Marriage – Page 2 – PaulThompsonBlog

Certain Persons Have Crept in Unnoticed

Posted on October 16, 2014Leave a comment

The Bible makes itself clear that homosexuality is not, nor ever has been a lifestyle that God blesses. Homosexuality does not, contrary to sentiment of the day, bring the favor of God upon the union or the land.

There is a great deal of civil complexity in this matter of same-sex marriage.

No one denies that the pursuit of happiness is a path for all citizens of this amazing land. The pursuit of happiness is not God given permission to do whatever one wants to do.

To oppose unions that are not biblical is not an attempt to stop someone from pursuing happiness. It is an attempt to warn someone that their behavior has a consequence different than what they may think it will bring about.

I have two greater concerns in this matter than one may accuse me of.

1) My first concern is that of the judicial atrocity of a court system.
2) My second concern, and the greater, is a wolf in sheep’s clothing performing a union in the name of God who is clearly not a spokesman for God. How long and how many weddings one performs does not make one a spokesman for God.

Reported in the Twin Falls Times News (www.magicvalley.com)

MARK THIS: If Bud Liptrap believes that God approves of the marriage union of anyone other than one man and one woman, he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and has perverted the word of God. He is free to believe what he wants and at liberty to share that belief with all he wants. If all he is is one authorized by the state of Idaho law to perform weddings then let him be what he is. But if he, or any pastor (myself included), dare to speak God’s blessing upon the practice of homosexuality he is outside the authority of Scripture and is a curse on the land.

Let me tell of the kind of grace it takes to save a sinner like me. It is outside of my ability to achieve the favor of God on my own. It required, to my shame, a holy God to cover my wretched condition with righteousness. I long to submit myself to the Lordship of Christ, setting aside what I think brings about happiness and believing the pursuit of Him is the only way to be happy.

I don’t wish unhappiness to anyone. I want to simply point to the sovereign Creator, Almighty God.

“The Lord rebuke you!” But these men revile the things which they do not understand; and the things which they know by instinct, like unreasoning animals, by these things they are destroyed . Woe to them! For they have gone the way of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into the error of Balaam, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam; wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever.

Jude 1:9-13 (NASB)

On Notice

Posted on October 14, 2014Leave a comment

All believers have a unique relationship in a government that is made up of the people and established by voters. Believers are eligible voters and should take that responsibility seriously.

I am a values voter, meaning I vote my values above party or popularity. I vote for candidates and in relationship to laws according to my values. I respect that not everyone in the land will agree with me nor should be required to do so. I hope they like that the ‘system’ works this way.I do.

I don’t want a government that forces morality or religion on any citizen, yet I hope that same government would recognize her duty to wellness and safety of all citizens.

Contrary to what many think about me in the region, I do see and understand the relationship between a civic magistrate and the church. It is a separated relationship and there is no mandating between the two. There must be a respect between the two and the two should be allowed to exist independently of each other even in areas where the two disagree.

I will strive toward a new understanding of what this looks like in regard to marriage licenses. There will be many things to discover and I expect to find a way with in the law of the land. One that will not force me to do that which I conventionally will not do.

Today, every elected official within my voting privilege in Idaho and beyond should know that they are on notice from this voter. Take me off of your automated phone trees telling me about your family values if you are not willing to put your entire political career aside for conviction of what you say you believe.

While this gets figured out, I will continue to “speak to the Almighty and argue my case before God.” (Job 13:3)

What Will You Do Now?

Posted on October 13, 2014Leave a comment

“Warn the nations: Look!” (Jeremiah 4:16 NASB)

Twin Falls, ID: Times-News is reporting that the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered the state of Idaho to begin issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples at 9:00 a.m. on Wednesday, October 15, 2014. If the orders by the 9th circuit court of appeals stands, county courthouses will be forced to issue marriage licenses to citizens who don’t meet the requirement of Idaho law.

I don’t doubt that those seeking a license are excited and in hopes of experiencing happiness. All Sinners pursue things that we think will make us happy. A court decision to act in favor of sexual deviance and debauchery is a dangerous day.

