Linda Harvey | Barbwire
Case in point: The leaders of the Episcopal Church USA, the Presbyterian Church USA and the United Church of Christ are all patting themselves on the back these days. Leaving behind sound biblical doctrine, they’re now celebrating “marriage equality.”
All three denominations ordain openly homosexual clergy and will now perform same-sex (so-called) marriages. “Aren’t we progressive?” is the smug attitude of these long-established mainliners, who may soon be joined by the ELCA (Lutherans) and the United Methodist Church in the official fiction of marrying two men or two women.
In these organizations, numerous leftist causes compete against God-driven priorities. The Episcopal Church USA, for instance, prays for the empowerment of “transgender individuals” – in spite of biblical revelation that people are created (not “assigned”) to be male and female. And among therapy options, youth in the Episcopal Church should embrace gender-switching but must never be counseled to welcome heterosexuality.
Episcopalians gush over government entitlement programs and the pro-”gay” positions of the Boy Scouts. In fact, the resolutions at the ECUSA General Convention resemble those of the National Education Association: all hard-left politics, all the time.
But Sodom, we have a problem.
Is this really, objectively “progress”? When our dominant religious institutions degenerate into advocating inhumane “human rights” and unhealthy, bizarre sex practices, America needs to take note.
The end of civilization may be closer than we think.
Here’s what progress looks like in a company or a nation: market share and population growth, rising affluence, family and community stability, pioneering innovation, youth engagement, positive financial trend lines and vibrant faith in higher principles.
Instead, people are leaving these angry and decadent churches. Local congregations are severing ties with the mother ship. Could the foolish politics at the top be the reason for the exodus?
The PCUSA, for instance, has lost nearly 200,000 people since 2012. Between 2002 and 2012, ECUSA church attendance declined nearly 25 percent.
Responsible stewards would be wondering, “What are we doing wrong?” Instead, they seem to be saying, “How can we make things even worse?”
In some cases, their congregations are descending into ancient, primitive ritual as barbarians rush to fill the void.
At HerChurch/Ebenezer Lutheran in San Francisco, still affiliated with the ELCA, the liturgy of the “divine feminine” is celebrated every Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Led by Pastor Stacy Boorn and her priestesses and staff, no pagan ritual is left unexplored: “Our prayers and liturgy reach back into the storehouse of tradition to bring forth names [such] as Mother, Shaddai, Sophia, Womb, Christ-Sophia, Midwife, Shekinah, Kundalini, She Who Is.”
The most important One is missing: Jesus Christ, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. But His incarnate male identity has evidently been excluded from this feminized crowd, which has ironically recaptured Old Testament paganism in its search for meaningful spirituality.
All gender identities are welcome at HerChurch, so actual men posing as women can participate in this radically “feminist” service, where a goddess rosary is a prized tool.
And HerChurch welcomes children. Special workshops are held for girls as young as 5 to train them early in biblical unfaithfulness.
Fascination with pagan ritual isn’t confined to San Francisco. Presbyterian churches in Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania and elsewhere have revived the use of the labyrinth, a medieval meditation tool that always had non-Christian roots, even when incorporated into cathedral structures. Here’s how one church describes it:
“… a path symbolizing a kind of journey taken to seek prayerfully to be in intimate relationship with God. Labyrinths are established using ancient, sacred geometry.”
Or primitive superstition, perhaps? There is no mention of “ancient sacred geometry” in Scripture.
Many apostasies invade mainline Christianity as the Bible is discarded in eagerness to flirt with other gods and sexual sin. Bisexuality is favored by Dr. Debra Haffner, longtime pro-abortion sexual rebel and now an ordained minister. In a recent speech to WATER, a neopagan women’s spirituality group, she and a co-presenter cited biblical models for bisexuality: David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi. The Scripture texts don’t support this fantasy, but some women have been “re-imagining” Christianity for several decades, guided by their own wayward inclinations.
Delusion rules once again.
Religion is not the only pasture where progressivism reaps what it sows – which is too often critical harm. Behind the flash and confidence of liberalism is a grim reality: Their institutions and lives are in disarray and decline.
What could be a better example than abortion, with the recent videos revealing the dismemberment of unborn children for sale and profit? And yet, “progressives” who say they staunchly defend “human rights,” still stand by Planned Parenthood.
This is how suicidal people act.
The Boy Scouts of America organization is now under the control of dedicated “LGBT” activists. Gone is the promise to be “morally straight” as troops now welcome homosexually-identifying boys and, just recently, “gay” adults as well.
“Progressive” board members and BSA corporate supporters pushed for these changes, which caused a 6 percent membership decline after the “gay boys” policy change last year. It’s too early to forecast the fallout from the open door policy for homosexual adults, but many are predicting a steep membership drop, similar to the Scouts in Canada.
The leaders knew this grim prognosis. But just like the healthy male who amputates well-functioning body parts to “become” a woman, the healthy BSA organization shot itself in the foot, believing this is something good.
This is what liberals do. The writing on the wall spells out clear warnings: “Do not be a stupid idiot!” “Run for your lives!” But they don’t care.
This is not progress. This is regress. And it goes way beyond social issues. Mounting American debt, hordes lurking at vulnerable city walls, race riots – all part of the leftist agenda.
Only delusional people rip their lives apart so completely and intentionally.
SOURCE: BARBWIRE
