Chuck Colson is sounding the alarm: The government—at the highest levels—may be attempting to redefine the very meaning of religious freedom. If what Secretary of State Hilary Clinton said in a recent speech reflects a new direction in government policy, it seems the aim is clear: To kick faith out of the public square, to send Christians into the closet.
**Note: Chuck has asked for your comments on "Speak Out with Chuck" - go here:
Chuck Colson responded to a comment from Linda Smith in the comments section concerning Roosevelt's use of the term "Freedom of Worship" in his Four Freedoms.
Thank you for your very perceptive pick-up on Roosevelt’s four freedoms. I’m old enough to remember them.
The use of the term “worship” in those days would not have had the significance it does today. There were virtually no cases threatening free exercise in the 30s and 40s. Every school had prayer and Bible studies; the presence of God was firmly lodged in our culture and in our collective consciousness.
The rash of cases attacking public expressions of religion began in the late 40s into the 50s, and then hit us like a truck in the 60s. When Roosevelt used the phrase it was interchangeable. Today it is certainly not.
Thanks. Chuck Colson
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Hmm. Newspeak is indeed alive and well. And Christians are succumbing to it. Take the term 'gay.' By our casual use of the term to mean homosexual we have allowed the Orwellian culture warriors to redefine not just an otherwise innocuous word but also the parameters of the debate. It is not just about sex with someone of the same sex but, more fundamentally, about one's pursuit of happiness--itself a term redefined. And which, as Chuck has addressed previously (see utilitarianism), been elevated to one of our society's highest moral ideals. How can we Christians call ourselves moral when we seek to deny something so precious as another's happiness? What bigots we must be!
Thus the argument has already gone and we're virtually powerless to answer it because we've succumbed to the altered meanings.
Please, please, please stop using terms like 'gay,' etc. that give the opposition an automatic head-start. Examine carefully the word choices of the opposition. And be careful in your own choice of words; they are indeed powerful--for good or evil.
Excuse me, Joe, but I believe you are wrong on all accounts when it comes to the "choice or nature" of homosexuality. I will explain:
First, no human is born a sexual being - Plain Simple Period. They are born without sexual orientation - neither straight, gay or otherwise. Except for those slim few that are born with both sexual organs but then those aren't even sexual other than those parts are used for sex when they acheive puberty.
Which brings me to my next point. Second, a human comes "into" their sexuality around the age of puberty. Plain Simple Period. The hormones that designate sexuality are not activated until then - if anything sexual occurs before the triggering of these natural hormones, then it is a learned behavior (whether deemed good or bad).
So no, you or anyone else claiming it, were not "born" gay or otherwise. Plain Simple Period FACT. Please spare us the perpetual utterance of this myth. And last time I checked heterosexuals don't find the need to define themselves by their sexual orientation, why oh why do the homosexuals feel the need to do so? Personally I have and have had friends that are gay, while I do not accept the lives they lead I love them for the person they are, as Christians should. However that does not mean that we have to make concessions for you or even special ones because of how you choose to live your personal life. If I had a business, it is my right to hire who I want based on what I believe would be good for my business and if it came down to a gay person and a straight person but the gay person would hinder my business because of their personal choices I would not hire them. My main priority and responsiblity to my business is to make sure it can prosper and grow - my employees would be responsible in that too.
And spare me the discrimination bleat. There are many people who get passed on jobs, me included, for many reasons. Affirmitive action, education, etc. Being gay or whatever doesn't instantly mean you are being discriminated against. If anything the white, christian male is the most discriminated against and I don't see them crying so hard, maybe they should.
Christian America we need to be vigilant. The world is not what it seems, We are at war, and our glory is desperately needed.
rjw -
I'm sorry that I was not clear in my last comment. I in no way meant to say that homosexuality is "inherited" as a genetic trait. I actually believe that it is either a mutation(not so likely, seeing as it happens to 10% of us) or a complex network of recessive genes that is normally "off", but is turned "on" by environmental conditions. Perhaps something similar to what makes some plants reproduce asexually and plants of the same species to have male and female plants themselves. Besides, scientists have many more bigger problems to deal with than isolating a so called "gay" gene.
