Think with a Christian mind. When a lesbian in a homosexualist marriage is facing death due to Stage IV ovarian cancer, one of two things is true: either now is the time to release her from the oppression of residents of the state of Indiana so she and her partner in this "loving relationship" may approach her death in peace; or now is the time to warn her that, if she defies God to her very end, upon death she will certainly face God's wrath and eternal damnation. Death is the great purifier of thoughts. The choices are clear. The Holy Spirit has spoken: "it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment" (Hebrews 9:27).
Which side of this choice shows compassion for this immortal soul? The attorneys and judges who use this lesbian's impending death to express their own hatred and defiance of God? Or the citizens of the state of Indiana who call their civil magistrates to condemn the evil of lesbianism and warn those who practice it, particularly at the time of their death?
Who has compassion...
The Roman Emperor who uses his citizens' taxes for the purpose God has expressly declared when he delegated authority to him—to be "an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil?" Or the Roman Emperor who abuses his citizens' taxes for the purpose of defying God Who delegated authority to him—and thus becomes "an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices good?"
This is the thing all believers living in our Modern Roman Empire must fix firmly in our minds: there is no third option. Either the civil magistrate will punish evil or he'll punish good. Either he'll connive at the damnation of the dying lesbian or he'll warn her to flee the wrath to come. There's no third option that maintains neutrality.
The civil magistrate has been appointed by God to be a cause of fear for bad behavior, for evil, for lesbianism, sodomy, and homosexualism just as for fornication, adultery, and bestiality. The last few decades of reversals of these laws previously on the books across the Western world is nothing less than defiance of God and cruelty toward sinners. It's nothing less than the theft of tax dollars by men who use those dollars to do the opposite of what God gave them those tax dollars to do.
Either society confirms its subjects in their defiance of God, or society confirms its subjects in their submission to God. There is no third choice. This is the meaning of the Holy Spirit's declaration in the midst of the decadence of the Ancient Roman Empire:
For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil. Therefore it is necessary to be in subjection, not only because of wrath, but also for conscience’ sake. For because of this you also pay taxes, for rulers are servants of God, devoting themselves to this very thing. (Romans 13:1-6)
Tim serves Clearnote Church, Bloomington, Indiana. He and Mary Lee have five children and big lots of grandchildren.
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