Worldview
The Real Meaning of Changing the Definition of Marriage
It was both interesting and agonizing to watch the legal collapse of American morals and marriage from thousands of miles away–in Asia.
I was in Mongolia and then China when the US Supreme Court changed the five thousand year definition of marriage through Obergefell vs. Hodges. Both of these Asian nations are “rising” countries where the Good News of Christ is bringing increased morality and positive changes to many peoples’ lives.
But America–my home nation–is a “falling” nation where the current rejection of our Christian heritage is breath-taking and is bringing about the demise of a once great nation.
While in Asia, I pondered the consequences of what is taking place in the United States. Here is the real meaning of changing the definition of marriage.
1. The world has changed–not to be legally renewed in my lifetime.
Changing the definition of marriage in the world’s only superpower will cause a flood of nations to follow suit in the coming years–causing the Western world to release its moorings from the Judeo-Christian traditions that made it great and prosperous. The world will dramatically change as a result by decreasing and hurting children and tearing apart the family fabric.
It’s already been fraying due to easy divorce, co-habitation, and dead-beat dads–but this could be the deathknell. And because SCOTUS wrongly legislated a “right” to same-sex marriage in the Constitution, this means that only a Constitutional Amendment (CA) can change that.
CA’s are rare. It is not likely that this decision will be reversed in my lifetime, if ever. Marriage may never be the same again on planet earth until Jesus returns to make all things new.
2. Secularism has triumphed (for the present time) in American culture.
As I pointed out in my 1989 book Leadership for the 21st Century: Changing Nations Through the Power of Serving, there are three worldviews that are battling for supremacy in the 21st century. The first is the biblical faith which is multiplying via loving persuasion in South America, Africa and Asia, but receding in the West.
The second is radical Islam which is terrorizing the world of the Middle East, North Africa and across Central Asia–trying to establish a regional or global caliphate.
The third is secularism or atheism which controls China, North Korea and Cuba via communism and many Western nations by way of secular philosophy. Atheism uses education, the media, and the power of government (especially the courts) to champion its man-centered ideas of hedonism.
The rejection of biblical, covenant marriage in the USA is a huge victory for the secular cause. The war of values will continue, but it’s uphill now for people of faith.
3. Cultural Christianity is dead in the urban cities and rural America will be forced to follow.
Though the nation is divided over the marriage issue, and the Supreme Court decided the issue prematurely via judicial fiat, the fact that marriage was altered in thirteen states and then rammed through the courts indicates that the Christian consensus on basic moral issues is a thing of the past. Our heritage of Christian truth is no longer strong enough to stop the tide of sin.
This is especially true in our cities–urban areas–which have gone secular in the past few decades. Cultural Christianity is no longer dominant by legacy or default. In many of the southern states, cultural faith is still the norm in many aspects of society, but the SCOTUS decision will force them to change. The North has defeated the South again–and this time in the battle of family morality.
The one area of the country that has been a restraint on ungodly behavior (the Southern States) will now be forced to accept the way of the world.
4. This was never about marriage, but the degrading and destroying of the image of Christ.
If we think the Obergefell v. Hodges decision was simply about marriage, our view is too narrow. No, it was the next battle in a long string of conflicts designed to degrade and destroy Christianity in American life. This is a culture war with many fronts: right to life, human sexuality, prayer in schools, Ten Commandments, the war on Christmas, morality on television and in the movies, and now marriage.
As Franklin Graham said recently, “All the things of God are under attack.” That’s true because the architect behind the degrading and destroying of biblical faith is not a human being or movement–but the Devil himself.
In America, that means we’re battling for the future of 320 million souls.
5. President Obama’s “transformation of America” is now complete.
President Obama did a major victory lap after the Supreme Court decision, and even illuminated the White House with the colors of the rainbow. This is because, whatever the motivation, his stated goal of “transforming America” is nearing completion. It contains three main elements:
- Economy – putting the USA on pathway to socialism (especially through the Affordable Care Act).
