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pastorbrian@campverdechristian.org

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The Truth vs Popular Opinion

A satirical newspaper known as the Babylonian Bee wrote the following article, poking fun at modern woke culture:

ISRAEL – A newly unearthed portion of the gospel of Mark, discovered in an ancient pottery piece dating from the first century, reveals at long last the part of the gospel narrative in which Jesus affirmed everybody’s pet sins, reports confirmed Tuesday.

The new fragment of the gospel relates in great detail a story of Jesus confronting sinners and Pharisees and encouraging them to follow their hearts and be true to themselves.

For example:

And so Jesus went up to the mountainside to preach to the crowd, saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, you’re beautiful no matter what they say. Don’t ever change.”

The text further records Jesus listing off various sins named in the Scriptures and confirming that they’re no longer considered sin, as long as the wider culture affirms and celebrates them.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that love is love, and whoever commits adultery is really just living their own truth and not settling for less. Don’t be haters.”

The scrap of parchment has already sent shock waves through modern Christendom, with thousands of pastors and theologians switching positions on a plethora of controversial social issues.

“It’s pretty clear in this new text that Christ came alongside the marginalized, like sinners and tax collectors, and told them to just go ahead and keep sinning,” Pastor Tim Keller said of the discovery. “As a student of the Bible, I have to affirm people in their sins now.”

“It’s loving like Jesus did, after all,” he added.

This article, to the true Christian, is readily seen as ironic humor. Yet the true irony is that the article points to a truly sad truth in society today: people have come to near completion in fulfilling Isaiah 5:20-23 and Romans 1:18-23:

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes And clever in their own sight! Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine, And valiant men in mixing intoxicating drink, Who declare the wicked innocent for a bribe, And take away the rights of the ones who are in the right!”

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.  For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their reasonings, and their senseless hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and they exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible mankind, of birds, four-footed animals, and crawling creatures.”

Evidence for man’s tremendous backpedaling against God can be found in a true headline that seems fit for a satirical paper as well: Amy Grant and Husband Vince Gill to Host Lesbian Wedding for her Neice, Quoted as Saying, “Jesus, you just narrowed it down to two things: Love God and love each other.”

We are in truly dangerous times for God’s people when well-known, supposedly Christian pop singers, twist, change and put new words in the mouth of our Lord and Saviour in an attempt to reconcile man’s desire with God’s commandments. Either she is blantantly lying or she is blatantly ignorant of God’s Word.

It is so critically important, readers, to know your Bible. The devil knows it inside and out, and is ever-ready to twist and use it against you, to corrupt your beliefs and any limited knowledge that you may have of God’s heart. Don’t be caught unawares. Just because it is popular opinion does not mean Christ endorsed it or God approved it!

I am NOT CONDONING the condemnation of LGBTQ folks any more than I am condoning the condemnation of adulterers, thieves, murderers, coveters or any other sinner. That is not my point. Sin is sin. We are all guilty of it and all sinners should be welcomed to Christ regardless. But we should not CONDONE the sins either! To change God’s Word Is to condone sin and commit a further one: idolatry! It is idolatry because in so-doing what people are doing today, we are creating God in our OWN image, rather than acknowledging that He created us in His and we corrupted it.

As Christians we must love all! But that does NOT mean we are to encourage sin. We are to help one another, in love, to avoid it at all costs!