In my last blog I said that every freedom-loving Hoosier must ask this one BIG question before the next legislative session:

“Will you protect my God-given religious liberties by opposing all efforts to create special protected class status for sexual orientation and gender identity?”

So why are sexual orientation, gender identity (SOGI) nondiscrimination ordinances bad public policy and dangerous threats to religious liberty?

Proponents of these types of bills wrongly claim that they are necessary to prevent discrimination. The problem is, we have zero evidence of widespread discrimination. While hypothetical examples or subjective feelings of being “unsafe” are offered, there simply is no objective data pointing to widespread discrimination among those practicing homosexual behavior. Gays enjoy the same rights every other person has under the rule of law. Laws are drafted to correct a problem or to redress a grievance. The problem is we have no problem!

So why the alarm?

Because the passage of SOGI’s create serious problems for Christians seeking to live out their faith in the marketplace. SOGI’s are used by the gay community to punish those who won’t celebrate their homosexual lifestyle and to coerce those whose religious beliefs will not allow them to participate in a same sex “marriage.”

The most recent example of this type of anti-Christian bigotry involves Aaron and Melissa Klein, owners of the now-closed Sweet Cakes by Melissa. Finding them guilty of sexual orientation discrimination for refusing to bake a cake to celebrate a same-sex wedding, they were ordered to pay $135,000 in “emotional damages” to the complaining lesbian couple.

To add insult to injury, they were also slapped with a gag order commanding them to “cease and desist” from “publishing, circulating, issuing or displaying, or causing to be published … any communication to the effect that any of the accommodations … will be refused, withheld from or denied to, or that any discrimination be made against, any person on account of their sexual orientation.”

Is this the kind of ant-Christian bigotry we want in Indiana?

Should Christian businesses be forced to violate their consciences to make a living?

Should our government be able to coerce people into violating their belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman?

If our Republican super-majority fails to lead, this is the perverse and tyrannical new world coming to Indiana.

In April of this year, I had the privilege of standing with pastors from across our state to deliver an open letter of censure to the Republican leadership for failure to protect the religious liberty of Hoosiers. Our humble press conference turned into a large rally with several hundred concerned citizens in attendance. We were providing a voice for the thousands of Hoosiers who felt betrayed and angry over the cowardly collapse of our conservative super-majority.

At a press conference led by Senator David Long and Representative Brian Bosma, our leaders stood with an assortment of CEO’s and leaders of the LGBT movement to announce a “fix” in the original piece of legislation. As a host of legal experts have concurred, this new legislation transformed bill designed to secure our religious liberties into a gay rights bill, opening Christian business owners to false claims of “discrimination” for simply declining to participate in activities which violate their biblical beliefs about marriage.

It was clear from the press conference that the next “discussion” will involve the creation of “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as a special protected class in Indiana. Leadership from the gay community told all who were listening that this will become a reality in Indiana.

While the opposition has been abundantly clear with their agenda, our Republican super-majority has been deathly silent. I have been waiting for our leaders to make a clear stand on this vital issue. So here’s the $100,000 dollar question every freedom-loving Hoosier is asking:

“Will you protect my God-given religious liberties by opposing all efforts to create special protected class status for sexual orientation and gender identity?”

Don’t be fooled by the political rhetoric. The question requires a one word response. Yes or no?

If you care about religious liberty, take the time to call your state representative and your state senator and pop the question.

Indiana Senate – 317-232-9400
Indiana House – 317-232-9600
Governor Mike Pence – 317-232-4567

Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for they are rejecting me, not you. They don’t want me to be their king any longer. Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment.  Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.”

I Samuel 8:7-9, NLT

This Sunday I will be preaching an important message entitled, “The Unbearable Burden of National Rebellion.” America is in full blown rebellion against God and His Law. The recent SCOTUS ruling imposing same-sex marriage on all Americans is a blatant denial of God’s clear instruction on marriage and sexuality. It amounts to, what Pastor John Piper called, “the massive institutionalization of sin.”

We a witnessing what has been historically identified as “The Cycle of Political Freedom and Bondage.”

In 1776, the very year that the US became a sovereign country, a European historian named Alexander Fraser Tytler published The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic. In his book he made the following prophetic observations. It is as if he is peaking directly to America today. He wrote,

“A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising them the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over a loss of fiscal responsibility, always followed by a dictatorship.”

We are currently feeling the economic stress fractures from trying to shoulder our bloated national debt. The recent rogue SCOTUS ruling effectively strengthening and saving Obamacare is a perfect example of legislation leading to an ever-increasing debt coupled with a massive federal power grab. Both are remedies for disaster.

When studying the life cycles of the world’s great civilizations, Tytler noticed a two hundred year span before they fall into a period of decline. These nations moved through the following sequence:

From bondage to spiritual faith,
From spiritual faith to great courage,
From courage to liberty,
From liberty to abundance,
From abundance to selfishness,
From selfishness to complacency,
From complacency to apathy,
From apathy to dependency,
From dependency back again to bondage.

I think it’s a fair assessment to place America somewhere on the bottom half of this disturbing cycle.

How did we get here? And more importantly, what can we do to turn our nation around before it’s too late?

Join me this Sunday at Living Stones Church at 8:30am and/or 10:30am for some answers. If you are unable to be in our worship service, please enjoy this message via our podcast at www.lstones.org.