I said it was similar to race, not the same. You can't turn homosexuality off, you can only hide it. But you can't turn it off in your brain, where, if kept there too long, it can eat through your happiness. Either way, hate still hurts.
Joe - There is no scientific evidence that shows homosexuality is simply "genetic." And none of the research claims there is. I appreciate your comments and believe we are all born into sin and that sin is within our nature and that only through the grace of God we are saved.
I think to equate homosexuality to the civil rights movement is being a little intellectually dishonest... at the end of the day, as a homosexual, you can at least try to control you tendencies. Not the case for the color of your skin. In other words, one is an act, the other is not.
I might have missed the distinction between freedom of worship and freedom of religion without your warning. As I see it,freedom of religion encompasses ones whole world view and cannot be separated from who an individual is or how he thinks, speaks or acts. Worship is only one facet of that.
We Christians must wake up and be counted. We must be willing to take a stand in the face of possible persecution. The progressives know they can never control the citizens of the United States so long as we serve King Jesus. This nation was founded on the principle of religious freedom, the right to be religious. That is what has made America a great nation. Without that freedom the nation will cease to exist.
Separation of Church and State is a tenet of our country's foundation and recognized by the Catholic Church:
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
As stated by Bishop Gibbons in 1887 at the Vatican about the first bishop of Baltimore, Cardinal John Carroll, a cousin to sole Catholic signer of the Declaration of Independence:
"Scarcely were the United States formed into an independent government, when Pope Pius VII established a Catholic hierarchy and appointed the illustrious John Carroll the first Bishop of Baltimore. Our Catholic community in those days numbered a few thousand souls, and they were scattered chiefly through the States of New York, Pennsylvania and Maryland. They were served by a mere handful of priests. But now, thanks to the fructifying grace of God, the grain of mustard seed then planted has grown to a large tree, spreading its branches through the length and breadth of our fair land. Where only one bishop was found in the beginning of this century, there are now seventy-five exercising spiritual jurisdiction. For this great progress we are indebted, under God and the fostering vigilance of the Holy See, to the civil liberty we enjoy in our enlightened republic.
Our Holy Father, Leo XIII, in his luminous encyclical on the constitution of Christian states, declares that the Church is not committed to any form of civil government. She adapts herself to all. She leavens all with the sacred leaven of the Gospel. She has lived under absolute monarchies, under constitutional monarchies, in free republics, and everywhere she grows and expands. She has often, indeed, been hampered in her Divine mission. She has even been forced to struggle for her existence wherever despotism has cast its dark shadow, like a plant shut out from the blessed light of heaven. But in the genial atmosphere of liberty she blossoms like a rose.
For myself, as a citizen of the United States, and without closing my eyes to our shortcomings as a nation, I say, with a deep sense of pride and gratitude, that I belong to a country where the civil government holds over us the aegis of its protection, without interfering with us in the legitimate exercise of our sublime mission as ministers of the Gospel of Christ. Our country has liberty without license, and authority without despotism. She rears no wall to exclude the stranger from among us. She has few frowning fortifications to repel the invader, for she is at peace with all the world. She rests secure in the consciousness of her stength and her good will toward all. Her harbors are open to welcome the honest emigrant who comes to advance his temporal interests and find a peaceful home.
But, while we are acknowledged to have a free government, perhaps we do not receive the credit that belongs to us for having, also, a strong government. Yes, our nation is strong, and her strength lies, under the overruling guidance of Providence, in the majesty and supremacy of the law, in the loyalty of her citizens and in the affection of her people for her free institutions. There are, indeed, grave social problems now employing the earnest attention of the citizens of the United States, but I have no doubt that, with God's blessing, these problems will be solved by the calm judgment and sound sense of the American people, without violence or revolution, or any injury to individual right."
http://www.news-medical.net/news/2006/10/23/20718.aspx
some authorities commenting on the issue of homosexuality in animals in a medical forum
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/06/05/gay-penguins-adopt005.html
a news article about two penguins in germany who refuse to mate with female penguins and when presented with an egg they cared for it as if it were their own, better than the original parents who threw it out of their nest
all this and more in about twenty seconds of internet searching
it happens
You are correct I beleive. Words are important and they know it. Worship and religion, very different.
