Current Events

Current Events – Worship in Public Venues

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Amendment I to the Constitution of the United States of America:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

“When the state shall use its power to enforce the decrees and sustain the institutions of the church—then will Protestant America have formed an image to the papacy, and there will be a national apostasy which will end only in national ruin.” Last Day Events, 134.

Sovereign Grace City Church in Brooklyn, New York, used to meet for worship every Sunday at P.S. 282, a public school that charged an affordable rent of $1,084 per month for Sunday morning access. But lately Sovereign Grace has changed worship locations nearly every week. The moves were not random: They were a result of a decision by the city to ban religious organizations from renting public school buildings for worship services. www.nytimes.com/2012/02/06.

Despite some legal setbacks, pastors and church supporters in New York City aren’t giving up the fight on what they say is their right to hold worship services in public schools on weekends, even if that means getting arrested.

On Thursday [January 12, 2012], approximately 200 people gathered in the Bronx to hold a prayer rally and protest against the city’s decision to ban religious services from taking place in its public schools on weekends. www.christianpost.com, May 31, 2012.

The United States Supreme Court recently sided with New York City officials who say letting churches worship in school buildings violates the separation of church and state. But Charlotte-Mecklenburg [South Carolina] Schools [CMS] doesn’t plan to change its practice of letting churches rent space after hours. …

CMS leaders acknowledged the ruling, but said they don’t believe it precludes CMS from continuing to count houses of worship among the “educational, recreational, civic and cultural activities” considered acceptable.

http://obsyourschools.blogspot.com/2012/01, May 31, 2012.

Two decisions by the United States Supreme Court provide for the use of public school buildings by churches, religious and political groups on a viewpoint-neutral basis, if the public school districts are already renting their facilities after hours to other community groups. The subsidy involved in use of public schools by religious organizations, however, continues to create concern, confusion, and litigation. The law on the limits of church use is not completely settled. While schools are not permitted to discriminate against religious groups because they are religious, schools can create regulations that impact church use of school buildings. One appellate court, the 2nd Circuit, ruled in 2011 that a school board’s prohibition of hosting a particular type of activity, religious worship services, was constitutional.

Since public school districts often have the least expensive rental rates available in a community, rental to churches often involves what many of us consider taxpayer subsidy of congregations. Start-up churches often take advantage of low school rental to establish themselves. They obtain a prominent site for a new church, collect church donations on public property, and use their savings to eventually buy their own tax-free buildings. No wonder many taxpayers are concerned! ffrf.org/faq/state-church/churches-meeting-at-public-schools/ May 31, 2012.

Current Events – Fire and Flood

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“In the last scenes of this earth’s history, … The waters of the deep will overflow their boundaries. Property and life will be destroyed by fire and flood. We should be preparing for the mansions that Christ has gone to prepare for them that love Him. There is a rest from earth’s conflict. … As men depart further and further from God, Satan is permitted to have power over the children of disobedience. He hurls destruction among men. There is calamity by land and sea. Property and life are destroyed by fire and flood.” Maranatha, 174, 176.

For those in the western United States hoping for a respite from the raging wildfires that have plagued several states, the outlook isn’t good: Much of the West is at high risk for continued wildfires due to unusually dry and hot conditions. www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/27

Firefighters struggled on Wednesday [June 27, 2012] to beat back a wildfire raging at the edge of Colorado Springs, Colorado, that doubled in size overnight, forced more than 32,000 people from their homes and was nipping at the edges of the U.S. Air Force Academy. Wildfires also were burning in other parts of Colorado and in Utah and Montana.

A wildfire in Montana that has scorched 19,000 acres (7,690 ha) in the eastern part of the state has forced 600 residents to leave their homes. An unknown number of houses were destroyed in Montana.

In Utah, authorities found a body in the ashes of the fast-moving Wood Hollow Fire about 100 miles (160 km) south of Salt Lake City on Tuesday, marking the first fatality in a blaze that has scorched more than 46,190 acres (18,692 ha) of rolling hills covered by parched cheatgrass and sagebrush.