It is a good day to be the church! Speak the gospel into the darkness, church.

Here is the letter I wrote Governor Otter this afternoon: (You can contact his office here.)

Dear Governor Otter,

I respect that you are being pushed on every side to act on the new order from the 9th circuit court on the Idaho defense of marriage laws. I want you to know that I’m proud of your boldness in the past and I assure you that I will continue to pray for you on this matter.

If there is anything you can do to legally stay the court order as the governor of Idaho, please do so. If it is within your power to order county offices closed or if it is within your power to place the Idaho National Guard on orders to defend the people of Idaho from the United States of America, please do so with boldness.

Thank you for your defense of marriage.

Paul Thompson
Twin Falls, Idaho

When Those Who Preach Don’t Know God

Posted on October 9, 20144 Comments

Today (October9, 2014) at 5 p.m., mountain time, we will know what the courts will say in regard to Idaho’s defense of marriage. In the mean time I’ve received messages like this in response to my calling the church (Eastside Baptist) to prayer.

“OK, well in my place of worship my pastor fully supports gay rights. I’m a bisexual Christian I married a man when I was 19 and that man cheated on me and divorced me and with man or woman I’m happy and God is happy to call me his child and is proud that I spread love throughout the state.. So keep your rude remarks to yourself.. Same sex is here to stay and God is proud of his same sex children.”

When I’m in conversation with someone that goes here I recognize immediately that this person has found a church that will make them feel good about their sin. But the greatest tragedy in this conversation is when she said… “in my place of worship my pastor fully supports gay rights.” As a result of that kind of apostasy, the people begin to assert other lies about God being proud to have practicing bisexuals spread love throughout the state.

She has great capacity to spread love throughout the state as a converted repenter, no longer in the practice of depravity. When the grace of God rests on a persons life it is the result of a costly grace. Few people want to submit to that kind of grace, they want a cheap grace that doesn’t call them out of the sin they are in.

I don’t doubt that she believes what she’s saying. There is little doubt she is passionate about her belief, more so than many professing conservative “Christians”. The problem is that it is a belief based on lies.

In his sermon “Backsliding”, Richard Owen Roberts says:

“The religious leaders had joined the backsliding hosts. The priests failed to ask, “Where is the Lord?” Those responsible for handling the law did not know God. The pastors also transgressed against the Lord, and the prophets joined the forces of Baal. Thus, all the religious leaders engaged in activities totally devoid of spiritual benefit.”

7 “I brought you into the fruitful land
To eat its fruit and its good things.
But you came and defiled My land,
And My inheritance you made an abomination.
8 “The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’
And those who handle the law did not know Me;
The rulers also transgressed against Me,
And the prophets prophesied by Baal
And walked after things that did not profit.
Jer 2:7-8 (NASB)

Preachers, be sure this Sunday, when we speak the oracles of God that we don’t spew a spiritual poison that makes our hearers twice as fit for hell as we would be for such blasphemy.

The Fight Against God

Posted on October 8, 20141 Comment

Many are prepared to say that the war raging in the land for the definition of marriage is over. Look at nearly any online dictionary and you will agree, the modern English language has redefined marriage to include same-sex partners.

The agenda to redefine marriage from a biblical worldview has launched the attack in a strategically smart way (this should not surprise anyone.)

The battleground is messy, like any battleground would be.

It’s hard to engage in public forum or face to face conversation because the language of hate has been turned upon the ones who carry the message of love. Those who love are accused of hating, they are accused of being bigots, they are accused of being barbarians and backwards. They are told to get used to the new America, one that is finally free for all to do as they please.

This is what the conversation has looked like for me in recent days on the matter in public forum, emails in response to blog posts and conversations with friends.

