The Minnesota House of Representatives voted today to legalize homosexual “marriage” in direct legislative defiance of the fixed standard of righteousness established in the immutable Word of God. This decision, if it stands, will necessarily beg the wrath of Almighty God befall our society. Some of these consequential woes are imbedded in the indulgence of sodomy itself as the lifestyle is essentially generational suicide. Other repercussions will be incurred in a broader sense as we effectively declare ourselves loosed from the moorings of social stability exclusively certified by our Creator, Savior, Sustainer, and Judge: Jesus Christ. Let His glory now be vindicated if we tempt His Lordship by statute! May He be just and merciful in granting repentance at the cost of His own blood or justly vindicated in executing swift and righteous judgements on this apostate nation!
Is the definition of marriage malleable? Are we to accept the president’s justification for his second term support of the gay agenda, namely: ideological evolution? Opposition party consultants and national talking heads seem perfectly content to concede the ground of this issue, tripping over each other bum-rushing the microphones of abdication. Meanwhile a shrinking remnant of principled patriots are just in their indictment of weak-kneed and limp-wristed “conservatism” and its self-appointed figureheads who offer us an inevitably relativistic standard. When it comes to issues like marriage, Republican pundits are endorsing strategies that, at best, amount to a slower decent on the same slippery slope of apostate principles. Both political parties are obviously willing to squander the birthright of this nation for a mess of electable porridge.
Oliver Wendell Holmes’ revolutionary legal positivism was perhaps the first ideological crowbar in America leveraged under the transcendent law standards written in stone by the finger of Almighty God. Our hell promoting social trajectory was established when the Ten Commandments clattered on the floor of our hearts and minds. I contend this happened the moment we applied the Darwinian worldview of self-generation and process theology (macro-evolution) to our notions of jurisprudence.
If we basically agree that our degraded social condition is due to philosophical idolatry and must be stalwartly rejected… I still sense some confusion among the Gideon’s few hundred who remain as we scramble for proverbial pitchers and torches that will prove most effective against our Midianite occupiers. Prescribing medicine under these dilapidated conditions is more complicated than diagnosing our fatal disease.
Perhaps Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians could provide some clarity. This from a Holy Spirit inspired apostle who’s martyrdom, servitude, and propositional defiance of humanism proved timelessly inspirational. His influence provided sufficient motivation for a fledgling church to endure and triumph through centuries of political and physical persecution. The early Christian’s multigenerational, indefatigable spirit eventually vested them with the magisterial robes of the judiciary and the delegated responsibility to rebuild the future of western civilization according to immutable Biblical principles.
II Corinthians 10:4-5
“For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds.
We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ,”
In applying these directives, the early church refused to ever be licensed as an official religion under Roman government. This apparently hair-splitting technicality was non-negotiable for them, and their resolve was repeatedly tested by the ravenous teeth of lions and the merciless horns of wild bulls in arenas empire-wide. Their sacrifice retained the institutional purity of the office of the church as obedient to Christ alone. Acquiescing to the political hierarchy of their day on this particular issue would have been to say: “Ceasar is lord over Christ”. The church today must repent as measured by a reclamation and demonstration of it’s ethical authority. In modern times we have been cowardly ambassadors of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Other applications of these philosophical war principles were evident in the early church’s independent courts. Here dissenting parties contractually agreed to settle their disputes under the authority of Christ as delegated through their church communities. Eventually, the pagans began frequenting these church courts, recognizing the vastly superior trustworthiness of Christian justice. Considering this example, I am reminded of the stated reasons why homeschooling is illegal in Germany: “to counteract the development of religious and philosophically motivated parallel societies.” Ironically, this recognition of potentiality well describes the calling of Christians and also portends opportunity for reform in the future. As all else fails legislatively, Christians must labor to shame this culture by contrast.
As to the issue at hand, marriage is primarily a theological reality, and secondarily a social hill on which to die according to scripture. Paul declares in Ephesians 5 its primary institutional purpose as a reflection of Christ’s devotion to His own bride, the church, and proceeds to echo Moses in declaring that the prosperity and longevity of society itself hinges on fidelity to God’s definition of the family. Fundamentally honoring, on a personal level, the intent, the ordained fruit, and the governing duties of this primary social unit could be enough to send secular humanism’s liberal house of cards through a paper shredder in two generations or less. Repenting of self-inflicted barrenness alone might be enough to deliver the future into our hands via birth rate for heaven’s sake!
I’ll know that we are wielding effective weapons and dutifully fighting back against the urban sprawl of Sodom when growing contingencies within the confessing church of Jesus Christ have a plummeting divorce rate, Christ centered philosophies applied to the education of their children, a selfless aversion to birth control, a stewardship mentality in their spheres of social influence, a fatherly devotion to family worship, a joy in suffering less subsidies like “free” healthcare, a love for their Savior strong enough to endure antichrist slander from the likes of Fox News hosts, a growing confidence to declare the crown rights of Christ ubiquitously, a reinstated vision for a socially indispensable church, a palpable culture of honor for parents and elders, a growing appreciation for the transhistorical providence of a sovereign God, and a renunciation of truth butchering pragmatism.
Soli Deo Gloria.
-Ken Carlton