Of Millstones and Pride Parades

Deep Pew let me know that our former Episcopal parish posted a picture recently of their free "pride cookie" giveaway planned for the local "Pride" parade. It was especially upsetting to see adults leading children astray. 

Such things do not surprise me, but they do cause a pang of guilt that when I left that place they lost the one last strong orthodox voice to stand up against false teaching.

I want to go into a discussion of the sin of pride and the trouble with millstones with these adults, but I know that it would fall on deaf ears. I can only pray that those ears will be unstopped, and that those children listen to Jesus as their teacher.

Perhaps we should not look back after washing the dust from our feet. 

Remember what happened to Lot's wife.

The Living Dead... to Sin

This Sunday's reading from Romans 6:1-11 contains Paul's logical approach to the problem of sin in the context of those who have been baptized.

What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.

 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

The accusation of many non-church goers is that we who regularly attend are a bunch of hypocrites who live sinful lives during the week while pretending to be alive in Christ on Sundays. 

Putting sin to death was Jesus' job. For most of us it is an ongoing process of accepting what He has done and trying to be living examples of what it means to be alive in Christ. Those of us who are church goers in the Anglican tradition confess our sins before we present ourselves for communion. 

Even hypocrites are forgiven by the grace of God when they confess.  

Meanwhile in Wales: Don't Say What You Believe Christian

 From The Christian Institute 

A teacher has been dismissed from The Bishop of Llandaff Church in Wales School, in Cardiff, after sharing his beliefs on marriage at a staff training seminar.

During a question and answer session, Ben Dybowski asked if his beliefs – that marriage is between a man and a woman and that life begins at conception – were considered discriminatory.

Despite being told that it was a “safe space and encouraged to speak freely”, he was sacked the following day.

Mr Dybowski called his dismissal an attack on Christianity and “an affront to freedom of speech and freedom of thought”.

He said he never discussed his views with pupils and was always respectful of those with different opinions.

His case has been referred to the Education Workforce Council, which regulates teachers in Wales, but he fears that it may end his teaching career.

The event was organised by Diverse Cymru, which promotes “workforce diversity practice”, “unconscious bias” and “trans, gender identity and gender expression awareness” to teachers.

The seminar was run by its Policy Manager Ele Hicks, who describes herself as a ‘bisexual activist and change champion’.

 

Words of warning to those who follow Jesus

Today's reading is from Matthew 9:35-10:23. Jesus sends his disciples out with instructions and warnings. 

Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers into his harvest.’

Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment. Take no gold, or silver, or copper in your belts, no bag for your journey, or two tunics, or sandals, or a staff; for labourers deserve their food. Whatever town or village you enter, find out who in it is worthy, and stay there until you leave. As you enter the house, greet it. If the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it; but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that town.

 ‘See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of them, for they will hand you over to councils and flog you in their synagogues; and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles. When they hand you over, do not worry about how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you at that time; for it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death; and you will be hated by all because of my name. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next; for truly I tell you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.

His warnings are as true today as they were then. 

 

The exodus continues

Good news from Louisiana as reported by The Christian Post,  

Nearly 100 United Methodist Church congregations in Louisiana had their disaffiliation votes ratified by the regional conference last weekend, joining hundreds of others nationwide that have left the mainline Protestant denomination in the last year amid a schism over homosexuality. 

UMC’s Louisiana Annual Conference voted to approve the departure of the 95 congregations during a special called session held on Saturday. The session was called "for the sole purpose of voting on the Louisiana Conference Board of Trustees recommendations for the churches disaffiliating per paragraph 2553."

The disaffiliations will go into effect on Wednesday.

...Among the churches that had their disaffiliation votes approved is the First United Methodist Church of Shreveport, one of the state's largest Methodist churches. FUMC Shreveport held a meeting in April, where 84% of over 1,100 congregants voted in favor of disaffiliation.

...In March, a judge ruled against a lawsuit seeking to stop churches from disaffiliating from the Louisiana Conference. Pastors sued the Louisiana Conference and its board of trustees, taking issue with the disaffiliation process.

Like Pharaoh, some UMC bishops cannot accept the Lord's will in this. Good to see that the courts in Louisiana let God's people go.

But in Ohio things are going smoother also from The Christian Post, 

The Western Ohio Conference of the UMC, which oversees congregations mostly west and south of Columbus, voted to allow 172 out of approximately 960 congregations to disaffiliate at the 2023 West Ohio Annual Conference over the weekend...

The approval follows the disaffiliation of 80 congregations from the conference during a special session last year. 

I see that the total number of congregations leaving the UMC is now over 5000!

"Exodus, movement of ja people." 

 

Faith as Righteousness

 In today's reading from Romans 4:13-25, Paul lays the foundation for justification through faith and the grace of  God raising Jesus. 

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, ‘I have made you the father of many nations’)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become ‘the father of many nations’, according to what was said, ‘So numerous shall your descendants be.’ He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah’s womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith ‘was reckoned to him as righteousness.’ Now the words, ‘it was reckoned to him’, were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

No works based justification there.  

The new blackface

 Growing up in a city that was well known for sinful behavior, I learned about what is now called the "trans community" at an early age. In the 1950's my parents explained to me that when Milton Berle wore a dress, it was part of his act, and it was meant to be funny. "Female impersonation" has a long history in theater and film. In the early 1960's people who took this behavior more seriously were called "cross dressers" or "transvestites". Many were performers in the clubs in the old quarters where I lived, and you could often see them in the streets as they made their way to and from work. Little did we children know about the sexual acts in which they might be engaged. 

Coming of age in the early 1970's, we were no longer amused by these people as we understood what went on behind the mask. It was clear that transvestites were not normal. 

Jumping forward to the 2020's, we are living in an age when one must celebrate "diversity" and "inclusion", and we have to deny or denigrate "normality". 

It is hard to look at the current crop of biological males who are dressing up and altering their bodies to appear female without thinking back to the "blackface" controversies of the last few decades. Blackface was comic and serious performance art on stage and in cinema even up to the time its satirical use in "Silver Streak" (1976). Blackface performers earned their bad reputation through the stereotypes and  mockery they made of black people, and also by depriving blacks of acting roles. 

Why is it that women are not claiming offense at seeing males impersonating them, receiving awards, appearing on the covers of fashion magazines, and advertising products targeting actual females. Is it not also a mockery?

Perhaps there is no outcry because of fear of the backlash, or maybe women recognize that these men, while not amusing, are no threat to womanhood despite some of  their more outlandish claims. 

No threat until they show up in your daughter's bathroom, locker room, shower, or prison cell. 

Hopefully the promotion of what is now called "transgenderism" will someday go the way of blackface.

Making Disciples

Making disciples should be easy, but it is not,

Matthew 28:16-20

Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshipped him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.’

The message of the Gospel should be enough to win anyone over, and people should eagerly desire to be baptized, but the spirit of the age vigorously opposes the work of  Holy Spirit. 

Teaching disciples to obey His commands is another thing we must constantly practice. The human ability to backslide is repeated so many times in the Bible that  we know following baptism, continuing Christian education is a must.

Pray for the teachers. They can backslide too, and when that happens you don't make disciples from all nations. You wind up with addicts to the zeitgeist who typically share the poison they have been fed with those around them.