Posted on 06/19/2017 4:59:35 AM PDT by Kaslin
There’s a bizarre argument I’m hearing these days which basically goes like this. “Look at how many churches are embracing homosexual practice. This proves we’re getting closer to the truth.” To the contrary, all it proves is that more and more churches are apostatizing. The logic behind this argument is as wrongheaded as it is unbiblical.
First, to argue that greater acceptance of homosexuality by churches is proof of spiritual growth is like arguing that greater acceptance of obesity by doctors is a proof of medical progress. The reverse is actually true.
Second, the Bible often warns us against compromise and apostasy, both moral and creedal. And in every generation, there have been heretics who have departed from the faith. Should we therefore celebrate every heretical doctrine and practice as proof of our spiritual maturity?
Jesus warned His disciples, saying “See that no one leads you astray” (Matt. 24:4). He also said, “And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt. 24:11-13).
What is to be celebrated, then, is not apostasy but faithfulness, not deception but steadfastness, not moral laxity but moral firmness. And while the words of Jesus may have more specific application to certain times in history, there is certainly a general application to our day, in which “lawlessness” has greatly increased. Today, just about anything goes, and that is not something to celebrate.
Last month, the gay activist organization Faith in America announced its plans to call on the Southern Baptist Convention to remove homosexual practice “from the sin list.”
“Ultimately,” they said, “we at FIA believe LGBT people should be removed from the sin list. We know interpretations and new revelations come to light. We believe the Church will one day stop diminishing the lives of those who are LGBT and we strive to help this come to pass. We are optimistic people and see the glass 75% full!”
So, they are encouraged by what they have seen in recent years, as more and more churches in America and Europe are dropping homosexual practice “from the sin list.” Soon enough, they believe, the whole Church will follow suit. To paraphrase (but in my words, not theirs!), “We’re encouraged by the increasing apostasy we see in the Church, and we’re expectant that one day, the whole Church will be completely apostate.”
The facts are as follows.
First, as I’ve stated repeatedly, “no new textual, archeological, sociological, anthropological, or philological discoveries have been made in the last fifty years that would cause us to read any of these biblical texts differently. Put another way, it is not that we have gained some new insights into what the biblical text means based on the study of the Hebrew and Greek texts. Instead, people’s interaction with the LGBT community has caused them to understand the biblical text differently.”
The truth, then, hasn’t changed. Instead, some professing Christians have departed from God’s unchanging truth because of personal relationships and cultural decline.
Second, most church groups that have removed homosexual practice from the sin list are in numerical and spiritual decline. In contrast, most church groups that are holding to biblical truth and practice, especially overseas, are growing numerically and spiritually.
Third, the embrace of homosexual practice cannot be separated from the larger cultural embrace of the sexual revolution. This includes an increase in sex out of wedlock, babies born out of wedlock, pornography, and divorce, along with the embrace of all kinds of sexual perversions. That’s why the same society that celebrates same-sex “marriage” is increasingly celebrating polyamory, polygamy, and consensual adult incest. (I’ve documented this in many articles and several books. See, conveniently, the relevant chapters here.)
This points to spiritual and moral regress, not progress.
Fourth, the idea that the whole Church will one day embrace homosexual practice is as certain not to happen as the idea that the whole Church will one day deny Jesus. Forget about not holding your breath. Don’t even think about holding your breath.
It’s certainly possible that, in some locations, increasing parts of the Church will fall away, and this will be marked by numerous moral and spiritual compromises. But the notion that the whole Church will fall away is completely self-contradictory, since if there is a true Church, it has been established by Jesus Himself. And it was He who said that He would build His church and that “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matt. 16:18).
But it is not only theologically ignorant to imagine that the Church worldwide will one day embrace homosexual practice. It is also missiologically ignorant, since wherever the Church is growing worldwide, it is growing with a conservative message and morality.
I truly believe that the leaders of groups like Faith in Action mean well and believe they are doing God’s work. That makes their self-deception all the more tragic.
glad you have it figured out dude
Are you kidding?
I’m wrong 10 times a day :)
That’s just my opinion and it’s not worth much :)
That’s the most simplistic answer to ANY thread I’ve seen in three years :)
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“For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple and wrong.”
H.L. Mencken
Psalm 11:5
The Lord tests the righteous, But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
1 Finally then, brethren, we urge and exhort in the Lord Jesus that you should abound more and more, just as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God; 2 for you know what commandments we gave you through the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; 4 that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor, 5 not in passion of lust, like the Gentiles who do not know God; 6 that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. 7 For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. 8 Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit.
Faithful churches are getting more faithful.
Faithless churches are getting less faithful.
So it seems at least.
Ezekiel 33:11: “As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?”
I think that the definition of ‘hate’ that the liberals use is different than the definition the Lord uses.
I’ll stick with the definition the Lord uses, I think.
Just as scripture said it would.
Yep.
I’m not gonna make any guesses about whether we’re living in the end times, other than to point out that all times since the resurrection of Christ are the end times.
Just make sure to be ready, because Jesus’ return will happen suddenly, like a thief in the night.
lol
The “new” Christian approach I’ve witnessed occurring is that God loves everyone so there’s No Chance of going to Hell.
Dangerous train of thought.
I think that is really a reference to the kingdom of Edom.
Desperado, these things that are pleasing you will hurt you somehow.
If by "Truth" you mean Jesus and His Return, then I completely agree.
The story we were born into has a timeline, along with markers along the way to herald its ending.
The modern, worldly opinion that homosexuality is as normal and acceptable as heterosexuality, rather than being yet another one of Satan's many traps, is one of the markers we've been warned about.
Satan is so adept at getting us to exchange Truth for whatever lies we like best and in Romans 1:18-31 we find that sexual truth is one of the first to fall.
As such, I believe the churches embracing homosexual practices does in fact show us that we're getting close to the end of the story, and therefore much closer to the ultimate Truth that awaits us there.
So, they are right, which should actually be enough scare the devil out of them and them out of the devil's trap.
Just don’t fall into the trap of assigning a date or time. The Gospel has been suppressed before and has always emerged again. The return of Jesus will come unexpectedly, as a thief in the night, at a time no one but the Father knows.
Having said that, I have great faith that Jesus WILL return, and that keeps me going every day.
Twice, Pastors came in and basically did that to churches we attended. Not over LGBT, but over power grabbing and doctrinal issues. Split one church and basically destroyed another.
Those of us who left formed a new church, a much smaller church of much more “involved” members. We borrowed a wonderful set of Constitution and bylaws from a church in Texas, which puts Christ at the forefront and gives a big voice to the congregation, led by a Church Council and Deacons AND a Pastor. Should there be a dire situation, there is a provision to cut the Pastor loose. And he knows it, and took the job anyway.
We are 20 years old, now, and blessed, some would say, beyond belief. Only two Pastors to date. Our first passed away, or he would still be in place. Our second is a no-compromise expositor of the Word as written - sorry if your toes are sore.
Basically, we have an old-fashioned Bible-believing church like most of us grew up with.
The left’s reaction to the Truth will become murderous before it’s all over. They’ll scream for our blood, as they have in the past.
What's the music like?
We use hymnals, not a screen. The newer hymnals have many “praise choruses” in them, and that’s fine. But “I’ll Fly Away”, and “Just As I Am” are still there. I really wish they’d move “Just As I Am” back to #240, where it belongs... :-) If you understand that joke, I know where you went to church, and how old you are.....
Okay, that’s good to hear. I was just wondering if it has the beatnic coffee house flair to it, like most “emergent” churches today.
Ahhhh - nope. Not “high church”, but lots of suits and ties mixed in with slacks and shirts. No food or drink in the sanctuary or lobby, please... Coffee and snacks are plentiful in the Sunday School rooms, but each class decides how/what, and it doesn’t leave the rooms.
I have, however, attended (once, for a specific purpose) a church where moms were pushing strollers in and out of the sanctuary drinking their coffees from the coffee bar in the lobby. I could have overlooked it, but they acted like they were strolling around the block and stopping to gossip - well into the start of the “service”...
Genesis 18:20-21
20. Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous
21. that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
Genesis 19:4-7
4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom--both young and old--surrounded the house.
5. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
6. Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
7. and said, "No, my friends. Don't do this wicked thing.
Leviticus niv
18:22 Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.
20:13 If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
Isaiah 3:9 The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.
2 Peter 2:13b Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
Ezekiel 16:49-50
49. "`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.
50. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen.
1. But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them--bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.
3. In their greed these teachers will exploit you with stories they have made up. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.
4. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment;
5. if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others;
6. if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
7. and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men
8. (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard)--
9. if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment.
10. This is especially true of those who follow the corrupt desire of the sinful nature and despise authority. Bold and arrogant, these men are not afraid to slander celestial beings;
11. yet even angels, although they are stronger and more powerful, do not bring slanderous accusations against such beings in the presence of the Lord.
12. But these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish.
13. They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Their idea of pleasure is to carouse in broad daylight. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their pleasures while they feast with you.
But there IS hope!!!
1 Corinthians 6:9-11
9. Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders
10. nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
11. And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
If you could NOT change, you would be in most pitiful shape...
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