The bid for freedom

The Republic of Ireland has said yes to same-sex marriage!  Not only are they celebrating the right for gay and lesbian couples to marry, they’re also celebrating the fact that they are the first country in the world to legalise same-sex marriage through a popular vote.

What does this say about the state of Ireland, and more generally about the West?  Interestingly, it’s largely those countries with a Christian heritage of some sort which have spearheaded the change.  Ireland is certainly not the only Roman Catholic country to push for change.  All in all, 20 nations have now legalised same-sex marriage.  The USA and Mexico have legalised it in some but not all states.  Slovenia, Australia and Colombia are following in Ireland’s footsteps. 

The picture that emerges is that we’re on a wide-spread roll.  The propaganda has been successful and the Western world has been duped.  It’s the result of a deliberate campaign which took root in the USA back in the 1980’s.

Erwin Lutzer, in his book, ‘When a Nation Forgets God’, illustrates that when the AIDs epidemic hit the headlines back in the 1980s, it was perceived as a ‘gay disease’ – a perception that needed to be changed.  Therefore a group of homosexuals intentionally adopted Hitler’s propaganda methods to change their image, using both lies and intimidation.  Their plan was outlined in a book entitled ‘After the Ball’ (1990).

The authors, Kirk and Madsen, said that homosexuals must ‘talk about gays and gayness as loudly and often as possible’.  They argued that all behaviour looks normal if you are exposed to it often enough and at close quarters and among your acquaintances.  They determined to talk about gayness until the opposition was literally worn down and willing to give in to their agenda.

They cleverly decided to keep gay rights as an abstract social issue as much as possible initially, and were careful to avoid exposing straight America to homosexual behaviour which might shock or repel them too soon.  They relied on the media to support their campaign, since average Americans watch at least seven hours of TV daily.

Then, using Hitler’s strategy of appealing to the emotions, they portrayed gays as victims needing special protections, not aggressive challengers, using the buzz words of tolerance, fairness and love.  They became the persecuted minority in order to gain the sympathy of American masses; in other words, they demonised the opposition!

Then Kirk and Madsen pleaded the ‘social justice’ cause, by tying their rights to civil rights.  They wrote that they intended to make the anti-gays look so nasty that average Americans would want to disassociate themselves from such types.  No opposition to gay marriage was to be countenanced; opponents were branded bigots, right-wing radicals, persecutors, Nazis,  hate-mongers and homophobes (a particularly insulting term since it insinuates that the perpetrator of the accusation is mentally ill).

Propaganda tells its own side of the story as movingly and credibly as possible, in its battle for hearts and minds.  It works!  America and all the other nations which have legalised same-sex marriage including Ireland have changed their attitude and now it’s being enshrined in law.  Already our children are told that their parents are bigots, stupid or intolerant if they fail to embrace the homosexual agenda as normal. 

So what has been the response of the Church to the change in attitude resulting in a change of law?  The Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, said that the referendum was an affirmation of the views of young people, and the Church has a ‘huge task in front of it’.  He went on to say that he thought the Church needed to do a reality check.  He appreciated how gay and lesbian men and women felt when the result of the vote was announced, and that they felt it was something that was enriching the way they live.  It was a social revolution.

This is the most concerning aspect of all.  Rather than making it clear that God’s design for marriage and family is between one man and one woman, he has been duped by the propaganda and is making an attempt to accommodate the popular view into his theology.   Since the Church in the other nations which have legalised same-sex marriage is equally as compromising, she has abdicated her responsibility to be the salt and light in society. The Church is calling evil good.  God’s good plan for family and society is being swept away. 

The stage is being set for much more than simply the national social revolution the Archbishop of Dublin alluded to.   Traditional ‘Christian’ countries have made a bid for godlessness.  By exchanging the truth of God for a lie, which is more appealing to hedonistic man, we are hurtling down the road Paul describes in Romans 1. 

For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened . . .  Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.  They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised.  Amen.   Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.  Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones.   In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.  Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error (Romans 1:20-27)

It happened in Ancient Rome, and now it’s happening in the anti-Christian West.  In Ireland, for the time being, Catholic Churches will continue to decide for themselves whether to solemnise a gay marriage.  We know, however, that what starts off as permissive quickly becomes coercive.  Paul goes on to describe the consequences of godless behaviour.

Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.  They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity.  They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice.  They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy.  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 practise them (Romans 1:28-32).

Whilst we may vainly hope that no such repetition will occur in the 21^st century, undoubtedly it will.  Man has chosen a future without the One True God in the equation.  It may seem full of freedom, but it is in fact a dystopian nightmare, where everyone does what is right in his own eyes.  The chaos that ensues will precipitate the tribulation immediately prior to Jesus’ return.

Rather than a cause for celebration, we need to pray for the nations that have freely chosen their own destiny, with total disregard for their Christian heritage, and for Bible-believing Christians to hold fast to the Truth that genuinely sets them free.  We are experiencing  increasing intimidation and this can only grow as we remain counter-cultural and celebrate God’s created order for mankind. 

Comments

There are currently no comments on this post

Post a Comment

Your comment will have to be approved by a site administrator before it is shown on the site so please be patient.