Tuesday
MORAL MAJORITY
American
News Commentary
* Originally Published as EPOCH Commentary*
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Vol. 11, No. 6 August 6, 2008 © 2008
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THIS WEEK WE CONTINUE WITH OUR
REMINDER OF "MORAL MAJORITY"
AND REPORT ON THE CONCLUSION
OF THE LAMBETH CONFERENCE
The four basic principles of Jerry Falwell's "Moral
Majority" were pro-life ...pro-family...pro-defense
and pro-Israel. This week we look at the fourth of
those principles, "pro-Israel."
This statement appeared this week in a news story
from the Middle-East: "Israel is just an example
that God keeps a promise when He makes one."
No one simple sentence could set forth the pro-
Israel principle more clearly.
America's pro-Israel stance is not based upon the
fact that it is as the only government in the Middle
East operating as a democratic system or upon Israel's
loyal support of the American position in international
affairs. The logical reason for our pro-Israel position
goes way back to Biblical principles established in
Old Testament days in God's covenants with Israel,
His promises to Israel, beginning with the Abrahamic
Covenant (Gen.12:1-3): "I will make of thee a great
nation ... I will bless thee ... I will make thy name
great ... thou shalt be a blessing ... I will bless them
that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee ...
in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed."
These are promises made by Almighty God, and in
His own words, "My covenant will I not break, nor
alter the thing that is gone out of my lips."
For America, as a Christian nation (at least in its
original founding principles), there is really no viable
position for us to hold, other than solidly pro-Israel.
In the midst of our Civil War, Abraham Lincoln
expressed a viewpoint which can well serve in
determining America's relationship to Israel: "Sir,
my concern is not whether God is on our side;
my greatest concern is to be on God's side, for
God is always right.”
It seemed never to end, but the once-every-ten-
years Lambeth Conference finally came to a close
over the weekend. There was no final act climax;
rather it just ground to a long overdue halt. The title
of one of Shakespeare's plays, "Much Ado about
Nothing," could well have been reversed to describe
this Conference: "Nothing Ado about Much."
That "much" was the authority of the Word of God
That "nothing" was the endless sessions of indaba
conversations, admittedly with no agreement or any
decision in mind. Just sitting around talking, with the
homosexual bishop Gene Robinson putting on his
side-show attractions, receiving more attention from
the media than any of the conference participants.
In the closing hours of the conference, some of the
bishops seemed more willing to comment, and the
media began to reflect their criticisms, "Things are
not going well at the Lambeth Conference for the
Archbishop of Canterbury. Dr. Rowan Williams
is increasingly being described as a weak and
vacillating character, seeking to appease both
sides of an irreconcilable divide ... The divide
between Anglicans adhering to traditional
Christian morality, and those who have
abandoned such morality in the name of
'progress,' is to all appearances rapidly widening."
(LifeSiteNews.com)
The Bishop of Egypt and North Africa, the Rt. Rev.
Mouneer Anis, said that the Communion's divisions
over homosexuality are symptoms of a "much deeper
illness." After two weeks of attending indaba meetings
Anis admitted his uneasiness: "I see a great wall being
put up by revisionists against those orthodox who
believe in the authority of Scripture." Other bishops
said that the Anglican Communion is being ridiculed as
"the gay church" as the churches lose membership..
And two senior Church of England bishops, of Exeter
and Winchester, said that Archbishop Williams has
failed to avert a schism and have called on him to
"negotiate an orderly separation" in order to
preserve a traditional identity for Anglicanism."We
need to negotiate a separation in the Communion
sooner rather than later."
We have been predicting that nothing of substance
would come from this conference, and that seems
to be correct. The Rt. Rev. Richard Ellene, Bishop
of Nelson, NZ, used these words, "most expensive
exercise in futility." And the Archbishop of Hong
Kong, the Most Rev. Paul Kwong criticized the
conference as "merely a talking shop." The
Archbishop of Canterbury warned that the Anglican
Communion was "in grave peril."
One document did emerge as the production of a
"Reflections Group," reporting on the various indaba
sessions of talking and listening. A lengthy document,
divided into 161 sections, it deals at length with the
subject of ecumenical unity (now set back because
of the problems of homosexual bishops and women
bishops), and the varying views on the authority of
Scripture. One sentence (at Section 117) summarized
that issue quite clearly: "The question for many is
whether the Bible transforms the culture, or the
culture is allowed to transform the Bible." The
"Reflections" document also refers to the proposed
Anglican "Covenant" which is still in draft form, with
considerable criticism of the present version.
