“The separation of church and state means that we will render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and we will. But the preaching of the church of God does not belong to Caesar, and we will not hand it over to him. Not now. Not ever.” – Russell D. Moore, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention
These are
noble statements. The church should abide by the governing laws until those
governing laws supersede the word of God. Yes, we as believers are required to
pay taxes and live under the authority of the governments which God put in
place, yet, we must never believe that any government has authority over God.
This excerpt is from Moore’s website, Moore to the Point, which is in response
to the city of Houston seeking to undermine the US Constitution.
Read the whole article here. http://www.russellmoore.com/2014/10/14/houston-we-have-a-constitution/
I would like
to take Moore’s quote and put a spin on something that is very ironic and very applicable to the times. If you read Moore's other articles on the sanctity of marriage, you will understand where I am coming from...
Moore, and many in the evangelical church believe that same-sex marriage is not
a marriage because it does not coincide with the word of God. Moore will use
scripture from God’s word to accurately show us that marriage is between one
man and one woman. I would never disagree with this. Matthew and Mark give us
clear verses from the Lord Jesus Christ. (Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-9)
Marriage is meant to be as it was from the beginning. (Genesis 2:24)
The problem
I have with Moore’s statement is if we look back in history prior to the
Council of Trent, marriage did not require that the services of a priest and
two others be witnesses to the wedding ceremony. In other words, after this council, marriage was
governed by the self-professing church. Without going into too much detail,
this same professing church adopted the idea that they, and only they, had the
power to officiate marriage. In other words, one needed the stamp of approval
from an ordained priest to be recognized as married. These church leaders had
the power and authority over marriage.
Once this
authority over marriage was established, these leaders declared that their
words and voice on marriage was coming from God’s own word. Enter the Protestant reformation which
includes the majority of the doctrine in the evangelical church. Huffington
Post columnist, Bethany Blankley, wrote an article entitled, How Protestantism
Redefined Marriage. In this article she commented on the following…
“It wasn't until the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century that the recording of marriages and establishing of rules for marriage became a function of the state. Martin Luther, the Catholic priest who initiated the Reformation in Germany said that marriage was a "worldly thing ... that belongs to the realm of government." A similar opinion was expressed by John Calvin, his Swiss counterpart. Calvin and his colleagues reformulated Christian marriage by enacting the Marriage Ordinance of Geneva, which imposed ‘The dual requirements of state registration and church consecration to constitute marriage’ as valid.” - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bethany-blankley/how-protestantism-redefined-marriage_b_1510654.html
If we read Moore’s opening quote, we need to question if
marriage was compromised by a self-professing body of believers who broke away
from an already corrupt Roman Catholic Church. Remember, Luther and others
simply asked for reformation of the church, and not to break away altogether.
What we have today, at least in the Western world, is a joint effort where
marriage is very much a part of the church as it is a part of the government.
The problem lies in the government taking marriage and redefining marriage
against the will of the church. Moore's point is that this would be a breach of the United States Constitution.Then again, the church is so divided that some
congregations not only recognize same-sex marriage, they encourage same-sex
marriage.
We need look no further than the Reformation which started a
downward spiral and all-out attack on the covenant of marriage. Same-sex
marriage is not the beginning of marriage redefinition. Not by a long shot.
What Moore and others will not touch or consider is that marriage was attacked
with the idea by men like Luther that marriage is a “worldly thing.” The redefinition of marriage started with the
liberal stance on divorce and remarriage.
Moore and the rest of the evangelical church adhere to
“exception clauses” and Pauline privileges” that provide loopholes to what the
Lord said that no man may put asunder. Read the Westminster Confession’s stance on divorce and marriage to see why these evangelicals adhere to this “governing
body” instead of the word of God. Divorce and remarriage have done more to harm
the covenant of marriage than these men will admit. It is due to the fact that
they will not repent of ever believing that a marriage covenant can only end in
death. Thus, they cling to the idea they can successfully defend marriage
against an enemy that has already won the battle of scripture twisting on
verses pertaining to divorce and remarriage.
