The Next Step: After SCOTUS Ruling, Pastors Must Put Truth into Action

One Sunday church service has come and gone since the Supreme Court’s landmark decision on Friday that legalized same-sex marriage in America. Many pastors from the pulpit reflected on the ruling, asked their congregations to pray for the nation and wondered how the ruling would affect them directly.

The American Pastors Network (APN, www.americanpastorsnetwork.net) is lending help on how pastors and churches can move forward after the ruling, with plans to protect their religious liberties in the future—and without forgetting that Friday’s ruling deeply impacts the freedoms of all Christians.

“Friday’s Supreme Court ruling was hardly a cause for rejoicing,” said APN President Sam Rohrer, who also serves as President of the Pennsylvania Pastors Network (PPN, www.papastors.net). “In reality, it is cause for alarm, not only in how a handful of judges without the moral authority can arrogantly attempt to redefine an institution created by God and recognized through millennia, but these same judges can unlawfully plunge a knife into the heart of the Constitution they are sworn to uphold. The majority of Americans have yet to fully realize the extent to which all our Constitutional freedoms have been undermined.”

 On its daily one-minute radio feature, “Stand in the Gap,” APN recently commented further on the same-sex marriage ruling: “Last Friday’s Supreme Court ruling, which embraced same-sex marriage in America, is just one more symptom of the sin epidemic that is running rampant in our nation. When a person or a nation rejects God and succumbs to this fatal attraction with sin, there is always a heavy price to pay! Proverbs 14:12 says, ‘There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.’ The only Cure for this epidemic is Jesus Christ! However, if we truly want to cure America, we as believers must paint an honest picture of what happens when people or a nation reject the Truth of God’s Word. ” 

Rohrer, along with Gary Dull, APN board member, executive director and vice president of PPN, and Dave Kistler, president of the North Carolina Pastors Network (NCPN, www.ncpastors.net), co-host “Stand in the Gap Today,” a daily one-hour radio program*** heard on stations throughout Pennsylvania and via satellite. Each day, the hosts discuss current news topics and welcome guests, and over the past few days, the SCOTUS marriage ruling was front and center, as some of these questions were explored:

  • How do we bring clarity to the chaos created by the Court?
  • How should we respond to the fact that the SCOTUS cannot make law, but only render an opinion?
  • What is the practical difference between what is ‘legal’ vs. ‘lawful’?
  • What is the impact of understanding the separate jurisdictions of ‘moral law’ and ‘civil/constitutional law’?
  • How should we view the matter of ‘civil disobedience’ vs. ‘biblical obedience’?
  • Can we just simply ‘move on to economic issues,’ as many would like? Should we measure Presidential candidates on how they respond to these rulings from SCOTUS on Obamacare and marriage?
  • What if states, governors, state Supreme Court justices and others push back against the SCOTUS opinions?  Should this be encouraged? What happens if they do? What happens if they don’t?

***To listen to this program please click HERE

Rohrer also recently spoke with Perry Atkinson for The Dove’s program, “Focus Today,” stating that both the King v. Burwell/Obamacare and marriage rulings effectively dismantled the rule of law and the Constitution.

 “(SCOTUS) has, in fact, plunged us into a moment of crisis—a moment that would make anyone say, ‘What provision of the Constitution is any longer sacred?’” Rohrer said. “‘What provision, if any, stands with predictability that cannot be overturned, at will, by the handful of the majority of the Court?’ They have done great harm, and that is unfolding as we go forward.”

Attorney Jeff Mateer of the Liberty Institute, who was a featured speaker at PPN’s “U-Turn” conference this spring, attended SCOTUS’s oral arguments in April and called same-sex marriage “the issue of our generation.” He has been working closely with APN and PPN to offer support to pastors as religious liberty questions regarding the ruling arise.

 APN released the following statement Friday after the ruling:

“This landmark decision had deep biblical, historical and constitutional roots, and unfortunately, our justices chose to redefine marriage for the entire nation, ignoring other constitutional rights and opening the door to a dangerous infringement on religious liberties. The fact that this issue even made it to the Supreme Court of the United States was an indictment against American Christians and against American churches. Even though some churches have sought to blend into the culture rather than change it, this ruling serves as a wake-up call for pastors and churches who are committed to being the salt and light of our society and standing up for truth.

 “This is just the beginning, and as the culture continues to change—and move even further away from the truth of God’s Word and from our constitutional roots—it is crucial that pastors and churches know the truth, speak the truth and live the truth, doing all they can to preserve God’s Word and protect the religious liberties of Christians across the nation.”

 

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