American Religious Liberty: Stricken by the Stroke of a Pen

Last week, President Obama signed an executive order prohibiting federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.  He completely ignored the pleas of Christian and other faith leaders to include an exemption for religious organizations.

 

“Thanks to your passion and advocacy and the irrefutable rightness of your cause, our government – the government of the people, by the people and for the people – will become just a little bit fairer,” Obama told a gathering in the White House.

 

The executive order would prevent Christian and other religious organizations with federal contracts from requiring workers to adhere to the tenets of their religious beliefs.  Christianity Today reports the order could impact religious non-profits such as World Vision, World Relief and Catholic Charities.

 

“If religious organizations cannot require that their employees conduct themselves in ways consistent with the teachings of their faith – then, essentially, those organizations are unable to operate in accordance with their faith,” said Peter Sprigg, Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council.  He went on to say the president’s order forces employers to put aside their principles in the name of ‘political correctness.’  “This level of coercion is nothing less than viewpoint blackmail that bullies into silence every contractor and subcontractor who has moral objections to homosexual behavior,” Sprigg said.  “The mask is coming off of the homosexual movement’s agenda.  They really do not believe in religious liberty.  They want forced affirmation of homosexual and transgender conduct to trump every other consideration in the workplace – including religious liberty.”

 

Not surprising, the president’s executive order was warmly welcomed by left-wing organizations like Americans United for Separation of Church and State.  “Religious groups have no right to accept taxpayer money and engage in rank forms of discrimination,” said executive director Barry Lynn.  “Faith-based groups that tap the public purse should play by the same rules as everyone else and not expect special treatment.”

 

“But that’s really not the point,” says Todd Starnes of Fox News.  “This is about the federal government bullying religious groups that hold viewpoints it deems inappropriate.”  As he wrote in his new book, “God Less America,” this administration believes gay rights trump every-one else’s rights – including religious rights.

 

Vice President Joe Biden went so far as to declare as much during a speech to international gay rights activists.  “I don’t care what your culture is,” he said in remarks covered by Associated Press.  “Inhumanity is inhumanity.  Prejudice is prejudice is prejudice.”

 

The Obama Administration and its militant cronies want to tell Christians whom to hire, how to run their business and how to think.  And now the president has decreed that any religious group that holds viewpoints divergent from the Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) agenda is not worthy of federal tax dollars.

 

Last month, National Security Adviser Susan Rice told a gathering at the White House Forum on Global LGBT Human Rights that it was their responsibility to sway theological thinking on the LGBT issue.  “For the faith community, how can we reinforce to religious groups that God loves all the children of his creation equally?” she asked the crowd.  “Change will come,” she went on to say.  “It’s already coming.”

 

Indeed, it has.  And it appears the president has decided to “reinforce” the government’s theology on Christians by using his pen and phone … and woe be to any Christian American who refuses to comply.  The Obama administration seems hell-bent on forcing Christians to assimilate to the militant LGBT agenda.  Resistance is futile.

 

Denny Burk, professor of biblical studies at Boyce College (the undergraduate arm of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY) addressed the issues at hand in an essay titled, “Are Christian Colleges Free to be Christian?”  “There are people who are willing to use whatever means necessary to force religious institutions to conform to the new sexual morality,” he wrote.  “Any individual or institution that refuses to comply will have to face the consequences.”

 

Robert Jeffress, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, has said, “The problem with this executive order is that it paves the way for the next one – which could withhold the tax-exempt status or broadcast licenses for religious organizations holding biblical beliefs with which the administration disagrees.”

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Vengeance of Progressive Activists Against Christians in America

Dissatisfied with Gordon College, practicing its own Christian beliefs, last week Kimberly Driscoll (Democrat Mayor of Salem, Massachusetts) began to take out her hostility against them.  The angry tone of the actions taken against the school reveals a few things that are important for the rest of the nearly 6,400 Christian colleges in America to understand.  Not a single one of them is safe!

 

The progressive activists … having lost the Hobby Lobby case before the Supreme Court … are looking for a place to focus their vengeance. Christian schools now seem to be their target of choice.

 

Background: Gordon’s President Michael Lindsay signed a letter to President Obama asking for a waiver to be granted to Christian schools from his impending executive order … wherein the President has pledged to compel Christian organizations that believe in biblical sexual practice to be forced to violate that belief and hire people who violate those practices.

