America's Worst Hour - The Church's Finest



The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.  This is the document that laid the foundation for the greatest Christian Nation in America. America from its very beginnings has been the greatest nation, provided the greatest quality of living and most importantly has provided the greatest freedom of anywhere in the world. 

The Declaration of Independence starts out by saying: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Our founding fathers believed in a Creator. In God. They believed that God created them in His own image. They believed that a supernatural Being began this universe and is responsible for giving them the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The founding fathers of our Country had never even heard of the term “relativism” and they believed in moral absolutes or absolute truths which they called “inalienable rights,” and “self-evident truths.” They wrote the Declaration of Independence to show that Government cannot give these rights. And the Government cannot take them away. These rights came from God.

This message today was the hardest that I’ve ever had to write. I really wanted to do a “Hurray for God and Country,” “God bless America” sermon.  I wanted to find an illustration that spoke of the freedom we have in America and I found this one:

“A father was talking with his obstinate son one day and said, "Every person who lives in the United States is a privileged person." The boy answered, "I disagree." And the father replied, "That’s the privilege." We have the privilege to disagree. We have the privilege to speak our mind. We have freedom of religion, of speech, of the press, and the right of petition. We are free in so many ways! We have these rights because of what our forefathers have done.”  

That illustration was not encouraging. It was depressing. It grieved me. Because I realized that it described America from it’s earliest days up to about five years ago. It spoke of the freedom we’ve had in this country for the past 239 years. But that freedom of religion and freedom of speech is coming to an end. Today, America looks very different than it did five years ago. See, the real story of America’s land of the free is being told up in Portland, Oregon. 

Christian husband and wife, Aaron and Melissa Klein owned a bakery called, “Sweet Cakes by Melissa.” A lesbian couple wanted to get married and asked the bakery shop to make them a wedding cake. Melissa told them that because she was a Christian and didn’t support same-sex marriage she would be unable to do their cake. The lesbian couple sued claiming emotional distress. The government awarded $135,000 to the lesbian couple to compensate for their hurt feelings. The gay community then launched a series of vicious attacks on Aaron and Melissa  and drove them out of business.

The State of Oregon did nothing to help them, because in the mind of the hearing officer, the Kleins brought the violence upon themselves by discriminating against the lesbian couple.

The hearing officer made it clear that their Christian beliefs were hate speech and the only acceptable beliefs this Christian couple could have were the secular beliefs that were sanctioned by the State. And then here’s the worst part.
  
After the $135,000 fine was levied and the Kleins were driven out of business by the gay community, the Klein’s were interviewed by the Family Research Council. Based on that interview, the State of Oregon instituted a cease and desist gag order against the Klein’s for continuing to not affirm same-sex marriage and continuing to express their Christian beliefs. 

The government’s ability to do this is a fundamental violation of this couple’s freedom of speech. Here is what was said during the Family Research Council interview that the government in Oregon considered to be hate speech. The Klein’s said: “We believe marriage is between one man and one woman and we are here to obey God not man and we will not conform to this world.” According to the government of Oregon, if this couple continues to defy the governmental authorities and express their hateful Christian belief that marriage is only between one man and one woman, they will be arrested and jailed.

This is just one story of many Christians being persecuted for their beliefs. If you personally don’t believe things like this are actually happening right now, you need to pay attention. These are not the rantings of extremist right wingers. This is happening today in our country.

I’m trying on this Independence Day weekend to find something good to cheer about and I’m winding up cheerless.

There is an all out attempt by politicians and educators to change America from a Christian nation to a secular one. The liberal agenda and the gay agenda is to put churches out of business and the Obama Administration is already working on how they can remove the tax exemption status for all churches who refuse to provide religious marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. 

Politicians all know what the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and the Declaration of Independence say. They know that this Nation was founded as a Christian nation. But they are distorting history to redefine our founding documents because they don’t agree with them and they don’t agree with the Bible. In a recent speech our President said that we can credit the Muslims for their part in founding this great nation. There is no historical truth to that but if you can get enough people to believe your story, you can change the history.

Our President displayed a mocking spirit when he ordered the White House lit up in the colors of the Gay Flag. This was one of the most arrogant in-your-face insults ever performed by an American President. He knew full well that over 50% of American citizens believe that homosexuality is morally wrong. He knew that half of all Americans feel very strongly about this issue and were profoundly upset at the court ruling. Our President knew that the vast majority who believe that marriage is between one man and one woman are Bible-believing Christians. And that night, Obama declared “Victory” over them.

I love the American flag. But I didn't want to put it out. I’m ashamed of the country I live in today. 

Last Sunday, I said that the next step with marriage was polygamy. Pastors all over this country were predicting that would be the next battle fought. And I’m sure that people in their congregations were rolling their eyes in disbelief. But the next day a man and two women filed for a marriage license to marry in Billings, Montana. The trio knows it will be rejected and will sue. The man said, “It's about marriage equality. You can’t have equality without polygamy.” This man is right, of course. After last week’s court decision about same-sex marriage, Chief Justice John Roberts said that "people in polygamous relationships could make the same legal argument that not having the opportunity to marry disrespects and subordinates them." It was a giant step to redefine marriage from one man and one woman to any two people who love each other. It’s now a baby step to affirm marriage among any three (or more) people, who love each other.

