How could it come to this that the question, “What is a woman?” stumps the best and brightest of our day? Historically men have struggled to understand women but they have never had difficulty identifying them. Yet here we are with many people unwilling or unable to answer this simple question. The LGBTQ+ and progressive ideologues within the West have complicated simple truths so much that many intelligent people throw their hands up in the air and say, “Look, I don’t know what a woman is, I’m not a doctor.” People who claim to be wise but have become fools and are unable to understand even the simplest of realities. Unfortunately, this murky madness is infiltrating our churches.
For many Christians, basic truths which have been upheld in the Christian church for thousands of years are being swept aside in favour of more modern progressive ideas. Rather than standing firm on the foundations of plain and simple truths many Christian leaders, academics, and intellectuals are obfuscating truth and creating a safe-space for sophisticated perversions to creep in. Now is the time for Christians to stop these creeping perversions and contend for the plain truths of our ancient faith that has been handed down to us.
The church is under assault and some within our ranks are arguing that some of our traditional biblical truths need to be jettisoned if we want to survive. The secular intellectuals of our day accuse the church of being enslaved to the oppression of biblical ethics, anti-science beliefs, and the heavy yoke of outdated, unenlightened teachings. This is quite a charge against us! It is amid such repugnant accusations that our churches are being tempted to be pragmatic in the name of relevance and outreach.
Though many churches look good on paper, have solid statements of faith, and purport to adhere to their historical creeds and confessions they have found that these beliefs can get them in hot water. When a traditional biblical truth becomes unpopular with the secular society or with the government it is often tweaked to be less offensive and more in tune with the modern culture around us. Complex arguments and nuanced half-truths falsely promise enlightenment, however in reality they empower the passions of the flesh and diminish the transformative power of the Gospel.
Creepy Complexification
The pressure from the world around us is growing intense and we need to be aware of leaders who use complexification to justify, excuse, or cover-up a retreat from truth. Complexification occurs when a person makes an issue exceedingly complex, using abstruse ideas and terminology, to intimidate and create confusion in the mind of the listener. A growing number of Christian denominations are turning unpopular biblical teachings into an ambiguous mush of ideas using post-modern, esoteric arguments.
Many Christians are being intimidated by these arguments and hoodwinked into rejecting a plain reading of the Scriptures. Because of the doubt and confusion sown by the teachers, Christians are left unable to make a strong stand for simple biblical truth. The Scriptures forewarned of such dangers, “For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.” (Jude 1:4) We have already seen the results of such sinister tactics— churches and denominations refusing to affirm traditional Biblical ethics and morality and some going so far as to outright reject Biblical teachings and their historical creeds and confessions.
This is not a new phenomenon. “Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field… he said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say…?” (Genesis 3:1-2) There is a growing trend among Christian intellectuals to ask an eerily similar question, “Is that actually what the Bible means?” Take for example Genesis chapter one and all the sophisticated theological arguments put forward to undermine its historicity, making room for the more popular and reputably intellectual and scientific theory of Darwinian evolution. Beginning with the desired conclusion they fabricate an interpretive paradigm to support it. It is patently obvious that if we sacrifice Genesis 1-2 on the altar of science we lose far more than a 24-hour day. Eventually, we will lose marriage between one man and one woman, male and female genders, and the “second Adam” himself—Jesus Christ the physical descendent of Adam.
Creeping Perversions
The trend within Western churches is to move toward an incremental acceptance of progressive ideologies and neo-paganism. Even within our more conservative and Reformed churches we are seeing perversions slowly creeping into Biblical teaching, ethics, and morality. Take for example the infiltration of sexual immorality into our churches. In spite of clear biblical teaching to the contrary, divorce has long since been considered acceptable (Matt. 19:8), sex outside of marriage is tolerated (Heb. 13:4), soft pornography in Netflix films is inevitable and therefore justified (1 Cor. 6:9), and abortion is seen as necessary though perhaps not ideal (Ex. 20:13).
Down, down, down we fall into the sexually immoral rabbit-hole all in the name of sensitivity, progress, and gospel inclusivity. Instead of tolerating these things, we ought to be getting rid of them, “Put to death therefore what is earthy in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming.” (Col. 3:5-6) Is the church putting these worldly passions to death or making safe spaces for them to creep into the hearts, minds, and lives of our people? Creepy perversions first move near our churches, then into our churches, and finally, they take over our churches.
The less we hold to the absolute truth of the Scripture— no matter how unpopular it may be in the church or world— the weaker we become as a church and the more amoral the government and the culture around us will become. We are not doing society any favours by keeping Biblical truth out of the public discourse and capitulating biblical teaching because it may offend or be divisive. “If the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (1 Peter 4:18)
Are we not seeing the devastating consequences of denying God’s laws in our post-Christian nations? Look at the LGBTQ+ community. Do you think the homosexuals who are in their 60s and 70s could have imagined a society where government health departments no longer use terms like, “pregnant woman” lest they offend someone in their own LGBTQ+ community? No, they simply wanted to be able to be gay, right? Then they just wanted you to validate their choice and affirm them as good. Now, this progressive movement wants to persuade your children to embrace the LGBTQ+ by sexualising kindergarteners in school while you are not around and giving them material that in any other context would be criminal. Giving into small perversions within the church will have the same outcome. Our churches are deluding themselves if they believe that they can win this war by suing for peace and unity with perversions.
The battle for truth is raging and it is no time for the church to retreat. Christianity will surely win the war for truth, Christ is seeing to that, but will you win the battle for truth in your own life, in the lives of your children, and in your church? Biblical and modern history has shown us that God will allow her church to be overrun and brought to ruin if she breaks covenant with Him. If the church refuses to take a strong biblically orthodox stand for truth against the obscure, complicated arguments for tolerance we will erode and diminish like the many fallen churches and denominations of the past.
We can and must take a resolute stand against anyone who argues for even the slightest deviation from the truth of the Holy Scriptures no matter how eloquently articulated. We must train our ears to listen for slippery, sinister arguments that confuse basic truth and complicate biblical teaching. If we remain dull and comfortable listening to such teachings we will become part of the problem and not part of the solution. If we are to remain faithful in this crooked and twisted generation we must double down on truth and unreservedly reject the creep of perversions.
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