Does God support capital punishment?

After the great flood where God destroys the human race in judgment, God makes a covenant with Noah and in this covenant, he says "....I will demand the life of any person who kills another person. Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, because in the image of God, God made humans." And then, God seals the covenant with a rainbow and says that this covenant is an everlasting covenant for all future generations (Genesis 9:4-6).

                                       Human Life is Sacred

Today, hundreds of years later, we are now an enlightened people; we have thrown off the restraints of God's laws and in our wisdom and sophistication as an educated people, we claim to value all life. But in reality, we are covenant-breakers and today we devalue life more than any other time in U.S. history:

The revered spotted owl

• Between 39-52 million unborn babies have been aborted here in the U.S. since 1973 (Roe v. Wade).
• We devalue life by our failure to enforce capital punishment. We live in a day when murderers and rapists spend less time in prison than a drug dealer.
• We care more about saving the life of a baby eagle, whale, dolphin, or spotted owl than with saving the life of an unborn child. As much as I love dogs and cats and have three rescued pets in my house, I'm afraid that we care more about abused and abandoned pets than we do about abused and abandoned children. It doesn't have to be and either-or proposition. We can care for both, but I fear we place greater concern on the well-being of endangered species when the most endangered species of all is the unborn child.

I used to be a strong proponent of capital punishment

For most of my life, I was an strong proponent of capital punishment. You often hear the phony argument that capital punishment is no deterrent to crime, but we'll never know because we seldom see capital punishment enacted. However, after reading the book, "The Innocent Man" by John Grisham, my faith and trust in the U.S. judicial system was turned on its head.

The accuser, Crystal Mangum and her accomplice,
Durham District Attorney, Mike Nifong

Around this same time, the 3 lacrosse players from Duke Univ. were accused of rape and judged by over 40 Duke professors as well as the administration to be guilty, even before the evidence was presented. We later learned that the District Attorney, Michael Nifong, had withheld evidence and testimony which would have exonerated  these young men. But sadly, we live in a day here in America where you are NO LONGER innocent until proven guilty, but now you are presumed to be GUILTY until you can prove your innocence. BTW, the North Carolina D.A., Michael  Nifong has been disbarred from ever practicing law. He got off easy. He should be behind bars.

Just an aside: I am personally amazed that parents would send their sons to Duke Univ. or any North Carolina school because there have been other instances of young men being railroaded into prison sentences on phony, trumped up charges. In all likelihood, a white college-age male  has a greater chance  of being incarcerated in North Carolina on phony charges than in Idaho, Montana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Utah, Nevada, etc.

I personally know of one young man who spent almost 10 yrs. in a North Carolina prison based on false testimony and lies and collusion between the so-called witnesses,  the prosecutor, the police and the alleged victim. Finally after spending all their money on lawyers, his parents eventually convinced a judge to re-open the case and upon further examination, the state "discovered" that there was NO hard evidence to convict this young man of rape, and that his accuser had a record of lying under oath.

It's a oxymoron to call oneself "pro-choice" because most who are "pro-choice" NEVER choose life for the unborn child. They usually endorse abortion, and yet at the same time, they don't support capital punshment, even in cases where there is undisputed DNA evidence.

God established the high value of human life when he made covenant with Noah, and that covenant is still in effect today. It hasn't gone "out of style." God says "Whoever sheds human blood, his blood shall also be shed." I can't see God giving a "pass" to Nazis who were complicit in the deaths of over 6 million Jews during the Holocaust. By that same token, I can't see God giving a "pass" to abortionists who are responsible for killing unborn children every single day. Here in America, we have conducted our own holocaust for the past 40 yrs. 

Isaiah 5:20-21 (GW)
20 How horrible it will be for those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness into light and light into darkness, who turn what is bitter into something sweet and what is sweet into something bitter.
21 How horrible it will be for those who think they are wise and consider themselves to be clever. 

The Rapture: Who's Really Left Behind?

As a young Jesus freak, I worked alongside Larry Norman at the Hollywood Free Paper. While he was singing "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" to throngs of young believers, I was drawing cartoons for the HFP where I depicted Christians being caught up in the air with Jesus. Those days are long gone, and Larry Norman is now with Jesus.Years later over dinner in a Toronto restaurant, Larry remarked to everyone else at our table that "we survived the Jesus movement." By that, he meant that our faith remained INTACT. We did not fall away or lose faith in our Lord.  But where is our blessed hope today? Does it reside in a pre-trib rapture, or in His Second Coming?

Dale Yancy in radio studio 1973

In perhaps the best-known teaching about the end times and the inspiration for Larry Norman's song (I Wish We'd All Been Ready),  in Matthew 24:37-44, Jesus describes his second coming: "...two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left." There is one key which unlocks our understanding of this passage and it is found in Matthew 24:37-39:

As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also shall the coming of the Son of Man be.

Twice in this passage, Jesus says the coming of the Son of Man will be "as it was in the days of Noah" (v. 37) and again, in case we missed it in v. 39. Anytime Jesus repeats himself, it's worth cleaning out your ears to listen carefully to what he is saying. Jesus here is talking about two groups of people: One is righteous Noah and by implication, his family; they are saved and they are not caught by surprise. The other is the unrighteous, who are described in Genesis 6:5 as wicked with every intent of their heart set upon doing evil. This group was caught by surprise. It was their wickedness that prompted the flood which came upon them and took them all away. The key to understanding this passage is "taken away." Who was taken away? The evil and wicked. Who was left behind? Righteous Noah and his family. We are told twice that the Second Coming of Jesus will happen just like this: Two men will be in the field; One will be taken and one will be left behind. Who is taken up? The wicked man. Who is left behind? The righteous man. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left behind. Who is taken? The wicked woman. Who is left behind? The righteous woman. This is the rapture as described by Jesus in Matthew 24. The wicked are taken away with no chance to experience the triumphant reign of Jesus here on earth at his Second Coming. Question to all those who teach the pre-trib rapture: Haven't you thought it strange that according to your belief system, unrighteous are here on the earth to greet Jesus at his second coming? Doesn't that seem strange? Do they all of a sudden get religion, or get a pass, and get to sit at the banqueting table with Jesus upon His return? Whereas, the rapture that is described in Matt. 24 removes the wicked from the earth prior to Christ's return.

In Luke 17:26-36, we have a different version of this teaching where Jesus twice speaks of two persons, only one of whom will be taken. Here Jesus refers not only to the flood but also to the story of Lot and the destruction of Sodom. In the story of Lot, the righteous are taken away from Sodom while only the ones left behind are destroyed. The important differences between Noah and Lot resides in the last day judgment referenced to in Matthew 24 in the account of Noah is a judgment on the whole earth. The Lot story is not about global judgment but only the judgment of two cities.

In my next post, I will finish this teaching with a look at 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 and how it is used as a proof text for the rapture. Does it really teach the disappearance of all the saints?

In closing, I have started reading a book by John Piper, "God is the Gospel." The Good News is NOT the rapture; it's not even that God loves me or you. The Good News is God Himself. That you and I can know Him and be known by Him. Our pursuit and blessed hope should not be the rapture, but God Himself. Knowing the Father as revealed by His Son, Jesus. That we could say along with David in Psalm 73:26, "God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Or as Paul writes in Philippians 3:8 (ESV) 
^8"Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ."

This is why we have been bought with a price. We have been called out of darkness into the light so that we might have a relationship with the Lord God Almighty. He is the Good News. Knowing Him and having Him is enough. What else is there?