As Go the Seminaries (Sign #5): You’d Rather Blame God Than Man

I began thinking about all this “Political Christianity” stuff with the scandal in the Catholic Church regarding sexual abuse and how it’s been handled, or rather mishandled.  Then there’s the whole politicization of refugees, climate, shootings, etc.  Add on top of that Supreme Court machinations and midterm elections and one thing is crystal clear:  We’re drifting.  We need Reformation.

The battle for the soul of the Christian Church is being waged full-throttle in the spiritual realm, and casualties are the churches.  Those with a cross on the outside and white hair on the inside may still have sound doctrine, but they’re dying off… as people do.  Many younger congregations—in an effort to be relevant—hire pastors with energy and enthusiasm and the ability to speak the language of designer coffees and sports.  I’ve seen plenty–both young and old–hang gay pride flags on their church front signs and a few brazen enough to display them beside or even on the Cross.  Their world experiences have been formed in the public schools and codified in today’s seminaries which have, for decades, been in the cross-hairs.  If only we’d paid attention…

I know I’m making a few of you very uncomfortable but closing our eyes to the spiritual battle doesn’t make it go away.  We need to confront it if we’re going to have a new Reformation bringing the Church back to her high calling.

It’s devastating whether it’s the Catholic seminaries with an undercurrent of homosexuality or so many Protestant seminaries teaching an outright rejection of patriarchy. (Oh, you mean like the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob?  Yeah, that patriarchy, the one Jesus acknowledged.)  So, I’ll say it again:  As go the seminaries…so goes the Church and so goes the culture. 

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Chances are good that your Christianity is too political if you refuse to go to church because you’d rather blame God than men.

Think about it: 

• The scandals in the Catholic Church happened because people, the Pope included, looked the other way while priests under their authority sexually abused children, mainly boys.  Politically, the Pope and other clergy don’t want to rock the boat because they don’t want the gay community beating up on the Catholic Church.  No one calls it what it is.  There is “The Elephant in the Sacristy” we’ve known about for decades as the seminaries became a refuge for homosexuality.  Before you think I jump the shark from homosexuality to abuse, please…please, if you get a chance, I’d highly recommend reading, at least skimming this article linked above from 2002 with an editor’s note from 2018.  It’s not from some weirdo publication but the Weekly Standard and is a profound piece of writing–important if we’re going to experience Reformation.  
• Instead of the seminaries teaching what the Bible says about this controversial topic, many normalize it and an increasing number ordain it.  They celebrate it with its own day, week, colors, and Facebook themes, complete with “pride/like” buttons.  Churches hire them to teach the congregation what the culture long ago embraced but the Bible does not teach. Romans 1:32 “Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.”  What had to go by the wayside in order to do that?
• What is it going to do to the Catholic Church and other churches if we continue on this path? 
• Should it take a sex abuse scandal involving children to move us to action?

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Lord God, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, please reveal our guilt.  Bring us to confession and repentance.  Heal our shame.  Convict us of the need to reclaim and reform the Church so she is a suitable Bride for the Bridegroom.  Help us to elevate purity and to protect our children, the most vulnerable among us.  Help us to see that You cannot be blamed for the sin of man and we can admit that You call it sin.  Help us to see that Church is the best place to be because we’re near to You, not a place to be avoided (or punished) by withholding our presence from the community of saints.  Nor is the Church a place to be accused and punished for our sins, but a place to humbly admit them so that we might find forgiveness.  May we come to the foot of the Cross, grieving for the state of Your Church, and have confidence to draw near to You because of Christ’s sacrifice, and to know there is grace enough to approach You without fear.  Help us to boldly, yet lovingly, address our culture and to comfort those who have lost their way from here to eternity.  Help us to love one another, knowing how deeply You first loved us.  In Jesus’ Name.  Amen.