Recap
December 3, 2023
News was breaking about a satanic altar that had been placed in the State Capitol building in Des Moines. Some of the first conversations centered around the current culture’s understanding of freedom of speech and religious expression, and whether a response would just give undeserved attention to Satan. After prayerful thought, I decided two things. 1) Letting the display go unchallenged would amount to giving Satan equal religious standing with God, and 2) silence would only be tacit consent to the blasphemy that was being displayed in the Capitol.
December 8, 2023
English author Edward Bulwer-Lytton said in 1839, “The pen is mightier than the sword.” Therefore, I sent out my first letter (Part I) on this issue entitled Honoring God in the Capitol, calling for the removal of the alter and legislation to prevent it from happening again. The article garnered a significant level of attention and support.
December 19, 2023.
On this date, the second letter on this issue (Part II), Reversing Slow Surrender, went out. Part II addressed some of the feedback from the first letter and primarily focused on the mentality of our founders showing that today’s understanding of separation of church and state and freedom of religious expression is a “tortured and twisted interpretation of the First Amendment.”
Current Action
January 8, 2024
The 2024 Legislative session convened, and I began the task of crafting a bill to address the satanic display issue. How to address this issue legislatively was a challenge but after asking God for guidance, the bill took shape, and the rough text was submitted to the Legislative Services Agency who put it in the proper format.
February 5, 2024
I filed the bill in the House and Senator Sandy Salmon filed a companion bill in the Senate. At this point we are waiting for processing and committee assignments. I have included the full text of the draft below.
Wake-up Call
The satanic alter that was in the Capitol Building should be a wake-up call to all who name the name of Christ. But if anyone needs more awakening, the advertisement for “After School Satan Clubs” should provide a needed jolt. This ad is for a Satan club in Moline is the same organization, The Satanic Temple, that placed the alter in the Iowa Capitol last December. According to Wikipedia, the Satanic Temple is pursuing these after school clubs in 9 other states as well as Washington, D.C.
A Normalization Campaign
The Satanic Temple claims to reject the idea that Satan is a spiritual or supernatural being but embraces Satan as a metaphorical symbol of the “eternal rebel” in opposition to what they would deem arbitrary authority or tyranny. They claim on their website that Satan is a symbol of an “unbowed will.” They also claim not to promote any religious ideology or seek to convert anyone to a religious belief, but their own statements perfectly describe the religion of humanism. Humanism is a term that can be defined as placing man’s will above God’s, and that is how Jesus Christ defined satanism.
When Jesus revealed to His disciples that it was the will of God for Him to be crucified, Peter disagreed and voiced his own will against the will of God saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” This prompted a reply from Jesus which defines satanism.
He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.” (Matt 16:23)
From this, I conclude that “after school Satan clubs” are stumbling blocks to children. They are deceptive satanic grooming operations that are designed to normalize and legitimize the idea of Satan and open the door to deeper levels of satanism. Make no mistake, Satan is real, and he is coming after our children.
Bad Legal Precedent
Unfortunately, after school Satan clubs have recently been successful in court. In 2023, a Pennsylvania School was ordered by a federal court to allow The Satanic Temple to conduct an after school Satan club on its campus. But it wasn’t always this way. As mentioned in Reversing Slow Surrender, the courts commonly upheld laws prohibiting blasphemy against the Lord and Savior until the middle 1900’s. Even more recently, in 1977, Pennsylvania enacted a law banning the use of blasphemous language in business names and that law was upheld until 2010.
History makes it clear that our founders would not have stood for after school Satan clubs, nor would they have allowed a satanic alter to be erected in the Capitol building. They knew that the favor of God was necessary for a successful nation. Noah Webster, the father of American education said, “No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intending to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.” So, what has changed?
Paradigm Shift
In the last 50 years, our nation has experienced a paradigm shift that moved us away from our spiritual foundations. As a result of this shift, those who claim to be God’s people have operated as if the public debate on religious matters was to be carried out from a position of neutrality and we should not seek to elevate the Christian religion above others, especially in a way that would influence public policy. In doing so, we have agreed with the pluralistic view that all religions are equal and have embraced the humanistic philosophy that the standard for truth is “what I choose to believe.” We must remember that Jesus Christ said: “I am the way, the truth and the life.” We don’t get to define truth and neither does a lawyer wearing a black robe, God does.
Just as we have seen a paradigm shift away from our spiritual foundations, we will see a paradigm shift back to the godly foundations that produced the freedoms we have enjoyed. But we won’t just wake up one morning to learn that a paradigm shift happened overnight, and everything is good. It will require a mighty outpouring of God’s power to change the culture –and that will require unrelenting Holy Spirit led prayers, bold declarations in every sphere of society, and an unwavering stand in the face of evil.
In conclusion to this piece, I want to again clarify, as explained in previous articles, that true Christians do not advocate for a theocracy or any attempt to force others to accept Christianity. The inner conscience, a person’s heart, cannot be changed through legislation or outward laws. God has given every human being the gift of free will and I will defend this freedom of conscience for all people. Though certain moral principles must be legislated and enforced to maintain an orderly society, the founders also gave us the 4th Amendment to protect privacy. One may have private thoughts or effects that go against man’s law, but civil government is not to violate a person’s privacy if no harm has been done to others or to society. We all need some space to search for truth.
Your Help Needed
There are hundreds of bills introduced in the state legislature and it is impossible for all of them to garner public attention. However, the importance of raising public awareness on this issue cannot be overstated. Regardless of what the courts might say on banning satanic practice on public property, those who name the name of Christ must engage this battle until Satan and satanism is pushed back into the shadows of shame and public rejection. Please let your legislators know through emails, calls, etc. that you support Representative Sherman’s HF 2370, and its companion bill, Senator Salmon’s SF 2210.
Thank you Pastor Sherman!