Paul Thompson, perhaps you could look at it like this: There are “God ordained ways” of doing many things that we, and you, no longer follow; for example, how to properly conduct genocide, own slaves, stone children to death, own women, and sacrifice animals are all among the deed that God ordained to be done “just so” in his “specially approved way”…Just add marriage to your list, please, so that we can finally end the thousand-years-reign of inequality, injustice, bigotry, and hypocrisy to finally enter a new era of peaceful acceptance. Thank you.
Whose God? Yours, the Muslims, the Hindus? There are so many to choose from. Seriously.
If you don’t like gay marriage…don’t marry a gay person
Ok well in my place of worship my pastor fully supports gay rights. I’m a bisexual Christian I married a man when I was 19 and that man cheated on me and divorced me and with man or woman I’m happy and God is happy to call me his child and is proud that I spread love throughout the state.. So keep your rude remarks to yourself.. Same sex is here to stay and God is proud of his same sex children
Paul: This is not about christ, christ SHOULD have nothing to do with this discussion. Unfortunately people like you can involve Jesus and impose your own fear of homosexuality onto the population

The reaction to the Supreme Court decisions this week is not at all surprising. It is difficult to not let the comments distract or derail the message of calling all people everywhere to repentance. There is nothing more natural than for anyone who has crowded God out of their worship than to be offended when a biblical worldview is expressed.

What is more natural for anyone who has begun to worship and serve the very things they’ve created rather that the Creator who made them? Now, until all of us repent of this arrogance and turn to God, all we have to save ourselves is the romantic idea of love and fulfillment of a self navigated path born in decadence.

The use of godly language only exposes the overwhelming evidence that the heart has been busy deceptively leading to a faithless relationship with God. The best way for a deceived heart to gather momentum is to draw others into their circle of corruption. And then, of course, a grand place to launch the greatest front on truth is to sow that seed of deception in the heart of a lazy western church being led by men and women who think they can prevail against the God they have crowded out of their lives and churches.
Decadence is nothing new. The temptation to do as one pleases without regard to God is constant with all people. The powerful indictment against the church today is that she is in great need of revival. The problem in our land is not homosexuality, the problem in our land is that many pastors are afraid to speak biblical truth into the culture. There is a backslidden condition that has the church is a place she has not been in, or better, not known she is in for a very long time.

They are in the church and the pulpits across the land. They serve on committees and teach bible study groups. Consider it…

How many Christians will attend your mid-week prayer gathering this week?
How many homes will gather the family together tonight to pray and give priority to Christ?
What will the church people complain of this week?
Christ-likeness is made light of in the church as much as it is out of the church.
Consider how many times you pray, “thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven,” while you steadfastly refuse to do the will of God.
Many will say “amen” when the preacher speaks of marriage between one man and one woman while they laugh out-loud in their home with the children watching degenerate characters made heroes to the family while suffering saints are not even prayed for.

This day we are in today, is not a secular problem. The day we are in today is a spiritual problem where the saints of God have grown cold and quiet. The church of the Lord Jesus has lost her militancy. Our land rarely looks to the church seriously any more. She’s made a circus of the church and looked at as the same kind of silliness as we do of the furniture store going out of busyness (again) or the car lot with a gimmick to get you on the property.

As in Jeremiah’s day, the Lord says, “what iniquity have your fathers found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?” (Jeremiah 2:5) In their vanity they have determined that God is no longer important or relevant.

My plea is to the church. Marriage needs to be defended, but we must stop blaming the homosexual for the decay of the nation. Look to an arrogant church caring only for herself and the advancement of her “brand.”

Church, where have you been? Repent! Then call all sinners to the place you have found your hope, the place of the cross. The soul who looks at their sin on the body of Christ doesn’t have to be told to stop your decadent ways, He sees holiness and knows he is ruined in his current place of arrogance. He humbles himself and repents, then turns to Christ.

Reader, look at that cross again. See your sin? You own it and its cost is death. Stop fighting and cry out to God for forgiveness. Rise up a new creature in Christ as you turn from your sin.

Call To Prayer

Posted on October 8, 2014Leave a comment

Early this morning (TimesNews), Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Anthony Kennedy, issued a temporary block on yesterday’s ruling to over rule Idaho’s defense of marriage. This ruling is only temporary and appears to be only a formality in the judicial process.