As for the " homosexuality in nature " While I can't address all species I can tell you in dogs it is a matter of dominance, not sex. People some times appy human emotions to amimals that is not there. We have to be vigilant. Freedom is a right but it seems it has to be fought for in this world of ours. It can be lost, look at history.
Mrs Pierce, I appreciate your appeal to fairness, but all slavery, exploitation, genocide, etc throughout history has been based on unfair discrimination. Mankind has shown that treating other groups unequally is the norm rather than the exception. I do not follow the U.N. closely, but to the casual observer it seems to be moving away from what I would consider Christian principles.
Second, I don't pretend to understand Revelation precisely, but it is hard to miss the message that things will get pretty bad during the end times. My gut feeling is that the end times aren't that far away. We need to develop a sense of urgency about being the light of the world (and I absolutely include myself in that)!
Third, I have come to appreciate the value of "watchmen" like Mr. Colson. I have seen "little things" develop into "big things" too many times to discount the prophetic warnings we recieve. I do not have the gift of foresight, but I recognize it when it is shown to me. Chuck, Keep up the good work!
Chuck.
I'd like to clarify some things for you. From your speech it seemed to me that you think that homosexuality is a choice. I'm sorry, but this is just not true. Why would anyone decide to endure so much pain and suffering and discrimination and hatred (from themselves and from others). It would be pain almost akin(though now thankfully it is better) to being an African American in the Jim Crow South. A person doesn't choose what race they are born as, what family they are born into, what financial status they will be born into, what neighborhood, etc., AND a person does NOT choose what sexual orientation they are at birth. Anyone who thinks that it is a choice (or worse, can be "cured")obviously hasn't been there themselves. A choice is choosing to wear a red shirt to work instead of a blue one, not choosing whom you fall in love with. It is possible for people to be confused and take the wrong path, and that's fine. That's a part of life and growing up. In nature, homosexuality has been well documented and found all over the world. Have these animals been taught to be homosexuals? If so, who taught them? If your answer is humans, then who taught humans? no one. It just happens. So stop treating something that isn't a choice as something as bad as pedophilia and rape. It's like saying that babies that have a disability at birth should be euthanized. (and I'm guessing you're not a big Peter Singer fan, but I may be wrong as you seem to favor the indirect death of vulnerable and confused GLBTQQ teenagers who kill themselves just because they are told that they are worthless and insignificant and that they have made the choice to be GLBTQQ and they try to change that and find that they cant, so they kill themselves. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want a world with suicide and infanticide in it, right?)
The right to not be discriminated against for something you were born with IS a human right, one that is not met for almost all minorities.
There are many more causes that you could benefit with your efforts than to fight the movement for rights for GLBTQQ people. I am asking you not to fight, but instead to help. It's fine if you still don't believe that homosexuality is NOT a choice, but please, your efforts can be much better spent. I'd hate to see your reputation be flushed down the toilet because you spent your time hating instead of loving.
- your harmless GLBTQQS (this one includes straight, fyi) person
Chuck, I appreciate very much your 2-minute warning on freedom of worship versus freedom of religion. In your Breakpoint article, it was very clarifying for me to read Nina Shea's comment that freedom of worship [alone] "excludes the right to raise your children in your faith...the right to...elect your religious leaders, to carry out charitable activities, to evangelize, [and] to have religious education or seminary training." I am not sure that the administration intends ALL of that by using that language, but it would seem to be trying to move in a constricting direction, and I for one think we should make a point of insisting on the Bill of Rights language on such an important and nuanced issue. Thank you!
Chuck--
I respect and listen to you regularly and one thing among many I value about you is your lack of overstatement.
