholic Church. Samhain would have breathed its last breath many years ago if not for the "ordination" of the Catholic Church.

Few holidays have a stranger or more paradoxical history than Halloween. Technically, it is the vigil of All Saints Day, observed by Roman Catholics . . . Halloween has clear connections with the rites of the druidic priests. . . (Douglas, George William, revised by Helene Douglas Compton, The American Book of Days, The H.W. Wilson Company, New York, 1948, p. 741)

A perverse and blasphemous twist to Halloween concerns the name "Halloween." The word "hallow" means "holy, sanctify or consecrate." The popular Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:9 begins with, ". . . Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. . ." The label "hallow" belongs to God the Father—Hallowed be thy name. Halloween was a night sacrificing young children to the worship of Baal. It is no accident that the name of history’s most hellish night, glorifying "death and hell," wears God the Father’s holy name of "hallow." The blasphemous name of "Halloween" clearly bears the fingerprints of Lucifer as found in Isaiah 14:12, ". . . I will be like the most High."

• THE OCCULT & HALLOWEEN •

While Halloween masquerades as childish fun and frolic, it’s serious business in the occult world. Witchcraft, Wicca, Satanism and paganism believe, on the night of Halloween, devils and spirits are unleashed. They perform their most hideous and potent rituals on the night of Halloween.

Samhain: This is the "Witch’s New Year" and the primary Sabbat from which all others flow. (RavenWolf, Silver.Teen Witch, p. 42)
Halloween is one of the four major Sabbats celebrated by the modern Witch, and it is by far the most popular and important of the eight that are observed. . . Witches regard Halloween as their New Year’s Eve, celebrating it with sacred rituals. . . (Dunwich, Gerina. The Pagan Book of Halloween, p. 120)

Halloween is also among Satanism’s most cherished days. Anton LaVey, founder of The Church of Satan and author of The Satanic Bible writes:

After one's own birthday, the two major Satanic holidays are Walpurgisnacht (May 1st) and Halloween. (LaVey, Anton Szandor. The Satanic Bible, p. 96)

Satanic High Priestess Blanche Barton, on The Church of Satan web site, praises Halloween:

It [Halloween] gives even the most mundane people the opportunity to taste wickedness for one night. They have a chance to dance with the Devil . . . I see Satanists all over the world meeting in small groups this night and Hallowe’ens 500 years hence, to raise a glass to the Infernal Hosts. . .

The Satanic Calendar decrees for Halloween: "One of the two most important nights of the year. . . Blood and sexual rituals. Sexual association with demons. Animal and human sacrifice—male or female." (www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/satanic_calendar.htm)
Former occultist Johanna Michaelsen reveals, "Halloween is also a prime recruiting season for Satanists." (Michaelsen, Johanna.Like Lambs to the Slaughter, p. 192)

• THE ORNAMENTS OF HALLOWEEN •

The ornaments decorating Halloween came directly from the Druids and the occult.

The popular associations of Halloween are derived from ancient Celtic and Druid pagan religious customs. (Mather, George A. and Larry A. Nichols. Dictionary of Cults, Sects, Religions and the Occult, p. 237)
Samhain was a vital part of Celtic culture, its rituals were passed from generation to generation through the oral tradition of the Druids. The genesis of many of America’s Halloween traditions can be found in these ancient celebrations. . . (Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt, Halloween: An American Holiday, an American History, Facts on File, Inc., New York, 1990 p. 6)

WITCHES are the reigning Queen of Halloween. If you’ve been lullabied by the gospel of Halloween that witches are harmless folks, wake up, witches worship the devil:

In many instances, according to the confessions of the witches, besides their direct worship of the devil, they were obliged to show their abhorrence of the faith they had deserted by trampling on the cross, and blaspheming the saints, and by other profanations. (Spence, Lewis. An Encyclopedia of Occultism, p. 433)
The witches held a party at Hallowe’en and the women . . . sold their soul to the devil, would put a stick in their beds anointed with the fat of murdered babies. . .(Douglas, George William. The American Book of Days, p. 569)

Although witches vigorously protest they have no dealings with the devil, under the heading, "A Witch’s God," the popular witch’s training manual, Witchcraft: Theory and Practice, plainly states:

A Witch’s God. . . He is . . . Lord of the Underworld [Hell] . . . He is named . . . Baphomet . . . Lucifer . . . Baal. . .(Angeles, Ly de. Witchcraft: Theory and Practice, p. 60)

The Lord God’s judgment upon witches should not be taken lightly.

Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. Exodus 22:18

JACK-O’-LANTERN: If Witches are the Queen of Halloween, the smiling jack-o’-lantern is the King. The demonic jack-o’-lantern leaves most historians baffled tracing its spooky origin. One popular tale, tells of Jack who tricked the devil in a deal for his soul. But the origin of the jack-o’-lantern is much more sinister. It arrives from the Druid’s ghastly reverence of the severed human head! They proudly decorated their houses and temples with bloody severed heads. The Druids believed the head housed the soul, hence the light or candle in the skull. The original jack-o’-lantern was not a pumpkin or turnip, but a severed human head!