Colorado accounts for several of the 29 large active wildfires being fought across the country. The bulk of them were in seven western states—Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Arizona and California—according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. www.Newsmax.com, June 27, 2012.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Debby moved out into the open Atlantic on Wednesday, June 27, 2012, and rains finally eased over Florida, but the state was struggling to clean up the soggy mess left behind.

The storm deluged parts of central and northern Florida with more than two feet of rain as it hovered in the Gulf of Mexico and cut across the peninsula. news.yahoo.com/tropical-storm-debby-rains-misery-flooded-florida

Many in Debby’s path were still recovering from flooding that damaged homes, washed out roads, opened up sinkholes and closed a section of Interstate 10 – the state’s main east-west highway. Water was up to the roofs at some homes in low lying areas of Live Oak, Florida, on Wednesday. Several feet of water remained around businesses in downtown near the courthouse and many roads were impassable. www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2012/0627

Wakulla County, Florida, meanwhile, has seen more than 26 inches of rain. Authorities there advised people to stay in their homes due to washed out and flooded roads. Flash flood warnings were issued for parts of northern Florida and southern Georgia as Debby moved eastward. Hundreds of thousands of people have been impacted, many having to leave flooded homes in Florida’s Panhandle. www.msnbc.msn.com

Current Events – Free Speech in Jeopardy

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The pressure continues to change the definition of marriage between a man and a woman to any combination of two or more people of any gender. However, speak out publicly against the proposed change and be prepared for “all hell to break loose.”

Chick-fil-A Chief Operating Officer Dan Cathy has never sugarcoated his ideals about traditional marriage. In the midst of a national firestorm surrounding gay marriage, Cathy won’t back down from his biblical values. Despite left-wing criticism and pressure, Cathy has reaffirmed his company’s stance and support for traditional family values.

“Guilty as charged,” Cathy told the Family Research Council. “We are very much supportive of the family—the biblical definition of the family unit. We are a family-owned business, a family-led business, and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that.

“We know that it might not be popular with everyone, but thank the Lord we live in a country where we can share our values and operate on biblical principles.”

www.charismanews.com/us/2012/07/22

Cathy rightly expresses his gratitude for living in a country where we can share our values. Unfortunately, public sentiment has moved so far to the left that unless one shares values that adhere to popular opinion, regardless of how that aligns with Biblical standards, Satan attacks with all possible fury.

The opposition to Cathy’s stand supporting the Biblical definition of the family unit has come from a surprising array of sources. The Jim Henson Company has terminated its partnership with Chick-fil-A. (See www.advocate.com/society/media/2012/07/23.) The leaders of several large metropolitan areas have indicated that Chick-fil-A restaurants would not be welcomed in their cities. (Ibid., www.towleroad.com/2012/07/26, and chicagoist.com/2012/07/26 .)

There have been more reasoned responses, such as from former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee:

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is standing up and speaking out for the chicken chain: “Too often, those on the left make corporate statements to show support for same-sex marriage, abortion or profanity, but if Christians affirm traditional values, we’re considered homophobic, fundamentalists, hate-mongers and intolerant.”

www.charismanews.com/us/2012/07/24

One recent blog entry expressed a different perspective from the mainstream response.

One would be hard-pressed to find a better example of Liberal Fascism than the move by liberal politicians to ban Chick-fil-A from their jurisdictions because of the owner’s opinion on gay marriage. blog.heartland.org/2012/07

“Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind.” I Corinthians 6:9.

“Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.” Leviticus 18:22.

Current Events – Natural Disasters

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“Signs of a most startling character appear in floods, in hurricanes, in tornadoes, in earthquakes, in casualties by sea and land. The judgments of God are falling on the world, that men may be awakened to the fact that Christ will come speedily.”

The Watchman, March 1, 1909.

