Volume 17 Issue 4
Prima facie: “as it seems at first sight”
In certain types of court cases, the opening is referred to as the ‘prima facie’. The case is stated. The facts and circumstances are presented in relationship to the issue at hand.
The “stating of the case” may ultimately be taken as the truth if left unchallenged. This is therefore an important moment. A good defense attorney must be fully prepared to boldly challenge any misrepresentations. He must let nothing stand that will injure his client. If something is stated that is not true, the defense needs to clearly point this out. Unchallenged, the error may be assumed to be true, and in time, with regard to a specific case, may actually stand as the truth.
For that reason, we too must find the courage to speak out. Our society is becoming ever more determined to state its case against sexual morality and Christian principles. If the church fails to speak out against these lies, it is possible that our younger generation will accept them as truth since no one said anything in rebuttal.
The danger of ‘political correctness’ is that it leaves immorality and evil unchallenged. When prophets, preachers, politicians, educators and parents fail to denounce the sins of our society, then how can our children make a judgment? We know that not everyone will do right; but people deserve to know that when they sin it is a sin, and that such behavior has negative consequences.
Allegorically speaking, America is living in Daniel chapter 5. Belshazzar is drunk. The people worship the gods of gold. There is much carnival and little character. Nothing is tempered. The feast is on, the style is grand, and thousands of lords are in attendance. The celebration is about their own deity. So over-confident are they that all decorum and authority is abandoned when the women, concubines and servants are brought in join the party. With drunken lips they denounce all things holy by drinking from the vessels of the house of Jehovah, which were brought to the party specifically for desecration.
The drunken leader and his lords, egged on by an entourage of party loving citizens, do not see the hordes of bloodthirsty armies moving toward the gate, waiting, waiting, for a soft moment to take down Belshazzar’s mighty kingdom. The clock is ticking; the wine flows; the moment is near.
Security never crosses the mind of Belshazzar. Befuddled by wine and ego, he never considers the warnings. He’s young. He did not build the kingdom. He’s a profiteer, a party animal. He reposes in a palace build with someone else’s blood.
Then, in the middle of the feast, come forth the fingers of a man’s hand, writing on the wall. The fear that grips Belshazzar is so deep that the king’s joints are loosed and his knees “smote one against another.”
Belzhazzar makes his case, his prima facie, the moment he sends for the vessels of the House of Jehovah. He is saying in effect, “there is no truth to this God thing; and who are these foolish Hebrews anyway?” This attitude is the “full cup of iniquity.” (Gen.15: 16). It is a falsehood that cannot be allowed to stand. The righteous and Holy God arises. Mercy yields to judgment, and God writes judgment on the wall. Truth cannot be silenced.
Enter the preacher. Daniel seeks no gifts, he knows the secrets and he has a sermon. He comes to the party to make a rebuttal. To say, “What we have here is a lie, a failure, a breach of serious consequences.” Daniel will not let a lie be told without a challenge.
Daniel’s sermon (Daniel chapter 5) should be preached to America. It is completely relevant. With drunken lips America advocates a lifestyle based on lie after lie. Technology and modern life dazzles the minds of our youth with its music, movies, Internet, and television, all pouring out a flood of anti-God, anti-moral garbage. There is little rebuttal. Will we permit the lies to stand? Is there no defense? What is to be so admired about the immoral life, that we should remain silent? What is so horrible about holiness that we turn from it with such disdain?
The world says, “homosexuality is as natural and normal as any other life style.” That’s their opening, their ‘prima facie’ it would seem; it’s delivered in every movie, song, political speech, and classroom lecture; and in far too many pulpits. Please, is there not a preacher in the house? Is there not someone who knows that the “days are numbered” concerning such abominations?
The Medes and the Persians are at the Gate.