They cannot win this battle unless they repent of their belief
that divorce and remarriage is God’s idea. Thus, they would have to publicly acknowledge that they ignorantly allowed the civil government
control when and how a marriage can begin and end. Once a divorce is recognized
by the civil government, the church agrees with the terms. Why? Because
the church is in conjunction with when a marriage becomes official. These leaders
of the church believed that God ordained their positions, thus whatever they
say goes. What we need to understand is that pastoral “ordination” is anything
but truth.
Pastoral ordination is a pagan tradition of men. We need to
look no further than God’s word to know that every blood bought believer is a child of
the living God. The Lord Jesus Christ
has much to say to those who elevated themselves above others. These were the
traits of the Pharisees. This started before the Constantine era and continued
to grow after the emperor publicly declared Christianity as the new religion
of Rome. Protestantism retained these titles and vestments of “priests” and
bishops” and “popes” but renamed them as “pastor”, reverends” and “ministers”.
This brought on the idea that “universities” of learning would make men more
educated and intelligent to become better leaders. Thus, Moore is a product of
men who believe that their seminary training and scholasticism gives them the
upper hand over the less informed and uneducated “laity”. What seminaries,
universities, and titles do is eliminate the need or prompting of the Holy
Spirit and quench this indwelling with human ideas and traditions.
These titles only issue in the damaging spirit of pride. It
is the pride of this ordination that brought on the idea that the Levitical tithe be
reinstated to provide these learned men with the means in which to bring us
truth. Combine this with lavish buildings and lucrative retirement packages,
and the modern church resembles a corporation more than it ever models the body
of Christ. Today’s mega-churches and seminaries are the driving voice of the
church. If your ministry is not grandiose, or you do not author a book, or you
are not a president of a seminary, you are labeled a typical laity who is immature
in Christ when you expose these truths.
I could go on and on with this spirit of deception associated with this caste system, yet this would derive from the point
that marriage is not the subject of men who believe their caste clergy/laity system
can dictate and officiate who gets married. Moore will make it clear that men
like him, an ordained representative of the body of Christ, are the only ones
who can officiate the wedding vows. I would argue that I have just as much authority
to witness the covenant marriage vows of one man and one woman. In fact, every
believer has that authority if that authority aligns perfectly with God’s word.
We must be clear that since marriage is God’s plan, that
marriage must be according to His plan. A marriage in the Lord is one man and
one woman for life.(Matthew 19:4-6; Mark 10:6-9; 1 Cor 7:10,11,39; Eph 5:31)
Thus, all divorces have no authority over a one-flesh
marriage covenant. Moore and many evangelicals will tell you that a marriage
can end through a "particular" reason to divorce, yet these “exception clauses” and Pauline
privileges” only became more and more attractive when the evangelical church
caved into the pressure from secular vices of no-fault divorce and egalitarianism. These men of
the cloth cowered in fear because if they did not succumb to the pressure of
feminism and civil court laws, they would stand to lose many a parishioner. Losing
people equals losing income.
Enter same-sex marriage and its evil and wicked agenda. The
destruction of marriage through divorce and remarriage created a perfect storm
for the next phase to destroy the family unit, destroy gender roles, destroy
the church, and destroy marriage once and for all. This is a diabolical plan of
an enemy who attacked marriage from the very beginning. Surprisingly enough,
the devil has full backing by those liberal and cultural sensitive seeker-friendly
types (liberal clergy from the same clergy/laity system) who embraced egalitarianism and already ignore cohabitation
fornication and remarriage adultery of heterosexual congregants. Thus the only ones left are those ultra-conservative
types who warned for years that a compromise of marriage through divorce and
remarriage would come to this.
Brothers and sisters, this is my plea. Now is the time to stand up for the permanence of marriage. Marriage is God’s idea for a man and woman from the beginning. The Lord Jesus Christ makes it clear that man has no power over the covenants of God. Marriage is a covenant. Marriage represents the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Marriage represents Christ's love for His bride, the church. Now is the time to throw away pride of this clergy/laity caste system and dissolve these adulterous remarriages. Now is the time to call divorce what it is…treacherousness. The church must unite and become accountable to the one-flesh covenant of marriage by standing firm on definition, duration, and representation. There is still time.
Eph 5:31,32 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
In Christ’s love,
Neil
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