However this time I question it. At the end of the warning you mention "while you still can" referencing our First Amendment freedom. This clearly sounds like our loss of this freedom is imminent which unless you can provide reason for the imminency smacks of a huckster trying to get more donations--you are better than that.
Your questioning our leaders use of terms in a subtle "Newsspeak" way are probably right however be careful not to do the same--it will discredit you to the discerning listener.
Hi Chuck! I totally see the difference between freedom of worship and freedom of religion.
This is scary stuff.
We could lose our right to free exercise of our faith.
Lord help us and our country!
How can the U.N. ban any one religion's holy books without having to ban them all? BY WHAT REASONING could they be convinced to ban The Gospels ONLY, as one person here stated in a comment, and not all the other religions' holy books as well? If the U.N. were to ban one religion's holy books, why wouldn't they also be required to ban ALL other religions' holy books? (In the name of equality and fairness?) Wouldn't anyone in the U.N. see the discrepancy in this? BY WHAT REASONING COULD THEY BE HYPNOTIZED to discriminate against any one religion and not all the rest? After all, don't most people these days believe that most religions are equal? Well if they think that's true, then how could the U.N. justify discriminating against any one of them in particular? Just a hypothetical question I'm trying to figure out. BTW - Ditto for The U.S. government ever banning anything Christian "in the public square". If Christianity were to be banned "from the public square", not only would they have then effectively torn down our Constitution - and thereby we'd no longer be a Constitutional Republic anyway - wouldn't the U.S. govt. be required to also ban all other religions "from the public square" also? What happened to equality? Will they have then lost the battle on equality?
Last night, July 4, 2010 my wife and I were on the west lawn of the Capitol in Washington, DC for the fireworks, and the 30 anniversary of the National Symphony Orchestra concert preceding the fireworks. Among the remarks of the M.C., an Obama White House Official, was a reference to the "freedom of worship" as one of the basic rights of all Americans. I had just listened to Chuch Colson's "Two Minute warning" about this "newspeak." It was chilling to have such a reminder of the slippery slope we are on to diminish, and ultimately deny the "rights" guaranteed by our U.S. Constitution. I had just posted his "two minute warning" on my FACEBOOK account....something I recommend everyone do as well. The First Amendment freedoms all tie together:
This amendment has these four important safeguards for the American people. (1) Congress must not set up any religion for the nation. It must not keep you from practicing whatever religion you prefer. 2) Congress cannot stop you from saying, writing, or printing almost anything you like. 3) Congress cannot keep you from meeting peaceably with other people to talk about anything you like. 4) Congress cannot keep you from asking your government to correct something that you think is wrong.
Using the Bible as our authority, and the U.S. Constitution as our guide in this age, we have the right to assemble in our churches, preach against homosexuality, or abortion, write about it, talk about it, tell the world about it if we so choose. The right to "worship" Implies a personal action that would be extremely limiting for Christians in America. If substituted for "religion it would virtually destroy our houses of worship, radio and tv broadcasts, and even our home church movements. Thank God for Charles Colsons warning. May we all take heed before it is too late.
Robert W. Sweet, Jr.
Senior Staff Member (Retired)
White House Office of Policy Development
Reagan Administration (1981 - 88)
Dear God,
i lift up this situation to you and ask for your hand in it, as these battles are not won of might, but by YOUR Spirit. Please help us to understand PURE AND UNDEFILED RELIGION IN YOUR SIGHT (James 1:27) lest we stand before Jesus and HE says "I was thirsty and you would not give me a drink"(Mat25:45) OH GOD HELP US TO GET OUR PRIORITIES STRAIGHT! Help us to stand together as one and focus on the most basic of human needs: FRESH WATER until it is done...before it's too late! JESUS i AM SORRY WE THE CHURCH LET YOU STARVE TO DEATH 24,000 TIMES A DAY! Please bring us together as one body, open our eyes that we may see clearly to help "the least of these" the ones that can not help themselves...not one! NOT ONE village on earth should lack access to clean water..and Father i pray that not one soul is lost, but that we ALL come to know you. If i am guilty of one sin i am guilty of them all...while i was still a sinner, Jesus died for me...i Thank you for healing me from the inside out, i thank you for YOUR Holy Spirit, please let Him flow, let Him grow, till your whole Garden is wrapped in a Heavenly Glow...in Jesus name Amen
For Christians who are "afraid of being labeled intolerant"..
