Tuesday, June 30, 2015

M3.3 - MICHIGAN Earthquake Magnitude 3.3

M3.3 - MICHIGAN Preliminary Earthquake Report Magnitude 3.3
Date-Time 30 Jun 2015 15:42:5430 Jun 2015 11:42:55 near epicenter30 Jun 2015 10:42:54 standard time in your timezone

Location 42.152N 85.046W Depth 5 km Distances 12 km (7 mi) NE of Union City, Michigan21 km (13 mi) SSE of Battle Creek, Michigan23 km (14 mi) N of Coldwater, Michigan44 km (27 mi) E of Portage, Michigan Location Uncertainty Horizontal: 3.3 km; Vertical 2.0 km Parameters Nph = 41; Dmin = 56.1 km; Rmss = 0.39 seconds; Gp = 33°
Version = Event ID us 10002mly

Monday, June 29, 2015

‘Homage to Satan’ to Be Unveiled

Proposed ‘Homage to Satan’ Near Ten Commandments Monument to Be Unveiled


Satanic TempleDETROIT, Mich. — A New York-based Satanist group has announced the unveiling of its sculpted ‘homage to Satan,’ which it seeks to place next to a Ten Commandments monument on the grounds of the Oklahoma state capitol building.
As previously reported, the Satanic Temple issued a news release about its intentions in 2013 following the filing of a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which asserted that the presence of the Ten Commandments display on government property violated the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution.
The Satanic Temple said that it offered to to donate a statue of Baphomet to be placed near the Ten Commandments display in order to “appease the ACLU’s concerns.”
“The statue will serve as a beacon calling for compassion and empathy among all living creatures,” spokesperson Lucien Greaves explained in his application to the Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission. “The statue will also have a functional purpose as a chair where people of all ages may sit on the lap of Satan for inspiration and contemplation.”
The organization proceeded to launch an indiegogo fundraising campaign, which raised over $28,000 for the creation of the monument.
“A Satanic monument erected in contrast to a Ten Commandments monument will send a clear and distinct message to the world that pluralism is alive and well in the United States,” it asserted.
Last May, it was announced that the statue was nearing completion, which features the goat-headed figure Baphomet making the sign for the occult as he sits upon a throne with a pentagram overhead. Children fixate their eyes upon him on both sides

SAME-SEX ‘MARRIAGE’ RULING: ‘PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL’

Christian Research Network

JUSTICE SCALIA ISSUES SCATHING DISSENT IN SAME-SEX ‘MARRIAGE’ RULING: ‘PRIDE GOETH BEFORE A FALL

Christian News Network reports:
As one of the four justices that dissented from today’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring that all 50 states must legalize same-sex “marriage,” Justice Antonin Scalia issued a sharp rebuke of his colleagues’ arrogance, warning that “pride goeth before a fall.”
“The opinion is couched in a style that is as pretentious as its content is egotistic,” he wrote. “It is one thing for separate concurring or dissenting opinions to contain extravagances, even silly extravagances, of thought and expression; it is something else for the official opinion of the court to do so.”
Scalia was speaking of his disapproval of five black-robed justices issuing an edict that he opined was “highly unrepresentative” of the nation and “hardly a cross-section of America.”
“Today’s decree says that my ruler, and the ruler of 320 million Americans coast-to-coast, is a majority of the nine lawyers on the Supreme Court,” he said. “And to allow the policy question of same-sex marriage to be considered and resolved by a select, patrician, highly unrepresentative panel of nine is to violate a principle even more fundamental than no taxation without representation: no social transformation without representation.”

i Don't Know This White House

White House in rainbow lights

This is not the White House I served for...that my sister served for...that my father served for...that my great uncle died for.


I recognize the shape but I don't know what happened to the interior.

Saturday, June 27, 2015

NASA Experts: Southeast US hit by “anomalously high” levels of polonium from Fukushima

NASA Experts: Southeast US hit by “anomalously high” levels of polonium from Fukushima — Never seen before, except during volcanic events — Fallout also detected in Mississippi river — Polonium releases kept secret in past nuclear disasters; Death estimates would skyrocket if included

Journal of Environmental Radioactivity, W. Yang and L. Guo, NASA Stennis Space Center and Univ. of Southern Mississippi Dept. of Marine Science, 2012 (emphasis added): Depositional fluxes and residence time of atmospheric radioiodine (131I) from the Fukushima accident

The Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant explosions… emitted vast quantities of radioactive materials into the environment… radioiodine (131I)… 134Cs and 137Cs are of special concern to people because they could trigger dangerous health effects
However, data on time series depositional fluxes are still lacking, preventing… prediction of the scope of dispersion especially in North America
Following the Fukushima accident, a high level of 131I was first detected on March 23 in a dry deposition sample at [NASA's space center]
After this initial fallout, the 131I depositional flux increased up to ten- to twenty-fold during the following two weeks, varying from 218 mBq/m^2/day to 463 Bq/m^2/day
Concurrent high rainfall and high 131I fluxes were observed at the SSC site… from 97 to 337 mBq/L with an average of 217 mBq/L
In addition to precipitation samples, 131I was also detectable in surface waters from the Pearl River in Mississippi, with an activity of 6.7 mBq/L
Interestingly, the 210Po/210Pb ratios of the fallout samples during the peak 131I fallout period were anomalously high… Before and after the Fukushima accident, the environmental 210Po/210Pb ratio in precipitation samples varied from 0.02 to 0.09 with an average of 0.06 at the SSC in southern Mississippi… However, the 210Po/210Pb ratio during the Fukushima fallout was up to 1.5 on March 23

To date, excess 210Po in the atmosphere was only reported for high temperature activities such as volcanic eruptions or degassing… Therefore, the anomalously high 210Po/210Pb ratios observed in the southern US were mostly derived from the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant explosions which could have resulted in the fractionation of environmental 210Po and 210Pb and thus the preferential release of volatile 210Po into the atmosphere. Indeed, the anomalous 210Po/210Pb ratios were accompanied by the peak fallout of 131I… indicating that the Fukushima nuclear plant explosions mainly contributed to the anomaly in the 210Po/210Pb ratio…
it seemed that regions reachable by 131I transport within two weeks from Fukushima would receive much more fallout…
New Scientist, Mar 1983: 25 years since the nuclear accident at Windscale… Attention has centred [on] radioactive iodine… the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB) said the iodine-131 may have killed 13… However, the damage to health may have been much more severe… Indeed, it could represent the worst environmental disaster that Western Europe has known this century… re-examination of the data… reveals that one crucial isotope released in the fire has been ignored… there was one isotope released in the accident that is highly mobile [with] a high take-up by the human body… this was only revealed this week by the NRPB after New Scientist’s inquiries… It is polonium… polonium could give… a total dose to the UK of 5 million man-rems… the death figures may have to be revised significantly upwards… The figures suggest that some 1200 excess cases of leukaemia may have been caused in Britain by the Windscale accident. Since leukaemia deaths account for some 15 per cent of cancers attributable to nuclear accidents, the total toll of cancer deaths suggested is 8000… Clearly further investigations into the whole of the Windscale accident must be urgently pursued. The British are in effect now the nuclear laboratory of the world.

Woods Hole’s Ken Buesseler and others have cited polonium-210 levels in seafood tested for Fukushima radionuclides, for example: “Doses from eating fish are very low off US, and in fact 500 times greater from a natural radionuclide, polonium-210, but no one worries about 210Po.”

Read the rest here

Muslim terrorists kill 39 in Tunisia beach attack; another 164 killed in Syria attack

Muslim terrorists kill 39 in Tunisia beach attack; another 164 killed in Syria attack

The month of jihad, celebrated by Hussein Obama at the White House this week, is living up to its deadly reputation. via Tunisia attack on Sousse beach ‘kills 39′ – BBC News.
At least 39 people, mostly foreigners, have been killed and 36 injured in an attack on a beach in the Tunisian resort town of Sousse, officials say.
Video footage showed the body of a suspected gunman lying in a street.
Tunisians, Britons, Germans, Belgians, French and at least one Irish citizen are among the dead in the attack claimed by Islamic State (IS).
In March militants killed 22 people, mainly foreign tourists, in an attack on a museum in the capital Tunis.
Islamic State said it was behind Friday’s attack. It had urged followers to step up assaults during Ramadan.
Social media accounts close to IS showed pictures of the man they say carried out the killings.
Security officials said a attacker had posed as a swimmer but was carrying a rifle under a parasol. He started shooting on the beach before entering the Hotel Riu Imperial Marhaba, continuing to shoot as he walked past the pool.
He was then shot dead in an exchange of fire with police, officials said. They said he was a student not previously known to authorities.
Local media reported that a second suspected attacker had been arrested, but this has not been confirmed.
Friday’s attack was the deadliest in Tunisia’s recent history. The country has seen militant Islamists gain strength since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in a popular uprising in 2011.
One survivor told the BBC how her fiance, a Welsh tourist, had been shot three times as he used his body as a shield.
“He took a bullet for me,” said Saera Wilson. “I owe him my life because he threw himself in front of me when the shooting started.
“It was the bravest thing I’ve ever known. But I just had to leave him under the sunbed because the shooting just kept on coming.

