Last year, a nation-wide campaign called “Say Their Names” was started to supposedly “honor Black lives taken by systemic racism and racial injustice.” Far from being a memorial to healing and unity, this is a Marxist effort to divide America, pour salt into old wounds, and demonize political opposition to communism. The fact that George Floyd, a career criminal and violent offender who overdosed on a lethal dose of fentanyl and meth in police custody while resisting arrest, is one of the names we’re supposed to “say,” is evidence of how insincere and preposterous the entire charade really is.
This Independence Day, I wanted to put a twist on “Say Their Names.” Why don’t we say the names of people who risked their lives to create a free nation where all people could enjoy peace and prosperity? Instead of saying the names of people whose deaths are used as political chess pieces in a war against the foundational institutions of our Republic, why not say the name of those valiant men who put their necks on the line to build those same institutions – institutions which make America great?
I present a more common-sense version of “Say Their Names.” This Independence Day, say the names of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence. You likely haven’t heard their names in a very long while. Their names deserve to be spoken aloud. They deserve to be remembered, memorialized, and honored by all people who cherish Freedom. Gather your family together today and read or listen to the words these noble figures signed their names to. And then read their names, offering a silent prayer of thanksgiving to them for their sacrifices and to the God who inspired and assisted them to create the amazing nation we call home.
You can read more information about these fifty-six men here, here, here, and here.
John Adams of Massachusetts
Samuel Adams of Massachusetts
Josiah Bartlett of New Hampshire
Carter Braxton of Virginia
Charles Carroll of Maryland
Samuel Chase of Maryland
Abraham Clark of New Jersey
George Clymer of Pennsylvania
William Ellery of Rhode Island
Wiilliam Floyd of New York
Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania
Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts
Button Gwinnett of Georgia
Lyman Hall of Georgia
John Hancock of Massachusetts
Benjamin Harrison of Virginia
John Hart of New Jersey
Joseph Hewes of North Carolina
Thomas Heyward, Jr., of South Carolina
William Hooper of North Carolina
Stephen Hopkins of Rhode Island
Francis Hopkinson of New Jersey
Samuel Huntington of Connecticut
Thomas Jefferson of Virginia
Francis Lightfoot Lee of Virginia
Richard Henry Lee of Virginia
Francis Lewis of New York
Philip Livingston of New York
Thomas Lynch, Jr., of South Carolina
Thomas McKean of Delaware
Arthur Middleton of South Carolina
Lewis Morris of New York
Robert Morris of Pennsylvania
John Morton of Pennsylvania
Thomas Nelson, Jr., of Virginia
William Paca of Maryland
Robert Treat Paine of Maryland
John Penn of North Carolina
George Read of Delaware
Caesar Rodney of Delaware
George Ross of Pennsylvania
Benjamin Rush of Pennsylvania
Edward Rutledge of South Carolina
Roger Sherman of Connecticut
James Smith of Pennsylvania
Richard Stockton of New Jersey
Thomas Stone of Maryland
George Taylor of Pennsylvania
Matthew Thornton of New Hampshire
George Walton of Georgia
William Whipple of New Hampshire
William Williams of Connecticut
James Wilson of Pennsylvania
John Witherspoon of New Jersey
Oliver Wolcott of Connecticut
George Wythe of Virginia
Say Their Names and have a gorgeous Independence Day!
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“Fifty-six men with a price on their heads said we’ll be free or we’ll be dead.” – Song lyrics by Zack Strong
Happy Independence Day, my fellow rebels! Independence Day is the day that we Americans celebrate enemies of the state who risked their lives for Freedom. Some of these enemies of the state are now national heroes. You know their names: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin, and, the biggest revolutionist of them all, George Washington. These “rebels,” as they were usually called, had death sentences placed upon them by their government for daring to declare Independence and stand up to the regime in defense of their God-given rights.
What the American Founding Fathers did in 1776 was nothing short of remarkable. In Common Sense, Thomas Paine described the world situation at the time like this:
“O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her. Europe regards her like a stranger, and England hath given her warning to depart. O! receive the fugitive, and prepare in time an asylum for mankind.”
