Posted on 03/17/2011 2:06:19 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
Iowa Capitol – West Steps
March 15th, 2011
Watch the Video of the Speech Here!
Read the Unabridged Text of the Speech Below:
Thank you all for your show of solidarity today, on this important issue of protecting traditional marriage – the foundation of civilization. I would also like to thank the many grass-roots organizations that don’t often get credit for their hard work behind the scenes, like STAND, who made hundreds of phone calls encouraging citizens to attend this important gathering. Naturally, my thanks to the I.F.P.C., the staff of the Family Leader and all others who have worked to bring this event together. I would particularly like to thank Judge Roy Moore, who certainly gets the prize for traveling the farthest to speak at this event!
It is time for the church to ACKNOWLEDGE the corruption around us – corruption which now threatens to dismember a nation – once upon a time – whose judicial branch, in particular, was built upon the knowledge of the irrefutable existence of Divine Law! Gravity cannot be voted against! There are no judges (who possess any real humility in this world) who could suggest otherwise! It is a Divine Law which exists outside the scope of human authority, like the laws of physics, the laws of mathematics, the laws of chemistry, and the laws that govern the orbits of our planets!
Citizens of Iowa…listen carefully! There is another law men DID NOT MAKE, and only fools pretend the power to change… It is the Divine Law of procreation! It takes one man and one woman to create a new eternal life made in the image and likeness of God! It is the unbending, unchangeable law of God that forms the basis of what SHALL be defined as a “FAMILY” in the great state of Iowa!
Neither our courts, nor our legislators, nor our citizens should have ever meddled with the institution of marriage, any more than they would entertain the laughable notion of attempting to outlaw gravity! Yet here we stand, and I am embarrassed in the presence of God, that I must demand to vote on something no vote should have ever been necessary to protect!
In 1876, Marie Herbert warned that “pure intellect, however highly cultivated, untempered with Christian philosophy, is inclined to inordinate self-devotion or to [class snobbery], and is, therefore, instinctively antagonistic to [the belief that the final authority of government rests with the people].”[i] (Emphasis added.) We have certainly seen this brand of class snobbery demonstrated by the judges of our own Iowa Supreme Court. Despite the verdict of the people during the last election, that same class-snobbery continues, particularly demonstrated by Chief Justice Cady, who was summoned to replace one the three judges you recently fired!
I am just an agent of the church – one voice among many important voices, standing on the steps of a poorly maintained civil authority. I am here, because, like you… I am AWAKE! But it is not enough for the church to merely AWAKEN…we must RESPOND to the threat against our families through PRAYER, LEGAL and POLITICAL ACTION!
As I said, I am a simple agent of the church – standing on the steps of a poorly maintained civil authority. I am also here because I have a message for Senator Gronstal, who recently lamented to a reporter that he might not retain his job beneath this gold-gilded roof. As an agent of the church, I have come to remind Mr. Gronstal that he hath need of repentance! And his GREATEST concern should NOT be whether or not his future holds the pleasure of standing beneath this golden roof, but whether or not his future holds the privilege of standing upon heaven’s golden streets!
135 years ago, Herbert said it this way: “It is time for the Christian pastor to throw off the robes of ease and comfort and, through repentance, make himself worthy again to put on the forgotten mantle worn long ago by the likes of John Knox, Martin Luther, Edwards, Wesley, Asbury, McKendree, and others of great apostolic line, with whom self-denial, toil, suffering and even death were welcome, if for the glory of the cross” [ii] (Emphasis added.)
If the unchurched believe that American secularism is a success, then let them PROVE IT with practical evidence! Are our families safer to walk the sidewalk today than even one century ago? Speak to your local police officer…and then answer! Are our schools bastions of success and ingenuity? Compare our current literacy rate with that of the one-room school house of colonial America, which exceeded the literacy rates of the Roman Empire…and then answer! Are our prisons shrinking in size as the alleged “virtues of secularism” and “ethical creativity” of the humanist spread in our universities? Speak with your local county prosecutor…and then answer! Is the ratio between those who humbly attend an orthodox Christian church, and those who do not, evolving in the favor of successful evangelism? Consult with the census bureau…and then answer!
This afternoon, you and I face the same three options our founding fathers faced in 1776…
1) Will we have “State-Sanctioned Religion”?
The American founders said “No” when they wrote the Declaration to reject the false Anglican doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings!
2) Will we have a so-called “Secular-State” and jettison the acknowledgment of God from all three branches, as well as the public square?
The makers of the French revolution thought-so… and they have enjoyed 15 failed constitutions ever since. In defiance to the language of the preamble of our own Iowa constitution and national history…our current hubris-filled courts, in partnership with Democratic Senate leadership, would attempt to force those same failed principles of secular France upon us all!