Trophy, charm, or ornament, the human head figured prominently in Celtic life. Warriors hung enemy heads on their houses as a show of prowess, and Druids, believing that the head harbored the soul, placed skulls in sanctuaries to ward off evil. (National Geographic, May 1977, p. 603)
. . . they hang the heads of their enemies from the necks of their horses, and, when they have brought them home, nail the spectacle to the entrances of their homes. . .(Strabo, Geography)
It is believed that faces, rather than other images or symbols, were originally carved onto the pumpkin because they gave the jack-o’-lantern the look of a head. The Celts of ancient times believed that the head was the most sacred part of the human body, for it housed a person’s immortal soul. (Dunwich, Gerina. The Pagan Book of Halloween, p. 32)
. . . the jack-o’-lantern is generally presented in its traditional form as a festive euphemism for the death’s-head,the triangular nose hole and rictus grin being the "dead" giveaways. (Skal, David J. Death Makes a Holiday: The Cultural History of Halloween, p. 38)
Carved and illuminated by a candle, they are symbolic of death and the spirit world. (Thompson, Sue Ellen. Holiday Symbols and Customs, p. 256)

TRICK OR TREAT is another Druid inspired custom.

Every year on Halloween, many children throughout the world dress up in costumes and go door to door in a ritual known as trick or treating . . . unaware that their innocent masquerade is actually the remnants of a Druidic religious practice from times most ancient. (Dunwich, Gerina. The Pagan Book of Halloween, p. 11)
Whatever the wrinkles, the root assumption is the same: trick or treat had its beginning in the Celtic dawn. (Santino, Jack. Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life, p. 82)

MASKS & COSTUMES: Masks and costumes carry a long history in the occult and demon possession. Masks are contacts to the spirit world to invite the spirit to "possess" them.

In rituals, a person wearing a mask of a god or spirit often feels possessed by the supernatural being. . . (World Book 2005, p. 263)
The person wearing the mask feels internally transformed and takes on temporarily the qualities of the god or demon represented by the mask. (Biedermann, Hans. Dictionary of Symbolism, p. 218)

BAT: "One of the animal shapes commonly used by these demons (or "familiars," as they were often called) was the bat. Bats and their blood were also used in the casting of spells (especially those of black magick), the brewing of potions. . ." (Dunwich, Gerina. The Pagan Book of Halloween, p. 29)

OWL: "On Halloween night, demons in the form of owls were said to have traveled with Witches and their cats . . . some were even believed to be Witches in disguise. . . (Interestingly, the owl was called a strix by the Romans—a word that means "Witch.")" (Dunwich, Gerina. The Pagan Book of Halloween, p. 43)

"BLACK CATS were associated with darkness and death . . . they embodied demons who performed the witches’ task of maleficia against their neighbors. . . Black cats are said to be the devil himself." (Guiley, Rosemary Ellen. The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, p. 49)

APPLES: "The practice of bobbing for apples at a Halloween party comes form our Pagan ancestors, who highly valued apple magick." (RavenWolf, Silver. Teen Witch, p. 42)

SKULL: "An interesting symbol, the skull . . . It is prominent in
Witchcraft and Demon worship as a celebration of death." (Burns, Cathy. Masonic and Occult Symbols Illustrated, p. 388)

• THE OBSCENE IN HALLOWEEN •

Halloween has always wallowed in the obscene. Its horrid history is paved with vandalism, destruction and wickedness. The sickening depravity of razor blades in apples and poisoned candies of the 1970’s was a clear testimony to the evil of Halloween.

Some say that Halloween brings out the evil side of human nature in certain individuals. The number of vandalism acts committed each year on Halloween certainly seems to support this. . . (Dunwich, Gerina. The Pagan Book of Halloween, p. 23)

Halloween has always been a night of perversion and inversion—a night where misrule rules and decadence masquerades as decency. Halloween’s "best kept secret" is its romantic love affair with homosexuals. Halloween was the golden key that unlocked the homosexual’s closet of perversion. Halloween’s spirit of inversion, bestowed the homosexuals one utopian night to publicly flaunt their decadence and perversion.

It is an opportunity to act out one’s desires or fantasies. . . Halloween is unquestionably a night of inversion. (Rogers, Nicholas. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, p. 137)
Halloween has always been a night of misrule and the outrageous. In recent years, it has been adopted by the gay community in America. . . (Morgan, Sheena. The Real Halloween, p. 42)
The Halloween machine turns the world upside down. One’s identity can be discarded with impunity. Men dress as women, and vice versa. Authority can be mocked and circumvented. (Skal, David J. Death Makes a Holiday: The Cultural History of Halloween p. 17)

Halloween has done more for the current acceptance of homosexuality than any other event. Years of huge homosexual Halloween street parades of gaudy perversion and decadence in New York’s Greenwich Village, Washington, D.C,’s Georgetown, New Orleans’s French Quarter and the infamous Castro Street in San Francisco almost single handily detonated the current homosexual explosion.

