A PRAYER FOR OUR LEADERS
By Nancy Leigh DeMoss from The Rebirth of America

Heavenly Father, I thank you for our country, our Constitution, and our leaders. I pray for our President and for every elected and appointed official who serves with him.
I pray that You will build a spiritual wall of protection around the marriage and family of every national, state and local official.
I pray the You will rebuke Satan for the deception of his lie that we can be “as gods” in deciding for ourselves what is right or wrong.
O Lord, may our leaders cast down every law, policy and personal example which weakens marriages, families, or Your moral standards.
O Lord, I pray that You would protect and guide the men and women of the armed forces that are fighting in foreign lands to uphold the sanctity of the founding of this country.
I pray that our leaders will understand and follow the principle of Your Word. May they realize that all authority comes from You, not the voters, and that one day they will stand before You to give an account of the power You gave them.
I base this prayer on the promise of Your Word, that if I will humble myself, pray, seek Your face, and turn from my wicked ways, then You will hear from heaven, forgive my sin and heal my land.
In the name and through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen

LEGAL WATCH for 2009
from www.ChristianLaw.org

As Christians, we are commanded to pray for our leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2) and to support their leadership (Romans 13:1).  Whether we were one of the 62 million Americans who voted for Barack Obama to be inaugurated as America’s 44th President on January 20, or one of the 57 million who voted for someone else, God’s Word applies to us all.  In fact, it might be even more important to pray for those we do not agree with when God has placed them in authority over us.

We still do not know how the election of Democrat Barack Obama along with a nearly filibuster-proof Democrat Congress will affect our religious liberties in America.  It is not clear whether President Obama, who was the third most liberal person in the Senate, will govern as a radical leftist ideologue or whether he will move to the center and govern as a pragmatist.  It is impossible to predict how God will influence any given leader.

As we pray for our new President, for our Congress, and for our nation, there are several signposts that can help us evaluate just how helpful or unhelpful our new leaders will be in protecting our important religious liberties.  The following issues are key ones to watch in 2009.

The Homosexual Agenda

While we watch for racial tension to lessen in America, new tensions are being escalated by homosexual activists seeking to hijack the American civil rights agenda for their own purposes.  How a President Obama will address the current divisive issues of sexuality will be very important for the future of America and especially for religious liberties.  Gay activist websites report that Obama supports the entire gay rights agenda with the exception of marriage.  That means Obama supports these gay activist goals:

• Federal anti-discrimination laws (ENDA) for homosexuals,

• Federal hate crime legislation,

• The opportunity for gays to serve openly in the military, and

• Repeal of the federal Defense of Marriage (DOMA) Act preserving marriage for one man and one woman.
If federal anti-discrimination laws are enacted, particularly those affecting public accommodations, will they contain religious exemptions?  If not, Christians will be forced to abandon their Biblical faith and support homosexuality if they want to stay in business.  CLA already receives calls from wedding photographers, florists, landlords and others who are being contacted to service gay unions that offend their faith.  In order to be fair to everyone, Bible-believing Christians whose faith does not permit them to support homosexuality should be exempt from anti-discrimination laws based on sexual orientation. 

With regard to other aspects of the gay agenda, we have seen hate crime laws in other countries threaten the preaching of the Gospel with regard to sexual sin.  These laws will threaten religious liberty if religious exemptions are not provided.  Additionally, if the federal DOMA law is repealed, all states will be subject to the constitutional “full faith and credit” standard and will be required to recognize gay marriages legally performed in any other state.  State DOMA laws and perhaps even state constitutional amendments will no longer be effective.

The irony in all this is that our Constitution specifically protects religious liberty.  It does not specifically protect sexual liberty or license.  Yet, our modern courts protect sexual liberty as though that was our first constitutional right rather than religious liberty, which has always been considered America’s First Constitutional Freedom.

Appointment of Federal Judges

One of the most important controls now in the hands of a Democrat President and Senate is the appointment and confirmation of federal judges.  The appointment and confirmation of judges has become the most important legal power in America.  While we do not agree this is what the Constitution intended, it is the reality in modern America.  Only the impeachment of judges who overstep their bounds can keep ultimate power in the hands of the people.

President Obama will potentially nominate up to four new Supreme Court Justices as well as a plethora of district and appellate court judges.  These lifetime appointments will set the legal tone in America for the next 50 years, neutralizing the appointments of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, who conservatives hoped would lead a more restrained Court.  That hope is gone with many current Supreme Court Justices now over 80 or in poor health, and waiting for the opportunity to resign and be replaced with other liberals.  The next four years will provide that opportunity for President Obama and a Democrat-controlled Senate.

