If it’s not obvious yet, the woke subset of the left is showing its true colors.
As its horns reveal themselves more and more clearly, we have a great opportunity to offer the stable ground of truth. Many people are growing weary of the predatorial nature of the woke crusade.
I’m not saying that the way is red. Or that social conservatism is an angel of virtue. The way is Jesus. And, I don’t intend to conflate politics with following Jesus. But, we have to recognize the spirit at work that has come to “steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10). If we have the Holy Spirit, we are vigilant, gentle as doves and wise as serpents. (Matt 10:16, 1 Pet 5:8) We have a tracking device that points to the coordinates of schemes against God.
Many churches and Christians have been quite charitable towards the woke movement, mistaking the spirit behind it for one that is truly for peaceful unity and making amends. It's not. If we look at origins, we can go back to the occultist, marxist roots of the women who founded black lives matter and follow their means to their intended ends. We can read about the the nightmarish, sexually-abusive experiments of Kinsey, who founded gender ideology. We can look at the eugenicist beliefs of Marget Sanger of Planned Parenthood. The atheistic ends of critical race theory. There are liberal people who are more nuanced in their beliefs, but the heart of this spirit is out for destruction, vengeance and control, not peace and reconciliation.
A vote that promotes the genocide of unborn babies, celebrates sexual fluidity, legalizes irreversible medical surgery to "change" a child's gender without parental consent, covers up faces, and coerces citizens into DNA manipulation feeds a spirit that hates people who are made in image of God.
The Baphomet, the world's god. Typically, it is exhibited with transgender characteristics and global conquesting. "Solve & Coagulata" on the forearms is an alchemist term for "dissolve and congeal" -- to coagulate or weaken something, so that it can be resurrected as hardened, more potent, and transformed.
The devil is laughing at the church who is assisting this antichrist spirit in taking domain. What's being directed towards our kids in schools and in entertainment is sick. For the youngest ones, it is even abusive, psychologically and sexually. What's being promulgated as good science and safe medicine is fear-based deception. And it goes on.
The spirit that seeks to "steal, kill and destroy" is hell-bent on disempowering our children with sexual confusion and victimhood narratives – in order to, ultimately, suspend freedom (not to mention, take souls into further captivity, through celebrating sin.) The end game, as history has proven, is to dismantle democracy and usher in social tyranny. This starts with creating disorientation and the disintegration of mental and physical health and the nuclear family -- the gears that make a civilization strong.
Statue of children gazing devotedly at Baphomet of the Satanic Temple,
outside the capitol in Little Rock, Arkansas
Ironically, the alibi of the elites who are stirring these pots is the welfare of the people. They claim to be attempting to lift identified oppressions of "the marginalized" through cut-and-paste straw men arguments.
Let me just say this, in love -- and please, meet my eye-gaze here:
It isn't the freedoms of others that are endangering or oppressing you.
In my experience, it’s very hard to engage in a rational debate with a liberal current-events-eyed-person, because, when confronted with thoughtful questions, they begin to hear their own circular or hypocritical reasoning. The lack of depth of thought because of a stead diet of propaganda is exposed. This triggers prideful anxiety regarding their loud and proud “righteousness” and the fight or flight response, instead of listening. Their amygdala hijacks their reason and we’re left with a lion that we need to either start petting or back away slowly from.
I will walk away or gently stand up for what I believe is right for my family, but the last thing that I am going to do is pet and placate twisted agendas. It's not loving to empathize with the victimhood that is keeping a person in bondage. It's not love to withhold the truth that sets us free. And, it's not righteous to put our children and their future on the altar of someone's perceived or real experience of injustice.
(I'm not denying the existence of injustice. It exists. It's part of the tragedy of the human race, fallen and separated from God.)
The best thing someone ever did for me in my personal suffering was confront my self-pity with the truth. It stung, at first. How dare people not bow to my expectations or demands! Don't they know what I've been through? But that was the person who loved me best. God help us, if there's no regard for objective reality, except for "what's true for each of us personally." I spend a lot of time listening to the same old refrains. It's okay, and even wise to disengage, if reciprocity in hearing is refused or disregarded because of class or whiteness or experience.
