Society Continues the Downward Slide to Destruction
The Issues of Homosexuality and Abortion of the Democrats and Republicans
Richard Hollerman
Abraham, the friend of God, lived about 2000 or 1900 BC in the land of Palestine. The Lord revealed to him the future of His descendants: Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years (Genesis 15:13). At this time, the patriarch was living in the midst of pagan peoples who were guilty of gross immorality and overwhelming idolatry.
Archaeological discoveries have revealed how wicked the Canaanites were. Their worship was polytheistic and included child sacrifice, idolatry, religious prostitution and divination (NASB Study Bible note on Genesis 15:16). God revealed to Abraham that after his descendants period of living in Egypt, the Israelites would come back to the land of Canaan and the Lord would deliver the land into their own possession. Why didnt this occur at the time of Abraham? The Lord explained, The iniquity of the Amorite is not yet complete (v. 16). When God brought His people out of Egyptian slavery about 400 years later, evidently the iniquity (or sin) of the Canaanites was, by this time, complete. They were ripe for judgment.
A little later, God recognized the debased condition of the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Scripture says, The outcry of Sodom and Gomorrah is indeed great, and their sin is exceedingly grave (Genesis 18:19). God found the population of these cities to be wicked (v. 23). Therefore, the Lord revealed to His servant Abraham the doom of these cities of the valley. What did God find in these cities that caused His violent reaction? Jude answers that Sodom and Gomorrah (and the cities around them) indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh (v. 7). There was gross or great sexual immorality (porneia) and strange or unnatural fleshly immoralitya reference to their homosexual practices.
Peter also describes the sin of these evil cities. The apostle says that they were ungodly (2 Peter 2:6) and God saw the sensual conduct of unprincipled men (v. 7). He says that Lot, who was living in their midst, was tormented day after day by their lawless deeds (v. 8). He says that these residents of Sodom and Gomorrah indulged the flesh in its corrupt desires and despised authority (v. 10). It is significant that God refers to ungodliness, sensual conduct, lawless deeds, indulging the flesh, and having corrupt desiresreferences to the sodomy practiced at these places.
When we return to the Genesis account, we learn something more of the character of these wicked men. Lot accused his fellow-Sodomites of acting wickedly by engaging in homosexual relationships (Genesis 19:7). The Lord sent two angels to Lot and his family to rescue them from in impending judgment of fire. They announced, We are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it (v. 13). It seems that the chief sin of Sodom was unrestrained homosexuality, hence the term that is commonly used, sodomy.
But there was more. God said that Sodom had arrogance, abundant food and careless ease, but she did not help the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:49). They were haughty and committed abominations (v. 50). Sin is seldom found alone; rather, one sin leads to another and another! In this case, this homosexual society also was proud, careless, merciless, and abominable. (Doesn’t this sound like America of the 21st Century?)
In the case of the Amorites mentioned before, God recognized their sin but gave them several centuries before He chose to destroy them. Finally, when His people arrived at the land of Canaan (the land promised to Abraham earlier), God commanded, When the LORD your God delivers them before you and you defeat them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them and show no favor to them (Deuteronomy 7:2). The sin of the Canaanites was now complete and these corrupt people were to be destroyed lest they have a corrupting influence on the people of God.
God must have endured the evil of Sodom for some time as well but finally He chose to destroy them out through fire. To use Peters description, God condemned the cities . . . to destruction by reducing them to ashes (2 Peter 2:6). And Jude adds that the cities are an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire (v. 7). Their sin was intense, including homosexuality, and their punishment was also intense.
In our day, many people have come to accept the sodomite lifestyle as normal but God says that it is a perversion of what he planned at creationthat one man should marry one woman and they should continue as husband and wife as long as they both live (Genesis 1:26-27; 2:24). God takes unrepentant evil, or gross immorality (to use the phrase of Jude 7), very seriousso serious that He chose to overthrow with fire those who indulged the flesh in this way.
Today we are living in a tolerant and humanistic age. Sodomites have attempted to soften the heinousness of their crime by coining the term gay and appropriating it for themselves. They took a perfectly good word that means happy, elated and joyfuland have perverted it into something evil, distasteful, and wicked. They have likewise taken Gods own rainbow that is a symbol of His covenant with the human race and made it symbolic of the homosexual lifestyle! But God calls it His own bow in the cloud (Genesis 9:13; cf. vv. 14-17). Surely perverting Gods own sign of the Noahic covenant into something immoral and degrading is a gross sin against God!
Lets bring this issue up to the present timecontemporary America. An article appeared in our local newspaper with the title, Divide Widens between GOP and Democrats (Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Sept. 5, 2012). The article says that the Democratic convention has taken unmistakable liberal positions . . . notably abortion and gay marriage, planting the party as firmly on the political left as Republicans are on the political right.