- Military – downgrading America influence in the world and weakening the military.
- Social – destruction of Christian morals (immigration, drug laws, right to life, sanctity of marriage, etc.)
6. Persecution of Christians has arrived on our shores. First silencing then sentencing.
It’s notable that even a secular progressive, Kirsten Powers, a columnist for both USA Today and the Daily Beast, has recently written a book on how the secular left wants to silence all faith-based speech in our nation. In The Silencing: How The Left is Killing Free Speech, Powers details not only how secular-progressives aim to win the war of ideas, but are committed to completely silencing anyone that disagrees.
Guess where that strategy comes from? It’s not Hollywood, but from the darker forces behind the human voices.
Because of the Satanic relationship to atheism, there is no interest in a marketplace of ideas. Just like the political arm of communism, secularists want a monopoly on speech and ideas. Increasingly, the voices of the Church and Scripture will be shouted down and removed.
After the SCOTUS decision, a number of newspapers announced they will no longer publish articles in favor of traditional marriage. The silencing has begun. So has the persecution. Bakers, florists, and anyone else who will not participate in a same sex marriage will be made to pay for their faith.
The next battles will involve outright persecution of the Church over tax exempt laws, and many other issues. Are you ready to suffer and stand up for your beliefs?
7. American exceptionalism is dead – now only a historical reality.
What made the United States of America a unique and exceptional nation for two hundred years was the blessing and fruits of its unique Christian heritage and ideals. Faith powered morality. Morality gave birth to freedom and liberty. And liberty produced success, innovation, entrepreneurship, wealth and many other blessings that came to us as a nation when we honored and followed God’s ways.
Turning away from this exceptional faith and its fruits will bring exceptional calamity to a nation that was once “the light of the world.”
As we become like other nations in turning away from God, we sabotage our unique leadership and role in the world. All that’s left is the history of exceptionalism–not the practice.
8. We are living in days parallel to Jeremiah – shallow revival then judgment.
The prophet Jeremiah lived during a time of the decline of a nation. In his early years, he participated in a glorious religious revival under the leadership of the godly King Josiah (2 Chronicles 34). But that revival was shallow–and near the end of Jeremiah’s life, the southern kingdom of Judah turned away from its God-given roots and was destroyed.
I participated in the last “American revival”–the Jesus Movement and charismatic renewal of the 1960s and 70s. It was wonderful and many lives were changed. But it also did not go deep enough to renew the biblical foundations of the American nation.
Will America experience the same fate of decline and judgment as experienced by the prophet Jeremiah?
9. God’s blessing is being removed from our nation – He is not answering our prayers.
The Harbinger by Jonathan Cahn is a prophetic book warning US citizens that God’s blessing is being removed from this nation if we do not pray, repent, and return to the Lord.
Many people are praying. I have participated in many movements of prayer in the past few years. But God is not answering those prayers because we are not turning to Him in sufficient numbers to confess our sins, change our lives, and plead for the healing of our land (2 Chronicles 7:14).
10. It is time to flee the public schools.
This may seem extreme, but changing the definition of marriage means that the secular indoctrination of the public schools will be acute during the coming years. Christian children will be persecuted, ridiculed, and labeled as bigots if they do not toe the new morality line.
It’s time for the Church to evacuate the schools for private and home education where they can train their children in God’s ways and not let them fall prey to a the worldly system. Some will stay to shine the light. But most need to flee–for their own safety and salvation.
11. This could be the Church’s finest hour. We will find out who the real believers are.
The great upside of our cultural demise is that God could use it to awaken the American Church to her finest hours of prayer, worship, evangelism, mercy and social impact. In the coming years, we will truly find out who the followers of Jesus really are. There will be no fence-sitting, no cultural Christianity.
Some may even die for their faith as they take a stand for Christ. This could be the time of America’s greatest revival–as the people of God return to Him and become channels for his power in our backslidden land.
