Amendment #1

TITLE: Amendment #1
DATE:  July 30, 2019
TEXT: Matthew 18:16-18- ESV -  But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed[f] in heaven.

Have you heard of SB 360?
Most people I know haven’t. Goodness, I hadn’t even heard of it until recently.

Sb360 stands for (California) Senate Bill 360. This was a bill which was introduced by Senator Hill on February 20, 2019. SB 360 had already passed the California Senate by a 30-4 vote. It then went to the Assembly's Public Safety Committee for consideration.

Now I know I have not told you the intent and purpose of SB360. That has been deliberate. I wanted to get some of the busy work done before I share that SB 360 was designed to have Clergy report all kinds of child abuse.

Now your pastor can tell you that he already has to do just that. If he knows, or even suspicions, something in a child’s personal life is wrong, the clergyman is required to take it to the authorities.

The only exception to that rule is when the Pastor or Priest receives that information as part of the process of Confession and Absolution. That’s because any time something is revealed in the Confessional, it must remain unshared. Period. No exceptions.

Unless SB 360 would have passed. In that case the exception of the Confessional would have been removed and the Clergy in such a situation would have to decide if they would obey God rather than man.
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It would appear that California was prepared to go head-to-head with the church. They were confident; they had a cause which made sense to the public and they didn’t have to say when other sins might be brought into the sphere of mandatory reporting.  
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It looked like a lost cause. It seemed as if there were no hope. That is until the Pacific Justice Institute–Center for Public Policy charged into the battle. The Pacific Justice Institute sent a long letter to the Assembly.

In that letter the Pacific Justice Institute said something like, ”Don’t know if any of you are acquainted with the Document known as the 1st Amendment to our Constitution. We bring it up because by its vote the California Senate has indicated they are unaware of said document. So, just as a refresher, here it is:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

On July 8th, the Public Safety Committee said the bill has some first Amendment concerns.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, it seems the battle between the Kingdoms of Power and Grace is beginning. Raise up leaders who will recognize Your laws as well as the laws of the land. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.,

The devotion for today was inspired by various recent news articles. For further reading you may wish to go to this address: https://onenewsnow.com/church/2019/07/11/horrific-bill-put-on-hold and the article written by .
The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann. He along with three of his brothers perform on the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html