From the very beginning Satan has hated humanity. He will come to us humans as an 'angel of light', a proponent of freedom and a champion of rights. This is a true Pandora's box to open in the modern context. I must resist wading in to this and instead stick to the subject of my blog.
In calling out his schemes there will possibly be only 3 or 4 broad themes, though they are all interconnected like threads on a spiders web. I will lay out the first 2 because they are virtually inseparable.
1. The Image of God.
It is vital, in a way I never understood as a young Christian, that we understand humanity bears the creator's stamp like nothing else in all creation does. In his image, male and female, he made them. Not only did he make us in his image, but then he made himself in our image, when God The Son took a human body. He was born human, died human and was raised human. The firstborn of all creation. A human sits on the throne of heaven at The Father's right hand, right now.
And his being firstborn is integral, in a way you may not imagine. God is all about headship. The new testament especially is adorned with references to it, and though God himself contains masculinity and femininity (in his image/male and female), Christ is the head of the church, his bride. The man in a marriage, according to scripture, is the head of the woman. We lose something when we forsake the part gender plays in headship. There is so much to say about this. SO MUCH. I cant do it justice here, but suffice to say it is about authority. and Christ as God and as The Firstborn Man, is the head over all. Marriage is really a picture of this relationship. It is sanctioned by him, as it speaks to us prophetically of our relationship to him and to one another.
As his image bearers, we are singled out for unique love from our creator and as such, we are singled out for unbridled hatred from the enemy of our souls.
2.The Sanctity Of The Family
I have already hinted at this. If the genders and gender roles are distinct and appointed (I refer only to roles within the relationship, and not lifestyle), and if Christian marriage is sacred, an enacting of the gospel on a daily basis (at its best), then the family too is ordained for the nurture and protection of children.
In a fallen world, of course, these things fall short of the mark, but they are aspirational and inspirational. Marriages can be bad. Parents can be bad. Children can be bad. Families can be toxic.
But for Christians, where we see these things, we have scripture and Godly models to use as a template. The belief in The family, in marriage and in the ordination of genders, ideologically, really is worth fighting for.
And Satan thinks so too.
3. Your Family Are Those Who Stand With You
It was necessary to do a bit of theological groundwork to explain this, I'm afraid. Satan is chasing the dividends of undermining and disrupting God's created order. Can we begin to understand how huge this can be?
Now, I have spoken a bit about gender roles in a marriage, but I cant speak on this subject without touching on the area of homosexuality. This blog is not for that but, (and if you did not already guess my position on this I'd be very surprised) I must say the destabilizing effect of the encouraging of same sex sexual relationships, is certainly part of the plan.
We can argue till the cows come home about the success of blended families and non-binary families but I believe the undermining of the hetro-sexual family structure is at the heart of his strategy.
The language that has crept in, and is now shouting loud, is that of families that are formed not necessarily from biological bonds, but of affiliations. I have heard time and time again from the mouths of LGBTQI advocates that the true families are those friends and loved ones who stand by you.
In a sense, nothing wrong with that.
Scripture encourages surrogate family. We are encouraged time and time again to take in the wanderer, to look after orphans. We are told that The Lord puts the lonely in families (Ps 68:6). The church itself is a surrogate family where all are welcomed.
To say 'Your true family is made up from those who stand with you' sounds very positive and affirmative but you must understand the implications of normalising this kind of language. What is implied is that, particularly if you are same sex attracted at any level, and your family oppose that in anyway, cut them loose and move on. It is no coincidence that the proponents of the 'queer' agenda love to use the term community. You almost cant say LGBTQI without adding the word community on the end.
Hear me please. In no way am I saying that there are not many people who use the label LGBTQI who don't have great relationships with their parents and vice versa, even when the parents object. I don't think, in most cases, people who are advocates for the above have any intention about disrupting the nuclear family. I just think it is the intention of the one who seeks to undermine God's created order. It is a seed he is happy to plant.
If the family is a picture of God's headship, then Satan wants it's head on a platter.
And if you follow the trajectory, the laws and legislation which follow, perhaps not yet in the UK (but they may be coming) where you cannot teach these values to your children. And if your child seems to be showing leanings towards what would be deemed as 'being trans', they may be encouraged to follow the path to reassignment without your involvement, even being removed from your care. Such a child might lose everything.
4. The Authority of Scripture
And for me, all of this also undermines the word of God. And in undermining it, it would seek to rob it of it's authority. Those who take such a worldview don't seem to even begin to acknowledge 'the right' of God to hold them to account.
Those who don't read the word seem to think that Christians (what they would call fundamentalists) call down God's judgement on homosexuality, but if you read it clearly, it is itself God's judgement on us. The starting and the ending for anyone seeking to be a disciple of Jesus, is surrender and obedience. So we must ask, what would God have us do with our lives, our minds and our bodies.
** Footnote: I shouldn't need to say this, but I do. I do not hate anyone. I am not 'Phobic'. I do not fear people who call themselves gay or trans or anything else. If I call it a sin, I have sins of my own to deal with, (so how can I judge you) but I acknowledge God's 'right' to call us to obedience. If my stance causes you distress that is not my intention. My intention is that we all come to the obedience of the gospel of Jesus Christ, whatever our struggles and have a loving restored relationship with our heavenly father through him. God loves everyone everywhere. He is not willing that they should perish (2Peter 3:9) but wants them to come to a knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4).
Comments
Post a Comment