Posted on 06/15/2015 6:44:40 AM PDT by xzins
If the view of the “converts” to same-sex marriage and the acceptance of homosexual partnerships is “ultimately destructive to society, to the church, and to relations between men and women,” how can that distance be avoided?
The reality is that it cannot. This is a moment of decision, and every evangelical believer, congregation, denomination, and institution will have to answer. There will be no place to hide. The forces driving this revolution in morality will not allow evasion or equivocation. Every pastor, every church, and every Christian organization will soon be forced to declare an allegiance to the Scriptures and to the Bible’s teachings on marriage and sexual morality, or to affirm loyalty to the sexual revolution. That revolution did not start with same-sex marriage, and it will not end there. But marriage is the most urgent issue of the day, and the moment of decision has arrived.
In this season of testing, Christians committed to the gospel of Christ are called upon to muster the greatest display of compassion and conviction of our lives. But true compassion will never lead to an abandonment of biblical authority or a redefinition of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I was contacted yesterday by Sarah Pulliam Bailey of The Washington Post. She asked about these very developments. As I told her, this issue will eventually break relationships — personally, congregationally, and institutionally. This is the sad reality and there is simply no way around it. No one, especially in a position of leadership, will be able to fly under the radar on this issue.
The last two days have been very revealing. The present moment is very demanding. The issues before us are compelling and urgent. The Bible is clear. Are you ready to give an answer?
(Excerpt) Read more at christianheadlines.com ...
We must act. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword, but there is no condemnation of dying by the sword. I take that to mean it is a last resort.
Fight now.
How? What is the plan?
If hard persecution follows soft persecution in this country, then that means Christians have not acted during the time of soft persecution. Like the Jews of Nazi Germany we will have allowed the persecution to rise to the time of “Krystallnacht” and the time of violent persecution.
We must act. Those who live by the sword will die by the sword, but there is no condemnation of dying by the sword. I take that to mean it is a last resort.
Fight now.
How? What is the plan?
I think our pattern was set by the early church.
Paul used every legal means to stay safe and unhindered, but when the persecution came, they endured and pointed to Christ, because they were constantly in His Word.
How do the churches of China and Nigeria stay together and grow in a hostile environment? Devotion to the Word of God, community fellowship (loving one another) and prayer.
The same applies for us in the West.
We have so many pseudochurches, that as you well know, I have been railing against on FR for at least 13 years.
They do nothing but preach a false gospel of self-esteem and people have been led astray.
What should we do?
2 Tim 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching.”
MOST churches, and I’ve visited quite a few, skirt this issue out of discomfort, denial, or fear of retribution. They will be the ones who are hammered the hardest.
Better to face the issue head on. It’s actually safer, and a surer bulwark against the sodomite attack as they surround our houses, Sodom-style.
That's for sure. It wasn't even called "The sexual revolution" in the bible when the guy in church was sleeping with his father's wife and everyone knew about it but still let him attend. The woman at the well had had 5 husbands and was just living with her latest dude when the Lord met her. The bible is just full of inappropriate sex and yet this gay marriage thing is such an abomination.
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First, Christians need to stand up, and not be associated with other so called “Christians” who either tolerate or advocate sexual immorality.
This means RESIGNING from and leaving Churches in the mainline denominations: [Episcopalian: TEC, Presbyterian: PCUSA, Lutheran: ELCA, Churches of Christ: UCC, Methodist: UMC, ETC.]
EVERY one of those groups either openly endorses sexual perversion, or tolerates churches and shepherds which do.
There are smaller, biblically faithful versions of each of the above denominational traditions. No, the buildings won’t be as big, or nice....and they won’t have as much money...but better to meet in a cave, than to cave on faithfulness to God & His Word.
If you are a part of a denomination or church which can’t seem to bring church discipline against sexual perverts, than that organization has ceased to be a church at all; you have a responsibility to testify against them by separating.
Hide? I’m not hiding from anything.
Its sexual perversion, its a sexual fetish, its not natural and in my opinion, extremely disgusting.
I’m not hiding. I’m saying that out loud.
I have long been a believer in Just War when practiced between nations. I sincerely believe that the Jews of Germany should have used guns, should have fought.
This is not easily spoken, but it is true that Jesus gave highest praise to Centurions without ever telling them they must leave the military in order to be faithful Christians. David was not warned away from felling Goliath with a sling, and Joshua was not told to win the promised land with flowers and dancing.
So, if we do not want to get to that time of having to take up a sword, then we have no choice but to become aggressive and confrontive in our pursuit of justice and our rejection of dhimmi status with either socialists or islamo-fascists.