 

Almost universally across the spectrum of Christian colleges and universities they have codes of ‘Behavioral Standards’ that they ask employees and students to observe for the length of time they wish to be employed by or a student at said school.  The Christian school desires to advance and deepen the faith of the persons affiliated with their school. The school believes it is important to be consistent in moral worldview as well as moral practice so as to set a good example.  This is why when a professor at a state-run university conducts themselves in immoral practices, no one knows nor cares.  But if an instructor, faculty member, or President of a Christian college conducts an immoral choice – they are more often than not fired upon discovery.  From the Christian school’s perspective, it is not wise to ask teachers to instruct something they themselves are not observing.

 

Almost universally across the spectrum Christian colleges is also the belief that the Bible is the final authority on sexual practice.  And the understanding of Biblically approved sexual practice is that it is reserved for one man and one woman in holy marriage; before God; for life.  This is why students get kicked out of Christian colleges because they are discovered to be casually/sexually involved with each other.  (More than 99% of the time on the Christian college campus it is involvement in heterosexual behavior.)

 

To be clear: Gordon College had not set up two different sets of rules – disallowing sex for students who wished to be involved in heterosexual behavior and a different set of rules for those who wish to be involved in homosexual behavior.  To the contrary: Equal treatment under the Gordon College behavior standards was practiced.  No sexual behavior by any student – while a student – outside of marriage.  Period!

 

So the Mayor of Salem doesn’t care for any of the standards of Gordon College.  She doesn’t like that they hold their students accountable to the student’s own desires (they each agree to the behavioral code before attending.)  And now she is attempting to destroy the school.

 

Which reveals something important to understand:  It is not enough to merely disagree with leftists.  They will work with every bit of force they can muster to compel you into agreement with them.

 

In Driscoll’s case she immediately tore up a contract with the school.  Gordon College had been caring for the town’s Old Town Hall.  They maintained it, had given tours to the community and visitors to the area. They had used it for Gordon events.  And they had allowed outside groups to schedule events there as well … all part of the agreement with the town.  Never once has there been an accusation that the Christian college maintaining the Old Town Hall had ever prevented any single group from using the facility.  Likewise there is no record of the college denying the use of the facility by people who disagree with their own behavioral standards.  But now the city will deny the school the opportunity to fulfill its contract, because the mayor disagrees with them.

 

In addition, Driscoll is among those pushing hard to have Gordon College’s accreditation stripped from their programs.  Accreditation is one of the key attractions for people to attend colleges and universities, and in doing this the mayor is attempting to choke the very life out of an institution that has been part of its community and the religious life of this nation for 125-years.

 

If successful in stripping Gordon’s accreditation, look for this strategy to be copied by endless numbers of activists against the 6,400 Christian colleges across America.  It’s all part of an ugly and angry campaign to punish Christian colleges for being (in essence) Christian in what they believe, and what they practice.

 

I’ve said it before and will say it again: The intolerance of the left and the ignorance of the faithless will only succeed if the faith-filled show complete indifference.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

“If Fences Don’t Work, Why is There One Around the White House?”

The problem of illegal immigration at the Southwest border – involving tens of thousands of unaccompanied minors coming into the U.S. at unprecedented rates – is the worse it has ever been.  The Border Patrol agents are over-whelmed and lacking adequate resources to handle the influx; and the Obama Administration’s proposed solutions to stem the tide are under-whelming to say the least.

 

Of course, the illegal immigration problem isn’t new.  The Federal government claims to have been working on fixing the problem for the past several years.  The Senate passed a sweeping immigration reform bill last year; and now, Democrats, including Obama, are warning House Republicans that if they don’t act soon, the president will act unilaterally.

 

Last week, Bill O’Reilly had Charles Krauthammer on his Fox News show to discuss immigration reform.  When O’Reilly asked Krauthammer how he would secure the border, Krauthammer had a simple solution, he said:

 

“You start with a fence.  It's very simple.  People say, ‘Oh, fences don’t work.  You make a ladder.’  Well, then you build two fences, triple strand fences.  San Diego did that in the mid 90’s and within a decade, the illegal immigration rate at that point was reduced by 90% and people ended up going through other places like Arizona.  If fences don’t work, why is there one around the White House?  If they don’t work, why is it that the Israeli fence which separate Israel from the West Bank has cut down terror attacks within Israel by 99%.  Fences work.  Yes, there are parts of the border where you can’t have a fence, fine.  So you don’t have it in those areas and you do heavy patrols.  But there is no reason why a rich country like us cannot put a fence across – a double fence, a triple fence and patrol it all the time.  That would have a tremendous impact.”

