"Divine Providence often makes the furnace of persecution the place of cleansing for individual saints. Why may it not be so for a Christian people? Why may not a race of men come forth from their trials, like the gold seven times refined in the fire, with their pride chastened, and yet their virtues purified? This can be from the only cause which sanctifies the sufferings of the Christian, the inworkings of the grace of God. Nothing is more true than that the natural effect of mere pain is not to purify, but to harden the sinful heart of man, exasperating at once its evils and its miseries. The cleansing Word and Spirit of God alone interpret its sufferings to it and convert them into healthful medicines of its faults. So it is the power of true Christianity, and that alone, which can minister to us as a people the wholesome uses of adversity. The salvation of the life of the Southern society must be found by taking the Word of God as our constant guide. But it may be asked: To what course of action should this spirit of unyielding integrity prompt us? The answer from those infallible oracles is easy. While you refrain from the suggestion of revenge and despair, and give place as of necessity to inexorable force, resolve to abate nothing, to concede nothing of righteous conviction. Truckle to no falsehood and conceal no true principle; but ever assert the right with such means of endurance, self-sacrifice and passive fortitude as the dispensation of Providence has left you. If wholesale wrongs must be perpetrated, if wholesale rights must be trampled on, let our assailants do the whole work and incur the whole guilt. Resolve that no losses, nor threats, nor penalties, shall ever make you yield one jot or tittle of the true or just in principle, or submit to personal dishonor."
Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain. Psalm 76:10
Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves (Matt. 10:16).
The current climate for the participation of faithful Christians in politics is anything but congenial. It seems as though all overt attempts to express or implement biblical standards in the civil sphere, whether by citizens or by elected officials, are met with scorn, hostility, and outlandish charges of fomenting intolerance and hate. This has not always been the case here in America where a strong Christian heritage and influence made Christianity and the Bible central, respected aspects of the political sphere. But as the nation has slid increasingly into the abyss of secularism and humanism, those who confess Christ and seek to promote Christian principles of civil government are considered a public nuisance, fit only for ridicule and extirpation.
Where in the Bible can Christians find guidance for effective political participation in such an atmosphere as this? One place is found in Jesus’ counsel to his disciples in Matthew 10:16.
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| Detroit, MI, USA |
"Last week [the first week of January] in Olympia, Governor Christine Gregoire held an disturbing press conference announcing her aggressive plan to force legislation which would redefine marriage in Washington. If you did not watch it, you should by clicking here. While members of the homosexual lobby announced their intentions at a press conference in November, this marks the beginning of the legislative debate over the issue.Christian Homeschool Network of Washington's Call to Action (http://www.chnow.org/page93.aspx):
Acknowledging that they were a few votes short of passage in the Senate, both the Governor and legislative leadership expressed confidence that they could secure the votes needed for final passage.
Supporters of real marriage must counter the pressure that legislators will inevitably receive from the homosexual lobby and Gov. Gregoire. They need to hear from 10 times as many constituents respectfully encouraging them not to redefine marriage."
"CALL TO ACTION
Help preserve traditional marriage in Washington State.
Legislative leaders have stated that their number one priority this session is to pass legislation permitting homosexual marriage in Washington State. Home educators: we challenge you to make it your priority this session to defend marriage as between one man and one woman. Help us protect this God-defined ordinance and pass on this God-honoring heritage to our children and our children’s children.
The focus of CHN is on home education and parental rights and we cannot ignore the consequences that redefining marriage will have. The Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA), in stating their opposition to this bill, said:
Why is HSLDA opposed to this bill? Our freedom to educate our children is based upon "Western civilization concepts of the family as a unit with broad parental authority over minor children." Same-sex marriage or domestic partnerships attack the traditions of the family in Western civilization upon which the foundation of parental choice in education and basic parental rights are based upon. Thus, parental rights are based on "western civilization concepts of the family." When those concepts are no longer the legal definition of the family in this nation, then the foundation upon which parental rights are based is completely removed. (HSLDA 2009 e-alert)
We challenge each of you to do your part to become active in this grassroots campaign to defeat this legislation. You don’t have to do it all, just do what you can.
1. Call the Legislative Hotline 1-800-562-6000
1000 pro-marriage citizens calling their legislators and urging them to not redefine marriage could stop this legislation. Call today and get everyone you know to call, too!
2. Write/e-mail/call your legislators ask them to support traditional marriage.
For contact information go to http://www.leg.wa.gov/
For talking points go to Marriage Legislation Resources www.FPIW.org/marriage
3. Become involved in local grassroots efforts.
Local district captains have been identified in the following districts. They will help coordinate
local grassroots efforts to encourage their senators to preserve marriage as between one man and one woman. If you live in one of these districts and want to help, contact chnow@msn.com
and we will forward your information to the appropriate person.