I'm not exiting haughtily, either. My heart breaks with sorrow for people who are going the way of the antichrist religion, which is revealing itself in many areas -- one being, this kind of progressive liturgy. We can plead that God will bring them the mercy of conviction and repentance through the revelation of Jesus Christ. We must love them as Christ loved us, "while we were still sinners." (Romans 8:5)
Jesus ate with sinners. He said, in Mark 2:17, "It's not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick." We too, are called to follow his example and extend sacrificial love -- even to those who persecute us (Matt 5:44). But, we are not called to do it in a way that celebrates, supports or endorses worldliness and sin. We are to do it in a way that draws people away from the world and their sin and towards the Lord.
This scene, in Mark 2, refers to people who were receiving Jesus and his message, that he is the son of God, sent as a sacrifice for their sins, so that they may be set free from sin. He was presenting them with his love and truth. Jesus was on his Father's errand to provide them with this grace. He was not there to discuss the business of the world, but the reality of the kingdom. That's how we are to engage with the lost world, on our Father's business -- Love, as he defines it, not how the world defines it. The beatitudes in Matthew 5 tells us what kind of disposition warrant our efforts to share the truth, effectively.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. Love takes no pleasure in evil, but rejoices in the truth. 1 Corinthians 13:6
The evangelical excuse to not be biblically faithful in all areas is, "Keep the main thing, the main thing!" The gospel of grace should always be central focus. We should never forget the uniting power of the cross that sets us free from sin. But, not teaching or standing on God's word – all of his word, is keeping people in bondage. And it's making the church, worldly. And, a church that goes with the flow of the world's trends -- Christ was clear -- is not a church that is following him.
And, it's not actually "keeping the main thing the main thing", if we are adding other things to God alone. Idolatry doesn't just mean that we have replaced God or that we have elevated something above him. It more often means that we have added something to him. If we have added something to the sufficiency of the cross to heal and restore, it's adultery. Because the current of the world and our sinful natures are strong, God gave us many instructions and wisdom on how to paddle in the opposite direction of staying faithful.
"You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot partake in the table of the Lord and the table of demons too." 1st Corinthians 10:21
I have had to get up and walk away from some tables when I realized that I too, began drinking from the cup of demons. Our family has made some changes in regards to the community and fellowship we keep, according to the instruction of scripture (1 Cor. 5:11). A righteously indignant response in our hearts towards culture's blasphemy against God doesn't nullify a gracious spirit (unless we are being haughty). A bold spirit isn't the opposite of a meek and humble spirit (but a haughty, proud spirit, is).
If Christ has exonerated me through faith in what he accomplished on the cross, then I follow him on the narrow road. Part of that, is discerning when I am about to get stuck up in the mud of worldliness that Christ delivered me from, and just say no. And then, move on. If God is love, then we can't love others except through him and his holiness.
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Romans 12:9
You’ve probably been learning this, too. I want to encourage righteous, lawful, compassion and a different way of engaging, because I think it’s how Jesus would respond. I know that there are many who are frustrated with the entitled petulance of closed-ears and foot-stomping. So, let's learn from the pattern.
Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:
“I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
2 Corinthians 6: 8-17
We cannot win a person who is clinging with vengeance to victimhood – the anthem of the woke. A person who is operating out of the myopia of their feelings has no compass regarding true north. A person who chooses victimhood over responsibility is simply not going to listen. They will never be satisfied because they have a broken need that only Christ can meet. A wound that only God can heal.
Having grace with others is in understanding that none of us took responsibility for our lives or our sins before coming to Christ. We have all been self-centered. Like Adam and Eve, who blamed both the serpent that deceived them as well as each other, we have all blamed everyone else. In kingdom currency, we are all in poverty. The only answer is what Jesus did to make us right again.
Our attempts at self-redemption fall short. We cannot bring new life into this broken world apart from the path of Jesus that God made for us. We can try and reinvent our gender, cut up our bodies, take on new names and causes, do penitence for racial injustice or get 23 ineffective vaccinations that make us feel "safe" and "righteous", but we are just the same inside. There's a reason that transgender suicide reaches its peak 7-10 years after "gender affirmation surgery". (What is a Woman by Matt Walsh)
It is by Christ's grace that we can attain true freedom and healing. He's the only one who can make us born again into a whole, happy, peace-filled person who wants for nothing (Ps 23). Any other identity will leave us still empty, still angry, bitter, and tormented.