 

To Krauthammer I say – Touché. (French in origin, used to admit that someone has made a clever or effective point in an argument)

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The ‘Left’s’ War on God

After previously claiming (lying) that they’d never do anything to stop you from practicing your religion (in your church … “where it belongs”) the ‘Left’ has openly declared war on God and those who still believe what the Word of God has to say about moral matters, and those who believe in the original intent of the U.S. Constitution’s right to freely exercise religious conviction.

 

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) announced they are withdrawing their support for a heinous piece of legislation known as Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA).  Why?  Because with a scant 5-4 majority of the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) opinion in favor of Hobby Lobby (a 1st Amendment decision) it’s obvious to them that ENDA in its current form wasn’t heinous enough.  ENDA is the unholy grail of the moral depravity lobby.  The immorality peddlers have been peddling various versions of this bill for years.  The intent of this legislation is for the federal government to once and for all make someone’s private sexual behavior a publicly protected class throughout America, and thus silence once-and-for-all any moral or religious dissent to their depravity.

 

The version coming out of the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate last year included so-called “religious exemptions.”  But these same people think the federal government can order the “Little Sister of the Poor” to pay for abortifacients and baby-murder.

 

The ACLU isn’t even going to pay lip service to ‘liberty’ anymore.  They will no longer support any legislation that doesn’t tell religious institutions they have to obey man and not God.

 

The ENDA says if you’re a Christian school with a teacher/administrator living an immoral life that undermines your mission, you can’t fire them. Here is an example:

 

Last year, Azusa Pacific University (a Christian school) asked a female theology professor to leave after she began to assume a transgender identity.  “Gender identity” is protected under ENDA. If ENDA were the law of the land with no religious exemptions, then it would have been illegal for this Christian school to dismiss this professor.  Under ENDA, Azusa would have been in violation of federal law if they were to follow Christianity’s teaching about gender.

 

The ‘Left’ have declared an all-out culture war and will offer no accommodation to sincere religious dissenters.  They are ready to use the coercive power of the government to trample the religious consciences of their fellow countrymen.

 

If you’re a Democrat that takes your faith seriously and you think this is a fringe element of your party, consider the fact the Democrat majority in the U.S. Senate has “fast-tracked” legislation that would seek to undo the Hobby Lobby opinion.  The bill would demand a company pay for abortifacients and baby-murder as Obamacare originally demanded.

 

The generation of Democrats who gave us the Religious Freedom Restoration Act 20-years ago, which SCOTUS used as the basis for its ruling in favor of Hobby Lobby, is mostly gone now.  It has been replaced by what David Horowitz calls “the New Left.”  This “New Left” is not mere liberals; they are flat-out ‘Leftists.’  They don’t want to grow government as much as they want to change it.  They are Social Reconstructionists, whose goal is to empower government to replace our Judeo-Christian ideals of liberty and morality with what amounts to Cultural Marxism.  And they won’t stop until the American Exceptionalism they either don’t understand or loathe is eradicated once-and-for-all.  That’s why their ultimate goal is silencing the church … as all tyrants in history have tried to do … because the church has always been the chief obstacle to ‘statism’ in a culture.  For the true church says that God (alone) is God; and the government is not.  Once God is out of the way, so are your God-given rights … which makes you a de facto ward of the state and not a free person.  As G.K. Chesterton said, “Once abolish the God and the government becomes the god.”

 

You can’t share a culture with people who won’t share it with you.  There is no negotiating with these people.  You can only convert or defeat them.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

What’s the Forecast of a Thunderstorm on ‘Gay Pride’ Festivals?

The United Nations put a damper on ‘gay pride’ festivities last week when it re-affirmed that the natural family is the fundamental unit of society.  (BTW: The Bible records it back to the time of creation.)

 

The U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted a resolution on “Protection of the Family” with a traditional definition of the family, even as revelers readied themselves to celebrate gay pride weekend.  It recognizes the importance of the family for society and individuals, and that countries must strengthen and protect the family.