America was the gathering place for rebels. It was the common home of all who hated oppression. People from around the world traveled to America to fight for Freedom shoulder to shoulder with the remarkable rebels who dared “oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant.” America was in 1776, and remains, the last best hope for mankind.
Let me emphasize this point. Prior to the American War for Independence, the British Empire spanned the globe. Europe was dominated by kingdoms, empires, and oppressive rulers. The Catholic Church’s grip had waned, but the papacy still maintained an excessive stranglehold on the minds of millions. Africa, Asia, and the Middle East were governed by warlords, pirates, or emperors. The shackles of despotism sat heavily on the human race and the little light of Liberty that faintly flickered was threatened with elimination.
It was in this environment of worldwide tyranny that Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Washington, and their fellows, planted the flag of Freedom in America. Separated from the quarrels, vices, and poisoned ways of thinking of Europe and Asia, the inhabitants of the New World developed their systems of government in an atmosphere of reason and enlightenment. Early Americans were highly schooled in history, languages, and government. They read original Latin, Greek, and Hebrew works, understood Anglo-Saxon institutions, and drew enduring lessons from all ages past. They knew what tyranny was, what Liberty was, how Liberty dies, how Liberty is maintained, and how to deal with tyrants.
Critically, the people of America, detached from the complicated, bloated governmental systems in Europe, learned how to govern themselves. Self-rule was a precious right to our forefathers. “No taxation without representation” was no hollow slogan; it was a way of life. They knew that the most effective government is that which is administered directly by the People. That is, good government relies on the individual taking care of his own business in a responsible way. It requires each citizen to be a faithful steward over his own property, rights, and deeds. If each person actively engaged in self-rule, there was no need to giant government bureaucracies, kings, or rulers.
Thomas Jefferson, drawing upon the Anglo-Saxon tradition, described the ideal government like this:
“[T]he way to have good and safe government, is not to trust it all to one; but to divide it among the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he is competent to. let the National government be entrusted with the defence of the nation, and it’s foreign & federal relations; the State governments with the civil rights, laws, police & administration of what concerns the state generally; the Counties with the local concerns of the counties; and each Ward direct the interests within itself. it is by dividing and subdividing these republics from the great National one down thro’ all it’s subordinations, until it ends in the administration of every man’s farm and affairs by himself; by placing under every one what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done for the best. what has destroyed liberty and the rights of man in every government which has ever existed under the sun? the generalising & concentrating all cares and powers into one body, no matter whether of the Autocrats of Russia or France, or of the Aristocrats of a Venetian Senate. and I do believe that if the Almighty has not decreed that Man shall never be free, (and it is blasphemy to believe it) that the secret will be found to be in the making himself the depository of the powers respecting himself, so far as he is competent to them, and delegating only what is beyond his competence by a synthetical process, to higher & higher orders of functionaries, so as to trust fewer and fewer powers, in proportion as the trustees become more and more oligarchical. the elementary republics of the wards, the county republics, the State republics, and the republic of the Union, would form a gradation of authorities, standing each on the basis of law, holding every one it’s delegated share of powers, and constituting truly a system of fundamental balances and checks for the government. where every man is a sharer in the direction of his ward-republic, or of some of the higher ones, and feels that he is a participator in the government of affairs not merely at an election, one day in the year, but every day; when there shall not be a man in the state who will not be a member of some one of it’s councils, great or small, he will let the heart be torn out of his body sooner than his power be wrested from him by a Caesar or a Bonaparte” (Thomas Jefferson to Joseph C. Cabell, February 2, 1816).
This was revolutionary thinking then and it’s still uncommon today. The idea that man could control his own destiny and govern himself was as foreign to Europe as to Asia. It was rejected by corrupt religious authorities and autocrats alike. Yet, a band of Americans led by the Sons of Liberty fellow “rebels,” insisted that God made man a free agent and that he therefore had the right, and ability, to govern himself.
