What to do when forced to perform 'gay weddings'

[Guadalupe]

Eventually, pastors in America will be ordered to preside over homosexual marriages – and they'll have three choices: (1) surrender, disobey God's law and obey man's; (2) stand firm, disobey man's law and obey God's; or (3) use the opportunity to serve, speak truth in love and glorify Jesus. I like the third option.

Churches in Denmark are now compelled, by law, to host same-sex "weddings."

America is next.

Tyranny's appetite is insatiable. The secular-left's hunger for power and control over its detractors can never be satisfied. To outwardly succumb and affirmatively capitulate to their pagan demands will never be enough.

Thought control is the goal.

Case in point: Remember Jack Phillips, the Christian baker in Colorado? He exercised his First Amendment religious rights and politely declined to bake a "wedding" cake for a homosexual civil union. Colorado's "civil rights" Star Chamber recently ordered Mr. Phillips to deny his faith and bake these fake cakes, "shut down" or face prison.

He and his elderly mother (an employee) have additionally been "sentenced" to attend "sensitivity training" (read: re-education camp). There, some snot-nosed college grad with a degree in "feminist/gender studies," or some other such nonsense, will endeavor to scrub all biblical notions of human sexuality and natural marriage from their minds, hearts and souls, reboot and upload Mozilla Moral Relativism 2.0.

As Mr. Phillips has indicated, he has no problem baking for homosexuals, but, as a Christian, he simply cannot and will not contribute his time and God-given gifts to bake a "wedding cake" that mocks and defiles God's design for the immutable institution of legitimate marriage.

Nor would he bake for a white supremacist rally or any other similarly wicked event that likewise flouts biblical truth.

As a result, Phillips has said he will stop baking wedding cakes altogether.

I hope he'll reconsider.

I hope that Mr. Phillips will bake on. I hope he'll embrace the mantel of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and engage in civil disobedience. I hope he tells this "brood of vipers," in a loving and Christian way, to get bent.

This is his Rosa Parks moment.

Then he should prayerfully consider attending the "sensitivity training" as a ministry opportunity and co-opt it for the glory of Christ. He should take it over with respectful questions and direct disagreement. He should refuse to waiver one iota on biblical truth and rebuke those who deny Christ and His truths.

He should educate the "educators" as well as everyone else in attendance.

That's what it means to pick up your cross and follow Christ.

But that's just some baker, right, pastors? Sure, it's happening to photographers, florists, innkeepers and bakers, but at least the church is safe.

No chance.

This is the issue. For some reason the enemy has chosen sexual immorality and faux "marriage" as a hammer to bludgeon the church.

Denmark was the first nation to imagine same-sex "marriage" as a matter of law. It's now one of the first to compel, under penalty of law, churches to desecrate holy ground by hosting these sin-centric, pagan spectacles.

OneNewsNow columnist and AFR Talk radio host Bryan Fischer reports:

"Well, the day we prophesied has arrived. Churches in Denmark – and the U.S. will not be far behind – have been ORDERED to perform sodomy-based weddings whether they want to or not.

"According to the London Telegraph, a new law passed by the Danish parliament 'make(s) it mandatory for all churches to conduct gay marriages.' No options, no exceptions, no choice. Homosexuals are to be married wherever they want, regardless of whose conscience is trampled and whose sanctuary is defiled in the process. …

"How long will it be before American churches will be ordered, as a condition of maintaining their tax-exempt status, to host same-sex ceremonies? How long will it be before American pastors are ordered to perform them?

"Unless America's pastors rise up as one, now, that day will arrive like a thief in the night, a day when each pastor will be told that he must solemnize sodomy-based marriages in his church or his church's 501(c)(3) status will be revoked. At that point, he and his church will effectively be out of business."

Mr. Fischer is right. It's a foregone conclusion. We are no longer a constitutional republic. American pastors, like bakers, florists, photographers and every other citizen, will be confronted with a choice: Obey God or obey man. Pastors will be compelled, under threat of imprisonment, to participate in these unholy pagan rituals.

Pastors, priests, you will then face three choices: 1) Surrender, disobey God's law and obey man's; 2) Stand firm, disobey man's law and obey God's; or 3) Use the opportunity to serve, speak truth in love and glorify Jesus.

I like No. 3.

When you men of the cloth are inevitably put to this test, I suggest you do the following. It will take great courage and the strength of the Holy Spirit.

"Preside" over the mock marriage and speak the following truths in love:

"Let us begin with a reading from God's Holy Word, Matthew 19:4-5:

"As Christ said, 'Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning 'made them male and female,' and said, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?'

"Do we dare call the living Christ a liar?

"I dare not!

"As it is written: 'Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error (Romans 1:26).'

"Dearly beloved, we are gathered here on this dark occasion because the government has threatened to imprison me otherwise. We are gathered here, presumably, to join 'Party A' and 'Party B' in 'holy matrimony.' I say 'presumably' because this cannot be. God's infallible word calls this a farce and a lie. God's Holy word calls this an abomination – a mortal sin.

