(Response to Pro-Lifers Must Recognize That Abortion Stops Only If Women Face Consequences)
State Senator (R-Linday) filed MassResistance's Resolution Against Obergefell.
A local hate rag in Montana called him a villian.
Here's the statement, and I have added commentary:
Villain of the Week- Sen. Bob Phalen (R- Lindsay)
Certain conservatives have really chosen to make anti-LGBTQ
ideology a foundational part of their work this session. Our team saw this week
just how far legislators will go to undermine the progress we’ve made.
Last week we mentioned SJ 15, a joint resolution calling to
overturn the ruling that legalized same-sex marriage.
Yes! Obergefell v Hodges is one of the worst decisions handed down by the United States Supreme Court.
If this wasn’t abhorrent enough, the sponsor Senator Bob
Phalen brought a collective gasp to the crowd that showed up to oppose this
bill. After over an hour of opponent testimony. Sen. Phalen refused to back
down from his hateful rhetoric. Instead, he chose to expound on the
‘anglo-American legal tradition’ and his outdated ideas on the sanctity of
marriage, at one point declaring the United States Supreme Court overstepped
its bounds and should ‘re-look at what they’ve done’.
Hatemongers and other LGBT activists can't stand the truth, and it will always shock them.
Those "outdated ideas" about the sanctity of marriage and our Anglo-American legal tradition are precisely what made our country great! We need to restore those values!
He compared the unnaturalness of queer relationships to
shoving a straw up your nose to drink, and said that redefining marriage has
hurt children in our state. Those are words we think are appropriate to
re-share, as his closing remarks were a string of bigoted comments, only made
better by the disgust and snarls from community members still in the audience
and the multiple objections from Vice Chair Sen. Andrea Olsen.
Not even the anti-LGBTQ Senate Judiciary committee cared for
his ideas and voted to table SJ 15. We kindly ask that Sen. Bob Phalen, our
Villain of the Week, keep his opinions on the LGBTQ community to himself.
The majority of Republicans supported the resolution, but the real villian of the week, Sen. Sue Vinton of Billings, killed the resolution.
She's a spiteful woman and a bad mother, whose daughter is in a "gay" relationship. Child abuse!
But kudos to State Senator Bob Phalen for standing for truth!
If you want to know the larger reason for the cultural rot in our country, look no further than the truth beliefs and dynamics of the Trump Evangelical voters.
Check out this article from the New York Times: Trump is Connecting with a Different Type of Evangelical Voter
Karen Johnson went to her Lutheran church so regularly as a
child that she won a perfect attendance award. As an adult, she taught Sunday
school. But these days, Ms. Johnson, a 67-year-old counter attendant at a
slot-machine parlor, no longer goes to church.
She still identifies as an evangelical Christian, but she
doesn’t believe going to church is necessary to commune with God. “I have my
own little thing with the Lord,” she says.
Christian faith is about more than our subjective identification. We are called to believe in a real, objective Savior.
What kind of Christianity is this? It's not the real deal, but rather shows the declining religious fervor in this country, and why this country is in big trouble.
Ms. Johnson’s thing includes frequent prayer, she said, as
well as podcasts and YouTube channels that discuss politics and “what’s going
on in the world” from a right-wing, and sometimes Christian, worldview. No one
plays a more central role in her perspective than Donald J. Trump, the man she
believes can defeat the Democrats who, she is certain, are destroying the
country and bound for hell.
“Trump is our David and our Goliath,” Ms. Johnson said
recently as she waited outside a hotel in eastern Iowa to hear the former
president speak.
"Trump is our David and our Goliath." Huh? Those two persons in the Biblical accounts were polar opposites, one determined to destroy the other, and one destroyed the other. This kind of self-destruction is why the culture is in trouble in the United States.
White evangelical Christian voters have lined up behind
Republican candidates for decades, driving conservative cultural issues into
the heart of the party’s politics and making nominees and presidents of Ronald
Reagan and George W. Bush.
But no Republican has had a closer — or more
counterintuitive — relationship with evangelicals than Mr. Trump.
The reason for the counter-intuitive realities is that too many Christians are not reading their Bibles and they are not connecting with their living Savior, Jesus Christ. Jesus is not a means to a political end, either. He is the leader. He is not just our king, but the King of Kings. Yet the growing idolatry among many so-called Christians towards Trump is really disturbing.
But religion scholars, drawing on a growing body of data,
suggest another explanation: Evangelicals are not exactly who they used to be.
Being evangelical once suggested regular church attendance, a
focus on salvation and conversion and strongly held views on specific issues
such as abortion. Today, it is as often used to describe a cultural and
political identity: one in which Christians are considered a persecuted
minority, traditional institutions are viewed skeptically and Mr. Trump looms
large.
