Onward, Christian Soldiers
by: William H. Perkins, Jr. - Mar 26, 2009
Dominating the news lately has been the Obama administration’s recent announcement that American taxpayers will begin funding the destruction of human beings at the embryonic stage for their stem cells. Before that, it was the new President’s quick lifting of restrictions on using taxpayers’ money to facilitate abortions in other countries. Before that it was…
Well, before that it was a story just as important, but the news whizzes by us at such breakneck speed that most of us can’t even remember what it was. Just as we are formulating our response to the pressing current issue, there are a half-dozen more coming right at us like a runaway freight train. It’s hard to keep up.
That’s the nature of the modern 24/7 news cycle, but it’s also the nature of humanity’s slide into sin and perversion. Throwing too much at us at one time is a key weapon in Satan’s arsenal. It discourages us and makes us want to retreat to a calmer spiritual locale, but that’s really not the place for Christians.
We may not get to set the pace, but we get to fight the good fight—and the place for us is in the fight. The outcome is up to God.
One of the issues that has gained ground while we have been overwhelmed of late with other news is the advance of homosexual rights in this country. While we were rightly addressing the wrongness of killing human embryos, funding foreign abortions as a matter of U.S. policy, and the many other problems facing this country, the homosexual agenda has made a great deal of progress under our radar screens.
The Vermont Senate approved a bill this week by a veto-proof, 26-4 majority that would recognize homosexual marriages as legitimate, legal unions in that state. The state’s House of Representatives is also expected to green light the measure, although possibly not by a veto-proof majority.
That leaves the veto of Republican Governor Jim Douglas, who has blasted the legislature for taking up the bill when there is other, more pressing business at hand, as the last possible barrier to legalized marriage in Vermont.
“I will not stand by and let someone tell me that just because of someone’s sexual orientation they can or cannot be a good parent,” said Democratic Senator John Campbell, the bill’s outspoken sponsor.
If the bill becomes law, Vermont will be the first state to legalize homosexual marriage by legislation rather than by fiat of activist judges. Connecticut and Massachusetts were forced to accept homosexual marriage by such judges.
Baptist Press offers the following current updates on homosexual rights issues in other states:
—In Maine, a bill that would legalize homosexual marriage has 56 sponsors and co-sponsors in the 151-member House and eight sponsors in the 35-member Senate.
—In Washington state, a bill that would expand the state’s domestic partnerships law to grant same-sex couples all the legal benefits of marriage passed the Senate by a vote of 30-18 March 10, and now heads to the state House.
—In Illinois, a bill that would legalize same-sex civil unions and provide all the legal benefits of marriage passed a House committee 4-3 on March 5 and now heads to the full chamber.
—In New Jersey, Gov. Jon Corzine made his strongest remarks yet regarding homosexual marriage on Feb. 28 when speaking to a dinner benefiting Garden State Equality, a homosexual organization.
“I’m a Democrat and I’m straight and I believe in marriage equality,” he said, according to The Star-Ledger. “…If we work together, 2009 will be the year when I will take this pen out of my pocket and we will sign the marriage equality bill.”
—In New Mexico, a bill that would have legalized same-sex domestic partnerships was defeated Feb. 26 in the Senate by a vote of 25-17. Gov. Bill Richardson had supported the bill, which would have granted same-sex couples the legal benefits of marriage.
—In Hawaii, a bill that would legalize same-sex civil unions deadlocked in a Senate committee 3-3 on Feb. 25, and is in limbo following an outpouring of opposition from Christians.
Indeed, it is dizzying to try to keep up with all the present-day issues that could have an impact on the direction of this country and the Christian faith, far beyond our lifetimes. We don’t have a choice, though. Christians need to stand in and be counted in the most bruising of these battles.
After what Jesus did for us, it’s the least we can do for Him.
This article is reprinted from the March 26, 2009, issue of the Baptist Record, the newspaper of the Mississippi Baptist Convention.
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