WARNING: Geomagnetic Sudden Impulse expected

Space Weather Message Code: WARSUD Serial Number: 162 Issue Time: 2015 Jun 27 0344 UTC

WARNING: Geomagnetic Sudden Impulse expected Valid From: 2015 Jun 27 0345 UTC Valid To: 2015 Jun 27 0445 UTC IP Shock Passage Observed: 2015 Jun 27 0331 UTC 

NOAA Space Weather Scale descriptions can be found at www.swpc.noaa.gov/NOAAscales

The Great Outcry Against America; It's Sin So Grievous

What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?

Question: "What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?"

Answer:
The biblical account of Sodom and Gomorrah is recorded in Genesis chapters 18-19. Genesis chapter 18 records the Lord and two angels coming to speak with Abraham. The Lord informed Abraham that "the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous." Verses 22-33 record Abraham pleading with the Lord to have mercy on Sodom and Gomorrah because Abraham's nephew, Lot, and his family lived in Sodom.

Genesis chapter 19 records the two angels, disguised as human men, visiting Sodom and Gomorrah. Lot met the angels in the city square and urged them to stay at his house. The angels agreed. The Bible then informs us, "Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom — both young and old — surrounded the house. They called to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.'" The angels then proceed to blind all the men of Sodom and Gomorrah and urge Lot and his family to flee from the cities to escape the wrath that God was about to deliver. Lot and his family flee the city, and then "the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah — from the LORD out of the heavens. Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities..."

In light of the passage, the most common response to the question "What was the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah?" is that it was homosexuality. That is how the term "sodomy" came to be used to refer to anal sex between two men, whether consensual or forced. Clearly, homosexuality was part of why God destroyed the two cities. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah wanted to perform homosexual gang rape on the two angels (who were disguised as men). At the same time, it is not biblical to say that homosexuality was the exclusive reason why God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were definitely not exclusive in terms of the sins in which they indulged.

Ezekiel 16:49-50declares, "Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and diddetestablethings before me..." The Hebrew word translated "detestable" refers to something that is morally disgusting and is the exact same word used inLeviticus 18:22that refers to homosexuality as an "abomination." Similarly,Jude 7declares, "...Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up tosexual immoralityandperversion." So, again, while homosexuality was not the only sin in which the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah indulged, it does appear to be the primary reason for the destruction of the cities.

Those who attempt to explain away the biblical condemnations of homosexuality claim that the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was inhospitality. The men of Sodom and Gomorrah were certainly being inhospitable. There is probably nothing more inhospitable than homosexual gang rape. But to say God completely destroyed two cities and all their inhabitants for being inhospitable clearly misses the point. While Sodom and Gomorrah were guilty of many other horrendous sins, homosexuality was the reason God poured fiery sulfur on the cities, completely destroying them and all of their inhabitants. To this day, the area where Sodom and Gomorrah were located remains a desolate wasteland. Sodom and Gomorrah serve as a powerful example of how God feels about sin in general, and homosexuality specifically.

Recommended Resources:What Does the Bible Really Teach About Homosexuality? by Kevin DeYoung and 101 Frequently Asked Questions About Homosexuality by Mike HaleyandLogos Bible Software.


Related Topics:

Why did Abraham bargain with God in regard to Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18)?

Why was Lot's wife turned into a pillar of salt?

Why did Lot offer up his daughters to be gang raped? Why did God allow Lot's daughters to later have sex with their father?

What does the Bible say about homosexuality? Is homosexuality a sin?

What does the Bible say about bisexuality (bi-sexuality)? Is being a bisexual (bi-sexual) a sin?


The Shaping of National Disaster

Jeremiah 17

...Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
    and makes flesh his strength,[a]
    whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He is like a shrub in the desert,
    and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
    in an uninhabited salt land.

Jeremiah 18

If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it,10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it. 11 Now, therefore, say to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: ‘Thus says the Lord, Behold, I am shaping disaster against you and devising a plan against you. Return, every one from his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.’
12 “But they say, ‘That is in vain! We will follow our own plans, and will every one act according to the stubbornness of his evil heart.’


Matthew 24

“Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then many will fall away[a]and betray one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. 12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.


21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but theybecame futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.
26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.


2 Timothy 3 English Standard Version (ESV)

2 Timothy

But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty.For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive,disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Is There Still Hope for America?

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!”

Franklin Graham Just Slapped The Supreme Court

Franklin Graham Just Slapped The Supreme Court With The One Thing About Marriage They Don’t Realize

"God is clear about the definition of marriage..."

Norvell Rose
June 26, 2015 at 11:23am

Many of the 1.7 million people who like Franklin Graham’s Facebook page are giving a big thumbs-up to his reaction to the Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage decision. That message was posted by the head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association shortly after the high court ruled 5-4 that same-sex couples have a nationwide right to marry, no matter what individual states or their residents might say.

As of this writing, more than 130,000 people have liked Graham’s statement, which reads in part: “With all due respect to the court, it did not define marriage, and therefore is not entitled to re-define it.” And the number of Facebook likes for the pastor’s reaction is growing rapidly.

