OPINION:
Most humans on planet Earth believe there is an entity greater than us. They call him God, Allah or a variety of other names, but in general, most folks think there is a good guy up there somewhere bigger than us.
Many also believe there is a bad guy. Satan. The Devil. Beelzebub. He puts temptation in front of us. He thrives on chaos and disorder. He uses whatever tools he can to throw humans off their path of following good, following in the light of God.
Temptation can appear in any number of forms. Money. Power. Sex. Vanity. Pride. Often temptation isn’t quite as simple as making a single decision at any given moment in time. It can be a slippery slope, filled with good intentions or sometimes filled with a desire to fit in with others who seem to be judging our intentions.
One of the tools the devil has long used with great success is trying to keep humans in a state of conflict with one another. This makes us question each other and ourselves. In the current era, he is using homosexuality as a tool to not only pit human beings against one another but to tear down Christianity itself. Satan’s success using this particular tool is alarming.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying gay people are Satanic. I’m not going to pass judgment on what anyone does in the privacy of their own home. As Matthew 7:1 says, “Judge not lest ye be judged.” Judgment of individual actions is between that person and God.
I am saying, however, that Satan seems to have harnessed the gay community and their agenda to cause chaos and destruction within the Christian world.
The United Methodist Church has been the 2nd largest Protestant denomination in the United States but is currently undergoing a massive split.
The governing document for the United Methodists is called The Book of Discipline. Among other things included in The Book of Discipline are the church’s standings that active practicing gay individuals may not serve in the clergy, and the UMC will not perform same-sex marriages. This belief is in keeping with thousands of years of human tradition and the word of God in the Holy Bible.
There is a movement within the UMC, however, to change the Book of Discipline to reflect the current cultural trends and endorse homosexual relationships. This does not sit well with many. This past week 23 congregations in the Baltimore-Washington Conference of the United Methodist Church received permission to leave the organization.
The congregations said they were leaving over how the UMC handles “the practice of homosexuality” and “the ordination and marriage of self-avowed practicing homosexuals,” a regional office news release stated.
In short, gays are splitting this long-standing traditional Christian Church. The Methodists aren’t alone.
In February of this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the head of the Church of England and the “first among equals,” issued a statement that acknowledged that the church’s doctrine makes clear marriage is between one man and one woman for life. Curiously, however, the primary purpose of the statement was to promote church blessings for same-sex couples.
The statement read in part, “For the first time, the Church of England will publicly, unreservedly and joyfully welcome same-sex couples in church.”
Reaction within the church was swift and definitive. Leaders at the Global Anglican Future Conference condemned the Archbishop’s move as clearly contrary to their mission. “Since the Lord does not bless same-sex unions, it is pastorally deceptive and blasphemous to craft prayers that invoke blessing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Anglicans are the third largest Christian denomination on earth. With their action in April, 85% of the Bishops rejected their sitting leader. The action was quite literally unprecedented, but one they deemed necessary because “he has chosen to ignore the teachings of his own church.”
With the Archbishop’s actions and the resulting blowback, the gay agenda is splitting yet another major Christian institution.
Wait, there’s more. In 2015 Presbyterian Church USA changed its governing document, The Book of Order, to say marriage is between two people, dropping any reference to gender. The result? Their flock thinned.
Only the Catholics and Southern Baptists have continued to hold the line on traditional family values, but even in their cases, not without some dissent.
This month in Pittsburgh, Father Doug Boud had scheduled what was being advertised as a “Pride Mass” celebrating the feast of the Corpus Christi - the body of Christ - in a gay Mass. What exactly a gay Mass is or why a separate celebration of Mass had to be scheduled for active homosexuals is unclear.
The Mass was canceled on the orders of the Bishop of Pittsburgh. It turns out the Pride Mass had not been sanctioned or approved by the Diocese. Since gay sex and same-sex marriages are contrary to Catholic teaching, the Bishop took a hard pass.
Pastor Tom Burke of the St. Mary Magdalene Parish, where the Pride Mass had been scheduled, encourages an LGBTQ ministry at his church. It is coordinated by a woman named Vicki Sheridan. Sheridan apparently has children who are homosexual. Pastor Burke seemed dumbfounded as to why the Bishop had canceled a celebration pairing the holy sacrament of Corpus Christi with gay pride, saying simply that the Bishop had “told me I can’t do that.” Was Burke unaware of Catholic doctrine, or was he simply ignoring it? Neither is acceptable.
The bottom line is that Christians are under attack by Satan. Under the guise of “tolerance” and “equality,” the devil is working his way into sacred gathering places every Sunday, leaving a path of destruction and split within Christian denominations worldwide. Pretending that adhering to traditional biblical text is somehow intolerant is effectively wreaking havoc in multiple churches.
Jesus loved the prostitute, the tax collector and sinners in general. That does not mean he endorsed their behavior. He loved the person. So too, should we love all of our brothers and sisters, but like Jesus, our Christian organizations need not endorse their behavior. Don’t let Satan split Christians in this absurd insistence that culture requires us all to accept any and every behavior.
- Tim Constantine is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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