The Democratic platform states: This election is not simply a choice between two candidates or two political parties, but between two fundamentally different paths for our country and our families. This is a significant statement since it plainly and unequivocally says two ways of life are represented between the Democrats and the Republicans. As we shall see below, at least these two different ways that the Democrats refer to are the way of immorality and the way of morality, the way of murder and the way of protection of the innocent.
The reader should bear in mind that this writer is neither Republican nor Democrat (or even Independent). I find objectionable positions held by both Parties. Further, I am not prepared to speak on everything that either the Republicans or Democrats hold. Only two issues concern us here.
The newspaper article says that the Democratic Party has supported the 1973 ruling that says a mother has the right to murder her child. In contrast, by 1980, the Republican platform stated, We affirm our support of a constitutional amendment to restore protection of the right to life for unborn children.
Presently, the Democratic platform states: The Democratic Party unequivocally supports Roe v. Wade and a womans right to make decisions regarding her pregnancy, including a safe and legal abortion, regardless of ability to pay. This means that they would like the government to pay for the woman to kill her unborn baby. The statement continues: Abortion is an intensely personal decision between a woman, her family, her doctor and her clergy; there is no place for politicians or government to get in the way. In contrast, the Republican platform endorses a human life amendment to the Constitution, and makes no references to exclusions.
It is interesting that the explanation deliberately clouds the issues. They speak about a womans right to kill her baby but they make no reference to the childs right to life! It is also interesting that they say that killing her unborn child is her own decisionnot the responsibility of the federal government.
However, most Democrats are pleased that Lincoln did become involved in the issue of slavery! When he issued the emancipation proclamation on January 1, 1863, President Lincoln was saying that the government must recognize African Americans as human beings who have certain rights such as life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Why is it that Democrats cannot see that unborn children also have rights that must not be violated? They should be granted the ability to be born and grow and also enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Granted, many abortions are performed because the mother doesnt want the trouble of bearing and raising a child. In many cases, she doesnt want to fulfill the responsibility of dealing with the consequences of her sexual immorality. But still, no one has the right to destroy another human being who is innocent. In fact, the mother is the guilty onewhile the unborn baby is entirely innocent of any overt sin! Why should the guilty mother live while the innocent baby die?
Returning to the issue of sodomy and the current debate on same sex marriage, it is significant that the Democratic platform supports these immoral relationships. In contrast, the Republican platform would like a Constitutional amendment that defines marriage as the union of one man and one woman. The contrasts are great. President Obama and Vice-President Biden have publicly endorsed homosexual marriage (a definite misnomer), while Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan oppose this sin. One article puts it this way:
The Democrats on Tuesday became the nation’s first major political party to adopt a platform at their convention that fully supports same-sex marriage.
The platform supports the movement toward equal treatment under the law for same-sex couples. It opposes federal and state constitutional amendments and other attempts to deny equal protection to same-sex couples. Nebraskans passed such an amendment in 2000.
We also support the freedom of churches and religious entities to decide how to administer marriage as a religious sacrament without government interference, the platform says.
The Republican Party platform backs the rights of individual states and the federal government to not recognize same-sex marriages. The GOP also backs a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.
The reason it’s so gut-wrenchingly important for me is because the whole fabric of my life is at stake with this election, said Genth, a 62-year-old retired CEO from Mason City, Iowa.
Gay rights supporters call the Democratic platform achievement historic. They say the change will drive them to work harder for Obama. (omaha.com/article/20120905/ NEWS/709059878/1685)
The contrasts are quite drastic here. The Democrats approve of sodomite sexual relationships, whereas the Republicans want to disallow it and make it unlawful.
Notice another clear news report on this issue:
(CBS/AP) WASHINGTON – The Democratic National Convention is a watershed event for the U.S. gay rights movement, which never before has been embraced so warmly by a major political party.
There’s a platform endorsing same-sex marriage, a roster of speakers that includes three gay members of Congress, and a record number of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender delegates hailing from all 50 states – 486 in all, more than 8 percent of the total.
“We’ve been an underrepresented demographic in politics for a long time,” said Jerame Davis of National Stonewall Democrats, a gay-rights affiliate of the party. “Finally seeing us appropriately represented is just a thrill.”
DNC Treasurer Andrew Tobias addressed the crowd Tuesday night, and he talked about how proud he was as a gay man of his political party.
“The Democratic Party under the leadership of Barack Obama has dramatically improved the lives of millions of lesbian, gay, transgender and bisexual Americans and at no cost to anyone else,” Tobias said, according to the Wisconsin Gazette.
