Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink: Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!  ~ Isaiah 5:20-23

Forgetting the fallacious dictum of “separation of church and state” which clear-thinking and sane-minded students of the Constitution of the United States know for a fact isn’t anywhere to be found in the Constitution, let us dwell for a few short reading moments on the abiding sentiments between good and evil, light for darkness, sweet for bitter, wisdom and prudence and yes, good old commonsense.

The Ten Commandments are housed in so many courthouses within the United States and elsewhere because they form the basis upon which so much of common law throughout all of western civilization rests. To deny that fact by removing the Commandments is to make a metaphysical claim – a claim no less metaphysical than that of the resurrection. The claim of atheism has no sense of religious freedom which, after all, is a product of the Judeo-Christian tradition; atheism in its true sense is described by Webster as: a-the-ism: disbelief or lack of belief in the existence of God or gods. Last time I checked, nowhere could I find any instance of western civilization being founded upon, nor supported in its courts, by atheism.

So up comes the first obstruction to the tenets of the law of western civilization, when the Oklahoma Supreme Court last week ordered the removal of the Ten Commandments monument from the State Capitol in the dead of night. As reported by Sam Dorman of CNSnews.com:

Around 10:30 p.m. Monday night, contractors began taking down a 2,400-pound monument depicting the Ten Commandments from the grounds of Oklahoma’s State Capitol. The monument’s removal comes a little more than three months after the Oklahoma Supreme Court ruled in June that its presence violated the state constitution’s prohibition against using public property for religious purposes.  

Carting off the Ten Commandments in the dead of night...

Carting off the Ten Commandments in the dead of night…

In Prescott v. Oklahoma Capitol Preservation Commission, the Oklahoma Supreme Court decided that the six-foot tall granite monument, which was built with private funds, “operates for the use, benefit or support of a sect or system of religion.” Justice Thomas Prince wrote the opinion, which read, “The Ten Commandments are obviously religious in nature and are an integral part of the Jewish and Christian faiths.”

He cited Oklahoma’s State Constitution, which states: “No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such.”

Gov. Mary Fallin reportedly said after the ruling that “the court got it wrong.”

So what about Oklahoma and the common law? In the 1980 decision in McCormack v. Oklahoma Publishing Company, the Oklahoma Supreme Court declared the following: “Although there was no distinctive tort of invasion of privacy in early common law, it has evolved in most jurisdictions based on common law principles sometimes compared to trespass. It is unnecessary for the Legislature to enact a law to create this tort in abrogation of the common law. The common law, followed in Oklahoma, refers not only to the ancient unwritten law of England, but also to that body of law created and preserved by decisions of courts. The common law in Oklahoma is tied into Oklahoma’s status as a sovereign, law-dispensing state. And what then does the English common law taken into Oklahoma by receptive statute mean?” Well, rather than delve into all the obvious reasons in this short forum, the answer lies with Francis Wharton and his monumental – A treatise on the criminal law of the United States Volume 2 1861 (especially pages 423/424)

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Is God Dead? The audacity of it all...

Is God Dead? The audacity of it all…

Meanwhile, as the Ten Commandments were being carted off to who knows where in Oklahoma, back in crumbling Detroit (a city dominated by Islamic Jihadist Muslim Terrorists in nearby Dearborn) a 9-foot statue of Satan in the form of Baphomet weighing in at around a ton, was dutifully erected and established this past July to the sheer delight of all concerned, including the 700 who were in attendance for its erection (a little play on words there). No less an iconic magazine as Time (you know, the same Time that back in 1966 had a cover story titled – “Is God Dead?” – yes, THAT Time) had a featured article headlined “Hundreds Gather for Unveiling of Satanic Statue in Detroit” that included sub-titles as “The Largest Public Satanic Ceremony in History”; “The Evolution of Modern Satanism in the United States”; and “the Iron Throne”. Forgive me for reaching for the gag button but Time went on even more in its description of pure evil:

The horned idol sits on a throne adorned with a pentagram, but it is the idol’s wings, and not his chair, that curiously evoke the Iron Throne from a certain celebrated HBO fantasy series. He has the jarring horns of a virile ram but the biceps of a guy who lifts four or five times a week. His legs, which are crossed, end not in feet but in hooves. It might seem more menacing if not for the two bronze-statue children standing on either side of him — a girl on his left; a boy on his right; both are looking up at him earnestly.

Satanic Baphomet in Detroit... Demonic

Satanic Baphomet in Detroit… Demonic

“Baphomet contains binary elements symbolizing a reconciliation of opposites, emblematic of the willingness to embrace, and even celebrate differences,” Jex Blackmore, who organized the unveiling, told TIME late Sunday night. In a sense, the statue is a stress test of American plurality: at what point does religious freedom make the people uncomfortable?

For what “Common Core” is doing to the fragile brains of our young and exposed school children, Time Magazine is doing the same in spreading the wiles of the devil, as the Apostle Peter forewarned in days long gone by: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. ~ I Peter 5:8-11

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So let me bring us back to the premise I began with, on the abiding sentiments between good and evil, light for darkness, sweet for bitter, wisdom and prudence and yes, good old commonsense. It is all well and good for everyone on the planet to be of their own mind, especially when it comes to questions of faith. But when one’s faith encompasses the Creator of the Universe, and another’s tends towards the more evil side of the spectrum, where then is the rational argument that belays the fact that one faith is significantly more attuned to the benefit of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance, while the other is full of all kinds of mischief like adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like? (Galatians 5:22-23; and 19-21)

Well, for the record, the Judeo-Christian ethic has been etched into the very fabric of western civilization since time immemorial, and it is only of relatively recent times that it has increasingly come under attack from forces of evil and darkness that would have the world plunged back into the vagaries and misery of the 7th century. Thank God at least, that in states like Texas, Arkansas and many others, We The People have the commonsense enough to know from whom our blessings flow, and are not afraid to wear our faith proudly on our sleeves.

Let us declare yet again – “separation of church and state” is nowhere to be found in the Constitution, but the First Amendment does declare: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Pardon me, but I don’t see anything in there that prohibits the exhibition of the Ten Commandments anywhere in America. Yours truly stands heart to heart and shoulder to shoulder with my Junior Senator from Texas in supporting “I AM the LORD thy God” and the atheistic naysayers be damned to the place where they really belong. No doubt Baphomet/Satan and his hordes will be there to welcome them with demonic glee.

Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand! He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. ~ Revelation 22:20-21

 

Links:

Kentucky: Judge Gives Atheist Groups Oversight Over Christians

Oklahoma City: God’s Laws removed in dead of night

Detroit: Devil-Worshippers Delight

 

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Face of Jesus by Richard Hook

Soli Deo Gloria!