A warning voice to the United States

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that California's Proposition 8 (the voter-approved measure that outlawed gay-marriage there in 2008) was unconstitutional on the grounds that it "lessen[ed] the status and human dignity of gays and lesbians in California" (Michael De Groote, "Reaction swift to latest Prop. 8 ruling", Deseret News, Wednesday 8 February 2012, A1).  In view of the above statement made by Judge Stephen Reinhardt of the 9th Circuit, The Mormon Eagle feels to raise a warning voice to the people of the United States at large concerning the decrees of God on the subject of homosexual activity, and the fate of the United States of America if she does not keep the commandments of God as revealed through ancient and modern Prophets and Apostles.

Homosexual Activity Wrong

The Eagle must first here state that God views all individuals as His children, and has an infinite love for them.  However, He has given commandments through His Prophets against certain actions, homosexual activity being one of them.


The Lord said through His servant Moses, "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination" (Lev. 18:22).  1,500 years later, the Apostle Paul taught, "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet" (Romans 1:26-27).  The Apostle Jude taught, "Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 1:7).  Lastly, President Boyd K. Packer explained that "there are those today who not only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that would legalize immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God’s laws and nature. . . . To legalize that which is basically wrong or evil will not prevent the pain and penalties that will follow as surely as night follows day" ("Cleansing the Inner Vessel", October 2010 General Conference).

Now, before one calls me a bigot, I must here state that I am not a bigot.  I try to love all people, no matter their sexual orientation, for that is what the Savior Jesus Christ did.  However, my stating what Prophets and Apostles in both past and current dispensations have said does not make me a bigot.  One is free to do as he will, but neither he nor the United States can escape the consequences, both here and in the hereafter.

Fate of the United States on her present course

The United States of America faces a dreadful fate if she continues rejecting the words of God's Prophets and Apostles.  The Prophet Moroni taught, "And thus the Lord did pour out his blessings upon this land, which was choice above all other lands; and he commanded that whoso should possess the land should possess it unto the Lord, or they should be destroyed when they were ripened in iniquity; for upon such, saith the Lord: I will pour out the fulness of my wrath" (Ether 9:20).  Elder Mark E. Petersen warned that "no people can fight God and live!  Every nation will feel a chastening hand if it turns its back upon the Ruler of Heaven and violates his eternal precepts" ("O America, America", October 1979 General Conference).  President George A. Smith gave the most stern warning of all.  Said he, "When God has a Prophet on the earth, and that Prophet tells the people what to do, and they neglect to do it, they must suffer for it.  I bear witness before you, this day, in the name of the Lord God of Israel, that no people can treat lightly the sayings of a Prophet of God, whom He places on the earth to direct His people, and prosper. I know it is impossible" (Journal of Discourses 1:193).  President Brigham Young said of America and the Civil War, "If [the United States] had hearkened to the counsel of [the Prophet Joseph Smith], this nation would have had no wars; there would have been no division in the Government, but it would have gone on in harmony and prosperity" (JD 12:120-121).

The actions of the people of the United States will turn to her destruction unless the people repent and follow the teachings of Jesus Christ as revealed through Joseph Smith the Prophet and currently taught by President Thomas S. Monson, the Lord's representative on Earth today.  I know this is hard to hear, but it is true.  In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Prop 8 supporters win California court ruling - Deseret News

The Eagle takes the following from the Friday 18 November 2011 issue of the Deseret News, found on pages A1 and A13:

SAN FRANCISCO — The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday that supporters of Prop 8 have the right to defend the ban on same-sex marriage in court.  The decision sends the case back to the federal appeals court to resolve the broader questions at the heart of the constitutional showdown.

Voters approved Proposition 8 in 2008, but California Gov. Jerry Brown and the state attorney general have declined to defend it in court.  Without anyone to defend it, both sides believed same-sex marriage activists would win their case and overturn Prop 8 by default.

Prop 8 supporters cheered the decision.

William Duncan, director of the Marriage Law Foundation, told the Deseret News it is important to understand that Thursday's decision is not about the constitutionality of gay marriage.  Rather it asserts government officials do not have the right to effectively veto laws they don't like.

"The Supreme Court of California has made what seems to be a simple decision...," he said, "that it is not fair to voters not to allow them to defend a law they approved."

The 2008 ballot initiative banned same-sex marriage in California, but was overturned in 2010 as unconstitutional by U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker.  Walker imposed a moratorium on same-sex marriages in the state while Prop 8 supporters appealed his ruling.

A panel of judges in the 9th Circuit Court requested a clarification from the state supreme court about whether proponents of a ballot have the legal standing to defend their proposition in court.   Thursday's decision established they do and clears the way for the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, and potentially the U.S. Supreme Court, to rule on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage.

In her opinion for the court, Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye said, "It is essential to the integrity of the initiative process … that there be someone to assert the state's interest in an initiative's validity on behalf of the people when the public officials who normally assert that interest decline to do so,"

In the 61-page opinion, the seven justices said denying ballot proposition backers a seat at the table would effectively grant the governor and attorney general veto power over initiatives with which they disagreed, a situation the justices said would undermine the law-making powers California gave voters in 1911.

"We are delighted that the Supreme Court has clearly reaffirmed our right, as the official proponents of Prop 8, to defend over seven million Californians who amended their own State Constitution to restore traditional marriage," Protect Marriage General Counsel Andy Pugno told the Associated Press.  "This victory is an enormous boost for Proposition 8 as well as the integrity of the initiative process itself."

But lawyers for the same-sex couples said they're ready for the 9th Circuit to rule on the legality of California's gay marriage ban.

"This frees up the 9th Circuit to go ahead and decide the constitutional issues on the merits," said Theodore Olson, former U.S. solicitor general during the George W. Bush administration, in an interview with the San Jose Mercury News.  "We're anxious to get to a decision on the merits that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional."

The 9th Circuit must still resolve the legal question of whether Proposition 8 sponsors have standing under federal court rules to press the appeal, but legal experts have generally predicted the court would allow the case to proceed if gay marriage opponents secured a favorable ruling from the California Supreme Court, particularly because the federal judges themselves said they would follow the state Supreme Court's guidance.  In fact, the lawyers for same-sex couples conceded Thursday the issue is probably dead in the 9th Circuit.