The large role for gays and lesbians at the gathering to launch President Barack Obama on his bid for re-election is a striking contrast with last week’s Republican convention. The Republicans ratified a platform opposing gay-rights priorities and was attended by perhaps a few dozen openly gay delegates. It also shows how far the Democrats have evolved since former President Bill Clinton, now a staunch supporter of same-sex marriage, signed a bipartisan bill in 1996 defining marriage as a one-man, one-woman union. (cbsnews.com/8301-250_162- 57506143/record-gay-presence -at-democratic-convention/)
Another report points out that a majority of voting Democrats and Independents favor legalizing sodomite unions (marriages) whereas a majority of Republicans oppose this measure:
A majority of Americans say they support legally recognizing same-sex marriage amid growing evidence that the public’s become more comfortable with gays and lesbians, according to a new national poll.
A CNN/ORC International survey released Wednesday also indicates that the number of Americans who say they have a close friend or family member who is gay has jumped from 49% in 2010 to 60% today, the first time in CNN polling that a majority of Americans have said that. In the 1990s, most Americans said they did not know anyone close to them who was gay. . . .
According to the survey, 54% now say that marriages between gay and lesbian couples should be recognized as valid by law, with 42% opposed. Sentiment is strong on both sides of the debate, with more than three-quarters of supporters and opponents of same-sex marriage saying that they feel strongly about that issue.
The poll indicates a partisan divide, with seven in ten Democrats as well as six in ten independent voters saying same-sex marriages should be recognized by the law as valid, and 72% of Republicans opposed. The survey also indicates a generational divide, with nearly two-thirds of those under 50 in favor of legal same sex marriages and 55% of those 50 and older opposed. (politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/ 2012/06/06/cnn-poll- americans-attitudes-toward-gay- community-changing/)
We must make it clear what we are not affirming here. We are not saying that only the irreligious, the agnostics, and the atheists are Democrats. Not at all! And we not suggesting that all of the Republicans are Christians. This also would be totally false! Quite frankly, there are church-going Democrats who endorse the sin of homosexuality and the evil of child murder. And there are Republicans who are atheists and agnostics and probably chaff at the inclusion of these issues in the Republican platform.
Although this isnt the time and place to discuss the matter, we believe that God wants the follower of Jesus to simply be a subject of Gods spiritual and eternal kingdom (John 18:36). Christians are part of Gods new holy nation that is different from the kingdoms of the world, including the Democratic and Republican Parties (cf. 1 Peter 2:9).
We submit to the government in all things that are right and good (Romans 13:1-7) while we, ourselves, live a radically different life in Gods kingdom and are subject to the teachings of Christ (Romans 12:9-21; Matthew 5-7). Surely there are some things that the Democrats stand for that are right and some things that Republicans stand for that are wrong, although weve not studied this matter at length.
We also must point out the hypocrisy of both parties. President Obama is a liberal, unbelieving Protestant. But is Mitt Romney any better since he is a member of a leading cult, the Mormon Church, that promises the status of godhood in the next life? Further, why doesnt the Republican Party denounce adultery with the same decisiveness as they do homosexuality? There are millions and probably tens of millions of couples living in the United States who have remarried after an illegitimate divorce, thus are living in adultery (cf. Mark 10:2-12; Romans 7:2-3; Matthew 19:3-12). Isnt this hypocritical? How can we support a Constitutional amendment that says marriage is the union of one man and one woman when it may be adulterous for that man and woman to marry (remarry)?
Lets remember that God abhors the two sins we have been discussing at this time. He hates the purposeful and deliberate killing of unborn babies and He despises the abuse of marriage by promoting the immorality of sodomy or homosexuality. If He destroyed the Canaanites because they sacrificed their children and committed sodomite relations, will He one day destroy America for the same reasons, along with countless other sins? It may very well be that we are on the slippery slope of national corruption that leads to national destruction!
This may not happen overnight. The United States has been sliding down the mountain of corruption for years. Think of the slavery that was prevalent until the middle of the nineteenth century. Think of the feminist movement a hundred years ago. Think of the Civil War with its widespread loss of life. Think of the Scopes Trial in 1923 and the way that the evils of evolution have come to dominate science and education for the past scores of years.
And remember the further inroads of corruption since the 1950s with the Rock and Roll, the elimination of prayer and Bible reading in the schools, the idolatry of sports in the country, the sodomite rebellion during the sexual revolution of the 1960s. All of this and much more has pushed the country further away from a spiritual and moral foundation and closer to the degradation of immorality, humanism, evolution, secularism, and numerous other societal disasters.
Lets recognize what is happening in the Democrat and Republican camps and how their platforms reflect spiritual and moral compromise and disaster. Now is the time for all servants of God to pray as weve never prayed before. As we said above, it may very well be that we are on the slippery slope of national corruption that leads to national destruction!
See also the article: Who Supports the Obama Campaign?