[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 84 (Thursday, May 26, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H3290-H3293]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ISSUES OF THE DAY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Mooney of West Virginia). Under the 
Speaker's announced policy of January 6, 2015, the Chair recognizes the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) for 30 minutes.
  Mr. GOHMERT. Mr. Speaker, it is inspiring to hear my friend, Mr. 
Russell, speak such inspiring words. It is interesting that the book 
from which he kept quoting is the best-seller book of all time and also 
happens to be the most quoted book in U.S. history here in both the 
House and the Senate.
  There was a time when most legislators felt it was helpful in getting 
legislation passed if they had a verse of Scripture from the Bible that 
supported their position.
  Then we arrive at the point today where, if someone in Congress makes 
the statement in quoting Jesus Himself when He discussed marriage and 
divorce and was asked about it, that He, God, made male and female. 
Haven't you read? Don't you understand He created male and female?
  So you would have to believe, if you supported the agenda that was 
exhibited today, that Jesus didn't know what He was talking about 
because God not only created male and female, He created a lot of 
question marks, like the cartoon that somebody did of a doctor holding 
a newborn and the mother asks, ``What did I have?'' and the doctor 
says, ``The baby hasn't decided yet.''
  We have come so far. We thought we had advanced so far. Yet, as 
Solomon said: ``There is nothing new under the sun.'' I know Justice 
Ginsburg was talking about same-sex marriage when she said: Well, we 
just know so much more now than we used to know.
  In some ways--but in the nature of human nature, things haven't 
changed. Things from 3,000 years ago, just as Abraham Lincoln said in 
quoting Scripture in his second inaugural, are just as true today as 
they were 3,000 years ago or 2,000 years ago. It is why Lincoln quoted 
them.
  But when we get to the place as a Nation that truth is not important, 
everything is relative, and there is no absolute, unqualified, black-
and-white justice or injustice, then our prisons fill up.
  You have more people committing suicide than ever. You have more 
people using drugs and trying to escape by using drugs. You have all 
kinds of problems in schools and in society. Things are turned upside 
down because a society loses its way, says there is no absolutes and 
everything is relative.
  But as C.S. Lewis pointed out, what led him from being an atheist to 
believing in God was in poking fun at Christians and saying: Why don't 
you just admit it. Wouldn't it just be easier to admit that there 
cannot be a just God when there is so much injustice in the world?
  After doing that for years, this brilliant man finally realized: If 
there were no just God, if there were no absolute-in-the-universe 
standard of justice and injustice, right and wrong, if that

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standard did not exist, then I would have no way of knowing whatsoever 
that injustice even existed.
  As he illustrated, if a man is blind from birth, then he would not 
ever know what light was like. If there were no absolute standard of 
justice in the universe, we could never know when there was injustice. 
We just wouldn't know the difference.

