"We need to be a dangerous people; and let us be accursed if on that day - a far greater Day than this - if we have to admit that we were not there when things got dangerous."
~ Dr. Al Mohler ~
President at Southern Seminary - Convocation Message
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rguw1ewAkWg
The Manhattan Declaration - in a nutshell - firmly states:
"Because we honor justice and the common good, we will not comply with any edict that purports to compel our institutions to participate in abortions, embryo-destructive research, assisted suicide and euthanasia, or any other anti-life act. We also will not bend to any rule purporting to force us to bless immoral sexual partnerships, treat them as marriages or the equivalent, or refrain from proclaiming the truth, as we know it, about morality and immorality and marriage and the family. We will fully and ungrudgingly render to Caesar what is Caesar's. But under no circumstances will we render to Caesar what is God's."
Why is this declaration important in our day?
Bill Wilson, a Washington-based journalist and a part of Bill Koenig's Koenig's International News recently summed up the unstable tide of our times. He says, "The Senate is poised to debate socialized health care and take a vote on it despite its unconstitutionality and opposition from the American people. This bill shreds the Constitution and the rights of Americans under the false pretense that it will provide health insurance to every American. This bill is the linchpin to legislating unprecedented and unconstitutional socialist humanism as the form of government in America. These usurpers in Congress must be stopped, and the American people must be heard from. From a Constitutional perspective this legislation, in effect, surrenders the power of the people to the power of the government."
Beloved in the Faith,
Attached is the link to the Manhattan Declaration and it's many prominent signatories. There are some weighty names. Perhaps these signers will ease the temptation to be dismissive about this important document.
http://www.manhattandeclaration.org/sign/list-of-religious-leaders-signatories
Years ago, Evangelicals and Roman Catholics banded together to ensure ministry efforts were not hindered or duplicated with the Evangelicals and Catholics Together document. It raised quite a swell of emotion as there were several prominent Evangelicals who would not align themselves with this document claiming the joining together in ministry efforts to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and take care of the widows and the orphans would muddy the Gospel message as Roman Catholics and Evangelicals proclaim different gospels (but so do Monergistic Evangelical Christians and Synergistic Evangelical Christians - truth be told). I respect both signers and refusers-to-sign of this ECT Document.
This Manhattan Declaration has the same potential to create strong emotions, but I exhort you to study and think and pray about signing it. This document is not about the Gospel, it is about standing firm on biblical conviction and is a clarion call for professing Christians to adhere to their convictions and inform civil authorities that the signers will not—under any circumstance—abandon their Christian consciences.
There will come a day in these United States of America where we will be asked to stand firm on biblical truth and be faithful people or compromise away for the sake of false peace, obedience to a lesser authority, and bring further judgment on our nation.
Jesus Christ is our King - the King of Kings! He is our highest authority. His Word is authoritative! His Word is sufficient! Yes - He does place rulers and authorities over us whom we are to obey. But we are NOT to obey these earthly authorities if they:
1.) Require us to do what God has forbidden.
2.) Forbid us to do what God has commanded.
Biblical examples of civil disobedience.
A. Jochabed
1. Exod. 1:15 - 2:10; Heb. 11:23
2. Right to preserve God's people.
B. Esther
1. Esther 3:6,15; 7:4-6
2. Right to preserve God's people.
C. Daniel
1. Daniel 6:4-15
2. Right to pray and worship.
D. Peter and John
1. Acts 5:29,41,42
2. Right to preach the gospel.
E. Paul
1. Acts 16:35-40
2. Right to just treatment.
Don't forget the disobedient Hebrew midwives who would not kill the male Hebrew babies delivered in Egypt! They feared God above man! They obeyed God!
To obey earthly authorities when their laws violate God's laws, is to practice idolatry. People claiming His name (CHRISTian) will tested on our allegiance to His crown!
Although the Manhattan Declaration is locking arms with Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, and Evangelicals of monergistic and synergistic gospel messages - it is not a document about salvation but about Christian conviction.
Please take time to seriously consider the message contained within.
A respected voice of disagreement and refusal to sign -
Alistair Begg states, "In accord with others who have chosen not to sign, my reservation is not with the issues themselves, or in standing with others who share the same concerns, but it is in signing a declaration along with a group of leading churchmen, when I happen to believe that the teaching of some of their churches is in effect a denial of the biblical gospel. I wonder whether it might not have been more advantageous for Evangelicals to unite on this matter, rather than seeking cooperation with segments from Rome and Eastern Orthodoxy."
My perspective on this -
To be honest, I struggle with protests or claims of adhering to the 'biblical' gospel when the gospel can be maligned and perverted by both action and inaction - by word and by deed, by message and follow through, and message and outward apathy. I am trying to figure this out. If one proclaims out of the mouth a monergistic gospel, I - for one - am in agreement and comfortable with that. If one proclaims out of the mouth a synergistic gospel, I am in disagreement and very uncomfortable with that. Evangelicals aren't in agreement about the gospel. Is God sovereign in salvation or is He not? Does regeneration precede faith or does the new birth follow faith? One gospel is monergistic, one gospel is synergistic. The Roman Catholic gospel is synergistic, but so is the gospel of most Evangelicals in America today. Is the salvation of the gospel merely a future salvation or is it a here-and-now salvation? By that I mean, is the gospel power for the Judgment Throne only or is the gospel power for victorious righteous thinking and living here and now - as well as for the Judgment Throne. If one proclaims a gospel message I am comfortable with (monergistic) yet they have a disconnect between their orthodoxy and their praxis, it confuses me. Is not the gospel a powerful one? Is not the gospel power transforming in mind and in action? Does not this gospel require of us once we have been brought to resurrected (here and now) life? Is not this new life in Christ a costly gospel life?
I value the gospel message when it is backed up in action and in power. When those who are proclaimers of the message of Jesus Christ are about His business upon this earth, adhering to His priorities, speaking His heart, addressing and tending to His concerns, and taking a visible stand for His Truth.
I believe orthodoxy truly held begets orthopraxy, doesn't it - not just a list of don'ts, but a list of do's. Not just abstinence, but of righteous pursuit.
I have signed this document.
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