Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick just signed a law allowing homosexual couples from other states to get "married" in Massachusetts. The Bay State now joins California in legalizing same-sex marriage" without restrictions.
The gay rights crowd is ecstatic over what they see as one more domino going down in their assault against traditional marriage in the U.S.
Kris Mineau, president of the Massachusetts Family Institute, said "With the protective barrier removed, out-of-state, same-sex couples who 'marry' here will sue to seek recognition in their home states … further eroding the people's right to define marriage," he said. This is "doing terrible harm to marriage laws across the country."
In California, gay activists are pulling out all the stops as the state prepares to vote on a marriage-protection amendment.
Will New York be next? Governor Paterson is already trying to impose same-sex marriage by executive decree. Our legal action against him is, at best, a temporary obstacle put in the path of the gay rights hordes advancing their conquest of American culture. If the Church does not rise to defend what God has called holy, our children will pay the price for our complacency as our nation -as Judge Robert Bork put it- continues its slouch toward Gomorrah. Remember the words inscribed on Thomas Jefferson’s memorial,
“I tremble when I reflect that God is just; that his justice will not sleep forever.”
It’s up to us, the people of God, to be stewards of that holy institution entrusted to His Church. It is time to do as Nehemiah told the Israelites,
“Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” (Nehemiah 4:14b)
Nehemiah traveled with a trumpeter whose mission was to sound the trumpet when danger approached so the people of God could rally to the place of the threat. We are sounding the trumpet! The people of God must rally around the issue of marriage. This is no time for excuses, theological or otherwise. I’m reminded of the words of E. Stanley Jones who taught that:
"An individual gospel without a social gospel is a soul without a body, and a social gospel without an individual gospel is a body without a soul. One is a ghost and the other a corpse."
We must have both. This is a time for born again, spirit-filled believers to rise up and take a stand for the institution of marriage. This not a time to be “complacent in Zion” or our children and generations to follow will pay the price for our sins of omission when judgment falls on our nation. Billy Graham reminded us that if God lets us get away with our sins he’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah. I just don’t see that ever happening.
We’re calling on every believer to do something. Begin with prayer according to 1 Timothy 2.
Then call your legislative representatives on every level or write them a letter. Then write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper. Do not be silent!
Every member of the clergy must preach and teach concerning these issues and the responsibility of the Church to be the salt of the earth. Personal salvation first, but then works that reflect a faith based in the Word of God. Teach the difference between the “holy and the common.”
We stand ready to help. Just call or email us. We sound the trumpet knowing that if we will rally, our God will fight for us. The victory will be passed on to our children, and their children.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
CALIFORNIA AND A NATION
Today, America takes yet another step downward toward the abyss of social chaos and national degradation with the California attempt to make holy matrimony a common social fraternity for anyone who would try to claim legitimacy in a sacred institution. Marriage was created by God to represent the fullness of His human creation in the union of a man and a woman. Since God is the One who created marriage, only He can redefine it, and He has not done so. Judges who would take it upon themselves to subvert the authority of God violate the basic tenets of their trade, as taught by founding father and originator of the American legal system James Wilson, that civil law must be consistent with divine law.
Today’s intellectual elites think it ignorance to associate national disasters with national sin. But our founding fathers thought differently:
George Mason, father of our Bill of Rights taught us:
As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, so they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins by national calamities..
They understood that national calamity, poverty and war are instruments of God’s judgment for nations that disregard His rules of social order. According to the father of our country, George Washington:
“The propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained.”
God’s judgment on America is evidenced today in the high rate of divorce, broken families, wandering youth, record crime rates, and this is only the beginning. Our economy will continue to reverse the trend of prosperity, wars will increase, and natural disasters will accelerate in frequency and intensity. Unless we publicly reaffirm our Trust in God we will be just like the other countries of the earth that are steeped in poverty, violence and every kind of darkness -the normal state of this world. All one need do is to trace the travel of the Christianity and you will see the advancement of civilization, peace and prosperity.