                              {time}  1230

  But there is that standard. And as he points out, although some have 
a more heightened understanding of justice and injustice, of fairness 
and unfairness, and some of those standards differ, it doesn't mean the 
standards don't exist any more than the fact that some people can hit a 
musical note more closely than others. And just because somebody 
doesn't hit it exactly the same does not mean the music does not exist.
  So we arrive at all these massive problems, and we are told the cure 
for the problems of society is if we start letting more people out of 
prison much sooner. And then people misrepresent and mischaracterize 
the reason why people are in prison in order to justify having a 
massive prison break that is authorized by the President of the United 
States. He is already authorizing prison breaks from Guantanamo Bay and 
is continuing to do that.
  There is an article from the National Review by Sean Kennedy this 
week. The subtitle is, ``The Truth About the Sentencing Reform Act is 
Scary, and Not a Reason to Support It.'' The title is, ``Our Prisons 
Are Crowded Because We Have a Lot of Criminals.'' The article points 
out, ``mandatory minimums are for real bad guys.''
  In Texas, as in many States, we have what we call ranges of 
punishment. If you do something wrong--you commit a felony, for 
example--then, depending on how serious that has been judged to be--it 
could be a State jail felony, a third-degree felony, a second-degree 
felony, or a first-degree felony, being the most serious. Well, 
actually, a capital felony would be the most serious, where the death 
penalty is authorized under certain, very strict conditions. But for 
noncapital, there is a range of punishment.
  For example, a third-degree, minimum of 2 years, maximum of 10 years; 
second-degree, minimum of 2 years, maximum of 20 years; first-degree, 
minimum of 5 years, maximum of life or 99 years.
  Some say we should not have those minimums, and certainly not a 
mandatory minimum that says you can't go below this point. For some of 
us, you are saying we have got to get rid of the bottom of the range.
  But as we saw, and with the circumstances that motivated the original 
sentencing guidelines in Federal court 30 years or so ago, we had 
Federal judges appointed for life, completely unaccountable, that would 
face some heinous, despicable act, and then give a very light slap on 
the wrist. So Congress came back and said, look, we are going to have 
to have some sentencing guidelines and keep judges within these 
guidelines. There was nothing wrong with that, as long as you give a 
judge at least some ability to discriminate between more serious and 
less serious, some ability to use judicial decisionmaking.
  Over time, we have seen the serious crime rates go down. Murders, 
assaults, rapes, a lot of those numbers have gone down for some time. 
They were a result not of society becoming more lawful and concerned, 
but actually just enforcing the law more strictly. Society has taken a 
turn for the worse as we have continued to say through the media, 
through entertainment, and through Congress everything is relative, 
there are no absolutes.
  Well, the Founders knew there were some absolutes. They knew the only 
way we could ever be considered to have rights that government could 
not take is to make clear that our rights do not come from the 
government. The government is the protector of the rights that came 
from our Creator. Once people decide your rights are given by the 
government, then obviously the government can take them away. But if 
those rights come from our Creator, as our Founders made very clear in 
the Declaration of Independence, then the government is supposed to 
protect them and not let anyone take them away.
  That is why it was a bit heartbreaking to hear the President say--I 
believe he was in Hawaii, but saying this week--oh, no. He was in a 
foreign country at the time. But he was explaining that, in the United 
States, we have these founding documents, and they indicate that we are 
endowed with certain unalienable rights. He went ahead and rewrote--
actually, omitted--the most important words of that line in the 
Declaration, not where it just said we are endowed with certain 
unalienable rights, but we are endowed by our Creator. He just failed 
to mention ``endowed by our Creator.'' Maybe it bothers him to say 
that, I don't know, but he left it out. And there is the problem: when 
people who are in leadership of the government of the United States 
think that they are the source of their rights.
  The oral argument in the Little Sisters of the Poor case should have 
gotten more notoriety than they got because some of the positions taken 
by President Obama's attorneys were absolutely outrageous. The 
indications basically were that the government can tell, potentially 
even a church, which religious beliefs you can practice and which you 
are not allowed to practice. The government has that right, which would 
mean those rights didn't come from our Creator; they came from the 
government. So the government giveth and the government will take away, 
which makes it very consistent with what the President just said in the 
last few days in eliminating that our rights were endowed by our 
Creator.
  There was no accident in the first part of the Bill of Rights, the 
First Amendment, having to do with religious liberty: ``Congress shall 
make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the 
free exercise thereof.'' They knew if that freedom is abridged in any 
way, the rest of them will not matter.
  Once the government, for example, recognizes secular humanism as the 
official religion of the United States, then it can dictate to people 
of all faiths exactly what they can believe and disbelieve. That is 
exactly what has happened.
  There is a prior Supreme Court case that, in the footnotes, lists the 
different religions in the United States. Secular humanism was one of 
them. Secular humanism does not recognize a creator.
  There has been so much misinformation and miseducation of our young 
people. People were told that Ben Franklin didn't believe in God. You 
have to be totally fraudulent in your representation of Benjamin 
Franklin to tell any student that, when he said in his own words--which 
were later illustrated in his own handwriting exactly what he said when 
he spoke in 1787, the end of June, to the Constitutional Convention 
imploring them that they needed to be praying--when he told them:

       We have been going nearly 5 weeks with more noes than ayes 
     on virtually every vote. How has it happened, sir, that we 
     have not once thought of humbly applying to the Father of 
     Lights to illuminate our understandings? In the beginning of 
     the contest with Great Britain, when we were sensible of 
     danger, we had daily prayer in this room for the Divine 
     Protection. Our prayers, sir, were heard, and they were 
     graciously answered.

  He went on and eventually said:

       I have lived, sir, a long time.

