As we move into Pride month I want to
point something from a recent ATSS program that is quite disturbing. The video
is found at ATSS
PRESENTS: Esther Loewen, The Beatitudes in Light of Transgenderism At about
the 22 minute mark this former Adventist Pastor goes through some notable
Christians and some of their statements on certain Beatitudes. I have
transcribed and abridged some of the context and the main point I want to deal
with is when the former pastor talks about Franklin Graham:
“At an earlier time in my life I
would have enthusiastically absorbed the Baptist preacher, Charles Spurgeon's
teaching about being pure in heart where he essentially equates it to being
sanctified or fully before God impurity of the heart says the great, orator is
the cause of spiritual blindness our inner nature, must be divinely, renewed,
it must be purified.
John Piper's discussion about being a
peacemaker. We're right up my alley. The most important peace according to
Piper is the peace that made between you and God and secondarily. Once that
happens, that we Christians, go out and make peace between other people.
And of course, I can't leave out
evangelicalism in Franklin Graham on persecution who speaks a lot about
persecution and now I'm tipping my hand to you. Just a bit you know Franklin Graham who teaches us about
persecution, and tweets and Sound bytes who teaches us that persecution is
being forced to live in a world where LGBTQ people exist, where black live
matter where the patriarchy is dismantled.
Now As I think about all of these
individuals today All of these different teachers, all of these different perspectives, you know, an aspirational lens on the Beatitudes isn't the only thing that they have in common.”**
The important point here is that as the LGBT activist has
been speaking about what others have said on the beatitudes, when it comes to
Franklin Graham all that goes out the window, admitting “I'm tipping my hand to you”. Pretty much admitting that due
to political progressive influences, no truth is needed, no quotes are needed,
no context is needed!
Of course there is no need for truth
when lying has become a way of life. If one lies to themselves about themselves
it is not that hard to lie about other people as well. Assuming that this
former pastor is dealing with fellow Progressive Christians they will have no
reason to question the fictional statement that Franklin Graham believes that he
is having to live in the persecution of living in a world where LGBTQ exists,
where Black Lives Matter, and Equity & Justice are words, Or as the
statement that goes with the slide says that patriarchy is dismantled. As if
Franklin Graham would make any of those statements, when talking about the
Bible verse that says: Matthew 5:8.
Blessed are they that have been persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs
is the kingdom of heaven." That would be a seriously limited view of
persecution.
But why do the LGBT activists hate
Franklin Graham so much? One does not
have to do much searching on the internet to see just how disgusted the left is
with Franklin Graham and by extension Evangelicals as well.
The answer could be found in the
attempt to redefine American life. At one time the website
for BLM listed their desire to destroy the nuclear family. More recently
the Progressive community has gone so far as to insist that they can’t even define a
woman. A woman is someone that identifies as a woman. That is actually what
some say when asked what
is a woman. Can they define a woman without using the circular logic of
using the word woman? A world where even a Supreme Court nominee herself a
woman can’t define the word woman because she is not a biologist. In fact under
the Adventist Today link to this Youtube video there are only five comments,
Even the politically left population of commenters on Adventist Today are too afraid
to make comments about a man claiming to be a trans woman reinterpreting the Beatitudes in the light of something that not one person hearing the Beatitudes would have thought of.
It is far more than just the LGBT
segment of the political left that placed them against evangelical
Christianity.
There has been an interesting study
and book on this subject:
“Here are three surprises from Yancey
and Quosigk’s research.
1. Progressive Christians are more
likely to establish their identity through politics, while conservative
Christians find their identity in theology.
Put simply, progressive Christians
see the world through a political lens; conservative Christians, through a
religious lens (155). This doesn’t mean that progressives are atheological and
conservatives apolitical, but only that the emphasis is wildly disparate
between the groups.
For example, progressive Christians
emphasize political values relating
to social justice issues as they determine who is part of their in-group; they
tend to be less concerned about theological agreement. Conservative Christians,
however, do not put strong emphasis on political agreement in order to
determine if you are one of them—their major concern is whether you agree with
them on core theological points . . . . (4)
For this reason, progressive
Christians
tend to be more accepting of groups
that are traditionally politically progressive (such as Muslims and atheists)
than they are of conservative Christians. . . . By contrast, conservative
Christians tend to reject Muslims and atheists as part of an out-group, but
they do not necessarily reject political liberals. . . . (14).
The authors aren’t saying
progressives are naturally more political in a general sense. Their point is
that progressives’ commitment to humanistic values of social justice leads them
to political action as the area of causing social change. And prioritizing
political alignment over theological agreement leads to the next surprise.” https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/research-progressive-conservative-christians/
Interestingly enough it is because
Franklin Graham is outspoken in his Christianity that has made him the butt of derision
of the leftwing. As he took Progressive Christianity head-on he explains:
I would say the exact
same warning applies today to the advocates of progressive Christianity. They
deceitfully promote and proclaim what I believe is clearly a “different gospel,
which is really no Gospel at all.”
Let me say that
again—progressive Christianity is not a Gospel at all. It has nothing to do
with the Gospel of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. It results in
nothing but spiritual confusion and chaos.
Here’s the problem.
Progressive
Christianity denies the divinely inspired, authoritative truth of the Bible as
it intersects every facet of living. For example, although Scripture clearly
says that marriage is between one man and one woman, proponents of progressive
Christianity twist and distort the truth of God’s Word on sexuality, focusing
on such nonsensical trends as gender identity. They deny God’s distinction of
the sexes, and instead invent their own misguided standards, unguided by the
Word of God. The degrading cultural influences that embrace such movements as
gay marriage have more sway on their beliefs than the Bible does.
When the topic of
justice is discussed, progressive Christianity is primarily concerned with the
issues of social and racial justice (which the Bible does address), but most
often neglects the far more fundamental issue of God’s justice—how a holy and
just God deals with sinful and wicked men. https://decisionmagazine.com/franklin-graham-the-eternal-peril-of-progressive-christianity/
** Transcription software was limited due to the affected speech pattern of the presenter. At 36:30 a prayer of redefined Beatitudes is given. A good example of why it is unwise to redefine what God blesses.
