Darkness Exposed

 

 Bring Light to the Shadows

Evil flourishes in the dark. But, today, evil thrives in plain sight. The evil one is quite adept at convincing humankind that what is evil is good and what is wrong as right. To overcome evil, one must first recognize it as evil. Acquiescing to or ignoring the evil that is overcoming the world will only allow it to grow and fester, ultimately destroying civil society. Tolerating and accepting what we know is truly wrong just oils the slippery slope that the evil one uses to encourage the weak and unbelieving. Yielding to what is obviously wrong and deeming it as right allows evil to grow unimpeded. Use what God has written upon our hearts to test the new things that are of this world and see through the veil of lies. The evil in this world cannot withstand the light if we are bold enough to shine God’s light upon it. Evil will be defeated if good people cast that light and stand up for the Gospel. Far too many of God’s churches proclaim a “generic” evil that must be resisted, calling out the usual suspects, such as the seven deadly sins, etc., but fail to cite specific examples that so permeate western society. By far the most dangerous and insidious lie being perpetrated is the lefts’ headlong rush to redefine human sexuality.

Humans are sexual beings. Human sexuality is a gift that God intended to be shared within the confines of marriage. Man’s law may redefine marriage, but Scripture is quite clear that one man and one woman form a team to procreate and raise their children. Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Hebrews 3:4. Jesus said, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” Matthew 19:4-6. Although man has decreed otherwise, God, the creator of all that was, is and will come to be, makes it clear that marriage is a sacred bond between one man and one woman, a sacramental covenant before the King of Kings. In marriage, each parent brings disparate and unique skills to bear in their children’s development. Parents are to instill in their children faith, morals, and values.

In the Old Testament, Sodom and Gomorrah were two cities overcome with unrestrained sexual depravity and were ultimately destroyed by God. They abandoned their God and replaced Him with the worship of their bodies and the pleasure afforded by their unbridled sexuality. Is it so different today? Tinder and other “hook-up” sites for anonymous unrestricted sex acts may be tame compared to those cities God judged as unredeemable. Fatherless families dominate the African-American community as 69% of all births are out of wedlock. How is that working out as fatherless children commit more and more crime? More and more couples are rejecting marriage, choosing to remain single, cohabitate, have and raise children, opting to disengage with God in their relationship. Half of all first marriages in the US end in divorce after an average of 8 years. Second or more marriages divorce at an even higher rate.

It has become commonplace to define oneself based upon a chosen sexual identity. What was once gay or lesbian morphs into LGTBQ+? No longer is there simply male or female, there are now a plethora of genders to choose from, including “non-binary, which is no gender at all. The transgenderism movement accuses God of error, “misgendering” the person choosing to disregard their assigned sex at birth. Current medical science can only change a person’s gender outwardly and cannot recreate a functioning member of the opposite sex. Once procedures are undertaken to alter the gender, that person will no longer be fully functional as either sex, unable to birth or father a child. Additionally, many persons who undergo hormone drugs or sex reassignment surgery will likely not be able to fully experience sexual intercourse and will often be unable to achieve a climax. Children who take puberty-blocking drugs or undergo sex reassignment surgery are also forty times more likely to attempt suicide. Transgender activists are targeting children with propaganda endeavoring to legitimize this depraved sexual conduct. Indoctrinating young children to accept this behavior as normal while distorting reality, by claiming that there are more than two genders, is evil incarnate.

Transvestites, crossdressers or what are now known as “Drag queens” (You see, that verbiage is much more palatable to the masses), are being mainstreamed as normal and acceptable. Drag queen story hour and other “performances” elicit sexual arousal for those mentally ill individuals. Is it not readily apparent that the performances are directed at children and not adults? How convenient it is for pedophiles to be welcomed into our schools and public libraries. School administrations that allow these degenerates to interact with children should never again be allowed into positions of authority in our educational system. If teaching staff would be found to be engaging in this type of behavior, they would be arrested, terminated from their jobs and after conviction, become registered sex offenders. Our society is losing its’ collective mind. If one wants to engage in the fantasy of transgenderism that is their problem. Don’t expect others to approve of their fantasies and especially expect resistance when they try to teach children to believe their behavior is normal. Any sane person cannot believe that the current societal trajectory of “anything goes” sexuality is reasonable.