We need leaders today who, rather than end their talks with the traditional “God Bless America” will begin their talks with, “We are one nation under God” and will then go on teach and model what it means to be a nation under God with liberty under God and a calling to be a light to a lost and dying world, as President Reagan’s”City on a Hill.”
Even Thomas Jefferson, one of the least religious of our founding fathers understood that:
”God who gave us life gave us liberty.”
And he challenges us with the question,
“… can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated but with His wrath?
Then he goes on to state the conclusion of the matter,
Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever.”
God’s justice will not sleep forever. I cannot draw a direct correlation between one national sin and its particular consequence. That connection is made in the heavenlies beyond human perception. But I can tell you there is a correlation. Our God of mercy is also a God of justice, and his justice will not sleep forever.
We must be once again, one nation under God. Regardless of one’s religion or even one’s irreligion we must collectively acknowledge that God governs in the affairs of men and of nations, and we must once again strive to live a national life in accordance with God’s plan for his human creation as much as we can know and understand it.
We need leaders who will not be afraid to declare that we are one nation under God, and it is in God that we put our trust, not in human intellect or whim. Continue to take God and the Bible out of the national life of America, and you will continue to see national calamity. One doesn’t have to believe in gravity to fall off the end of a roof. One doesn’t have to believe in the laws of God to suffer the consequences of neglecting his rules for order.
Whether you believe in God or not, His laws of order, peace and prosperity will always prevail. Better to understand them and strive to live in a way that will bring the greatest blessing possible.
There’s always hope; we can change; yes we can.
Friday, May 30, 2008
NY Governor Usurps Legislative Process
The governor of New York has just issued a directive and a video web cast directing state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages solemnized in other states, and even other countries. By this action he shows his solidarity with the radical homosexual activists who are attempting to impose their morality on New Yorkers undermining the legislative process and violating the New York State Constitution that explicitly places the power of making laws in the hands of the legislature, not judges in Monroe County, California, Massachusetts or Canada! According to the New York Times, New York will be the only state to recognize homosexual “marriages” where homosexual “marriage” is not legal. That doesn’t even make logical sense, but that is only a sample of the chaos that will be unleashed if sanity is not restored to government. Remember, that in 2006 the state’s highest court refused to recognize same-sex “marriage” and rightly said the issue should be decided by the legislature, but Governor Paterson is joining with forces that would subvert our democratic process to push their own agenda. This must not stand.
We are calling on New Yorkers to write, call, email the governor’s office, as well as the offices of their state legislators, and let them know that for the sake of the next generation we will not surrender the institution of marriage to a special interest group bent on destroying those bedrock values and institutions that our parents passed on to us.
The actions of the Governor, and even the appeals court judge who chose to disregard New York’s highest court ruling must be rejected by New Yorkers of common sense.
Impeachment for these attempts to undermine our constitution should not be out of the question.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
CALIFORNIA SUPREME COURT ON GAY MARRIAGE
The four judges of California Supreme Court who decided to overrule the will of the people of California who have determined in a loud and clear voice that marriage will be only the union of a man and a woman demonstrate the new trend to usurp a government of the people by a government of the few liberals in power. Despite their twisted appeals to the California Constitution they are in fact exchanging any fixed rule of law for popular passing whims of special interest groups.
By their action they demonstrate an attempt to transform our democratic republic into an oligarchy, and this must not stand. We are calling on people of faith, as well as others of common sense to rise up and make their voices be heard. This is no time for a silent majority. The future of the next generation depends on the actions of those who know what is right, but who have been silent because, simply put, they have not been directly effected.
The British statesman Edmund Burke admonished us, “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.” Make no mistake about it; this move is driven by an evil force working to wreak havoc on the next generation that will succeed unless we take a stand against it.