For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
1 Corinthians 14:33
The actions and beliefs of the far-left woke industry indicate a very human, trauma-based, emotional immaturity. This is exploited by the tyrannical government media. People are readily latching onto tag lines, stories and votes because they offer a temporary, cathartic release for the tornado that's going on in their souls. And, if we oppose these ideologies, of course, we are canceled as hateful, racist, bigoted dinosaurs who aren’t hip to the times.
Please please understand, we cannot productively debate with those who promote these agendas, in the same way that we cannot reason with the devil. It’s a demonic spirit that has been permitted entry through godlessness and trauma. If we are saints, we are called to higher ground and are to have nothing to do with such foolish and fruitless arguments. Jesus never called us to “social relevance”. He didn’t call us to these tables. The only thing we do is defile ourselves, when we do.
What we can do is better than that. We can pray for them – and recognize that there are souls in bondage underneath these kinds of beliefs. Are we interceding more than we are complaining or gawking at their promotions? I personally, was convicted of this when a drag queen show showed up in my children's school district that we pulled them out of. My ferocity, the Lord was clear, needed to be redirected towards prayer -- urgently and fervently.
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Ephesians 6:12
We can also help people, personally, with their physical needs, in real relationship and through sacrificial neighborliness. Father issues are at the root of many people’s atheism (which is the majority religion of the left.) We can be an exemplification of wholeness and peace, and invite people to Christ’s table, who teaches us what justice and love actually is. Galatians teaches us all about God's spirit of adoption and Luke teaches us how to sacrifice for the good of others.
While I am discouraging fruitless arguing, I am encouraging raising a simple voice where you do have an ear, because it emboldens others who feel alone in their views and afraid for the future, to also take a stand. (As my wise husband reminds me, the illusion of majority is a media tactic that intimidates people into silence and resignation.)
We can just simply say a resounding no to wild-eyed, totalitarian activism, hold the line, and leave it at that. Let's show mercy, extend love always, and also be wise and willing to draw a line, because that's love, too.
Some people think that it isn't Christ-like to be so blunt. That using such language is too "inflammatory". Can we please throw off the chains of the woke-left that are causing people to self-censor, in order not to lose social dignity among a people who are in deep propaganda and deception? If we were less afraid of calling lawlessness what it is, perhaps it wouldn’t have gained as much ground as it has.
Politics and culture are just downstream from faith -- indicators of what's happening with a nation, spiritually. Jesus himself warned us about the lake of fire 43 times (100 times if you count the prophets, apostles and disciples). He didn't engage in debate with accusers. He simply looked upon lost people with love and gifted them with the truth. According to Colossians 4:6, we should season our speech graciously, but what do we think we are accomplishing by mincing words? It's Christ-like to be explicit about what is holy, good, and righteous, because lives and souls are at stake.
To be clear, we aren't saved or healed by our sexual orientation or righteous politics. We are saved by faith in Christ who died to forgive us of our sin -- including all of our filthy attempts at self-righteousness. Every single one of us falls short of God's perfection and glory. (Romans 3:23) All of these issues that are harming our society and bringing souls into further captivity point to the depraved condition of human hearts. A human race fallen from grace needs the only remedy -- the shed blood of Jesus Christ. The Love of God towards sinners heals, restores and redeems.
Christ gave "the ministry of reconciliation" to his church in 1st Corinthians 5. That's the way to fight wickedness. We don't heal brokenness by delicately drinking from cups that define it differently. We can't open the eyes of the blind, bind up the wounds of the broken hearted, or set captives free by living at enemy tables (Isaiah 42:7). We do it by calling people to come and sit at Christ's, where the first shall be last, and the last shall be first. (Matt 20:16)
Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Psalm 1: 1-3
Why this generation can expect a fate worse than Sodom and Gemorrah, and the only hope:
Read Psalm 37 - The Calamity of the Wicked and the Heritage of the Righteous: