SPEECH
DELIVERED ON JANUARY 13, 2015 BEFORE THE OTTAWA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS
by J. Parnell McCarter
The removal of the Hagar Park sign by the Ottawa
County Parks Department Board* is a picture of the way over time our nation has
been seeking to cast off by degrees God and Biblical Christianity, having far
departed from what was established in America by our Pilgrim and Puritan
forefathers. The next shoe probably to
drop will be recognition of so called "gay marriage", following a
long list of other departures from the word of God. I am afraid these words from Psalm 2 describe
us:
"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and
the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed,
saying, Let us
break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us."
What God thinks of this is described in the
following verses of the same Psalm:
"He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession."
Acts 13:33 makes clear that this is
speaking of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, so Psalm 2 is speaking of the
very post-resurrection period in which we live.
How does God want us now to repent?
That is described in the following verses of the same Psalm:
"Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with
trembling. Kiss the Son..."
The word "kings" here refers to national
leaders, and the word "judges" refers to subordinate civil
magistrates like the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners. Romans 13 says that first and foremost kings
and judges are "ministers of God", who must follow God's moral law in
the Bible. Despite what any man-made
laws, constitutions or pronouncements may say to the contrary, your first duty
is to uphold God's word and His moral law and the honor of His Son Jesus
Christ. **
For this reason I am distributing a
petition that urges the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners to
pass this resolution: "we proclaim and acknowledge Jesus Christ as Lord of this
County, looking to Him as Savior from the transgressions committed by the
people, and resolving by God’s grace to follow Him in accordance with Biblical
principles." ***
And I urge the
Board to restore the park sign consistent with such a stance towards God.
Thank you for your
consideration of this petition.
*See http://www.mlive.com/jenison/index.ssf/2015/01/county_board_takes_action_to.html
describing the issue.
**No oath may
remove the duty to “kiss the Son”: “Having refuted the
most common excuses people proffer for violating their oaths, we must now turn briefly
to the only biblical reason for violating an oath: if the objective of the oath
is sinful. Since one can never bind himself to sin, such an "oath" is
invalid from its inception and consequently, is not binding. By definition, one
cannot break a non-existent oath. The sin, in such a situation, is not in
breaking an unlawful oath, but in making it. Thus, Herod was under no
obligation to kill John the Baptist, since he could not bind himself to commit
murder. The real lesson here is one of prevention; you shouldn't make such
oaths to begin with.” - http://www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/index.html?mainframe=/webfiles/antithesis/v1n1/ant_v1n1_oaths.html
. As the
Westminster Confession points out: “An oath is to be taken in the plain and
common sense of the words, without equivocation, or mental reservation. It
cannot oblige to sin; but in anything not sinful, being taken, it binds to
performance, although to a man's own hurt…”
*** This
petition is available at https://www.change.org/p/ottawa-county-board-of-commissioners-adopt-this-resolution-we-proclaim-and-acknowledge-jesus-christ-as-lord-of-this-county-looking-to-him-as-savior-from-the-transgressions-committed-by-the-people-and-resolving-by-god-s-grace-to-to-follow-him-in-accor. The article describing it is at http://www.puritans.net/articles/petitionOttawa.htm.