Hello, I'm Terry Cheek. You're listening to Crisis and Concern for March 31st, 2017. Welcome to a program that addresses current events and their solutions as found within God's Word. Call your family, friends, and even church members. Tell them the latest Crisis and Concern podcast is posted for immediate download. at TheInspiringWord.org and we're also available on iTunes as The Inspiring Word Podcast. Today we will discuss the repeal of North Carolina HB2 and what this means for the state of North Carolina and America as a whole. To begin with, I want to read House Bill 142, which is the repeal. It is the bill that was passed in a knee-jerk reaction based upon the what I call extortion of the NCAA against the state of North Carolina and the love of money that many in this state have. And unfortunately, as we will talk about later as the broadcast goes on, There are many in the state of North Carolina that have shown their true colors when it comes to money, when it comes to sports and athletics and other things of that nature. But first, let's look at Bill HB 142 as it was drafted and as it was proposed and voted on yesterday. This is the third edition. dated March 30th, 2017 by the Committee Senate Rules and Operations of the Senate, introduced by Representatives Stevens and Jordan. And this is the analysis of the third edition. And by the way, I am reading this from a PDF that comes from the North Carolina legislative website. So this is an official document, and it is available for the public to look at as well, by the way. So, current law, SL 2016-3, made the following changes. required single-sex multiple occupancy bathrooms and changing facilities in public schools and public agencies. That is the first one. Notice required, required, single-sex, single-sex, not male and female, Single sex, multiple occupancy, more than one person at a time, bathrooms and changing facilities in public schools and public agencies. Number two. It superseded and preempted all local ordinances, regulations, resolutions, or policies imposing any requirement on employers pertaining to the compensation of employees with certain exceptions. 3. It prohibited cities and counties from requiring private contractors to abide by regulations or controls on employment practices. or mandating or prohibiting provisions of goods, services, or accommodations to any member of the public except as required by state law. It superseded and preempted any local ordinance, regulation, resolution, or policy that regulated or imposed any requirement on employers pertaining to the regulation of discriminatory practices in employment, and it created a state law pertaining to the discrimination in public accommodations and superseded and preempted any local ordinance, regulation, resolution, or policy that regulated or imposed any requirements pertaining to the regulation of discriminatory practices in a place of public accommodation. In short, Bill 142 replaces anything and supersedes anything that was already in place. Now, that opens a door for interpretation by whom. There is no interpretation. There is no means of interpreting what this means. So the state has backed itself into a corner where anyone who wants to sue the state and claim discrimination can sue the state. based on HB 142 or sue anyone else based on HB 142 and it would be left up to the discretion of a judge. from a judiciary system that has already shown it has no problem reaching beyond the limitations of the Constitution at the state or federal level and writing its own legislation in accordance with these bills. Now, under the bill analysis, it made the following changes. HB 2 would be repealed, and the new article would be created preempting state agencies, boards, offices, departments, institutions, branches of government, including the University of North Carolina, and the North Carolina Community College System, and political subdivisions of the state, including local boards of education, from regulating access to public occupancy restrooms, showers, or changing facilities, except in accordance with an Act of the General Assembly. In other words, no agency in the state, no local board of elections, Nothing like that can have any regulations capabilities in there that limit or put any policies or any safeguards in place for children or for ladies or for anyone else. Local governments would be prohibited from enacting or amending an ordinance regulating private employment practices or regulating public accommodations. Now, Governor Roy Cooper, I listened to his speech yesterday as he was talking about and boasting about how this was such a great step forward. And also I understood specifically, I heard him say that it was good but it wasn't good enough. The governor and the Democratic Party in the state of North Carolina is not just a sympathizer to a political action committee or something of that nature. They have embraced and they, for lack of a better word, they worship the LBGT movement. They worship the movement of the same-sex, transsexual agenda that is out there. They have so embraced it and they have become so much a part of it as a political party that it is ingrained in them. And they make no bones about it and have no arguments about pushing it and pressuring it, and doing everything that they possibly can to push this agenda into the point where it is not just creating an equal atmosphere or a level of equality. but it is actually gone to the point where it is indoctrinating children, indoctrinating even adults into an acceptance of this, even though a majority of us realize and understand the moral implications of what they are pushing and what they are pursuing. And yet, for some reason, in a state of North Carolina, where I'm broadcasting from right now, in a state where if you take a poll, 80% of the people will tell you they are Christian, yet at the same time, they would vote for a political party that is so immoral, that is so washed out of itself, that has absolutely no moral standings whatsoever with anything that it is doing, They're so out of touch with it. There's not words to describe it or to discuss it Why do we keep doing this? Why? The NCAA came out and they said it okay you will be you will be exempted from any look at