Greenwich Village has a long, albeit erratic, history of impromptu Halloween celebrations, and there is undoubtedly a link between the recent emergence of such carnivalesque celebrations and the increasingly public nature of gay culture. . . (Santino, Jack. Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life, p. 194)
Yet it has been the gay community that has most flamboyantly exploited Halloween’s potential as a transgressive festival . . . Indeed, it is the gay community that has been arguably more responsible for Halloween’s adult rejuvenation. (Rogers, Nicholas. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, p. 132)
For gay people, Halloween is a moment of utopian wishfulness . . . (Santino, Jack. Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life, p. 211)

• THE OMEN OF HALLOWEN •

While many deem Halloween as harmless fun and fantasy, Halloween subtlety disarms our (and especially our children) discernment of witches and the occult. Halloween’s magic potion of "fun and frolic" transformed witches, demons, devils and evil incarnate into "fine folks." Over 1.2 million practicing and proud witches live in America. Witchcraft currently is the fastest growing religion in America. At some time, nearly every little girl becomes a witch on Halloween. Witch RavenWolf delights when a vulnerable little girl dresses as a witch on Halloween:

Today, just about every little girl in our society, at one time or another, has chosen to costume herself as a Witch. . . If you choose a Witch’s costume this Halloween . . . Hold your head up and wear your Witch’s garb proudly in their honor. (RavenWolf, Silver. Halloween: Customs, Recipes & Spells, p. 64)

Occult historian Jean Markale discloses Halloween bids more than childish dress-up. It is a pagan "initiatory journey" guided bysomeone [Satan] "hidden in the shadows," and none "return from Halloween innocent":

The passage into the world of Halloween is truly an initiatory journey. One does not return from it an innocent. But making the journey alone does not mean there was no guide, no initiator, someone who prompted the quest and who, sometimes hidden in the shadows, watches over the comings and goings of the neophyte through this labyrinth that is the Other World. (Markale, Jean. The Pagan Mysteries of Halloween, p. 127)

Dr. David Enoch, former senior consultant psychiatrist at the Royal Liverpool Hospital and the University of Liverpool, states:

Halloween practices open the door to the occult and can introduce forces into people’s lives that they do not understand and often cannot combat. . . (Parker, Russ. Battling the Occult, p. 35)

• OPPORTUNITIES OF HALLOWEEN •

Halloween is the soul winner’s dream. Rather than going to a wicked rock concert, or Mardi Gras, or a parade to witness – on Halloween they come to you! On Halloween lost children (and parents!) come to your door for a treat! Give them a real treat – the gospel of Jesus Christ! As you hand them some candy, give them a tract.
The frightful night of Halloween can be a fruitful night for Bible believing churches! Parents are looking for a safe alternative to Halloween. Have a real "Fall Harvest"! Advertise it; build it up; put some time and prayer into it! Encourage kids to dress up as "Bible characters." Have games and goodies for the kids. And here’s the harvest part: Provide some tables and refreshments for the parents. Have some covert "soul winners" quietly mingle among the parents to converse and tell them of the wonderful Lord Jesus!
Some may object such tactics on Halloween as "partaker of his evil deeds" (2 John 1:11), but Christian friend, Satan is "the god of this world" (2 Cor. 4:4); and "the whole world lieth in wickedness" (1 John 5:19) – not just the one night of Halloween! Our days of the week wear the names of pagan gods: Moon-day, Zues-day, Woden’s-day. Thor’s-day, Freyja-day, Saturn-day, Sun-day. Ever look on that dollar bill displaying the satanic all-seeing "eye of Lucifer" in the pyramid? This earth is the devil’s turf (Luke 4:6). You can’t escape his wicked influence. But as David took Goliath’s own sword and cut his head off (1 Sam. 17:51), we can take one of Satan’s "swords" and cut some souls from hell.

Use this Halloween as an opportunity for the Lord Jesus.

". . . The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few;"

Matthew 9:37

"And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire..."

Jude 1:23

Friend, I want to ask you the most important question you'll ever answer:

Have you ever received Jesus Christ as your Savior?
Not joining a church, not religion, not baptism, not good works, not sacraments — but trusted Jesus Christ and Him alone, as your Savior. If not, Friend you could be — one year, one month, one hour, one minute, one heartbeat — away from eternity in a lake of fire!
Revelation 20:15 says, "And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Friend, God does not want you to go to hell. 2 Peter 3:9 says, "The Lord is. . . not willing that any should perish. . ." Jesus loved you so much He died on a rugged cross, to pay for YOUR sin, and to keep YOU out of hell! Revelation 1:5 says, ". . . Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood."

Friend, don't EXIT this message, until you MAKE SURE you've received Jesus Christ!
I assure you — if you die without Jesus Christ — it'll be the biggest mistake you'll ever make!

DO NOT TAKE THE CHANCE!
Friend, If you've never been saved, don't wait another minute!

