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Is
it proper to obey the law? Should we obey the laws that are set
before us?
In ancient times the prophet Daniel had
three friends who refused to obey the law of the land. They would
not bow down to a golden image.
Daniel 3:1
Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was sixty cubits, and the breadth of it six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon.
Daniel 3:2
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king sent to gather together the satraps, the deputies, and the governors, the judges, the treasurers, the counselors, the sheriffs, and all the rulers of the provinces, to come to the dedication of the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Daniel 3:4
Then the herald cried aloud, To you it is commanded, peoples, nations, and languages,
Daniel 3:5
that whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, you fall down and worship the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king has set up;
Daniel 3:6
and whoever doesn't fall down and worships shall the same hour be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. |
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Daniel 3:7
Therefore at that time, when all the peoples heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, all the peoples, the nations, and the languages, fell down and worshipped the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Daniel 3:8
Therefore at that time certain Chaldeans came near, and brought accusation against the Jews.
There have always been snitches
from the beginning of time. This story
is from the time of the Babylonian captivity
of Judah, but it happens the same in our time.
Daniel 3:9
They answered Nebuchadnezzar the king, O king, live for ever.
Daniel 3:10
You, O king, have made a decree, that every man that shall hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music, shall fall down and worship the golden image;
Daniel 3:11
and whoever doesn't fall down and worships, shall be cast into the midst of a burning fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:12
There are certain Jews whom you have appointed over the affairs of the province of Babylon: Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego; these men, O king, have not regarded you: they don't serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.
The fawning flatterers told the King that
certain Jews were not obeying his royal decree.
Daniel 3:13
Then Nebuchadnezzar in [his] rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king.
Daniel 3:14
Nebuchadnezzar answered them, Is it on purpose, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, that you don't serve my god, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
The King is giving the three Jews a chance to
obey his law, but they flatly told the King they would not.
Daniel 3:15
Now if you are ready whenever you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipe, and all kinds of music to you fall down and worship the image which I have made, [well]: but if you don't worship, you shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that god that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Daniel 3:16
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered the king, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter.
Daniel 3:17
If it be [so], our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.
Daniel 3:18
But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods, nor worship the golden image which you have set up.
It took a lot of courage to answer
like that knowing what type of death was awaiting.
Daniel 3:19
Then was Nebuchadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego: [therefore] he spoke, and commanded that they should heat the furnace seven times more than it was wont to be heated.
Daniel 3:20
He commanded certain mighty men who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, [and] to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
There are always elements of society who
are willing to "serve the ruler" and very eager to follow the
ruler's commands even to the point of killing anyone that disobeys.
Daniel 3:21
Then these men were bound in their pants, their tunics,
and their mantles, and their [other] garments, and were cast into the
midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:22
Therefore because the king's commandment was urgent, and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego.
Daniel 3:23
These three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.
Daniel 3:24
Then Nebuchadnezzar the king was astonished, and rose up in haste: he spoke and said to his counselors, Didn't we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? They answered the king, True, O king.
Daniel 3:25
He answered, Look, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
Daniel 3:26
Then Nebuchadnezzar came near to the mouth of the burning fiery furnace: he spoke and said, Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego, you servants of the Most High God, come forth, and come here. Then Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego came forth out of the midst of the fire.
Daniel 3:27
The satraps, the deputies, and the governors, and the king's counselors, being gathered together, saw these men, that the fire had no power on their bodies, nor was the hair of their head singed, neither were their pants changed, nor had the smell of fire passed on them.
Daniel 3:28
Nebuchadnezzar spoke and said, Blessed be the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego, who has sent his angel, and delivered his servants who trusted in him, and have changed the king's word, and have yielded their bodies, that they might not serve nor worship any god, except their own God.
Daniel 3:29
Therefore I make a decree, that every people, nation, and language, which speak anything amiss against the God of Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abed-nego, shall be cut in pieces, and their houses shall be made a dunghill; because there is no other god who is able to deliver after this sort.
Daniel 3:30
Then the king promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego in the province of Babylon.
We pray that you will all have the faith of
Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego and obey God in the face of adversity.
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Today we have a similar
case to what happened in Babylon thousands of years ago. We are being
asked to choose between the laws of God and the laws of men.
Today God's laws, as stated in the ten
commandments, are being banned from public display. U.S. District Judge
Myron Thompson and a three-judge panel of the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals have ruled that
a stone monument of the ten commandments in the state judicial building in
Alabama is an unconstitutional endorsement of religion by the
United States government.
Saturday, August 16, 2003,
Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore told thousands of his supporters that he would be guilty of treason if he
did not fight to maintain the granite monument of the Ten Commandments in the
rotunda of the state judicial building.
A crusade was organized after Judge Myron Thompson from Montgomery, Alabama ordered Judge Roy Moore to remove the
granite monument from the judicial building by Wednesday August 20,
2003.
Forty-five demonstrators attended a candlelight prayer vigil in front of the judicial building
on August 19, 2003 at midnight according to WSFA-TV in Montgomery. The Christian Defense Coalition, which is leading the protests, has planned prayer vigils around the clock in hopes of keeping the monument from being removed.
