GOSPEL DEFENCE LEAGUE
P O Box 587, Sea Point 8060, RSA; Tel 021-510-6854; e-mail: dscarborough@mweb.co.za
January / February 2006
Dear Friends,
On 1.12.2005, on "World AIDS Day", the South African Constitutional Court ordered Parliament to amend legislation to recognise same-sex marriages. If, within a year, Parliament had not made the necessary changes to the Marriage Act, they declared, then the term "husband and wife" as it appears in the present Act would be taken to mean "spouse." This judgement was the culmination of a series of court cases conducted against the state by the homosexual establishment. It was delivered by the Marxist Judge Albie Sachs, who had allegedly motivated the insertion of the 'sexual orientation' clause into the S.A. Bill of Rights in the first place. The "gay marriage" campaign was started by two lesbians about whom the Sunday Times wrote as follows: "In 2002, the Department of Home Affairs declined to recognise the marriage of lesbian couple Marie Fourie and Cecelia Bonthuys. The couple lost a Pretoria High Court bid for a review of this decision in October 2002. They approached the Constitutional Court, but in July 2003 they were told they had failed to seek a declaration from the High Court that the Marriage Act was unconstitutional and, as a result, the court could not hear the matter. They then aproached the Supreme Court of Appeal in November 2004. The Appeal Court found in their favour. This week the Constitutional Court found that the Marriage Act is unconstitutional because it discriminated against same-sex couples. Parliament was given a year to change it." 1)
Controversial decisions such as this are usually published just before Christmas, when most people are going on holiday and not much opposition can be expected. However, this time there was an immediate outcry. The "Marriage Alliance of South Africa" which had been founded for the specific purpose of defending Christian marriage against increasing pressure from the homosexual lobby, immediately protested on behalf of 80 denominations/groups and 24 million South Africans. Dr Michael Cassidy (well-kown as leader of Africa Enterprise) responded saying that same-sex marriage was "a contradiction in terms." - "A handful of unelected legal officials," he declared, do not have the right to tamper with the "ageless recognition of an institution affecting every last person in a nation." - "Marriage has been recognised from creation and time immemorial. This understanding, which is prior to both Law and the State, affirms marriage firstly as a given in human creation, secondly as the God-given locus of covenanted male-female bonding... thirdly as the God-given means of procreating the human race, and finally as the best and safest God-given context for raising and nurturing children." A recent survey by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), he said, had shown that 80% of the people of South Africa were opposed to same-sex marriage. The gay lobby however wanted to "bypass each nation's democratic process" by using the judicial process. One gay activist had openly advised: "Work the courts to achieve legal breakthrough. This won't be just a change in law either, it will be a change in society." 2)
The End of Marriage?
It is amazing that in a civilised country a nine-man court can rule that its age-old marriage law is "unconstitutional" - just because a tiny minority who defy the creation order want to honour a perverted life-style and thereby dishonour the "holy estate of matrimony." Dr Cassidy quotes one sociologist as saying: "In Norway, gay marriage has given ammunition to those who wish to put an end to marriage." One Norwegian social scientist called gay marriage "a welcome death knell for marriage itself." 3) Thus the legalisation of gay marriage is not just an attempt to establish 'equality' or 'eliminate discrimination'. It is a fundamental attack on our basic life structure, a war against the natural order of humanity. It is the ultimate revolution. The American theologian Dave Hunt calls the "homosexuals' growing defiance of their Creator" a "moral mutiny." In his 'Berean Call' he says. "Upon creating man in His own image male and female... God said... Be fruitful, and multiply..." (Gen. 1:27-28). "This first commandment (to bear children) homosexuals and lesbians, 'without natural affection' (Rom. 1:31), refuse to obey. Defying their Creator, rejecting the normal function of the bodies God made, they flaunt their perversion in his face." 4) In fact, for centuries homosexuality was legally known as the "crime against nature." It was not only the Christian religion which condemned it, but all other religions also. For instance, commenting on the Constitutional Court's ruling, Mufti Bayat of the South African Council of Muslim Theologians said: "Same-sex marriages are a violation of the limits prescribed by the Almighty, a reversal of the natural order, a moral disorder, and a crime against humanity. No person is born homosexual, just like no one is born a thief, a liar or murderer. People acquire these evil habits because of widespread shameless social interaction... Homosexuality leads to the destruction of family life and is symptomatic of a decadent society." 5)
Well financed, well-organized, and flushed with victory, homosexuals are on the offensive worldwide. The well-known German theologian, Prof Peter Beyerhaus, believes that "the parallelity of the process indicates that this whole thing has a synchronised system." In South Africa the latest "gay" campaign is to donate blood while concealing their homosexual status. The Blood Transfusion Service wants to take legal action against the Gay and Lesbian Association, saying that this is "a crime," for these homosexual blood donors "knowingly and deliberately put people's lives in danger." 6) - It is well known that people who have reached their moral nadir (Romans 1:18-32 describes the descent into such a state) often want to pull others down with them. They seek to corrupt the pure in heart, the innocent, and the virtuous in body and soul.
