bentley and moore.jpg
Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore
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Win Johnson
In harsh words and a lecturing tone, a lawyer who works for Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has written a letter seemingly directed at Gov. Robert Bentley rebuking him for saying Alabama will obey the U.S. Supreme Court ruling declaring same-sex marriage legal.
While the letter from attorney Win Johnson never calls Bentley by name or title, a spokeswoman for Bentley said the letter was directed at the governor.
"Public official, what will you do? Will you stand up for the law of Alabama, for the people, for the weak and vulnerable, for the law of God? Or will you capitulate? Will you become complicit in the takeover by the wicked?" writes Johnson, director of the legal staff of the Administrative Office of Courts. The AOC operationally runs Alabama's court system which is headed by Moore.
Johnson said today the letter was not directed at Bentley but to all public officials.
Asked what other public officials he had sent the letter to, Johnson said he could not immediately recall but that he had posted it on his Facebook page. When pointed out that he had used the word "official" and not officials, Johnson said he should have used officials.
Johnson said he believes he sent the letter even before he knew that Bentley had told reporters the state will follow the law.
Yet Johnson writes:
"'I must follow the law,' you say. Law? What law? There is no law anymore, there's just opinion. One day this, one day that. When the law becomes merely the opinion of a handful of people on the courts, there is no longer any law. There is tyranny. There is chaos. But there is no law."
Down just a little further in the letter, Johnson writes: "Don't use the Nazi war-crimes trial defense: 'My superiors (or the courts) told me to do it.' You're not standing for the rule of law when you capitulate to a law that defies God and exposes people to the wicked. You're just a coward making excuses! Or will your conscience cause you to resign? Why would you leave the people of this State, their children, your children and grandchildren to the wolves, those who would rend the society apart with their denial of what's good and evil?"
The letter was sent to David Byrne, Bentley's legal adviser on Friday following the ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court that same-sex marriage is legal in all states, including Alabama where it had been banned and where Moore has been the crusading voice to keep it illegal.
Shortly after the ruling was announced Bentley told reporters in Birmingham where he had come for an event that he disagreed with the ruling personally but that Alabama would follow the law.
While the header at the top of the letter reads "Time for public officials to take their stand one way or the other," Bentley's Communications Director Jennifer Ardis said the letter was directed at the governor.
Ardis said Bentley did read the letter.
In an email to Byrne where the letter is attached, Johnson writes:
"Dear David, I've attached some of my immediate thoughts on today's ruling. However, please remind the governor that in spite of what the U.S. Supreme Court said today, AL's case has not been ruled on yet by the Eleventh Circuit. There's no reason to rush to surrender."
While still directing his comments to Byrne, Johnson warns that the governor better get ready for more actions by a court he goes on to call a kangaroo court.
"The governor better get ready for civil rights legislation making sexual orientation the same as race," Johnson writes. "That's law now - the questionable science regarding the origin of homosexuality - now law of the land. When, oh when, will we see this so-called court is nothing but a kangaroo, masquerading as a court of law?!"
Johnson begins the letter: "Jesus Christ is Lord of all."
That is followed soon thereafter with: "Public officials are ministers of God assigned the duty of punishing the wicked and protecting the righteous. You cannot serve two masters: you must pick -- God or Satan."
Johnson ends the letter urging disobedience of the court ruling.
"What can you do? You have authority as an elected official," Johnson writes. "You also are sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution and Alabama Constitution. Find a way to do so. Don't acquiesce to the takeover (actually the takedown)! Use your authority and every legal angle to oppose the tyrants! If necessary, just say, 'No.' It is not rebellion for you to say, 'Your interpretation (the U.S. Supreme Court) of the Constitution is wrong, beyond your authority, and detrimental to this nation.' In fact, it's your duty. You're not opposing the rule of law, you're upholding it by saying that."
Johnson said he wrote the letter out of a sense of frustration and that the letter comprises his thoughts and his alone.