 

The resolution not only echoes language from the U.N.’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights about the family as the “natural and fundamental unit of society,” it goes on to state that the family is the “natural environment” for the education and development of children.

 

It goes without say, the resolution does not sit well with countries that give cohabiting individuals of the same-sex similar rights as married couples, or allow persons of the same sex to marry.  Some countries, the United States among them, rejected the definition and claimed the resolution threatens the rights of individuals in families, and tries to impose a single model of family.

 

Lesbian-Gay-Bisexual-Transgender (LGBT) groups and their supporters in the HRC fought to keep the resolution on the family from being considered.  The resolution had been in the works for over a year, but brought to the floor this year.  Their last ditch attempt to include the qualification of “various forms of the family” failed at the eleventh hour.

 

The resolution passed by a comfortable margin, with 26-votes ‘for’, 14-votes ‘against’, and 6-abstentions.  It was greeted by thunderous applause.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

The Dishonoring of Our Combat Veterans

While today’s news will report on Russia’s involvement with the Malaysia plane tragedy and Israel’s expansion of ground operations against Gaza militants, some members of the U.S. armed services … many of whom are currently deployed in war zones … will be notified by the Department of Defense (DoD) that they will be involuntarily discharged from the military at the end of their current tours.  Why?  “Budget cuts.”  It’s as simple as that.

 

According to the New York Post, hundreds of Army captains have already been handed the devastating news, and more officers are expected to get it shortly.  Mind you: This ‘gutting’ of the U.S. military’s personnel is happening while our ‘former’ Cold War adversary and our Middle East ally are respectively involved in aggression and threat.

 

For what ought to be obvious reasons, this is an outrageous and heart-less way to say “thank you” to our combat service members.  It is astonishing that the DoD thought it would be appropriate to notify deployed soldiers — men and women risking their lives daily in combat zones — that they’ll be laid off after their current deployment.

 

As one U.S. Army wife posted on MilitaryFamily.org, “On some level I knew the drawdowns were inevitable; but I guess I never expected to be simultaneously worried about a deployment to Afghanistan and a pink slip because my husband’s service is no longer needed.”

 

The DoD’s handling of this situation is in the words of another – “a stunning act of callousness.”  But beyond that – It is just no way to treat American combat veterans.

 

And yet, as we’ve seen with the unfolding VA scandal (and now this), combat veterans are often forgotten and mistreated by the same government they “support and defend against all enemies … both foreign and domestic.”

 

While our brave men and women in combat are fighting our foreign enemies, let us at the “home of the brave” take on the domestic enemies.  We, the American people, must have “the backs” of our veterans.  Both our Congress and this Administration must do everything in their power to ensure these men and women are taken care of … while in the uniform and after they hang it up.  Wouldn’t you agree?

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

9th Grader’s Winning Speech – Why I’m Pro-Life

The winner of this year’s National Right to Life Committee (NRLC) speech contest is 9th grader Rosalia Palumbo.  Read her winning entry below, posted on the NRLC website, and you’ll quickly realize why judges awarded her the prize:

 

“Why am I pro-life?  I have never asked myself that question, I just knew I was.  Before I answer it, I should define what being ‘pro-life’ means to me.

 

Being pro-life is protecting life, the lives of innocent, defenseless unborn babies, and the sometimes dependent, and yet invaluable, lives of the elderly.  It means standing up for that third of my generation that is missing because of abortion, pressing the fact that equal rights, the right to life, belongs to the unborn, too. Acknowledging that all are gifts from God, and therefore are not burdens.  Using our freedom of speech to stand up against this modern world, which frowns upon pregnant women, using our words of comfort, strengthen to reassure them.  Being pro-life is more than just saying so.  It is standing up for your beliefs and taking a stand against the injustice of this world, setting our eyes on heaven, and doing the most good for those who need it.

 

I am pro-life because I believe in equality.  I believe all life is equal.  From conception to natural death, all life is special.  God has a plan for everyone and everything.  It is not up to us to decide that because of their stage in life, there is no need or purpose or plan for the unborn.  Selfishly choosing to kill them because of this is wrong, and I will not stand by and watch it happen.  I am pro-life to bring an end to this.  Depending on their family, friends, and caregivers does not mean the elderly are unable to do anything.  Our selfishness is no reason to end their lives.  They can give us knowledge and advice on those obstacles in life when we may think there is no one to help.  Most likely they have been there before, and we can learn a lot from their triumphs and mistakes.

