Bender Bones, an ordained minister of the Satanic Temple of West Michigan, gave public comment during the May 23, 2023, Ottawa County Board of Commissioner (OCBOC) Meeting. This was the same day that the OCBOC approved a resolution to become a Constitutional County (p.48).
In his speech, Bones recognized the Commissioners’ intent to uphold the Constitution quoting the First Amendment and stating, “our Constitutional rights are our most cherished rights as United States citizens.” (4:10:57)
What does it mean to be a “Constitutional County”? At a minimum, it means recognizing the values and rights in the documents that founded America. The First Amendment allows for freedom of speech and religion, and its Establishment Clause declares that the federal government is prevented from establishing an official state religion. Although the phrase “separation of church of state” is commonly thought to be akin to freedom of religion, the two are far from equivalent. The phrase was introduced in a letter written by Thomas Jefferson, and has been used in recent times to pervert the context of the first amendment by those desiring to weaken American strength, independence, and personal liberties. The attempt has been to reinterpret the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause to imply a strict “separation of church and state”, meaning that citizens are not allowed to bring their faith into government.
This misrepresentation has been perpetuated over and over since Christianity was taken out of schools in the 1900’s. Universities like Harvard and most educational institutions in the early years of our nation were advanced by Christians. In fact, the Bible was used as a textbook in America in the 17th and 18th centuries. Even the Lord’s Prayer could be seen in public schools up until the mid 1900’s. These are examples of religious freedom, not separation of church and state.
We also have the ten commandments, a portion of Hebrew scripture that is woven into our western heritage, and has been displayed in many government buildings since the beginning of our founding. Today, demands to remove these inscriptions are increasing. By submitting to these demands, we allow ourselves to forget history, and worse yet, to rewrite it. To truly understand what is happening today, we have to understand our past.
Let’s go back to 1440 when Johannas Gutenberg began experimenting with printing presses in Strasbourg, France. By 1450, the Gutenberg Press was ready to go. Do you know the first book he printed? The Bible. This action forever changed, not only Christianity, but also the entire world.
At the time, state-run churches like the Church of England were wielded to control and enslave. England was both a theocracy and a monarchy. Only priests were allowed to interpret the Bible, and it was presented to congregations in Latin, keeping the population mostly uninformed of what was truly written. Once Gutenberg began printing the Bible, scripture came alive to those who were able to read it. Europeans no longer had to solely rely on priests, and they began to understand the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus.
Then Martin Luther came along and spoke against what he perceived as man-made deceptive practices of the Catholic Church and pounded his ninety-five theses into a door. Luther’s theses described his opposition to what he believed to be the Roman Catholic Church’s corruption by clergy who were selling indulgences. As the Protestant Reformation began, the people of England began desiring a more personal relationship with their Creator, but in practicing their new faith, they were going outside the law, and religious persecution began.
We all know the story of the Pilgrims. As they fled their homes in search of religious freedom, and came to America, they themselves began a theocracy. But their theocracy failed, and eventually our founding fathers came along and created a new form of government. The American Experiment established a balance of power and ENDED the idea of federal state-run religion. They placed the role of government into the hands of We the People.
As presented by James Madison at the Constitutional Convention of 1787, America’s three branches of government were based off of Isaiah 33:22:
“For the Lord is our judge, [judicial]
the Lord is our lawgiver, [legislative]
the Lord is our king; [executive]
it is he who will save us.”
Our founders, many who were Christian, and some who were Deists, believed in a Creator. The Declaration of Independence refers to the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God”. This means that our human rights come from outside of man; from beyond us.
We so often hear how medical care and social services are human rights, but this is not true. Human rights are those that we are born with. Human rights are also outlined in the Declaration of Independence. They include the right to Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. Human rights are not what we perceive the government owes us, but instead encompass our ability to pursue the American Dream.
So, fast forward to America TODAY! Our media and university systems continuously claim that anyone who believes rights come from God and not from government is an extremist. It is clear, they are indoctrinating viewers, readers, and students to believe in something other than our founding documents. For years now, they have promoted the idea that the Constitution is a living document. What does that mean? It means they believe its interpretation fluctuates and flexes with culture.