We are calling on every individual to write to their state and their federal legislators to express righteous indignation at the attempt to redefine the institution of marriage, the bedrock foundation of any civilized society. Write and call and encourage others to do the same.
God will not be mocked. Our founders taught us that since nations cannot be judged in the afterlife, they are judged in this life with national calamity and deprivation. The United States has been blessed above all other nations because we have been historically “One Nation Under God.” If we, now throw off God’s authority for the twisted thinking of man we will see an end to “God’s grace shed on thee.” We will see an increase of national disasters, economic loss and social chaos. God will not be mocked. We cannot expect the ungodly to stand up for Godly principles, so it falls on people of faith of every denomination to call on our leaders to return to the principles that have preserved and prospered us as a nation, or we will begin to experience life without God’s grace and blessing –life under the curse.
Some will accuse me of using fear to advance an agenda. Let it be so, for fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. It is a healthy reverence for the eternal laws that God has set in order -for God’s agenda.
Some may claim these are the rants of a religious fanatic. Then one would have to label our founding fathers the same, for this was what they believed, and the principles upon which this nation –and our Constitution- were established.
These are the people each one should call and write to:
Your State Assemblyman, State Senator, The Governor, your congressman, your U.S. Senator and the President of the United States as well as the candidates running for office, and then write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper.
We must do our part and raise a mighty voice or our children will pay the price for our complacency. Let’s do it now remembering the words of our Lord,
“Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” (Proverbs 14:34)
Monday, May 5, 2008
MARRIAGE: A NATIONAL IMPERATIVE
MARRIAGE: A NATIONAL IMPERATIVE
Rev. Bill Banuchi
Again, I heard some talking head on TV pontificating about how the next president has to make climate change –or as they used to call it, global warming- a national priority. So I thought, “How serious is this problem? How many people have died because of climate change? How many have become ill? How many have become impoverished? How many Americans have been denied life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness because of climate change? How many have become adversely effected in any way?” The answer? Zero!
On the other hand, each and every hour of each and every day 125 families are devastated by divorce. Every hour the lives of more than 100 children are forever changed in a way that causes them to function way below their potential. Many of them develop fears and insecurities that researchers have termed as overwhelming.
Families are plunged into poverty. Victims of divorce suffer higher rates of illness, both physical and psychological. Children of divorce, as a class, function on a lower level than those who grow up in secure families. Our prisons are filled with young men who have never known healthy loving discipline, and have therefore opted for the discipline of the correctional system.
This isn’t some theory to be debated. This is real life in America today!
Yet, as a nation we are pouring billions of dollars into managing the effects of divorce while totally neglecting the root cause.
It’s like continually bailing water from a sinking rowboat while the hole in the bottom of the boat remains open, when all we have to do is plug up the hole! If you saw someone frantically bailing water while neglecting to plug the hole you would no doubt think, “How stupid!” Well?
So what if the water is warmer. The boat will still sink unless you plug up the hole. In fact, it is already sinking, now, today, while people are debating the temperature of the water. Remember the Titanic? We’re debating the positioning of the deck chairs!
Yes, I know it’s easier to talk about some esoteric theory than it is to deal with an immediate problem that calls for action, but nevertheless, it’s time we came to our senses and started working to plug the hole in the boat, by putting our money and resources toward restoring the institution of marriage and the traditional family.
We must change our national priorities.
In 2006, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, almost 14 Billion dollars ($13,749,319,134) was sent to the states in TANF Funds (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) for social programs. My state, New York, received nearly three billion dollars ($2,848,954,440). Under that umbrella, we’re funding single parent households, domestic violence programs, housing for the homeless, education for single moms, after school daycare programs and a myriad of other programs necessitated by the breakdown of the American Family. Yet until 2007 not a red cent was put toward healthy marriage programs. We’re obsessed with bailing water instead of simply plugging up the hole. It just doesn’t make sense, unless of course you have a vested interest in bailing water. Some may even have started a water bailing company, in which case they need that hole to remain open to stay in business.