Disasters

The restraining Spirit of God is even now being withdrawn from the world. Hurricanes, storms, tempests, disasters by sea and by land, follow one another in quick succession. The signs thickening around us, telling of the near approach of the Son of God, are attributed to any other than the true cause. . . .

Maranatha, 175

Earthquakes

A 7.6-magnitude undersea earthquake struck off the eastern coast of the Philippines late today [August 31], killing at least one person in a house collapse, and a second temblor struck about half an hour later, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. www. CBC.ca, August 31, 2012.

A magnitude-6.6 earthquake struck today [August 31] off the east coast of Greenland, the U.S. Geological Survey reports. The USGS, which initially reported the quake as a magnitude-7.0, says it was followed eight minutes later by a magnitude-5.2 quake in the region. www.USAToday.com, August 31, 2012.

A major earthquake of 7.4 magnitude hit in the Pacific Ocean about 78 miles off the coast of El Salvador late Sunday night [August 26], the U.S. Geological Survey said. www.newsorganizer.com, August 31, 2012.

More than 400 earthquakes greater than magnitude 1.0 have been recorded in Imperial County [California] since Saturday evening, said U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Elizabeth Cochran. The largest were a 5.3 and a 5.5 about midday Sunday. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com, August 31, 2012.

Hurricanes and Floods

As New Orleans [Louisiana] breathed a sigh of relief over the $14.5 billion in levee defenses that now ring the city, other parts of the state without such protections were not so lucky. The storm’s surge [Hurricane Isaac] caused water to rise nine feet on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, flooding towns like Slidell; west of the lake, the waters inundated LaPlace and the surrounding area. Emergency crews tried to take dangerous pressure off a weakened dam on Lake Tangipahoa in Mississippi and to release penned-up water in the drenched communities of Plaquemines Parish southeast of New Orleans. The torrential rains will now move into Arkansas and parts of the Midwest that have suffered through the summer with far too little water, not too much of it. www.nytimes.com, August 31, 2012.

Tornadoes descended from dark skies and hundreds of people had to be rescued from rising waters today as Jackson County [Mississippi] struggled under relentless rains generated by Hurricane Isaac, which made landfall more than 100 miles to the west in Louisiana. http://blog.gulflive.com, August 31, 2012.

Twin typhoons are renewing fears of a humanitarian crisis in North Korea, where poor drainage, widespread deforestation and crumbling infrastructure can turn even a routine rainstorm into a catastrophic flood.

Typhoon Bolaven struck North Korea on Tuesday and Wednesday [August 28, 29], submerging houses and roads, ruining thousands of acres of crops and triggering landslides that buried train tracks. A second major storm, Typhoon Tembin, hit the Korean peninsula with more rains on Thursday [August 30]. The storms come as North Korea is still recovering from earlier floods that killed more than 170 people and destroyed thousands of homes. That in turn followed a springtime drought that was the worst in a century in some areas. www.guardian.co.uk/world, August 30, 2012.

Around 60 per cent of the Philippines were flooded after 11 consecutive days of heavy rain. At least 66 people have been killed and around a million people affected by the deluge. www.christiantoday.com, August 11, 2012.

Current Events – Voting

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A number of countries around the world have recently elected or will soon elect new leaders. The United States of America will, on November 6, 2012, vote for its leader. The following quotes should be considered before Christians vote.

Should representative men keep the way of the Lord, they would point men to a high and holy standard. Those in positions of trust would be strictly temperate. Magistrates, senators, and judges would have a clear understanding, and their judgment would be sound and unperverted. The fear of the Lord would ever be before them, and they would depend upon a higher wisdom than their own. The heavenly Teacher would make them wise in counsel, and strong to work steadfastly in opposition to all wrong, and to advance that which is right and just and true. The word of God would be their guide, and all oppression would be discarded. Lawmakers and administrators would abide by every good and just law, ever teaching the way of the Lord to do justice and judgment. God is the head of all good and just governments and laws. Those who are entrusted with the responsibility of administering any part of the law, are accountable to God as stewards of His goods. The Review and Herald, October 1, 1895.

