Urgent Message

What I share with you this morning is probably not the devotional you were looking for to start the week.  However, there is an urgency to this that cannot wait.  I received an email on August 19 from Dr. Byron Foxx, the president of Bible Truth Music and an evangelist and song writer, serving over 7,000 churches.  The email linked to a video presented by Pastor Thomas Alvis from Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Powatan, VA.  The following is a transcript of that video.

Good morning friends. Pastor Thomas Alvis from Mount Mariah Baptist Church here in Powatan, Virginia.  Brother Byron Fox asked me to send out an email inviting you to join us for two very special events coming up in the very near future related to the two horrendous constitutional amendments that are going to be on the ballot in our fall election. As you know, Virginia has elections every year…and this year there are two amendments, one related to life, one related to marriage that are horrendous amendments. They have passed the state legislature. They …will be on our ballot… That’s why we’re so anxious to get together and make sure we understand what these amendments are all about.

Amendment number one is an amendment related to abortion.  It removes parental rights, undermines your rights as a parent. It would allow transgender surgeries on minors.  It would leave babies to die if they survive an abortion procedure. It weakens health and safety standards. It would allow for more late term abortions. It’s been labeled the zero safety abortion amendment. And my friends, no matter where you stand on the matter of abortion, this goes to the extreme …We believe life begins at conception. We believe life ought to be protected from the womb to the tomb. And it is time that the church allow [sic] their voice to be heard at the polls. That’s amendment number one.

Amendment number two is a marriage amendment, but it does far more than that. It embeds gender ideology into our constitution. It allows males in female sports here in the Commonwealth. It threatens pastors. It really redefines and replaces marriage as it is in the current constitution. It violates God’s word. Both of these amendments need to be voted no … by every pastor, by every believer, by everyone who believes the precious word of God. These are radical, radical amendments. And we need to make sure we understand exactly what is in them.

You’re going to hear a lot in the media. You’re going to hear a lot of commercials, a lot of things about the wording and saying, “Oh, they’re really not that bad.” But I want to tell you, your religious liberty is on the line. Your parental rights are on the line. The whole issue of males and female sports and gender ideology and transgender gender mutilating surgeries. All of these are involved in these amendments.

Pastors, you’re not going to be allowed to say no to performing a marriage that you do not believe is a biblical marriage. Doctors and nurses are not going to be able to claim religious liberty, uh, religious conviction about not performing and being involved in an abortion. We must stand up. We must speak up. These are not just political issues. These are biblical issues. The church must be heard at the ballot box.

…Pastor, you say, “I don’t do politics.” This is not about doing politics. This is about making sure we understand what’s happening in our commonwealth in relation to what the Bible says about marriage and about life. Your people need to understand this. We need to show up. We need to stand up. And we need to speak up…”¹

The rest of the video advertises a conference where Dr. Foxx will be speaking and the other guests who will help to explain what is happening in Virginia.

Maybe you say, “That’s Virginia.  Why are you presenting this to us in Ohio?”  Five quick reasons:

1. Everything that is being proposed in Virginia through these amendments goes contrary to the Word of God. God made it clear that there are two genders.  Genesis 1:27 says, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.”  And every life is precious.  Psalms 139:14 reminds us, “… for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…”
2. God’s church isn’t divided by state borders. 1 Corinthians 12:20 says, “But now are they many members, yet but one body.”  If this affects one Christian, it affects us all.
3. If this passes in one state, how long before it finds passage in others?
4. We should be PRAYING! 1 Timothy 2:1-2 says, “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men;  (2)  For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”
5. We need to get prepared. If laws are enacted which go contrary to the Word of God, we have no choice in the matter.  Our courage can be drawn from the words spoken by Peter when the Roman and Jewish laws went against the grain of Scripture.  “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”  (Acts 5:29)

¹https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GealU2ySFOE

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