The Bible, the Law of God, clearly says: "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman, that is detestable." (Lev. 18:22-30) "If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads." (Lev. 20: 13-22) "Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor male prostitutes, nor homosexual offenders... will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Cor. 6:9-11) - The Bible is full of such passages, and the Churches have always honoured them. They have also always helped 'gays' to find the way out of their miserable life style through repentance and faith. But there are politically correct Churches which follow the ways of the world. For instance, the South African Council of Churches (SACC) says that "the core teachings of Christianity do not explicitly prohibit the validation of faithful, loving same-sex relationships." 7) Former Archbishop Desmond Tutu wants to promote a bid to hold the 'Gay Games' of 2010 in Johannesburg. He reportedly said: "The vision of the Gay Games - including participation and personal achievement - are values which South Africans understand and celebrate. We are learning that our differences can be enriching and that our strength lies in inclusion rather than exclusion. The staging of the games will strengthen those values and will convey an important message to our brothers and sisters in other parts of the continent." 8)
Such opinions surely fall outside the Christian orbit. "Church" encouragement for "gay" love or tolerance of homosexual "marriage" is taking the human rights campaign too far. Under our democratic system homosexuals have all the legal rights they could wish for. They can freely live together and inherit from one another. Inheritance seems to be particularly important, for statistics show that a "gay" life is also a short life. A homosexual male lives on average 42 years and a gay male with AIDS 39, whilst a heterosexual male reaches 75 years. A gay female can expect to live 45 years and a heterosexual female 79 years. 9)
What then can Christians do? The Marriage Alliance says: "The Parliamentary process begins NOW! It is the intention of the Marriage Alliance actively to engage in the parliamentary process by making submissions to the Portfolio Committee of Home Affairs and by responding to the Report of the South African Law Commission. In addition there is the need to mobilize civil society... The Marriage Alliance calls upon all citizens of South Africa to get pro-actively involved from an informed position in the forthcoming parliamentary struggle." - Let us heed this call and work together with all organisations, Churches, and individuals, who are fighting the good fight of faith. Some of these are the following:
Marriage Alliance of South Africa , PO Box 13140, Cascades 3202, RSA, Phone 012-348-8821 and 012-343-9488; e-mail marriagealliancesa@ae.org.za and xformt@mweb.co.za.
Christians for Truth , Dr Peet Botha at 082-965-5851; Private Bag 250, Kranskop 3550; e-mail: cft@docnet.infolink.co.za, Tel 03344-41512; Fax 03344-41050.
Doctors for Life , representing more than 1000 medical doctors and specialists want "Parliament to allow empirical science to lead it in this decision." Contact: John Smyth, QC, Press Relations for Doctors for Life International, Cell 083 653-8804, e-mail Main@Doctorsforlifeinternational.com.
Africa Christian Action , PO Box 23632, Claremont 7735, Tel 021-689-4480; e-mail info@christianaction.org.za. - Read also their book: "The Pink Agenda," by Christine McCafferty and Peter Hammond; Christian Liberty Books, PO Box 358, Howard Place, 7450 Pinelands; Tel/Fax 021-689-7478; admin@christianlibertybooks.co.za.
Let us seek out all who contend for the Faith, and do as Michael Cassidy asks: "Mobilise civil society... get pro-actively involved." Please encourage, write, phone, or speak to your minister, your church leaders, to government departments, to members of Parliament. Stand up for Jesus, defend Christian values, protect the family, and preserve civilisation for your children! And pray without ceasing that God may have mercy on our country and people.
In a country where the rape and murder of young people and children is completely out of hand, it is time to say NO to the sanctification of perversion. How many young lives have not been scarred or snuffed out by sex criminals? SIN is not a human right. SIN cannot be converted into a "holy estate". The unnatural cannot become natural. Let us pray that God may prevent the legalisation of "homosexual marriage," and preserve Christian, civilised, traditional, family life and bless all who engage in it.
May God bless you richly,
D. Scarborough.
Footnotes:
1. Sunday Times, Same-sex marriage: Who pays lobolo? December 4, 2005. 2. Michael Cassidy, Why we Must Say No to Same-Sex Marriages, 11.5.2005. 3. Ibid. 4. Dave Hunt, Defying their Creator, The Berean Call, September 2003. 5. Sunday Times, No law or church invented marriage, Debember 4, 2005 6. Die Burger, Gay-bloeddebakel 'uit duim gesuig', 17.1.2006 7. Cape Times, Christianity doesn't invalidate same-sex relationships, SACC, 3.12.04 8. Die Burger, Tutu steun Gay-spele in 2010 in SA, 17.6.05 9. The Berean Call, TBC Extra, Homosexual Facts, September 2003
HUMAN NATURE AND UNNATURAL HOMOSEXUALITY
by Rev Prof-Emeritus Dr Francis Nigel Lee, Australia.
God, according to His law of nature, made the animals male and female - intending them to be fruitful and to multiply.