"He loves you enough, 'Party A', 'Party B' – all who are gathered here today – to tell you the truth. I love you enough to tell you the truth.

"God warns, 'Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.' I will not call this evil good. You can persecute me, jail me or even kill me, but you cannot force me to deny Christ.

"I am a sinner and can cast no stone. Neither can I condemn you. But, as did Jesus, I can tell you this: 'Go and sin no more.'"

"Repent, ask forgiveness and believe upon Jesus.

"Because your eternity depends on it."

Then walk away and pray that these Holy Spirit-inspired words, these transcendent truths, pierce the hearts of those in attendance who labor under deception – who suffer under this "strong delusion."

That's what it means to pick up your cross and follow Christ.
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Matt Barber is founder and editor-in chief of BarbWire.com. He is an author, columnist, cultural analyst and an attorney concentrating in constitutional law.

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[rachel]

Same-sex marriage is still illegal in Australia, but the worry is that it won't be for long. There's certainly precedent that we'll be following America's lead soon enough (and more's the pity):

Homosexuality was decriminalised in the ACT in 1973, and my state (SA) was next in 1975. The last state to decriminalise homosexuality was Tasmania, in 1997, which was two years after it was decriminalised federally. Since then, acceptance of gays is being pushed like crazy in high schools - my sister, who's in Year 11, was recently told off quite harshly by her English teacher for opposing homosexuality in a class discussion. "Homophobia's no good. We don't want homophobes in Australia, you need to be more accepting." "Well," my sister said, "A 'phobia' is an irrational fear. I don't have an irrational fear of gay people. I just think it's wrong... And you should be more accepting of my Christianity."

Anyway, in December last year, the ACT passed a law legalising same-sex marriage. It only lasted a few days before the High Court overruled and said it was an "illegal law" because only the Commonwealth Parliament can pass such a law (federal law supersedes state law in these matters), but it set a precedent. The ACT was the first to decriminalise homosexuality, and now they've been the first to legalise same-sex marriage. It's only a matter of time before the rest of Australia follows.

Already same-sex relationships are recognised by Centrelink (social security) as being "de facto" unions, the same as a boyfriend and girlfriend living together. They're not recognised as marriages yet, even if the couple were "married" overseas.

A federal law was passed in 2004 banning same-sex marriage, and all recent attempts to legalise it have failed, and probably will continue to fail as long as we have Tony Abbott as Prime Minister... but how long will that last? The Opposition officially supports same-sex marriage.

As far as adoption goes, it's legal for same-sex couples to adopt and/or foster in most of the states... but SA and the Northern Territory remain conservative in that it's still illegal. (Given that one of our three major political parties in South Australia is a Christian one, that's probably not surprising).

There was a lesbian minister at an Anglican church here in Adelaide whom the Church made to step down a few years ago, which caused a minor uproar in the local community because apparently they loved her. The Anglican Church is still opposes homosexuality and refuses to perform gay marriages, but there's one church in Western Australia that "welcomes" gays, and most dioceses allow female ministers now (Sydney and the Riverland don't, I'm not sure about the others), so who knows what might happen? The Catholic church of Australia, and the Exclusive Brethren, continue to oppose homosexuality of any kind, but the Uniting church (Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian) are all for it and even allows gays and lesbians to be ordained!

(The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils remains very strongly against homosexuality of any sort, so perhaps it's just as well we're getting so many Muslim immigrants and refugees!)

These people tell you they're all about equal rights for everyone but they don't think about what all this propaganda does to rights for religion and freedom of speech. Yes, you can say whatever you like, as long as it's liberal and accepting. Gay rights and acceptance of gays is being pushed so much in schools that most teenagers will tell you they're for it now -- what happens in ten or twenty years time, when my peers are running the country? I chose to stay at home and do school by correspondence for most of my high school years, but my sister has gone back to school (senior college, which is the last two or three years of high school) and has got a lot of flack about her faith and anti-gay stance. She tells me that sometimes she feels she can't speak up for what she believes in because she'll be labelled as ignorant and insensitive and at times she feels she's been discriminated against be the teachers!

[Guadalupe]

Jun 20, 2014 23:04:22 GMT -5 rachel said:

The Catholic church of Australia, and the Exclusive Brethren, continue to oppose homosexuality of any kind, but the Uniting church (Congregational, Methodist, and Presbyterian) are all for it and even allows gays and lesbians to be ordained!
...
These people tell you they're all about equal rights for everyone but they don't think about what all this propaganda does to rights for religion and freedom of speech. Yes, you can say whatever you like, as long as it's liberal and accepting.

Those churches who continue to stand against homosexuality and promote Biblical marriage will see persecution increase for them... and so the culture also treated Jesus.