4. Come to Olympia and meet with your legislators. Call ahead and make an appointment.
Organize a group from your church, co-op, etc. Contact DiAnna Brannan, grassroots lobbyist, CHN and she can assist you chnow@msn.com include your phone number for quicker response.
Attend Home Educator’s Day at the Capitol event February 8, 2012
http://www.chnow.org/page28.aspx
5. Attend the hearing in the Senate: Monday, January 23rd 10:00 -1:00
Government Operations Committee, Cherberg Building, hearing room 2. There is no bill number yet, and the date and time are subject to change.
6. Get others involved; tweet, facebook, e-loops, etc.
7. For more ideas go to: Marriage Legislation Resources www.FPIW.org/marriage
Write editorials, encourage your pastor to get involved, get informed on the issues, copy
handouts and inform others, etc.
8. Coming soon: Stand for Marriage website. Like them on Facebook!
A coalition committed to defending marriage as one man and one woman.
9. Pray without ceasing"
1. Since the Fall it has always been unlawful to use the law of God in hopes of establishing one's own personal merit and justification, [either] in contrast or complement to salvation by way of promise and faith; commitment to obedience is but the lifestyle of faith, a token of gratitude for God's redeeming grace.
2. The word of the Lord is the sole, supreme, and unchallengeable standard for the actions and attitudes of all men in all areas of life; this word naturally includes God's moral directives (law).
3. Our obligation to keep the law of God cannot be judged by any extrascriptural standard, such as whether its specific requirements (when properly interpreted) are congenial to past traditions or modern feelings and practices.
4. We should presume that Old Testament standing laws* continue to be morally binding in the New Testament, unless they are rescinded or modified by further revelation.
5. In regard to the Old Testament law, the New Covenant surpasses the Old Covenant in glory, power, and finality (thus reinforcing former duties). The New Covenant also supercedes the Old Covenant shadows, thereby changing the application of sacrificial, purity, and "separation" principles, redefining the people of God, and altering the significance of the promised land.
6. God's revealed standing laws are a reflection of His immutable moral character and, as such, are absolute in the sense of being non-arbitrary, objective, universal, and established in advance of particular circumstances (thus applicable to general types of moral situations).
7. Christian involvement in politics calls for recognition of God's transcendent, absolute, revealed law as a standard by which to judge all social codes.
8. Civil magistrates in all ages and places are obligated to conduct their offices as ministers of God, avenging divine wrath against criminals and giving an account on the Final Day of their service before the King of kings, their Creator and Judge.
9. The general continuity which we presume with respect to the moral standards of the Old Testament applies just as legitimately to matters of socio-political ethics as it does to personal, family, or ecclesiastical ethics.
10. The civil precepts of the Old Testament (standing "judicial" laws) are a model of perfect social justice for all cultures, even in the punishment of criminals.
This summary highlights the fact that theonomic ethics, proceeding in terms of salvation by grace alone, (1) is committed to developing an overall Christian world-and-life view (2) according to the regulating principle of sola Scriptura (3) and to the hermeneutic of covenant theology (4) instead of dispensationalism (where Old Covenant commandments are deemed abrogated unless repeated in the New Testament). Changes in covenantal administration that are warranted by Scripture (cf. 4) are recognized with the coming of the new and better covenant in Christ (5). Relativism (situationism) is repudiated, and the divinely revealed ethic is not reduced to a parochial or tribal perspective in the evolutionary history of ethics; (6) God's word advances universal justice, not a double-standard of morality.
Rejecting legal positivism, theonomic ethics favors the idea of a "law above the (civil) law" as a protection against the tyranny of rulers and anarchy of reformers (7). Because Christ is Lord over all (cf. 2), it follows that even civil magistrates are His servants and owe obedience to His revealed standards for them (8). There is no justification (cf. 4) for exempting civil authorities from responsibility to the universal standards of justice (cf. 6) found in God's Old Testament revelation (9). Therefore, in the absence of biblically grounded argumentation that releases the civil magistrate from Old Testament social norms (cf. 4, 5), it follows from our previous premises that in the exercise of their offices rulers are morally responsible to obey the revealed standards of social justice in the Old Testament law (10). The New Testament explicitly confirms this inference by making magistrates avengers of wrath on evil-doers (Rom. 13:4), making it a lawful use of God's law to restrain the publicly unruly (1 Tim. 1:8-10), and saying that in this law, "every transgression and disobedience received its just recompense of reward" (Heb. 2:2)...
