Category: cultural

cultural

Q. What kind of sick, depraved, ghoulish, satanic, mind would think it reasonable to sell chopped up human babies?

Bob Snyder1 Comment

A. The kind that we had before God so mercifully saved us.

Ouch! I know it stings, but what do we expect? Do we actually expect the unregenerate to think, feel, act, as regenerate? I mean… come on. We need to remember how darkened and depraved our reasoning was before we were saved, so we can relate to the unsaved. We need to see them as people in need. Paul said he was the Chief of Sinner. He hunted Christians to jail them and kill them. Before our conversion each and every one of us was just as depraved as many of the people we are surprised by. I was disgusting in my sins, yet God saved me according to His sovereign will by His grace. God actively restrains humans from being as evil as they potentially could be. This is called common grace. It might not seem like it, but He does. Without His restraint, we would, each one of us, be worse than Hitler. So when lost people do ghoulish things it shouldn’t surprise us. We should be aghast. We should be overcome with grief. We should be so moved that we do something. Not just moved to talk about it for a couple of weeks and then move on to the next scandal, but rather moved to God glorifying action.
So, what should we do? What should Christians do in the face of abortion? First, we pray. We pray to God for strength, wisdom, and compassion. We pray for Him to bless our efforts in witnessing to the lost who are working at the clinics or there to get an abortion. We pray for God to save them, for their hearts to be changed in the second birth. Second, we ask our Pastors and Elders for permission and instruction before we go. Third, we go as an organized group to preach the gospel, listen to their heartfelt cries, share the truth in love, offer them any assistance we have available, and we serve them in humility.
What we don’t do is another thing we should address. We don’t get into screaming matches. We don’t go to argue with, “those people.” We don’t go to argue with the police. We don’t go to get arrested. (If we are doing what we should be and we get arrested that is fine.) We don’t go to win a debate. If we act in a way that is disgraceful we are effectively ruining our witness and defiling the worth of the cross with our actions.
What’ at stake? Think about it. Human lives are at stake. People made in the image of God for His glory are being ruthlessly murdered and mutilated. We know what we can do. Are we going to do it? I hope so. I hope I will be faithful. It is one thing for me to sit at a keyboard and write about it. It is another to actually get out and do something about it. That is my prayer, that we will get out and do the work that is our good work prepared for us before time.

Apologetics · cultural · evangelism

Christian Against Christian? The Divisiveness of Sin.

Bob Snyder1 Comment

I’ve been reading lots of unbiblical articles and posts, written by Christians who are criticizing the opponents of gay marriage. Most of these articles misquote and twist scripture. Which is interesting in itself, because they accuse the conservative Christians of doing that very thing. They say things like, “Christians shouldn’t judge.” We all have heard this canard and recognize it as a misunderstanding of scripture. We are to judge what God has already judged in His word and we are supposed to live our lives by it. He is the author of the law. Our laws are supposed to agree with His and they are supposed to be used in the process of judging right from wrong and good from evil. Government is ordained to agree with His laws and enforce them for the good of His people. Secularists don’t get this and won’t, unless they become regenerated by God. One of the things that strikes me from Romans 1 is this statement from God. “and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.”(Romans 1:32 NASB) Did you get that last part, “Christians?” This part here, “give hearty approval to those who practice them” This is why we can’t give our approval to redefining marriage to accommodate what by definition can’t be called marriage. I am surprised that Christians could give their approval to what is against God’s decree.
The other thing I am surprised by is the lack of understanding, grace, and love towards a world that is dying in sin. We can’t put our noses in the air and only say, “gays are going to hell.” We also can’t just expect them to see our loving example and then repent and put their faith in Christ. So there are two extreme reactions we are having to this. One is the extreme of disdain without mercy, the other extreme is love without truth. Both leave the sinner without the necessary information.
We have to temper our response to sinners sinning. We should not be surprised when people act in keeping with their natures. What should our response look like? It should reasonably and accurately proclaim the truth of the Bible in a loving attitude that is genuinely concerned that the person they are addressing is headed to eternal torment where God will be pouring out His wrath on them for ever. If you are not moved by that thought to proclaim the love of Christ as expressed by His work on the cross, then you need to examine your heart. The regeneration of the sinner by the Holy Spirit does not leave a person the same. Christ’s love is not permissive or tolerant of sin. It is a perfecting love that conforms the regenerate into His likeness.

cultural

No respect for the sanctity of marriage, family, or life.

