“Choose you this day whom you will serve, … but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)
When ordered by religious authorities to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, the apostles responded “You be the judge whether in the sight of God we should listen to you more than to God. However, we cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard. Therefore, we must obey God rather than men.”
(Acts 4:19, 20 and 5:29)
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Massive Earthquakes Rattle America’s 2015 Moral and Legal Landscape
On numerous fronts, America suffered severe damage this past year to the Judeo-Christian values and Constitutional principles on which it was founded and has prospered.
Our Crossroads team will examine two of those most egregious assaults this weekend on Valley radio, as follows.
No. 1 — June 26: SCOTUS’ Decision to Impose Same-Sex Marriage on America
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that same-sex “marriages” must be recognized by all 50 states – including those like Virginia that had voted to ban such marriages.
This decision, like the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973 that “legalized” abortion, leaves a huge tear in the moral, religious, social, cultural, legal, and governmental fabric of America that will have devastating consequences for generations to come.
Moral, Religious, and Social because it legitimates a perverse form of sexual conduct that violates God’s design for marriage between one man and one woman as the bedrock for social stability and economic prosperity.
Cultural and Legal because it alters what will now be taught in our public schools, promoted by an entertainment industry already obsessed with sex, advanced by a sympathetic media, and used as a legal weapon to force acceptance by churches, non-profit Christian organizations, and even private businesses that refuse to support such marriages.
Governmental because the Court has again taken on the role of a Super Legislature to override the will of over 50 million people and their elected representatives in 31 states that had recognized only natural marriage — just as it did in 1973 when it legalized abortion.
The Impact: In sum, it has placed our religious freedoms at even greater risk, undermined our respect for the court and the rule of law, further damaged the delicate system of separation of power and checks and balances on which our government depends, and defied constitutional limits on federal power over state governments.
The Challenge: Will we bow down to the dictates of an overreaching Caesar, or will we continue to stand for God’s clear, definitive, and unchanging truth about marriage?
No. 2 – July 20: EMU Betrays Allegiance to “Thy Word Is Truth”
At the local level, Eastern Mennonite University changed its hiring policies for faculty and staff to accept partners in same-sex “marriages”. Less than two months later, it also withdrew from membership in the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities.
Thy Word Is Truth? By its decision to accept sexual relationships which Scripture clearly prohibits, EMU has called into question its claim to be a “Christian” University as understood by its founding motto of “Thy Word Is Truth” – and whether that motto still reflects its doctrinal beliefs and practices.
Church vs. State? In addition, it calls into question whether EMU now looks to the shifting winds of culture and the diktat of the State to define what is right and what is wrong rather than to the “Word of Truth” which it still claims as its motto.
The Moral, Religious, and Cultural Consequence: Regrettably, this decision can only lead to further confusion within a student body and a Valley community that historically has looked to EMU as a shining city of a hill to help confirm our Christian walk and our appreciation of Scripture as a “lamp to our feet and a light to our path”.
Immigration: “E Pluribus Unum” or “E Unum Pluribus”
Finally, the Crossroads team will introduce a new hot-button topic for further discussion in the coming year. What effect has the growing immigrant population – legal and illegal – had on the American way of life?
For example, will the new arrivals obey our laws, value our Judeo-Christian heritage, and respect our constitutional form of government – or will they demand that we adjust our laws and values to accommodate theirs, as is happening in areas where Sharia law is expected to replace American laws?
Are we in danger of becoming balkanized by those who refuse to assimilate into a “melting pot” as they were expected to do in the past? Are we in danger of becoming “Out of One, Many” rather than our original national motto of “Out of Many, One”?
In the end, are in danger of becoming precisely what Ronald Reagan warned us about: “When we are no longer one nation under God, then we will be a nation gone under.”?
Thank You and Best Wishes for a Happy New Year!