It's true! Churches that 'claim' to be 'reformed' now accept homosexuality as an alternative expression of human sexuality. Officially, homosexuality is now OK, regardless of what the Bible teaches. And some good evangelicals in such churches are quite content to minister there! However, in so doing they are compromising their own theological and moral stand far more than they will admit.
'But it's OK,' they argue. 'As long as I am free to exercise my ministry, I'll put up with the situation.' Now, no self-respecting Presbyterian will live as easily with this situation as some evangelicals do, even though their personal stance is biblical. Perhaps, they take the same line as the current Moderator of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, who made such a public 'hoo haa' over the ordination of women to the Christian ministry, but who, when, what they call 'high office,' was being offered, his 'principles' were reduced to mere 'personal preferences.'
That might be the same for those evangelicals within morally corrupt reformed churches who retain fraternal relationships with the Church of Scotland, where the Presbytery of Aberdeen ordained/installed a practicing homosexual minister to a congregation.
I must say that if these men are now correct in their understanding of sexuality, then I, and many others, are owed an apology by those ministers who taught me otherwise! And some of them were Church of Scotland ministers! These churches and ministers are sending out mixed messages to their congregations. There is nothing to stop any 'gay' church member bringing a charge against an evangelical for preaching that homosexuality is an abomination, and the church establishment that does not believe this must then discipline the biblical minister for holding to the teaching of the Scriptures, and against the position of the church.
How sad and depressing it is when professing Christian churches treat the Word of God so glibly, so unfaithfully. I know that not only has Roman Catholicism got serious moral problems facing it today, so also have the Protestant churches. The moral standard of the church is the Moral Law of God, summarily comprehended in the ten commandments.
But the moral decline does not stop with the 'gay' issue. While evangelicals are quick to teach the sinfulness of sexual sin, and rightly so, they are much slower to teach that murder is immoral. Now why would they be slow to do this? Because, in their eyes, murder is not a moral issue for the church at all, but a political issue, and the church must not stray into politics. Even here, the mixed messages of the church are apparent, because if murder is employed as a political tool, then it cannot be sinful. So evangelicals are silent about these issues.
So it is not only theological liberals who are select in what they believe and preach - evangelicals do this, too. And the church suffers from such compromised thinking, God is enraged, and the Gospel disgraced.
The need for men of God to be raised up in the churches today is urgent. There are few, if any, reforming spirits within the churches today, because no one seems to give a toss about the spiritual health of the churches! There are many 'time-servers' in all the churches today who are there to get their time in as easily as possible, be able to draw down there pension when they retire, and cause as little bother for themselves as possible, proof that they truly are mere 'time-servers.'
Where are the Farels in today's church? Where are the Calvin's, the Luthers, the Baxters, those great men of 'true grit' who love the truth more than they love their own lives? Where are the 'reformers' within the churches, for there are not a few who pretend to be reforming the church, when all they are doing is playing at it!
At the end of the day, these play-actors will have much more to answer for than they imagine. They will never be able to say they care much for their Father (God), when they care little for their Mother (the Church). But to talk like this is to cause stirrings of conscience, and we mustn't have that now, mustn't we? Sad to say, the church is going to hell as fast as her feet can carry her, while the shepherds, the ministers and other elders are playing religious games. What an awful judgement awaits those men!
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