But this is the day that the Lord has made. Church, don’t miss this moment. This moment is not our moment to shout a victory, this is our moment to gather in humility at the church-house and pray. Even though many don’t see the church of the Lord Jesus the Christ as relevant, we have been given the moment by our Lord.

This is a call to all born again believers to prayer. I’m calling in the Lord’s people of Eastside Baptist Church to gather at 6:30 p.m. tonight. I’m calling upon husbands and fathers to gather your family this evening during the evening devotion/worship time to prayer for the sanctity of marriage in the state of Idaho.

Church, if there is ever a day to cry out in repentance it is while it is still called today.

This is not a day of reprieve, this is a day of spiritual battle.

1 To You I lift up my eyes,
O You who are enthroned in the heavens!
2 Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master,
As the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,
So our eyes look to the LORD our God,
Until He is gracious to us.
3 Be gracious to us, O LORD, be gracious to us,
For we are greatly filled with contempt.
4 Our soul is greatly filled
With the scoffing of those who are at ease,
And with the contempt of the proud.
(Psalms 123:1-4 NASB)

Words I’ll Never Say

Posted on October 7, 2014Leave a comment

Today, I have drawn a line in the sand, I will be bond by a higher court than the court in the land. I will not be able to ever say: “Applicant A, you may now kiss Applicant B”.

Church of the Living God, we must speak into this matter. We must speak with care and compassion as we speak as boldly as ever.

Today, the federal appeals court in San Francisco has ruled against the state State of Idaho. God have mercy upon the Land. My hope is not in a Supreme Court, a court of appeals or the court of public opinion. My hope is in Christ.

Will the church awaken now? We are in a land that is hostile toward God. The people in the land grow in their arrogance with every ruling. This is a good day to be the church of the Lord Jesus the Christ. Speak church, speak! Stay on the wall and speak truth in love.

Arrogance grows as “life moves on as normal”. See the grace of God in that he has not delivered a final judgement upon you yet.

Today (October 7, 2014) in SAN FRANCISCO (AP) : “A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down gay marriage bans in Idaho and Nevada. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that gay couples’ equal protection rights were violated by the bans.”

God , your creator, has given his blessing to the partnership union for sexual relations and childbearing to unions between one man and one woman, in a covenant relationship. I don’t hate anyone who wants to fulfill their love for another person. There is a God ordained way and there is an arrogant way. Repent, for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. Submit to Christ.

1 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, 7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:1-8 NASB)

53 Years

Posted on September 29, 2014Leave a comment

Today is my parents’ 53 wedding anniversary.

It is clearer to me today than ever before of what a picture of enduring love looks like.

It’s more romantic than storybook fables and youthful infatuation filled with dreams of grandeur.

It’s more romantic than a white picket fence around a dream house.

It’s more romantic than a passport filled with vacations stamps from get-a-way locations around the world.

It’s like this picture… A picture of two real people. Two real people who have sought to live their days in the light of gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two people bound by a covenant they made to each other and guarding that union to let no one tear apart or destroy. Two people obeying their God for better or worse, in sickness or good health, regardless of riches or poverty. A man and a woman following through to completion of what God joined together.

Happy Anniversary.

Divorce, A Financial Drain on Local Governments

Posted on September 15, 2014Leave a comment

CitizenLink reports that “family breakdown” costs taxpayers approx $112 billion per year in America. Read that sentence again…

That’s $1 trillion per decade.

Part of this financial burden on the government comes from professing born-again believers. I respect that there are real people with aching pain walking through some of their darkest days. When there is a lack of biblical preaching on this matter we should not be surprised that the financial expense on the court would be drastically increased.

What if the church spoke into this matter with care and boldness once again?

There’s no doubt the taxpayer will have a bill to pay as the family continues to breakdown. But what if the church took responsibility of this critical matter? What if the state let churches issue their own marriage licenses and divorce had to be achieved through the church where the marriage took place?

