Posted on 10/16/2024 7:58:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
For over a decade, Jack Phillips, the owner of Masterpiece Cakeshop, has been embroiled in a relentless legal battle that illuminates, with the power of a million suns, the irreconcilable clash between Christian sexual ethics and our American First Amendment religious freedoms and the aggressive efforts of the radical LGBT lobby to conquer, subjugate, and humiliate Christians in the West.
On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Colorado Supreme Court has dismissed a suit that was just one part of an interminable lawfare harassment campaign waged against the cake maker. “Jack Phillips won another legal victory for religious liberty,” the publication noted. “But when will the progressive cultural police finally leave him alone?”
It’s been 12 years now since LGBT bullies first walked into Masterpiece Cakeshop and demanded that Jack Phillips bake them a cake celebrating their lifestyle or else be branded a bigot.
It’s been 12 years now that Jack Phillips has been politely but firmly telling these Rainbow Flag jihadists, “No.”
And it’s been 12 years that Jack has been made a slave to life-destroying lawfare that is nothing other than harassment, persecution, and anti-Christian discrimination.
Maybe, just maybe, Jack Phillips has now been set free from this bondage.
The editorial board at National Review put it well:
“Few living Americans have stood longer against government persecution for their freedoms than Colorado baker Jack Phillips. He has been repeatedly targeted under Colorado anti-discrimination law for adhering to his Christian faith. At long last, his third legal saga is over after the Colorado supreme court on Tuesday rejected the latest lawsuit against him on procedural grounds. After 12 years, Phillips is free of the courts. We can only hope he stays free — and that his fellow citizens will, too.
The end of the current round of persecution of Phillips is cause for celebration but not for unbridled joy. This is America. It is a scandal that any of the lawsuits against Phillips were brought, and it is a scandal that the courts have not rejected them squarely on the merits, in terms that made plain that this must not happen here again.”
They’re right; this is a scandal. And it’s been over a decade in the making.
Jack Phillips never sought this out. He didn’t want to be the face of the Christian resistance to the rainbow tyranny, and he didn’t want to be an activist.
All he wanted to do was operate his business according to his values and beliefs as a faithful Christian in America — a freedom and right that he most certainly has under the First Amendment.
None of these lawsuits should have ever advanced on the merits. But this is what we get — this is what Jack gets — in a nation that invented the “constitutional right” to homosexual “marriage” out of thin air.
This is what we get in a country that has biological amnesia, all of a sudden forgetting that men are men and women are women and that little boys cannot become little girls and vice versa.
This is what we get — what Jack gets — in a world where such perversions and evil are not banished from the public square but instead commemorated and celebrated with a cake.
But throughout this entire saga, Jack never broke. He never quit. He never surrendered. Kirsten Waggoner, the president and CEO of Alliance Defending Freedom, who has represented Jack during this battle, had this to say after his latest legal victory:
“Jack Phillips has been in litigation for over 12 years. He’s lost employees and business. He’s even faced threats. All he wants is to live, speak, and work according to his Christian beliefs.
But radical activists and gov’t officials in Colorado won’t allow it. They’ve targeted Jack because he refuses to use his artistic talents to express messages that violate his religious convictions — like creating custom cake designs celebrating gender ideology and Satan.
It has been an honor for our team to represent Jack in court over the past decade. He’s one of the kindest and most gracious people you’ll meet, and we’ll stand with him for as long as it takes. Justice for Jack means justice for all.”
The saga began when Phillips politely declined to design a custom wedding cake for a same-sex couple in 2012, citing his Christian beliefs. This refusal led to a lawsuit, with the Colorado Civil Rights Commission initially ruling against him. However, in a narrow victory at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2018, the decision was overturned not on free speech or religious freedom grounds but because the Commission displayed clear hostility towards Phillips based on his religion.
On the very day the Supreme Court agreed to hear his case in 2017, another attack came when Autumn Scardina, a transgender lawyer, requested a cake celebrating a gender transition. When Phillips declined, another lawsuit ensued. This case was not just about a cake; it was a calculated move to corner Phillips into either violating his beliefs or face legal action.
In what might hopefully be the closing chapter of this ordeal, the Colorado Supreme Court decided not to uphold the lawsuit against Phillips for the gender transition cake. The ADF argued compellingly that artists, or in this case, a baker, cannot be forced to express messages against their beliefs, echoing the sentiments of the recent Supreme Court ruling in 303 Creative v. Elenis.
Those suing Phillips should be seen as nothing less than wicked bullies, using lawfare to enforce their worldview. They used “legal measures” in an attempt to enslave a freethinking, honest Christian to do their bidding.
They carefully picked their battles, targeting a small business owner whose faith was known, aiming not for coexistence but submission. Their actions reveal a troubling trend where legal systems are weaponized to harass individuals into abandoning their principles.
Jack Phillips’ 12-year legal odyssey highlights a profound narrative of Christian perseverance. His story is not just about defending a right not to bake a cake but about upholding the principle of living one’s faith in all aspects of life, as instructed in Colossians 3:23:
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters.”