Many who are elevated to the highest positions of trust in serving the public are the opposite of this. They are self-serving, and generally indulge in the use of narcotics, and wine and strong drink. Lawyers, jurors, senators, judges, and representative men have forgotten that they cannot dream themselves into a character. They are deteriorating their powers through sinful indulgences. They stoop from their high position to defile themselves with intemperance, licentiousness, and every form of evil. Their powers prostituted by vice open their path for every evil. The Signs of the Times, July 8, 1880.

Intemperate persons should not by vote of the people be placed in positions of trust. Their influence corrupts others, and grave responsibilities are involved. With brain and nerve narcotized by tobacco and stimulus they make a law of their nature, and when the immediate influence is gone there is a collapse. Frequently human life is hanging in the balance; on the decision of those in these positions of trust depends life and liberty, or bondage and despair. How necessary that all who take part in these transactions should be those who are proved, those of self-culture, those of honesty and truth, of staunch integrity, who will spurn a bribe, who will not allow their judgment or convictions of right to be swerved by partiality or prejudice. To Be Like Jesus, 177.

Only men of strict temperance and integrity should be admitted to our legislative halls and chosen to preside in our courts of justice. Property, reputation, and even life itself, are insecure when left to the judgment of men who are intemperate and immoral. The Signs of the Times, February 11, 1886.

In an article published in the Review of November 8, 1881, I [Ellen White] wrote:

‘There is a cause for the moral paralysis upon society. Our laws sustain an evil which is sapping their very foundations. Many deplore the wrongs which they know exist, but consider themselves free from all responsibility in the matter. This cannot be. Every individual exerts an influence in society. In our favored land, every voter has some voice in determining what laws shall control the nation. Should not that influence and that vote be cast on the side of temperance and virtue?’ The Review and Herald, October 15, 1914.

Current Events – Persecution

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“The early Christians were often called to meet the powers of darkness face to face. By sophistry and by persecution the enemy endeavored to turn them from the true faith. At the present time, when the end of all things earthly is rapidly approaching, Satan is putting forth desperate efforts to ensnare the world. He is devising many plans to occupy minds and to divert attention from the truths essential to salvation. In every city his agencies are busily organizing into parties those who are opposed to the law of God. The archdeceiver is at work to introduce elements of confusion and rebellion, and men are being fired with a zeal that is not according to knowledge.” The Acts of the Apostles, 219.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide is urging the Government to raise concerns over religious intolerance and other human rights violations in Indonesia. In particular, the organisation raises concerns over the forced closure of churches in Indonesia, including churches that have secured legal permission. Last week nine churches and six Buddhist temples had been closed down as a result of intense pressure from local Islamist groups.
www.christiantoday.com/2012/10/29.

A massive four-day national prayer event in the desert north of Cairo, is expected to draw 50,000 people from all over Egypt. In the midst of increased persecution, turmoil and uncertainty, Christians are reaching out to others and fervently praying “in such a time as this.” With all the political, social, economic and religious challenges Egypt has faced in the last few months, all Egyptians are left with many uncertainties and concerns about the present and future. www.christianpost.com/2012/10/26.

Seven people are dead and at least 100 others were injured after a suicide bomber ran an SUV filled with explosives into a Catholic church during mass Sunday [October 28]. The bombing in Kaduna is the latest in a series of attacks on Nigerian churches. No group claimed responsibility for this attack.
www.cbn.com/2012/10/29.

Authorities in southern Laos pressure three jailed pastors and other Christians to participate in occult rituals and recant their faith in Jesus Christ, a religious advocacy group said. www.worthynews.com/2012/10/19.

