Changing the Meaning of Words

Much could be said, and much will be said and written about the Supreme Court's decision on the "same-sex marriage" issue. The following statement by Chief Justice Roberts sums up the legal situation quite well.

"This court is not a legislature … Whether same-sex marriage is a good idea should be of no concern to us. Under the Constitution, judges have power to say what the law is, not what it should be … The fundamental right to marry does not include a right to make a State change its definition of marriage … Five lawyers have closed the debate and enacted their own vision of marriage as a matter of constitutional law…" (Chief Justice Roberts).

This statement is well-thought out and well-reasoned. However, it is interesting to note that the Chief Justice used almost the exact opposite reasoning in his opinion on Obama Care. We need justices who will consistently interpret what the Constitution says, not what they want it to say. “Words mean things."

The bottom line on the "same-sex marriage" decision is that no court, not even the Supreme Court, has the right or authority to change the definition of marriage. God originated marriage, and His definition is the only valid one. Our government has now given "hearty approval" (Romans 1:32) to something of which God does not approve, and more than that, He calls it sin.

Truth is not determined by what people like or what makes them feel comfortable. It doesn't really matter if people don't like the truth. Truth is truth. God's Word is truth (John 17:17), and it would be very wise for those in leadership of our nation to heed that reality before it is too late.

When Truth Has Perished - by Ed Cardwell

Jer 7:28 ^NAS

More than 25 centuries ago the Lord God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah to a nation that was collapsing under the weight of its moral and spiritual depravity.

Anyone should be able to read Jeremiah and make the comparison with the cultural climate of our own time.  Even now one can witness firsthand from the comforts of his own living room what happens to a nation after only 2 or 3 generations of denigrating God and even evicting Him from every aspect of society.

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Here are a few of his characterizations of a people who had lost their source of strength and their crown of glory:

To begin, the Divine indictment:

“For My people have committed two evils:

They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters,
To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns,
That can hold no water.” ^{Jer 2:13 NAS}

1.  They left their God, the One who set them high above all the nations of the earth and who showered them with untold riches and blessed their land beyond compare.  His commandments became tedious and boring, and in time they removed His law from their public institutions, from their seats of learning, from their courts, from their daily activities and amusements – and ultimately from their hearts!

2.  They substituted a moral code more suited to their passions.  They devised fanciful doctrines that appealed to their fallen nature, and they taught them throughout their culture.  They turned to sensuality and sought to become like the heathen nations around them.   

“And they bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me.” ^{Jer 9:3}

In order to sustain this philosophical perversion that has crept into their once great nation, they must create a culture of corruption of the truth.  In time lies become the mainstay of government, education, and the media.  To prevent their demagoguery from assault, they attack all opposition viciously, and at the same time show themselves benefactors of the populace with mountains of largesse from the national treasury.  To sustain their power they promise lifelong prosperity to all citizenry and by deception mortgage their futures with staggering debt.  Lies are the keystone to their hold on power, and they even brag about their cunning.

“For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is greedy for gain, And from the prophet even to the priest Everyone deals falsely.” ^{Jer 6:13}

Materialism is rampant and has become the true motive behind every thought, act, and judgment at all levels of  society.  Theft, fraud, and embezzlement are rationalized, even celebrated.

“The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, And what kind of wisdom do they have?” ^{Jer 8:9}

The ignorance and incompetence of national leaders has become truly daunting.  They speak as if they have the answers for everything, but they have the solutions to nothing.  They are the blind guides leading their constituencies to national ruin.  They offer words of hope, but their words are seductive and devoid of truth.

“And they heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, 'Peace, peace,' But there is no peace.” ^{Jer 8:11}

Mental disorders, frustration, and despair continue to rise as the ‘good’ life of godlessness remains deceptive and the answers to the problems of the soul illusory.  Enemies sense the resulting weakness and grow ever bolder in their threats to conquer and destroy.

