IS THERE STILL HOPE FOR AMERICA?
Society 'in the swirly mode heading down the toilet,' says noted pastor
As the Supreme Court came down with its 5-4 decision to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 states, the supporters of the movement danced and celebrated their historic victory.
Evan Wolfson, president of the Freedom to Marry organization, released a statement that indicated the “transformation” of America was now completed in his eyes.
“Today’s ruling is a transformative triumph decades in the making, a momentous victory for freedom, equality, inclusion, and above all, love. For anyone who ever doubted that we could bend the arc of the moral universe toward justice, today the United States again took a giant step toward the more perfect union we the people aspire to,” he said. “Today the Liberty Bell rings alongside wedding bells across an ocean of joy.”
But for the conservative Christian community it was more like a sea of sadness.
They stood resolute Friday, maintaining that while everything has changed, nothing will change in their churches.
Dozens of Christian leaders such as Franklin Graham, James Dobson and John Hagee had already signed a petition before the ruling assuring the Supreme Court that they would defy any decision that came down redefining the 6,000-year-old definition of marriage.
Christian leaders who still believe in the traditional definition of marriage said the high court’s decision can only bring more pain and judgment upon a nation that is already reeling without its moral compass. That compass started slipping in the 1960s with the removal of prayer from public schools and was laid waste by the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision in 1973.
Today it was turned on its head by Obergefell v. Hodges.
“A totally unbelievable decision yet totally believable for our society as we are definitely in the swirly mode headed down the toilet,” said Pastor Mark Biltz, author of “Blood Moons: Decoding the Imminent Heavenly Signs.” “The Bible says as it was in the days of Lot so will it be when the Messiah comes. The sewer floodgates are opening for all filth to come pouring in.
“The very fabric of what makes up a moral society is being ripped apart. As a nation we are becoming more and more narcissistic.”
In opting to redefine marriage the Supreme Court did “a 180-degree turn away from the biblical intent for marriage — as the Court also pushed aside states’ rights and voters’ voices,” said Richard Land, president of Southern Evangelical Seminary near Charlotte, North Carolina. He said the decision throws away God’s meaning for marriage.
The next big question
Now the battlefield shifts to religious freedom, Land said.
“Will the progressive, totalitarian and intolerant left weaponize the government and attempt to force or compel people to affirm same-sex behavior and relationships?” he asked. “Or will they respect the freedom of conscience guaranteed by the Constitution? These will continue to be questions for the coming generations, now that the high Court has seized the historic role of defining marriage from the individual states and stripped it away from voters.”
Carl Gallups, whose recently published book, “Final Warning: Understanding the Trumpet Days of Revelation,” speaks of chaos enveloping the earth in the last days before the return of Christ, told WND that the saddest part of today’s ruling is how it will affect thousands of American children.
Gallups said it would be hard to overstate the impact of a ruling like this.
“This is the most monumental ruling of any court, by any nation in the history of the world,” Gallups said. “The spiritual and world-reaching ramifications will be prolific and devastating.”
“We have now created a culture in which our smallest children, especially those in the government schools, will be taught under authority of federal law that two men or two women constitute a ‘normal,’ ‘natural,’ and ‘legal’ marriage, home, and family,” he said.
With the stroke of a pen…
Gallups said the far-reaching social and spiritual ramifications “of this upheaval of 6,000 years of human history are unthinkable.”
“With the stroke of a pen and the crack of a gavel the Supreme Court has effectively turned this nation on its ear,” he continued. “The Supreme Court has categorically defied the Supreme Being and the Supremest Court of the Universe.
“This ruling may prove to be the final death-knell of divine judgment upon our once great nation. For God’s word clearly declares, ‘What God has joined together, let not man put asunder’ (Mark 10:9). Man (The U.S. Supreme Court) has now spit upon God’s word and ‘put asunder’ what God declared as the standard for marriage – one man and one woman joined before God for life.”
The producer of a new documentary movie about homosexuality asserts that gay unions are not “marriage.” Filmmaker, author and Bible teacher Ray Comfort says that the Supreme Court’s redefinition of marriage doesn’t make it marriage in God’s eyes.
“Only one man and one woman can be united in the institution of marriage,” Comfort said. “Since the beginning of time, that’s the only union that ‘God has joined together.’”
“A handful of justices may legalize the union between people of the same sex – and perhaps eventually multiple people – but redefining this as ‘marriage’ would be like me declaring that my VW Beetle is a Lamborghini,” he said. “The two are nothing like each other. To believe otherwise is to deceive myself.”
He said marriage is an institution created by God as an illustration of the relationship between Christ and His holy bride, the Church, “and we cannot redefine it to suit our whims.”
In his new scripted movie, “Audacity,” Comfort addresses questions about homosexuality, and gets to the root of the gay marriage issue: are homosexuals born that way?
“The issue is coming to a head in society, but what needs to change isn’t the definition of marriage, but our view of it,” said Comfort.
View the trailer for “Audacity” online at AudacityMovie.com.
‘That day will soon come’
Though he has been preaching for 30 years that this day would soon be upon the nation, and received much ridicule and lambasting for doing so, Gallups said he is “deeply saddened that it is now here – among our children and grandchildren.”
“These are the beginnings of the very last days,” he added. “I know I will be further mocked for uttering these words, but I unapologetically come from a biblical world view. I know what the Word of God says — I know what Jesus Himself said.”
He then quoted Luke 17:26-30.
“Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. 27 People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.
“It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.
“It will be JUST LIKE THIS on the day the Son of Man is revealed.”
Biltz said he expects a lull before the storm.
“We are coming to a place as in the days of Solomon where there will be a false peace that is based on lies, ungodly covenants, and no regard for the people,” Biltz said. “Just as Israel began to break apart after Solomon so is America entering a rapid state of decline.”
Gallups said the “convergence” of end-time prophecy is staggering. Israel is back in the land, Arab Spring, rise of ISIS, the aligning of the Ezekiel 38 nations against Israel, calls for a one-world government from the Pope, Israel surrounded by enemies, America turning its back on God and on God’s returned Israel, and “the whole world clamoring for a ‘savior’ to deliver us from the make-believe boogey man of man made global warming,’ and now the most powerful nation the planet has ever seen – thumbs its nose in God’s face – at the very core of God’s word and plan for humanity.”
But he said Christians should not hang their heads in despair.
“Let me encourage the children of God, under the blood of Jesus, to not grow weary in doing good. Be the salt and light in a world that is quickly growing dim. We were raised up by God Himself – for such a time as this.
“It’s not all falling apart,” he said. “It’s all coming together!”