Their next goal: Put Christian 'bigots' in jail

A few years ago, while talking with a leading Christian attorney, I repeated to him my statement that those who came out of the closet want to put us in the closet. He remarked, "There's one more step. In the beginning, they were put in jail for their actions. In the future, we'll be put in jail for ours."

Shortly after our conversation, I was on Christian TV and quoted his words, and the response from some gay activists and their allies was almost hysterical, mocking the idea that there could be any scenario in which Christians would be put in jail for refusing to affirm gay activism.

Today, in the aftermath of the disastrous Supreme Court ruling, people are starting to clamor for that very thing.

Is this really any surprise?

Writing in 2007 with reference to LGBT activist goals in ENDA (the Employment Non-Discrimination Act), New Testament scholar Robert Gagnon warned, "The bill will virtually codify you as a bigot so far as the federal government is concerned if you oppose homosexual practice on moral grounds. The biggest fallout from the bill is the establishment of 'sexual orientation' (defined as 'homosexuality, heterosexuality, or bisexuality') as a specially protected category of federal law. As sure as night follows day, this will be the proverbial foot in the door by proponents of homosexual practice that will lead, eventually but irrevocably, to 'gay marriage' (mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court), a nationally enforced indoctrination of children into the homosexualist agenda in schools and the criminalizing of opposition to homosexual practice at the national level."

How eerily prophetic do these words sound now?

Four years earlier, in 2003, Christian attorneys Alan Sears and Craig Osten published their important book "The Homosexual Agenda: Exposing the Principal Threat to Religious Freedom Today," making their case with example after example from the courts. And I remind you: This was in 2003.

Why did so few of us pay attention? The handwriting has been on the wall for years.

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No sooner, then, was the court's decision announced last week than I began to receive tweets like this: "MOVE TO THE MOON, RELIGIOUS TERRORIST AND HATER," followed immediately by, "Christian hater riffraff like @DrMichaelLBrown @PeterLaBarbera @BryanJFischer must be brought to justice … zero tolerance for this scum."

Another individual commented on one of our Facebook posts (that talked about God's design for marriage), "God's design for Christian haters is to end up in prison."

These sentiments are rising like a tidal wave, as many Americans now think it is open season on Christians and Christian beliefs, as if the Supreme Court's reckless and lawless decision is the final word and as if all those who oppose the court's new definition of marriage should be punished by the law as bigots.

Already, Mark Oppenheimer, who writes the biweekly "Beliefs" column for the New York Times, has penned an op-ed piece for Time magazine titled, "Now's the Time To End Tax Exemptions for Religious Institutions." He argues that, "The Supreme Court's ruling on gay marriage makes it clearer than ever that the government shouldn't be subsidizing religion and non-profits."

To repeat my question: Is anyone really surprised? Conservative leaders have been warning about this for years now, and the only surprise is that anyone is surprised.

There's no question that believers across America are waking up and that leaders who have been reluctant to take a stand are beginning to raise their voices. But there's the real possibility that, once the outrage passes, we will fall back into our comfortable complacency, in which case we will have no one to blame but ourselves when the worst-case scenario unfolds.

In my new book, due out in September, I explain why I believe gay activism has within itself the seeds of self-destruction, and I lay out eight principles by which we can outlast the gay revolution.

That's just one reason why personally I am overflowing with confidence in the Lord in the midst of the darkness and chaos: It is a dark day today, yet it is not the last day.

But am I sobered by the moment, and to my fellow believers I say this: If you're still slumbering, wake up. And if you're awake and alert, give yourselves to prayer, determine not to compromise, reach out to all people with love and prepare for a protracted battle.

The coming onslaught will be intense.

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