3) Or will we maintain, in contrast to the “State-Sanctioned Religion” the founders fled, a “Religion-Sanctioned State”, like that form of government finally determined by the outcome of the American Revolution?!
There are only 3 options we have, and only 1 choice has produced the most powerful nation of history! The other two… miserable failures! And yet here we are…confronted by a predominant worldview antagonistic to our own foundation…one that promotes secularism as the “new State-sanctioned religion!”
One does not need to be a prophet to hear the thunderous sounds of a coming national storm! Paul Revere need not ride through our streets in the cold night, reminding us that “the British are coming”, because tyranny isn’t coming to America. Without a holy interruption from wholesome and God-fearing people like you, America is returning to tyranny!
It’s not enough to stamp the knowledge of Divine Law upon our coins! It was not enough to enshrine our Declaration of Independence with the sacred Name of our “Creator”. It was not enough to speckle the land of our state and nation with steeples and church bells in every town, city and village! It was not enough that we assumed ourselves to be a Christian nation! It was not enough to establish the hospitals of our nation – many of which still maintain the historic branding of all our Christian denominations! It is NOT ENOUGH to have built thousands of Christian schools! It is NOT ENOUGH that we celebrate Christian holidays of Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter! It is NOT ENOUGH that we honor most of our dead loved-ones with granite grave-markers carved with Bible verses, though the person buried likely never attended church nor obeyed the authentic teachings of Jesus Christ!
Apparently, it is NOT ENOUGH to retreat into the cold four walls of our ostentatious cathedrals, satisfied to merely treat the spiritual and emotional casualties of our dangerous society… as they limp, hobble and drag into church every Sunday morning, wounded by the mine-field of a corrupt sin-celebrating culture!
Apparently, it is NOT ENOUGH to turn up our religious noses at the “unwashed” masses who now corrupt and exploit the privilege of civic power in all three branches of our Republic! The Apostle Paul was correct, when he penned Romans 13, to remind us that the government must be the steward of the God-fearing! And those modern ministers – the curious teachers of civic abandonment – are dreadfully wrong!
It is time for the allegedly powerful bishops of the church, in harmony with the humble pastors who reside across the patchwork quilt of “small-town Iowa,” to throw-off the pious velvet robes of spiritual obesity and lethargy…robes that adorn church leaders who have now enjoyed decades of material prosperity combined with ease, comfort and peace!
And WHY have we enjoyed such blessings? Because a long time ago… another breed of American bishop shed his own blood in the fields that today produce fruit and wealth for the American farmer. The sacrificial bodies of colonial pastors, representing most every brand of Christian denominations, were counted among the dead on the battlefields of our Revolution, dismembered by the 40 caliber lead balls of flint-lock muskets!
It is not right that modern pastors rest upon the long-forgotten sacrifices of America’s black-robed regiments and allow the very Christ-centered government they fought to create to be plundered by those hedonistic persons Jesus called the “children of the Father of lies.”
Not unlike the name of God on our coinage…Constantine and his armies once brandished the empty symbols of a Christian faith upon their armor, swords, shields and banners…but symbols and ceremonial deism is NOT ENOUGH! His empire disappeared from the face of the earth, crushed by barbarians from the North.
If we do not quickly change our state and national attitude about God’s authority over pathetic human government and protect the virtue of true Americanism from our own “mental barbarians” who attack our minds with the God-hating secularism of Europe, we, too, will be extinguished from the earth…doomed to close the final chapter of a once great nation and enter the tomb of lost empires.
Consider, today, the irony of the haunting voice of Deist Napoleon Bonaparte, from beyond his own grave. He said, “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne, and myself have founded empires; but upon what does the creation of our genius rest? Upon force! Christ founded His empire upon love, and millions at this hour would die for Him. I see kings, potentates, and armies arrayed against Him; but with Him I see no army – none but a mysterious force – peaceful men, scattered here and there, having no rallying point but a common faith in the mysteries of the Cross. I die before my time, and my empire expires with me; but the Kingdom of Christ survived the Crucifixion, still lives, extending its scepter over the earth!”[iii]
How SAD that on July 4th of 1776, Napoleon was too distracted to see America for what it was…an extension of Christian principles applied to civil governance! How POIGNANT that on June 29th and 30th of 2010, statisticians from the company of “Opinion Dynamics” conducted a scientific national poll, just in time for national headlines on the fourth of July. [iv] It revealed that 78% of Americans believe the founding fathers would be unhappy with our condition as a nation today.
We only have three options to choose from as we steer ourselves into the future of Iowa and America. Together, let us continually rise up from our remnant churches, relentlessly return to the ballot-boxes, and faithfully choose the same religion-sanctioned state our insufferable political enemies refuse to acknowledge, though it is printed in plain English, in our own 1857 preamble of Iowa, saying: “We, the people of the State of Iowa, grateful to the Supreme Being for the blessings hitherto enjoyed, and feeling our dependence on Him for a continuation of those blessings, do ordain and establish a free and independent government, by the name of the State of Iowa…”
God Save the Great State of Iowa!
