Editorial: Jailed for standing on the Word

Posted

Updated 7:02 a.m. Monday, Sept. 14

There was a time when I never thought it would happen in America. I knew it had happened in Nazi Germany, in Communist China, and in nations dominated by Totalitarianism. I just never thought it would happen in “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

However, in more recent years I could see it coming. I just knew that probably sooner rather than later someone would be thrown in jail for standing up for the Word of God. That is precisely what happened to Rowan County clerk Kim Davis in Kentucky.

Kim’s crime was her refusal to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. One must ask, “What compelling reason can there for gay activists targeting Davis when they can get a marriage license at any of the 129 locations in the state?” According to CNS. News, “It has become the norm for LGBT activists to target those with whom they disagree. Death threats, unjust laws, and reduction in liberty and employment are becoming commonplace.”

Now, you can add incarceration to the list.

So, Judge David Bunning found Davis in contempt of court and ordered federal marshals to take her into custody until she agrees to abide by his earlier order to provide licenses to gay couples. The judge refused to fine Davis, because he knew her supporters would pay any fine he specified. According to the Louisville Courier-Journal the judge stated, “Her good-faith belief is simply not a viable defense.”

This is the latest fallout from the Supreme Court’s June 26 decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

Davis has been divorced three times, but since becoming a Christian her life has been transformed and she has attempted to walk with God and obey His Word. She is a member of Solid Rock Apostolic Church in Morehead, KY and maintains that she is upholding the articles of her faith and placing them ahead of her duty to uphold the articles of the U.S. Constitution.

Here is what her religion says: ““We believe the Word instructs that a humble, careful servant of God will have an outward appearance that is a reflection of the inward person. For instance, we teach that he or she should be dressed modestly and simply, without drawing unnecessary attention to oneself. Men should look masculine and women should look feminine. Women are encouraged to have their long hair modestly arranged and refrain from use of makeup. Jewelry is discouraged.”

Her church instructs the faithful quite clearly “to be doers not just hearers of the Word.” While the principles taught by the Apostolic Christian Church may seem restrictive and old fashioned to some, Southern Baptist will do well to remember that believers are to “walk in a newness of life” and that Christians are to be different and give evidence of a transformed life.

Davis has been divorced three times, but since becoming a Christian her life has been transformed and she has attempted to walk with God and obey His Word.

Unlike many of her detractors, Davis has responded to hate and death threats with true Christian love. “I have no animosity toward anyone and harbor no ill will,” she said in a statement this week. “To me this has never been a gay or lesbian issue. It is about marriage and God’s Word.”

Obviously, the world doesn’t understand how a genuine believer’s faith transforms the whole of his/her life. Hillary Clinton posted a “tweet” on Thursday stating: “Marriage equality is the law of the land. Officials should be held to their duty to uphold the law – end of story.”

No! That is not the end of the story. There are millions of Christians in America who will not quietly acquiesce to Supreme Court rulings, Congressional laws, or presidential edicts that run counter to the Word of God.

Mike Huckabee contends, “Having Kim Davis in federal custody removes all doubt of the criminalization of Christianity in our country. We must defend religious liberty and never surrender to judicial tyranny. Five unelected Supreme Court lawyers did not and cannot make law. They can only make rulings. The Supreme Court is not the Supreme branch and it is certainly not the Supreme Being.”

When Peter and the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin and accused of filling Jerusalem of their doctrine, they replied, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29).

Martin Luther King exclaimed, “An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”

The ”progressives” are condemning Kim Davis for her refusal to issue marriage licenses for same sex marriages, but their outrage is hypocritical to say the least. Where was the outrage when former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom directed city clerks to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples in 2004 when gay marriage was prohibited in California?

The ”progressives” are condemning Kim Davis for her refusal to issue marriage licenses for same sex marriages, but their outrage is hypocritical to say the least.

The Daily Signal reported, “After voters elected Mark Herring (Virginia’s) attorney general in 2013, Herring told National Public Radio he would no longer defend the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.”

Herring explained, “As attorney general, I cannot and will not defend laws that violate Virginians’ rights. The commonwealth will be siding with the plaintiffs in this case and with every other Virginia couple whose right to marry is being denied.”

Where were the remonstrations? Why wasn’t Herring jailed?

And in Kentucky, the state where Kim Davis was jailed, the state’s attorney general, Jack Conway, said he would not appeal a ruling to recognize same-sex marriages after the state had banned them, explaining that defending Kentucky’s ban by appealing the case would “be defending discrimination.” What kind of holy or unholy indignation was heard from “Progressives” when that legitimate ruling in Kentucky was so flagrantly violated?

Or why have all the public officials who have defied the law over gay marriage been mostly silent on the case resulting in the incarceration of Kim Davis?

The Progressives vehemently insist that those of us who are conservatives are on the wrong side of history. I had rather be on the wrong side of history than on the wrong side of God’s Word.

Editorial, gay marriage, Kentucky, religious freedom, religious liberty