Recently, U.S. District Judge Richard Young struck down Indiana's lawful democratic ban on sodomitic marriage, joining a cabal of federal judges intent on defying God's Moral Law and violating their vows to submit to the Constitution of these United States. Vengeance belongs to God. Notwithstanding God's Ownership of vengeance, though, the citizens of these United States are our Constitution's stewards and defenders. In fact, we may properly say that the authority of the Constitution is every citizen's authority and thus the defense of the Constitution and the duty to discipline civil magistrates who rebel against it properly lies with every citizen of these United States.
Whether it's caused by lethargy or the stupefaction of R2K casuistry, Christian citizens who abdicate our duties to be our Constitution's guardians deserve the wickedness which has already corrupted our children and will corrupt our grandchildren even more. God made us stewards of the authority exercised by our civil magistrates and...
our abdication of that authority will be judged, starting with our own seed suffering the consequences of God's punishment of our nation. Do we care or even know about the sexual depredations Covenant children in our churches and homes are suffering because of our refusal to discipline the rebellion against our Constitution being carried out by lawless judges? Have we entirely forgotten the second use of the law, or is it simply that we don't care about our children and grandchildren, let alone our neighbor: "Abandon them to evil that is entirely unrestrained," we say.
A few years ago I was speaking with a congregant with a long distinguished career as one of Indiana's appellate judges. We were discussing the growth of lawlessness in our nation when, feeling he owed his profession some defense, the brother made the categorical declaration that the judges of his court based their decisions "on the merits" of the case.
Knowing it would test our relationship, I demurred, pointing to the obvious political, ideological, and spiritual motivations corrupting our appellate law. Take Roe v. Wade, for example: there is not a public defender, law school prof, or even one in-house counsel who doesn't know that Blackmun's opinion is shameful on every level, starting with logic. Roe v. Wade is SCOTUS's pandering to the demands of the American Medical Association, the American Law Institute, and other members of the chattering class who were all united in their bloodlust and had their way with little babies.
Thus the laws of every one of the fifty states of this Union prohibiting the murder of unborn children were repealed by our Federal Masters, and behold their fruit! Over fifty million slaughtered babies whose blood never ceases to cry out to God from our ground. And for forty years, now, Christian citizens have thrown up our hands in exasperation, saying, "It's the law of the land. What are we supposed to do? I vote Republican; what more do you want from me? Pagans have always sacrificed their children—that's what pagans do. What they need is to be saved and then they'll change because they'll have the Holy Spirit inside them. The best way to stop abortion is to have weekly Communion. To witness to our neighbors. To have art galleries adjoining our sanctuaries. To build new cathedrals. To write poetry. To move to the country and raise free-range chickens. To read theology and drink gluten-free IPAs."
Meanwhile, our nation's justices continue down their bloody path, declaring it open season on even more of their citizens: defective newborns, the enfeebled, the aged; and no end in sight.
American courts are filled with men intent on issuing decisions that are landmarks in the defiance of God, those citizens who continue to fear Him, and the Constitution they vowed to honor.
And what response do we see from God's people?
Those who forsake the law praise the wicked, But those who keep the law strive with them. - Proverbs 28:4
Christian, how are you striving with these wicked men? What blows are you striking against lawless judges and justices? Admittedly, there's considerable distance between praising the wicked and striving with them. Where do you stand?
Don't know?
Well, why not ask your children. Inquire of your wife or pastor which side you're on? They know. Maybe they'll take the risk of answering your question.
Christians in America today are known for not making waves. We drive by the cesspool of our naked public squares with the A/C of our SUVs on recirculate. Then, safely past the square, we switch the A/C back to outside air, arrive home, close the garage door behind us, and kiss our wife and children. Another day of Christian service completed, and now it's family time!
So if we don't strive with wicked legislators and justices, who is going to? Have we travelled so far down the path of cheap grace, Radical Two-Kingdom quietism, and only a deeply private personal faith that our society has no road block on its path of slavery to Satan? Can it really be that we no longer believe in restraining wickedness? That we believe removing restraints is the prerogative of those in authority over us and should proceed unopposed by Christian witness and manhood?
"But I keep the law," you say; "I just don't strive with the wicked."
Not true. Those who keep the law are known for their striving with the wicked because they work at exposing the unfruitful works of darkness:
Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is a shame even to speak of the things that they do in secret; but when anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light. - Ephesians 5:11-13 (RSV)
The lie that holiness may be attained by the mere avoidance of personal sin flies in the face of Scripture.
Those being sanctified by the Holy Spirit live in hot water because their faith carries them beyond personal piety and private worship into exposing the unfruitful deeds of darkness. We live in an evil day in which we must be faithful to all the work of bringing in the Kingdom of God.
The authority of God.
The Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Reformed pastors used to preach about such things.
Tim serves Clearnote Church, Bloomington, Indiana. He and Mary Lee have five children and big lots of grandchildren.
Want to get in touch? Send Tim an email!