FRIEND, YOU CAN BE SAVED THIS VERY MINUTE!

It's simple to be saved ...

Know you're a sinner.

"As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" Romans 3:10"... for there is no difference. For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" Romans 3:23

That Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for your sins.

"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, ..." 1 Peter 2:24"... Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood," Revelation 1:5

And the best way you know how, simply trust Him, and Him alone as your personal Savior.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE SAVED?
Pray this prayer, and mean it with all your heart.

Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and unless you save me I am lost forever. I thank you for dying for me at Calvary. I come to you now, the best way I know how, and ask you to save me. I now receive you as my Savior. In Jesus Christ name, Amen.

Secular Jihad in Houston

BY WALLACE HENLEY , SPECIAL TO CP

Secular jihad – that's the best way to characterize the subpoenaing of sermons and other communications from pastors opposing the Houston city regime and their "bathroom law."

It's important not to overreact to the overreach of Mayor Annise Parker and her supporters on the Houston City Council. Yet their actions call for vigorous opposition: First, because of the violation of the Constitution's First Amendment, and second, the irrationality of the bathroom law itself. That latter reason reveals the depth of cultural insanity prevalent in contemporary society.

Calling the subpoenas a form of "secular jihad" is not an overreaction, as a close examination of the origin and meaning of "jihad" shows.

"Jihad" is "struggle" against ideas counter to what one believes to be true. Some scholars of Islam, both Muslims and non-Muslims, believe the Quran teaches three forms of jihad. Personal jihad is the individual's struggle to purify his or her soul from corrupting influence. Verbal jihad is non-violent efforts to persuade others and seek justice. Physical jihad is the use of violent force against opponents.

History shows that when verbal jihad fails there is a turn to physical jihad. Such a struggle, as extremist movements reveal, seeks to stun and astound enemies with brute use of power. One evidence of this brutishness is the factor that the five pastors who were subpoenaed were not part of the lawsuit that the city is defending against.

Mayor Parker and her Council minions do not want a public vote on their bathroom bill because it cannot be passed on merit. The secularists, despite their new militancy, are unable to persuade the public by reasonable arguments (like: it's perfectly reasonable to open women's restrooms for men who perceive of themselves as women, even if your eight-year old daughter is using the facilities). The Parker regime knows it cannot win the vote, so, in good jihadist style, it launches its version of secular jihad through the force and intimidation of the courts.

The Houston subpoenas did violence to the Constitution and the First Amendment, and this is truly stunning. Are lawyers who demanded those subpoenas, the courts that approved them, and Annise Parker and her supporters on the City Council the product of an academic system that taught them either that the Constitution was the concoction of a bunch of old slave-holding white men that can therefore be disregarded, or an educational environment that taught them nothing about the Constitution at all?

Can they really be that judicially ignorant, or is this one more attempt to stretch the Constitution to accommodate current views on homosexual rights? After all, homosexual rights and global warming are now our nation's highest foreign policy priorities according to President Obama, Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Kerry, and Candidate Hillary Clinton.

Secular jihad, like power-dependent religious jihad, wants to threaten, condemn, and dominate. Thus, said Dave Welch, executive director of the Houston Pastors Council –

and a lightning rod in the current maelstrom – the subpoenas "were an act of intimidation and harassment by the city through these law firms." The objective, he thinks, was "to bury us in this type of a demand in an attempt to shut us down, to try to run us out of time, will, or money to continue this lawsuit to its conclusion."

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the subpoenas were "aggressive and invasive," and reveal a lack of regard "for the very serious First Amendment considerations at stake." In a letter from Abbott to David Feldman, Houston's city attorney, Abbott said, "your action is a direct assault on the religious liberty" constitutionally guaranteed.

Those assaults don't come just from the homosexual lobby, but from the militant atheism that threatens individuals who seek the right of free expression, ranging from schools to the public square. As the proliferation of costly litigation that harnesses free speech shows, secular power-jihad is now becoming widespread. "We do recognize that we are the latest in a series of skirmishes across the nation in this battle," said Welch.

Ironically one of the church leaders whose messages were demanded for government scrutiny was a Vietnamese pastor who had come to the United States as one of the "boat people" fleeing communist oppression in his homeland. One hopes reason will prevail, and he will see that America continues to be the "land of the free" to which he came at such great cost.

Feldman said, in response to the criticism, that the city would now limit its requests to only those pastoral communications that dealt with the bathroom bill. Another stunner: He still apparently does not understand that the Constitution gives the right to pastors to oppose government mandates on moral and ethical grounds.

The Bible these leaders follow condemns the use of violence in their resistance. The Houston pastors who take the New Testament seriously won't bomb City Hall or try to assassinate leaders. They will "sanctify Christ as Lord" in their hearts, fight on their knees in prayer, proclaim truth from their pulpits that trouble the civil powers, and, as the Apostle Peter put it, be ready to give an apologia (a reasoned defense) of the "hope that is in them." (1 Peter 3:15)

Perhaps Feldman and Parker and their friends on the Council believe they have succeeded in their stun and astound strategy of secular jihadism. Maybe they think they have cowed the pastors and congregations so they will not resist the city machine.