 

I am pro-life because I believe a life is a gift from God.  I believe that pregnant women and unborn children are priceless in God’s eyes, and shouldn’t be any less in ours.  I believe all life is in, and from, God’s hand, and that He is in complete control of when someone's life ends.

 

I believe that we have no authority, whatsoever, in this matter.  It isn’t up to us to pick and choose who lives and who dies.  It is not our place to decide that the unborn are ‘worthless,’ and therefore have no place on earth.  If they had no place on earth, God would not give them to us.  They are not ‘worthless,’ for God has a plan for each and every one of us, and mercilessly killing the unborn is not part of that plan.

 

I am pro-life because, as it has been defined, pro-life is ‘The radical idea that the elderly and the unborn are people, too.’  I believe, and will stand up and fight for, this truth to be realized by all.”

 

Though out of context, I can’t help by remember the words of Isaiah who prophesied of the Day of the Lord when Jesus (the Christ) will remove the curse of sin from our world and restore peace to all of creation – “And a little child shall lead them.” (Isaiah 11:6)

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Senate Democrats Defile SCOTUS Decision

About 2-weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) rendered their decision protecting Hobby Lobby and Conestoga Woods Specialties’ religious freedom.  But, now Senate Democrats are trying to reverse this ruling with a new act that would override an employer exemption from the controversial U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate.

 

Senate Democrats want to change the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act in a way that would force companies to pay for birth control, contraception and those abortion-causing drugs.  Senators Mark Udall (D-CO) and Patty Murray (D-WA), both abortion advocates, are behind the new legislation and they said, “The Protect Women’s Health from Corporate Interference Act would ban employers from refusing to provide health coverage — including contraceptive coverage — guaranteed to their employees and dependents under federal law.”

 

“With this bill, Congress can begin to fix the damage done by the Supreme Court’s decision to allow for-profit corporations to deny their employees birth control coverage.  The Supreme Court last week opened the door to a wide range of discrimination and denial of services.  This bill would help close the door for denying contraception before more corporations can walk through it,” said Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

 

Planned Parenthood seems to ignore the fact that a majority of Americans agreed with the Court’s decision.  51% of respondents in a Rasmussen Reports survey said employers should not be required to provide insurance with this type of coverage.

 

But, that’s not going to stop these Democratic senators, who are determined to override the SCOTUS decision in the name of “women’s rights.”  In other words, under the guise of ‘women’s rights’ these Democrats will disrespect our nation’s established governance by ‘balance of power’ and disregard our system of ‘co-equal branches of government’ and deny business owners the right to consistently exercise their ‘religious freedom’ in all aspects of life … for the sake of birth control?!   

 

Let me say: Anyone who up for re-election and puts their name to this legislation deserves to lose their seat this fall.  Hopefully voters will err on the side of our established form of government and individual rights … verses what comes down to one more so-called claim of the nanny state.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Public Opinion is Changing Regarding Unlimited Pro-Choice

A new poll conducted by The Polling Company/WomanTrend for National Right to Life (NRL) indicates that pro-abortion Sen. Kay Hagan’s abortion position is out of touch with voters.

 

By an overwhelming 55%-35% margin, voters chose a hypothetical pro-life candidate whose views match those of Republican nominee Thom Tillis over a hypothetical pro-choice candidate whose views match those of Sen. Kay Hagan (NC).

 

The website for Tillis’ campaign explains that “Thom believes all life is sacred and as Speaker, he promoted pro-life policies and helped reverse the pro-abortion state policies Democrats had put in place for decades.”  In November 2013, a spokesman for the Tillis’ campaign said that he “absolutely” supports the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (S. 1670), which would ban abortions after 20- weeks … when the unborn child is capable of feeling pain.  Under his leadership as speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives, the legislature passed a number of pro-life measures, including prohibiting taxpayer dollars from being used to pay for abortion or to pay for insurance coverage for abortion.

 

Kay Hagan supports the current policy of ‘abortion on demand,’ which allows abortion for any reason, and opposes the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (S. 1670).  A November 19, 2013 article in the Raleigh News-Observer stated that Hagan “made it clear she would not vote for a bill that would ban abortions beginning at 20-weeks.”  She voted for Obamacare, which provides government funding for insurance plans that pay for abortion, and has voted to spend federal funds on health plans that cover abortion on demand (12/8/09, Roll Call 369).