  He was 80 years old. He had gout. He had arthritis very bad. He was 
overweight. He had trouble getting up and down.
  He said:

       And the longer I live, the more convincing proofs I see of 
     this truth: that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a 
     sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it 
     probable that an empire can rise without his aid? We have 
     been assured, Sir, in the sacred writings that ``except 
     the Lord build, they labor in vain that build it.''

  That is the basis on which this Nation was built. We were endowed by 
our Creator with certain unalienable rights.
  Ben Franklin knew what the Declaration of Independence said. It was 
Adams who told Jefferson, basically: You do the first draft. In 
essence: You are the best writer we have. It was Adams that Jefferson 
showed the first draft to, and then they both showed it to Franklin. 
Apparently, Franklin made some little interlineations. It

[[Page H3292]]

was brought up for debate, and some things were knocked out.
  He knew exactly what was important in that Declaration that would 
stand as the building foundation for this Nation for our rights. When 
that foundation is cracked, when parts of it are eliminated, the 
building on which it stands would no longer stand. That is the kind of 
erosion that has occurred.
  When the Federal Government of the United States can tell the Little 
Sisters of the Poor--these incredibly ethical, loving, caring, giving 
women, who devoted their lives to helping others, far more than anybody 
in this city in government--and people in this city would tell them, 
no, you cannot practice your religious beliefs because we are secular 
humanists, and we will tell you you cannot believe and practice what 
the Bible tells you.
  Of course, Moses said it came from God. That is why he is right up 
there as the only full-face image in this whole room of lawgivers, 
considered the greatest lawgivers of all time. Moses is the only full-
face, because he was considered for most of our history to be the 
greatest lawgiver of all time.
  This is the guy that says it is coming from God, but a man shall 
leave his mother and father, a woman shall leave her home, and the two 
will become one flesh. And when Jesus was asked about it, he said: 
Haven't you read? Don't you understand? God made them male and female.
  He didn't mention question marks.
  These are people we need to love and encourage. The diagnostic 
statistical manuals for most of existence have pointed out that these 
are mental disorders. These are people that we are to love, encourage, 
and help every way we can. For among educated, compassionate people, 
for our civilized history, a man that didn't know which he was was 
pitied, loved, and encouraged. But educated people said that is 
basically where the word 'perverse' is most widely used.
  Now we have a government that says forget what the Bible says, forget 
what Moses said, forget what Jesus said when he quoted Moses verbatim 
and then added, ``What therefore God has joined together, let not man 
separate.''
  Even if you don't believe Jesus was part of the Holy Trinity, as our 
Founders did, do you really want to leave this life and potentially, 
whether you believe in a judge, a maker, or not, say, ``Oh, I didn't 
think you were serious when you said those things about marriage''?