As Jefferson said, good government is not centralized in the hands of the state. Good government is “the administration of every man’s farm and affairs by himself.” Self-government is the only good government. No state, king, ruler, emperor, pope, tsar, guru, president, or judge has authority over the individual because the individual received his rights and responsibilities from the God who created him. Man may delegate portions of his authority to a government, but he never gives away his power – not even the majority of it.
This is what the American Founding Fathers understood. This is the idea they tried to spread. They wanted all people to be free and they opposed all systems that oppressed the human mind.
Unbeknownst to most Americans is the fact that when the Founding Fathers declared Independence for America, they invited the world to join them. They specifically invited other oppressed British colonies, from Ireland to Canada and beyond, to join in their Revolution for Freedom. The others, for various reasons, did not join the cause, though some were sympathetic. As noted, individuals from many nations, sensing that something special was occurring in America, left their homelands to fight for the “rebels” in the name of personal Liberty.
The American War for Independence was never intended to be a war for the People of the New World alone. Rather, it was intended to be the opening salvo in a war against tyranny everywhere. Early Americans often called what they were creating an “Empire of Liberty.” They wanted that “empire” to span the globe. They wanted Freedom to be found in every corner of the earth. It is that fact that caused America’s enemies to hate her in her infancy and it is that fact that causes her enemies to loathe her today.
At the same time the Founding Fathers were declaring Independence and showing mankind the path toward Freedom, another entity was perfecting a plan to enslave the world. Adam Weishaupt formed the Order of Illuminati on May 1, 1776. As I’ve detailed repeatedly here, in other articles and podcasts, and in my books, the Illuminati were the literal and ideological forebears of the communists. Their plan was published by Karl Marx, who was hired by an Illuminati offshoot known as the League of the Just to write The Communist Manifesto. Weishaupt, Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and the rest, were following the same blueprint and working toward the same goal. Thus, when we talk about America as the “main enemy” of the Soviet Union, we’re also saying that America is the “main enemy” of the Order of Illuminati and of all world conspiracy.
Though the U.S. government has de facto joined, or been largely captured by, the communist-Illuminati conspiracy, there are tens of millions of armed and awake Americans who reject that conspiracy. Some 80 million people voted for Donald Trump, just to give an indication of how many people refuse to comply with the cabal. Our combined enemy can’t suffer recalcitrant “rebels” like the “bitter clingers” in the flyover states. It makes their blood boil to know that the blood of patriots flows in our veins. The Founding Fathers were the enemies of the British monarchical state and today the American constitutionalist patriots are the enemies of the global Marxist state.
This Independence Day, we need to remember how special America is. America is an experiment in self-government. She’s an attempt to expand natural law and God-given rights to every part of the earth in a gigantic “Empire of Liberty.” Nothing like this has ever been undertaken. America today – particularly armed, Christian, white America – is the standard-bearer. The global conspiracy has marshalled all its forces against us.
There are others in different lands who love Freedom, too, but none of them are in a position to do much about it. Only Americans are capable of rebelling. Only we, armed with our Second Amendment, Constitution, and heritage of Independence, can truly be “up in arms” against the one-world Marxist Establishment. We can’t let the world down. We can’t let ourselves down. We can’t betray the memory of those who risked it all to give us a free nation. It’s time to declare “Liberty or death!” and mean it. Happy Independence Day.
American Freedom was purchased with the blood of patriots. Liberty has always required tremendous sacrifices to obtain and maintain. Thomas Paine said it best in 1776:
“These are the times that try men’s souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: It is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to set a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as FREEDOM should not be highly rated” (Thomas Paine, The American Crisis, 1776).
To sum up Paine in modern lingo, “Freedom isn’t free.” As an American, you are indebted to your ancestors for the Liberty and Independence you enjoy. They slogged through the hell of war, waded through affliction and tears, and risked everything dear to them in order to hand down a heritage of Freedom, self-rule, and peace.
John Adams colorfully said:
“Posterity! You will never know, how much it cost the present Generation, to preserve your Freedom! I hope you will make a good Use of it. If you do not, I shall repent in Heaven, that I ever took half the Pains to preserve it” (John Adams to Abigail Adams, April 26, 1777).
