Discussion Is your church/denomination fighting against the encroaching cultural/sexual agenda?

[hislegacy]

We take a stand for Righteousness and preach the Gospel, including what it says about sin.

We are in the business of setting people free - not fighting them.

Luke 9: 5 And whoever will not receive you, when you go out of that city, shake off the very dust from your feet as a testimony against them.”​

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The last time we had protestors (it has happened a couple times) we brought them water and fed them lunch.

 

[ARBITER01]

Probably old news, but still relevant,...

United Methodists Lose 1,800 Churches in Split Over LGBT Stance

The initial departures, mostly concentrated in the South, represent around 6 percent of the denomination—not as dramatic as the “schism” some feared.

www.christianitytoday.com

I think there was some splits amongst the Lutherans and the Anglicans also.

 

[ARBITER01]

The Holy Spirit is our Comforter. We receive Him freely and humbly. This is when He makes His Home in us. There is a fine line here and we should be reminded that His gifts are for the edification of His Church. Those working outside His will , will not be recognized by Him. It is far more important to love , forgive and repent. The Holy Spirit is a promise to all belivers and His gifts are given by His will only.
Blessings.

I don't think you have a clue what you are talking about.

In some of the posts I've made, people in those churches just loved, forgave, and repented those people right into their churches to increase their membership, and guess what happened, they tolerated them instead of setting them free from their strongholds.

For all that love and forgiveness and repentance, those evil people took over their churches and created major divisions in their denominations.

Jesus set people free from evil, He never tolerated it.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

I don't think you have a clue what you are talking about.

In some of the posts I've made, people in those churches just loved, forgave, and repented those people right into their churches to increase their membership, and guess what happened, they tolerated them instead of setting them free from their strongholds.

For all that love and forgiveness and repentance, those evil people took over their churches and created major divisions in their denominations.

Jesus set people free from evil, He never tolerated it.

There most definitely is a lack of freedom within the Church. Not just a lack of it, but ignorance as well. Dont believe me? Tell someone in a church that its actually possible to be free from sin. That Christ will set you free where you no longer are slave to it and can walk freely away. Boy howdy does that bring out the fangs.

But you see its far easier to sing about God's grace and forgiveness than it is to believe His power to actually break the bonds of slavery. That's the business most churches are in now, what's easier. Because what's easier tends to get more people in the doors.

 

[ARBITER01]

There most definitely is a lack of freedom within the Church. Not just a lack of it, but ignorance as well. Dont believe me? Tell someone in a church that its actually possible to be free from sin. That Christ will set you free where you no longer are slave to it and can walk freely away. Boy howdy does that bring out the fangs.

But you see its far easier to sing about God's grace and forgiveness than it is to believe His power to actually break the bonds of slavery. That's the business most churches are in now, what's easier. Because what's easier tends to get more people in the doors.

You're exactly right.

People want a community church. "We are the church of love!" Stuff like that is never actually honest, but they hope to bring in more people by acting like it.

What people fail to realize is this,...it's The Holy Spirit that draws people there. It's the power of The Holy Spirit that frees them from their sin and bondage. It's also the power of The Holy Spirit that keeps people away that want to snare the church into bad things. It's the light of holiness that exposes the evil inside people.

We've got a whole bunch of churchianity but very little Christianity.

There are generations right now who have been indoctrinated into believing that the lgbtq stuff is something that should be viewed as equal as anything else. They are taught to hold on to their sin rather than be freed from it. And what furthers this is that we don't have sanctified holy people to push back against it in our churches, to drive it back out.

 

[DragonFox91]

My family's denomination is caving.

 

[jiminpa]

There most definitely is a lack of freedom within the Church. Not just a lack of it, but ignorance as well. Dont believe me? Tell someone in a church that its actually possible to be free from sin. That Christ will set you free where you no longer are slave to it and can walk freely away. Boy howdy does that bring out the fangs.

But you see its far easier to sing about God's grace and forgiveness than it is to believe His power to actually break the bonds of slavery. That's the business most churches are in now, what's easier. Because what's easier tends to get more people in the doors.

That's been the business of most churches for centuries. It's one of the reasons the church rejected the Holy Spirit. He's not always easy to obey.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

That's been the business of most churches for centuries. It's one of the reasons the church rejected the Holy Spirit. He's not always easy to obey.

exactly right, its not easy and its usually not popular. But God can do more through a handful who are faithful and committed to Him than he can through millions who only pay Him lip service.

 

[jiminpa]

I don't see a problem with, "love, forgive, repent," as long as the Bible is being held up as the truth that it is, the people are encouraged to open it for themselves, and the Holy Spirit is given the freedom to lead all. If you love God, repentance will follow. That's what God does, and He's way better at it than we are.

About half of my church are friends Lacey Sturm, from Flyleaf. I think our position is very similar to hers, and you can look her up.

 

[ARBITER01]

My family's denomination is caving.

If you don't mind, what denomination would that be?

 

[lismore]

The LGBTQI issue is one head on the hydra, but the same attacking hydra has many heads. The hydra itself is the attempt to move the church away from the authority of scripture:

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).

The attack can come through many roads. For example 'Christians' identifying as same sex attracted (and their supporters) who attempt to redefine marriage. Another example is through popular charismatic leaders who present a new revelation or new heavenly experience that contradicts the bible and their followers who will not apply the biblical tests to this 'new revelation'. Another example is evolution, those who bring Darwinianism and it's baggage into the church.