                              {time}  1245

  I didn't think you were serious. You just weren't smart enough to 
know that he didn't just create male and female. I really wonder how 
many people in this body who had the ultimate power to decide whether 
humanity would go forward or not, whether there was an asteroid coming 
or something that would end humanity on Earth as dinosaurs were ended 
at one time--okay. We have a spaceship that can--as Matt Damon did in 
the movie--plant a colony somewhere. We can have humans survive this 
terrible disaster about to befall.
  If you could decide what 40 people you would put on the spacecraft 
who would save humanity, how many of those would be same-sex couples?
  You are wanting to save humankind for posterity--basically, a modern-
day Noah. You have that ability to be a modern-day Noah. You can 
preserve life.
  How many same-sex couples would you take from the animal kingdom and 
from humans to put on the spacecraft to perpetuate humanity and the 
wildlife kingdom?
  That is why it has been called part of the natural law, natural law 
given by the Creator; but when we continue to abolish the first words 
of the Bill of Rights--the First Amendment--and we continue to prohibit 
the free exercise of religion, we don't have much longer to go.
  Jonathan Cahn has a great book--interesting. The dialogue could be a 
little stronger, but ``The Harbinger,'' and the more recent one, ``The 
Mystery of the Shemitah Unlocked,'' really are thought-provoking even 
if you are a secular humanist. He makes the comparison that the United 
States, just as the Founders said, was founded by the grace of God and 
as an instrument to bless the world.
  Even for those who have not recognized the exceptional nature of the 
United States, it is still a fact that you can't find nations 
throughout history that have done what this one has, where we have sent 
our best and brightest and our most valuable commodity--American blood, 
sweat, toil--and fought for the freedom of others. We have fought to 
protect others, not just ourselves. You don't find nations through 
history that did that. This Nation had because they believed there was 
a higher power. They believe our rights come from our Creator, and we 
have an obligation to that same Creator.
  This Nation has spread goodness around the world despite those who 
would say otherwise. It has happened. We have been the most generous, 
charitable, helping, loving nation in the history of the world. We have 
more opportunities and more assets per individual than even Solomon's 
Israel. We have been blessed beyond measure.
  Jonathan Cahn makes the comparison to the ninth chapter of Isaiah, 
where at that point, long after Saul and long after David and Solomon, 
we come to 732 B.C. By that time, Israel is divided into two parts--the 
northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The 
southern kingdom of Judah is where Jerusalem was. Jonathan Cahn draws 
the parallel, which is actually scary when you start looking at the 
things that actually are parallel to that time.
  God is telling Isaiah: Look, the people whom I have blessed--I have 
provided more than anyone else--have turned away from me; so I allowed 
the Assyrians to come in and attack and harm them. I pulled back the 
hand of protection.
  Back in those days, the Assyrians were known as the true fathers of 
terrorism. They came in and attacked and did the strange thing of going 
back to Assyria.
  God is telling Isaiah: I have given them a warning to turn back to 
me.
  I know that for 90 days, churches all over America were packed after 
9/11. Basically, we saw people say: Never mind, God. We don't have to 
worry anymore. We have got this.
  God said: They didn't turn back to me. I am going to let them go.
  Ten years later, he allowed the Assyrians to come in and wipe them 
out. The southern kingdom, where Jerusalem was, continued to turn away 
from him. Then, over 100 years later, he allowed them to be attacked as 
a warning. They didn't heed the warning. Now, they got about 19 years 
before God withdrew his hand of protection and allowed the children of 
Israel to be taken into exile, and the nation of Israel ceased to 
exist. The northern kingdom and the southern kingdom of Judah ceased to 
exist because they wouldn't turn back.
  If Jonathan Cahn is accurate in that comparison--well, we are beyond 
10 years since that warning. Maybe people believe there is a God and 
believe as our Founders did and as Ben Franklin said in his talking 
about the Bible, in quoting it, and as Jefferson did in the quote that 
is still engraved in his memorial: that he trembles for our country 
when he realizes God is just, but he is not going to remain silent 
forever--well, the southern kingdom got 19 years after their warning, 
and then God let them go.
  Tough times are upon us. We have a President who has now got an 
agenda to release more murderers, killers, haters of America to go 
forth and continue to kill and murder and hate Americans. I mean, I 
know some people are saying: But it has been 15 years; they have got to 
be released.
  No. The way it has always worked among civilized nations when it has 
come to prisoners of war is, when someone declared war on a nation or 
on a people, and when some of those warriors were captured, they were 
held in a civil manner; they were held until those at war said: We are 
no longer at war.
  Then the prisoners were released unless they had committed war crimes 
for which they could be tried. At any time in the last 15 years, all of 
them could have been released--unless war crimes had been committed--if 
their friends, their allies, had said: Okay. We are the Muslim 
Brotherhood, we are radical Islam, and we are no longer at war with the 
Great Satan, the United States. We want peace. We won't be terrorizing 
and attacking you and trying to destroy your way of life anymore. We 
are done.

[[Page H3293]]

  That is when they cease the violence against the United States. We 
can release the prisoners unless war crimes have been committed. Then 
at that point, as in Nuremberg, you try them for their war crimes. This 
President is jumping the gun. They are still at war.
  Muslim leaders in the Middle East and Africa have asked me: Why is it 
you don't understand that radical Islamists, the Muslim Brotherhood, 
have been at war with you since 1979, and you are helping them? Iran is 
the greatest supporter of terrorism. You are helping them more than you 
are willing to help us. What is wrong with you?
  The answer is: We have turned away from the Creator, the source of 
our rights and our blessings.
  I believe God exists. For those who think that maybe he does, maybe 
they are agnostic.
  If God exists, the question is: Does he love us more than he loved 
Jerusalem?
  Because, if he doesn't, it is doubtful we have more than 4 or 5 years 
to go.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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