And this is precisely the problem. Church has become a cultural thing, an identifier for political and social purposes, rather than an identity fully ensconced in Christ Jesus. This is beyond unacceptable.
People are basically worshipping a different Christ when they start establishing their own norms and customs for what defines faith.
“Politics has become the master identity,” said Ryan Burge,
an associate professor of political science at Eastern Illinois University and
a Baptist pastor. “Everything else lines up behind partisanship.”
This assessment is astute in its correctness. Ben Shapiro has been sounding the alarm on people using politics as their main source of identity, will, and purpose. That kind of low-leveling thinking has led to the growing divide in our country, and the growing weakness of the Church in the United States.
The head of the Church is Christ Jesus, not Trump, and a political agenda must not push aside, or "trump," the necessity of the Gospel being preached. I don't come to church just to learn how to vote. I come to church to see Jesus, to be transformed by His Holy Spirit to be more like Him.
In his last (written) words to the Church, Peter told us to "Grow in grace and knowledge of the Lord." (2 Peter 3:18).
It's all about Jesus, not political outcomes. It's about Jesus, not our limited goals and our feel-good interests.
These "Evangelical" voters are not really all the evangelical, since they aren't all that interested in spreading the Good News, unless it's good news about Donald Trump.
Emptying Pews
Ms. Johnson’s Sunday morning routine changed well before Mr.
Trump arrived on the political scene. In her early 20s, she was married to a
man who didn’t believe, so she “dropped off going to the building.” She didn’t
lose her faith, but life, including children and a few moves, pulled her in
other directions.
In this she was typical. Church membership in the United
States has been slipping for decades, along with the share of Americans who
identify as Christian — and particularly as Protestants, the branch that has
historically been the gravitational center of American religion. In the middle
of the 20th century, 68 percent of Americans described themselves as
Protestant. By 2022, 34 percent did, according to Gallup. (A further 11 percent
described themselves as simply “Christian,” a category Gallup did not include
until the late 1990s.)
Here's the core cause of our nation's ills. We have lost our identity in Christ, in Church, in faith, and we have gravitated toward our little goals and limited interests. Social cohesion is falling apart, in large part because people are not going to church anymore, either.
And recall at the beginning of the New York Times article, how Ms. Johnson considers herself a faithul believing Christian, even though she forsakes the assembly of herself with other Believers in Christ.
At first, declines mostly affected the more liberal mainline
Protestant denominations. But in recent years, self-identified evangelical
church attendance has dropped as well, and a larger share of conservatives than
liberals report leaving church. In 2021, for the first time on record, less
than 50 percent of Americans were members of a church.
COVID-19 and the horrid government backlash to this disease revealed the spiritual weaknesses in America. So many churches went along with the closures, required masks, or settled for online gatherings, despite the guarantees for freedom of religion in the United States Constitution. The fact that churches would cave so quickly to the state exposed their doctrinal and spiritual weakness.
“It’s the largest and fastest religious shift in our
nation’s history,” said Michael Graham, the former executive pastor of a
nondenominational church in Orlando, Fla., and the co-author of the recent book
“The Great Dechurching.”
The transformation has been particularly visible in Iowa,
where self-identified evangelicals, who make up about a quarter of the state’s
population, are influential bellwethers in Republican politics — but where
religious practice has changed more starkly than almost anywhere else in the
country.
From 2010 to 2020, the state’s population of church
adherents — people with some level of involvement in a congregation — fell
almost 13 percent, a sharper decline than in any state except New Hampshire,
according to the U.S. Religion Census, a comprehensive decennial survey of
congregations.
No wonder Iowa went for Trump again, even though DeSantis demonstrated more religious adherents and political bona fides than Trump.
And the schedules of blue-collar jobs and youth sports no
longer consider Sunday mornings sacrosanct, making regular attendance more
difficult for working people and families.
Tricia Shuffty, 42, a Republican-leaning independent in
Lucas County, said she voted mostly on “biblical issues.” But “unfortunately, I
work Sundays,” Ms. Shuffty, a security guard, said, “so I don’t get to go to
church regularly.”
The economy has taken a bad turn, for sure, and more people are working two or three jobs just to stay ahead. I do not view this challenge as the bigger reason why the Church in the United States is in trouble.
Clergy and religion experts are quick to note that people
who have left church, or did not attend in the first place, have not
necessarily abandoned religion. Evangelicalism has long had an individualistic
strain that resists the idea that personal faith requires church attendance.
Many people whose connection to organized religion has eroded continue to
strongly identify as Christians.
That individualistic strain is straining this country. Civilization is not possible without societal cohesion, and that cohesion gives way when people focused on their little lives to the exclusion of everyone else. The Republican Party's drift toward license in the name of liberty, coupled with a complete abandonment of virtue, reflects this larger societal problem.