This is precisely what is happening in our social services industries, and precisely why, big government cannot be looked to for the ultimate solution. The community of faith, as well as the private sector must eventually step up to the plate, or our culture will continue to degenerate into social chaos.
In the meantime, government has a vital role to play. That’s why we are calling on legislators on every level of government to shift the focus from bailing water to plugging the hole.
In 2007 we finally got the New York State Legislature to approve $125,000 for healthy marriages. That was a first in New York State history, but still a mere drop in the bucket. Just 1% of TANF funds directed to plugging the hole would have provided $24 million dollars to save marriages -only 1%!
Currently, only two states, Utah and Oklahoma have had the sense to dedicate 1% of TANF funds to healthy marriages. They are seeing extraordinary results for their investment.
A few other states are working toward the 1% goal with the help of organizations like the Fatherhood and Marriage Leadership Initiative (www.famli.us), but most states are still wasting taxpayers’ money and human resources bailing water out of a sinking boat when it would make so much more sense to just plug the hole. Do we continue to manage the symptoms, or do we go for the cure? That’s the choice we’re looking at.
We’re calling on religious leaders who have been, so far, ineffective in combating divorce to start praying, fasting and taking action to influence public policy. It’s time for the prophet to address the king, to speak truth to power, to bring the word of the Lord to the “city gates” concerning marriage and family.
We’re also calling on corporate America to start taking responsibility for the culture in which they prosper. A recent study by Life Innovations, Inc. entitled “Marriage & Family Wellness: Corporate America’s Business?” demonstrates how healthy marriage improves the corporate bottom line. In other words, investing in healthy marriage even makes good business sense.
In summary, we must all –the church, government and corporate America- do our part to turn around a cultural mindset of acceptance of easy divorce to one of valuing, once again, the institution of marriage and working together to restore traditional marriage and the natural family. It must become a national imperative, or our posterity will pay the price for our inaction. Yes, we must address climate change, beginning with the climate in our immediate surroundings -our own marriages and families. We dare not wait any longer. We must plug the hole!
Rev. Bill Banuchi
Again, I heard some talking head on TV pontificating about how the next president has to make climate change –or as they used to call it, global warming- a national priority. So I thought, “How serious is this problem? How many people have died because of climate change? How many have become ill? How many have become impoverished? How many Americans have been denied life, liberty or the pursuit of happiness because of climate change? How many have become adversely effected in any way?” The answer? Zero!
On the other hand, each and every hour of each and every day 125 families are devastated by divorce. Every hour the lives of more than 100 children are forever changed in a way that causes them to function way below their potential. Many of them develop fears and insecurities that researchers have termed as overwhelming.
Families are plunged into poverty. Victims of divorce suffer higher rates of illness, both physical and psychological. Children of divorce, as a class, function on a lower level than those who grow up in secure families. Our prisons are filled with young men who have never known healthy loving discipline, and have therefore opted for the discipline of the correctional system.
This isn’t some theory to be debated. This is real life in America today!
Yet, as a nation we are pouring billions of dollars into managing the effects of divorce while totally neglecting the root cause.
It’s like continually bailing water from a sinking rowboat while the hole in the bottom of the boat remains open, when all we have to do is plug up the hole! If you saw someone frantically bailing water while neglecting to plug the hole you would no doubt think, “How stupid!” Well?
So what if the water is warmer. The boat will still sink unless you plug up the hole. In fact, it is already sinking, now, today, while people are debating the temperature of the water. Remember the Titanic? We’re debating the positioning of the deck chairs!
Yes, I know it’s easier to talk about some esoteric theory than it is to deal with an immediate problem that calls for action, but nevertheless, it’s time we came to our senses and started working to plug the hole in the boat, by putting our money and resources toward restoring the institution of marriage and the traditional family.
We must change our national priorities.
