Resistance 20
By Tim Gamble
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Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): A Church should be unapologetically Bible-believing and Bible-teaching - and that means ALL of the Bible, from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21. No cherry-picking the "acceptable" passages. No avoiding the uncomfortable ones.
How To Tell If A Church is "Woke"
Back in Resistance Article 17, I urged folks to get out of modern liberal / progressive / "woke" churches. Instead, I urged folks to find a small Bible-believing, Bible-teaching congregation to join. Or find a home church or private Bible-study group to meet with on a weekly basis. Or start one of your own with family and friends who also believe in the Bible.
This does beg a question: How to tell if a church is "woke" or not?
I gave one big clue in R-17 (read that article if you haven't yet). Does the church talk a lot about being "relevant" and "authentic" - two buzz words of the Far Left that reveal a desire to "fit in" with the modern world, rather than staying true to God's Word.
Worrying about being relevant implies that somehow God's Word has become irrelevant to modern society, and that it is the Church that must move away from the Word and towards the World in order to be relevant. Thus you see lots of modern churches moving towards acceptance of homosexual lifestyles, gay marriage, sex before marriage, sex outside of marriage, multiple sex partners, gender confusion... Hmmm... Its interesting how much being "relevant" actually means accepting and even wallowing in sexual sin. Something to think about.
Being authentic sounds nice, but what is it people want to be authentic towards? The Bible? No. That's the last thing most folks want. What is too often meant by being authentic is being authentic to one's self, whatever that might be. To many modern folks, an authentic church is one that accepts their Worldly beliefs without imposing God's out-of-date, old-fashioned, standards on them.
Other Far Left Buzz Words In Modern Churches
"Social Justice" - Social Justice is not Biblical Justice. These are two different concepts, yet many people confuse them (some intentionally so - there are wolves in leadership positions of many modern churches). Biblical Justice is rooted in God's Law. Social Justice is rooted in postmodernism and neo-Marxist critical theory, and redefines justice away from long-held Biblical standards to the current and ever-changing Worldly standards.
"Environmental Justice" - This is also often called "Creation Stewardship" to hide its actual meaning. It is simply modern environmentalism dressed up in "Christian" clothes. What's wrong with modern environmentalism? There's nothing wrong with wanting clean air and clean water, but modern environmentalism is much more about Leftist political and social ideology than it is about clean air and clean water.
"Economic Justice" - Sounds nice, but Economic Justice is just another name for Leftist ideologies, such as socialism and Marxism. Economic Justice isn't about helping the needy and poor, which is a good thing and used to be called charity, but encompasses a wide range of Leftist thought, much of it unbiblical.
These, and other far left buzz words, are signs that a particular church is focusing more on political and social ideology (in other words, is "woke"), rather than focusing on worshipping God and teaching His Word.
The Bottom Line
Here is the bottom line: A Church should be unapologetically Bible-believing and Bible-teaching - and that means ALL of the Bible, from Genesis 1:1 through Revelation 22:21.
No cherry-picking the "acceptable" passages. No avoiding the uncomfortable ones. No trying to "fit in" with the modern world. No denying the existence of Evil. No redefining sin to appease certain special interest groups. No trying to be a "safe space" for modern folks who get offended at every little thing they don't like.
You may also be interested in my Precepts of Biblical Survivalism over on the Dystopian Survival website.
***You can find Tim Gamble on social media! Follow at Gab (@TimGamble), Twitter (@TimGambleSpeaks), and TruthSocial (@TimGambleSpeaks)
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My wife and I are Conservative Catholics. In our town we have 2 Catholic Churches. Church #1 is on the Left. How far Left? When Obama got elected, the church held a party and when Biden got elected, same thing. The Parochial Vicar (assistant Pastor) was seen removing Election Position flyers (issues and the position each candidate holds) off of cars the Sunday before the election. The only Catholic Church to NOT participate in the Annual Pro-Life Life Chain. They also support the "3 Justices" mention above.
ReplyDeleteChurch #2 is Definitely Conservative. The Pastors, frequently use political issues in talking Biblical teachings and Bible passages. We hold a Latin Mass twice a month (contrary to the Pope's wishes), we have a strong Knights of Columbus, an active Respect Life Ministry (headed by Wife & myself), we have a large Saint Vincent DePaul Society and Thrift Shop, and this church has been around for 100+ years.