American Council of Christian Churches
74th Annual Convention, October 20-22, 2015
Reformation Bible Church, Darlington, Maryland
Resolution on the Incarceration of the County Clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky
Our Lord encouraged His disciples to go and preach to the lost house of their nation, Israel (Matthew 10). Understanding the hostility they would face, He reminded them that their suffering would be a part of their Christlikeness: “The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord. It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?” (vv. 24-25).
He warned them of the cruel judges they would face: “But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles” (vv. 17-18). He called them to stand for truth openly in the public square: “What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in the light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops” (v. 27). And He encouraged them to suffer courageously: “And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both body and soul in hell” (v. 28).
The County Clerk of Rowan County, Kentucky, was sent to prison by a United States District Judge, David L. Bunning, for six days because she stood against “same-sex marriage.” The Bible teaches that God designed marriage to be the covenantal union of one man and one woman, and as the duly-elected official responsible for authorizing marriage licenses in the state of Kentucky, the clerk refused to violate her conscience by putting her name to documents solemnizing homosexual unions as marriages.
The Kentucky constitution had defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman with an amendment passed with a 75% majority vote. The clerk had sworn an oath to uphold this state law as a servant of the people. All was well until the day the Supreme Court of the United States decided to overrule not only this public servant’s oath, but also her allegiance to the teachings of the Bible, by rendering a decision that defined marriage to include homosexual relationships. The courageous dissent of Justice Antonin Scalia exposes the hubris of this lawless SCOTUS decision, labeling it a “threat to American democracy”:
But what really astounds is the hubris reflected in today’s judicial Putsch. The five Justices who compose today’s majority are entirely comfortable concluding that every State violated the Constitution for all of the 135 years between the Fourteenth Amendment’s ratification and Massachusetts’ permitting of same-sex marriages in 2003. They have discovered in the Fourteenth Amendment a ‘fundamental right’ overlooked by every person alive at the time of ratification, and almost everyone else in the time since. . . . These Justices know that limiting marriage to one man and one woman is contrary to reason; they know that an institution as old as government itself, and accepted by every nation in history until 15 years ago, cannot possibly be supported by anything other than ignorance or bigotry. And they are willing to say that any citizen who does not agree with that, who adheres to what was, until 15 years ago, the unanimous judgment of all generations and all societies, stands against the Constitution.
The opinion is couched in a style that is as pretentious as its content is egotistic. [Scalia, 576 U.S. (2015)].
Therefore, the American Council of Christian Churches, at its annual convention, October 20-22, 2015, at Reformation Bible Church, Darlington, MD, declares its solidarity with the stand of this clerk against the sin of homosexuality and the lawlessness of judicial activism. We are thankful for the courage demonstrated by this American patriot’s assertion of her First Amendment right to the free exercise of her religion in the public square. We are inspired by her refusal to violate her conscience, renouncing obedience to man rather than obedience to God. Furthermore, we call upon our nation’s Executive and its State governments to recognize the lawlessness of the Courts’ decisions in Washington, Eastern Kentucky, and everywhere else the legislative process of our constitutional Republic is ignored and overturned, and to protect the citizens of our land from their tyranny. And we affirm together that we shall not deny our Lord before men, thankful for the grace that promises that He shall not deny us before His Father who is in heaven (Matt. 10:32-33).