Actually, all they've done is awakened multitudes to the dangers and arrogant expansion of secular jihad. Churches everywhere will watch the Houston situation carefully. Houston may be the first city to see this particular application of the strategy, but if it succeeds secular jihad might be executed against church leaders of all types.

lunes, 20 de octubre de 2014

Idaho city tells pastors: Celebrate gay weddings or face fines, jail time

Politics: Idaho city tells pastors: Celebrate gay weddings or face fines, jail time

Image Credit: barbwire.com

Published by: Dan Calabrese on Monday October 20th, 2014

Fascism.

Bakers, photographers and florists are being forced to shut down their businesses unless they accede to demands that they join in the celebration of gay "marraiges," but so far no one has faced jail time for putting commitment to the Word of God ahead of the demands of homosexuals and their cultural champions.

Until now. A couple in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho who own a wedding chapel there declined the request of a gay couple that they perform their "wedding." They couple did what gay couples seem to do a lot in these situations. They didn't just go find someone else. They complained to authorities, who are now threatening to throw the pastors in jail. That's how out of control this has gotten:

The Idaho case involves Donald and Evelyn Knapp, both ordained ministers, who run Hitching Post Wedding Chapel. Officials from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, told the couple that because the city has a non-discrimination statute that includes sexual orientation and gender identity, and because the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Idaho’s constitutional amendment defining marriage as the union of a man and a woman, the couple would have to officiate at same-sex weddings in their own chapel.

The non-discrimination statute applies to all “public accommodations,” and the city views the chapel as a public accommodation.

On Friday, a same-sex couple asked to be married by the Knapps, and the Knapps politely declined. The Knapps now face a 180-day jail term and $1,000 fine for each day they decline to celebrate the same-sex wedding.

Note how the secular left is trying to create a fascimile of the civil rights movement in turning these pastors into criminals, and doing so very disingenuously. First, of course, they're trying to make gay people the equivalent of black people, and trying to say the "discrimination" against the former is exactly the same as that practiced against the latter two generations ago. That is total nonsense. Anti-black bigotry was (and to the extent it still exists, still is) based on complete ignorance that looks at the color of a person's skin - a completely irrelevant matter - and passes a judgment against that person. Those who object to homosexuality are objecting to behavior, not appearance, and the objection is Bible-based.

(I know there are secularists who will try to say old-time racists used the Bible to justify their bigotry, and it's true that over time people have often clung to flimsy readings of Scripture to justify things. But there was never any mainstream acceptance among serious biblical scholars or pastors of such justifications. And you can read from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, and any sort of support for anti-black racism simply can't be found. By contrast, you can't get any clearer than 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 when it comes to homosexuality.)

Perhaps the more insidious tactic, though, is the misuse of the notion of "public accommodations." Back in the civil rights era, blacks were being denied access to basic accommodations like places to eat, or places to get a drink of water - things that are staples of the needs of every human being. It wasn't right to deny these things to anyone. It wouldn't be right to deny them to homosexuals, either.

The situations we're talking about today are entirely different. Bakers, florists, photographers and ministers provide services in which they actively participate and join in the celebration of the wedding ceremony. This goes way beyond accommodating your basic human need to get something to eat or to drink. It relates specifically to the behavior and lifestyle of the homosexual, and demands that the service provider actively endorse and help facilitate that behavior.

The Christian who believes homosexual sex is an abomination in the eyes of God cannot perform a gay wedding ceremony, or take photos of Bob and Gary, or write "Congratulations Anna and Shirley" on a cake without compromising his or her devotion to God. That is not the same thing as making them sandwiches.

The left wants the state to use the notion of "public accommodations" to force business owners to do things that directly violate their faith. The state is complying.

The idea that we've now reached the point where a city is prepared to put these folks in jail for refusing to take part in this travesty shows that we've passed the point where we were merely dealing with a cultural fad. We're looking at full-on fascism here. If you are risking jail, not because you did anything to anyone, but because you refused someone else's demand that you provide a service that is anathema to your faith - then we have a new civil rights crisis in this nation, and homosexuals are not the ones with the problem at all.