It cost a great deal to purchase American Freedom. It cost blood, toil, and treasure. Lives were cut short, families were split asunder, and civic life was upended. Yet, what patriot would dare say it was all in vain? If our forefathers were willing to fight and die for the gift of Liberty, surely we, the beneficiaries of that gift, should feel the stir of gratitude for the patriot blood that was spilled to quench the parched tree of Liberty in 1776.
When you gather with fellow believers and attend the church of your choice this Independence Day Sunday, remember that without patriot blood you might not be able to enjoy this inestimable blessing. The next time you purchase a firearm, consider that it’s not your Visa card that’s buying it, but the patriot blood of ages past that affords you the opportunity to arm yourself as a freeman. The next time you express a political opinion in public, or go to the polls to vote, or throw your name in the hat in a local election, consider that there are billions of people in other countries who cannot do so because the blood of patriots has not fertilized their ground sufficiently for the tree of Liberty to grow.
We live in a blessed land. America is a land of covenant. It’s a sacred spot chosen by Almighty God for special purposes. In 1630, John Withrop envisioned a glorious future for this continent. He expressed it this way:
“The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us, as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, “may the Lord make it like that of New England.” For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, and all professors for God’s sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.”
For many years, America fulfilled Winthrop’s vision. We became, and remain, the envy of the world. The hand of the Lord prospered us, gave us technology, revealed systems of good government, and kept us out of the perpetual wars of other countries. No People has ever been so richly blessed. So startlingly remarkable are these manifestations of divine favor that President George Washington, in his First Inaugural Address, stated:
“No People can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand, which conducts the Affairs of men more than the People of the United States. Every step, by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation, seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”
Yet, as we view our beloved America today, we see that she has fallen from her former glory. She’s not as free as she once was. She’s not as virtuous and just as she once was. She’s not even as proud, peaceful, or prosperous as she once was. Lady Liberty took sledgehammer blows to the kneecaps in 2020 and 2021. The hammer (and sickle) wielders are gearing up to swing again even more violently and maliciously as she falters and attempts to rise – as millions of good-hearted Americans realize they’ve been conned and attempt to extricate themselves from the jaws of political despotism, medical tyranny, and media lies.
Some of the finest branches of the American tree of Liberty have wilted and withered. Some have stopped bearing fruit while others produce slightly bitter fruit. Yet, there are many new buds blossoming on some of the younger branches and the harvest looks promising. These new buds must be guarded and nourished as they grow stronger. But how can we nourish and cultivate this precious plant? Long ago, Thomas Jefferson explained the only sure way to do it when he said:
It will require a Herculean effort to revive the tree of Liberty. Tragically, as the Sage of Monticello observed, it will require, as it always has, the blood of patriots and tyrants. But the prize is worth the price.
It won’t be easy, though. Restoring our lost rights will require a dramatic change in our hearts and minds. Our forefathers didn’t just pick up their muskets one day and fight their British oppressors. Rather, they were schooled in the principles of Liberty for years prior to the fighting. They understood their religious and civic duty to rebel against tyrants and to defend their Faith, Families, and Freedom. They knew about, and participated in, self-rule. They understood what being freemen was all about.
Our patriot forefathers knew that principled patriotism – in private conduct as well as public life – was the panacea to their national maladies. John Adams affirmed:
If we want things to be different, we have to be different. We have to alter our ways of thinking, raise our standards and principles, and adjust our behavior accordingly. Ultimately, we have to turn our hearts and minds back to the Lord of Liberty, Jesus Christ. Atheists did not win the American War for Independence; Christians did.
America’s fiery patriot leaders did not trust in themselves, but, like General Washington who found himself praying mightily for deliverance, had faith in their Creator and Redeemer. Had they not shouted from the rooftops that “for the support of this Declaration [of Independence], with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor”?
Without turning to Christ, everything else we do is a half-measure and will fail. But, with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26; Luke 1:37). The Lord has clearly promised to prosper and protect those who turn to Him. He said:
“If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:14).
And again, through Isaiah, the Lord promised to shine upon those nations who embrace His covenants and repent:
“If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land. . . .
“And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city” (Isaiah 1:16-27).