In India, an Indian evangelical pastor was recovering of injuries, after he and his family were beaten by “anti-Christian” Hindu extremists near the capital New Delhi, a major mission group and relatives said. In published remarks his son who suffered a broken hand, said at least two men entered the house and used “a steel water bucket” to hit his father’s head till he was unconscious. The beatings were encouraged by nearly a dozen other Hindus who earlier hurled stones and other materials at the pastor’s family home, Christian witnesses said. www.worthynews.com/2012/10/22.

In Montana [United States of America], the Kalispell city council has declined to take possession of a Ten Commandments monument and move it to a prominent location on city-owned land in downtown Kalispell. The Flathead Beacon reports that the council decided earlier in the week that accepting the statue could lead to legal problems. The Fraternal Order of the Eagles asked the council to take possession of the statue and six others that include historical texts from the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence that together form a “cornerstone of law” display. The Flathead Area Secular Humanist Association threatened legal action if such a move took place. www.CBN.com/2012/09/24.

Current Events – Union Trouble

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“The time is fast coming when the controlling power of the labor unions will be very oppressive.

“The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began.” Country Living, 9, 10.

“The trades unions and confederacies of the world are a snare. Keep out of them, and away from them, brethren. Have nothing to do with them.” The Adventist Home, 136.

“These unions are one of the signs of the last days. Men are binding up in bundles ready to be burned. They may be church members, but while they belong to these unions, they cannot possibly keep the commandments of God; for to belong to these unions means to disregard the entire Decalogue. …

“Those who claim to be the children of God are in no case to bind up with the labor unions that are formed or that shall be formed. This the Lord forbids.” Maranatha, 182.

Utility crews from several states East of the Mississippi River hit the road this week to volunteer their time and talents in Northeastern states hit hard by Hurricane Sandy. But crews from Alabama got the shock of their lives when other workers in a coastal New Jersey town told them they couldn’t lend a hand without a union card. Crews in Seaside Heights, New Jersey turned them away, saying they couldn’t do any work there because they’re not union employees. Electric repair work for public utilities in New Jersey is dominated by the International Brotherhood Of Electrical Workers, a unit of the politically powerful AFL-CIO. www.dailycaller.com/2012/11/02.

A New Jersey power company denied Friday that it is turning away nonunion volunteer crews who want to travel great distances to help reconnect power supplies severed by Hurricane Sandy. But an Alabama utility is clarifying that it was the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers [IBEW]—not the company—that turned them away. www.dailycaller.com/2012/11/04.

“Amid Sandy’s devastation, a Long Island union sent written demand to Florida utilities: Pay dues or stay home. In a two-page October 29 contract, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) local 1049 demanded union dues, pay hikes and benefit contributions from Florida electric utilities before its workers would be permitted to help reconnect power to Long Island communities. The demand came as Hurricane Sandy was bearing down on the Northeastern United States, stranding tens of millions without electricity.

“The unions, steeped in international socialism, need to be controlled. In normal times, they hold citizens and their children hostage to their demands. They corrupt politicians and force the taxpayer away from the bargaining table. If they don’t get their evil ways, children suffer and we find criminals being released into the public. But now, in a time of grave emergency, unions are demanding tribute from volunteers and workers who are paid by other utilities. Outrageous. Time to purge the democrats and their unions—return America to prosperity and eliminate political extortion, blackmail and corruption.” www.onecitizenspeaking.com/2012/11/04.

Current Events – Christian Institutions Stand up for Religious Liberty

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New healthcare policy requires institutions to provide coverage for abortion. A flurry of lawsuits (now up to 45) have been filed against the rule in the Affordable Care Act. These lawsuits claim that forcing employers to pay for abortion-causing drugs violates their freedom and practice of religion, a Constitutional right.

