Below is a statement from a church to the political leaders---this is HOW a church institution should talk to politicians.....
"A Statement on Marriage From Oceanside United Reformed Church to the U.S. Government
“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”—the one true God whom alone is “King of kings and Lord of lords” over all nations;
In the long history of God’s people there have been occasions when they have been called upon to speak to their civil rulers. The church, as the primary manifestation of the kingdom of God, is the place from which Almighty God speaks to not only his peculiar people, but to all peoples everywhere—including civil governments.
It is not the calling of the institutional church, whether local or universal, to legislate as civil representatives, interpret legislation as civil judges, or apply legislation as civil executives.
But it is our calling to be the prophetic voice of God in the world, following the examples of prophets and apostles of old. We are “the pillar and foundation of the truth” concerning God and his relationship to the world. In response to the Supreme Court of the United States’ 5–4 decision to declare same-sex “marriage” as a right in all fifty states (Obergefell v. Hodges, 2015), the leadership of the Oceanside United Reformed Church is compelled to speak the truth of the Word of God in love.
We call upon you, leaders of our government—Mr. President, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker of the House Boehner, and Chief Justice John Roberts—to repent of approving same-sex “marriage” and do all in your power to repeal it.
We appeal to you to take up the Word of God, which describes your duties and responsibilities. In your ideal capacity, you are foster fathers and nursing mothers to the church. As such fathers and mothers, we have a deep honor for your persons and positions of office. Into such high offices God himself has instituted you over this nation as his servants for good and as punishers of wrongdoers. Because your task is so weighty, God commands us to offer for you constant “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.”
Our prayers for you are in the same vein as Tertullian (155–240) once wrote of Christian prayer for the Roman Emperor, whom persecuted Christians:
Looking up to Him, we Christians—with hands extended, because they are harmless, with head bare because we are not ashamed, without a prayer leader because we pray from the heart—constantly beseech Him on behalf of all emperors. We ask for them long life, undisturbed power, security at home, brave armies, a faithful Senate, an upright people, a peaceful world, and everything for which a man or Caesar prays.
We pray the words of Jesus for you: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And our prayer for our entire nation is Jesus’ as well, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Why are we calling on you to repent and to repeal same-sex “marriage?”
The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in his Word “from the beginning” of creation God is the author of marriage, having created humanity and having “made them male and female.” Our Lord affirms, therefore, that from beginning to end, the Bible has a clear and consistent teaching about marriage: marriage is a faithful lifelong union of one man and one woman.
We read in the beginning: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Having created the human race as male and female, God commanded this male and this female to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Because it was “not good that the man should be alone,” God said, “I will make him a helper fit for him.” And in giving this one woman to this one man, he brought them together into a faithful and lifelong union: “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Jesus re-affirmed this creational structure of marriage, saying, “‘from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” AquilaReport
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"A Statement on Marriage From Oceanside United Reformed Church to the U.S. Government
A Statement on Marriage to the Government of the United States of America from the Consistory (pastor and elders) of the Oceanside United Reformed Church in Carlsbad, California.
August 4th in the year of our Lord 2015“In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”—the one true God whom alone is “King of kings and Lord of lords” over all nations;
from whom all
executive,
legislative,
and judicial power comes;
whose kingdom already came,
is coming,
In the long history of God’s people there have been occasions when they have been called upon to speak to their civil rulers. The church, as the primary manifestation of the kingdom of God, is the place from which Almighty God speaks to not only his peculiar people, but to all peoples everywhere—including civil governments.
It is not the calling of the institutional church, whether local or universal, to legislate as civil representatives, interpret legislation as civil judges, or apply legislation as civil executives.
We call upon you, leaders of our government—Mr. President, Senate Majority Leader McConnell, Speaker of the House Boehner, and Chief Justice John Roberts—to repent of approving same-sex “marriage” and do all in your power to repeal it.
We appeal to you to take up the Word of God, which describes your duties and responsibilities. In your ideal capacity, you are foster fathers and nursing mothers to the church. As such fathers and mothers, we have a deep honor for your persons and positions of office. Into such high offices God himself has instituted you over this nation as his servants for good and as punishers of wrongdoers. Because your task is so weighty, God commands us to offer for you constant “supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings.”
Our prayers for you are in the same vein as Tertullian (155–240) once wrote of Christian prayer for the Roman Emperor, whom persecuted Christians:
Looking up to Him, we Christians—with hands extended, because they are harmless, with head bare because we are not ashamed, without a prayer leader because we pray from the heart—constantly beseech Him on behalf of all emperors. We ask for them long life, undisturbed power, security at home, brave armies, a faithful Senate, an upright people, a peaceful world, and everything for which a man or Caesar prays.
We pray the words of Jesus for you: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And our prayer for our entire nation is Jesus’ as well, “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
Why are we calling on you to repent and to repeal same-sex “marriage?”
The Lord Jesus Christ teaches us in his Word “from the beginning” of creation God is the author of marriage, having created humanity and having “made them male and female.” Our Lord affirms, therefore, that from beginning to end, the Bible has a clear and consistent teaching about marriage: marriage is a faithful lifelong union of one man and one woman.
We read in the beginning: “God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” Having created the human race as male and female, God commanded this male and this female to “be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” Because it was “not good that the man should be alone,” God said, “I will make him a helper fit for him.” And in giving this one woman to this one man, he brought them together into a faithful and lifelong union: “a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”
Jesus re-affirmed this creational structure of marriage, saying, “‘from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” AquilaReport
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said,
We ought to obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:29