God Save the Courts!
And May God Bless You and Your Children’s Children!
[ii] Ibid.
[iii] Ibid.
[iv] http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/070210_patriotism_web.pdf
As I said, I am a simple agent of the church – standing on the steps of a poorly maintained civil authority. I am also here because I have a message for Senator Gronstal, who recently lamented to a reporter that he might not retain his job beneath this gold-gilded roof. As an agent of the church, I have come to remind Mr. Gronstal that he hath need of repentance! And his GREATEST concern should NOT be whether or not his future holds the pleasure of standing beneath this golden roof, but whether or not his future holds the privilege of standing upon heaven’s golden streets!
Having read the article again.and I will read it even more at a later time— Having read your replys thus far. I did not appreciate the Constitution until I began to read some of the sermons from the Founding Era. IMO the Northwest Ordinance —
Article III which I cite— was twice passed by Congress so I believe it reflects the three legged stool of principles they accepted as good and necessary. Likewise I believe that concept was taken directly from a sermon by Elizur Goodrich May 10,1787.Political Sermons the American founding Era,1730-1805 2 vol. set Ellis Sandoz editor p.909-940 specific quote p.915. As for our schools and State sanctioned religion. Joseph Story in his commentaries on the Constitution ,1833 -and the textbook he culled from those larger Commentaries to teach our Constitution—A Familiar Exposition of the Constitution of the United States
I find the suggestion that probably at the time of the adoption of the Constitution and the amendment to it the general if not universal sentiment in America was that Christianity ought be encouraged...an attempt to level all religions or to make it a matter of policy to hold all in utter indifference would have created universal disapprobation if not universal indignation.”elsewhere Joseph Story taught that Christianity was the unofficial religion of the Nation. I hear Sr.Wm.Blackstones Commentaries on the Laws of England sold more copies in the Colonies-and later in the States than sold in England. I believe the Founders believed our laws must reflect the Laws dictated by God Himself,else they are ill made.(As I believe James Wilson in his lectures on(American) Law- College of Philadelphia.(reflecting Blackstone) Jefferson spoke much of other religions but he always held that Jesus Christ was the most sublime and perfect man ever lived. And those religions at the College he designed seem to have all been some variation of Christian. And though he removed Theology as a school -he provided time and space for such teaching on campus. My experience suggests that the Old Testament prophets seldom—if ever directed their prophecy at any single individual -they spoke to the people-for God—If I were told by a prophet that God had declared I would be carried away.I would most probably , unless there was specific instruction to not resist the invader-I would resist-and would not consider it against Gods will-unless
told by God- I ought not resist. As suggested by E.V. generally those who opposed Gods’ will didn’t fare very well.To the best of my ability I attempt to follow Gods will.And seek Grace when I muck that up.
Good points but you did not answer my question, what did our founding fathers want? Not a trick question, I really want to know what you think.
I don't remember many sermons but one I do. Pastor got up in the pulpit and the first thing he said was he could prophecy. Got my attention and made me a little worried at that point. You would have to know the pastor and situation to understand why he got my attention. Anyway, he said he could prophecy like Jonah. Jonah went to the people of Nineveh and said in essence, “If you don't change your ways, something bad is going to happen to you.” My pastor then went into some detailed examples and concluded that we can can also prophecy in the same way and SHOULD.
In that regard, I think prophecy is still alive and well. And, maybe like Jonah, I don't think the people are going to change. But then Jonah was wrong.............
They said what they wanted.I can speculate-as well as any but can give concrete example of why I believe what I have read. They -the Founders- wanted to govern a free people -wanted to form a new thing a republican form of democracy under God.
and they set about the fashioning by deliberation—and I note that first Congress -as its first act invited Rev.J.Duche
to perform divine Services Sept.7,1774 -a sectarian service -that some like John Jay of New York and Mr.Rutledge of S.C.
had opposed(much for the same reason Christian Statesmen fail to come together today) they seem to have believed they were “too divided in religious sentiments.” Yet they seemed unanimous in their agreed action to thank Mr.Duche for the divine services and for the “excellent prayer” (a prayer that closed “all this we ask in the name and through the merits of of Jesus Christ,Thy Son and our Savior,Amen”
A prayer the modern secularists would insist was somehow unconstitutional’today and one they would have us believe would have been unconstitutional when given had that Congress been under our Constitution.
Hallelujah!
bflr
Cary Gordon’s church, which I think he’s pastored for at least 25 years, is non-denominational pentecostal, I’m pretty sure.
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