"A liberty that isn’t even mentioned in the Constitution to say the least – that is erotic liberty – is triumphing over religious liberty and that is one of the saddest development we can contemplate." - Al Mohler
Over the past two weeks, Anna and I have been reading through the last two books of the Bible - Jude and Revelation - during our devotional times and one of the things that has really stood out to me is how certain sections of the book link militancy with sexual deviancy. Both in the church and in the political sphere.
Jude depicts their immorality. They...
- "pervert the grace of our God into sexuality" (v4)
- "likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire" [homosexuality] (v7)
- "cast... up he foam of their own shame" (v13)
but in the same breath, he links them with a playing political church games. They...
- "crept in unnoticed" (v4)
- "are hidden reefs" (i.e. will destroy an unknowing ship at sea) (v.12)
- "show... favoritism to gain advantage" (v. 16)
- "cause divisions" (v. 19)
I remember pointing this weird link out to Anna at that time: I usually don't connect these two. Do I usually think of people who try to usurp church authority or cause a church split of also being guilty of leading others into sexual immorality? Not really. To gain any political ground in church, it seems like, at the very least, your conduct of life has to be above-board.
And then we started reading through Revelation and I noticed the same thing. The same link going on at the political level. It's actually all over Revelation. I could mention several passages, but will spare you and just cite one. 17:4-6 says:
"The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus."
And I made the same note: I usually don't connect these two aspects. Take the political powers that are the most militant against Christianity: Islam and communism. Neither one of these have a very strong track record of rife and liberal sexuality. In the list of things people say they don't like about Islam, I rarely hear about how much they indulge in the lusts of the flesh.
So you can imagine that my ears have perked up to this latest series of terrible injustice on the part of the LGBT community in my home country. Right around the time that Barronelle Stutzman was being fined (court case closed) for refusing to decorate a gay couple's (fake) wedding ceremony, several thousand (million?) Americans were speaking out boldly to ensure that the kind of legislation that forced that fine continues.
I just found it interesting that here, we have a clear link between political militancy and sexual deviancy, the exact same kind of thing we are warned about in the pages of scripture that I found so hard to believe earlier.
"As the beast portrays the state's power to coerce religious conformity through violence, so the prostitute symbolizes the seductive appeal of a worldly economic system driven by the quest of affluence and pleasure (18:11-19)" - ESV Study note on Revelation 17:4
Now, just to clarify, I'm not saying America is the beast and the harlot of Revelation and that this means that Tehran is now going to nuke the world. But if it did, and I was looking at Japanese flower blossoms at the time, there might be a slight millisecond where I would see something like this picture:
(epic end to a blog post if I do say so myself...)
Over the past two weeks, Anna and I have been reading through the last two books of the Bible - Jude and Revelation - during our devotional times and one of the things that has really stood out to me is how certain sections of the book link militancy with sexual deviancy. Both in the church and in the political sphere.
Jude depicts their immorality. They...
- "pervert the grace of our God into sexuality" (v4)
- "likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire" [homosexuality] (v7)
- "cast... up he foam of their own shame" (v13)
but in the same breath, he links them with a playing political church games. They...
- "crept in unnoticed" (v4)
- "are hidden reefs" (i.e. will destroy an unknowing ship at sea) (v.12)
- "show... favoritism to gain advantage" (v. 16)
- "cause divisions" (v. 19)
I remember pointing this weird link out to Anna at that time: I usually don't connect these two. Do I usually think of people who try to usurp church authority or cause a church split of also being guilty of leading others into sexual immorality? Not really. To gain any political ground in church, it seems like, at the very least, your conduct of life has to be above-board.
And then we started reading through Revelation and I noticed the same thing. The same link going on at the political level. It's actually all over Revelation. I could mention several passages, but will spare you and just cite one. 17:4-6 says:
"The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus."
And I made the same note: I usually don't connect these two aspects. Take the political powers that are the most militant against Christianity: Islam and communism. Neither one of these have a very strong track record of rife and liberal sexuality. In the list of things people say they don't like about Islam, I rarely hear about how much they indulge in the lusts of the flesh.
So you can imagine that my ears have perked up to this latest series of terrible injustice on the part of the LGBT community in my home country. Right around the time that Barronelle Stutzman was being fined (court case closed) for refusing to decorate a gay couple's (fake) wedding ceremony, several thousand (million?) Americans were speaking out boldly to ensure that the kind of legislation that forced that fine continues.
I just found it interesting that here, we have a clear link between political militancy and sexual deviancy, the exact same kind of thing we are warned about in the pages of scripture that I found so hard to believe earlier.
"As the beast portrays the state's power to coerce religious conformity through violence, so the prostitute symbolizes the seductive appeal of a worldly economic system driven by the quest of affluence and pleasure (18:11-19)" - ESV Study note on Revelation 17:4
Now, just to clarify, I'm not saying America is the beast and the harlot of Revelation and that this means that Tehran is now going to nuke the world. But if it did, and I was looking at Japanese flower blossoms at the time, there might be a slight millisecond where I would see something like this picture:
(epic end to a blog post if I do say so myself...)
Hmm. Interesting thoughts. I was scrolling back through your blog posts and realized I hadn't read this one. It IS a strange link, but you're right, it is actually coming into play in our country right now. And I very much appreciate the epicness of the ending picture. =) -Natalie
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