Several hundred demonstrators from the crusade walked several blocks to the judicial building, where they lined up to
see the stone slab inside. Tele-evangelist Jerry Falwell and former candidate
for president Alan Keyes were speakers asking the demonstrators to take back America from
the unruly courts. Jerry Falwell stated that Judge Moore is right to defy Federal Judge Thompson's order if he believes he is obeying God.
"Civil disobedience is the right of all men when we believe breaking man's law is needed to preserve God's law," Falwell said.
Drawing cheers and shouts of "amen" at the rally, Moore said his crusade to keep the
5,280 lbs granite stone monument was not about bolstering his own political career, as some have claimed.
"Let's get this straight. It's about the acknowledgment of God," Moore said in front of the Alabama Capitol.
But the police handcuffed many of the demonstrators and dragged them away from the 5300 lbs. stone monument. These supporters
of Judge Moore are being accused of breaking
the law.
The demonstrators failed to leave the stone monument
on August 20, 2003 even though Judge Roy Moore had lost his appeal to the United States Supreme Court.
According to Judge Roy Moore, our laws are based on the Constitution,
and our Constitution is based on the Ten Commandments. So if we
remove the Ten Commandments on what are our laws based? Perhaps arbitrary
humanistic thoughts? Are God and the Ten Commandments our moral compass? Or is it something
else?
Our founding fathers based the constitution on
the ten commandments, and all our laws are based on the ten commandments.
So the idea that God's law is evil and must be banned must come from another
source. In fact that source is secular humanism that
feels that we evolved from the "pond scum" and that there is no
God.
This great nation was based on
the belief in a higher power. YHVH's ten commandments forms the foundation of America’s greatness.
How can it be illegal to display the laws of our
creator in a court of law?
What other choice can Judge Roy Moore make than to uphold the laws of his
creator? To do otherwise would negate the very existence of the
force upon which these laws are based.
The Bible says:
Luke 12:9
but he who denies me in the presence of men will be denied in the
presence of the angels of God.
Sean Hannity of
Fox News said Thursday, August 21: "the forced removal of the Ten Commandment’s from the Alabama court building is
the first step in the final lap of the Left’s plan to totally and
completely remove God from the public arena."
"I don't want to speculate on how or exactly when it is going to happen," Attorney General of Alabama Bill Pryor
said to the newspaper. "I will be advising the appropriate state officials on how to proceed, and I expect they will do so."
The problem is that the monument weighs 5280 pounds, and moving it is difficult.
The tremendous weight of this stone monument makes it difficult to move it
or store it in any other place, Times Daily reported. The capacity of the building's elevators is 3,500 pounds,
however the stone monument weighs 5280 pounds, meaning that the monument cannot
easily be moved inside the judicial building, the newspaper recounted.
The Times Daily states that any relocation would likely involve the
stone monument being wheeled out and taken to a separate entrance to be
stored somewhere else in the
building.
The question is: Why somewhere
else in the building, but not in the rotunda? Is it that we want to
hide it from public display? In
fact the monument was moved August 27, 2003 to a non-public part of the
court house. This information was not given wide publicity. Why is it now
in a non public area? The next step will probably be to demolish it,
and the media will not cover this development.
When asked in an interview Thursday
August 27, 2003 what he thought about the latest developments, Judge Moore
said: ''I was saddened and dismayed that state officials were so anxious
to follow the dictates of an unlawful order and move the monument into a
hallway 50 feet away to hide its contents, to hide the truth.''
The supreme hypocrisy of the Supreme
Court is becoming evident. The Ten Commandments are displayed in the
Supreme Court’s own building in Washington DC. Are they going to
ban this display next? What about the dollar bills that state
"In God we trust? Will this be banned soon because it is not
politically correct to "trust in God?"
The courts have prohibited any utterance of God in public
places, even saying the Pledge of Allegiance in classrooms, because
it has the words "under God." They
have banned silent prayer in
schools and Christmas display because it has the word "Christ."
The Christmas tree is now officially called the "Holiday Tree."
If we abandon God, what will replace Him?
The Holy Bible says:
Joshua 24:20
"If you forsake the LORD and serve foreign gods, then He will turn
and do you harm and consume you after He has done good to you."
Judge Moore was suspended Friday August 22, 2003. Fines of $5,000 per day were levied against
him. By suspending Judge Moore a message has
been sent that we cannot support God. The government is using fear tactics to threaten Christians into behaving like hypocrites. You
can only be a Christian within the four walls of a church. Outside the
church you have to deny the name of God.
In contrast. when President Clinton lied under oath
he was not removed from office, but Judge Moore who is trying to promote
the ten commandments was removed from office.
The Holy Bible Says:
Joshua 24:27
Joshua said to all the people, "Behold, this stone shall be for a
witness against us, for it has heard all the words of the LORD which He
spoke to us; thus it shall be for a witness against you, so that you do
not deny your God."
Friday, August 22, 2003 in an interview with CNN,
Judge Moore made it clear he would not back down.
"The issue is: Can the state acknowledge God?" he said. "If this state can't acknowledge God, then other states can't. ... And eventually, the United States of America ... will not be able to acknowledge the very source of our rights and liberties and the very source of our law. ...
"When a court order departs from the law and tells you what you can think and who you can believe in," he said, the judge issuing that order is "telling you to violate your oath. And he can't do that. Judges simply don't have that power."
We have gone from being a nation "Under
God" to one ruled by politically correct humanistic hypocrites.
How far is the end?
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