Prayer Targets: Sexual Sins; West Coast Children & Family Policy; Fortnight for Freedom, Call2Fall
June 20, 2012
You shall not commit adultery. Exodus 20:14
Dear Praying Friends,
Dr. D. James Kennedy (1930-2007), Pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, founded many significant Christian institutions, all characterized by biblical fidelity and evangelical zeal. For decades he charged believers to be both salt and light to our nation. Kennedy taught that the moral law of God, embodied in the Ten Commandments, remains forever in force. Regarding the 7th Commandment, he wrote:
AVOIDING SEXUAL SINS - [We] live in a society that laughs at "outdated" ideas about sexual purity and marital faithfulness. Those who live by God's standards are anomalies, called "old-fashioned" and "narrow-minded"...
Let's quickly refresh ourselves on God's commands regarding marital fidelity. God created marriage vows and the marriage union in which a woman and a man become one flesh. A person commits adultery when he or she engages in a sexual union with a person other than his or her spouse...
Jesus also taught that we could commit adultery in our minds... (Mt 5:28). Considering how pervasive pornography is today, many people violate this command.
God has warned us that no adulterer, no fornicator, no homosexual will go to heaven (1 Cor 6:9-10). No matter what we call it, God calls adultery sin. God created the Seventh Commandment because He wants the best for us. Sexual immorality destroys the mind, the body, happiness and satisfaction in marriage, and ultimately, the soul. Our heavenly Father doesn't want us to experience any of those consequences.
If you're married, do whatever it takes to guard your precious sexual union... But if you've already gone astray in this area, remember that in Christ you can find forgiveness for and freedom from all these things. Confess, repent, and resolve through the Holy Spirit to remain obedient to God's command. I know Christ can give the power to say no, because He gave it to me (New Every Morning, 1996, Dr. D. James Kennedy, with Jerry Newcombe).
In 1996, the year Dr. Kennedy wrote this devotion, Congress passed the Defense of Marriage Act with large bipartisan majorities (Senate: 85-14; House 342-67). The law protects states from being required to recognize same-sex "marriages" from elsewhere and establishes the definition of marriage for federal purposes as only between a man and woman. Back then, the overthrow of biblical, traditional, natural marriage was unthinkable. But 16 years of activism by a dedicated homosexual minority shows just how far mainstream America has departed from God and the Bible. Yet with marriage - the cornerstone of civilization - crumbling, most Americans are ignorant of the connection between obedience to God's precepts and God's blessing (Dt 5:10; 28: all; Jn 15:5-9).
Call2Fall is FRC's contribution to a church-wide, nation-wide response to God's call to repentance and prayer, needed to restore God's blessing upon America. Please join us Sunday, July 1st, for at least 5 minutes in prayer, to humbly acknowledge our "dependence" upon God, before we celebrate our "independence" on the 4th of July!
West Coast Schools, Families: Bellwether for America? - An elementary school principal in Washington State answered a fifth grader's question by giving the class a graphic explanation of various sex acts (including homosexual). She traumatized the children and enraged their parents. The school superintendent defended the principal as having given only "factual information." FRC President Tony Perkins said "Being factual and being age-appropriate are two different things. The role of educators is to undergird--not undermine--the values instilled at home."
Instead of protecting them, many schools are subjecting children to a decidedly immoral sexual agenda. On June 1, the California Senate passed SB 1172, to prohibit therapists from counseling minors seeking to break away from same-sex attractions. The California legislative calendar is filled with proposals that reveal deep family trouble, radical sexual confusion, and efforts to deal with the predictable consequences of family disintegration that government helped create. One bill rebukes the Boy Scouts for refusing to admit homosexual men and boys; others deal with teen dating violence; a child abuse central index; suspension or expulsion for bullying, child custody, abuse and reporting requirements, abuse centers; human trafficking; retirement benefits for domestic partners of public employees, surrogacy agreements; child abduction prevention; pupil rights; truancy, etc. Government cannot substitute for strong, healthy families.
Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood, America's largest abortion provider has opened a clinic inside a Los Angeles high school. Students can get "free" birth control: "the pill, the patch, the ring, or a shot per California law" at school without parental permission. The overthrow of the American family by anti-Christian government social engineers seems almost complete. Yet Tony Perkins suggests that under Obamacare things will get worse. "Liberal school-based clinics, free birth control pills, millions of dollars for Planned Parenthood--it's all in there. That's why it is absolutely critical that parents get involved with what their schools are teaching and when." Pastors, churches and parents armed with the wisdom of God's word and solid research from groups like FRC, prepared to use their voices and votes to hold their elected officials accountable, and standing together to address these issues in their communities, are the last defense against this evil onslaught (Immoral Instruction; Refusing Youth Real Help; Schools Need to Lessen Sex; Clergy Protection or Redefining Marriage?; Planned Parenthood in Your School Next?, Boy Scouts, California Family Council).
- May every family-hostile measure fail! May pastors and churches who helped pass Proposition 8 in California and those challenging the same-sex "marriage" law in Washington persevere. May they embrace the Call2Fall and press on in prayer and duty to see marriage prevail. May wholesale revival cleanse every state in our nation! May God heal families and restore sanity to our state and national public policy (2 Chr 7:14; Is 1:3-6; Jer 17:13-14; Hos 5:13-6:3; Mal 2:3-4; Eph 6:10-19).
Two Weeks for Freedom - Protestants and Catholics are joining together to observe a "Fortnight for Freedom," in response to the "Contraceptive Mandate" in Obamacare. The prayer and action vigil will begin June 21st and end July 4th. Christians will pray and act to inform their churches, their elected officials, and the American people about the facts and consequences of President Obama's Mandate, and its egregious violation of the First Amendment freedom of religion.(view FRC's video, Two Weeks for Freedom: Christians Standing Together for Religious Freedom; see USCCB: Fortnight for Freedom).
- May God hear the united cries of His people! May He give them great courage and mobilize them to win the mind of the American people. May God grant us relief through both the Supreme Court and Congress! (1 Sam 8:-22a; Judges 20:1; Neh 4:14-20; Ps 133:all; Pr 11:14; 24:6; Mt 18:19)
Finally, please pray that the new, largest and most thorough study of children raised by homosexual parents will get the widespread attention it should. Pray that the Supreme Court will take the Mt. Soledad Cross Case, in which FRC's Ken Klukowski and 20 members of Congress submitted a Brief. Continue to pray that the President's Pride Month Proclamation will be rejected, wholesale, by the American people. Pray that evangelicals will grow only stronger in their stand for biblical values in the public arena. And please help us promote Call2Fall to every believer with whom you have influence. Only God can save our nation! Thank you for praying!