Ramon Arias | March 28, 2016
Over two billion Christians all over the world just celebrated the most powerful truth in human history, Jesus’ crucifixion, burial and resurrection. Millions had the opportunity to be exposed to the only life-changing message for true meaning and purpose. Absolutely nothing can compare, and it truly is the hope every human is searching for, perhaps without even knowing it.
The other side of the story is the ongoing battle against biblical Christian values in this nation. There are those that ignorantly, or knowingly, reject God’s moral absolutes and feel so empowered since early on in the 20th century that they have worked to eradicate Christianity’s influence on this land. Unbelievably they are accomplishing this with the help of most Christians. The ungodly forces are working and apparently succeeding, at least for now, in making biblical Christianity irrelevant.
The good news is that there are still some godly Christians who stand up to fight back and to remind others that America is God’s design. Even though it is far from where we need to be, it is time to get back to moral absolutes if this nation is going to be saved from self-destruction.
The latest reminder of the battle between Christianity and the humanist ideology is unfolding in the Peach State. Georgia’s state General Assembly passed a new religious liberty legislation known as the Free Exercise Protection Act, or HB 757. The bill now has to be signed or vetoed by Gov. Nathan Deal on or before May 3. It is up to him if he wants to protect faith-based organizations and groups from being harassed by those who are bound and determined to force Christians to violate their convictions.
The Georgia bill protects the religious liberties of every person and faith-based organization; it doesn’t include discriminatory language. It is tragic that Christian America has come to this, to have to defend their God-given rights that were won by the hard toil and bloodshed of past generations of Christians.
The Georgia Religious Freedom has issued an Alert Bulletin for pastors explaining the Bill:
Includes specific protections for clergy so that no civil action can be taken against them for refusing to perform marriages, rites, or sacraments that conflict with their religious beliefs.
The legislation also protects some faith-based organizations so that they are not subject to any civil action if they refuse to provide social, educational, or charitable services if doing so would violate their religious beliefs. They are also protected if they refuse to rent, lease or otherwise not grant permission for property to be used for events that are objectionable to their religious beliefs. These same faith-based organizations are provided protection in all their hiring practices so that there is no requirement to hire or retain as an employee any person whose religious beliefs or practices are not in accord with the faith-based organizations religious beliefs. As far as hiring practices are concerned, these protections have always been affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court, and this language affirms what is already standard practice in the court system….
RFRA acts as a strong deterrent to frivolous lawsuits against religious people, their businesses, and their organizations. It also provides protections against laws or regulations that infringe on religious liberty. If lawsuits do happen, RFRA’s judicial balancing test of “strict scrutiny” ensures that government cannot substantially burden the free exercise of religion without compelling justification of the highest order, such as public safety, and that government must use the least restrictive means to accomplish its constitutional objective. 1
The Magic Kingdom of Disney has threatened to remove its business from Georgia if the governor signs the bill into law. Marvel Studio Film has issued the same warning and others have condemned the legislation such as Atlanta-based Coca-Cola, Home Depot and UPS.
Other voices are joining the choir of condemnation and threats coming from Hollywood by yelling foul play against the LGBT community using their lies that have worked for them by stating that the law legalizes anti-homosexual discrimination, which is far from the truth. Other companies joining them are Viacom, 21st Century Fox, Lionsgate, CBS, AMC Networks. And, of course, the NFL Atlanta Braves, Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta Hawks didn’t want to be left out of that “choir”.
Have you ever questioned why they don’t show the same level of indignation and outrage on behalf of all the Christians who have been and are persecuted in the land of the free and the home of the brave? Why didn’t they raise their voices in exasperation and protest when Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis was put in jail, when bakers, Aaron and Melissa Klein, lost their business for refusing to bake a cake for a same-sex wedding and a judge forced them to pay an outrageous fine, or when the Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran was fired for distributing his self-published book to fellow employees that speaks about the biblical position on homosexuality? You see, it is beyond double standards; don’t be deceived by their gobbledygook or flowery words. For them, tolerance is only a one-way street. They want everything their way, and they want everyone else to sooner or later bow to the masters of deceit. This is their real agenda!
Let me repeat, Georgia’s Bill is not to legalize discrimination, rather to stop the ever-increasing discrimination against Christians. We know the LGBT groups are fighting against this bill with all their strength, as they are doing in other places. They feel greatly empowered because they know they have the support of the main media, most judges, politicians, some mega corporations, and even some branches of corrupt Christianity.
Even though Bill HB 757 is not a total defense of biblical Christianity, we can at least say, that it reminds us of how much ground we have lost. This is not to say it is because the unsaved are smarter, richer and more influential; rather because generations ago too many Christians retreated from being the salt and light of the world as we have been commanded to be.
The corporate world no longer cares, or has any regard for what Christians want. They have grown accustomed to raking in their money by the billions, in spite of the moral garbage they dish out. Imagine if Christians stopped financing the Magic Kingdom of Disney, Coca-Cola and every other enterprise that uses their economic power to destroy Christendom! Imagine if Christians would use their funds to further the knowledge of God’s will instead of giving it to those who opposed Him! Imagine if Christians were committed 100% to obeying the Great Commission of discipling this nation and the nations of the world!
The death, burial and resurrection of Christ were never meant to be an annual weekend celebration, rather a way of life as Paul wrote in Romans 14:8, “If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”
We are saved to be the new creation of God in Christ Jesus; this means we accept to live by God’s covenant. We now understand God owns everything (Psalms 24:1), and we are administrators of what He has put under our care. We are to manage the finances according to His principles and purpose. Without the newborn experience in Christ, it is virtually impossible to do this correctly.
King David gathered the funds and materials for Solomon to build God’s Temple. In his prayer he said:
“But who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able thus to offer willingly? For all things come from you, and of your own have we given you. For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding. O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided for building you a house for your holy name comes from your hand and is all your own” (1 Chronicles 29:14-16).
In order to finance God’s plans, He has to provide us with the means; interesting, isn’t it? What is ours of the things we have, and how much do we take with us when we die?
Jesus is not interested in the least in promoting the Magic Kingdom of Disney. When He started His public life He proclaimed the arrival of the Kingdom of heaven (Matthew 4:17), and manifested the benefits and gave the knowledge for people to understand their choices in life, whether they be of God or the devil.
Jesus emphasized the importance of focusing on the Sovereignty of God, not man’s, when affirming that we ought to pray for God’s Kingdom and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven, (Matthew 6:10).
Dr. Luke wrote to Theophilus and said:
“…I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. He presented himself alive to them after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1:1-3)
Jesus never lost sight of God’s will to establish His Kingdom, not even after the resurrection. Do we think God is going to lose His plan for humanity because the Magic Kingdom of Disney and like-minded corporations and individuals are fighting against His Kingdom?
We don’t know if Gov. Nathan Deal is going to sign the bill into law or not. However, this we know, nothing changes for Georgia’s Christians and the rest of us, we will continue the uphill battle to save the nation from dying. Jesus’ death on the cross, burial and resurrection are more than enough to keep us focused on hope and faith for the battles and victories that lie ahead, if we are faithful.
Jesus defeated the kingdom of darkness and “the magic kingdom of man” is no match for The Kingdom of God. God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit expect us to carry out His commission at all cost.