Take it from caintv.com

sábado, 18 de octubre de 2014

Report: Nigeria Reaches Deal With Boko Haram Islamists to Release Kidnapped School Girls

Heather Clark

viernes, 17 de octubre de 2014

Famous Scientists Who Believed in God

godandscience.org

Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543)

Copernicus was the Polish astronomer who put forward the first mathematically based system of planets going around the sun. He attended various European universities, and became a Canon in the Catholic church in 1497. His new system was actually first presented in the Vatican gardens in 1533 before Pope Clement VII who approved, and urged Copernicus to publish it around this time. Copernicus was never under any threat of religious persecution - and was urged to publish both by Catholic Bishop Guise, Cardinal Schonberg, and the Protestant Professor George Rheticus. Copernicus referred sometimes to God in his works, and did not see his system as in conflict with the Bible.
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627)

Bacon was a philosopher who is known for establishing the scientific method of inquiry based on experimentation and inductive reasoning. In De Interpretatione Naturae Prooemium, Bacon established his goals as being the discovery of truth, service to his country, and service to the church. Although his work was based upon experimentation and reasoning, he rejected atheism as being the result of insufficient depth of philosophy, stating, "It is true, that a little philosophy inclineth man’s mind to atheism, but depth in philosophy bringeth men's minds about to religion; for while the mind of man looketh upon second causes scattered, it may sometimes rest in them, and go no further; but when it beholdeth the chain of them confederate, and linked together, it must needs fly to Providence and Deity." (Of Atheism)
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)

Kepler was a brilliant mathematician and astronomer. He did early work on light, and established the laws of planetary motion about the sun. He also came close to reaching the Newtonian concept of universal gravity - well before Newton was born! His introduction of the idea of force in astronomy changed it radically in a modern direction. Kepler was an extremely sincere and pious Lutheran, whose works on astronomy contain writings about how space and the heavenly bodies represent the Trinity. Kepler suffered no persecution for his open avowal of the sun-centered system, and, indeed, was allowed as a Protestant to stay in Catholic Graz as a Professor (1595-1600) when other Protestants had been expelled!
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

Galileo is often remembered for his conflict with the Roman Catholic Church. His controversial work on the solar system was published in 1633. It had no proofs of a sun-centered system (Galileo's telescope discoveries did not indicate a moving earth) and his one "proof" based upon the tides was invalid. It ignored the correct elliptical orbits of planets published twenty five years earlier by Kepler. Since his work finished by putting the Pope's favorite argument in the mouth of the simpleton in the dialogue, the Pope (an old friend of Galileo's) was very offended. After the "trial" and being forbidden to teach the sun-centered system, Galileo did his most useful theoretical work, which was on dynamics. Galileo expressly said that the Bible cannot err, and saw his system as an alternate interpretation of the biblical texts.
Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

Descartes was a French mathematician, scientist and philosopher who has been called the father of modern philosophy. His school studies made him dissatisfied with previous philosophy: He had a deep religious faith as a Roman Catholic, which he retained to his dying day, along with a resolute, passionate desire to discover the truth. At the age of 24 he had a dream, and felt the vocational call to seek to bring knowledge together in one system of thought. His system began by asking what could be known if all else were doubted - suggesting the famous "I think therefore I am". Actually, it is often forgotten that the next step for Descartes was to establish the near certainty of the existence of God - for only if God both exists and would not want us to be deceived by our experiences - can we trust our senses and logical thought processes. God is, therefore, central to his whole philosophy. What he really wanted to see was that his philosophy be adopted as standard Roman Catholic teaching. Rene Descartes and Francis Bacon (1561-1626) are generally regarded as the key figures in the development of scientific methodology. Both had systems in which God was important, and both seem more devout than the average for their era.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

Pascal was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, writer and theologian. In mathematics, he published a treatise on the subject of projective geometry and established the foundation for probability theory. Pascal invented a mechanical calculator, and established the principles of vacuums and the pressure of air. He was raised a Roman Catholic, but in 1654 had a religious vision of God, which turned the direction of his study from science to theology. Pascal began publishing a theological work, Lettres provinciales, in 1656. His most influential theological work, the Pensées ("Thoughts"), was a defense of Christianity, which was published after his death. The most famous concept from Pensées was Pascal's Wager. Pascal's last words were, "May God never abandon me."
Isaac Newton (1642-1727)

In optics, mechanics, and mathematics, Newton was a figure of undisputed genius and innovation. In all his science (including chemistry) he saw mathematics and numbers as central. What is less well known is that he was devoutly religious and saw numbers as involved in understanding God's plan for history from the Bible. He did a considerable work on biblical numerology, and, though aspects of his beliefs were not orthodox, he thought theology was very important. In his system of physics, God was essential to the nature and absoluteness of space. In Principia he stated, "The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."
Robert Boyle (1791-1867)

One of the founders and key early members of the Royal Society, Boyle gave his name to "Boyle's Law" for gases, and also wrote an important work on chemistry. Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "By his will he endowed a series of Boyle lectures, or sermons, which still continue, 'for proving the Christian religion against notorious infidels...' As a devout Protestant, Boyle took a special interest in promoting the Christian religion abroad, giving money to translate and publish the New Testament into Irish and Turkish. In 1690 he developed his theological views in The Christian Virtuoso, which he wrote to show that the study of nature was a central religious duty." Boyle wrote against atheists in his day (the notion that atheism is a modern invention is a myth), and was clearly much more devoutly Christian than the average in his era.
Michael Faraday (1791-1867)

