On Legalization of Gay Marriage

"Let us consider our responsibility."

I had just arrived with my son Sam in Argentina. We were inspired, having just finished talking with our friends in Buenos Aires; they had successfully worked with some government officials to block the formation of a civic gay pride day. While serving those with same-sex attraction who seek healing, they are doing all that they can to halt the advance of gay rights in their land.
Then Annette phoned unexpectedly. Usually not a good sign; she brought the news I had been dreading. The CA Supreme Court just voted 4 to 3 to overturn a voter-based initiative that declared marriage as solely heterosexual. Gay marriage is now legal in arguably the most powerful state in the USA.

What does that mean? It means a radical and dangerous redefinition of the most basic and stabilizing relationship on earth. In the USA, marriage used to mean one man and one woman pledged to permanence and fidelity and committed to caring for the children that resulted from their union.

Marriage used to convey the essence of 'the imago dei': God's design for commitment and complementarity in human sexual relationships.

Now marriage has been reconfigured by human hands. The creature has asserted his independence from the Creator in the most brazen way possible. We have asserted how we will image ourselves. The Court has made a way for generations to come to validate rebellion; in our neighborhoods, in our schools, in our churches. 'Family' will now be defined as much by same-sex lovers as by man and woman.

Children will grow up under that state-mandated idolatry: what God defines as evil has now become just and true.

The Court has undermined God's best for the whole of a culture. The decision will resound throughout the nation and the world. Unlike Massachusetts where a gay couple must establish residence in order to marry, CA welcomes all from throughout the nation to marry there. That means that gays will marry in CA, then return to their states and insist that any laws there that define marriage as heterosexual be overturned by the courts. Just as CA did!

What can we do? Wake up. This decision impacts you as nearly as it does the gay couple in San Francisco. You are a citizen in the land. You have a voice. In light of a people coming out of great darkness in the area of sexual brokenness, Paul implored: 'Wake up, O sleeper, and rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you. Be careful how you live, making the most of every opportunity.' (Eph. 5:14, 15)

He implores us to rise and shine and make known His way for marriage. Gather to pray with others on the basis of Joel 3: 13-17: "Declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly" (v.15). Ask God for mercy on behalf of our land. Get rid of any residual idolatry you still cling to.

If you are considering doing a healing group for the sexually broken, now is the time to go forward. Declare to the community: here is the refuge for those most caught in the crossfire between idolatry and God's will. As we gather together as male and female, we declare: this is God's image for humanity!

Speak up in your churches. Assert at once God's compassion for the broken ones who choose His way and holy fear for those who refuse it for the law of an idolatrous land.

Do everything in your power to overturn the court's decision in CA. CA citizens are now mobilizing to put on the ballot in November a heterosexual only marriage initiative. (For the second time!) Such a bill could overturn the court decision.

Pray that the people will overturn the court's decision. Here in Argentina I am aware that all eyes are on the USA and its decisions concerning gay rights and the definition of marriage. Will we set a precedent of idolatry for our children, in our nation and in every nation on earth? Or will it be one of righteousness and compassion?

Let us consider our responsibility soberly in light of what is happening right now in the land. Let us pray and act now while we have opportunity. Let us not say in 10 years when gay marriage has become the norm: "How did that happen? We are witnessing it happening now, the biggest door opening yet for the reconfiguring of the image of God in the USA.

God have mercy. God give us the greater power to seek to overcome the evil of idolatry with good: man for woman, woman for man.

(Source: Andy Comiskey Desert Stream Ministries Andy Comiskeyemail: info@desertstream. org phone: 866-359-0500)