But it is encouraging that there are churches around standing for the truth of God's word, applying the Berean test. No church that takes the bible as their source of authority could touch LGBTQI with a 12ft pole

I don't think we need to fight or cozy up to new agendas, just share the truth of God's word, our plumbline

 

[Techo]

Seems likely that the world will use it's agendas and legal system to either force the church to accept an ungodly stance or destroy it as best it can. We had one of our fellowship facing a court battle over a remark overheard from a nearby table. For a while there they were facing the possibility of losing their home in court fees but, fortunately, the case was withdrawn. There was a conference planned by a number of Churches at a venue in Sydney to discuss how they would present a Christian view on marriage but an aggressive minority put pressure on that venue to make them withdraw availability of the venue for that conference.

I can see that people with accountability within a fellowship could be jailed or penalized under some of the laws that have been put in place and it could be that a fellowship may no longer be able to meet publicly. The pandemic has prepared us for a time when genuine Christians are unable to gather together by getting the church set up to use technology to circumvent, probably, governmental constraints. There will also be people meeting from house to house... the same as happened in the first century. In some countries, that are antagonistic to Christians, this is already happening. For Christians this could mean that God will unite all His people in an underground style of fellowship. It should mean less that we focus upon some differing interpretation of a scriptural passage and more that we are believers in Jesus and under the same persecution by the world.

 

[jiminpa]

Seems likely that the world will use it's agendas and legal system to either force the church to accept an ungodly stance or destroy it as best it can. We had one of our fellowship facing a court battle over a remark overheard from a nearby table. For a while there they were facing the possibility of losing their home in court fees but, fortunately, the case was withdrawn. There was a conference planned by a number of Churches at a venue in Sydney to discuss how they would present a Christian view on marriage but an aggressive minority put pressure on that venue to make them withdraw availability of the venue for that conference.

I can see that people with accountability within a fellowship could be jailed or penalized under some of the laws that have been put in place and it could be that a fellowship may no longer be able to meet publicly. The pandemic has prepared us for a time when genuine Christians are unable to gather together by getting the church set up to use technology to circumvent, probably, governmental constraints. There will also be people meeting from house to house... the same as happened in the first century. In some countries, that are antagonistic to Christians, this is already happening. For Christians this could mean that God will unite all His people in an underground style of fellowship. It should mean less that we focus upon some differing interpretation of a scriptural passage and more that we are believers in Jesus and under the same persecution by the world.

It happened during the COVID lockdowns.

The streaming services can be easily monitored, and recorded without anyone knowing it's happening.

Big Brother is watching. God is bigger.

 

[Techo]

Of course... but then... maybe Big Brother will come to Christ also like the jailer in Philippi.

There will be some things that can be done to avoid prying eyes... I'm a little to long out of that game to be across the latest techniques... but there are people in the Church who are right on top of that... if we choose to take our protection back into our control rather than trust in God's faithfulness.

 

[jiminpa]

if we choose to take our protection back into our control rather than trust in God's faithfulness.

What will we do? Which will we choose? It's like a season ending cliff hanger.

 

[ByTheSpirit]

if we choose to take our protection back into our control rather than trust in God's faithfulness.

I admittedly don't understand the full meaning of what you are saying here, but I will say this in particular I think needs to be examined closely. We do in large part depend on God and His working. But I also think there is an element to life in general where God expects us to walk out our faith according to principles we know to be true, without waiting for some earth shattering revelation from Heaven.

IOW, God is faithful, 100% all the time, and He is the one who sustains us and drives us. But I do think He expects us to be about His work at all times without waiting a specific revelation or directive to go. Kind of like Paul in Acts where he was forbidden to go into certain parts of the Roman Empire by the Holy Spirit. He was doing God's work as prescribed and when a special and new revelation came he adjusted.

 

[David Kent]

Our church constitution states the sex should be confined to married couples, one man and a woman. We would not accept any one who did not accept that. God destroyed Sodom and other towns because of their extreme sexual behaviour. In the Law, he said that for a man to lie with another man as with a woman was an abomination. Paul adds that women who have left their normal desires and those who support them are worthy of death. Jesus said that when he comes again it would be "As in the days of Lot" I was reading a book written the 1890's and the author said he didn't think that would happen and wondered what it meant. Any church that accepts them is not a Christian Church and does not help those who it is cozying up to, but denies them the path of Salvation. Paul says that some of the church were like that formerly

 

[Techo]

I suspect that it could have been more than just the 'extreme sexual behaviour' that prompted God to destroy those towns even though that activity was so rampart. The way that they were about to harm Lot for attempting to shield the angels sort of indicates a violence that probably means that they could murder anyone who stood in their way. Such a corrupted people would be a threat to the lives of any other people within that region. It is my... opinion... that God wiped out those towns to protect others from their callous disregard for the well being of anyone else... but I am open to correction.

 

[jiminpa]

I suspect that it could have been more than just the 'extreme sexual behaviour' that prompted God to destroy those towns even though that activity was so rampart. The way that they were about to harm Lot for attempting to shield the angels sort of indicates a violence that probably means that they could murder anyone who stood in their way. Such a corrupted people would be a threat to the lives of any other people within that region. It is my... opinion... that God wiped out those towns to protect others from their callous disregard for the well being of anyone else... but I am open to correction.

From my observation, the level of evil and selfishness that homosexuality takes is more than adequate for the remainder of what was displayed in Sodom and Gomorrah. That and the pivotal issue is that the people of those cities wanted homosexual relations with the angels. The argument that the cities were destroyed for inhospitality is the argument that the homosexuals use to claim that there abomination is not a sin.

 

[ARBITER01]

I'm going to post this website,...

Home - DISNTR - The Dissenter

disntr.com

They cover a lot of the current culture issues for Christianity, but read some of those articles and tell me satan isn't making inroads into different denominations, mainly the old Protestant denominations.