Michael Faraday was the son of a blacksmith who became one of the greatest scientists of the 19th century. His work on electricity and magnetism not only revolutionized physics, but led to much of our lifestyles today, which depends on them (including computers and telephone lines and, so, web sites). Faraday was a devoutly Christian member of the Sandemanians, which significantly influenced him and strongly affected the way in which he approached and interpreted nature. Originating from Presbyterians, the Sandemanians rejected the idea of state churches, and tried to go back to a New Testament type of Christianity.
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884)

Mendel was the first to lay the mathematical foundations of genetics, in what came to be called "Mendelianism". He began his research in 1856 (three years before Darwin published hisOrigin of Species) in the garden of the Monastery in which he was a monk. Mendel was elected Abbot of his Monastery in 1868. His work remained comparatively unknown until the turn of the century, when a new generation of botanists began finding similar results and "rediscovered" him (though their ideas were not identical to his). An interesting point is that the 1860's was notable for formation of the X-Club, which was dedicated to lessening religious influences and propagating an image of "conflict" between science and religion. One sympathizer was Darwin's cousin Francis Galton, whose scientific interest was in genetics (a proponent of eugenics - selective breeding among humans to "improve" the stock). He was writing how the "priestly mind" was not conducive to science while, at around the same time, an Austrian monk was making the breakthrough in genetics. The rediscovery of the work of Mendel came too late to affect Galton's contribution.
William Thomson Kelvin (1824-1907)

Kelvin was foremost among the small group of British scientists who helped to lay the foundations of modern physics. His work covered many areas of physics, and he was said to have more letters after his name than anyone else in the Commonwealth, since he received numerous honorary degrees from European Universities, which recognized the value of his work. He was a very committed Christian, who was certainly more religious than the average for his era. Interestingly, his fellow physicists George Gabriel Stokes (1819-1903) and James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879) were also men of deep Christian commitment, in an era when many were nominal, apathetic, or anti-Christian. The Encyclopedia Britannica says "Maxwell is regarded by most modern physicists as the scientist of the 19th century who had the greatest influence on 20th century physics; he is ranked with Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein for the fundamental nature of his contributions." Lord Kelvin was an Old Earth creationist, who estimated the Earth's age to be somewhere between 20 million and 100 million years, with an upper limit at 500 million years based on cooling rates (a low estimate due to his lack of knowledge about radiogenic heating).
Max Planck (1858-1947)

Planck made many contributions to physics, but is best known for quantum theory, which revolutionized our understanding of the atomic and sub-atomic worlds. In his 1937 lecture "Religion and Naturwissenschaft," Planck expressed the view that God is everywhere present, and held that "the holiness of the unintelligible Godhead is conveyed by the holiness of symbols." Atheists, he thought, attach too much importance to what are merely symbols. Planck was a churchwarden from 1920 until his death, and believed in an almighty, all-knowing, beneficent God (though not necessarily a personal one). Both science and religion wage a "tireless battle against skepticism and dogmatism, against unbelief and superstition" with the goal "toward God!"
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Einstein is probably the best known and most highly revered scientist of the twentieth century, and is associated with major revolutions in our thinking about time, gravity, and the conversion of matter to energy (E=mc²). Although never coming to belief in a personal God, he recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "Firmly denying atheism, Einstein expressed a belief in "Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the harmony of what exists." This actually motivated his interest in science, as he once remarked to a young physicist: "I want to know how God created this world, I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details." Einstein's famous epithet on the "uncertainty principle" was "God does not play dice" - and to him this was a real statement about a God in whom he believed. A famous saying of his was "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

Christian Mother of Five Death Sentence for Blasphemy Upheld by Pakistani Court

Christian Mother of Five Death Sentence for Blasphemy Upheld by Pakistani Court

BY STOYAN ZAIMOV , CHRISTIAN POST REPORTER

(PHOTO: MOHSIN RAZA)

The death sentence of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman and mother of five children, was upheld by the Lahore High Court in Pakistan on Thursday. Bibi has been convicted of blasphemy for drinking from the same bowl of water as Muslims and making derogatory comments about the prophet Muhammad.

"The case against Asia Bibi is a great example of how Christians and other religious minorities are abused in Pakistan by fundamentalists wielding the controversial blasphemy laws. The blasphemy laws were originally written to protect against religious intolerance in Pakistan, but the law has warped into a tool used by extremists and others to settle personal scores and persecute Pakistan's vulnerable religious minorities," said International Christian Concern's Regional Manager for South Asia, William Stark.

"Sadly, the vast majority of blasphemy accusations brought against Christians and others are false. Unfortunately, pressure from Islamic radical groups and general discrimination against Christians in Pakistan has transformed trial courts and now appeals courts into little more than rubber stamps for blasphemy accusations brought against Christians, regardless of the evidence brought to bear in the case."

Bibi was sentenced in 2010 following an incident in 2009 where she was harvesting berries with a group of Muslim women in Sheikhupura. The Muslim women accused her of drinking from the same water bowl as them, which was considered unclean as she is a Christian. Following an argument, the women went to a local cleric and told him that Bibi had blasphemed against Islam.