America is the greatest land on earth; the most blessed and amazing nation to be found anywhere. I love her! I love her Constitution, her heritage of Freedom, her pantheon of heroes, her promise of guaranteed natural rights, and her unrivaled opportunities for growth and ingenuity, prosperity and joy. Her fruited plains are beautiful to my eyes and I marvel at how special, how unique, and how blessed America truly is by the hand of the Almighty.
Yet, America needs restoring. She needs mending. She needs once more to bask in the shade of the tree of Liberty. It will be difficult. It demands gut-wrenching sacrifices. The tree of Liberty requires the blood of good men and women – patriot blood – to nourish its fledgling blossoms. With John Adams, I recognize what it will cost. But, with John Adams, I also excitedly envision what we will gain:
“I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost Us to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. – Yet through all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will tryumph in that Days Transaction” (John Adams to Abigail Adams, July 3, 1776).
This Independence Day, and every day, let’s triumph in our ancestors’ War for Independence. Let’s remember that we live in a blood-bought Republic. Let’s recall with tender gratitude the sacrifices it took to achieve the Liberty we so abundantly enjoy and let’s steel ourselves for the daunting task ahead – the restoration of our rights and the nourishing of the tree of Liberty. With God’s help, we and our children will one day breathe free air and again bask in the ravishing light and glory of Freedom.
Now that Sodom and Gomorrah Remembrance Month is in our rearview mirror, let’s talk. You were no doubt inundated on social media and TV with pro-LGBT messages like “love is love,” “love has no gender,” and “love only knows equality.” We’ve been force fed “gay pride” and “gay rights” at every turn. Everything has been bathed in rainbow colors. The queer flag has been raised across the world at U.S. embassies. This homosexual agenda is Satanic, dangerous to society, and based on numerous lies. I want to speak about the biggest of those lies today.
People who are afflicted by homosexuality, and their vocal cheerleaders in the press and online, are laboring under a sinister delusion. They believe that homosexual lust is “love.” It’s not. It never will be. In fact, it’s impossible for homosexual lust to ever be love. You heard me correctly: There was never a homosexual who possessed true romantic love towards another homosexual – only lust.
Jesus with the woman caught in adultery
This is so for several reasons. The easiest reason to explain is that the Apostle John said that “God is love.” God is love and He has forbidden homosexuality. It is therefore a contradiction to suppose that so-called homosexual “love” comes from or is recognized by the One who is love and who also forbade homosexuality. This is basic logic.
But if two plus two doesn’t equal four for some of you, looking at John’s teaching in context might do the trick. He explained further what love is and where it comes from:
“[E]very spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
“Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.
“They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them.
“We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.
“Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
“He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
“In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another” (1 John 4:3-11).
Love is a gift of God. Love is linked to righteousness. Love is exemplified by the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Those who are born of God, or reborn through Christ, are those who become filled with pure love.
Those who accept Jesus Christ hear God and know the spirit of truth. Or, at least, they should be able to recognize error. Christian disciples are called to “love one another” in the same way that God loves us. Those who don’t love in this way don’t truly know God, and don’t truly love, because this type of love is God and comes from Him. So, John said, “herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
The word “propitiation” means to appease God. Christ’s “propitiation for our sins” appeases the eternal demands of justice that come upon all of us because we have all sinned and fallen short (Romans 3:23). In return, the Son of God requires certain things of us. We can’t appease, please, or satisfy God, therefore, without following His Son Jesus Christ and living according to His teachings.
The Lord frankly and openly taught how to receive His and our Heavenly Father’s incredible love and what it means to honestly love God:
“If ye love me, keep my commandments. . . .
“He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. . . .
“If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
“He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:15, 21, 23-24).
According to Jesus, true love equals obedience to God’s laws. It means honoring His teachings, keeping His commandments, and following Him down the pathway of righteousness. Only those who “keep my words,” or who sincerely try to do so, will “be loved of the Father, and I will love him.” Those who do not do the will of Christ and keep His commandments have no such promise and walk in darkness.
Again, Christ is the exemplification of love. And what did Christ do? He said: “I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me” (John 6:38). He later testified: “And he that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please him” (John 8:29).