"So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living and moving thing with which the water teems, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. God blessed them and said, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth...' God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:21-25)
"Now the LORD God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air... The man gave names to all the livestock... But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the LORD God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep... and made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man." (Genesis 2:19-25)
"The LORD then said to Noah, 'Go into the ark... Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female, to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth." (Genesis 7:1-3)
"Then God said to Noah... 'I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you and with every living creature that was with you - the birds, the livestock and all the wild animals, all those that came out of the ark with you - every living creature on earth... Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.'" (Genesis 9:9-16)
According to the same law of nature, God then created also in His image man male and female, and commanded them too to be fruitful and multiply.
"Then God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.' So God created man in his own image... male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it...'" (Genesis 1:26-28)
"Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. The man said, 'This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called 'woman,' for she was taken out of man.' For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh." (Genesis 2:20-25)
"God said to Noah... I will establish my covenant with you, and you will enter the ark - you and your sons and your wife and your sons' wives with you" (Genesis 6:18)
"Go into the ark, you and your whole family, because I have found you righteous in this generation. Take with you seven of every kind of clean animal, a male and its mate, and two of every kind of unclean animal, a male and its mate, and also seven of every kind of bird, male and female to keep their various kinds alive throughout the earth..." (Genesis 7:1-7f)
"So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons' wives. All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds - everything that moves on the earth - came out of the ark, one kind after another." (Genesis 8:18f)
"Then God blessed Noah and his sons, saying to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the earth.... multiply on the earth and increase upon it.'" (Genesis 9:1-7)
Thus homosexuality is not only against God's law of nature, but is also essentially unfruitful. For lesbians and sodomites cannot homosexually reproduce any offspring at all.
"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator... Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion." (Romans 1:22-2:16)
It is probable that also homosexuality was one of the sins God punished capitally, during Noah's great flood.
"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time... So the LORD said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, off from the face of the earth - men and animals... for I am grieved that I have made them.'" (Genesis 6:1-11)
"If God did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah... if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes... and if he rescued Lot... if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials." (2 Peter 2:5-8)
Certainly because of homosexuality, and possibly also for bestiality, the Lord wiped out the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah.
"Then the LORD said, 'The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me...' The LORD said, 'If I find fifty righteous people in the city of Sodom, I will spare the whole place for their sake.'... Then Abraham said, 'May the Lord not be angry, but let me speak just once more. What if only ten can be found there?' He anwered, 'For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it.'" (Genesis 18:20-32)
"Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom - both young and old - surrounded the house. They called to Lot, 'Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.'... The two men said to Lot, 'Do you have anyone else here - sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place.'" (Genesis 19:4-24)
"Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire." (Jude 7)
Similarly, under the Mosaic Law, God again prescribed capital punishment for all practising homosexuals.
"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable. Do not have sexual relations with an animal... Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled." (Leviticus 18:22-30)
"If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads... If a man has sexual relations with an animal, he must be put to death, and you must kill the animal." (Leviticus 20:13-22f)
"A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this." (Deuteronomy 22:5)
"No Israelite man or woman is to become a temple prostitute." (Deuteronomy 23:17f)
Also under the New Testament, the Apostle Paul declares that practising lesbians and sodomites had sinned with "vile affections... against nature." They were "burned out with lust toward one another" in "their error" - having a "reprobate mind" and being "worthy of death." (Romans 1:26- 2:14f)
None who continue in sodomy and keep on being "abusers of themselves with malekind... shall inherit the Kingdom of God." Mercifully, some turn away from that sin - by becoming practising Christians.
"Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God." (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
Thus the Law was made against the "lawless and disobedient - for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane; for murderers... and them that defile themselves with malekind." (1 Timothy 1:9f)
The Apostle Peter warns even Christians against "false teachers in their midst who secretly shall bring in damnable heresies" such as those of condoning lesbianism and sodomy. "God did not spare the old world but saved Noah" while "bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly." God went on to "turn the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes" - and "condemned them by overthrow." The Lord made them "an example to those who would later persist in ungodly living." Thus, for the "filthy behaviour of the wicked" and their "unlawful deeds" - God continues to "reserve the unjust until the day of judgment to be punished." (2 Peter 2:1-8)
Also, the Apostle Jude warns Christians against "ungodly men" who keep on "turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness." Such include those like the inhabitants of "Sodom and Gomorrha and the cities surrounding them." They kept on "giving themselves over to sexual immoralities and going after strange flesh" alias a queer carnality. Such "are set forth as an example - and suffer the vengeance of everlasting fire." (Jude 4-7)
Finally, both the Apostle John and the Lord Jesus Christ Himself teach that "whoremongers" and suchlike "shall have their part in the lake which keeps on burning with fire and brimstone - which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8)
Yet as regards Christians, alias the true children of God: "Blessed are they who keep on doing His Commandments, and continue to have the right to the tree of life; and enter in through the city-gates" of the New Jerusalem, alias both the Christian Church and the Heavenly City. We pray that many homosexuals may seek and find the Lord Jesus Christ who can release them free from bondage and grant them the glorious freedom of the children of God.