Just days after the Supreme Court conducted hearings on the constitutionality of Proposition 8 and The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), but months before the Court renders a decision, TIME magazine - which, at one time was actually considered a news magazine - rendered its own decision. Featuring two provocative and controversial covers on its April 8, 2013, edition, TIME gleefully declared that "Gay Marriage Already Won."
Never mind the Supreme Court has yet to render its decisions; never mind that 39 states in the union restrict marriage to one woman and one man, either by statute or by their constitutions; never mind that many surveys still show that a majority of Americans disapprove of same-sex marriage, the Liberal Left and the Mainstream Media have made the decision for us. And they're counting on their friends on the court to follow in lockstep.
The essential shred of evidence TIME offered for its giddy declaration is found at the end of a 40-year timeline that lists the milestones in the march to same-sex marriage beginning in 1970. It's a graphic declaring that 53% of Americans now approve of same-sex marriage. However, if you look closely, you'll see that below the 53% figure is found the word, "average." Below that, you'll see that 73% of Americans ages 18-29 approve of overturning the present laws restricting marriage to one woman and one man.
That means that TIME gets the 53% "average" by combining the 73% of 18-29 year-olds with the much lower approval ratings of everyone else in the land.
But I suppose there's a certain devious logic to the TIME editors' thinking. Even if the Supreme Court upholds Prop 8 and DOMA, it won't be long before they, or other laws, will be challenged in court again. And if the generation that will soon be in charge is overwhelmingly for same-sex marriage (73%!), if it doesn't win today, it will most certainly win tomorrow.
Now, you may be asking yourself, "Why should I care if men marry men or women marry women?" The truth is that it's a very big deal. In fact, it may be the biggest deal - after the state-approved murders of 50 million unborn children - that the United States has ever faced or ever will face.
It's important because it weakens one of the last remaining foundational pillars on which our nation is built. For that matter, on which any nation is built. You see, the traditional definition of marriage - a recognized and exclusive union of one woman and one man - is the building block on which all civilizations throughout all of history have been founded.
It is, in fact, the only building block that has made history even possible. And when you review the great civilizations and empires that have collapsed throughout the ages, one of the classic death rattles is the demise of the sanctity of marriage and the acceptance and celebration of immorality and, especially, homosexuality.
And don't make the mistake of believing the lie that only the Old Testament condemns the practice of homosexuality. The writers of the New Testament were very specific and strong in their condemnation, too.
Let me make a distinction, though. I'm not talking about whether to tolerate or accept homosexual behavior. I'm talking about condoning and codifying those behaviors by officially changing our long-standing laws. Society can and does accept or tolerate the presence of certain behaviors as a fact of life without sanctioning or institutionalizing them. Formal recognition of gay marriage by a government implies society's seal of approval. When a government enacts such a law, it invariably promotes that conduct.
This week, I'm going to discuss where society's acceptance and celebration of the homosexual lifestyle places our world on the prophetic timeline.
Please don't misunderstand me. I do not believe that homosexuality and the fight for same-sex marriage is responsible for all the ills in America today. I do not believe that homosexuality is the cause of America's breathtaking moral, spiritual, economic, and political decline. I do, however, believe that it is a prominent symptom of the decay eating at the roots of our nation's freedom and strength. In truth, the Scripture teaches that rampant homosexuality -- and the general public's comfort with it -- is a primary indicator that a society has willfully rejected God and plunged into darkness and sin.
C. S. Lewis once made a chilling observation. He wrote, "There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, 'Thy will be done,' and those to whom God says, in the end, 'Thy will be done.'" When I look around at our world today and I see the utter collapse of moral and spiritual values and principles, I'm terrified to think of what this world will be like when God finally says to us, "Okay, if this is what you want, then your will be done."
I am so glad that the true followers of Christ will not be on this earth when that happens. Thank God, the Bible promises that we will be with Jesus, caught up in the clouds of glory to be forever with our Lord and Savior. Make certain you've accepted the atoning sacrifice that Jesus made to purchase your pardon. If you've done that, then you're ready to escape that day when God finally says to this sinful world, "This is what you asked for, this is what you will receive."
Hal Lindsey
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