In 2006, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, almost 14 Billion dollars ($13,749,319,134) was sent to the states in TANF Funds (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) for social programs. My state, New York, received nearly three billion dollars ($2,848,954,440). Under that umbrella, we’re funding single parent households, domestic violence programs, housing for the homeless, education for single moms, after school daycare programs and a myriad of other programs necessitated by the breakdown of the American Family. Yet until 2007 not a red cent was put toward healthy marriage programs. We’re obsessed with bailing water instead of simply plugging up the hole. It just doesn’t make sense, unless of course you have a vested interest in bailing water. Some may even have started a water bailing company, in which case they need that hole to remain open to stay in business.
This is precisely what is happening in our social services industries, and precisely why, big government cannot be looked to for the ultimate solution. The community of faith, as well as the private sector must eventually step up to the plate, or our culture will continue to degenerate into social chaos.
In the meantime, government has a vital role to play. That’s why we are calling on legislators on every level of government to shift the focus from bailing water to plugging the hole.
In 2007 we finally got the New York State Legislature to approve $125,000 for healthy marriages. That was a first in New York State history, but still a mere drop in the bucket. Just 1% of TANF funds directed to plugging the hole would have provided $24 million dollars to save marriages -only 1%!
Currently, only two states, Utah and Oklahoma have had the sense to dedicate 1% of TANF funds to healthy marriages. They are seeing extraordinary results for their investment.
A few other states are working toward the 1% goal with the help of organizations like the Fatherhood and Marriage Leadership Initiative (www.famli.us), but most states are still wasting taxpayers’ money and human resources bailing water out of a sinking boat when it would make so much more sense to just plug the hole. Do we continue to manage the symptoms, or do we go for the cure? That’s the choice we’re looking at.
We’re calling on religious leaders who have been, so far, ineffective in combating divorce to start praying, fasting and taking action to influence public policy. It’s time for the prophet to address the king, to speak truth to power, to bring the word of the Lord to the “city gates” concerning marriage and family.
We’re also calling on corporate America to start taking responsibility for the culture in which they prosper. A recent study by Life Innovations, Inc. entitled “Marriage & Family Wellness: Corporate America’s Business?” demonstrates how healthy marriage improves the corporate bottom line. In other words, investing in healthy marriage even makes good business sense.
In summary, we must all –the church, government and corporate America- do our part to turn around a cultural mindset of acceptance of easy divorce to one of valuing, once again, the institution of marriage and working together to restore traditional marriage and the natural family. It must become a national imperative, or our posterity will pay the price for our inaction. Yes, we must address climate change, beginning with the climate in our immediate surroundings -our own marriages and families. We dare not wait any longer. We must plug the hole!
Sunday, April 13, 2008
MARRIAGE REVIVAL IS THE ANSWER
When I read the news accounts of the fall of Elliot Spitzer and the infidelity of the new governor, as well as the other stories that re-surfaced about immorality in our culture like New Jersey Governor McGreevey "coming out of the closet,” and others, and the negative consequences that accompany such behavior, I realized there was one common denominator, a root cause for all this chaos: the devaluation of the institution of marriage. If these men had valued the institution of marriage, they would have been less likely to pursue such destructive lifestyles. They would have understood that,
" Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” -Hebrews 13:4
This is the very reason we, at the Marriage and Family Savers Institute, have devoted ourselves to the fight to preserve marriage. You see, there are far-reaching implications that go beyond the pursuit of our own personal happiness. I would even go so far as to say that most of the societal dysfunction in our nation is rooted in the failure of the institution of marriage. One of the very purposes of marriage is to control men! That might sound somewhat crass and simplistic to the intellectual elites of our day, but it is nevertheless true. Where the institution of marriage has been devalued and considered common, instead of revered as a holy institution, you find every kind of immorality and social disorder. Men –and women- are out of control!
One can trace the history of the decline of the institution of marriage beginning with no fault divorce laws in the early 70s and see a corresponding decline in societal order to this very day.
Rather than cursing the darkness, however, we must work together to light a candle by elevating the institution of marriage back to its rightful place in our society, beginning in our own homes. “Marriage should be honored by all –by all! Let’s start a movement by taking marriage seriously. Let’s reject easy divorce, cohabitation and the redefining of marriage by gay rights activists, and let’s hold up marriage as God intended it to be: sacred and holy. Let’s work to keep it undefiled beginning in our own marriages, and talking it up with our neighbors and friends. Let’s start a cultural revival first in our own hearts, then in our marriages, and I guarantee, we will see a national revival of order, peace and prosperity and a renewed American spirit. And our children, and theirs will thank us for it. How about it?
" Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” -Hebrews 13:4
This is the very reason we, at the Marriage and Family Savers Institute, have devoted ourselves to the fight to preserve marriage. You see, there are far-reaching implications that go beyond the pursuit of our own personal happiness. I would even go so far as to say that most of the societal dysfunction in our nation is rooted in the failure of the institution of marriage. One of the very purposes of marriage is to control men! That might sound somewhat crass and simplistic to the intellectual elites of our day, but it is nevertheless true. Where the institution of marriage has been devalued and considered common, instead of revered as a holy institution, you find every kind of immorality and social disorder. Men –and women- are out of control!
One can trace the history of the decline of the institution of marriage beginning with no fault divorce laws in the early 70s and see a corresponding decline in societal order to this very day.
Rather than cursing the darkness, however, we must work together to light a candle by elevating the institution of marriage back to its rightful place in our society, beginning in our own homes. “Marriage should be honored by all –by all! Let’s start a movement by taking marriage seriously. Let’s reject easy divorce, cohabitation and the redefining of marriage by gay rights activists, and let’s hold up marriage as God intended it to be: sacred and holy. Let’s work to keep it undefiled beginning in our own marriages, and talking it up with our neighbors and friends. Let’s start a cultural revival first in our own hearts, then in our marriages, and I guarantee, we will see a national revival of order, peace and prosperity and a renewed American spirit. And our children, and theirs will thank us for it. How about it?
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Obama's Words Reveal His Character
Barak Obama recently told a crowd in Pennsylvania that he didn’t want his daughters to be “punished” with a baby if they made a “mistake.”
What does this statement reveal about Obama? First of all, anyone who would equate a baby with “punishment” obviously has no sense of the intrinsic value of every human life, and sees that life only in a utilitarian sense. In other words, a baby can be a gift or a punishment according to the judgment of the adults in control. With this line of thinking, one may see an elderly relative as “punishment” for adult children who didn’t plan adequately for their parents’ old age, and may subsequently feel justified in terminating their lives. This is the same ideology that has produced some of the most terrible genocidal horrors in world history.
Secondly, teaching his daughters that they can get an abortion if they get pregnant will lead to less resistance to the temptation of pre-marital sex. After all, If we make a “mistake” it can be fixed.
In this one statement Obama reveals an evil ideology, poor parental skills and unsound judgment. We need more than that to lead the greatest nation on the face of the earth.
What does this statement reveal about Obama? First of all, anyone who would equate a baby with “punishment” obviously has no sense of the intrinsic value of every human life, and sees that life only in a utilitarian sense. In other words, a baby can be a gift or a punishment according to the judgment of the adults in control. With this line of thinking, one may see an elderly relative as “punishment” for adult children who didn’t plan adequately for their parents’ old age, and may subsequently feel justified in terminating their lives. This is the same ideology that has produced some of the most terrible genocidal horrors in world history.
Secondly, teaching his daughters that they can get an abortion if they get pregnant will lead to less resistance to the temptation of pre-marital sex. After all, If we make a “mistake” it can be fixed.
In this one statement Obama reveals an evil ideology, poor parental skills and unsound judgment. We need more than that to lead the greatest nation on the face of the earth.
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