12. The future is all about birthrates — physical and spiritual.
It is sunset in America at the present time–a time when life is ebbing. Same sex marriage will deflate both physical birthrates and spiritual ones amd increase the looming darkness.
If America is to be revived again, then we must restore the American family through a love of children and a renewal of marriage and family–and we must evangelize the nation with many through spiritual births.
Is it really sunset in America? Only God knows. The future is all about birthrates.
Which side will multiply the most?
The Gods of the Western World and Where They Are Leading Us
A few years ago I had the privilege of traveling around the USA speaking in Revive America Seminars as a part of the Impact World Tour.
One of my messages was on the subject of idolatry–something we don’t think much about in the Western World because we associate idols with altars and statues.
One Sunday in Hastings, Nebraska (it happened to be Super Bowl Sunday), I gave a message on idolatry which led to hours of repentance and confession. Many pastors even came forward to admit to their people that they’d gotten swept up in the sin of idolatry.
So what are the gods of the Western World and where are they leading us? How do I know if I’m personally involved in modern forms of idolatry?
Five thousand years of recorded human history reveal mankind’s penchant for worshipping idols or false gods:
- The Sumerians of ancient Mesopotamia are the world’s first recorded civilization (at least 2800 B.C.). Each Sumerian city was ruled by local priests who sacrificed to the gods of nature (sun, moon, rivers) and also fertility (Ishtar).
- The Egyptians were famous for their statues to the sun god (Ra) and numerous other deities. In fact, nearly all of God’s judgments upon Egypt during the Exodus were judgments against their idolatrous worship of false gods (Exodus 8-14).
- The Greek and Roman Empires ruled the known world from the ninth century B.C. to the 5th century AD. The Greek historian Herodotus (c.484-425 BC) claimed that the gods of the Greeks had been adopted from Egypt, and many modern scholars agree. Classical scholar C. Kerenyi lists 370 Greek gods that might have gone by 646 names.
- During their zenith, the Romans accepted and expanded the Greek pantheon. This led the Apostle Paul, sharing the Good News of Jesus in Roman-occupied Athens around 60 AD, to remark: “I notice that you are very religious” (Acts 17: 22). He was talking about idol worship.
- The Mayas and Aztecs, as reported by Father Bernardino de Sanhagun in the Florentine Codex, worshipped the forces of nature and supernatural and human counterparts. What stunned the Spaniards upon their arrival in the New World were the immense ritual slaughters that were taking place—human sacrifice—at regular festivals averaging 2,000 victims a day, and on special occasions, exceeding 20,000.
Those are a few glimpses of ancient idol worship. Gods and idols everywhere and even gross human suicide/murders to the idols of the day.
There is still a plethora of ancient idol worship in the modern world, especially in Africa (animism) and Asia. “Folk Hinduism” lives up to its reputation as one of the world’s largest idol-worshipping religions involving possibly 330 million gods. (That’s nearly one for every three people in India.)
John Noss explains how it works in many parts of the sub-continent:
“The ordinary villager, who in his everyday life takes no thought for the morrow of a subsequent existence, is content to worship the village gods to whom he looks for rain, bountiful harvests, and escape from plague…There are, as it were, two religions: a work-a-day religion to meet the requirements of everyday existence and a higher religion…which the ordinary man does not attempt to understand.”
I’ve been to many Hindu and Buddhist temples in that part of the world. Hundreds of millions of people in the 21st century still bow before idols and offer incense and food offerings to the gods.
Idolatry is both ancient and modern.
Here’s an important point to ponder: Human beings are the only part of creation that worships or creates idols. Land animals don’t make idols. Sea creatures don’t worship idols. No other part of animate or inanimate creation give themselves in love and devotion to gods.
Only humans.
It’s as if we were uniquely made to worship someone or something.
The Bible tells us this Someone is not the sun, moon and stars, or any part of the created world. We were designed to worship the True God who made it all. He is our Creator and also our Savior (from sin).
This brings us to the fundamental definition of idolatry: Giving supreme time, attention and affection to anything that takes the place of God.