Phillips stands as a testament to those who refuse to bend their knee to anyone but God. He echoes the resolve of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in Daniel 3, who faced the furnace rather than compromise their faith.
Lord willing, his battle is over. But the fight against LGBT bullies continues. We can give them no quarter. Christians need to understand this: There can be no “compromise” with a group that will spend 12 years destroying your life because you refuse to celebrate their sexual perversion.
We are already seeing this in Europe, where grandmothers and Lutheran bishops aren’t just civilly harassed but criminally charged for the simple act of sharing Bible verses on social media about biblical marriage and where Christian teachers are illegally fired by “Christian” schools for refusing to lie to a child by using their preferred pronouns.
Yes, Jack is a source of great inspiration, but his ordeal is a cautionary tale. If the legal framework for allowing Christians to live freely in America is not shored up, and if the LGBT lobby gets its way, it won’t be just Jack Phillips that they enslave for 12 years in legal battles like this — it will be all of us.
Originally published at the Standing for Freedom Center.
10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.
12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you
Time to turn the lawfare back on them.
Sociopaths never stop until their target is destroyed.
The left are driven by evil (Demon Driven) and will never rest when trying to destroy good people. Good people expose the ev8l in people like those on theleft, and the left can not and never will forgive them for doing so.
Donald Trump began to expose the corruption on the left, Billy, and theleft went mental, and will not rest u til they have destroyed him
Latisha James Gloated with evil glee that she was going to destroy him, and she and her ilk mean it. They are pissed that al Gore lost, that Bill Clinton was I peached and that hi.lary lost, and they have literally waged a hostile, violent takeover of this nation in revenge.
US Courts - the American neo- marxist gulag.
It’s also an anti-Christian thing. Hence the Dims’ often repeated new bogeyman: “Christian nationalism”. It’s no accident that they’ve left it undefined. The idea is to make Christianity in general and Christians in general the evil that must be destroyed.
Poor guy. Hope he can now get on with his life that they wanted to destroy. This is why women aren’t standing up for themselves and we have men perving in the restrooms beating the daylights out of women at the Olympics.
I tried to report a sicko camped out in the women’s dressing room at Kohl’s (the one on Research Blvd., Austin, TX just so you don’t shop there) and they acted like I was the one to blame. They didn’t so much as go in to look at him so you know they knew he was there. This was during back to school shopping so you know he was there getting off on girls. Sick perv. He’d pulled a chair in the dressing room and looked like he was there for the day. That was many years ago when the kids were in school and I have never set foot in that store or any Kohl’s since.
"Is Christian Cakeshop Owner Jack Phillips really finally free from LGBT lawfare after 12 years?"
Even though Congress has the 14th Amendment (14A) power to make laws that discourage the states from abridging constitutionally enumerated rights, free speech and religious expression as examples, the following is actually happening imo.
Excerpted from 14th Amendment:
"Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States [all emphases added]; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."
"Section 5: The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article."
The very corrupt, post-17th Amendment ratification, anti-Christian federal legislative and executive branches seem to be bypassing their 1st Amendment prohibition on making and enforcing laws that abridge religious expression by simply looking the other way while anti-Christian judges legislate such laws from the bench, evidenced by the dark history of the Phillips case.
In fact, a key anti-weaponization law based on 14A that the very corrupt (hint) imo Executive Branch doesn't seem to be enforcing in either state or federal governments is the following.
18 U.S. Code § 242 - Deprivation of rights under color of law: "Whoever, under color of any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, willfully subjects any person in any State, Territory, Commonwealth, Possession, or District to the deprivation of any rights, privileges, or immunities secured or protected by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or to different punishments, pains, or penalties, on account of such person being an alien, or by reason of his color, or race, than are prescribed for the punishment of citizens, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if bodily injury results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include the use, attempted use, or threatened use of a dangerous weapon, explosives, or fire, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and if death results from the acts committed in violation of this section or if such acts include kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned for any term of years or for life, or both, or may be sentenced to death."
Since Congress and renegade states have repeatedly proven that they are enemies of the people imo, it is now up to Democratic and Republican Trump supporters to effectively "impeach and remove" ALL (exceptions?) state and federal lawmakers and executives in November.
In fact, it's up to us Trump supporters to take the first MAJOR step in draining the swamp by supporting hopeful Trump 47 with a new, Constitution-respecting Congress, new state lawmakers too, not only so that he will not be a lame duck president from the first day of his second term, but will support him to quickly finish draining the swamp.
Finally, let's not allow the anti-Trump media try to fade our memories of what we witnessed on July 13.
Down the Memory Hole: Google Hides Autocomplete Suggestions Related to Trump Assassination Attempt (7.28.24)
good point- they call evil good and good evil-
Jack Phillips has become a hero of the faith, in the hallowed tradition of the heroes delineated in the 11th chapter of the Book of Hebrews.
bump
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