Articles

Thursday, June 21 at Mary Queen Catholic Church I served on a panel with other pastors from various denominations for the first Fortnight for Freedom rally.

We were asked to address what the church's response should be to the Health and Human Services Mandate from the current administration that is forcing Catholic Hospitals and Social Services (along with others) to violate their religious convictions by mandating they provide contraceptives and abortions.

I believe the Federal Government is in clear violation of the First Amendment and has overstepped the bounds of the "separation of church and state" principle as set forth by our Founding Fathers. Attached are my notes for the comments I made.

Fortnight for Freedom

June 21, 2012

1) What is our stance on the Health and Human Services mandate?

First, I think we have to recognize the times in which we live; we are not in Mayberry any longer.

America is not a Christian nation; never has been.  However, our founding fathers were wise enough to establish 1) our declaration of independence; 2) our constitution and 3) our laws upon Judeo-Christian principles. Why? They recognized the God of the universe as the infinite point of absolute for all that is moral and right.

That is why Supreme Court Justice John Marshall said in 1803: "The government of the United States has been emphatically termed a government of laws ... and not men."  Lex, Rex "The Law is king" not "the King is law".

However, it was not man's law that was king; they based our laws on the infinite absolutes of a holy God because what happens if men write their own laws? Men who are finite in their wisdom and fallen in their nature; when they are allowed to determine for themselves what is right in their own eyes all kinds of wickedness becomes legal.  And such it is with religious liberty. 

1) Does a terrorist have a religious right to jihad?

2) Does a follower of Joseph Smith, or a native of Thailand or Tibet who moves here, have a religious right to practice polygamy in America?

3) Does a member of the church of Satan have a right to destroy those who annoy them, which is one of their eleven rules of the earth, that is at the core of their religion?

4) If someone forms their own church and declares child molestation to be a part of their religion, does that give them the right to abuse children? Let's hope not.

So how are we to determine what is a religious right? Righteous laws must have an infinite point of absolute.

When we as Christians are instructed to obey the laws of the land (Romans 13), how are we to know which laws are righteous and which laws must be resisted ... like Daniel in Babylon when it was reported to the king "Daniel pays no attention to you O king or to the decree you put in writing. He still prays three times a day" (6:13) ... or in the N.T. when Peter and the other apostles in Acts 5 (29), said "We must obey God rather than men" ... and went to prison for it?

Well that's the question that is before us tonight. As we see America continuing to move further and further away from Judeo-Christian principles as a basis for morality and civility, in favor of a more secular society that renders a bizarre culture, what should our stance be? To answer that question, we need to ask:

Is there a God? If there is ... has He spoken? If He has ... is the Bible His revealed word? If it is, then all righteous laws are to be based on what He has revealed in Holy Scripture.

Now our Founding Fathers understood that; even those who were not Christian understood that men cannot be a law unto themselves for social justice or morality. Otherwise you can easily end up with a Hitler who can determine that it is right and moral for some to live and others to die.

That is why our Declaration of Independence says:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal ... they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, Whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness

They took "all men are created equal" from scripture ... Genesis 1:26; Galatians 3:28.

They established the concept for our balance of powers (executive; legislative and judicial) from scripture Isaiah 33:22 ("The Lord is our judge; our lawgiver and our king ...").

They took the Republic form of government set forth by our constitution right out of scripture ... Exodus 18:21 and Deut. 1:13.

So while we were never a theocratic state, we benefited from the wisdom our founding fathers had of the Bible and their recognition that the only true basis for what is right and wrong cannot come from man because man's wisdom is finite ... and his nature is fallen.

The Bible is the only grid through which fallen men can view the world and come to a unified understanding of social justice and morality ... because it is the only written revelation the Lord has given to us.  Its principles deal in absolutes ... that do not vary according to the changing winds of the culture.

So when our government demands we behave in immoral ways ... or that we embrace sexual perversion as normative ... or that we violate clear mandates of scripture ... we have to recognize who we are and what our duty is. Our "citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. 3:20) ... we have been bought and paid for by the atoning blood of Christ (1st Cor. 6:20) ... we no longer live as we once did (Romans 6:2ff) ... we are now new creations in Christ (2nd Cor. 5:17); therefore, how ought we to live?

We render under to Caesar what is Caesar's (Matt. 22:21) as we recognize that government is a servant of God for good (Romans 13:4) and that word for "servant" by the way is diakonos; same word used throughout the Bible for deacons who serve within the church.

And later in Romans 13 the word used for ministers to describe a state official (leitourgos) means legitimate state officials (civil rulers) are to be ministers of God; not dictators or sovereigns unto themselves. Romans 13:1 "There is no authority except from God ...". That is why Augustine said: godless rulers are ... no more than bands of robbers.

When civil servants and elected officials violate their legitimate function and overstep the constitutional bounds they have sworn to uphold ... Dr. Francis Schaeffer said: There is not only the right, but the duty, to disobey the state.

That is the reason many early Christians were lit on fire and fed to the lions for entertainment, because though they were good law abiding citizens rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's ... making a wonderful contribution to the Roman Empire in medicine, arts, crafts and providing all kinds of services ... they worshipped Christ and Christ alone. They would not acknowledge Caesar as Lord and for that resistance they were ushered into the presence of God.

2) So in answer to your second question: what are the implications of the HHS mandate ... if and when the government demands ... I violate who I am in Christ ... I must, as did the apostles, obey God rather than men.

3) What actions are you calling upon your community to make?

            1) Galatians 6:10 and Titus 3:1-2: "As we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith." 

We need to be involved in the culture in which we live. There is a purpose for why the Lord leaves us here on earth and doesn't just take us on to glory at the time of our new birth. We need to vote for good men and women; we need to be involved in the making of good laws that are based on God's holy word; we need to be helping the sick, the poor, and doing the work of the church.

We are to be excellent models of God's servants, as was Joseph in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, and Cornelius the centurion (Acts 10) within the Roman Empire.

            2) However secondly, we have to remember our primary purpose. 

In Christ's day King Herod was a tyrant, who put to death all the male children in Bethlehem under the age of two (Matt. 2:16) ... and the Roman social system was built on slavery. Yet Christ did not bring a message of social revolt but spiritual involvement.  He said be salt and light (Matt. 5:13-16).

Christ said: I am the light of the world (John 8:12). So we are to rightly handle His word, proclaiming to a world who dwells in spiritual darkness the truth about the redemption that a gracious and holy God has accomplished in Christ and all that entails. 

Christ did not call His church to preach a social gospel or a liberal gospel or a moral gospel or an entertaining gospel. He commissioned us to make disciples, baptizing them into Him (Romans 6) in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all He has commanded (Matt. 28:19-20).

And ... He has called us to be salt.

Salt not only preserves meat, but makes one thirsty.  If the church is fulfilling its proper role, the culture should be thirsty for the knowledge of biblical truth.

Salt, when placed on metal and dampened with water, will slowly eat through the steel.  The church, which proclaims truth in a culture will by God's sovereign enablement penetrate and defeat arguments and actions that are a part of man's fallen nature. 

But when the church refuses to act as salt and light, it brings judgment upon the culture around it. 

And when the final judgment comes, the blood of those who have never heard the gospel; who die without reconciliation in Christ, their blood will be on the hands of the church.

So I call on our people to be salt and light, good citizens who proclaim truth with compassion and love but who always obey God over man whenever necessary.