Choose your words,like they do..when they say we are "homoPHOBIC" I say,"no,I'M NOT AFRAID OF THEM".
And I call them by their proper name,"sodomites".
One young girl just accused me of being a "bigot" because I said that a sodomite ,who was RAGING at a city council meeting,was "out of order & should be removed".I looked at her,very kindly & said,"I'm a bigot? You don't even know me..what's my name?..You don't even know that my daughter-in-law is black".She backed off because it was truth & I didn't attack,like they were.They don't know what to do with truth & love..
"As it was in the days of Noah"
TO "PUBLIUS HULDAH"..
BLACK REGIMENT info:Learn about the NAACP-C,led by Lloyd Marcus from Tea Party Express!
YOUTUBE:"NAACPC Tea Party (2)
United We Stand-True Faces of the Conservative Movement"
ALSO: www.ragingelephants.org
Also:YOUTUBE,"DC 9-12 Shofar",to see my friend blow his shofar in front of the Capital on 9-12!
Good comments.
Freedom to worship is indeed NOT freedom to practice religion; the latter is guaranteed in the very second clause of the Bill of Rights, the former is fluff when spoken by those that care neither about God nor our constitution.
Part of the reason why Christians are being attacked and villified is because many Christians are hesitant to respectfully express their views for fear of being labeled intolerant. If this avalanche of political correctness is to be slowed, Christian must have the fortitude to stand up and be heard.
We must also EXERCISE our GOD given rights: We must pray in public places. We must talk in public places about the Bible and what it says about polity [and God has a whole lot to say about polity].
Why the American People, including our clergy, obeyed SCOTUS's unlawful ban on public Christian speech is beyond my comprehension.
Arise, Black Regiment!
Thank you Chuck for opening up our eyes about the difference between "Freedom of Worship" and "Freedom of Religion". It has come time for the church to stand up and unite. We have far too long sat back and let the government stamp out any vestage of religion from America. We have to take our stand now, we have to get our heads out of the sand and stop thinking that our government is going to take care of us and things will be okay. I often state to my children and to friends, "What God are we going to serve?" "The one we make up or the one and only true God?" Are we going to make the government our God? That is what they are trying to do. Wake up Now my brothers and sisters in Christ! We must stop this now or we will lose our rights to enter our church house. Take note from China and the other countries where they have to go underground to have church services, this my friends are where we are headed. Pray, seek God's face, let us turn from our wicked ways, and let God heal our land, our homes and our churches. I pray most earnestly that God will help us now in our time of need, that we like the hebrews in Egypt need to be set free from pharoah.
Yes, Hillary Clinton's words are carefully chosen. It is as serious as Rev. Colson says.
The following paper shows the "original intent" of the "establishment clause" of the First Amendment; and shows how the US Supreme Court redefined that term in order to [unlawfully] ban Christian speech from the public square. Theirs was a monstrous lie and usurpation. And the American People submitted.
No more!
http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/category/separation-of-church-and-state/
colson states that 'freedom to love who we love' no more legitimizes gay marriage than bigamy, incest and pedophilia. he should add to that prostitution. it is evident to me that part of all this sexual revolution is prostitution, which is always on the team against christianity. i think many of the populace are afraid to say NO to prostitution or YES to a constitutional amendment barring states or communities legalizing it.
most of all, i think one of the reasons this has never come up is that most of the male politicians do not want to admit they tried it.
Chuck's clarion call as a watchman on the wall is properly and clearly declared.
We Christians have a sad, recent history of oscillating between two poles: (1)withdrawal from the world and (2)identifying with the world. We are in the world but not of it -- and that means we are in the world to serve Christ through the ministry of the Gospel to the world in both word and deed.