At least the church would no longer be a financial burden to taxpayers for marriages they performed. Marriages would have increased accountability. Churches would have increased responsibility. Government could spend money on civic needs rather than paying the ever increasing bill of “family breakdown”.

Can you imagine if just Christians stopped divorcing… not that that is a radically biblical expectation. The financial burden on the taxpayer is among the last reasons for the church to put greater investment into family strength, but it is at least a reality of the day we are in where family breakdown is showing to be a great burden.

The primary reason for the church to always speak into this matter is because this godly relationship is ordained of God as a representation of the Gospel.

Hey, husband and wife, this is a good day to speak the Gospel into your community by not being a financial burden to your fellow taxpayers.

A Word to Husbands

Posted on September 9, 2014Leave a comment

Of all the instructions in the New Testament about marriage, no where is a wife commanded to “love her husband.” It would be wrong for a wife not to love her husband, but we only find the command verbalized to men. Ephesians 5:25, “Husbands, love your wives…”

For a man to neglect his duty of loving his wife is first a dishonorable act against God. But, not only is it dishonorable to God, it is disruptive to his wife, it causes confusion in the home, and it leaves the Lord’s church anemic, powerless.

I recently read an updated version of William Gouge’s book, Building a Godly Home. In it, William Gouge examined the duties of men and women in the marriage. This powerful exhortation was an influence on my message Sunday night at the Southern Idaho Bible Lecture Series hosted at Eastside Baptist Church.

It’s important that men hear this and hear this often. Husbands, love your wives. Be watchful over your household, men. Have a high minded view of your wife, not a worshiping view, an affectionate view. She has a role of submission, give long-suffering affection as one equal in many respects, but in her state of office, subordinate.

A corrupt view of this is for a husband to think of his wife as second in class or inferior in status. It is neither. It is one of duty. A wife has a duty, a husband has a duty, children have a duty. These duties are not about chores, they are more about affection for the other and the duty each has before God. If affection is absent from a husband toward his wife he will likely give his affection to another.

Here are some practical ways husband can show their love to their wives.

Husband, you must be kind and thoughtful to your wife. Not effeminate, because you are masculine. Not brutish, because she is feminine.
Husband, you must be courteous to your wife. Say thank you and please, often.
Husband, you must reject being aloof. Be personal and engaging. look your wife in the eyes when you talk to her.
Husband, you must be humble. Not fake and patronizing, genuinely humble.
Husband, consider your wife first. She must get your first, best and engaging time.
Husband, you must not lord over your wife with unfair demands and strictness.
Husband, encourage your wife in good things.
Husband, don’t discourage your wife with ingratitude.
Husband, instruct your wife in private and exhort her in public.
Husband, give helpful instruction to your wife. Don’t shy away from addressing your wife about her clothing and presentation. She may need to hear from you that she is showing too much sensual skin. She may need to know from you that her Facebook profile picture is too sultry and inviting. She may need to be talked to about how she interacts with others in her social practices.
Husband, don’t make your wife go to many social events without you. If at all possible help meet her social needs with you present.
Husband, treat your wife with respect.

I like to put it this way: No other man gets the chance to win my wife’s heart, no one.

There are more intelligent men than me, but no other man gets a chance to win her heart with his intelligence. There may be funnier men than me, she may laugh with others but no man gets a chance to win my wife with laughter. There are surely more romantic men than me, but no man, in real life or fiction, will overtake my wife with romance. There are kind men all around, but no man wins her heart because he’s more kind than me toward her. There are generous men around her, but no generosity is greater than mine toward her. There are poetic men, but no poet wins her.

Because I’m commanded to love her, I put my best attention toward her in this matter. That means, I’m the most romantic book she’s ever read, I’m more generous toward her than anyone she knows, I strive to cause laughter and joy in conversation and experiences in life, I’m the poet who woes her with roses and violets.

Husbands, provide for your wife. Provide for her spiritually, emotionally, socially, mentally, and physically.

You do this til you die! Now, go love your wife.

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