CHRISTIAN VALUES UNDER ATTACK: Kingdom Culture in the Crosshairs

Today, like never before, we are in an all-out war to preserve our Christian culture. It’s a dominion war for the shared values of Christians worldwide, and it’s making inroads in the United States of America. The U.S. was founded on biblical Christian ideologies. In fact, the nation’s Christian values mimic the very principles our King, Jesus Christ, taught in His Word. He taught us to pray, “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth just as it is in heaven.” But that petition is not limited to praying for God’s blessings to arrive on earth now or in the distant future. That petition intends to establish Christ’s Kingdom culture for eternity.

PHOTO COURTESY OF REPENT AMERICA (REPENTAMERICA.COM).

Kingdom culture is found in Kingdom values – and every born again believer is called to establish and advance Christ’s Kingdom culture on earth. Today, however, we find ourselves too often on the defense, trying to preserve those values, instead of on the offense, propagating them. Indeed, demon powers have our Kingdom culture in the crosshairs.

Some use the attacks against our Kingdom culture to buttress their argument that Jesus is coming soon. I, too, believe that Christ is returning, but that doesn’t give me license to ignore what’s taking place around me. I’m not called to duck and run when the battle for our Christian values is under attack. On the contrary, if you are a citizen of Christ’s Kingdom then you have a responsibility to defend that Kingdom. As citizens of the Kingdom of heaven we have a responsibility to establish Kingdom culture around us. To establish our culture requires us to confront the evils of anti-Christ and anti-Kingdom spirits.

People are influenced by culture. Cultures can be changed when foreigners occupy a land. Take Mexico, for example. Why do Mexicans speak the Spanish language instead of the English language? The reason is that Spain invaded and occupied the territory. The Spaniards imposed on Mexico their language and their culture – and it is still visible today.

Unless we as born again followers of Jesus Christ stand up for our shared Christian values they will be replaced. The days of passivity are over for the Christian. Scripture declares, “From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force” (Matthew 11:12). Could it be possible that the violence against the Kingdom is visible as violence against our shared values? Every night we witness on the news the Kingdom of heaven under attack. It’s time now to recognize that it’s going to take all of us to stand in the gap and make up the hedge. We must blow the trumpet and sound the alarm in Zion – the dominion wars have begun. What shall we do? Will we shrink back in fear and apathy or draw our spiritual swords and run to the battle lines? Let’s take a look at some examples of the Kingdom warfare.

IS HOMOSEXUALITY IMMORAL OR NOT?
Homosexuality is not immoral, according to Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama. At least that was what they said after gay and lesbian Democrats pressured them to denounce General Peter Pace’s claim that same-sex relationships were wrong. Clinton posted on her Web site, “I have heard from many of my friends in the gay community that my response yesterday to a question about homosexuality being immoral sounded evasive.” To clear up matters she said, “Homosexuality is not immoral. ... That is what I believe.” Obama also released a statement saying, “I do not agree with General Pace that homosexuality is immoral. Attempts to divide people like this have consumed too much of our politics over the past six years.”

So who is General Pace and what exactly did he say? First, Marine General Peter Pace is the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As such, he is the principal military advisor to the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense and the National Security Council. Second, he defended the U.S. military’s ban on openly homosexual members and shared his personal view that homosexual activity, like adultery, is immoral and should not be tolerated in the military. He stated, “I do not believe the United States is well served by a policy that says it is okay to be immoral in any way… As an individual, I would not want [acceptance of gay behavior] to be our policy, just like I would not want it to be our policy that if we were to find out that so-and-so was sleeping with somebody else’s wife, that we would just look the other way, which we do not. We prosecute that kind of immoral behavior.”

One can only imagine just how politically incorrect, yet morally correct his statement was. While defending the military’s rule against homosexuality he suffered a barrage of attacks from those who found his statements offensive. In response to General Pace, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi exclaimed, “We don’t need moral judgment from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.” Backing up Pelosi, Senator John Warner of Virginia declared that he “strongly disagrees with the Chairman’s view that homosexuality is immoral.”

Again, this is an example of Kingdom culture under attack. Homosexuality is in fact immoral in every sense of the word. What the God-haters despise is the source of morality – Almighty God. It is Scripture that defines Christ’s Kingdom culture and presents the guidelines for righteous behavior. Scripture says, “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error…” (Romans 1:26-27). So according to the highest rule of law, homosexuality is in fact immoral. I commend General Pace for his stance for moral conduct and appreciate that kind of leadership in our military. Sadly, General Pace  recently resigned.

GERMAN JUDGE HIGHLIGHTS KINGDOM WARFARE
A German judge revealed what’s on the horizon in her courtroom when she cited the Koran in the denial of a German-born Moroccan woman’s request for a fast-track divorce on grounds that her husband beat her. According to the Koran, husbands may beat their wives for disobedience as espoused by Wahhabi and other fundamentalist Islamic groups.

Highlighting the tension between Muslim culture and European laws, the judge, Christa Datz-Winter, said that the couple came from a Moroccan cultural where it was common for husbands to beat their wives. The Koran, she wrote, sanctions such physical abuse. Therefore, she denied the appeal for a fast-track divorce. Being denied a fast-track divorce means that the woman must wait a year in constant fear for her safety. During her separation from her husband she has reportedly undergone many death threats for pursuing divorce.

