The brutal beating and subsequent death of Matthew Shepard has set the liberal media and the promoters of sexual perversion off on yet another frenzy of guilt mongering in hopes of shaming citizens of Wyoming and the rest of the nation into accepting the imposition of federal hate crime laws as well as state hate crime statutes where they are not in place already. In other words, the assault on Matthew Shepard is being used to launch yet another assault on one of the bulwarks of our liberty and system of jurisprudence, equal justice under the law. Hate crime laws are unconstitutional; and they conflict with the basis of all true law, the revealed law of "nature's God" which is the foundation of our Republic's political and legal institutions. You shall not show partiality in judgment (Deuteronomy 1:17).

All across America last week, men, women, and children were brutally murdered; yet it is the murder of Matthew Shepard which we will have recounted to us over and over for months to come because his death benefits those who would impose an ungodly, unjust system of government on America.

To listen to the chorus of voices crying for hate crime legislation, one would think such laws to be the panacea for all violence. The truth is, hate crimes have negligible effect in stopping the most violent of crimes. The two men who assaulted Matthew Shepard are facing murder and kidnapping charges. It is highly doubtful that the possibility of a hate crime charge would have deterred them from their murderous act. On the other hand, hate crime statutes do elevate one group of citizens above another and accord the elite group with a sort of title of nobility which aids greatly in the advancement of the group's agenda.

Whoever murdered Matthew Shepard should be executed as a murderer. Meanwhile, it should be remembered that the new saint of the "gay" world was a twenty-two-year-old man engaged in sexual perversion who was apparently cruising a bar for the purpose of finding a partner, or two, to commit vile acts which also violate the laws of "nature's God." One legitimate law, if enforced, which may have saved Mr. Shepard's life is a law against sodomy and other homosexual acts. But of course, that would be imposing our morality on others.

Since the death of Matthew Shepard, I have been interviewed by a number of media sources. Last Tuesday, for instance, I spent an hour defending our Biblical worldview on one of the most liberal talk shows in one of America's most liberal cities, the socialist city state of Madison, Wisconsin. During these heaven-sent opportunities to share truth, I have attempted, by the grace of God, to make a number of very important points regarding hate crimes, points which I would like to share with you:

1) The murder of Matthew Shepard is being shamelessly exploited to promote and justify grossly immoral, eternally unlawful sexual behavior. Victimization is one of the pillars of the sodomite agenda. Homosexual strategists have repeatedly revealed as much over and over. In an article titled, "The Overhauling of Straight America," which appeared in Guide Magazine, sodomites Marshall Kirk and Erastes Pill wrote, "Gays must be cast as victims in need of protection so that straights will be inclined by reflex to assume the role of protector."

The murder of Matthew Shepard is being used as a club to bludgeon Christians into either shameful silence or, at the very least, patronizing equivocation.

2) The murder of Matthew Shepard is being used to advance a corrupt political agenda. As one part of a multifaceted strategy to shove sexual perversion down America's throat, homosexuals and their comrades-in-arms have long striven to pass a federal hate crime statute, as well as state hate crime statutes in those states not yet having such laws on the books. Hate crime statutes are inherently unbiblical and unconstitutional.

This nation was founded upon, and meant to be forever governed by, the laws of nature and of nature's God, as made clear in our nation's charter the Declaration of Independence. America's founders and their predecessors defined those laws as God's creation law and His revealed law as found only in Holy Scripture.

Our founders mandated that all states admitted into the Union must also govern themselves under a republican form of government. In other words, states are to be under the rule of law, not under the rule of men; and that law is to be the laws of nature and of nature's God.

Hate crime statutes violate the revealed law of God. They are in violation first because they show partiality to one group of people over another. Deuteronomy 1:17 commands, "Ye shall not respect persons in judgment." Deuteronomy 16:19 warns, "Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons . . ."

The second chapter of James makes it clear that God is against unjust partiality. James 2:9 states, "but if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors."

Acts 10:34 tells us that God is no respecter of persons. In other words, He does not show partiality with regard to His mercy or His justice. Obviously, He expects us to follow His example when it comes to matters of law and justice.

Psalm 82:2 asks the question, "How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked?" Hate crime statutes not only show partiality to one group of people over another; but when applied to homosexuals, they also mandate partiality to a wicked group of people.

Hate crime statutes also violate God's revealed law because they judge the heart, and the civil government has neither the authority nor the ability to judge the heart. I Chronicles 29:17, Proverb 17:3, Jeremiah 11:20, and a number of other Scripture verses make it clear that it is God that "triest the heart." I Samuel 16:7 reveals that "the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart." Romans 13 makes it very clear that civil authorities are to punish evil actions, not thoughts of the heart.

So hate crime statutes, regardless of which groups are covered, violate the revealed law of nature's God; therefore they violate the U.S. Constitution and every state constitution as well.

Hate crime statutes make men unequal under the law. The foundational precept of our Republic, rooted in the Bible and delineated in our nation's charter, is that all men are created equal. This does not mean that all men are created equal physically or with regard to talent, intellect, social status, or economic condition. What this means is that all men are created with certain God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness—rights which governments of men have no authority to infringe upon.

If every man is equal, then every man must be treated equal under the law. Equality under the law is one of the bulwarks of our liberty and is at the core of a system of jurisprudence which has served this nation well up until recent times.

It is interesting to me that the same crowd who often uses the Fourteenth Amendment to bludgeon the states into accepting federal jurisdiction in any number of ways ignores the basic stated purpose of that amendment—to provide all persons "equal protection of the laws."