‘The Only Savior I Can See’
There was little sign at the outset of the 2016 Republican
primary season that evangelicals would take to Mr. Trump as enthusiastically as
they eventually did. When World magazine, an influential Christian
publication, surveyed about 100 evangelical leaders in December
2015, none of them named Mr. Trump as their preferred candidate.
But as Mr. Trump gained ground in the early primaries, his
growing strength among white evangelical voters became clear. Polls showed that
the future nominee was most popular among one group in particular: white
evangelicals who seldom or never went to church.
These are the same "evangelicals" who likely do not read their books and have used Trump as the replacement Savior for Christ, whom they are not encountering, in part because they don't read their Bibles, and in part because they don't go to church.
Final Comment
Let's face it: the "Trump Evangelicals" are more in love with Trump than they are with Jesus.
They are not going to church.
They are not reading their Bibles.
They are not walking by faith.
They are reframing Jesus and adherence to His grace and truth based on their limited political and cultural interests.
And this trend is a larger reason why our country is in trouble right now.
No presidential candidate is a savior or a Messiah for the country. No one person in the White House is going to fix the spiritual and societal ills ruining this country.
We need a Great Awakening, and that means a restoration of the Gospel, which necessarily rests on the Centrality of Christ.
Liberty Counsel is sounding the alarm on the DIS-Respect for Marriage Act.
Here's their latest eblast summoning everyone to sound out their US Senators on their opposition
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Arthur,
Justice Clarence Thomas is right. The Supreme Court’s same-sex marriage opinion is on the same shaky legal ground as abortion was—as a made-up “right” pulled out of thin air. Those pushing the LGBTQ agenda are in a tailspin about this fact.
Misnamed the Respect for Marriage Act, this bill undermines marriage in several ways:
First, when Obergefell is overruled, HR 8404 will continue same-sex marriage.
Second, HR 8404 goes far beyond same-sex marriage because it empowers one state to set national marriage policy—including incestuous marriage (father-daughter or mother-son) and more.
Third, while it currently applies to “a marriage between 2 individuals,” the bill would open the door to polygamy and polyamory by simply striking “2” before or after the bill is passed.
Note, the bill does not say that marriage is only for two individuals, but that the bill requires a state to recognize “a marriage between 2 individuals.” The deconstruction of marriage is the stated goal of some LGBTQ advocates.
The bill could allow one person to enter more than one marriage between two people all at the same time, thus authorizing polygamy. Every House Republican member from Utah supported this bill.
That is one of the many perversions of marriage allowed by this bill. It has no limits on the age of the individuals, no limits on family relationships and no requirements of the marital status of someone who wants to marry.
The Senate is very close to passing HR 8404. The senators must hear from you. STOP HR 8404 with your urgent faxes to the Senate.
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When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges, some Justices warned that the decision could have a damaging and serious impact on people of faith. Chief Justice John Roberts took the unusual step of reading his dissent from the bench. He referred to the five Justices as “lawyers” who imposed “an act of will, not legal judgment.” He also said, “Just who do they think we are?”
I have been on the front lines of defending people of faith and the warning in Obergefell has come true. The Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, was the first person to face persecution and even jail.
Business owners are being bankrupted and shut down if they do not accept and promote same-sex marriage. Even schools are worried about their accreditation status, and organizations are worried about their tax-exempt status if they do not comply.
Justice Clarence Thomas wrote in a later opinion that “Since Obergefell, parties have continually attempted to label people of good will as bigots merely for refusing to alter their religious beliefs in the wake of prevailing orthodoxy.” Regarding Kim Davis he wrote, “those with sincerely held religious beliefs will find it increasingly difficult to participate in society without running afoul of Obergefell.”
Thus far, this level of persecution is happening under a Court ruling, but under a federal law, the ability to target and attack people of faith will increase!
We have a short window. Tell as many senators as you can to stop this bill! Click the button below to send your faxes now and keep reading to get a chilling glimpse into what we are fighting against.
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Now that this bill is in the Senate, we are anticipating Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) will try several different strategies to get this on Joe Biden’s desk. Schumer said, “This legislation is so important. I’m working with Senator [Tammy] Baldwin, one of our Senate leaders on this bill, to get the necessary Republican support to pass it in the Senate.”
Every minute of every day we need one conservative senator on the floor to object to a voice vote. This will force a full vote.
The Senate vote on this bill will be very close. We need every senator we can get to stop this bill. YOU can make the difference.
Working together, we can stop HR 8404 from passing! Everyone must speak up NOW by sending a fax and signing the petition!
BIG LEGAL NEWS! Last week, Liberty Counsel settled the nation’s first class wide lawsuit for health care workers over a COVID shot mandate for more than 10.3 million dollars. The class action settlement against NorthShore University HealthSystem is on behalf of more than 500 current and former health care workers who were unlawfully discriminated against.