Also under Islamic law, a man can claim that his honor has been compromised if his wife refuses to wear a headscarf. In fact, there has been a string of so-called “honor killings” in Germany in which Turkish Muslim men have murdered women because they supposedly have been influenced by Western culture. As a result of these “honor killings,” many women find themselves trapped in abusive marriages for fear of being killed. Beating your wife into submission is acceptable in Islamic culture. The Koran says you should scourge your wife if she causes you problems. Let’s take a look at the verse:

“Men are superior to women on account of the qualities with which God has gifted the one above the other, and on account of the outlay they make from their substance for them. Virtuous women are obedient, careful, during the husband’s absence, because God has of them been careful. But chide those for whose refractoriness you have cause to fear; remove them into beds apart, and scourge them: but if they are obedient to you, then seek not occasion against them: verily, God is High, Great!” (Koran, 4:34)

I am sure that this verse would anger any Christian woman because Christ liberated women some 2,000 years ago. Women are not animals. They are God-given gifts to mankind. One can see the stark contrast of values between Christ and the Muslim treatment of women. The Bible says to love your wife even as Christ loves the Church. This Islamic spirit however views women as chattel that need only to be subjugated in the name of their God. Even Muhammad, when he was over 50 years old, married a six-year-old girl named Aishah and “knew her” at age nine. Is this acceptable behavior in our Christian culture? Of course not! According to Muslim scholar and statesman Ali Dashti, Muhammad had 22 wives, a clear violation to the Koran that says a Muslim can only have four wives.

Muslims have also received coaching in how to discipline a rebellious wife. In Spain, an Islamic Imam, Muhammad Kamal Mustafa, who is viewed as a scholar, wrote a book entitled “Women in Islam” that instructs how a man should beat his wife. The BBC reported that he “recommends verbal correction followed by a period of sexual abstinence as the best punishment for a wife, but does not rule out a beating as long as it is kept within strict guidelines... to avoid serious damage, a husband should never hit his wife in a state of extreme or blind anger. He should never hit sensitive parts of the body such as the face, head, breasts or stomach. He should only hit the hands or feet using a rod that is thin and light so that it does not leave scars or bruises on the body. The husband’s aim should be to cause psychological suffering and not to humiliate or physically abuse his wife.”

Is this, too, a prophetic sign of things to come when a German judge uses the customs and values of Islamic culture and quotes from the Koran in the courtroom to render judicial rulings rather than staying within the confines of European judicial laws? Don’t forget that this is before the coming attacks on European laws by Muslims entering political offices. What will happen next?

Now can you see why there was such a spiritual battle to remove the Ten Commandments from our courtrooms?

CHIEF JUSTICE ROY MOORE
“The kingdom of God sufferest violence…” Do you remember Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore? He was removed from the court for defying a federal court order to take down a Ten Commandments plaque from his courtroom in the Alabama Supreme Court building. What you may not know is the plaque was on the wall behind his bench in the courtroom and he would pray publicly before presiding over his cases. While hearing a case where two male strippers were on trial for murdering a drug dealer, the defense attorney objected to the display. In March 1995, the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, filed a lawsuit against him claiming that “pre-session prayers and the Ten Commandments display were both unconstitutional.”

In 1996 State Circuit Judge Charles Price agreed with the ACLU and declared the prayers unconstitutional. Price initially allowed the Ten Commandments plaque to remain on the courtroom walls, but later succumbed to political correctness, revised his ruling, and ordered the removal of the plaque as well. Judge Moore determined not to comply with the ruling, appealed, and was later brought up on ethics charges. During the ethics trial he was challenged by Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor, who asked Judge Moore if he would continue to acknowledge God in the court room. Judge Moore was stunned at such a question and responded, “Absolutely.”

On November 13, 2003, Alabama’s Court of the Judiciary unanimously removed Judge Moore from his post as Chief Justice because he dared to acknowledge God when told not to. According to Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia, “Opponents contend that Moore’s actions were deliberate provocations carried out in defiance of the First Amendment as interpreted by the Supreme Court of the United States, and that Moore sought to impose the moral positions of Southern Baptists on the public.” We need to keep in mind that Judge Moore was an elected judge and at the time of his ethics trial had a favorable 88 percent support of his actions by the good people of Alabama.

The Ten Commandments bond the very fabric of our Christian culture. They offer judicial prudence, centricity and a moral anchor to our nation. Remove the sovereign wisdom that our God provided through the Ten Commandments and you set the ship adrift upon the raging seas of moral decadence and the unrestrained carnal opinions of men. Judge Moore tells us why the Ten Commandments are so vital:

“The Ten Commandments are the succinct summary of God’s law given to humanity for righteous living. They represent God’s law, which is higher than any man-made law. Without recognition of higher law there are no limits on man’s behavior. God and His law restrain both governments and the people governed. Posting the Ten Commandments reminds both the government and the governed of this higher law and, by implication, it reminds them of God.” (Source: Foundation for Moral Law)

So is there hope? Absolutely! Our Lord tells us, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).