If there was one principle America's founders wanted enshrined into law, it was that the government would not be allowed to show preference to one citizen over another. Article 1, Section 9 of our U.S. Constitution forbids the granting of titles of nobility. What the founders had in mind here is more than just the simple granting of deferential labels to certain individuals. What they had in mind is the granting of government favors or special protection to certain individuals and groups of individuals. They were dead set against the establishment of even the hint of such a government-ordained nobility or royalty in America. The thought of granting a de facto title of nobility to each and every person practicing sexual perversion in this country certainly would have been abhorrent to America's godly founders.

Last week, any number of men, women, and even little boys and girls were brutally murdered; yet it is the death of one of America's new nobility, a homosexual, which sends our nation's immoral elite into spasmodic convulsions of staged grief in hopes of furthering a corrupt agenda. Instead of shrieking for more unconstitutional laws, they should be calling for the execution of whoever tortured and murdered Matthew Shepard.

3) A third point I want to make about hate crime statutes is that they do not work to prevent crimes such as the murder of Matthew Shepard. The men who are accused of that crime, if convicted, are looking at death. Wyoming executes murderers. Does anyone in their right mind think that an extra five-year hate crime enhancement penalty on top of execution would have deterred Matthew Shepard's murderers? Sodomite leaders in my home state of Wisconsin are using the Wyoming situation to trumpet the fallacious claim that hate crimes against their brethren are supposedly rampant in our state.

The only problem with their assertion, beyond the fact that it is untrue, is that Wisconsin has a well-enforced hate crime statute on the books which includes the category of sexual orientation. Now if we are still experiencing a tidal wave of hate crimes against homosexuals, that would be a plain indication that hate crime laws have no effect.

4) A fourth point concerning hate crime laws is that they fuel hate. This is a self-evident truth. When the government protects one class of people more than another, the government is saying that the excluded persons are less than full citizens, perhaps even less than full humans. This, coupled with the lower penalties for attacking individuals in such a group, encourages criminals to select them as victims.

5) The last point I want to make about hate crimes is that they are inconsistent and arbitrary. Hate crime statutes are meant to punish those criminals who select their victims based on race; religion; ethnic background; disability; and increasingly, so-called sexual orientation. In other words, the government is now in the businesses of training discriminating murderers, rapists, and robbers. Yet if the point is to punish criminals for selecting their victims based on a defining characteristic, the promoters of hate crimes are stopping well short of consistent application of their own standards.

Isn't it a fact that small people get selected to be beaten up more often than large, muscular people? Do not serious thieves generally target people with money, especially rich people, as opposed to poor people? Are not women who get picked up in bars raped more often than moral women who exercise wisdom? Isn't it true that old people are frequently targeted by criminals and that gullible people are preyed upon by con-artists and cheats? Isn't the property of absentee home owners often targeted for vandalism or theft because they are not there as opposed to home owners who are at home? Where are the hate crime statutes to protect all of those people?

The list goes on and on, but my point should be clear. Hate crime statutes are not about protecting people; they are about dividing a nation; subverting the rule of law; and in some cases, advancing corrupt political agendas. Those who are shamelessly exploiting the murder of Matthew Shepard to promote hate crime legislation as the panacea for crime in America are, for the most part, delusional, disingenuous, and diabolical.

Such legislation is worthless concerning any good. It is unbiblical, unconstitutional, and divisive. Hate crime laws are nothing less than a murderous assault on our republican system of government. The strongest deterrent against crime and the best safeguard for the people lies in the aggressive, consistent preaching of the Word of God coupled with the consistent, fair application of the law and the appropriate punishment of those who break it. Yet hate crime champions are generally opposed to both the gospel and the rule of law.

One last thought on the death of Matthew Shepard. It has come to my attention that Kansas Pastor Fred Phelps and his people are planning on picketing the funeral of Mr. Shepard. During similar past escapades, the Phelps contingent has used signs reading, "Filthy fag burn in hell." I personally view Phelps's activity as inappropriate and reprehensible. I know of Pastor Phelps, and there is no doubt he may be a brave man; but he is certainly not a discerning, compassionate man.

The family of Matthew Shepard is burying a loved one. Yes, a loved one who was engaged in vile behavior and who, short of repentance, is now in the eternal fire of hell. That notwithstanding, he was still their loved one, their son, grandson, nephew, and brother. How many of you have relatives that are fornicators, drunkards, adulterers, or sodomites? Ask yourselves, How would you feel if they were murdered and Fred Phelps came to their funeral?

Matthew Shepard was involved in behavior which Romans 1:32 says made him worthy of death, but that does not in any way justify his murder or the mocking of his family at this time. On the other hand, liberal media and the sexual anarchists have been holding candle light vigils to honor him. It may fairly be asked, What are they honoring? Has the word taken on new meaning? Are they honoring him for being murdered while seeking to commit lewd acts with his assailants? Are they honoring him because he was involved in sexual perversion to such a depth that he was apparently willing to engage in vile acts with two men at the spur of the moment?

No, let me tell you why they are honoring Matthew Shepard. They are honoring him because his death will suit their purposes far more than his life. Beyond that, they are honoring him because they are just like him; and in honoring Matthew Shepard, they are paying homage to themselves, which is something they must do to sear their own consciences and enable them to continue on in a life of rebellion and perversion with the help of America's civil government and a fair number of her churches. I fervently hope Matthew Shepard repented before he perished. I pray God will use his death to change the lives of others and bring them to the cross of Jesus Christ before it is too late for them as well. Christ is the only hope for mankind, the way, the truth, and the life.

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