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The way Satan has used liberal secularism to corrupt society.

Sin in the hearts of the spiritually dead and dark aligned with the will of their master have been at work in this world system for a long time. What we see here in America is nothing new, but it is new to us. During the sexual revolution in the 60’s and 70’s we saw rebellion against God in the form of sensual liberty come to fruition. It was fueled by men and women who desired sex without submission to God or commitment to a spouse. This of course lead to the popularization of the, “no fault divorce.” Some of the lawmakers meant well. They sought to fix a problem with corruption and lies used to get a favorable divorce. One of those lawmakers was Ronald Reagan, who later on referred to it as one of his biggest mistakes. Here is a link to an informative article about the development of divorce in America.

Whenever we think that we can get away with condoning a sin, culture wide, in the nation we are deceived. Look at the repercussions of divorce. It is obvious the damage it has done to our society since it has become an acceptable part of our culture. Then with it has come the alleged sexual liberation of women. This is a lie from Satan. Women have actually just tightened the bonds of their slave master. They have become even more oppressed by the enemy. His hatred for God and His creations is so palpable to the regenerated that we wonder why the world cannot see it. Of course we know that they are blind and dead in their sin. We do understand. We just find ourselves in awe of the depravity masquerading as freedom. Hasn’t that always been the method, inversion of the gospel, to make Satan the liberator? Satan in the garden questioned God’s word and ensured Adam and Eve that they would not die and that God didn’t want them to become like Him. He deceives us into thinking that we shouldn’t have to be subject to God and that we should do what we feel like doing.

After divorce came rampant sex outside of marriage otherwise known as adultery. Some of you might be saying, “Hold on there! Adultery is when you cheat on your spouse, not sex as a single person with other single people.” Well, you’d be wrong. If you read God’s word it is evident that marriage between one man and one woman is the only ordained and acceptable relationship in which to have sex. This is not a thing to be redefined by society. It is a command of God. Everyone who is having sex with someone they are not married to is an adulterer. Everyone who divorces their spouse for reasons other than adultery is an adulterer. Since society has made marriageless sex culturally acceptable. We can see the consequences in conjunction with divorce. There are millions of fatherless children, millions of single mothers, millions of deadbeat dads, and to deal with the consequences, or judgments from God, we don’t repent. Instead we make abortion culturally acceptable. That’s right, murder, infanticide, America’s best way to cut down the number of, “unwanted pregnancies.” Murder is murder no matter how you phrase it. As we experience judgment from God for our wickedness, we don’t repent. We just keep on piling on the punishment. Our national notion is, “Hey, now that we have progressed socially so much let’s progress some more. We have finally beaten those stupid, bigoted, cavemen. They are silenced now by anti-discrimination laws, so let’s get all of our agenda.”

Now we have the addition of the gay agenda and gender identity sin. Homosexuality is actually a judgment of God upon a nation. We have been given over to it because of our rebellion. America is under judgment right now. Things will get worse if as a nation we don’t come to God in repentance. People will be identifying themselves as animals and marrying animals. Pedophilia will become a protected minority. It is disgusting. How long will this go on?

The things that God has set apart, the enemy has been systematically taking apart. We just sit by and cry about our situation. We need to get off our hind ends and be the salt and light. We need to take the God’s honest truth out into the world and proclaim it at all costs. Preach the gospel with words to everyone you come in contact with. Take a stand for Christ and His gospel. If we don’t obey the great commission who will? How can we expect the situation to change if people’s hearts are still bound to the darkness and the enemies will? Preach repentance and faith in Christ and some will be reborn. They will go out and preach and more will be added. The country needs more gospel and less self. Don’t be ashamed of Christ before men or He will be ashamed of you before the Father.