This statement accompanies and expands upon the pamphlet that abolitionists are distributing to Oklahoma churchgoers in the aftermath of the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary.


WHEREAS, all people everywhere are commanded to repent toward, place their faith in, and obey the Lord Jesus Christ in all things (Matthew 28:19-20; Acts 17:30; 1 Corinthians 10:31);

WHEREAS, one of the two greatest commandments is to love one’s neighbor as oneself (Matthew 22:36-40);

WHEREAS, a person who holds government office is to obey the Lord Jesus in all things, including the execution of the duties of his office (Colossians 3:23; 1 Peter 2:12, 4:10-11) and every officer of the government is under obligation to love his neighbor and rescue his neighbor from death even if that loving action be against the law of man (Proverbs 24:10-12, 31:8-9; Acts 5:29);

WHEREAS, God pronounces woeful judgment on those who enact unrighteous decrees to deprive the needy of justice, and to oppress the poor, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless (Isaiah 10:1-2);

WHEREAS, the elective process of a democratic republic such as the modern United States gives every citizen a participation in decreeing legal statutes;

WHEREAS, to support a candidate for governor of the state of Oklahoma who would explicitly and directly oppose the legalized murder of more than 7,000 children per year, and in so doing NEITHER deprive the needy of justice NOR rob the fatherless, is a righteous participation in the democratic process (Psalm 82:1-4);

WHEREAS, to support a candidate who DOES support unrighteous decrees and who refuses to enforce justice to the needy and fatherless, is sin (Psalm 2; Matthew 18:1-7);

WHEREAS, because to fail to do the right thing one knows to do, to him it is sin (James 4:17);

WHEREAS, to fail to support a candidate who explicitly orients his platform toward establishing justice for the needy and fatherless, is a neglect of one’s duty (Exodus 23:1-2; Proverbs 21:15; Matthew 7:12);

WHEREAS, to fail to shepherd others toward fulfilling their duty is sinful neglect (Leviticus 19:15; Isaiah 58; Colossians 3:16);

WHEREAS, God commanded and established, in the Mosaic Law, the practices of performing sacrifices, giving offerings, burning sacred incense, celebrating feasts and fasts, convoking solemn assemblies, singing songs of praise, and praying, for the people of God to respect and carry out;

WHEREAS, the people of God looking back upon rather than forward to the sacrificial and atoning death of the Lamb of God, the Messiah, are commanded to offer their own sacrifices, of praise and a redeemed life lived in service to God and neighbor, to assemble, to sing, and to pray, corresponding to the New Testament doctrine that we worship in spirit and truth (John 4:24; Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 7:11-28);

WHEREAS, God expressed hatred of the offering of sacrifice, incense, song, and prayer and of solemn assembly where no effort had been expended toward the establishment of justice and mercy, and indeed considered such activities a “trampling of (His) courts” carried out by “people of Sodom” (Isaiah 1:2-28; Amos 5:12-24, Micah 6:6-8);

WHEREAS, God has in no respect and in no place rescinded His expression of hatred for outward religious ceremonies, rituals, and rites where justice is not established (Hosea 6:6; Matthew 9:13, 12:7, 24:35; Hebrews 13:8);

WHEREAS, the churches of Oklahoma had recently the opportunity to take part in the righteous campaign of a righteous candidate — Dan Fisher — who, if elected, would have bent all efforts toward the total and immediate abolition of human abortion in the state, and virtually none of them supported that candidate in virtually any respect;

WHEREAS, funding a few dozen crisis pregnancy centers and donating money to incrementalist pro-life lobbying groups that do NOT support righteous decrees (immediate and total abolition) but instead support unrighteous ones (incrementalist bills that enshrine in law circumstances under which a person is legally permitted to kill her baby), is woefully inadequate to address the blood of 7,000 children massacred annually in Oklahoma;

WHEREAS, virtually no other acts of regular public remonstrance against legalized child sacrifice such as tracting, open-air preaching, protest, picketing, or sidewalk counseling at the state’s surgical abortion facilities, vendors of Plan B, and in-vitro fertilization clinics are in evidence (Proverbs 24:11-12, 31:8-9; Isaiah 58; Jonah 3:1-5; Amos 5:10; Matthew 3:1-2; Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3, 9:5-7; Acts 8:6-8, 13:44-52);

THEREFORE, because of the ongoing toleration of child sacrifice, we maintain that
–the churches of Oklahoma are guilty of sharing in the bloodguilt on our state (Deuteronomy 21:1-9)
–God hates the worship that virtually all churchgoing people, whether regenerate or unregenerate, perform (in Sunday services, for example) (Isaiah 1:2-28; Amos 5:12-24)
–judgment shall plausibly soon begin with the household of God (1 Peter 4:17)
–public, urgent, and virtually unrestricted non-violent exhortations to immediate repentance are not only warranted but in fact enjoined as duty upon all (Isaiah 58; Jeremiah 7; James 1:27, 4:17)
–those who find themselves exhorted in the same way are duty-bound to repent and to bear fruit in keeping with repentance and love their brethren by engaging in the same activities (Matthew 3:8; Luke 3:8).

————–
This statement prepared and propagated by the Abolitionist Society of Tulsa et al.