On June 15th the secretary of defense personally thanked gay and lesbian members of the U.S armed forces and subsequently relayed the military’s intention to mark the month as “Gay Pride” month. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, “Now you can be proud to serve your country, and proud of who you are”. It is interesting that the military has not announced, “Traditional Family Marriage Pride Month” or “Celibate Singles Pride Month” or how about “Faithful Chaplain Pride Month” for a group of individuals serving for over 200 years along with those defending the nation in which we live. The easy answer to that last “interesting” statement is that those groups just mentioned are not clamoring for recognition and in a culture run amok they are actually seen as holding back how “progressive” we are becoming. How very sad. Anyone with any discernment at all can see through the efforts of our President to motivate a growing voting bloc, which began with the repeal of, “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” last year. Perhaps the most troubling aspect of the Pentagon’s announcement, which was largely uncovered by most media outlets, is that there is very little concern with average Americans.
This should cause us a bit of alarm, for it shows how warped our sense of priority has become in the land of the free and the home of the brave. What most people are concerned about happens to be how much money we have in our accounts and how much access we have to comfort. Make no mistake about it we Americans will vote not based on faith, justice or truth, but will justify voting for the lesser of two evils for our own economic bottom line or how much comfort we feel we need. Just so you know that I am an equal opportunity offender I cite the potential Republican Nominee for president for a statement made for political expediency. A few weeks ago, Mr. Romney said he was basically against gay marriage, yet when asked about gay adoption he said, “I’m fine with it”. A day later he was asked about the statement and went on to explain that it’s legal in most states and “I was simply acknowledging it was legal”. If this is the case then why did he not just say it the day before? Simply put he got caught with his foot in his mouth and now was taking heat from his voting bloc, can you say dishonesty? My eleven year old son was able to see that his denial of gay marriage was contradicted by his statement on gay adoption, yes he is eleven. This is what American politics have become… us voting for the lesser of two evils. How has that worked for us?
It has amazed me how Catholics, whose own Church teaches the inherent value of life and the sanctity of marriage, will vote for men and woman who put forth policies that destroy both of these blessings from God Himself. It is equally amazing to me that Evangelical conservatives will vote for a man whom follows a faith that is antithetical to their own for the sake of their own pocket book or so the other guy does not win. In case you feel I over reach in my assessment let me quote from the Word of God… “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed Galatians 1:8-9”. This clearly teaches that if another Jesus is preached than that which the Word of God declares, he or she is to be cast off. Mormonism (Mr. Romney’s Religion) is fundamentally another Gospel, and instead of truthfully dismissing him months ago, evangelical voters want him as president. The problem with evangelical Christians is we too can lay aside God’s instruction when our comfort is at stake, and with this candidate that is exactly what’s happening.
In essence we come back to the original problem with the Pentagon statement on their gay pride month. Because we have consistently said yes to people who clearly compromise what we hold morally dear we have been left with a society that is not moved by the evil going on right under its nose. Perhaps a little historical context is necessary. There are three factors inherent in most superpower nations or empires signaling their decline; Erosion of civil liberties for those with moral foundation for life, Devaluation of human life (The onset and subsequent acceptance of abortion and euthanasia) and a significant moral decline (usually culminating in cultural acceptance and legal protection for sexually immoral and wicked behavior). If we look at our nation we can see these three factors, yet many are trumpeting it as signs of being freer. The problem is our definition of freedom. We define freedom as the right to do whatever I want as long as it does not hurt anyone else, but what we don’t want to deal with is the truth that our choices are never made in a vacuum. Like a rock dropped into a pool of water that produce far reaching ripples, the decisions to seek freedom and financial security at any cost has brought us to a tipping point. Our free choices will eventually with their ripple’s effect those around us. God’s definition of freedom is to no longer be slaves to our own selfish desires, free essentially to put others before ourselves. This can only take place in humbly acknowledging our selfishness and turning to the God who can end this slavery for individuals and nations, through Jesus Christ.
The scripture declares that the nations are a drop in the bucket to God; a nation that reverences His Person and regards His Word is blessed, a nation that does not is judged. This judgment is not necessarily a violent overthrow or cataclysmic natural disaster (although it could be), but essentially the removal of His provision, protection and blessing. This is like a plant that little by little dies throughout the late summer and early fall yet continues with some foliage, until the hard wind in a few days, exposes its barrenness and the death that crept for a while unnoticed. This is where our nation is headed.
We would be hard pressed to ever find a nation and or empire who celebrated its militaries sexually immoral people as we have just done, yet our leaders will announce proudly, “God Bless America” as if to demand the Holy God must bless what is wicked to Himself. What a sad time in the history of the United States of America. In this Election season many a prospective candidate will say, “America’s best days lie ahead”. This can only be the case if we stop voting for what is the lessor of two evils, and recognize that the God who revealed Himself in the Person and work of Jesus Christ is calling us to our humble ourselves and pray and turn from our wicked ways. His promise is to hear, return and heal our land… Oh the sweet thought of that promise coming to our nation.
Many will say that our right to vote is a sacred blessing from God and I could not agree more, therefore how can we cast our lot with a person whom we do not trust and know will govern by which wind of opinion will keep him in office. In this election season, vote your conscience, if you are a follower of Jesus pray for God to bring our nation a humble and heartfelt return to Him, not a glorious past, but to a present where we find ourselves casting our lot on the only One who can change a nation.
Brother, how you spoke the truth! I really enjoy reading your Defying Gravity.
Brother Andrew
Pastor Mike — I tried to find articles about this today and you are right … this was not “big news” apparently. I would think it was purposefully hidden in the news so it could just quietly go into effect. How very sad that we are being taught to be so tolerant of everything.. with people being made to believe that we should accept that “anything goes”. I also couldn't find any stories about the military no longer making Bibles available. Maybe we will have to do parachute drops here soon. kind of scary.
To find articles one the defense secretary and “Gay Pride Month”, simply put in the name Leon Panetta military Gay Pride in your search engine. Romney articles can be found by searching the Christian Post online news web site