Monday, November 14, 2005

JUST RULERS

“The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.”

(2 Samuel 23:3)

QUOTATIONS FOR THE DAY

“Man is unjust, but God is just, and finally justice triumphs.”

(Longfellow)

“Just deeds are the best answer to injurious words.”

(Milton)

“Sir, I say that justice is truth in action.”

(Benjamin Disraeli)

IS THIS TOLERANCE?
  - By Rev. Dallas Henry

The word “tolerance” seems to be the popular, politically correct word today.  Oh yes, “sensitivity” is a word repeated again and again by those who claim to have been discriminated against, as they describe those of us opposed to adding “sexual orientation” to the Human Rights Act.

The vote to approve the Governor’s homosexual rights bill did a whole lot more than just add “sexual orientation” to the Maine Human Rights Act.  We now have, as the law of Maine, an eight page document that opens up a “Pandora’s Box” of sexually deviant behavior.  The law protects anyone’s choice of sexual desires; and they now have the choice of practicing any of over thirty sexual orientations.  But I am getting off point.

If it were legal to do so, the League could share literally hundreds of hateful and extremely obscene emails and phone calls that have come into the office since last Wednesday.  I wonder if this is what proponents of special rights for homosexuals understand as “Tolerance” and “Sensitivity.”  Even the office staff and some board members have received hate-filled personal phone calls and emails.

We heard, again and again, how hateful Michael Heath, Paul Madore and Rev. Sandy Williams were as they stood up for what they each believed was the best course for Maine.  We heard about “discrimination” in three areas; employment, loans, and rent.  No Christian I know of wants anyone to be discriminated against in any area.  After checking, we discovered that on no rental contract, employment or loan application is there any question about sexual orientation.  In fact, we found that at least one lending institution is a major contributor to the homosexual rights movement.  There is certainly no discrimination there.

I was asked if I knew what criminal penalties come with this new law.  I couldn’t answer that question, so I asked an attorney, who gave the following answer: He replied that “There are no criminal fines or jail sentences involved.  However, the person discriminated against can sue you to recover civil compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys fees.  Consequently, most people who are falsely accused of discrimination settle to avoid having to pay their lawyer tens of thousands of dollars, and run the risk of being found guilty by a judge or jury. If found guilty, they would have to pay the plaintiff and his lawyer tens of thousands of dollars too.” There you have it -  “The New Maine Economy”.

I also asked this attorney what might happen to pastors who preach what the Bible says about homosexuality.  The law specifically exempts churches and religious organizations.  But if believers say at work that homosexuality is a sin, they might be fired for creating a “hostile work environment.”  That is where the law takes away our free speech rights.  God’s word is tolerated - just as long as we keep it indoors.

One pastor emailed me and said he thought his people were finally waking up to the fact that there really is a militant homosexual rights movement that is out to silence the church and everyone who has a conscience.  If the people of Maine only knew the vicious hatred coming from the militant homosexual rights movement, many more would have
voted “Yes” on Question One.

Someone sent me a quote from the Portland Press Herald forum this morning: "I think it's great. Now I can wear a dress and makeup to work one day and my suit and tie the next. I love teaching."  I hope your children are not in that teacher’s class.

Many have asked where we go from here.  The League has promoted righteousness in politics for one hundred and eight years, and we are not about to stop now.  As our Board of Directors meets, we will discuss the question of where we go from here, seeking the leading of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, God’s Son, who told the woman caught in adultery, “Neither do I condemn you…..go and sin no more.”
 
WAL-MART PUTS WORD “CHRISTMAS” BACK ON WEBSITE AFTER THREAT OF BOYCOTT

Wal-Mart has decided to rethink its policy of banning the word “Christmas” from its website in face of a threatened boycott by the Catholic League. When visitors to its website entered the word “Christmas” they received the following message: “Based on your search you have been directed to our ‘Holidays’ section.”

When a customer e-mailed Wal-Mart to complain, she received back a lengthy explanation from a customer service representative who attempted to prove that Christmas is really not a Christian holiday, but is instead a holiday which has its roots in paganism. The customer then complained to the Catholic League, which then immediately announced its intention to forward an e-mail to one hundred and twenty six religious organizations asking their help in boycotting Wal-Mart.

Within a few days, Wal-Mart apologized and changed its website. Wal-Mart also said that it plans to maintain its policy of telling its employees to say “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”

THE PILGRIM'S VISION

His home was a freezing cabin,
Too bare for the hungry rat;
Its roof was thatched with ragged grass,
And bald enough of that;
The hole that served for casement
Was glazed with an ancient hat,
And the ice was gently thawing
From the log whereon he sat.

Along the dreary landscape
His eyes went to and fro,
The trees all clad in icicles,
The streams that did not flow;
A sudden thought flashed o'er him,--
A dream of long ago,--
He smote his leathern jerkin,
And murmured, "Even so!"

"Come hither, God-be-Glorified,
And sit upon my knee;
Behold the dream unfolding,
Whereof I spake to thee
By the winter's hearth in Leyden
And on the stormy sea.

True is the dream's beginning,--
So may its ending be!
"I saw in the naked forest
Our scattered remnant cast,
A screen of shivering branches
Between them and the blast;
The snow was falling round them,
The dying fell as fast;
I looked to see them perish,
When lo, the vision passed.

"Again mine eyes were opened;--
The feeble had waxed strong,
The babes had grown to sturdy men,
The remnant was a throng;
By shadowed lake and winding stream,
And all the shores along,
The howling demons quaked to hear
The Christian's godly song.

They slept, the village fathers,
By river, lake, and shore,
When far adown the steep of Time
The vision rose once more.

I saw along the winter snow
A spectral column pour,
And high above their broken ranks
A tattered flag they bore.
"Their Leader rode before them,
Of bearing calm and high,
The light of Heaven's own kindling
Throned in his awful eye;
These were a Nation's champions
Her dread appeal to try.

God for the right! I faltered,
And lo, the train passed by.
"Once more;--the strife is ended,
The solemn issue tried,
The Lord of Hosts, his mighty arm
Has helped our Israel's side;

Gray stone and grassy hillock
Tell where our martyrs died,
But peaceful smiles the harvest,
And stainless flows the tide.
"O trembling Faith! though dark the morn,
A heavenly torch is thine;

It crowns with flaming towers
The icy capes of Labrador,
The Spaniard's 'land of flowers'!
It streams beyond the splintered ridge
That parts the northern showers;
From eastern rock to sunset wave
The Continent is ours!"

He ceased, the grim old soldier-saint,
Then softly bent to cheer
The Pilgrim-child, whose wasting face
Was meekly turned to hear;
And drew his toil-worn sleeve across
To brush the manly tear
From cheeks that never changed in woe,
And never blanched in fear.

The weary Pilgrim slumbers,
His resting-place unknown;
His hands were crossed, his lips were closed,
The dust was o'er him strown;
The drifting soil, the mouldering leaf,
Along the sod were blown;
His mound has melted into earth,
His memory lives alone.

So let it live unfading,
The memory of the dead,
Long as the pale anemone
Springs where their tears were shed,
Or, raining in the summer's wind
In flakes of burning red,
The wild rose sprinkles with its leaves
The turf where once they bled!

Yea, when the frowning bulwarks
That guard this holy strand
Have sunk beneath the trampling surge
In beds of sparkling sand,
While in the waste of ocean
One hoary rock shall stand,
Be this its latest legend,--

HERE WAS THE PILGRIM'S LAND!

(Oliver Wendell Holmes)