“This is the city to be punished, In whose midst there is only oppression. As a well keeps its waters fresh, So she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard in her; Sickness and wounds are ever before Me.”  ^{Jer 6:6,7}

 Ignoring the severe consequences of their secular society and refusing to believe that the God of their fathers is even relevant, the spiritual vacuum that has been created invites the Adversary to run amok throughout the land in helping to destroy the very citadels of culture and civilization.  Violence and bloodshed, terror and despair, and confusion and ruination now rule on the streets and in the hearts of men.

“An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: 
The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule on their own authority;
And My people love it so!
But what will you do at the end of it?  ^{Jer 5:30-31}

As long as the illusion of benefits continues flowing and there are ample amusements for distraction, the lies are tolerated and the consequences of the extermination of Truth are ignored. Annihilation and oblivion will soon follow as night follows day, and there shall be no remedy.

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I have forsaken My house, I have abandoned My inheritance; I have given the beloved of My soul Into the hand of her enemies. ^{Jer 12:7}

After their callous refusals of the Lord’s steady appeals to return to Him, the Source of their national strength and majesty, He finally leaves this perpetually stubborn and stiff-necked people to their own evil devices. And as the curtain falls on their collective ruin, this sad commentary concludes their precipitous descent from supreme greatness and national independence.

There has always been an antidote, a cure from this paralyzing decay of the national soul.

God pleaded with this people time and again to turn back from their reckless obstinacy.  Through the prophet Ezekiel, Jeremiah’s contemporary, He pleads:

“As I live!' declares the Lord God, ‘I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways! Why then will you die, O house of Israel?” ^{Ezekiel 33:11}

It is not imperative that we persist in this same path to destruction.  It is not a universal law that the citizens can have no say in their ultimate destiny.  But the volumes of history are strewn with empires ravaged by the natural consequences of their own destructive godlessness.  As the Psalmist wrote millennia ago: 

"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. ^{Psalm 9:17 KJV}

But there remains hope still, and God’s faithful among us hold the key.

“By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.” ^{Pro 16:6 KJV}

Absurd and Dishonest Political Advertising, Part 2

I recently received a piece of mail that is an insult to the intelligence and common sense of anyone who might read it. Some politicians must think all voters are stupid. The content of the document is an appeal to vote “no” on Amendment 67, which reads as follows:  “Shall there be an amendment to the Colorado constitution protecting pregnant women and unborn children by defining ‘person’ and ‘child’ in the Colorado criminal code and the Colorado wrongful death act to include unborn human beings?"

 

Clearly, the amendment is a necessary first step in protecting unborn children from abortion by defining them as human beings, which of course, they are. It is a sad commentary on our culture that such a question is even open to debate. In reality, there is no legitimate abortion debate. It is not a political issue. Rather, it is a moral issue, and human beings cannot by a vote overrule God. Truth and morality are not determined by popular opinion or majority vote.

 

The tactics of those who oppose the amendment are extremely deceptive and absurd, but it seems that “truth in advertising” does not apply to politics.

 

The piece of propaganda I received makes several statements, as follows:

1.)  “Amendment 67 goes too far and would have dangerous consequences.”

 

2.)  “‘Unborn human being’ is a red flag for giving legal and constitutional rights to a woman’s fertilized egg, banning all abortions, including in the cases of rape, incest, or when something goes terribly wrong with a pregnancy.”

 

Notice that list of circumstances never does mention “elective abortion for the purpose of birth control,” which is most certainly the majority of abortions. I am old enough to remember when the big push to legalize abortion made the claim that it was necessary because of rape, incest, birth defects, or the health of the mother was at risk. It is interesting how those things put together make up only a very small percentage of all abortions. People were sold a bill of goods back in the 60’s. Anyone who said the "slippery slope" would lead to abortion becoming a popular form of birth control was labelled "an alarmist," but they were, in the end, proven right. The website gotquestions.org/ states the following:  “Over 95 percent of the abortions performed today involve women who simply do not want to have a baby. Less than 5 percent of abortions are for the reasons of rape, incest, or the mother's health at risk.”