"It is my letter. I wrote it alone," Johnson said. "No one else helped me. No one else read it before I sent it. No one approved it."
Asked specifically if Moore had knowledge of the letter or had approved it, Johnson said he did not.
"He does not know about it now. I am going up in about a minute to tell him," said Johnson.
Asked if he regretted writing the letter, Johnson paused for a moment before answering.
"I regret sending it to the governor's legal adviser."
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Below is the letter from Moore's lawyer to governor:
Time for Public Officials to take their stand one way or the other
Jesus Christ is Lord of all. He came to save the world by His death and resurrection. That world includes you, me, the family, the civil government, all the institutions of life. He came to advance His Father's kingdom, not watch man run rampant upon the earth as if Christ had never come. As if it were the days of Noah!
Public officials are ministers of God assigned the duty of punishing the wicked and protecting the righteous. If the public officials decide to officially approve of the acts of the wicked, they must logically not protect the righteous from the wicked. In fact, they must become protectors of the wicked. You cannot serve two masters; you must pick - God or Satan.
The criminal laws against homosexual sodomy are for the protection of the righteous, particularly the young, the weak, the vulnerable, who need the law to teach them right from wrong when in a vulnerable state. The U.S. Supreme Court, although it claims to have done so in 2003, cannot take something that God calls a crime and declare it not a crime.
We're facing something even worse now, the civil government taking a new step and actually requiring the approval and sanctifying by the state of an evil behavior. Five justices on the U.S. Supreme Court have now opined that the States of this country and all of us must approve of so-called marriages of same sex couples.
Therefore, the civil government must now become a persecuting power; you cannot avoid it. The civil government must protect what it approves of. It must protect the advocates' employment, their business dealings, their lives in every way. Against whom? Against those who think their lifestyle is evil. That's you and me, bible-believing Christians, the Church, etc.
Public official, what will you do? Will you stand up for the law of Alabama, for the people, for the weak and vulnerable, for the law of God? Or will you capitulate? Will you become complicit in the takeover by the wicked?
"I must follow the law," you say. Law? What law? There is no law anymore, there's just opinion. One day this, one day that. When the law becomes merely the opinion of a handful of people on the courts, there is no longer any law. There is tyranny. There is chaos. But there is no law.
The young and the weak, those that are caused to stumble by courts that approve of what is evil, are those whom Jesus referred to when he said, "It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones." Luke 17:2. You don't want to be complicit in allowing such stumbling blocks.
Don't use the Nazi war-crimes trial defense: "My superiors (or the courts) told me to do it." You're not standing for the rule of law when you capitulate to a law that defies God and exposes people to the wicked. You're just a coward making excuses!
Or will your conscience cause you to resign? Why would you leave the people of this State, their children, your children and grandchildren to the wolves, those who would rend the society apart with their denial of what's good and evil?
Your duty is to stand against the ravages of a superior authority that would go beyond its rightful power and force upon the people something evil. That's what the founders of our country did when Parliament exceeded its powers. That's what the Puritans in civil government in the 1600's did when the King exceeded his powers.
On Judgment Day, you won't stand in front of the media, the advocates of "Equality," or even the federal courts; you'll stand before the King of Kings, the Judge and Ruler over the Kings of the Earth, Jesus Christ. His law is not subject to the vote of man, and He, asthe good and loving author of that law, does not exempt any nation from it. The law's author, speaking of Himself as "the stone which the builders rejected," said, "Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken; but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder." Luke 20:18.
What can you do? You have authority as an elected official. You also are sworn to uphold the U.S. Constitution and Alabama Constitution. Find a way to do so. Don't acquiesce to the takeover (actually the takedown)! Use your authority and every legal angle to oppose the tyrants! If necessary, just say, "No." It is not rebellion for you to say, "Your interpretation of the Constitution is wrong, beyond your authority, and detrimental to this nation." In fact, it's your duty. You're not opposing the rule of law, you're upholding it by saying that.