The banner of truth and religious liberty held aloft by the founders of the gospel church and by God’s witnesses during the centuries that have passed since then, has, in this last conflict, been committed to our hands. The responsibility for this great gift rests with those whom God has blessed with a knowledge of His word. We are to receive this word as supreme authority. We are to recognize human government as an ordinance of divine appointment, and teach obedience to it as a sacred duty, within its legitimate sphere. But when its claims conflict with the claims of God, we must obey God rather than men. God’s word must be recognized as above all human legislation. A ‘Thus saith the Lord’ is not to be set aside for a ‘Thus saith the church’ or a ‘Thus saith the state.’ The crown of Christ is to be lifted above the diadems of earthly potentates.” The Acts of the Apostles, 68.

On January 20, 2012 the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, unveiled a new policy which has come to be known as the “HHS Mandate.”

The new Mandate would require nearly all private health insurance plans to include coverage for all FDA-approved prescription contraceptive drugs and devices, surgical sterilizations and abortion-inducing drugs—drugs that interfere with implantation in the womb and therefore destroy the life of a human being in the earliest stage of development.

The United States Supreme Court has denied a request by a national arts and crafts chain with 500 stores in 42 states, to shield the company from the so-called contraceptive mandate, a part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, while its legal battle plays out, after a federal court similarly ruled against the Christian-owned company. Its CEO argued that his family would have to either “violate their faith by covering abortion-causing drugs or be exposed to severe penalties.” www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/12/26.

The American Center for Law and Justice, a pro-life legal organization that focuses on constitutional law, achieved a significant victory in the legal battle against the mandate when a federal appeals court granted an emergency motion for an injunction putting the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) mandate on hold—preventing it from being enforced against an Illinois business and its owners.

In December 2012, a federal district court in Missouri granted an ACLJ request for an injunction—blocking the mandate from being enforced against a Missouri company. And, in November, a federal appeals court also stepped in and put a halt to the enforcement of the mandate against a St. Louis company.

Following a decision by Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor denying the arts and crafts chain’s request for an exemption from the administration’s HHS mandate, the Christian retail company said it will defy the mandate. www.lifenews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com.

An extremely narrow exemption effectively only protects houses of worship. Business owners’ ability to run their businesses consistent with their religious and moral convictions is not protected. Accepting the Administration’s logic would limit the application of religious freedom to individuals acting within their houses of worship on weekends. It would further erode the free exercise of religion, restricting religious believers’ ability to live out their faiths in their day-to-day lives. blog.heritage.org/2012/12/18.

The freedom that has been enjoyed in the United States and protected by the Constitution in the past is being eroded away.
“Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” Wendell Phillips (1811–1884).

Current Events – Pope Benedict XVI Resigns-” Last Pope ” Prophecy

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Pope Benedict stunned the Roman Catholic Church on Monday, February 18, 2013, when he announced he would stand down, saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to carry on. At 85, he said he was too old, frail and tired to continue on as spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church and its 1.2 billion followers worldwide. Pope Benedict XVI will become the first pope to resign since Gregory XII in 1415.

The soft-spoken German, who always maintained that he never wanted to be pope, was an uncompromising conservative on social and theological issues, fighting what he regarded as the increasing secularization of society.

It remains to be seen whether his successor will continue such battles or do more to bend with the times. A new leader could be elected as soon as Palm Sunday, on March 24, and be ready to take over by Easter a week later. www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/11; www.cnn.com/2013/02/25; www.breitbart.com/2013/02/11

“The Roman Catholic Church, with all its ramifications throughout the world, forms one vast organization under the control, and designed to serve the interests, of the papal see. Its millions of communicants, in every country on the globe, are instructed to hold themselves as bound in allegiance to the pope. Whatever their nationality or their government, they are to regard the authority of the church as above all other. Though they may take the oath pledging their loyalty to the state, yet back of this lies the vow of obedience to Rome, absolving them from every pledge inimical to her interests.” The Great Controversy, 580.

“ Last Pope ” Prophecy

There’s a fresh wave of doomsday buzz over a purported 12th-century prophecy suggesting that the next pope will be the last pope before the end of the world. The effect of St. Malachy’s “Prophecy of the Popes” could well be longer-lasting—especially if the papal conclave goes with one of the favored candidates for Benedict XVI’s successor. Supposedly, Malachy experienced a vision of future popes during a trip to Rome in 1139, and wrote down a series of 112 cryptic phrases that described each pope in turn.