Recognizing evil in our midst is just the first step in exposing it. As Christians, we are called to embrace what is good and to resist evil. Resist evil, not fight evil. That is not what God has called us to do. Fighting evil is a conflict reserved for God. It is up to God to separate the weeds from the wheat. Our house must be in order. We must speak the truth but do so gently and with love. We must preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth. God wants all of his children to be saved. Those overcome by the evil one are loved by their Father in heaven. We are to shine the light of truth on their error and let God do the judging. We are to plant those seeds and God will water them and cause them to grow. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. anything less makes our actions just as evil, maybe more so, than those unduly influenced by the evil one. Pay heed to Scripture and light the path for those lost. That is our calling. Jesus said “Be careful, then, that the light within you is not darkness. So if your whole body is full of light, with no part of it in darkness, you will be radiant, as though a lamp were shining on you.” Luke 11:35,36

Pray unceasingly for our leaders and for those who have been led away by the father of lies. God wants all of His children to come to know Him and to be saved. Let’s not be a stumbling block. 

Fear and Envy

In 2008, Barak Obama was swept into office as our 44th president, riding on the wave of hope and change. As he faces a difficult reelection, he has resorted to preaching a doctrine of fear and envy, pitting classes against one another and promoting racial strife. His policies attack the very foundations of Christianity, in one instance, forcing the Catholic Church to provide abortion coverage to employees, a direct assault on the doctrine of their faith. Progressive churches, such as the ELCA, continue to worship this president and support this attack on Christianity by their silence. Perhaps, this is due to the fact that the ELCA offers “reproductive services” that include coverage for elective abortions in their employee health insurance plan. The murder of the unborn does not bother the enlightened leaders of the most wayward of the “mainstream” Lutheran churches. Mention advocating for the LGTBQ community or immigration reform and ELCA leaders stand right up and jump into the fray. Murdering unborn human beings is defended as a woman’s right to choose while the leaders of the ELCA ignore any responsibility to protect the lives of those who cannot protect themselves.

Deuteronomy 6:13-15, “Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God and his anger will burn against you, and he will destroy you from the face of the land.” No longer is the fear of God important in the teachings of the ELCA. Other gods are accepted and other religions are acknowledged as offering a valid path to salvation. Of course, this is not the official teaching of this apostate church, but is becoming increasingly acceptable in numerous ELCA churches. The ELCA also welcomes those that teach a gospel other than our Lord taught, inviting controversial teachers to speak at many events, including their national youth gathering. Why not begin with the indoctrination of the young to emphasize these errant teachings in order to fundamentally change the face of Christianity?

Envious of the peace and tranquility of the State of Israel, the leaders of the ELCA advocate for the sworn enemies of Christians and Jews alike, the Arab State of Palestine. They encourage the terrorist organization Hamas, decrying Israel as a villain when they attempt to build housing communities on Israeli land. As rockets rain upon Israel, targeting innocent civilians, the leaders of the ELCA choose to ignore these acts of war, instead accusing Israel of committing atrocities when they retaliate, even while Israel shows remarkable restraint. The leadership of the United States, Israel’s one and only ally, stands idly by as Iran works feverishly to produce nuclear weapons, with the stated intent of eradicating Israel and the “Great Satan”, as they refer to the United States.

Christianity is under assault, not only by the secular elites, but by our own government. The Department of Justice continues to broaden its’ interpretation and enforcement of the separation of church and state. Student’s personal Bibles are confiscated at public schools, while implements of Islam are embraced and welcomed. Christian prayer is challenged in the courts while Muslims are allowed to leave their jobs and answer their five daily calls to prayer, citing somehow this will serve to foster tolerance. Any other religion is not only tolerated, but welcomed, while Christians are shouted down and looked upon as backward and uninformed. Daniel 8:23-25, “In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.” This interpretation of one of Daniel’s visions rings eerily pertinent to today. Yet the leaders of the ELCA call Scripture outmoded and irrelevant to today’s society and work overtime to rewrite God’s word.

The leaders of the ELCA, in league with the government, use fear in an effort to destroy those that have the audacity to uphold the authority of Scripture. Churches undergoing the process of breaking fellowship are now being assailed in the courts by the leadership of the ELCA. Since the ELCA is so invested in this secular world, why wouldn’t they avail themselves of the tools of the state by bringing lawsuits against churches that have the nerve to want to break fellowship. As we turn the other cheek, those seeking to diminish the influence of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, strike again and again. Michelle Obama compares her husband to Jesus Christ, proclaiming that he has brought us out of the dark and into the light. There is no light where there is no truth. As this President continually pits our citizens against one another, with lie after lie, leaders of God’s church join in, signing on to documents such as the Dream Act and accepting positions on presidential committees that only legitimize attacks on the very truths they are charged to uphold. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” Proclaim His truth until all have heard and believe! Dwell in God’s word and remain in the light. Shine bright with the light of Jesus Christ and expose the darkness that fills our world.

Familiarity Breeds Contempt

This seems to be quite an unusual title for a Christian blog. But as we have discovered by the ELCA’s actions last August, when we become so enamored of ourselves and our accomplishments, we treat our Lord with contempt and place ourselves over Him. Obviously, the leaders of the ELCA believe that we are much too sophisticated and intelligent to accept a text, written long ago, by uneducated men, as the written Word of God. Apparently they truly believe that the Bible really was meant more for the people living long ago, and not unfailingly applicable for the modern enlightened man. If we feel that we can fend for ourselves, without God’s help, we deliberately turn away from Him. The leaders of the ELCA have dismissed and minimized the outrage of the Lutheran Synods in Africa and the Hispanic Lutherans in Central and South America. Those that are new in the Spirit have shown that they are often more fundamentally true to the Spirit. We have a lot to learn by the response to the ELCA Assembly actions from these supposedly unsophisticated Christians from third world countries. Click on the link to see Tanzanian Bishop Alex G. Malasusa’s response. http://commonconfession.blogspot.com/2010/04/african-lutherans-are-extremely.html

Our self righteous, enlightened leaders of the ELCA have, in their infinite wisdom, devised a way around Scripture to embrace secular values and make excuses for disregarding God's Word. Genesis 11:4, “Then they said, ‘Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.’ The plan to build the Tower of Babel showed how egotistical and full of pride the people were. Their arrogance was evidenced by their intent to build a stairway from earth to heaven itself. By doing so, they assumed that their authority was equal to or above God Himself. But God confused their languages so they could not understand each other, and did, in fact, scatter them throughout the earth as punishment for their arrogance. When we try to take our future into our own hands, we rebel against God and His plan for us. This attitude permeates the leadership of the ELCA. By placing a premium on social justice and diminishing the role of guiding people to the Gospel, the ELCA is building their own Babel, proudly proclaiming their role in the secular world, while diminishing the Lord’s role in their ministry.

So, what is our responsibility as Christians to help the ELCA see the error of its ways and come back to the Lord? We are called to stand up for our faith, to correct those in error, because if we stand idly by, many will be lost to the evil one. Proverbs 10:17, “Whoever heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.” Not only those who disregard correction are at risk, those who refuse to correct their brothers and sisters in Christ also place themselves in spiritual peril. If a loved one was in danger or behaving in way that endangered themselves or others, would we not try to prevent the loved one from harming him or herself? It is the same when one of our brothers and sisters in Christ are at risk. For our Lord gave us a new commandment, “That we love one another as He loved us.” So, to act as our Lord commands, we are to endeavor to help lead those astray back to the Lord. We must take up the Lord’s charge and get involved to combat this false doctrine of bound conscience. Standing by idly while so many are led to the path of destruction makes us no better than the leaders that contrived this false gospel.

We need to stand up and volunteer to be delegates to Synod assemblies and have the courage to speak out for our Lord and His people. We need to shout from the rooftops and speak to everyone who will listen about this bound conscience and how it is turning people away from God. Evil hides in the darkness and those that ignore or acquiesce to this evil will only serve to allow this false gospel to continue and grow stronger. We need to help bring this errant doctrine out into the light so that everyone will know that it leads those that follow it on a path away from our Lord.  Without our Lord we are nothing, but if we do God’s will, nothing is impossible. It may take time, but your voices will be heard. We cannot let the misguided leadership of the ELCA lead the church away from the Lord and into the darkness.