Hate Laws "Protect" Everyone Except Christians

In the U.K. Lillian Ladele lost her appeal against a ruling by an Employment Appeal Tribunal. She is a government worker who had refused to conduct a gay civil union ceremony. Her job is to register births, deaths and marriages for the London borough of Islington.

"The decision of the Court of Appeal is another setback for Bible-believing Christians," said Andrea Minichiello Williams, director of U.K.-based Christian Concern for our Nation. "If this kind of legal precedent is followed it will prove increasingly difficult for Christians to participate fully in public life without contravening their conscience."

In it's initial ruling the Employment Appeal Tribunal stated that the Islington council "placed a greater value on the rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual community than it placed on the rights of Ms. Ladele as one holding an orthodox Christian belief."

In December 2008 that initial ruling was overturned, and the new ruling stated that the council had the right to require all its registrars to conduct all the services. Last week the court of appeals affirmed the appeal tribunal's decision.

Read more here...

Are We In Jeremiah 48:11?

"Moab has been at ease since his youth;
He has also been undisturbed, like wine on its dregs,
And he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
Nor has he gone into exile.
Therefore he retains his flavor,
And his aroma has not changed."

Then verse 12 says: "'Therefore behold, the days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will send to him those who tip vessels, and they will tip him over, and they will empty his vessels and shatter his jars.'"

What's this about and how does it relate to us?

Verse 11 is describing the wine making process, and using that to describe what has not been happening in Moab.

As wine ferments a sour "sludge" forms and needs to be removed. What was done was to pour the wine into a new jar' leaving behind the "sludge" which is called the dregs. This was done over and over and over, pouring the wine from one jar to another, and removing the dregs from the bottom of the each jar after the wine was poured out. Eventually the result is a sweet tasting, quality wine.

Jeremiah 48:11 is saying that the people of Moab have had an easy life. Things have been good, with nothing to disturb that good life. They have not been poured from jar to jar, which would have purified them. Wine in which the dregs are not removed is a sour, foul tasting wine that is thrown away and the jars that held it are destroyed. Moab is like that, and God is warning them that the time is coming when they will be destroyed.

Isn't America like that? We've had it easy. We've not been refined by troubles. We've not been disturbed by being poured from jar top jar. We are rich, comfortable, enjoying life and ignoring God. We are just like Moab was in Jeremiah 48:11... and we can expect tghe same result -- to be poured out and destroyed.

Can we avoid this? Is there a way to be saved from God's wrath? Yes, God sent Jesus Christ to earth to save us from God.

2 Timothy 3:12

In the previous two postings I've talked about desiring to live a holy and godly life, and what that means. How can you tell if you are desiring to life a godly life? Read 2 Timothy 3:12, which says:

"In fact, every one who desires to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."

Have you been persecuted? There have been more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than the sum of all martyrs in the previous 1900 years. Currently about 156,000 Christains are martyred every year. But very few of them have lived in this country. In America we generally don't face death or injury for obeying God. What we face is getting our feeling hurt when someone rejects us or... gasp!!... calls us a bad name. Has even that happen to you Christian? Have you desired to live a godly life enough such that you have been rejected, left out, or called names?