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* "Standing law" is used here for policy directives applicable over time to classes of individuals (e.g., do not kill; children, obey your parents; merchants, have equal measures; magistrates, execute rapists), in contrast to particular directions for an individual (e.g., the order for Samuel to annoint David at a particular time and place) or positive commands for distinct incidents (e.g., God's order for Israel to exterminate certain Canaanite tribes at a certain point in history).
"Just a few minutes ago, the House of Representatives voted 240-185 to add Amendment #11 to the Continuing Resolution bill. This amendment, introduced by Representative Mike Pence [R-Ind.], prohibits any federal government money going to Planned Parenthood until, at least, September 30, 2011.
It is a major victory and your prayers and actions made it happen.
The fight is not over. This amendment must also be passed in the Senate. It will be a major struggle and Planned Parenthood is already saying it will put all of its emphasis on defeating it in the Senate. Planned Parenthood has over $1 billion to throw at this."
Last year, Planned Parenthood received over $363 million in taxpayer funds, lifted from your wallet and mine, and performed 324,00 abortions along the way.Click here to send an email to your representative.
Of that total, $57 million came through a federal program known as Title X.
Rep. Mike Pence has crafted legislation that will end Title X funding of Planned Parenthood, as well as all other abortion providers.
Live Action films has released seven undercover videos in the last two weeks alone showing the eagerness of Planned Parenthood clinics in Virginia, New York and New Jersey to help sex traffickers get birth control and illegal abortions for 14-year-old illegal alien prostitutes. They offered to help them avoid legally mandated reporting and parental consent requirements.
Rep. Pence's bill is entitled the "Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act" (H.R. 217), and will deny Title X taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood and any other abortion provider.
This is the best opportunity the pro-family community has had in decades to substantially end subsidies for the largest abortion provider in the United States.
"The stipulations of God's moral law, whether known through Mosaic (written) ordinances or by general (unwritten) revelation, carry a universal and "natural" obligation that is appropriate to the Creator-creature relationship, apart from any question of redemption. Their validity is by no means restricted to the Jews in a particular time period...At the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy, when Moses exhorted the Israelites to observe God's commandments, he clearly taught that the laws divinely revealed to Israel were meant by the Lawgiver as a model to be emulated by all the surrounding Gentile nations, Deut. 4:5-8. All the nations, not just the Israelites, should follow the manifestly righteous requirements of God's law. In this respect, the justice of God's law made Israel to be "a light to the nations" (Isa. 51:4).
Unlike many modern Christian writers on ethics, God did not have a double standard of morality, one for Israel and one for the Gentiles ( cf.* Lev. 24:22). Accordingly, God made it clear that the reason why the heathen tribes were ejected from the promised land was precisely because they had violated the provisions of His holy law (Lev. 18:24-27). This fact presupposes that the Gentiles were antecedently obligated to obey those provisions. Accordingly, the psalmist condemned "all the wicked of the earth" for departing from God's statutes (Ps. 119:118-119). Similarly, the book of Proverbs, intended as international wisdom literature, directs all nations to obey the laws of God: "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people" (Prov. 14:34, see also Isa. 24:5)."
Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) is sponsoring the "Life at Conception Act" (S.91), which will define personhood from the moment of conception. Sen. Wicker has 13 co-sponsors thus far.
In Harry Blackmun's 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, he wrote that "if personhood is established, the appellant's case (i.e., 'Roe'), of course collapses, for the fetus' right to life is then guaranteed specifically by the [14th] amendment."
Under S.91, a "human person" and a "human being" includes every individual "at all stages of life, including, but not limited to, the moment of fertilization, cloning and other moment at which an individual...comes into being."
If this bill is enacted into law, it thus will not only provide protection for unborn babies, it will follow the path Justice Blackmun laid out 38 years ago for overturning Roe v. Wade, an act of judicial activism that has led to the deaths of 53 million infants before they have drawn their first breath.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-CA) has introduced a parallel bill in the House (H.R.374) which currently has 53 co-sponsors.
My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.
If they say, Come with us, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause: Let us swallow them up alive as the grave; and whole, as those that go down into the pit: We shall find all precious substance, we shall fill our houses with spoil: Cast in thy lot among us; let us all have one purse:
My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path: For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood. (Psalm 1:10-16)
"Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) and Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) just last week introduced H.R. 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act," which will permanently prohibit taxpayer funding of abortion across all federal programs.Send an email to your representatives to urge them to vote for H.R. 3.
If this bill is signed into law, you will never again be troubled by the thought that some of the money you send to the IRS is being siphoned off to kill babies in the womb.
H.R. 3 will take the language of the Hyde Amendment and put it into federal law. Since the Hyde Amendment has to be passed every year, it makes protection for unborn babies vulnerable to changes in the makeup of Congress."
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| Rock of Gibraltar |