This ideology is now spreading into Christianity. Standpoint Epistemology, a social science rooted in feminism and now gaining traction as a progressive “Christian” concept, suggests we cannot “know” Biblical truth outside of the culture in which we live. It suggests that everything is relative. Relativism holds that there is no objective truth or morality. We have reached a very dangerous time in history in which most of our own Republicans are living in the past and do not understand how ideas have evolved. Consequently, they have failed to protect America’s foundational principles and the ideas that objective truth and morality even exist.
When the current conservative Ottawa County Board of Commissioners (OCBOC) majority took their seats by wide electoral margins, they took their oaths very seriously; more so than most other boards in modern times. Rather than rubber stamping every proposal brought to them, they dug deep to extract as many details as possible before voting. Being regular citizens - moms and dads who have never been involved in politics - there have been some struggles. But their desire is to protect the individual rights of the people of Ottawa County is continuously evident. Being principled and desiring to further secure individual rights, they approved a resolution to make Ottawa a Constitutional County in May of 2023.
Embracing the concept of America’s Constitution and founding documents as the law of the land, ultimately allows for all people to live out their faith. This is where it gets interesting. The progressive left regularly makes public comment suggesting that the conservative OCBOC majority are advancing a theocracy, which is of course an outright lie. If they were, they would be forcing policies that advance only fundamental Christian beliefs into our county. The difference is, they embrace the Constitution which secures religious freedom for all, as our founders intended.
On January 2, 2024, the OCBOC adopted rule 4.7 (p.14) which governs the meeting invocation. The rule conveys the intention to select “from a wide pool representative of the local public on a rotating basis.” Those interested in giving the invocation need to request to be included on the Speakers List. “Any religious leader or individual who wishes to be added to the Speakers List must make a formal request to be added to the Speakers List, in writing, to the Board of Commissioners member representing the district in which they reside.”
The Constitution and the law is crystal clear. Government cannot discriminate based on religion. In accordance with this new rule, any pastor in Ottawa can ask their commissioner to be scheduled to pray, and members of the public are free to encourage their religious leaders to apply.
A representative from the Satanic Temple of West Michigan will be presenting the invocation at the 6:30 pm evening BOC meeting on April 23, 2024.
Satanic Priest Bender Bones’ ideology is seemingly embraced by many on the left including by Deputy Health Officer Marcia Mansaray who is shown enjoying a pro Satanic temple post here.
There are a couple of interesting points to be made here. The first is that a Satanic priest understands religious freedom under our First Amendment. The second is that the supposedly Christian extremist board upholds First Amendment religious freedom over a theocracy. The irony cannot be hidden. It is also worth noting that Deputy Health Officer Marcia Mansaray’s husband Alpha regularly makes public comment at OCBOC meetings about how the commissioners do not meet his expectation of his version of Social Justice Jesus. So, on one hand, Alpha is requesting more Jesus while his wife seemingly is embracing more Satan. We can’t make this up.
Also interesting is that Commissioner Bonnema is currently blaming the conservative majority for causing the Satanic Temple of West Michigan to give the invocation as can be seen here:
The simple truth is that there was no policy before January 2024. Only “guidance” issued by former County Corporation Council Doug VanEssen, which enabled individual commissioners to select who would give invocation. Is Jacob really suggesting that commissioners should pick and choose who to ask to do the invocation? If that was the case, then the board would arguably be discriminating against certain religions, wouldn’t it? This would contradict their desire to be a Constitutional County as the former board’s unwritten policy has already resulted in a religious discrimination lawsuit. Bonnema appears to be baiting the conservative majority into going back on their Constitutional County Resolution and risking additional legal action. Where is his “good governance” in such a proclamation?
Lastly, it’s worth understanding the times we are in. The conservative majority on the OCBOC, along with a very conservative Ottawa County Republican Party (OCGOP), have currently both ended progressive policies that undermine American strength and individual rights while at the same time advancing resolutions that embrace liberty. Because of this, Ottawa County has received national and state-wide pushback to stop our constitutional-minded leaders by almost any means necessary. The political opposition including those non-partisan, democrats, progressives, and Republicans in name only (RINO) have all seemingly come together against the current commissioners in order to return to the normalcy of complacency, which incrementally moves government further in a totalitarian leftward direction each year.
Can we really afford that anymore?