Graham’s assessment of the country’s standing in the eyes of God is rather pessimistic, as he tells his Facebook friends: “I pray God will spare America from His judgment, though, by our actions as a nation, we give Him less and less reason to do so.”

The entirety of Franklin Graham’s popular — and certainly for many advocates of same-sex marriage, provocative — post on Facebook is shown below.

Just yesterday, possibly in anticipation of the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage as a constitutional right nationwide, the Rev. Graham commented on the White House event President Obama hosted for LGBT activists earlier this week. Graham told his Facebook audience that the shift in attitudes about so-called ‘gay rights’ exhibited by Americans in recent years represents a dangerous “moral decline” and an acceptance of “sin as something to be proud of.”

That Facebook post has also generated tremendous response, with close to 155,000 likes, nearly 50,000 shares, and more than 18,000 comments.

SUPREME COURT SAYS SAME-SEX MARRIAGE IS A CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHT

In a crushing defeat for traditionalists, the U.S. Supreme Court has mandated same-sex marriage as a constitutional right from sea to shining sea.

In a 5-4 decision the Supreme Court has held there is a 14th amendment right for people of the same sex to marry. The U.S. becomes only the second country, after Brazil, that has arrived at same-sex marriage through judicial imposition.
Obergefell v. Hodges was a consolidation of several cases brought by same-sex couples challenging the definition of marriage in Ohio, Tennessee, Michigan, and Kentucky. The court decided two questions:
  • Whether the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex.
  • Whether the 14th Amendment requires a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state.
Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote for the majority:
It is now clear that the challenged laws burden the liberty of same-sex couples, and it must be further acknowledged that they abridge central precepts of equality… Especially against a long history of disapproval of their relationships, this denial to same-sex couples of the right to marry works a grave and continuing harm. The imposition of this disability on gays and lesbians serves to disrespect and subordinate them. And the Equal Protection Clause, like the Due Process Clause, prohibits this unjustified infringement of the fundamental right to marry.
As part of his dissent, Antonin Scalia noted the political, rather than Constitutional, nature of the decision.
If, even as the price to be paid for a fifth vote, I ever joined an opinion for the Court that began: “The Constitution promises liberty to all within its reach, a liberty that includes certain specific rights that allow persons, within a lawful realm, to define and express their identity,” I would hide my head in a bag. The Supreme Court of the United States has descended from the disciplined legal reasoning of John Marshall and Joseph Story to the mystical aphorisms of the fortune cookie.
The decision is a devastating blow for proponents of man-woman marriage, who over the years have won 30 statewide races and garnered more than 50 million votes in favor of traditional marriage. Same-sex advocates had won statewide elections in only three states and won legislative battles in only a handful more.
The losing side was distraught today, charging the Supreme Court with taking away from all Americans their freedom to debate and decide marriage policy through the democratic process.
Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council said:
Five Justices on the Supreme Court have overturned the votes of 50 million Americans and demanded that the American people walk away from millennia of history and the reality of human nature. In reaching a decision so lacking in foundation in the text of the Constitution, in our history, and in our traditions, the Court has done serious damage to its own legitimacy.
Brian Brown of the National Organization for Marriage adds:
We urge the American people and future presidents to regard today’s decision just as President Abraham Lincoln regarded the Dred Scott ruling when he said in his first inaugural address that “if the policy of the government upon vital questions, affecting the whole people, is to be irrevocably fixed by decisions of the Supreme Court, the instant they are made…the people will have ceased to be their own rulers, having to that extent practically resigned their government into the hands of that eminent tribunal.”
What’s next? It is hard to tell.
Proponents of abortion thought Roe v. Wade effectively ended that debate, but recent history has shown that to be abundantly false.
But the road ahead is decidedly uphill for those who support traditional marriage. Some have already called for a Constitutional Amendment to define marriage as between a man and a woman. Others have called for an incremental battle that would include federal and state protections for those who oppose same-sex marriage. This would include protection for county clerks who may resist issuing same-sex marriage licenses.
The fear now is that the federal government, under urging from the gay community, will work to stamp out any vestige of opposition or even dissent, including eliminating accreditation and tax exempt status for religious schools that do not recognize same-sex marriages.
During oral arguments before the court two months ago, the Solicitor General of the United States admitted to the court that this was a distinct possibility.
Some religious conservatives have hinted at non-violent resistance and civil disobedience, though what that means remains unclear.
One thing is clear from recent history. Though gay activists insist the issue is now settled, a Supreme Court decision rarely truly settles a question; they tend to open up new fields of debate, particularly on such controversial and divisive issues.
Tony Perkins said, “the courts will not have the final say on this profound social matter. The American people will stand up for their right to have a voice and a vote.”
Follow Austin Ruse on Twitter @austinruse