 

“Abortion continues to be a key issue with the electorate,” said David N. O’Steen, Ph.D., NRL executive director.  “When they learn about the position of the candidates on abortion, voters in election after election side with the pro-life candidate.”

 

The June poll comes on the heels of an annual survey by Gallup, which found that just 39% were in favor of the current policy of abortion for any reason (the position of Kay Hagan), with 28% saying abortion should be legal under any circumstances and 11% saying abortion should be legal under most circumstances.  A substantial majority, 58%, believes abortion should be legal in only a few circumstances (37%) or illegal in all circumstances (21%).  Gallup also asked about only voting for a candidate “who shares your abortion views.”  19% answered that they would only vote for a candidate who shared their views on the abortion issue, with 11% saying they would vote only for the pro-life candidate and 8% saying they would vote only for the pro-choice candidate.

 

“It’s clear that most Americans do not support the policy of abortion for any reason that was established by Roe v. Wade,” O’Steen said.  “And they will continue to support candidates who reject this extreme policy of abortion for any reason.”

 

The complete question from The Polling Company/WomenTrend reads as follows:

 

CANDIDATE “A” opposes abortion except when the mother’s life is in danger or in cases of rape or incest.  This candidate opposes using tax dollars to pay for abortion and supports legislation that would prohibit abortions after 20-weeks when the unborn child can feel pain.

32% STRONGLY SUPPORT CANDIDATE “A”
23% SOMEWHAT SUPPORT CANDIDATE “A”

             55% TOTAL SUPPORT CANDIDATE “A” (NET)

 

CANDIDATE “B” supports a woman’s choice to have an abortion.  This candidate supports using tax dollars to pay for abortion and opposes legislation that would prohibit abortions after 20-weeks.

16% STRONGLY SUPPORT CANDIDATE “B”

             18% SOMEWHAT SUPPORT CANDIDATE “B”
             35% TOTAL SUPPORT CANDIDATE “B” (NET)

             Field Dates: June 12-15, 2014
             N = 1,014
             Margin of Error: +/- 3.1%

 

Interestingly, politicians can take a position on this moral issue, but preachers had better not.  Many pastors are more committed to ‘PC’ than the politicians.  Do you know where your pastor, priest or rabbi stands?  It really is a matter of life and death!

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

Mocking the Maker’s Design for Marriage

Just when you thought you’ve heard it all.  Last night (July 8), was the premier of a new ‘reality show’ on the cable network FYI (formerly Bio) – “Married at First Sight.”  Six singles agreed to legally marry a total stranger.

 

The extreme social experiment uses four experts — a sexologist, spiritualist, psychologist and sociologist — to create three perfect couples based on scientific matchmaking.  The potential cast members filled out lengthy personality profiles, and the four experts went on field visits to conduct psychological assessments, sexology sessions and spiritual counseling to narrow 625 possible matches down to three ideal couples.

 

The spouses know nothing about each other — not even their names — until they walk down the aisle in the premiere.  The next nine episodes follow the newlyweds as they live together for four weeks — after which they have to decide whether to remain married or get a divorce.

 

So let me get this straight: What God instituted in marriage (from the time of creation), we in America have … in our lifetime … totally redefined and are continuing to change.  Think about it.  Many states have legalized same-sex marriages and Mainline Protestant church denominations have embraced.  (read my 3-Part warning blog – “Don’t Play Russian Roulette with Marriage” – April 29, May 1 and 3, 2013)  Polygamy is seeking a comeback in Utah (read my December 20, 2013 blog – “Utah’s Latest Ski Slope … Called ‘Slippery Slope’”)     

 

Listen: The Bible contains clear and explicit teachings about marriage.  It is God who created marriage at the beginning of the human race as a lifelong union between one man and one woman.  In Genesis 1:27-28 we read that God created Adam and Eve and told them that together they should bear children.  Some would ask – “But were Adam and Eve actually a married couple?”  Yes, because the next chapter (Genesis 2:24-25) calls them “man and wife.”  Another might say – “But God’s definition of marriage was only for the Jewish people.”  Not so; it was intended to apply to all people in all societies for all times.  This is evidenced in God’s judgment on the gentiles (non-Jewish) ‘twin cities’ of Sodom and Gomorrah … because of their widespread practice of homosexual conduct (see Genesis 19:1-28).