The Obama Administration is declaring “Victory” over the religious freedom of Christians and it will become increasingly difficult for the church to stand up under government pressure. We are seeing in countries like Canada and England where reading biblical scriptures will get you thrown in jail for committing a hate crime. We used to believe that would absolutely never happen in America. Today we can no longer say that. We used to believe that the Constitution gave us our freedoms. But we can no longer count on the politicians and judges to respect our Constitution. The Supreme Court’s dissenting judges all agreed that the majority’s rule on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and they all warned of the persecution and prosecution that lies ahead for Christians and the church.

The Supreme Court two weeks ago specifically and knowingly laid the groundwork for the coming persecution against Christians and the Church. In the written judgement, they said that the traditional definition of marriage being only between men and women is to “demean, stigmatize, disrespect, disparage and inflect dignity wounds upon their gay and lesbian neighbor.” They reiterated such characterizations over and over.

The Supreme Court’s opinion on what traditional marriage means, would then infer that the Bible contains text that demeans, stigmatizes, disrespects, disparages and inflects dignity wounds upon all gays and lesbians. It can be easily argued that the Supreme Court has affirmed that the Bible contains hate speech. If you quote the Bible, you’re preaching hate speech. If you quote the words of Jesus that marriage is between a man and a woman, that’s hate speech. And the Supreme Court has now provided the path to prosecute people who publicly advocate for traditional marriage.

But thanks to the Supreme Court, here’s what is legal and approved in our great country of America today. It is considered to be the politically-correct and acceptable thing to do when you demean, stigmatize, disrespect, disparage and inflect dignity wounds upon all Christians and upon the Christian church for their belief in the unchangeable Word of God.

May God have mercy on America. Progressive liberals have vowed to cleanse the country of Christianity and drive Christians underground. For the first time in the history of this Country, they are seeing success. And yet all is not lost. 

God is still in control. And the church's finest hours have always been in times of persecution and prosecution. The entire book of Acts chronicles the explosive growth of the church when it was under persecution and oppression. Men and women gathered for worship and prayer, hidden in houses. Paul and the apostles boldly went out to evangelize the lost Nations. And under the horrendous persecution by the Romans and their government, the Christian church flourished.

That’s what needs to happen today. First, the church needs to stop watering down the Gospel message. In order to not be offensive to non-Christians, the liberal church has even changed the words of Jesus and denied that He is God. Some mainline denominations have adopted the post-modern theory of relativism and the Bible has been relegated to a historic book of old-fashioned suggestions with outdated values. 

One of the democratic presidential candidates said in a speech recently that the church needs to rewrite the Bible to take out the offensive parts. She calls herself a Christian but the definition of “Christian” is one who follows God’s Word – not one who changes God’s Word to make it fit a personal or political agenda.

We need to return to preaching the Word of God as God wrote it. Not as modern society and politicians would like it to say. And we need to preach the word of God no matter what the cost to us personally. That is the only thing that will save our Country. The only thing that will bring revival to our Country is the Word of God.

God is going to bring judgement on our county. You can count on that. No one can read the Old Testament and look at history and not know what’s coming. But America can survive God’s judgement and experience a great revival.  

Revival would bring the Third Great Awakening in this nation. This would be the reformation of our country and a return to God. If this occurs, and America turns back to God, His hand of judgement may be lifted. Unless we have revival, America will destruct under its own sin.  
This is not just my voice saying this. Prophetic leaders throughout the world are saying this. God loves this generation. God loves America and was as grieved as you and I were when the President lit up the White House to declare the United States a gay nation and celebrate the sin of sexual immorality. In our Nation’s worst hour, our President proudly shouted out his “Victory” over God’s plan for marriage. But God will not be mocked. May God have mercy upon the President.

This may have been America’s worst hour but it will become the church’s finest. Our God specializes in redemption and restoration. 

It may be difficult for us to really see this today but God loves the unsaved people in America who are attacking people of faith. He wants them to come into right relationship with Him so that they will be restored and redeemed. 

America is ripe for revival. God is calling intercessors right now today. The Devil’s plan to seize the soul of our Nation must be thwarted. Christian writer Dutch Sheets said, “Do not be deceived; the war for the soul of America is linked to this greatest harvest of souls in all of history.” 

I say “yes and amen” to that. Today we thank God for the great nation He created and we grieve for the nation it has become. We pray for revival.  We pray that we will be a Nation on its knees in repentance. We pray that God will stay His hand of judgement. We all look forward with great hope to the day that our Nation will be restored and redeemed. Until then, may God have mercy on America and may God bless and protect all men and women who are standing up in pulpits today and fearlessly preaching His unchangeable Word.
Amen?

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Note: This is an edited and expanded version of a Sermon at New Hope Family Church on July 5, 2015. Because we affirm the Biblical definition of marriage, some Federal and State Agencies would consider the content of this sermon to be “hate speech.” Please be bold enough to forward this to those who need to read it.   Pastor John Hickman