(http://www.gotquestions.org/abortion-Bible.html#ixzz3Gj8aF7KP)

 

3.)  “Amendment 67 could cause doctors and midwives to be charged and jailed for crimes as extreme as manslaughter and even homicide … Amendment 67 turns women and doctors into criminals.” Beneath that statement are pictures of four women in a police line-up, each holding a sign.

 

The first woman’s sign says, “Had an abortion after I was raped.” Obviously, many people accept this as a justification for abortion. However, even though abortions performed because of rape are very few, it is difficult to understand how the killing of an unborn child is justifiable. Two wrongs never make a right. I am reminded of the statement by the main character in the movie “Rob Roy” after he found out his wife was pregnant as a result of rape:  “It's not the child that needs killing.” Even though this came from Hollywood, which is not exactly a center for the pro-life position, his point is well-taken. Punish the criminal, not the victim. Even if one accepts the validity of the first woman’s sign, which I don’t, the others defy all levels of common sense.

 

The second woman’s sign says, “Suffered a miscarriage.” Do they really expect us to believe that a woman who has a miscarriage will be put in jail if this amendment is passed? Does that make any sense? Of course not! Such an idea is absurd, at best. Yet we are subjected to such idiotic political propaganda, and those who put it out really expect us to accept their ridiculous reasoning.

 

The third woman, obviously a doctor, is holding a sign that says, “Treated my patient for a pregnancy that went terribly wrong.” This implies that the amendment will criminalize any doctor who loses a patient. The last time I checked, doctors are not God, regardless of what some of them may think. There is a big difference between a doctor who performs elective abortions and a doctor who treats a pregnant woman in an attempt to save her unborn child, even though the child ends up dying. This is another example of an absurd implication that no one should take seriously.

 

The final woman’s sign says, “Delivered a stillborn child.” (What? A stillborn “child?” They kind of tripped over their own words by calling it a “child.” I thought it was a “fetus” or a “tissue mass.”) This is just more of the same nonsense as the first three signs. It takes quite a case of dishonesty to put out such material, and it takes quite a case of foolishness to believe it.

 

Even if I believed other than the obvious fact that abortion is murder, I would laugh at this piece of nonsensical propaganda. Those who favor abortion need to make a well-thought-out argument for their position and state it clearly instead of relying on scare tactics and half-truths. I do not believe such a clear-cut argument can exist, since no matter what that argument would be, the end result is the killing of helpless, innocent human beings.

 

There is a great deal of talk today, especially as we approach the elections, about the alleged "war on women." The only real war on women is the war on unborn women. This war extends to unborn men, too.

 

An unborn human is a “pre-born human,” and the killing of another human being, with a few very real and biblical exceptions (accident, war, self-defense, and capital punishment) is murder, plain and simple. No amount of human reasoning or rationalization can change God’s standard relative to human life and abortion. I understand that abortion is legal, but it should not be. Abortion is a classic illustration of the truth that “just because something is legal doesn’t make it right.”

 

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them (Psalm 139:13-16, NKJV).

 

Part one is found here.

Absurd and Dishonest Political Advertising

So why is it now supposedly true that not voting for government funding of something is equivalent to making it illegal? I am very weary of political ads that accuse opponents of wanting to make such things as birth control illegal, when the truth is simply that the opponent does not want the government to pay for it.

We all remember such statements as "Bush will outlaw abortion" and "Hobby Lobby is denying birth control to its employees." Such statements were and continue to be patently absurd and extremely deceptive. It would be morally right if the murder of unborn human beings were outlawed, but no single individual, not even a president, has dictatorial authority to make it happen. Hobby Lobby's conviction that it could not and would not pay for certain types of birth control does not mean those things were being denied or made illegal. People need to understand that if they want something, there is really nothing wrong with paying for it themselves.

I am fully aware that the government is not going to pay for my food, my gasoline, my utilities, my ammunition, or a variety of other things that I either need or want. This does not mean these things are illegal. The government is not responsible to pay for my stuff, nor should it be.

Anyone who would fall for such absurd and dishonest political advertising ought to do a little bit of thinking before they throw their vote away based on an emotional appeal.

Part 2 is found here.