any championship games Until what I think 2020, you know, if this doesn't get repealed and we're going to do this and we're going to do that. I So do it. Do it. God's Word asks the question, Jesus asks the question, what will a man give in exchange for his soul? What? A basketball game? A football game? What? What will we give? North Carolina, what will we give? America, what will we give? This doesn't, in and of itself, define a lost person. But what it does, it defines the depravity and the level of depravity that we find ourselves in today in the state of North Carolina and in this nation as a whole. We are inundated with sexual lust. We are inundated with it. It's pornography. It's prostitution. It's pedophilia. It is homosexuality, lesbianism, transsexual movements, and everything going on. We are obsessed with this in America. It drives us. It even drives some pastors. And on top of it, we are driven by the lust of money. Churches have to be, they have to have the beautiful architecture. Churches have to have the beautiful landscaping. Churches have to have the greatestness and the most valuable of that. But yet we have it at the expense of godly worship. And then, on the opposite side of the pendulum swing, you have a grossly disgusting practice of legalism in the church. Angry, bitter, militant, extremist legalism. Folks, church, we need to be on our face praying to God that the church can find revival in this mess, that the church can experience revival because only the true church has the right answer and that right answer is Jesus Christ. It isn't taking up arms. It isn't becoming a political militant activist. It isn't taking the church and using the church funds to support political movements. It is calling upon God to touch people's hearts. The best way, the only way to truly, to truly handle anything like this is to see a moving of God across this state into the hearts and the lives of those who are in the legislature. Those who are sitting and going to the voting booth and voting because the people that vote and approve this stuff, they get into office because folks like me put them there. Because folks like me, the voters, the common voter, we sympathize. We are for sale in too many cases. This is the reality of it. I'm not trying to browbeat anyone. I'm not trying to stir up argument or stir up antagonism. But what I want everyone listening to understand is the problem is in our living rooms. It is in our own individual hearts. If we want America to change, it has to begin with us. And lost person, those of you out there who may be listening to this and you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, it can't begin with you. It has to begin with the church. The church has to be falling upon its face and looking and seeking God and only God and only God's way and God's will, not some charismatic puppeteer not someone who has the right political connections with the most popular political party, not someone who has X number of books on the bestseller list, but God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We need revival. Real, honest-to-goodness revival. And our churches need to be revitalized to the point of seeking God's will. Not the accolades of the world, but God's will. What does God want from me? And how do I make that happen? Folks, a Bible-believing church, a Bible-believing, Bible-preaching pastor who is in love with God is the starting point. It's the starting point. Do we love God today? Do we really love him more than anything else? Do we love God more than we love basketball? Do we love God more than we love NASCAR? Do we love God more than we love football? Do we love God more than we love money? Do we love God more than anything? Do we love God enough to fall upon our face and repent ourselves? Because that's what it's going to take. That's what it's going to take. House Bill 142 is just the beginning. It is just the beginning. It isn't the end. This is the beginning that the LGBT movement will use to force and push many other changes through in this state. This is the beginning the devil will use to further corrupt and pervert the moral people that are left, our daughters, our granddaughters. Folks, this goes much deeper than just who can use the bathroom. Much deeper. The doors that this bill opens and leaves standing wide open are unprotected and are left open to the discretion of career-minded judges. who are at the mercy of whoever it is or whatever it is that's pulling the strings of their political affiliations and of their practices and whomever it is that influences them. We need to have God as the primary influence in this state and in this nation. Pray with me. Pray with me. And I'm going to close this broadcast in prayer. And I hope that you will bow in prayer with me as well. Heavenly Father and Lord God, I ask you to take the hearts and the lives of those who have went down the road of HB 142, who have repealed HB 2. God, I ask that you would convict them Heavenly Father, I pray for all of those who have gotten involved in this, all of those who have sold their birthright, to coin a phrase. Lord, I pray that you would forgive them, and I pray, Heavenly Father, you would forgive the church. Forgive the Christians for not being attached, for not being connected, for falling asleep. God help stir us. Begin with me. Keep me stirred, Heavenly Father, that I may keep others stirred. Heavenly Father, forgive me in the ways I have failed you and the ways I have permitted this to happen and take place in our state. And dear God, I pray for all of those who will stand with you and stand upon your word tonight. I pray that you would strengthen us. I pray, Heavenly Father, that you would undergird us. I pray, Heavenly Father, that you would encourage us. And dear God, I pray above all that you would save souls. Save souls. Help North Carolina. Help America, dear God. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. I hope this broadcast has been a blessing to your walk with the Lord. Our desire is to reach as many people as possible and to accomplish this. We need your help. By sharing our podcast and our website with others, you will help us share God's word around the world. 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