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Georgia's State Attorney General, Samuel Owens, has ordered a pastor---Dr. Eric Walsh, to "Please produce a copy of your sermon notes and/or transcripts."
Pastor Walsh says, "No government has the right to require a pastor to turn over his sermons."
He says he will not comply.
In an unrelated, but linked incident, hacked emails are showing that President Obama's folks have purposely identified Christians so they would not be hired for federal jobs.
Yes, Virginia, there is a war on biblical Christianity and those who practice it.
Dr. Walsh, a Seventh Day Adventist lay minister, is now suing the Georgia Department of Public Health for religious discrimination.
The state A/G is demanding he turn over his sermons---he says, "No government has the right to require a pastor to turn over his sermons. I cannot and will not give up my sermons unless I am forced to do so."
Dr. Walsh had been hired in May 2014 by the state as a District Health Director.
A week later, a government official asked him to submit copies of his sermons for review. He complied and 2 days later he was fired.
The government was curious about sermons Dr. Walsh delivered on health, marriage, sexuality, world religions, science, and creationism.
He had also preached on what the Bible teaches on homosexuality.
Dr. Walsh has now filed a law suit and is represented by the Christian firm First Liberty. They are charging state officials with engaging in religious discrimination.
First Liberty attorney Jeremy Dys says, "If the government is allowed to fire someone over what he said in his sermons, they can come after any of us for our beliefs on anything."
He says, "It's an incredible intrusion on the sanctity of the pulpit. This is probably the most invasive reach into the pulpit by the state I've seen."
Dys says the request, which carries the same force of law as a subpoena, came as part of the process to build their case against Pastor Walsh.
"Pastors and rabbis across the country---especially in the state of Georgia should be frightened that a state would demand all the sermon notes and transcripts of a pastor," Dys says. "It's unprecedented."
It is. Most of us recall the Houston lesbian mayor who attempted to confiscate all pastor's sermons on what the Bible says about homosexuality---which ultimately backfired on her. This is a step beyond the activist mayor, to where the state itself is taking action.
Talk about overreach. The state is asking for all his sermons and sermon notes going back to when he was 18 years old.
Tony Perkins of Family Research Center says, "This is something that I would have expected to see in a communist country, not America. Government scrutiny of speech in the pulpit is unconstitutional and unconscionable."
He is asking Gov. Nathan Deal, a Republican, to "correct this egregious overreach of the state into the affairs of the church."
While Deal says he is a committed Christian, he miserably failed to stand with Christians and conservatives on the trans-sexual bathroom insanity. He caved to homosexual pressure.
And that's what this is about. Homosexual activism.
Dr. Walsh was catapulted into the national spotlight in 2014 when he was asked to deliver the 2014 commencement address at Pasadena City College in California.
At the time Walsh came under fierce scrutiny from LGBTQ activists after someone found online copies of sermons---some which were from the first chapter of Romans.
He declined to keep the speaking engagement---but activists persisted and finally were able to force him to resign his post.
Shortly afterward, he applied for the position in Georgia.
Dr. Emir Caner, president of Truett-McConnell University, a Christian school based in Cleveland, Georgia says, "A new era has come to our shores, a time where the government finds it acceptable to suppress the freedom of religion even to the extent of requesting a minister's sermons."
"As an ordained minister, I know that this is not merely an assault on the messenger, but on the very message of our Sacred Scriptures," he said.
"What the government fails to recognize is that ministers of the Gospel are not hirelings of the state, but ambassadors for our Lord," he said.
Dr. Caner correctly noted that the government seems to exclusively target one faith---biblical Christianity.
In an unrelated, but linked revelation, hacked John Podesta emails reveal that when he served as head of President Obama's transition team---he is now Hillary's campaign chairman---he kept lists of Muslims to be considered for jobs in the Obama administration.
According to one email chain, he kept lists of Muslims and Asians for hiring, while Middle East Christians were purposefully excluded---simply because they were Christians.
Podesta's aid wrote, "Many Lebanese Americans, for example, are Christian. In the last list (of outside boards/commissions), most who are listed appear to be Muslim American, except that a handful (where noted) may be Arab American but of uncertain religion (esp. Christian)."
The emails explain that a good number of the Muslims Obama wanted to hire would not survive vetting, because of "blogger criticism."
Within the lists themselves, the job candidates were further broken down, with every candidate labeled by their nationality and sometimes race.
The Daily Caller reports, "This follows a pattern of the Obama Administration using race and religion to determine hiring, with other leaked emails showing potential political appointees being labeled with an F for female, B for black, H for Hispanic, and M for Muslim."
This is a snapshot of what social engineering looks like as it seeps out of the Oval Office across our national landscape.
It is also one more picture of how biblical Christians are viewed by secular progressives.
Tony Perkins is right. One would expect to see this in a communist country---but not in America.
Dr. Caner is right as well. "The government seems to exclusively target one faith---biblical Christianity."
I'm reminded of Psalm 27: "The Lord is my Light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid?...When the wicked came against me, My enemies and foes, They stumbled and fell."
Dr. David Jeremiah is right as well as he explains how he and his wife decided who to vote for on Nov. 8---and is calling on all Christians also make their decision---and vote.
In a statement earlier this year, he said this is an "election that is pulling at the very soul of our nation."
"America is facing a judicial time bomb the likes of which we have never seen before," he said.
Dr. Jeremiah explained that while all the issues are important the appointees to the Supreme Court is about the heart and soul of our nation. He said, "Supreme Court Justices who sit on the bench for life wield more power than most kings and dictators in this world."
He said, "Justices who do not embrace an originalist interpretation [of the Constitution] are like those who do not adhere to the divine inspiration of the Bible."
He noted that in 2012, 25 million self-defined evangelicals---who were registered to vote---did not take the time to do it---and Obama won by less than 5 million votes.
He is urging all Christians to vote for the person you think will make the best Supreme Court nominees---"you must vote," he says.
The nationally known pastor says, "Donna and I have made our decision. If you care about the freedoms we celebrate, you must make yours."
Be Prayerful. Be Active. Vote.