As citizens who are called to love both our neighbors and our enemies, we cannot and must not dodge our political responsibilities that derive from our being made in the Image of God. Those tyrants who would reduce our freedoms for their own purposes of dominance and exploitation wage an assault upon that very image that makes all men human and responsible.
For the love of God and the love of neighbor, we dare not shirk our duty to protect and preserve one another, including our enemies, against their demonic drive to deny God's Lordship and, instead, assert the dominance of their egos. If we cannot proclaim the Love and Lordship of Almighty God, we are left to grovel at the feet of those who enslave us. Moses was called to deliver the people from Pharaoh. Christ delivered us from Satan's bondage, and we are to stand as well against the machinations that would make all men slaves -- it is a Christlike duty and sacrifice so to do!
Yes, the days are evil and we are not, in this country, accustomed to the kind of servitude that is looming on our horizon. If we have not the courage to stand in these relatively easy days, how shall we serve in the face of the threat of life and limb for our faith in Christ??
Christ is coming, that is sure. Until then we must act as Christian men and women, enduring the assault and, having done all, remain standing! Only then will we hear his definitive judgment: "Well done, you good and faithful servant!" With that judgment all other pain and pleasure is put in proper perspective. We live and die in the hope of the Resurrection, and the fear of man brings a snare.
Well done, Chuck!
Dave Stephens
I am very grateful to Mr. Colson for pointing out the distinction. Certainly, the free exercise of religion secured for us by the First Amendment is much more than freedom of worship. However, Secretary of State Clinton is not the first to use this phrase. FDR used similiar wording in his Four Freedoms speech. "The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world." Franklin D. Roosevelt, 1/6/1941
While it's true that language evolves over time, the whole notion of first principles is that they do not. As Mr Colson wisely points out, Freedom of Religion is a first principle of our nation and as such merits our unqualified support. I thank him for being vigilant and am inspired to be moreso myself.
I one day hope that the people who call themselves "Christians" will one day wake up to the fact that when it all boils down to it America is just like Rome it is just like Egypt. It is a nation. There is only one Promised Land and it is Israel. I do not understand how so many preachers’, theologians’, and people who read their Bibles cannot figure out that this is supposed to happen. The Church has no idea of who it is, it has no idea of what is the purpose of it is, and the sheep are wondering around at the foot of the mountain building a golden calf to worship God. Did not God say that the times will be like Noah? Well what was Noah’s day like? And if this is true, then who got on the boat? The ones who listened and obeyed and understood what was happening? Why can’t the leaders or the Sheppard’s figure out that the harvest is coming? Why can’t they not figure out that God is moving in the hearts of these people to drive the people who say with their mouths they love the lord but their actions are far from Him back to Him? America is fallen and is a nation no matter what it used to be, and before you say look how blessed we are to be Americans, Oh God is really blessing over 50 million Abortions? Oh God is really blessing the most violent country on the planet? God is really blessing a church that has over 3,000 different versions of Him? Believe whatever you want to believe. But the truth is that you are a resident of the kingdom of Heaven, and a foreigner on earth. And you are a part of Israel, and Israel is Christ, and Christ is Israel so you belong to Israel just as you belong to Christ because the body of Christ is Israel. So if you look like Christ you like Israel, and if you look like Israel you look like Christ, in ordered for this to be true you have to walk as Christ walked, and this is why and what the commandments of God are for to guide Israel to walk as He walked. But if the Sheppard’s are telling you that you do not have to obey the commandments of God then you cannot walk as He walked because they are teaching you that the old testament walk is not for you, but in all reality Christ walked the old testament walk, because the old was always teaching, witnessing, and guiding to walk as He walked. The old is the new, the old is the blue print and the new is the House and the chief builder always follows the blue print. So the result of this teaching and the straying away from the truth is that Christians and the Jews worship God their way not His way, and that Israel cannot be a true witness of Christ. And therefore they do not understand what is happening because they are not guided by the truth, but they are guide by their own truth. Do you keep the feast of the Lord? No, why? But those feast that we as Christians want nothing to do with teach about God’s plan, and since we do not know them we do not understand them so we do not see what is happening? So the Sheppard’s are lost and the sheep are all over the place, building there golden calf’s do it their own way. The last feast is coming we should be rejoicing the wedding and the bridegroom is coming? We are going to see Him face to face, but what are we doing trying to save America a nation, instead of preparing like the virgins in Matt 25. He is coming wake up and be prepared it is not about our rights, and America it is all about the Chosen people, Israel and the harvest, and the wedding. Wake up!!!!!!!