Jesus with the woman at the well
If we want to always have the spirit and presence of God, we must likewise do those things that please Him. We must do the will of the Father, which is revealed in the teachings of our Savior Jesus Christ. Long before the Son of God came into mortality, He had revealed to His ancient prophets the truth that keeping the commandments is central to the Gospel Plan. “Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). Of those commandments that we are duty-bound to keep, the mortal Messiah listed two as cardinal:
“Thou shalt the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy cmind.
“This is the first and great commandment.
“And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).
Loving God is the first and highest commandment of them all. As we’ve seen, we can’t please God without following His Son Jesus Christ and following His commandments. The second great commandment is to love others – to love them in the pure and undefiled way Christ loves us. This is the type of crystalline love that led the Lord to voluntarily sacrifice Himself in Gethsemane and on the Cross. The Savior proclaimed:
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
“For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:16-17).
God is our Father. He doesn’t want to condemn us. He doesn’t want to punish us. He doesn’t want to lose us to that malevolent being who tempts us to follow a darker, lower, meaner path. Rather, He sent His perfect Son, Jesus Christ, to light the world with love and to show us a higher and holier way of living. He sent His son to atone for our sins, die on the Cross, and rise from the grave to prepare the path so that we who are not as perfect as He was could one day, through obedience, become “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17).
Jesus does not give us commandments and rules in order to restrict us from having a good time, to oppress us, or to make us miserable. Quite the contrary. He said: “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). As the only perfect Person to ever walk this earth, He knows what He’s talking about.
A righteous life is an abundant life. It is a lifestyle that merits the unsurpassed love of God. It is a lifestyle that allows Heavenly light to penetrate the darkness of this world and illuminate our souls. It is a life of peace, comfort, and joy (John 13:17; John 14:18, 27). It is a life that allows the Redeemer to redeem and the Savior to save. He doesn’t require perfection before He showers us with love and spiritual gifts, but He requires our hearts and minds and our sincerest efforts to go about doing good (Acts 10:38). Loving God and loving our neighbors is fundamental to this process of Christian living.
Let’s now consider three specific reasons why homosexuality is a counterfeit of true love.
Firstly, since the beginning of time, the Lord has defined the proper relationship between men and women. He set gender roles and sexual boundaries. He told Adam and Eve, and, by extension, all of us: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it” (Genesis 1:28). It was a command, therefore, for men and women to enter into the marriage covenant and “multiply.” Marriage was essential to God’s Plan and the essential part of marriage was procreation and childbearing.
How do humans multiply? We multiple through sexual intercourse. It only works when a man and a woman are joined together as “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Men and women are spiritually designed to fit together. We are anatomically designed to fit together, too. This is for the purpose of fulfilling the command to multiply and replenish the earth and to solidify unity between the sexes. Procreation simply doesn’t work if two women or two men try it. Homosexual sex, then, is an unnatural aberration that fulfills no purpose other than lust. Thus, fulfilling the Lord’s command to multiply is something only heterosexuals are naturally capable of doing. Remember, keeping the commandments is a prerequisite to pleasing God, following His Son, and truly loving.
Secondly, the gift of sex was given to humankind with special rules. It was only to be used between men and women and only within the confines of the marriage covenant. Anciently, the Lord told His people: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination” (Leviticus 18:22). Homosexuality was considered such an abomination, in fact, that it merited the death penalty (Leviticus 20:13). That penalty was dropped by the Lord when He came and established His Church and introduced a higher law, but He and His apostles continued to preach against homosexuality and all other forms of sexual impurity.
Additionally, pre-marital sex was strictly forbidden. It was called in both the Old and New Testaments “fornication.” The Apostle Paul taught that “this is the will of God . . . that ye should abstain from fornication” (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Under God’s law, there is no provision for homosexual marriage. Thus, all homosexual liaisons are, by definition, fornication and forbidden.
Extra-marital sex has also been forbidden by the Lord throughout history. It is known as “adultery.” The Apostle Paul admonished:
“Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
“For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. . . .
“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness. . . .