Doomsday fans have found ways to link each phrase to a corresponding pope through the centuries. That includes Benedict XVI, No. 111, is supposedly “glory of the olive.” Then there’s No. 112: “In the extreme persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit … Peter the Roman, who will nourish the sheep in many tribulations; when they are finished, the city of seven hills will be destroyed, and the dreadful judge will judge his people. The end.”

Whomever the conclave picks, there’ll surely be a way to connect him somehow with “Peter the Roman” — after all, isn’t every pope a successor to St. Peter, based in Rome?

“The Spirit of God is being withdrawn from the world; and those who have had great light and opportunities and have not improved them, will be the first to be left. They have grieved away the Spirit of God. The present activity of Satan in working upon hearts, and upon churches and nations should startle every student of prophecy. The end is near. Let our churches arise. Let the converting power of God be experienced in the heart of the individual members, and then we shall see the deep moving of the Spirit of God.” Manuscript Releases, vol. 6, 11.

Current Events – The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)

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Marriage has received Christ’s blessing, and it is to be regarded as a sacred institution. True religion is not to counterwork the Lord’s plans. God ordained that man and woman should be united in holy wedlock, to raise up families that, crowned with honor, would be symbols of the family in heaven. And at the beginning of His public ministry Christ gave His decided sanction to the institution that had been sanctioned in Eden. Thus He declared to all that He will not refuse His presence on marriage occasions, and that marriage, when joined with purity and holiness, truth and righteousness, is one of the greatest blessings ever given to the human family.” The Signs of the Times, August 30, 1899.

A United States federal law enacted September 21, 1996, restricts federal marriage benefits and required inter-state marriage recognition to only opposite-sex marriages in the United States. The law passed both houses of Congress by large majorities and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton. Section 3 of The Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) codifies the non-recognition of same-sex marriages for all federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, Social Security survivors’ benefits, immigration, and the filing of joint tax returns.

Clinton and key legislators have since changed their views and advocated DOMA’s repeal. The current administration announced in 2011 that it had determined that section 3 was unconstitutional and, though it would continue to enforce the law, it would no longer defend it in court. In response, the Republican leadership of the House of Representatives instructed the House General Counsel to defend the law in place of the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Section 3 of DOMA has been found unconstitutional in eight federal courts, including the First and Second Circuit Court of Appeals, on issues including bankruptcy, public employee benefits, estate taxes, and immigration. The United States Supreme Court has heard an appeal in one of those cases, with oral arguments on March 27, 2013. www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defense_of_Marriage_Act, March 28, 2013.

A majority of the Supreme Court on March 27, 2013, appeared ready to strike down a key section of a law that withholds federal benefits from gay married couples, as the justices concluded two days of hearings that showed them to be as divided as the rest of the nation over same-sex marriage.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, the pivotal justice on the issue, said the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) may have intruded too deeply on the traditional role of state governments in defining marriage. The federal law recognizes marriages only between a man and a woman, and Kennedy said that ignores states “which have come to the conclusion that gay marriage is lawful.” www.washingtonpost.com, March 28, 2013.

A majority of the Supreme Court’s justices expressed skepticism March 27, 2013, about the federal law defining marriage as between one man and one woman.

Today’s arguments on DOMA marked the second straight day that the nation’s highest court considered a high-profile case on gay marriage.

After considering a challenge to California’s Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage Tuesday, March 26, the Supreme Court heard arguments in a case seeking to overturn the 1996 law signed by President Bill Clinton that defined marriage as heterosexual and prevented gay couples from receiving federal marriage benefits. If the Supreme Court considers the merits of either case, it could issue a landmark ruling on gay marriage by the end of June. www.abcnews.go.com, March 28, 2013.