 

The establishment of marriage between a man and a woman is the most fundamental institution in any society.  It comes before any other; immediately after the creation of man and woman.  It’s significant that God established marriage before there is any establishment of cities, nations, courts of law, or any human laws.  It certainly comes before any national, state or local governments.  It comes before schools and universities, or businesses and corporations, or churches and other non-profit organizations.  It is foundational to the establishment of any society.  Every human nation on earth, every society of any size or permanence at all, has recognized and protected the institution of heterosexual marriage.  It is not “mean-spirited” to be beholding to a biblical worldview.  God instituted marriage and defined it; we need not redefine marriage, but defend it against those who would dare to defile … “What therefore God has joined together …” (Matthew 19:3-6) – not what some social experimental experts have brought together! 

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel

R.I.P. Mainline Protestantism … and Thanks for the Memories

Recently, I read an article that documented the dying of mainline churches in America.  It was prompted by the recently held General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (PCUSA).  Hundreds of delegates of the 1.7 million PCUSA members voted authorizing their clergy to conduct same-sex unions, reaffirming its commitment to largely unrestricted abortion rights, and supporting their divestment from three firms doing business with Israel.  The delegates gleefully bounced scores of red balloons in the air; and at another point, they collectively broke into dance.

 

The PCUSA’s redefinition of marriage, by a 71-29 % vote, got the most attention … although it was anti-climactic.  Sexual liberalism captured the denomination in 2010, when the PCUSA voted to abandon its expectation of monogamy in marriage and celibacy in singleness for its clergy.  Since then, hundreds of congregations have quit or organized conservative resistance.  By the 2012 General Assembly of PCUSA, they had lost nearly 200,000 members – a rate, which (if continued) would mean no more PCUSA in less than 20-years.  More than likely, the exodus from the PCUSA after this marriage vote may well increase for congregations and individuals.  Many exiting PCUSA churches have joined the Evangelical Presbyterian Church, while others helped create a new denomination called the Covenant Order of Evangelical Presbyterians.  Despite the impact on denominational finances, PCUSA elites, committed more to the ‘Left’ than to the church’s health, seem mostly indifferent.

 

Those elites mostly backed divesting from three firms doing business with Israel, namely Hewlett-Packard, Caterpillar, and Motorola, which ostensibly facilitate Israel’s ‘occupation.’  The PCUSA has voted for anti-Israel divestment before, in 2004, which created such controversy, internally and externally, that it revoked its stance in 2006. Anti-Israel zealots inside and outside the church were relentless; and in 2012 divestment fell short by only 2-votes.  This General Assembly passed it by only 7-votes … a remarkable margin … given the ongoing exodus of conservative church members.  The PCUSA is now the only major U.S. denomination divesting against Israel, with even the Episcopal Church and far-left United Church of Christ having declined the distinction.

 

Getting far less attention was the PCUSA General Assembly’s overwhelming rejection of legislation that urged a “season of reflection” on the denomination’s support for abortion-rights, including its long-time membership in the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) … which opposes any restrictions on abortion.

 

Essentially, the PCUSA, by its recent votes, have resolved to become even smaller.  It represents the faded vestige of a once distinguished religious body that indelibly shaped America.

 

But PCUSA is by no means alone.  Liberal Mainline Protestantism, starting in the 1960s, began its first major break with traditional Christian ethics by embracing abortion rights, discarding traditional notions about sacred human life in favor of radical autonomous individualism.  The mainline’s support for abortion and implied hostility to large families, now compounded by its redefinition of marriage have all helped to create a culture where the typical mainline congregation is dying.  Although church liberals love to insist their policies appeal to the rising generation, all of the available evidence indicates just the opposite.  Liberalizing churches don’t attract young people, who, even if liberal, tend to flock to churches they respect for not pandering to them.  The same is true for racial minorities, who largely avoid liberal Mainline Protestantism in favor of ethnic or Evangelical churches.

 

Mainline Protestantism … at least in the old mainline … has abandoned its historic Christian moral principles and core doctrine; and, therefore, is largely over.  Rest in peace, mainline Protestantism; and thanks for the memories.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel