The High Court has just unanimously struck down the ACT homosexual marriage law! This is exceedingly good news and worthy of great celebration. Let the champagne corks fly if you will, but this is a victory to savour and celebrate big time. As one news report states:
“The High Court has unanimously struck down the ACT’s gay marriage laws. The decision will mean that about two dozen week-old marriages have no legal effect. The ACT Marriage Equality (Same Sex) laws passed the territory’s legislative assembly in October, but only came into effect last month and couples were required to provide four weeks’ notice before conducting wedding ceremonies.
“As of today, about 20 couples have been married to date under the ACT’s laws, with the first ceremonies conducted on Saturday. Had the nation’s top court upheld the ACT’s gay marriage legislation it would have opened the door to similar laws being passed across the country, pressuring the government to make it legal at a national level. The commonwealth government sought an expedited hearing in the High Court arguing the national capital’s laws were inconsistent with federal legislation and unconstitutional.
“Federal government lawyers argued in the High Court that the commonwealth marriage act was intended to ensure that state and territories did not operate as different countries when it came to determining whether a couple was married.
“The High Court determined that the federal parliament has the power under the Australian constitution to legislate on same-sex marriage, and that whether or not same-sex marriages are legalised is a matter for the federal parliament. ‘The Court held that the object of the ACT Act is to provide for marriage equality for same sex couples and not for some form of legally recognised relationship which is relevantly different from the relationship of marriage which federal law provides for and recognises,’ the summary judgment said.
“‘Accordingly, the ACT Act cannot operate concurrently with the federal Act.’ It said because the ACT does not validly provide for the formation of same sex marriages, the whole of the ACT’s Marriage Equality (Same Sex) Act 2013 has no effect.”
While this is great news indeed, this is by no means the end of the matter. This in fact was the tenth pro-homosexual bit of legislation attempted in almost as many years. The homosexual militants will of course not just give up and go home.
They are in for the long haul, and know that a war of attrition tends to eventually succeed. In fact, while many Christians will rightly rejoice in this win, far too many will now wrongly think that they can just relax and go back to business as usual – which for the most part means sleeping through all of this. We must remain as vigilant as ever, and keep fighting the good fight. The other side sure won’t quit, and neither should we.
Christians and the culture wars
Let me add a few words here about the culture wars in general and Christian involvement in particular. Although this was a terrific win, there is also some bad news here. The truth is, most Christians would not even have known that this was going on, and hardly any would have been actively working against it, even if just by means of prayer. Let me try to illustrate this for you:
So where is a good pie chart maker when you need one? Here is my guestimate as to how such a chart might look when it comes to Christians and controversial hot potato issues of the day. And let me use this marriage victory story as an example. If there were 100 Christians in the world, the pie might look something like:
-65 Christians would not have had a clue about any of this, and/or even knew that this battle was raging
-25 Christians would have wanted nothing to do with this because it was too controversial and polarising
-6 Christians would have thought it was a great idea and favoured it
-4 Christians would have known about and worked actively against it
While I am at it, let me offer another example of this. Since it is still on the front burner, let’s take the Mandela deification story as an example. If there were 100 Christians in the world, the pie might look something like:
-55 Christians would not have a clue about any of this, and not care a bit about it
-30 Christians would want nothing to do with this or anything else deemed controversial
-12 Christians would think he was indeed a saint
-3 Christians would know who he really was, and refuse to climb aboard the idol-making bandwagon
My numbers are of course just guesses, but I think it is quite true to say that the overwhelming majority of believers today in the West either don’t give a rip about what is going on around them in the political and social arenas, or just don’t want to get involved for fear of rocking the boat or upsetting someone.
Only a tiny fraction of believers are aware of the issues of the day, and of those, most would be informed only by what the secular left media feeds them. Just a tiny handful would actually seek to think independently, do some serious research, and carefully and rationally determine what the actual truth is.
The truth is, only a very tiny number of Christians in Australia were fully aware of and actively working against the marriage case. Only a small percentage were praying like mad and fasting over this. Only a few were contacting their local MPs and doing all sorts of other lobbying work to prevent this.
The great majority were simply where they almost always are: asleep at the wheel. So while we praise God indeed for this very significant victory, we must realise that the war is far from over, and plenty more battles like this will continue to rage.
And unless far more Christians wake from their slumber and rouse themselves from their apathy and indifference, we will eventually lose this battle as well. That is because sadly the other side seems far more committed to their cause than are most Christians.
We need to repent for our indifference, our laziness and our callousness about these great moral issues of our day. So savour this great win today, but tomorrow it is back to the front lines and the war zones.
I am among your minority. Keep up the Good Work Bill!
Jeremy Wong
Keep praying!
Jo Deller
Thanks for the details of the win, Bill and you’re right. The battle is not over now and neither will it be until we leave this planet. Our enemy is more desperate than ever to ‘wear out the saints of the Most High God’ but we must be equally and more desperate to take hold of our sword and shield and get out into the battle. I believe that God is raising up a new breed of Christian. We will see people forced to take their place on either side of the fence. They will be faced with the awful possibilities of what could have happened in this nation and decide either to side with the evil or join the battle against it. For some reason, God has, in His infinite mercies, decided to spare us the judgement of having a leader who will just go with the flow on every evil agenda. Tony Abbott is at the front lines and it’s our job to pray that he stays on track and chooses righteousness over evil.
Dee Graf
Hi Bill – by God’s grace, I’m one of the last four……..and this is a wonderful answer to fervent prayer!
I just received an email from a non-Christian friend – who is firmly anti-gay-marriage. Subject “Serves those gay trouble-makers right” and a link to the news article.
You are right, of course……this is not the end of the battle, and before long things will get even hotter. We all need to knuckle down and redouble our efforts, not sit back in smug complacency.
I am strongly encouraged to do all I can, by your articles. Thank you, and God bless you.
Great News indeed, Bill.
This is the decision we’ve all been waiting for.
What maybe even better news is a report in today’s Australian:-
“INDIAN SUPREME COURT outlaws Gay sex.”
It seems they have resurrected a law introduced by the British in the 1860’s.
The penalty for breaking this law is up to a decade in prison.
The first port of call should be to reject the term ‘gay’ when referring to active homosexuals. If people are beginning to rethink it is because the term gay has no implications whereas the term homosexual has deep and meaning ful implications which is why homosexual activist sought to change the name in the first place.
It was interesting to note that the reference was “same-sex” marriage and not homosexual marriage and if we are getting the picture by now then it is about time.
The second step should be to educate what some call the ‘unwashed masses’ in that the great majority of the population have enough concerns and responsibilities to add the picture of lesbians and their toys at work or bum chums trying to get their clutches on our children.
The issue is simple: Homosexuals can contract under equality laws but cannot adopt children such laws and that is why they want marriage which would then give them a backdoor to the stringent tests that adoption laws provide.
It has been said that homosexuals and especially lesbians abhor the status of marriage and have been quotes as saying tha marriage is the legal enslavement of women. They put aside the fact that 86% all marriages are instigated by women but then why let the truth get in the way of a good argument.
The natural law puts homosexuality at a DEAD END. Our children deserve better!
John Abbott
Actually, regarding Mandela, I think it would look more like this:
-85 Christians would not have a clue about any of this beyond what they hear from the mainstream media, so they would think he was indeed a saint
-10 Christians would want nothing to do with this or anything else deemed controversial
-3 Christians would know more about him but still (somehow) think he was indeed a saint, or at least try to justify his crimes
-2 Christians would know who he really was, and refuse to climb aboard the idol-making bandwago
Justin Nowland
You could well be right Justin.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
The decision by the High Court is wonderful news for those who like myself, believe in the sanctity of marriage as the foundation of society. For once, the all pervading political correctness that permeates Australian society has been thwarted. Despite this decision, constant vigilance is required by all Christians.
Tony Harris
Thanks guys. Now that we can read for ourselves the full High Court ruling, the good news of the ACT homosexual marriage victory needs to be tempered somewhat with some potentially worrying news:
Forget your facts and figure, pie charts and graphs, just smell the stench of the great unwashed, wafting its way around the globe from Britain and then you will have no doubt, no uncertainty, no limp-wristed. pusillanimous resolve in getting rid of this abomination.
Dear Bill, Thank you for the reality check about knowledge about same sex marriage. It seems I am one of the small number of people in Rockhampton who can see that same sex marriage is rubbish. I hear it from some of my non-Christian workmates. I have to keep on telling the truth about what marriage should be.
Regards, Franklin Wood
I have just read a testimony of a gay man who says he now realises that the gay movement cannot succeed unless taboos against man-boy sex are at last knocked down (pederasty). He describes in the vernacular crude and graphic language of the lifestyle how he was preyed upon by older men in his teenage years and how inappropriate it is for homosexual men to affect to be married and to adopt children. It is a brutally honest and enlightening statement given in love to protect children. http://englishmanif.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/la-joie-de-vivre-16-unbearable.html
We need to disentangle fact from fiction as governments and legal institutions are enforcing the normalisation of sodomy upon an unsuspecting public. It’s ironic that Western democracies want to spread their new ideology based on secular humanism to other nations – but will not accept “no thanks” for an answer.
The gay lobby claim that it is nothing but an outré, whatever that means, but I believe that Michael Swift meant every word of it. .
“We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theatre bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all male clubs, in your houses of Congress, wherever men are with men together. Your sons shall become our minions and do our bidding. They will be recast in our image. They will come to crave and adore us”.
Keep up the good work Bill, I know that there are Christians who do not want to see or believe the truth of Mandela. Just shows you how good the propaganda machine works and that the world loves a good feel ‘lie’ story. Never mind the truth.
Gerredina Kovac
If Nelson Mandela is now revered in spite of what he has done, how long till Hitler would be, should he reappear instead of being the emblem of horror that he really was?
With the love of lies comes blindness and a dead conscience.
2 Thess 2:6-8.
Many blessings
Ursula Bennett
“You may be able to deny us our rights but you’ll never be able to take our dignity”? It seems to me the people in the videos above surrendered their dignity some time ago. I will continue to keep praying that God will save Gay people, will open their eyes, will grant them repentance.
And praise God for his mercies, of which the High Court’s decision was surely one.
I am among your minority. Keep up the Good Work Bill!
Jeremy Wong
Keep praying!
Jo Deller
Thanks for the details of the win, Bill and you’re right. The battle is not over now and neither will it be until we leave this planet. Our enemy is more desperate than ever to ‘wear out the saints of the Most High God’ but we must be equally and more desperate to take hold of our sword and shield and get out into the battle. I believe that God is raising up a new breed of Christian. We will see people forced to take their place on either side of the fence. They will be faced with the awful possibilities of what could have happened in this nation and decide either to side with the evil or join the battle against it. For some reason, God has, in His infinite mercies, decided to spare us the judgement of having a leader who will just go with the flow on every evil agenda. Tony Abbott is at the front lines and it’s our job to pray that he stays on track and chooses righteousness over evil.
Dee Graf
Hi Bill – by God’s grace, I’m one of the last four……..and this is a wonderful answer to fervent prayer!
I just received an email from a non-Christian friend – who is firmly anti-gay-marriage. Subject “Serves those gay trouble-makers right” and a link to the news article.
You are right, of course……this is not the end of the battle, and before long things will get even hotter. We all need to knuckle down and redouble our efforts, not sit back in smug complacency.
I am strongly encouraged to do all I can, by your articles. Thank you, and God bless you.
Jan Greig
How about this Bill?
Chart 1: Christians & Hot Potato Issues
http://imgflip.com/i/5e8r8
Chart 2: Christians & the deification of Mandela
http://imgflip.com/i/5e938
Garth Penglase
Hey great Garth. Looks good to me!
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Great News indeed, Bill.
This is the decision we’ve all been waiting for.
What maybe even better news is a report in today’s Australian:-
“INDIAN SUPREME COURT outlaws Gay sex.”
It seems they have resurrected a law introduced by the British in the 1860’s.
The penalty for breaking this law is up to a decade in prison.
Des Connors
Some news too from India:
http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/11/world/asia/india-same-sex-relationship/
Mark Wong
Thanks for all your work, Bill.
Jo Deller
The first port of call should be to reject the term ‘gay’ when referring to active homosexuals. If people are beginning to rethink it is because the term gay has no implications whereas the term homosexual has deep and meaning ful implications which is why homosexual activist sought to change the name in the first place.
It was interesting to note that the reference was “same-sex” marriage and not homosexual marriage and if we are getting the picture by now then it is about time.
The second step should be to educate what some call the ‘unwashed masses’ in that the great majority of the population have enough concerns and responsibilities to add the picture of lesbians and their toys at work or bum chums trying to get their clutches on our children.
The issue is simple: Homosexuals can contract under equality laws but cannot adopt children such laws and that is why they want marriage which would then give them a backdoor to the stringent tests that adoption laws provide.
It has been said that homosexuals and especially lesbians abhor the status of marriage and have been quotes as saying tha marriage is the legal enslavement of women. They put aside the fact that 86% all marriages are instigated by women but then why let the truth get in the way of a good argument.
The natural law puts homosexuality at a DEAD END. Our children deserve better!
John Abbott
@Dee
Don’t just pray for Tony. Contact and encourage him:
http://www.pm.gov.au/contact-your-pm
Mark Wong
Quite so Mark.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
On the other hand, the other side has already opened up another front: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/2013/12/12/14/32/same-sex-marriage-bill-introduced-in-wa
Here is the WA premier’s contact details: http://www.premier.wa.gov.au/Ministers/Colin-Barnett/Pages/Contact-The-Minister.aspx
Mark Wong
Actually, regarding Mandela, I think it would look more like this:
-85 Christians would not have a clue about any of this beyond what they hear from the mainstream media, so they would think he was indeed a saint
-10 Christians would want nothing to do with this or anything else deemed controversial
-3 Christians would know more about him but still (somehow) think he was indeed a saint, or at least try to justify his crimes
-2 Christians would know who he really was, and refuse to climb aboard the idol-making bandwago
Justin Nowland
You could well be right Justin.
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
The decision by the High Court is wonderful news for those who like myself, believe in the sanctity of marriage as the foundation of society. For once, the all pervading political correctness that permeates Australian society has been thwarted. Despite this decision, constant vigilance is required by all Christians.
Tony Harris
Thanks guys. Now that we can read for ourselves the full High Court ruling, the good news of the ACT homosexual marriage victory needs to be tempered somewhat with some potentially worrying news:
https://billmuehlenberg.com/2013/12/12/on-the-high-court-marriage-ruling/
Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch
Forget your facts and figure, pie charts and graphs, just smell the stench of the great unwashed, wafting its way around the globe from Britain and then you will have no doubt, no uncertainty, no limp-wristed. pusillanimous resolve in getting rid of this abomination.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVqaq7VpMkU
David Skinner, UK
Dear Bill, Thank you for the reality check about knowledge about same sex marriage. It seems I am one of the small number of people in Rockhampton who can see that same sex marriage is rubbish. I hear it from some of my non-Christian workmates. I have to keep on telling the truth about what marriage should be.
Regards, Franklin Wood
I have just read a testimony of a gay man who says he now realises that the gay movement cannot succeed unless taboos against man-boy sex are at last knocked down (pederasty). He describes in the vernacular crude and graphic language of the lifestyle how he was preyed upon by older men in his teenage years and how inappropriate it is for homosexual men to affect to be married and to adopt children. It is a brutally honest and enlightening statement given in love to protect children. http://englishmanif.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/la-joie-de-vivre-16-unbearable.html
We need to disentangle fact from fiction as governments and legal institutions are enforcing the normalisation of sodomy upon an unsuspecting public. It’s ironic that Western democracies want to spread their new ideology based on secular humanism to other nations – but will not accept “no thanks” for an answer.
An anthem for the resistance – Psalm 1: Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord. http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+1&version=NIVUK&interface=print
Rachel Smith
Lest we forget the boast of Michael Swift.
The gay lobby claim that it is nothing but an outré, whatever that means, but I believe that Michael Swift meant every word of it. .
“We shall sodomize your sons, emblems of your feeble masculinity, of your shallow dreams and vulgar lies. We shall seduce them in your schools, in your dormitories, in your gymnasiums, in your locker rooms, in your sports arenas, in your seminaries, in your youth groups, in your movie theatre bathrooms, in your army bunkhouses, in your truck stops, in your all male clubs, in your houses of Congress, wherever men are with men together. Your sons shall become our minions and do our bidding. They will be recast in our image. They will come to crave and adore us”.
http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/militant_gay_movement.htm
David Skinner, UK
Keep up the good work Bill, I know that there are Christians who do not want to see or believe the truth of Mandela. Just shows you how good the propaganda machine works and that the world loves a good feel ‘lie’ story. Never mind the truth.
Gerredina Kovac
Hi Bill just came across this little tidbit
http://www.wesleymission.org.au/Releases/131206.asp
What did you say about Christians without discernment?
Gerredina Kovac
If Nelson Mandela is now revered in spite of what he has done, how long till Hitler would be, should he reappear instead of being the emblem of horror that he really was?
With the love of lies comes blindness and a dead conscience.
2 Thess 2:6-8.
Many blessings
Ursula Bennett
“You may be able to deny us our rights but you’ll never be able to take our dignity”? It seems to me the people in the videos above surrendered their dignity some time ago. I will continue to keep praying that God will save Gay people, will open their eyes, will grant them repentance.
And praise God for his mercies, of which the High Court’s decision was surely one.
Mick Koster.