Two of the bishops present commented on the
importance of the environment; the Rt. Rev.
George Browning, Bishop of Canberra, said "The
church has only itself to blame for giving the
impression that it is in the business of saving
souls only. The environment is what we are
about." And the Most. Rev. Katherine Jefferts
Schori, the head of the Episcopal church in the
USA, said: "If we do not pay attention to the
health of all creation, the other issues will not
be important."
To summarize, and borrowing from media reports:
"After weeks of talks Anglican bishops from
around the world were unable to reach an
agreement on the issue of homosexuality which
threatens to split the church ... The leader of the
world's 80 million Anglicans, the Archbishop of
Canterbury, said the church had failed to
overcome its problems ... he said it would take
time to do and to restructure the church."
A quote not to be forgotten: "Without God there
is no virtue because there is no prompting of the
conscience...without God there is a coarsening of
the society; without God democracy will not and
cannot long endure...If we ever forget that we are
One Nation Under God, then we will be a
Nation gone under." -- President Ronald Reagan
Some Random Afterthoughts . . .
For what it's worth, or put another way -- "Does
anybody care? "-- there is this story floating around
the Internet: "With hopes of being chosen as
Barack Obama's vice-presidential running mate
dashed, Hillary Clinton has begun the process of
carving out her political future . . .After learning
that she would address the Democrat National
Convention on its second night .. The New York
Post reports Clinton met at a secret ladies-only
dinner in Washington... reportedly to discuss a
possible White House run in 2012."
Meantime husband Bill is running a raffle to raise
money to help pay off her campaign debts, offering
a dinner with Hillary as the prize.
One more "For what it's worth:" Something not
to look forward to -- Nancy Pelosi, (D, CA - San
Francisco to be exact) has announced that she will
support Obama's promise to repeal the Defense of
Marriage Act (DOMA), signed into law by Bill
Clinton as one of his better decisions. And on the
mis-titled "Fairness Doctrine" act, which would
result in the hushing of Conservative and presumably
of Christian broadcasts -- she affirmed that she will
not permit Rep. Mike Pence (R, IN) to bring his
Broadcaster Freedom Act to the floor. The nation's
future, if the Democrats remain in power, is beginning
to be clear. "Don't say we didn't warn you!"
Oh, so you think it can't happen here? At the
Tyson poultry processing plant in Shelbyville, Tenn.,
the workers have been advised they will no longer
have Labor Day as a holiday, but instead will be
given a day off to observe the Muslim holiday of
Eid al-Fitr. This change in holidays for religious
reasons was negotiated by the workers' union , and
presumably does not apply to non-union workers.
One wonders if Tyson had a factory in an Arab
country, would they be allowed to observe Easter
or Christmas? Doubtful -- but it is happening here.
The tale of two monuments: (1) For almost 20
years litigation has been carried on in San Diego
County, brought on by a now deceased atheist who
was determined to remove the concrete cross on
Mt. Soledad -- since 1954 a memorial to America's
military killed in battle. Finally, this past week, a
federal judge ruled that the cross can stay. This
should end the court battle, but given the views of
the atheist opponents, a further appeal may occur.
(2) In Shelbyville, Tenn. a slightly different battle is
being waged. There a Christian organization --The
Resistance -- is trying to get a stone monument
called "Georgia Guidestones" removed. The several
slabs of Granite have been called the "American
Stonehenge." They were erected under the orders of
an unknown man, who called himself "R.C. Christian,"
and present an alternative set of "Ten Commandments"
in 8 different languages. Included is the rule to limit
the population of the earth to 500 million -- and thus
eliminate approximately 90% of the present 6 billion.
During its existence since 1980, the site has been used
for various satanic and other pagan rituals. Since the
Ten Commandments of God are being removed from
so many places, it would seem to be even more a
logical and reasonable action to remove these Ten
Commandments also.
.
Once more from the Founding Fathers: "The
liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil
constitution, are worth defending at all hazards,
and it is our duty to defend them against all
attacks. We have received them as a fair
inheritance from our worthy ancestors; they
purchased them for us with toil and danger
and expense of treasure and blood, and
transmitted them to us with care and diligence."
-- Samuel Adams, October 1779
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