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Thursday, August 26, 2010, The Charleston Gazette, (Charleston, WV), had a front-page story headlined “Church’s painful split”. Pictured was Rev. Richard Mahan, the distinguished pastor of St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Charleston, who has spent 42 years of ministry in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. In Minneapolis, last summer, the denomination voted to allow non-celibate homosexuals and lesbians to serve as pastors. Pastor Mahan, a man I have appreciated and admired for many years, was among 18 former ELCA pastors who joined with 1,000 Lutherans last Friday to form the North American Lutheran Church. This new Lutheran denomination will have as one of its primary goals to “follow the Scriptures more faithfully”, according to Patrick Condon of The Associated Press. In months and years to come there will be more church splits, the dividing of old mainline churches, as church leaders substitute their opinions for the Word of God. The divisions will always come when “Thus saith my mind is substituted for thus saith the Lord God.” When it comes to such matters as abortion, gluttony, idolatry, drunkenness, foulmouthed revilers, robbers, greediness, sensualists and sexual immorality of all kinds, pagan thinking and ungodly actions will never settle the issues. God will have the ultimate and defining word on all these issues. These sins and utter disregard of God’s eternal Word led to the collapse and total destruction of the early and powerful empires of Greece and Rome and all the other nations that have forgotten God. America is living on the deceptive edge of the decaying precipice of final judgment. We have become too much like other great civilizations just before their final collapse. Whatever judgment God sends upon this country will be deserved. Individuals and nations cannot mock God and go unpunished forever. Ancient Israel had disobeyed God and sinned grievously against Him, had been soused in idolatry and would not accept correction and so God through His prophet Amos, gave one last warning after He reminded the people of all the wake-up calls sent their way and finally declared, “Yet you have not returned to Me, Therefore thus will I do to you, O Israel; Because I will do this to you, Prepare to meet your God, O Israel” (Amos 4:11-12). Many believe God is giving us one more opportunity and our final week of choice with the coming November national election. Our elected officials and politicians cannot solve our problems. They are responsible for many of them. In recent days and years, we have legislated and governed immorally. These are the people who like to say, “You cannot legislate morality, but they do a continuous business of legislating immorality.” It is time our nation woke up and turned to God. Read carefully: “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God” (I Corinthians 6:9-10 NKJV). There is hope healing and forgiveness for those who “humble themselves . . . pray . . . seek . . . turn from wicked ways” for God says, “I will hear . . . forgive . . . and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14). God has the final word on morality, not public opinion polls. Only a fool would believe otherwise. -30-
** You may republish this story with proper attribution. Send this story to a friend. Share This story is the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ASSIST News Service or ASSIST Ministries.
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