“. . . of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. . . .
“And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts” (Galatians 5:16-24).
Many people throughout time have disregarded these laws, choosing to follow after forbidden lusts instead. We rationalize and justify our lust and our violations of divine law by calling it “love” or by trivializing sex as a base bodily function. “Such is the way of an adulterous woman; she eateth, and wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness” (Proverbs 30:20). But we can’t merely wish away God’s laws or the consequences of immorality. “Can a man take fire in his bosom, and his clothes not be burned?” (Proverb 6:27).
Taken as a whole, these rules regulating sex can be called the law of chastity. There are only two sins that are greater than breaking the law of chastity; namely, denying the witness of the Holy Spirit after receiving it and murder. The Lord takes sexual impurity very seriously. He condemns and forbids everything from homosexuality to fornication to pornography to rape and beyond. All of these have, as at their core, some form of lust or selfishness.
Thirdly, some people say “God made me this way” and embrace the illicit desires they have, branding them as “love” to ease their consciences. Let me tell you a truth: God did not make you that way. He did not create you gay. He did not put lust in your heart. He did not implant in you a desire to abandon the path of marriage and procreation. To do so would be to violate His own laws and to contradict the teachings of His Son and prophets. The Apostle James clearly taught:
“Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:
“But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed” (James 1:13-14).
I repeat: God doesn’t make people gay. God does not tempt anyone to do evil. God does not entice anyone to fornicate or commit adultery. It’s contrary to His holy nature, His mercy, and His love. As James said, these forbidden desires are born of lust and are evil.
But let’s pretend God does create some people gay at birth, even though He absolutely does not. Nevertheless, the commandment to repent, change, and be reborn still applies! It applies to every person on earth regardless of their challenges and inclinations. It applies to people who have problems with thievery, lying, gossiping, substance abuse, pornography, gambling, fornication, adultery, violence, pride, anger, arrogance, impatience, ingratitude, ad infinitum. Jesus called the adulterers, prostitutes, demoniacs, and handicapped to follow Him with as much fervor as He called those with less visible problems, such as the learned Pharisees, to follow Him. He’s the Master Healer and He knows how to heal and mend hearts and lives.
Jesus powerfully and plainly taught Nicodemus: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Could it be any clearer?
We’re not enough by ourselves. We need Jesus. Our natures are fallen and corrupted. We all sin and do things that we regret or that harm others. It comes with the territory here on planet earth. But we don’t need to let our lusts, our failings, our weaknesses, our sins, or our past define us. We’re better than that. We’re the children of our Heavenly Father!
Think of it – the King of the universe is our Father! The Creator of worlds without number – the One who walks on water, raises the dead, and calms the raging sea with a single word – is His Son who stands with open arms to receive, lift, and heal all who come to Him regardless of what they were or did in the past. Our Heavenly Father wants to give us everything He has and to see us follow His Son in becoming like Him (Romans 8:16-17; John 10:34). We belong to the family of God Almighty. Shouldn’t that fact alone inspire us to do better and be better?
Our mission as fallen and sinful individuals is to not embrace the low path, but to throw off our old habits and desires and embrace the higher and holier standard revealed by the Redeemer Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or how far you’ve fallen; you can be redeemed! It doesn’t matter how frequently you’ve sinned or screwed up; you can be saved!
Just as Joseph in Egypt literally ran from sexual temptation when it literally pulled on him, so, too, does the Lord expect us to remember our legs and flee from the snare of sin (Genesis 39:7-21). Paul urged:
“Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.
“What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?
“For ye are abought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).
As difficult as it may be, our path is clear – we must flee fornication. It doesn’t matter if it is homosexual or heterosexual fornication. It’s wrong either way. It’s lust in both cases; not love. In fact, we are to flee all sin, all error, and all unrighteousness.
The prodigal son returns
When we slip and fall, there’s a way back. Some mistakes are bigger than others, but all mistakes take us away from God and cause us to lose a measure of His holy light. Repentance is the remedy. To repent simply means to turn away from something. Those with gambling problems must turn away from gambling. Those with anger issues must learn patience. Those with pride must learn humility. And those with sexual problems of all kinds must turn away from them – both in deed and in thought.