This is a historic, first-of-its-kind class action settlement against a private employer that unlawfully denied religious exemption requests to COVID-19 shots. I will share more about this groundbreaking case next week.
Without you, NONE of our work is possible. Please prayerfully consider making an automatic recurring monthly donation to fund our legal work. Thanks to generous supporters, our Challenge Grant will effectively DOUBLE YOUR DONATION. PLEASE, be a part of the blessing today by selecting here or the button below.
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As always, I appreciate your prayers for our nation and for our team!
Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
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Sources:
“Obergefell v. Hodges.” Legal Information Institute. Cornell Law School. Accessed July 25, 2022. Law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/14-556#writing-14-556_DISSENT_4.
“(Order List: 592 U.S.) October 5, 2020 CERTIORARI -- SUMMARY DISPOSITIONS,” 2020. Supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/100520zor_3204.pdf.
Schumer, Chuck. “Last night, the House. . .” Twitter account: @SenSchumer. July 20, 2022. Twitter.com/SenSchumer/status/1549792216788467713.
Liberty Counsel is a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt nonprofit organization. Contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.
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We need as many people as possible contacting their US Senators. We cannot allow the falsification of marriage, meaning that more than two people can marry, or that two people of the same sex can marry. Where do people get this ridiculous idea that this stuff is acceptable?
A year ago, I sparked an incredible discussion on Facebook. I asked people about the abortion issue, re: are you pro-choice or pro-life.
I was surprised by the number of people who were not only pro-life, but who did not even recognize the option for abortion in the cases of rape or incest. For some people, they did not support abortion even if the life of the mother was in jeopardy!
I was really surprised by those remarks.
Earlier on, I was having dinner with a veteran who lived in Santa Clarita, California. The issue of abortion came up during our discussion. I told him that I was pro-life, but that I supported abortion in cases of rape, incest, or the life of the mother.
The veteran responded: "It's not the baby's fault if she was conceived in rape."
I countered, "Sure, but it's not the mother's fault, either."
The discussion on that issue stopped there.
Little by little, I encountered people who also shared that they opposed abortion, even in the cases of rape and incest. This did cause me to rethink my views on the matter.
A few months ago, I found the testimony of a prophet and evangelic speaker named Andre Ashby on YouTube. I was looking him up because I remembered that he had prophesied over me in a church meeting in Torrance, CA in 1996. I was just thinking about the great words that he had spoken over me, and I wanted to see if he was still active in ministry. I watched his video testimony, and I learned that he had been conceived in rape!
Wow! That really caused this whole issue to hit home for me. I was now personally impacted, blessed by someone who had been brought into this world, and who had been a blessing in this world, but was born to parents in which the father had raped his mother. Unbelievable!
With that personal implication, I realized that I simply could not support abortion because a mother had been raped. A child is a child is a child, and he deserves to live, even if how he was conceived was due to great harm and sin.
It's not the kid's fault, just as that veteran had told me.
Later on, I listened to the testimonies of two women, one who had gotten an abortion after she was raped, and one who chose not to abort her child after she was raped. The testimony of the woman who had gotten the abortion announced that the loss of her child was like getting raped a second time.
What a horrific thought! It had never occured to me how fundamentally intrusive and abusive an abortion procedure is for a mother. For me, the issue about abortion had focused on the needs of the mother, not just the child. Relying on that metric, I saw a perfectly justifiable reason for opposition abortion in the cases of rape and incest.
Finally, I spoke with another pro-life activist on this matter, and he made it crystal clear for me:
"Abortion is murder. If you do not support murder, then you cannot support abortion. It's as simple as that."
And with that, I became 100% pro-life, an abortion abolitionist.
Two days ago, the pastor at my church shared a statement about the role that Jesus is supposed to play in our lives.
"Some of us want to add Jesus to our lives. We see people saying things like: 'Oh, let's bring our kids to the local church. We want them to learn good moral values on how to live.'"
"But Jesus is not someone you add to your life. You need to surrender your life to Him. You need to submit your life to Him!"
But even here, this is wrong, too.
Jesus said to the Israelites of His day, and this promise resonates with all of us:
"The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly." (John 10:10)
Jesus didn't just come to make our lives better, or show us how to live.
He came to give us life!
We therefore have to accept the corrollary before this, that we don't have life on our own:
"Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." (Romans 5:14)
and
"1And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others." (Ephesians 2:1-3)
We were dead, and Jesus brings us to life!
We do not submit our lives to Jesus, we submit so that Jesus can give us His life!
"Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also." (John 14:19)
The Gospel is about so much more than adding something to our lives, or submitting our lives to Jesus: He is our Life! (Colossians 3:4)
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Our pro-life reporting is being attacked. So is the truth. We can’t back down in the fight against abortion!