Judges

                Are you as tired of campaign news as I am?  I can barely stand to think about politics, and I look forward to having the election over.  Yet I realize the media is already hyping possible candidates for 2016.  I need a break from politics!

                In a recent speech, Dr. James Dobson  called Barack Obama the “abortion president.”  Dr. Dobson is a well-known Christian leader, founder of Family Talk Radio, and a courtroom opponent of Obamacare.  The National Day of Prayer speaker warned that America is heading toward “depravity.”  He wrote about Lot, the nephew of Abraham in the Old Testament, and how Lot “chose to take his family into the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

                “Why have I chosen to recount this biblical story from so long ago?  Because I am convinced that America and other Western nations are sliding in the same direction. … We have not yet reached the depravity of Sodom and Gomorrah, but that appears to be where we are headed.”

                Dr. Dobson blamed the judges for the direction we are going.  “Judge Robert Bork, the brilliant jurist who was shamefully denied a seat on the Supreme Court, wrote a book about this danger 18 years ago.  It was titled, `Slouching Towards Gomorrah.’  I think he had it right.

                “Many influential men and women of the judiciary are leading us toward perdition”

                Dr. Dobson is not the only person saying America is wicked for he has the company of none other than the Reverend Billy Graham.  Reverend Graham differed with Dr. Dobson by saying that America is not sliding down the slippery slope to Gomorrah but has reached it.  “Even though America is just as wicked as Sodom and Gomorrah ever were, and as deserving of the judgment of God, God would spare us if we were earnestly praying, with hearts that [have] been cleansed and washed by the blood of Christ.”

                Reverend Graham cited biblical accounts of people who prayed and were blessed:  (1) Hezekiah “prayed when his city was threatened by the invading armies … and the entire army of Sennacherib was destroyed.”  (2) Elijah prayed “and God sent fire from Heaven to consume the offering of the altar he had built in the presence of God’s enemies.”  (3) Jesus Christ “prayed at the door of the tomb of Lazarus, and the one who had been dead for four days came forth.”

                Continuing, Reverend Graham wrote, “What a glorious thing it would be if millions of us would avail ourselves of the greatest privilege this side of Heaven!

                “The problems of the world will never be settled unless our national leaders go to God in prayer….  If only they would discover the power and wisdom that there is in reliance upon God, we could soon see the solution to the grave problems that face the world!”

                Not all judges are determined to push Americans further down the slippery slope.  Breitbart  reported on October 22, 2014, that a federal judge in Puerto Rico went against the recent trend and upheld traditional marriage.  “District Judge Juan M. Pere-Gimenez, a Carter appointee, delivered a ruling that relied on a conservative reading of the Constitution and legal precedent, and created the potential for a split among the U.S. circuits that could prod the Supreme Court to take up the question in [the] future…."

                Judge Perez-Gimenez used two basic arguments to make his decision.  “First, he notes that the U.S. Constitution is silent on marriage, thus reserving authority over marriage to the states – and adds that a 1972 precedent to that effect in Baker v. Nelson, which other courts have considered void, still holds.  Only the Supreme Court, [Judge] Perez-Gimenez says, may overturn Baker – and to this date, he notes, it has declined to do so.

                “Second, [Judge] Perez-Gimenez notes that last year’s twin rulings in the celebrated U.S. v. Windsor and Hollingsworth v. Perry  do not actually void state powers to ban gay marriage.  Hollingsworth v. Perry, he notes, was dealt with on procedural grounds, and though Windsor struck down the federal Defense of Marriage Act, it `reaffirms the States’ authority over marriage, buttressing Baker’s conclusion that marriage is simply not a federal question.’”

                Breitbart concluded that “Judge Perez-Gimenez leaves substantive questions about marriage for his conclusion … but presents the case for traditional marriage as well as it has been put forth anywhere in recent years.  [Judge] Perez-Gimenez  notes the `centuries’-old principle that `the very survival of the political order depends upon the procreative potential embodied in traditional marriage’ (emphasis added).

                “Furthermore, [Judge] Perez-Gimenez notes, gay marriage activists have not explained how their logic, using the Equal Protection Clause, would preclude polygamy or incest.  Such questions do not arise from `cruel discrimination and ridicule,’ he says, but are legitimate and demand that proponents of a `right’ to gay marriage `render reasons justifying the change and articulate the principles that they claim will limit this newly fashioned right.’”

                The case, of course, is being appealed to the First Circuit.  This may be just one more rejection since so many of the federal courts have rejected traditional marriage.  Then again, it could be the case that takes the cause of traditional marriage to the Supreme Court.

                The Book of Mormon – Another Testament of Jesus Christ contains several cases where wicked judges sought to destroy the government of the land or where the destruction actually took place.  When I study those portions of the Book of Mormon, I feel that I am reading about current events.  I encourage you to study the Book of Mormon to see what happened to past civilizations in America.

                Members of the Obama Administration, judges, and other people who seek to destroy the constitutional law of our nation will one day answer to the Supreme Judge, even Jesus Christ.  Meanwhile, we can pray for God’s protection over our nation.  The prayers of righteous people have saved numerous societies in past times; it may happen again for us.