Complimentary Story
March 2024“The earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.” (Genesis 6: 11-12 NASB).
“The Lord is not slow concerning His promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.” (2 Peter .3:8-9 WEB).
Two articles that came out just before Christmas were jaw-dropping for me:
From the New York Times — Title: The United Methodist Church, America’s second-largest Protestant denomination, is in the final stages of a slow-motion rupture that has so far seen the departure of a quarter of the nation’s roughly 30,000 churches.
At issue for Methodists is the question of ordaining and marrying L.G.B.T.Q. people, a topic that has splintered many other Protestant denominations and which Methodists have been debating for years.
Now, as the deadline approaches, remaining congregations and leaders are taking stock of their losses, and looking ahead to a future in which the denomination’s footprint in the United States may continue to shrink (even as it grows overseas, especially in Africa). In Texas, a historic stronghold for United Methodists, more than 40 percent of churches have left... Next year, Methodists plan to vote on what will likely be their lowest quarterly budget in 40 years.
The church has a number of openly gay clergy and two gay bishops.
From NPR — Title: Pope Francis approves Catholic blessings for same-sex couples, but not for marriage
Francis, 87, has made liberalization toward LGBTQ Catholics a hallmark of his papacy. Since he became pope in 2013, he has urged the decriminalization of homosexuality. When asked in 2013 about gay priests, he famously replied: “If someone is gay and he searches for the Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”
“Monday's declaration is a major step forward for the church in regards to LGBTQ people,” said the Rev. James Martin, an American Jesuit priest who has advocated for the LGBTQ Catholic community.
The normalization of sexual orientation by societal acceptance doesn’t make it right in the eyes of God. But the trend has been headed in this direction for more than a few years. I wrote at the State of Theology surveys earlier this year. Survey participants were given 33 different statements and then were asked to assess their level of agreement using a four-point, forced-choice scale (strongly agree, somewhat agree, somewhat disagree, strongly disagree). There are many ways to sort the data, including if the respondent is defined as Evangelical, Black Protestant, Mainline (Methodist, Lutheran, or Episcopalian), Roman Catholic, or Other. I encourage you to go to The State of Theology website and play with the data of all the statements.
Statement No. 27 is: Gender identity is a matter of choice.
2016: 38% agree
2018: 38% agree
2020: 38% agree
2022: 42% agree
Statement No. 28 is: The Bible’s condemnation of homosexual behavior doesn’t apply today.
2016: 42% agree
2018: 44% agree
2020: 40% agree
2022: 46% agree
Statement No. 31 is: Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective truth.
2018: 32% agree
2020: 23% agree
2022: 37% agree.
You can see from the trends of just these three questions where America is headed, and it’s not good. And now, when the leadership of two of the longest-standing, largest Christian bodies are sliding in the direction of secular tolerance — Methodists and Catholics — how much longer will God tarry?
What does the Bible say about homosexuality? A lot, actually. Here are just a few verses:
Leviticus 18:22, “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
Leviticus 20:13, “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.”
Jude 1:7, “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.”
The good news is that nearly a quarter of the nation’s roughly 30,000 Methodist churches have voted to exit the umbrella. According to the New York Times article, conservative churches have launched a rival denomination, the Global Methodist Church, which says it will not ordain or marry homosexual people. As of fall 2023, the new denomination said that more than 3,000 congregations had joined it.” Let’s pray this isn’t jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Let’s pray this will NOT embrace that 501C3 nonsense that got the church into the frying pan in the first place. Let’s pray that the congregations of these churches will embrace Bible-preaching, discipleship-teaching, Spirit-filled pastors who are not just hirelings.
Today’s Prayer
Dear Father, as many of the oldline churches, with fault lines breaking them apart and away from what You instruct in Your Word... As they are standing against secular dogma, scoop them into Your arms. Give them wisdom to find a new way, Your way...the old way. Give them eyes to see and ears to hear You clearly. Give their congregants a new and inspired fire in the belly to do what is right in Your eyes. Thank you, Lord for the ones who have left to follow Your ways, and not the ways of the world. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