The Life Agenda

It has been a long and difficult struggle, but the pro-life movement has begun to roll back the Supreme Court's 1973 decision finding a new Constitutional right for abortion.  While Roe v. Wade has not been overturned, the following piecemeal advances have been made:
• Restricting federal funding for abortion (the Hyde Amendment),

• Banning partial birth abortion,

• Barring use of taxpayer money for abortions in other countries (the Mexico City Policy),

• Requiring parental permission in 44 states,

• Restricting late term abortions in 40 states,

• Protecting the right of conscience for health care providers in 46 states,

• Protecting institutions such as hospitals from participating in abortions in 27 states,

• Pequiring pre-abortion counseling in 33 states, and

• Requiring ultrasounds before abortions in 16 states. 
All of these measures are now threatened if President Obama follows through with his campaign rhetoric.  Obama has said he favors passage of the federal Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) to invalidate all state restrictions on abortion.  A Democrat Congress is very likely to give him the opportunity to sign a FOCA into law.  Obama has also not hidden the fact that he will have a litmus test for judicial appointments to make certain that girls who become pregnant are not “punished with a baby.”

Federalized Euthanasia
 
Another promise President Obama has made is to federalize some form of universal health care.  If this plan is enacted into law, the imposition of federalized universal health care could seriously threaten the disabled and those at the other end of life.  Increased health care costs controlled by government bureaucrats will ultimately require government-imposed choices between who can be treated and who must die.  The elderly and disabled will draw the short straw in a government-rationed health care system.  While government-controlled health care may not be feasible in the current economic environment, we know that this “reform” is at the top of the new president’s priority list.
 
The Fairness Doctrine

President Barack Obama will appoint a new head of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).  The Democrat Congress has already signaled that it favors reinstating the “Fairness Doctrine” eliminated by President Reagan in 1987.  That elimination opened the way for today’s conservative talk radio, as well as for the broad expansion of Christian radio programming.  Reenacting the “Fairness Doctrine,” which is a misnomer since it is anything but “fair,” would require every broadcaster to air both sides of “controversial issues of public importance,” making it impossible to continue the radio programming now in place.  Airing a Christian show, for instance, would require that the broadcaster also air shows with other religious viewpoints.  Administration of such “fairness” would be a nightmare and broadcasters would switch back to the non controversial “home and garden” programming that dominated radio before the 1980s.

Don’t Lose Heart

These few items provide an important litmus test for religious liberty protection under President Obama.  We do not know which way these issues will fall, but let us pray hard and not lose heart. The Lord knew who would win this election.  He has a plan and a purpose in mind and we know ultimately that plan will be good.

God is calling us to increase our prayers for our nation and, whatever happens, to serve Him faithfully.  Now is the time for us to draw even closer to Christ and to increase our efforts to win others to the Lord.  God still reigns over America.  He is watching His people to see what they will do, how they will live for Him, care for their neighbors, and uphold His Biblical standards even when no one else is watching. 

We at CLA intend to continue to work as hard as we can to protect the liberties of Bible-believing Christians whatever the national political agenda going forward.  At the same time, we will pray for our new president and for others in authority over us.  We have read the last chapter of the Book.  There is good news.  God wins! 

TRADITIONAL MARRIAGE
from www.ChristianLaw.org

America must continue to protect marriage.  The response to gay activists who claim a legal right to participate equally in marriage is really a very simple one.  The issue is not equal rights to marry.  The real issue is that gay rights activists are attempting to redefine the word “marriage” itself.

What is Marriage?

Marriage is and has always been a man and woman, a husband and wife, two people who uniquely fit together for the purpose of laying the foundation for the most basic building block of any society--the family.  To redefine marriage as anything other than a husband and wife is equivalent to redefining a dog as any animal that has four legs.  It may be possible to accomplish that redefinition, but the new definition is just not correct.

Marriage is not merely a religious institution, but also a civilly recognized relationship.  If asked, America’s Founders would have viewed the definition of marriage as equivalent to those other “inalienable truths” mentioned in the Declaration of Independence, a truth that is so obvious it needs no explanation or defense.  The real definition of marriage has been an inalienable truth since the beginning of human society.  While some societies, including some in the Old Testament, have permitted men to have more than one wife (polygamy), even in that misguided context, marriage, by its very nature, could not exist without a husband and a wife.

Defending Marriage is Not Hate Speech

It is not hate speech or a violation of anyone’s civil rights to continue upholding the basic inalienable truth of marriage.  Marriage clearly was God’s idea from the beginning (Genesis 2), but its societal basis does not come solely from the Bible.  While our Founders primarily looked to the Bible for America’s basic legal principles, marriage between husbands and wives has existed as the basic building block of all societies throughout recorded time. 