BBC News noted that the sentencing sparked global condemnation from several human rights groups, who criticized Pakistan's harsh blasphemy laws. ICC and other critics of these laws say that they are often used to settle personal scores and unfairly target minorities, especially Christians.

Bibi's appeal hearing was initially scheduled to take place on March 17, but was delayed and rescheduled, before finally taking place on Thursday. The Christian mother's lawyers have said that they will take the case to the country's Supreme Court.

Earlier this year, Christian mother Meriam Ibrahim was spared the death penalty and allowed to go free by the court in Sudan, after having initially been found guilty of refusing to identify as a Muslim and for marrying her Christian husband. Ibrahim's freedom was won in part thanks to a huge international campaign that petitioned for her release, which included pressure on Sudan from several American politicians, such as Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

jueves, 16 de octubre de 2014

The Houston Subpoenas and the Criminalization of the Pulpit

BY WALLACE HENLEY , SPECIAL TO CP

October 15, 2014|12:45 pm

The first step toward criminalization of the American pulpit may have just been taken in Houston. It is a frightening moment not just for the church in America's fourth largest city, but for the pulpit throughout the United States.

Last June, after an intense public debate and the protestations of 400 Houston-area pastors, the City Council, at the behest of lesbian Mayor Annise Parker's administration, passed a non-discrimination ordinance that would permit men to use women's restrooms and women to access men's, based on trans-gender concerns among others.

A petition drive to put the Council's mandate on the ballot collected some 50,000 signatures, almost three times those required. The city administration rejected the petition, claiming irregularities. A group not including the pastors filed suit against the Council's action.

Now city attorneys are demanding sermons and other statements that will be inspected presumably for comments that might be construed as anti-homosexual.

I serve a Houston-area church, and my first thought on reading of the shocking action was of an experience in the former Soviet bloc where I ministered not long after the collapse of communism.

I was part of a group conducting a pastor's conference. After one of the sessions, we noticed consternation among the church leaders. They had spotted a "red pastor" in the room. This was the designation given pastors who would spy on their fellow preachers, and report any deviation from the Communist Party line, or the dictates of a local regime.

I also remembered Martin Niemoeller and other Nazi-era pastors in Germany. When Niemoeller awoke to the truth about Hitler, his became one of the most eloquent voices among many against the Hitler regime. Priests, pastors, and rabbis were in the first groups to be imprisoned at Dachau. More than a thousand would die there.

Mayor Parker is a brilliant, able leader. Her understanding of finance and other policy issues have benefited the whole region where I live and serve. That her administration might be remembered historically as the first in American history to attempt to investigate the pulpit is a disappointment.

Several years ago I conducted a large funeral at our church for a fallen firefighter. Mayor Parker was present, and wanted to speak about the public servant who had lost his life helping Houston's citizens. I debated with myself whether or not to stand when she stepped onto the platform. The rumblings that would explode into full view in the bathroom ordinance were already stirring in our community. Yet, when she came to the pulpit I did stand to honor the Office of Mayor that she occupied. I felt it would be petty and disrespectful to do otherwise.

How sad that Mayor Parker's administration itself has fallen into pettiness and disrespect for the sanctity of the pulpit. When I read of the Houston subpoenas I recalled work by Yale Professor Harry S. Stout. He studied the American pulpit in the Colonial era, and details findings in his book, The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England, and in other writings.

More than 2,000 times a week by 1776, New Englanders were hearing pulpiteers explain the deeper implications of Parliamentary dominance and abuse. They revealed the larger issues, the authority of Scripture and the destiny they believed New England had been given as crucial for proclaiming God's Kingdom, according to Stout.

New England preachers understood about the power abuses they perceived in the British Parliament. When human regimes clashed with that eternal Kingdom, the pastors were not afraid to say so. There are even deeper issues now: the tromping of the Constitution and the setting of a path that could find reason for criminalizing the pulpit.

To be fair, preachers of all religions must give careful thought when they enter the pulpit. The aim must always be to deliver God's word, not human distortions. Truth must always be balanced with grace and grace with truth. And when the hard message must be spoken, it must be proclaimed with a broken, compassionate heart, and should always end with hope. Pulpiteers do not have the authority to inflame anger or incite violence. Those who enter the pulpit must recognize the high trust given them, and speak with discernment and discretion as well as courage. They have not only the right but the responsibility to speak about moral and ethical issues in their society.

Tyrants have tried across history to mute the pulpit, and have failed again and again. When the Prophet Amos would not adjust his message to suit King Jeroboam, the king's religious lackey, Amaziah, ordered him not to prophesy at Jeroboam's sanctuary and house. (See Amos 7)

In a previous Christian Post column I wrote about the sequence often followed in the attempt to silence churches: caricaturization to marginalization to vilification to villainization to criminalization to elimination.
One hopes we are not seeing in Houston the beginning of the attempt to criminalize the pulpit as its occupants speak on moral and ethical issues.

Take it from Christian Post