Human beings were created with a God-shaped vacuum inside. We can either give God his rightful place in our hearts and lives (Matthew 22:37-40) or we can fill that space with other things.
Idols.
In the Western World, under the guise of science and progress, most people do not worship ancient gods and idols. Most of us don’t frequent temples and burn incense nor do we bow to pieces of wood.
But because man will worship, we have our own set of gods or idols.
One New Testament verse is the key to understanding the idols of the Western world– 1 John 2:15-17:
“Do not love the world nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the boastful pride of life is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and also its lusts. But the one who does the will of God abides forever.”
“Do not love…the things in the world.” In other words, worldly things. That’s the definition of secular–being worldly rather than spiritual minded.
Polytheistic religions like Hinduism, Buddhism and animism produce “spiritual” idols or false gods. The religion of atheism or secularism doesn’t tout spiritual things, but because of the God-shaped vaccuum in every human heart, worldly people are driven toward secular idols or gods.
Let’s call it secular idolatry. The West is full of it–and according to 1 John 2:15-17, I believe the secular idols of the West center around three (though there are many more).
1. The Idol of Sex (lust of the flesh)
Can anyone honestly deny that sex in all its forms is one of the supreme obsessions of worldly people? It is a multi-billion dollar industry on the Web and nearly half of American men admit to being addicted to pornography. What are the supermarket tabloids luring you towards? What is becoming increasingly mainstream on television and in the movies?
Sex. This secular idol’s primary “temple” is the movie theater with supermodels and movie stars being the temple prostitutes. Of course, it’s not a new form of idolatry. The Greek and Roman bathhouses were full of fornication, homosexuality and adultery during their day and a significant number of Roman citizens were bi-sexual. As pointed out by Bill O’Reilly in his best-selling book Killing Jesus, Julius Caesar was the poster child of sexual indulgence with homosexual escapades and numerous adulteries (e.g. Cleopatra).
Secularists fill their God-void by “lusting after the flesh.” Erotica is a primary god in current Western civilization.
2. The Idol of Entertainment (the lust of the eyes)
The second Western secular idol is the god of entertainment which primarily involves the eyes. We have gone from being a “giving” culture (Judeo-Christian) to a “getting” mentality which focuses on pleasure. 2 Timothy 3:1-14 says that worldly people are “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”
Pleasure comes in many forms, but entertainment is high on the list. People want to “feel good” and being entertained fits the bill in many forms including music, television, movies, and sports.
In fact, probably the most obvious temples to modern gods in the West are sports stadiums and rock concert halls.
I remember when Christians used to be called “fanatics” and sports people were “fans.” (Obviously, the first label is worse than the second.) Today, it’s reversed. Look at the people in most sports stadiums on Sundays and you will see people that really love their gods (fanatics). They wear special costumes, dye their hair, paint their faces, and shout their lungs out.
If only Western churchgoers (fans?) had such passion for the True God.
3. The Idol of Money (the boastful pride of life)
The final idol of the Secular Trinity is the one that makes everything possible–wealth or money. If personal pleasure rather than pleasing God is the emergent god of the West, then money is the ticket to its fulfillment.
Money is the substance which allows us to boast about our lives. We are keeping up with the Joneses! We have made it because we have a good job which makes us look good and provides wealth to purchase the “things” that make us happy.
Money is the new American Dream. Tony Campolo amplifies: “We want more and more of what we need less and less of.” It’s what most Westerners live for–a comfortable lifestyle fueled by wealth that allows them to pursue hedonistic pursuits.
Generations ago American towns and cities were built around churches i.e. the centrality of worship to God. The cathedrals of today are not churches (they’ve been buried by the skyscrapers). They are shopping malls, areas of commerce, and high-rise temples of Wall Street finance.
And you thought that Europe and America had become irreligious? Abandoned all gods?
Nope. People will worship. It’s just that the gods have changed. They’re not made of wood or stone. They’re made of flesh, celluloid and paper and we lust after them with our bodies, eyes, and bank accounts.