Russell M. Nelson, a powerful Christian leader and example for all believers today, recently gave us these encouraging words about repentance:
“Nothing is more liberating, more ennobling, or more crucial to our individual progression than is a regular, daily focus on repentance. Repentance is not an event; it is a process. It is the key to happiness and peace of mind. When coupled with faith, repentance opens our access to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.
“Whether you are diligently moving along the covenant path, have slipped or stepped from the covenant path, or can’t even see the path from where you are now, I plead with you to repent. Experience the strengthening power of daily repentance—of doing and being a little better each day.
“When we choose to repent, we choose to change! We allow the Savior to transform us into the best version of ourselves. We choose to grow spiritually and receive joy—the joy of redemption in Him. When we choose to repent, we choose to become more like Jesus Christ!
“Brethren, we need to do better and be better because we are in a battle. The battle with sin is real. The adversary is quadrupling his efforts to disrupt testimonies and impede the work of the Lord. He is arming his minions with potent weapons to keep us from partaking of the joy and love of the Lord.
“Repentance is the key to avoiding misery inflicted by traps of the adversary. The Lord does not expect perfection from us at this point in our eternal progression. But He does expect us to become increasingly pure. Daily repentance is the pathway to purity, and purity brings power. Personal purity can make us powerful tools in the hands of God. Our repentance—our purity—will empower us to help in the gathering of Israel.”
How many of us need daily repentance? All of us need it! And the greater our sins, the more we need the healing power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sometimes we think we have sinned too much, moved too far away, done too many terrible things, to receive the Lord’s forgiveness and healing. I seem to have missed the line in the Bible where it says the Lord won’t heal and embrace those who come to Him. Instead, I remember His words which say:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
“For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
I also recall the words of Paul which urge us to boldly approach the Lord so that His grace can heal us:
“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
“Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:15-16).
Jesus understands. Jesus knows how difficult it is. And He has mercy on those who sincerely approach Him confessing their sins, acknowledging their weaknesses, and laying all their burdens on Him. He wants nothing more than for the prodigal son to return home. He stands ready to receive all who come to Him with open arms. He will give rest to all who believe on His name.
A modern disciple of the Lord, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, gave additional encouragement to those who feel lost or who feel weighed down by their sins. He said:
“[H]owever late you think you are, however many chances you think you have missed, however many mistakes you feel you have made or talents you think you don’t have, or however far from home and family and God you feel you have traveled, I testify that you have not traveled beyond the reach of divine love. It is not possible for you to sink lower than the infinite light of Christ’s Atonement shines.
“Whether you are not yet of our faith or were with us once and have not remained, there is nothing in either case that you have done that cannot be undone. There is no problem which you cannot overcome. There is no dream that in the unfolding of time and eternity cannot yet be realized. Even if you feel you are the lost and last laborer of the eleventh hour, the Lord of the vineyard still stands beckoning. “Come boldly [to] the throne of grace,” and fall at the feet of the Holy One of Israel. Come and feast “without money and without price” at the table of the Lord. . . .
“So if you have made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you have made them and broken them, repent and repair them. It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time. Please listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit telling you right now, this very moment, that you should accept the atoning gift of the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the fellowship of His labor. Don’t delay. It’s getting late.”
It’s getting late, dear reader. Each of us needs to be better. Each of us needs to wake up to the reality that lust is not love, wickedness is not happiness, and a life without Jesus Christ is incomplete. Whether your sin is homosexual or heterosexual sexual immorality, you need repentance either way.
The fact that “Pride” month is now over can serve as a metaphor. If you’ve suffered from homosexual desires, or if you’ve even acted on your lusts, it was in the past. Today is a new day. Time isn’t over yet. You can change. You can repent. You can turn from darkness to light, from the Adversary to the Lord, from lust to love. Jesus stands with open arms to receive you. He promises cleansing and healing. He promises peace and happiness. He promises eternal rewards, light, and love. Don’t delay. Turn to the Savior Jesus Christ and experience the majesty of God’s perfect love.
The American Citadel 