See #11
I was thinking the same thing.
During the Roman persecutions the Christians they tried to stay out of view, but when they were arrested or confronted they proudly proclaimed the faith and were martyred.
I doubt we will be boiled alive or fed to lions, but persecutions are coming and true Christians must be ready for them.
What we are also witnessing is the empty faith of many who say they are Christians and go to church on Sunday because that's what their parents and grandparents did. Still others were attracted by a false gospel promising material prosperity. The churches that appeal to such people have always been quick to redefine sin in order to maintain membership and the congregants are given the false message that Christianity can be modified conform with secularism.
They do nothing but preach a false gospel of self-esteem and people have been led astray.
—
That is exactly what has happened. False gospel doesn’t last.
So many that aren’t hearing the true gospel think they understand what Jesus has offered them but they don’t. It is our responsibility to stand up to those misleading people for their own gain.
From (worth reading the whole thing):
Just Christians (On Homosexuality & Christian Identity)
http://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=26-04-003-e
The Church never can and never will give satisfaction—and the homosexualist knows it, for he knows the words against him are ineradicable—to the declared and impenitent homosexual, the person who, through an act of the vermiculate will, has identified his person with a sin, whether he demands acceptance of his sin through “love,” or vindication through identification of his perceived enemies as bigots. Whether he presents himself as an object of love or indignation, what he demands in either case is acceptance not of the person, but of the sin-bound and sin-defined person. He demands the declaration of spiritual authority that there is nothing objectively disordered about this binding of man to sin, and assurance that this monstrous amalgam can indeed enter the kingdom of heaven. This can never happen among Christians until they abandon Christianity, which is at war with every sin, and whose indelible constitution places all perversions of the perfect man at the muzzle of its canons.
You can take the boy out of the military, but you can’t take the military out of the boy.
Paul and those early generations of Christians were profiles in courage. However, if they had been the majority, rather than a relatively small, new sect, I’ve no doubt they would have fought persecution and their persecutors. I believe in Just War.
Another very good article (Matt Barber):
Christians, Stand Your Ground Against Homofascism
Read Romans 1. It is hard to step around the truths:
1. Homosexual activity is sin. So are fornication and adultery but homosexual activity seems to be a “next step” down the road of depravity that comes from turning our backs on God.
2. If it is sin (it is), it cannot be openly condoned by the church any more than fornication or adultery.
3. ANY church that openly supports homosexual marriage is violating the words of Romans 1 and is into heresy. Their elders, who should know the truth, will stand accursed.
From a strictly civil perspective, I can see where homosexual marriage could be permissible in the courts but it should, in no way, be permissible in any church that claims to hold fast the gospel of Jesus Christ. Any church that allows gay weddings among their members is in violation of Holy Scriptures and, therefore, stand in opposition to the very words given to us by God.
Take up the sword? Or gun? Who do you recommend we shoot?
If violent persecution comes...well, did the first century Christians go to Masada and resist with violence? Did they kill government officials at night?
If a bunch of people showed up at my door demanding sex with my daughter, I’d shoot. Hetero or homo, I’d shoot. But this will start slow. If the Supreme Court makes homosexual marriage a “right”, then religious schools will be under pressure. Then churches will be told they will lose their tax exempt status (and I am sure the one I’m a member of would much rather give up tax-exempt than give up the Word of God).
We’re already seeing businessmen being fined for not supporting gay marriage. We need to fight to change those laws, but I don’t advocate shooting the city council...
We need to understand that America is not, in any way, a Christian nation any longer. Not even close. I don’t care what stupid surveys show - if 50% of Americans believed in God, our country would be a very different place! We are as much in a heathen society as the Corinthians...and I guess I missed the part where the Corinthians were told to rise up and slay their oppressors!
I doubt Christians - who at a minimum must believe that God has the right to tell them how to live - are more than 5-10% of the American population. We are seeing homosexuals attacking the church because we no longer outnumber them by a large enough margin to intimidate them from attacking. But a call to violence isn’t the answer.
I think the key quote in the article is this:
“But then, in a very curious paragraph, Galli stated:
“We’ll be sad, but we won’t panic or despair. Neither will we feel compelled to condemn the converts and distance ourselves from them. But, to be sure, they will be enlisting in a cause that we believe is ultimately destructive to society, to the church, and to relations between men and women.””
That is the compromise we cannot make. If someone who claims to be Christian then turns around and accepts sin as good - be it adultery, theft or homosexuality - then we MUST throw that person out. We must make our message clear:
“So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. 15 But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”
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