Of course, it their proper place, all these things are fine. Sex is wonderful in a godly marriage; We all need some restful entertainment at times; Money can be used to serve God and bless people. But when these things become supreme desires, affections, and time wasters, they turn from being tools into idols.
The Super Bowl is a great example of Western idol worship. You have great athleticism (entertainment), promoted by by scantily-clad cheerleaders (sex), raking in billions of dollars in advertising (money). No wonder it’s the most watched Western TV extravaganza each year.
All three Western idols are involved.
One of the clearest truths of the Bible is that God judges all false gods or idols. He doesn’t want people to hurt themselves by worshipping things that don’t satisfy them or bring Him glory.
And where are the idols of the Western World leading us?
- Consuming sexual lust is multiplying venereal diseases and destroying the family unit.
- The opiate of entertainment is making us fat, passive and uninformed.
- The love of money is leading us to a debt-laden financial collapse of biblical proportions.
What must we do?
The book of 1 John ends with these words (1 John 5:21): “Little children, guard yourselves from idols.”
That includes Western ones.
No Character, No Justice
If you live in a cave somewhere, are spending too much time on social media, or reside in another nation besides the United States and haven’t watched television recently, you might not know that marches, riots, and looting are taking place in a St. Louis, Missouri suburb called Ferguson.
Nearly every night for a week.
One of the main slogans of the marchers is “No Justice, No Peace.” I agree with the general maxim that righteousness in society helps to encourage public tranquility, but it goes much deeper than that.
Without character, there can be no peace, justice or freedom.
Here’s why.
First of all for those of you who have not been following the news, here are the facts about a police shooting in Ferguson that launched the rioting:
- On Saturday, August 9, 28-ear old Darren Wilson, a six year veteran of the Ferguson police department, shot and killed eighteen year old Robert Brown during the middle of the day. Wilson is white and Brown was black.
- Just prior to the shooting, Brown robbed a convenience store (stealing some cigars) while bullying one of its employees. The robbery was caught on tape and released by the local police department.
- Shortly after the robbery, Wilson saw Brown walking in the middle of a street and told him to get to the sidewalk. He did not respond to the policeman and an altercation followed.
- Brown was a big teenager–six foot four inches and nearly three hundred pounds. He was unarmed at the time of shooting.
- Brown was shot six times–all bullets entering the front of his body, indicating he was facing Wilson during the skirmish. Wilson was hurt in the fight and needed medical attention at a local hospital.
- There are conflicting eyewitness reports on the altercation. A friend of Brown’s, who was walking with him when the confrontation took place, says that the policeman was the aggressor, trying to pull Brown into the squad car. After the scuffle, the friend says that they ran away from the car and then Brown put his hands up as if to surrender. According to the friend, Wilson still shot the teenager in cold blood.
- According to Officer Wilson (via a friend), he had heard on the radio of the robbery, assumed it might be Brown, and confronted him. Brown then pushed him into the car, went for his gun and it went off. Brown then ran from the car, but when Wilson told him to freeze, Brown taunted him and began racing back toward him. Fearing for his life, Brown fired six bullets until he went down.
- Brown had traces of marijuana in his system at the time of his death.
Those are the facts about the event. Notice that I have given no commentary because it is way too early to discern what really happened and who is telling the truth. That will be left to an investigation and possible court trial.
Yet many people–and even some news outlets–have already tried the police officer in the court of public opinion and and found him guilty of race-motivated murder.
How do I know that? Here are the facts of that case:
- The predominantly black community of Ferguson has marched every evening holding signs indicating their certain verdict of Wilson’s guilt and Brown’s innocence.
- Stores have been looted and ransacked in response to the clamor for “justice” i.e. guilt for Darren Wilson for murdering Michael Brown.
- Some of America’s race hustlers–like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton–have descended on Ferguson to join the marchers and stir up the crowds. Jackson even tried to raise money for his race baiting empire at a Ferguson rally. (Fortunately, the crowd booed his money-grubbing approach.)