The Special Responsibility of Christians

Because our actions are Biblically-based, Christians have a very special responsibility when protecting marriage.  The Bible provides rules for marriage that go far beyond its male-female definition.  Christians have not always been faithful to uphold all of God’s standards for marriage—including those areas that are most difficult for us.  That fact makes it easier for gay rights activists to mischaracterize the Christian voice in preserving marriage for husbands and wives as hypocritical.

Here are some Scriptural examples of God’s additional and numerous standards for marriage.

For this reason, a man shall leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Genesis 2:24
God intended marriage from the very beginning of creation to be a husband and wife.  Men and women are perfectly designed to be joined together in this special union.  God intends for this union to be a lifelong and mutually beneficial one. 

For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God.  1 Thessalonians 4:3-5
God’s Word is very specific regarding fornication.  Fornication includes any physical intimacy outside marriage.  It includes homosexuality (Romans 1:24-32).  It also includes the heterosexual practice of cohabitation or living together before marriage—a practice that is too often accepted as normal today.  Cohabitation is also a redefinition.  This practice was previously called “shacking up” or “living in sin.”  God tells us to abstain from all of these immoral practices and gives Christians only two choices—lifelong marriage or a celibate lifestyle as a gift of God with a special calling (I Corinthians 7).

Thou shalt not commit adultery. Exodus 20:14
The word adultery in the Seventh Commandment includes all physical relationships outside marriage, not merely unfaithfulness to one’s husband or wife.  Homosexuality is not the only sinful sexual practice.   Nor is it an unforgiveable one.  But, like all sexual sins, it is a sin that can only be overcome with God’s grace.  Our efforts must be on helping everyone--both heterosexual and homosexual--to live according to God’s will, not to redefine marriage to allow a protected legal space for one particular type of sexual sin.

Scripture is filled with references to sexual purity and to the duty of husbands and wives to fulfill one another.  Keeping God’s commandments and admonitions in this area of life is equally difficult for heterosexuals and homosexuals.  It seems that God is most explicit in Scripture where He knows we will be most tempted.  God understands that the commitment to one person in marriage and the commitment to purity and chastity outside of marriage is not always a natural instinct for men and women, whether they identify themselves as heterosexual or homosexual.  The very concept of bisexuality is an obvious sin, in and of itself, within the context of marital faithfulness.  Many heterosexual men constantly struggle against a natural tendency to be womanizers.  Many unmarried men and women, whether heterosexual or homosexual, struggle to keep their lives holy before God.  Scripture asks nothing of homosexuals that it does not also demand of heterosexuals.  Self control is needed by everyone in this area of life.  But God is faithful to those who struggle, whatever the focus of that struggle might be.  It is only with God’s help that any of His children can be faithful in marriage and chaste outside marriage.  Therefore, it is not hate speech or inequality to expect the same self control of homosexuals that Scripture also demands of heterosexuals.  God’s commands are intended to make our lives more fulfilled, not less. 

For this reason a man shall leave his Father and Mother and shall cleave to his wife and they shall become one flesh.  This mystery is great: but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.  Ephesians 5:25-31
Scripture tells us that marriage is a mysterious depiction of the very nature of God Himself.  Jesus takes the Church as His bride in the heavenly Marriage Feast of the Lamb.  Christians must be very careful to preserve this Biblical mystery of marriage between the Bridegroom and His bride.  While we do not yet fully understand this mystery, it is important to preserve the concept by preserving God’s definition of marriage.

Being “Similarly Situated”

In order for a court to grant similar or equal rights to those who request them, the litigants must be “similarly situated” under the law.  Two men or two women are just not “similarly situated” to a man and a woman who want to be married.  Marriage involves a perfect union and fitting together of opposites.  Continuing to define marriage as the relationship of a husband and wife creating a family, the basic building block of all societies, does not take away any legal or civil rights from homosexuals.  Judges are supposed to consider whether the parties are “similarly situated” when determining the extent of their civil and legal rights.  If parties are not similarly situated, their legal rights are not being denied when the law treats them differently.  Of course, many court decisions have gotten this concept very wrong recently--- and gay rights activists are counting on the fact that this legal mistake will continue and that average citizens will eventually accept this redefinition of marriage as normal.

Earn the Right to Speak

Christians must remember that gay rights activists are using our own marital sins against us in their arguments in court.  In order for Christians to speak clearly about the important issues of marriage and family, we must remember Jesus’ words in Matthew 7 to first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.  Jesus did not mean that we should ignore the speck in our brother’s eye, but only that we should also pay attention to the log in our own.  We Christians must make sure to just as vigorously defend marriage against those who defile the concept in ways other than homosexuality--with easy divorce, cohabitation, adultery and all types of fornication.  We must pray for God’s grace in committing ourselves to His will for our own marriages even as we continue to protect the definition of marriage as between a man and a woman, a husband and a wife.

 

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