Unintended Consequences

According Ryan Anderson and Andrew Walker,

"Until Tuesday, no state had redefined marriage by popular vote. Indeed, 32 out of 32 states that put the issue to a vote defined marriage as a union of a man and a woman. But in this week’s election, citizens in Maine, Maryland, and Washington State all passed ballot initiatives redefining marriage to include same-sex relationships. Meanwhile, citizens in Minnesota failed to pass a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a man and woman. (It remains so defined, however, by statutory law.)"

(http://blog.heritage.org/2012/11/08/how-marriage-fared-in-the-2012-election/?utm_medium=newsletter&utm_campaign=culturewatch)

I guess the silence of America's pulpits regarding marriage and the Word of God paid off for those who are attempting to change the legal definition of marriage in America. 

The failure of pastors to share the whole counsel of God regarding the Christian and their civic responsibility also contributed to almost 30 million evangelicals not voting on November 6, and of those that did over 6 million voted for President Obama who supported the ballot initiatives in the three states that voted to legalize same-sex "marriage."

Did your pastor help prepare you for the issues confronting you and our nation in the November 6 election? Did you hear an exposition and application of the numerous biblical texts that address the Christian's civic responsibility and the critical moral issues that were tied to virtually every vote you made?

The prophet Isaiah said, "Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray." (Isaiah 9:16) The unintended consequence of silence?

Silence is a failure to lead. Can you imagine Moses or Isaiah, Jeremiah or the Apostle Paul, remaining silent in the face of evil that threatened their people?

The Apostle Paul instructed the church at Ephesus with these words,

8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) 10 and find out what pleases the Lord. 11 Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them. 12 It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. 13 But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light. 14 This is why it is said: “Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” (Ephesians 5;8-14 NIV)

If every pastor in America had followed the Apostle Paul's admonition in Ephesians 5:8-12, their people might have been  biblically instructed how to "live as children of light...find out what pleases the Lord" and "have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, rather expose them" at the ballot box on November 6.  

Silence can have unintended consequences. I'm not sure the silent preachers of America anticipated this one.