You should say the P-Word
Don't get it Twisted
My grandmother passed away recently. Her legacy is beautiful. She impacted scores and generations for the Lord and loved her family faithfully.
I have many great memories with her. I remember watching old classic movies with her after New Year’s celebrations until the first sunrise of the year.
I can still hear her chime in from the other room when a Hollywood heartthrob graced the silver screen in a black and white classic, “He was a pervert!”
As a child, I rolled my eyes. I knew the list of leading men in Hollywood was full of closeted homosexuals and serial adulterers, but part of me thought she was being a little stuffy.
Now, I realize she was passing on a biblically beautiful legacy. Hollywood was glorifying someone who wasn’t worth admiring. A narrative was being crafted, and she was loving enough to disrupt the indoctrination.
She spoke truth to power and pulled back the mask at a time when sins like homosexuality and adultery were closeted or hushed.
While God’s Word still agrees with Gramma–our culture has moved perversion to center stage, and many are scared or even ashamed to call sin what it is.
It feels uncomfortable to call Pride Month by its rightful name, Pervert Month, doesn’t it?
The recent election discussed the trans issue heavily. It seems that people are pushing back against that aspect of perversion. Praise God!
However, I’m concerned that people have moved the definition of “normal” or “acceptable” because of politics, not the Word of God.
Homosexuality is still perversion, and homosexual marriage is still an illusion. While our nation may politically voice that gender-mutilation is a bridge too far (again, praise God), Christians can’t become quiet on marriage-mutilation.
Let me be a little pushy– Democrats are wrong to celebrate trans-insanity, but it’s not a “win” for Trump to appeal to “traditional gays,” degrade marriage, or talk in perverse ways.
Perversion twists the Word of God and the world God created.
Because of the Fall and the presence of sin, there are real examples of degradation and mutation that impact our world. We can and should walk with people who deal with mutations and confusions in love.
Perversion doesn’t care for the person by calling their mutation or confusion normal–it destroys them long-term.
I’m not calling anyone to shout “Pervert!” in the face of a person deceived by sin. But I believe we have to get back to calling a spade a spade and a sin a sin.
Private sin is not personal sin. Perversion destroys others. We cannot live outside of our relationship with each other.
As we are watching, private sins which are tolerated will one day be publicly celebrated.
When sin is publicly celebrated, God’s Word is publicly denigrated.1
When God’s Word is denigrated, people are being destroyed.
My lost neighbor and my Christian neighbor matter to me deeply. That’s why I’m writing this way–because the Bible speaks to things that are destroying them now and eternally.
The Bible presents rescue to all who repent and believe and tells us clearly that the sexually immoral will not inherit God’s kingdom (1 Corinthians 6:9). Do we love people enough to offer them rescue?
My children matter to me deeply. They are being sinned against when a man appropriates femaleness, or a gay couple presents as married. People are proclaiming ideas and presenting realities that are against God’s Word and twisting God’s world.
You see, my Grandmother loved me when she called perversion for what it is.
False teachers hate you and hurt others by twisting the truth about sexuality.
Here’s a common example of false teachers perverting by playing light with perversion:
Sodom and Gomorrah were condemned and judged by God. The Genesis 19 story makes sexual immorality central in demonstrating the degradation. Sexual perversion was not the only sin, but it is presented as one of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Modern false teachers come along and twist the Bible’s witness about Sodom and Gomorrah to stress a lack of hospitality and greed. These arguments usually twist Ezekiel 16–a passage that reinforces the original passage when you study it carefully. Ezekiel saw Sodom’s sexual sin too.
Don’t get me wrong, raping visitors to your town is not hospitable at all. But the result of perverse teachers is a perverse lens for the world. Over time, Christians feel less confident to condemn sexual perversion as God does and more susceptible to the winds of the age.
Since clarity is kindness– these teachers aren’t being kind. They are being demonically destructive. It isn’t kind to go quiet on perversion while the world calls it neutral, normal, or good.
While we’re on the clarity is kindness train, let me end by reminding you that the Scripture agrees with my Gramma:
7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.
Jude 7
God’s Word is plain about sexual sin. Here’s a great resource answering,” What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality?” by Kevin DeYoung https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Really-Teach-about-Homosexuality/dp/1433549379