I am not surprised by the actions of those who would directly attack the beliefs of Christians especially those held by Catholics. I have been observing worldwide events chronicling the continued secularization of the global society. In fact, we have been living inthe time that St Paul describes in the first chapter of Romans where men will lust for men and women for women. As for the time when we as Catholic Christians will lose our access to our churches and to the Eucharist, that day may well be coming sooner than we think. For about 20 years, our Lord has been speaking to a man in Rochester,New York and warnin him that there may come a time when we will have to avoid public places because of the danger of arrest and imprisonment.
The homosexual agenda is being covered by a "civil rights" mantra. However, according to a study by a well known Swiss sociologist in the 1990s they make a median salary beter than most people in the US and in the world and they are very influential politically pushing their agenda wherever possible. Those that were homosexual in Greece and Rome were pagan, not Christian. It is illogical for them to argue that they are the same as a normal family and as a married couple. God made male and female, not homosexual and lesbian or any other deviant sexual orientation. To say they are being treated like like those were involved in the Civil Rights movement during the 1960s is offensive and appalling. Nothing could be furthere from the truth. We as Christians should be united in standing against this agenda, but we are not. Unfortunately, we have some brthers and sisters who accept and provide access to the homosexual in allowing them to marry or have civil unions. It is one thing to have an orientation, but is quite another to act it out in daily life. We need to encorage programs like Courage to help them stay chaste and reject living the homosexual lifestyle. We also need to love and have compassion for all people and correct them when it is needed in love as Our Lord did. In fact, Our Lord recently told a friend of mine in a message on Pentecost Sunday that there was not nearly enough love in the church and that we were created with infinite love, to be loved and to love. Jesus also said to love the Fathere with all your heart, allow HIs love to fill yout heart and know and believe always that you are loved!
Peace! God Bless!
Ronald Plamondon
PLEASE READ THE LAST TWO PARAGRAPHS!!
Dr. Michael Youssef - Guest Columnist - 6/29/2010 8:50:00 AM
Michael YoussefEvery freedom-loving person should be extremely alarmed at the dreadful trend of silencing Christians from the streets of London to the streets of Dearborn, Michigan. In both places, Christians were arrested and imprisoned for preaching the gospel on public streets...in what Muslims considered to be Islamic territories.
When four young Christian men were recently arrested and imprisoned in Dearborn, Michigan, for witnessing to their faith at an Islamic festival, it was hailed as a victory in some Islamic circles -- sharia law has come to America.
Never mind the First Amendment...this is the beginning of its demise by overwhelming Islamic ideology that is hell-bent on silencing Christians and Jews from speaking of their faith.
In Arab countries where Christians make up a sizeable minority, Christians are not allowed to speak of their faith outside of the church walls. Now it is happening in America's heartland.
The silencing, humiliation, and reduction of Christians and Jews to second class citizens is as old as Islam itself. This Islamic doctrine is known as the "Dhimmis". It was articulated and implemented by "Omar," the second successor of their prophet Mohammad. He articulated this doctrine when he invaded Christian lands in an effort to subjugate Christian residents who were captured by the sword.
This is the third wave of Jihad. The first wave was in the middle 600s. The second wave was by the Turks in the 1700s. In this third wave, Muslims believe they can advance by taking advantage of Western ignorance of their ideology coupled with Western sympathies and a penchant for fairness.
To add insult to injury, the Counsel of Islamic Nations is pushing hard in the United Nations to implement an international law that would OUTLAW the PREACHING of the GOSPEL ANYWHERE in the WORLD. As if this is not chilling enough, the Dearborn incident is now considered to be a good omen for Islamic take over.
Unless freedom-loving people wake up now, their children will wake up to discover that they are living under sharia law.
i am thankful for chuck colson and others like family research council and rod parsley who are being a voice in defense of our freedoms. we all need to stand up and be prayer warriors and culture warriors, none of us who call ourselves believers in the Lord Jesus Christ can be silent. It is all of our duties to speak up, vote for conservatives who respect our constitution. we all need to sign petions, write and call our reps. defend liberty for the sake of our children and grandchildren. May America bless God
I also clicked the link & read Geo. Weigel's article for more examples...I urge everyone reading this to do so...because Weigel adds detail and examples which back up Mr. C's claim!
Quote from the Weigel article...
"Religious freedom, rightly understood, cannot be reduced to freedom of worship. Religious freedom includes the right to preach and evangelize, to make religiously informed moral arguments in the public square and to conduct the affairs of one’s religious community without undue interference from the state. If religious freedom only involves the freedom to worship, then, as noted above, there is “religious freedom” in Saudi Arabia, where Bibles and evangelism are forbidden but expatriate Filipino laborers can attend Mass in the U.S. embassy compound in Riyadh.
In its glory years, the State Department’s human rights bureau was a stalwart friend of those brave men and women in communist countries who were asserting, in addition to their right to worship, their rights as believers to be fully participant in society..."
***
My first reaction to Mr. C's warning was...He was reading too much into Ms. Rodham-Clinton's comments...
But then I read the Weigel article (for more examples) and I reflected on how AGGRESSIVELY current politicians (and their professor counterparts AND their college text writing counterparts) have been pushing for extreme LGBT agendas (including hints around the edges for the "right" for adults to sleep with children)...
Sexual activists are going way beyond a reasonable protection of adult human rights and choices LGBT persons and the rest of us equally deserve.
...And they have been hammering religious practices and freedoms also...because the doors and walls (I think) which protect the young and innocent are mainly built up and buttressed...by many religious institutions.
*****
ANCIENT history (as I remember) holds some clues to the horrors of a free rein society where the strong can mutilage the weak as they wish. (Particularly ancient Greek-Roman societies...)
My modest knowledge of ancient history illuminated some of Paul's writings. He (as a Roman citizen, a Jewish scholar, and as a person seeing and living in that society) would have observed lots of behaviors where the strong dominate (& destroy) both the weak...and themselves...
Some in Christianity were formerly the abused weak (maybe former youths sold into slavery to be an old man's playtoy) or even the former abusers...who themselves were enslaved emotionally to practices which were destroying the core of their inner selves....I don't have the Bible verse here, but there are hints of these great deliverances to faith in Christ and reconnection with others--- in Paul's letters!!!
PS have any of you scanned your kid's college texts lately? One of my daughter's texts "evangelizes" for gay marriage...Doesn't present a logical case...just preaches gay marriage.
(Too many college kids can be revved up to follow any cause profs preach on...They don't question profs apparently!!!)
final thot Why are college students IGNORING the poor, oppressed around them? Hint - In most cases, it is the persons in the inner city, the women,girls, boys forced into human trafficking...to name a few truly oppressed persons!!!
"Signed"
Mother of a Boy Scout (!!!)
i have known our freedom of religion is coming to an end for some time now. i even had dreams of this as a child. When Mr. Colson said we might think he's going over the top, i understood completely. So very many people, (mostly Christians) think and even say, "oh, that'll never happen" Sometimes i feel like screaming, "Wake Up!"
My other plans of action will be to continue to pray, study, learn and share. i am making a commitment to the Catholic Church, (the 2nd commitment i've ever made in my forty four years)but as a mother i fear. How many more generations do we have left? one? two? none. God help us.
In the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.
I heard this first on our radio station during the noon news. I never would have thought the subtle difference between freedom of religion and freedom of worship could have such implications. Thank you for opening my eyes to this danger. I plan on sharing this.
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