How Should the Church Respond in Perilous Times?
HGTV breached a legally binding contract with Jason and David Benham for a reality TV show called “Flip it Forward” when a homosexual publication pressured the cable channel to drop them because they publically supported natural marriage. And of course, you have heard about Chick-fil-A and Duck Dynasty.
The list of similar conflicts is endless. Same-sex marriage will affect everyone. From what is taught to your children and grandchildren (and I am not just talking about “alternative” families), to your profession, business, business license and more—everyone will experience the intolerance of the agenda.
The church is about to enter rough waters. We are not witnessing a bump in the road that will soon pass. The threat to the family and religious liberty will exponentially increase. The church cannot compromise on this critical issue. Marriage predates religion and government. It is part of God’s natural created order. God made male and female and ordained marriage. From this union, and only from this union of male and female, another human is created in the image of God. You can no more change the natural created order of marriage than you can change gravity. It is what it is no matter what anyone thinks about it.
The church needs to rise up and pastors need to be bold. Christians may soon face the same choice that Martin Luther King Jr. faced—whether to obey an unjust law. When confronted with that question, King relied upon thousands of years of Judeo-Christian doctrine. He said some laws are just and these you must obey. But there are times when the government passes unjust laws. These are laws that are contrary to God’s natural created order and natural law. When a law of man directly collides with a law of God, believers have the duty to disobey the earthly law. And for this, King found himself in jail. He had no other choice.
Same-sex marriage is contrary to God’s natural created order and natural law. Until recently, sodomy was called a “crime against nature.” When you are forced to affirm same-sex unions or sexual relations outside of natural marriage, then you must decide to obey God or man. That time has come. It is not in the distant future. It is now.
As I said, these times are unprecedented in American history. But in Judeo-Christian history these times are not unprecedented. The children of Israel faced far worse times in Egypt. While being crushed by the most powerful nation in the world, God liberated the Israelites, and today we celebrate Passover. Esther and Mordecai faced even greater threats. The King of Persia issued an irrevocable decree to kill every Jew on March 7. It cannot get any worse than to face total annihilation on a day certain. Yet, when the people prayed and then acted, God intervened. Instead of the end of the Jewish people, today we celebrate the Feast of Purim.
God will do the same in our generation if His people pray, repent and seek His face. He will hear our prayers, forgive our sin, and heal our land. Make no mistake—troubled waters are ahead. The question is, what will the righteous do? The answer to that question will determine our destiny.
Mat Staver is the founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel, www.LC.org.