- Both CNN and MSNNBC did stories which shared only one side of the eyewitness accounts–the one that implicated the white officer. On CNN’s wall-to-wall coverage, one commentator stated falsely that “Michael Brown was shot in the back.” No one challenged the accusation.
- President Obama took time off from his Martha’s Vineyard vacation to “ask for calm” in Ferguson. That was an appropriate thing, but he then made other statements that indicated that the killing might be racially motivated and that black young men are unnecessarily targeted in poor communities by white policemen.
- Eric Holder and fifty FBI agents have been sent to Ferguson to “get to the bottom of the case.” This seems a bit much as 20 murders take place in Chicago each week and no feds are dispatched to look into the “injustices” there.
So it appears to any fair-minded person that all of the above are trying to push race as the reason for this unfortunate death well before the facts can be learned.
To which I say, “No Patience, No Justice.”
No person, especially a police officer who puts his life on the line every day to protect our safety, should be assumed guilty for racial crimes until that is proved in a court of law.
Law and justice take time.
At least Fox News avoided the “gun-happy police” frenzy. Last night, the O-Reilly Factor shared the facts about police shootings in the United States for 2012 (the last year we have statistics). Here they are:
- In 2012, there were 12 million crimes that took place in the United State among our 320 million residents.
- 42% of those crimes were committed by whites, 34% by blacks, and 24% by Hispanics.
- Blacks are only 13% of the US population, but commit a high percent of the crimes.
- 34,000 crimes are committed everyday in the United States.
- The number of police shootings during those 34,000 daily crimes: 422.
Yes, you read that number right. Of the 34,000 times daily that American police confronted law breakers, only 1.2 percent of the time did the police use a gun.
That’s hardly being trigger happy.
There are no statistics that tell us whether those 422 shootings were committed by white or black cops. But it doesn’t matter.
Police shootings are rare–period.
So why is there such a rush to judgment in Ferguson, marches every night demanding “justice” (guilt) for white Officer Wilson when no investigation or trial is complete?
Let the investigation or courts discover who the truth. If the facts eventually show that Officer Wilson wrongfully murdered Michael Brown, then he should face stiff consequences for his crime. If the facts say that Michael Brown wrongly threatened and pummeled a police officer, and lost his life because of it, then he should not be viewed as a victim or hero.
So why do some black leaders in America rush to Missouri to create the impression that whites hate blacks, white policeman target black young men, and that we still live in segregated and discriminatory America when the facts say otherwise?
I’m sure there are a number of reasons, but most of them are not good including winning elections, padding their wallets, and preying on peoples’ fears.
None of this would be happening if we had the heart and character of a courageous black man named Martin Luther King who would certainly be denouncing the looting and rioting if he were alive today. Dr. King said that we must judge people not by “the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
So, according to MLK, here’s what should be happening in Ferguson and in the United States:
1. The marches should be peaceful. That takes character in the lives of concerned citizens.
2. There should be no looting of private property. That’s anarchy and taking advantage of the sobering events. When you see people benefiting from a tragedy for their own selfish gain, you know you are looking at devilish behavior–not godly character. Character respects the rights of others.
3. The entire nation should be patient as the wheels of justice turn and the case is settled judicially. Patience is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit and one of the essential aspects of personal character (Romans 5:3-5).
Here’s a good summary of principles to reflect on:
If there’s no patience, there can be no justice–because time is required for facts to be learned.
If there is no character in our actions, then there can be no peace–just the abuse of others.
If we refuse to live by the godly character that Dr. King espoused, then there can be no freedom in neighborhoods, cities and towns.
And a final truth: a greater degree of character, peace, and patience is produced in a nation when people have surrendered to the Lordship of Jesus who can rescue us from our selfish appetites. Even when there is patience and character, sometimes justice is not fully served on earth.
But it will be in eternity through the Prince of Peace.