Yesterday the Supreme Court handed down a 5-4 decision that legalizes same sex marriage in the United States. This decision goes contrary to God’s will for marriage and violates what God’s word says about sexual relationships. As I was reading comments on social media, I kept seeing a particular phrase from those who approved of the court’s decision and approve of same-sex marriage. The phrase was #love wins. I wrote the following in response to this phrase.

I have seen the phrase wins in support of “gay marriage.” The question is love for who or what? No doubt someone may say "love for another individual" but, isn't it really more than that? Isn't there also a love for one's self and one's desires over what our Creator has stated in His eternal Word? I know one thing, it is not love for God. Jesus said in John 14:15 "If you love Me, keep My commandments." Just because the law of the land changes does not change God's word for it abides forever. (I Pet.1:20). I realize what tempts one may not tempt another, but we all have temptations in life. WHATEVER our temptations may be, we also have a choice to either obey God or disregard His word and violate His will. To decide to live contrary to God's word shows one is a “lover of SELF” and a "lover of pleasure rather than a lover of God." (2 Tim.3:2,4) Jesus said to follow Him one must, "Deny SELF" take up their cross and follow Him. (Mt.16:24) To disregard His word NO MATTER WHAT THE SIN, is to say we love ourselves, this world, and others more than we do our Creator. It is to say that we love the passing pleasure of sin more than we do the One who died on the cross to redeem us from sin. It is to continue in the very thing He came to save us from. John tells us in I John 4:8 that "God is love." So ultimately love will win if we are talking about the right kind of love. If we are talking about God (I Cor.15:54-57; I Jno.5:4). But let us not be deceived, friendship with the world is enmity with God and "Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God" (Jas.4:4; I Jno.2:15-17; Rom.8:7). Let us love Him who first loved us. That is the love that will truly win.

Could the Church Be Wrong? Robert Turner

Could "the church" be wrong? Is it possible that a portion—or even all of the members of a congregation (including their elders) could be in error with respect to doctrine and/or practice? Could several congregations be wrong? Could a majority of congregations be wrong?

One of the most basic fallacies of Roman Catholicism is its conception of the "infallible" church. But someone says, "The church of the New Testament could not be wrong!" WHICH ONE will you use as your example? The one at Corinth? Ephesus? Laodicea? But you say "I'm referring to the 'whole' church, the body of Christ." And I remind you that this organism, this relation of individuals to Christ, does not exist as a functional organization. The characteristics of the perfect church must be gleaned piece by piece from the divine records. By command, example, and necessary inference we learn what Christ would have us be and do as a local church. The divine purpose and intent alone is without fault. In all functional churches—and here the N.T. allows us to speak only of individual congregations—the human element is present, and we are forbidden to use such a church as a pattern (2 Cor.10:12).

The New Testament, the covenant or law of Christ, is that which was set up on the first Pentecost after the resurrection (Isa. 2:1-2; Joel 2; Acts 2) and the body of people who accepted this law, and by a practice of its instructions brought into being the Jerusalem congregation, were the product—not the makers of a divine standard. The same principle continues to this good day, and both the First and Twentieth Century churches could and do err. (See Rev. 2-3).

In every century, in every generation, each congregation must prove its right to the name "church of Christ" by showing identity with the divinely approved church characteristics found in the New Testament. We must pay more than lipservice to this principle. When we begin to think a thing is right because a "Church of Christ"—or a majority of the "Churches of Christ"—or ALL of the "Churches of Christ" do or teach it, we have become sectarian in our conception of the church, and need to revise our thinking.

God's word is the pattern by which a true church must be cut. Did you ever cut 2x4s to frame a wall, or pickets for a fence? If you obtained a pattern, cut the first by that pattern, then threw the pattern aside and cut the second by the first—and so on—you learned the fallacy of identity by succession. Any slight difference in the second was passed to the third—and the slight difference of the third was added to the error of the first, and passed on. To cut a true wall, or fence, we must measure each cut by the original pattern. This is no less true with reference to the church.

A crying need of our time is a firm resolve to determine right by an appeal to God's truth, rather than to "a well defined and clear-shown majority of the Churches of Christ in Texas." Cancellations will be received with as much grace as we can muster.

The "lukewarm" Christian/'spasmodic attender' accomplishes the following things:

• They frustrate the elders in the obligation they have to feed the flock (Acts 20:28).
• They set a bad example for their children, neighbors, and members of their family who are not Christians.
• They illustrate that the joy of service is not theirs.
• They treat the building up of the local church as though it was nothing at all.
• They prove by action that they have not counted the cost of their discipleship.
• They think that the minimum constitutes faithfulness, disregarding the Lord's teachings on the subject (cf. Luke 17: 10).
• They show his lack of concern for the faithful brethren who "break their necks" to be consistent and faithful in the matter of attendance.
• They parade — for all to see — the price tag they put on the local church, the work of the local church, and the overall influence of the local church.

"Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far-gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:11-12)

A Corrupt World

by Rick Duggin

Though no one can predict the future of our nation, we can say with confidence that God is in control, His cause will triumph, and He judges nations. "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God" (Psalm 9:17). "Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people" (Proverbs 14:34).

Gibbon's famous work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, lists five reasons for the fall of Rome. There are several parallels between ancient Israel and Rome, and even more disturbing, between Rome and America.

1. The rapid increase of divorce; the undermining of the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis of human society. American families are under attack by humanists, homosexuals, and Hollywood. Some don't even know what a family is any more (Matthew 19:4-9).                                                                                                                                                        

2. Higher and higher taxes: the spending of public monies for free bread and circuses or the populace. America is on the greatest spending binge in history. Many have forgotten how to work; they expect the government to support them (2 Thessalonians 3:10; I Timothy 5:8).

3. The mad craze for pleasure: sports becoming every year more exciting and more brutal. Many Americans are so obsessed with sports that they have no time for Bible studies (2 Tim. 3:4; Hebrews 11:25).

4. The building of gigantic armaments when the real enemy was within — the decadence of the people. Babylon's wall, water, and wealth could not prevent the Persian invasion (Daniel 5). No armament can protect a nation that has rotted from within — not even America's.

5. The decay of religion: faith fading into mere form; losing touch with life and becoming impotent to warn and guide the people. Most churches have become social clubs, pursuing entertainment to attract bigger crowds. Many audiences no longer expect to hear book, chapter, and verse (2 Timothy 4:1-4). They have replaced the house of prayer with food, fun, and frolic (Matthew 2 1:12-14).Those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it.