It is no secret that society shapes and influences everything from morals and values to fashion trends, new slang and lingo all the way down to home décor. We are a direct product of our environment. Though historically, one institution has stood its ground against cultural trends: the church. Weathered, undoubtedly, but withstanding storms unchanged.
But we have begun to see significant cracks in the foundation and load bearing walls. First, with the split of the United Methodist church and now almost daily there is some sort of newfangled, inclusive congregation showing its ugly rainbow affirming head.
For instance, the following is an excerpt from Believeoutloud.com:
“Believe Out Loud is a digital community working to move all people toward an expansive, transformative understanding of divine love. We center and sanctify queer spirituality across our programs, from our online worship services led by LGBTQIA faith leaders to our grantmaking program supporting faith-driven LGBTQIA peacebuilders around the world. On our social media platforms, hundreds of thousands of queer people of faith and allies gather to experience affirmation of their divinity—and to heal from damaging societal messages that alienate the LGBTQIA community from spiritual resources …
Believe Out Loud knows that faith and sexuality can coexist …
Believe Out Loud is committed to engaging in partnerships across faith traditions and denominations. We are an intergenerational, multiracial, multi-faith, and sexual- and gender-identity-diverse team, committed to expanding the possibility of what a faith community can do in the world.”
This is not a drill. And no, it isn’t satire either. This is what believers are up against, not flesh and blood that has clung to the lies, but the Liar himself along with the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms, just as Scripture warned.
The enemy is making his best attempt to debase and adulterate the love of God. He is brilliant at making sin feel comfortable and blurring the lines in the minds of those whose foundation is compromised by unbelief and the lack of sound biblical teaching.
Believe Out Loud is merely a mouthpiece for deception and a fraudulent “gospel.” On Facebook, the group touts 189,000 followers and dons a profile picture that depicts the “New Progress Pride Flag” with a cross as its centerpiece.
We are living in a backwards time where “do what makes you happy” overrides being made holy through faithfulness to God. The idea of confronting sin and allowing ourselves to be sifted and refined has become a virtually extinct concept.
Society loudly supports accommodating sin and affirming godless lifestyles over being held accountable and has empowered a sense of entitlement to being incessantly and unrelentingly offended. Consequently, it glorifies cyclical bondage to transgression thereby birthing groups like Believe Out Loud.
Upon a quick Google search, it is easy to find that Believe Out Loud is one of many pro-LGBTQ+ “religious” organizations. To name a few: the Association of Welcoming and Affirming Baptists, Brethren Mennonite Council for LQBTQ Interest, the Gay Christian Network, Room For All; and the list goes on.
Did you know that the English word “sin” originates from an archery term that means “to miss the mark.” It doesn’t matter if the archer misses by a hair or a football field, a miss is a miss. In other words, be it a little afternoon gossip with girlfriends or full on living a life of homosexuality, a sin is a sin.
True relationship with Jesus is transformative. In order to honestly call ourselves Christians, we must first be transformed by the renewing of our minds, dying to ourselves daily as Romans 12 and Luke 9 tell us. There is also this:
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other … (Matthew 6:24).
When we give God our heart, mind, body, and soul in full surrender to God, our deepest desires will begin to align with His perfect plan for our lives. We become hungry to deny ourselves and pick up our cross to follow Him. The old will pass away and we will stand before Him holy and blameless – a new creation!
Will we ever miss the mark again? Every single day. But when we learn to discern that what feels good to our flesh is more times than not the same thing that is keeping us from authentic relationship with the Father, we will become disgusted with our human nature and further propelled into a deeper walk and connection with Him.
As believers, it is our duty to those around us, especially to groups like Believe Out Loud, to intercede on their behalf and ask the Lord to remove the wool from their eyes so that may see their sin for what it is and that they might repent and enter into true communion with the Savior.
