by Mike Noble

When king Ahaziah, after suffering a tragic accident, was told by Elijah that he would “not come down from the bed,” but would “surely die,” he sent a battalion of fifty soldiers to detain the ‘bearer of bad tidings.’ When this attempt failed (God destroyed all fifty with fire from heaven), Ahaziah sent another fifty. Once again “the fire of God came down from heaven and consumed” them. When Ahaziah sent a third party of fifty men, their captain pleaded (not surprisingly) with Elijah for his life. Elijah, under counsel from the angel of the Lord, finally went down with the captain and went in to the king. And just what did Elijah tell the bedridden dignitary? “Thus says the Lord… you shall not come down from the bed to which you have gone up, but you shall surely die.” The message hadn’t changed, had it? After all of Ahaziah’s pressure tactics, not one bit of God’s word on the matter had been diminished or altered. (The account of these events is found in 2 Kings 1.)

There is a simple lesson in that chapter for you and me, and it is this: God’s word remains true and sure, no matter how we might react to it. God’s word is “faithful” (Titus 1:9) — it is trustworthy. It “lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23) — it is “incorruptible.” Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matt. 24:35). “If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Tim. 2:13).

Becoming angry with God’s word will not change it in the least. We may cut a copy of it up and toss it in the fire, as did another infamous king (Jer. 36:23); yet we should know that “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven” (Psa. 119:89).

Nor, for that matter, will it alter God’s message one bit to become furious with the bearer of it. We have known of some who have become upset with this preacher or that one when presented with a specific point from the Bible. Did their wrath change God’s ordinance? While we would not deny anyone’s legal right to be upset, we still yet inquire as to how such misbehavior has a bearing on what the Bible says. Who do we humans think we are to suppose that a display of vehemency (or any other emotion, for that matter) on our part will change what God’s word says about the plan of salvation, or what it declares concerning fellowship, or what it states about the subject of divorce; etc.?

“He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him — the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). The Lord spoke those words, not this writer. We’d best put our anger, sullenness, or what-have-you aside and be glad that not only are we able to “understand what the will of the Lord is,” but as well that the Lord has been most gracious in providing us with numerous opportunities to obey it.

by Josh Ketchum

Christians value courage.  Americans esteem courage.  We seek to be courageous and teach our kids to be courageous.

So this has formed a natural link in our minds that courage is always right and good.

Being courageous isn’t necessarily right or good.  Just because someone has courage, in the sense that they do something that takes guts and bravado to stand up against a majority or perceived enemy, doesn’t mean it is a praiseworthy act.  Christians must not fall to the trap of branding every courageous deed a right and good action.  We live in a culture that is quick to praise courage.  Standing up against societal taboos or “going against the flow” is praised as courage, no matter whether the action is morally right or wrong.

For example, I can list numerous acts in the Bible and in history that required courage on the person’s part, but were not righteous or good acts.

Here are a few biblical examples:

• Jacob deceiving his father Isaac when he was old and poor of sight.

• Aaron leading the people to give their gold to build a golden calf to be worshipped while Moses was on Mount Sinai.

• Samson visiting a harlot in a Philistine city leading to a trap, which required him to tear down the gates to free himself.

• Absalom’s rebellion against David.

• Paul’s persecution of Christians.

• The actions of Diotrephes in opposing John the Apostle and putting people out of the church so he could have preeminence in the church.

Here are a couple from history.

• John Wilkes Booth actions of shooting President Lincoln where viewed by many in the south as a courageous act.

• The terrorist who commandeered the airplanes on 911 and flew them into various targets were courageous in deed.

Christians need to understand this truth.  We don’t need to just throw every supposedly courageous act in as being righteous and good.  We also don’t need to go into foolishness by saying it doesn’t take courage to stand up against the crowd.  But standing up for what is wrong is still wrong!

Let me give you a few examples from our current culture.

• A young woman courageously decides to abort her unborn child.  She goes public with this decision and uses it as an opportunity to argue for the rights of women.  While it may be courageous, abortion is still morally wrong!

• A person comes out with family and friends on social media as being  homosexual.  He or she describes their life as trying to live a lie, but now, they finally have the courage to come out and be who God made them to be.  While certainly courageous, homosexuality is still a sexual sin and lifestyle opposed to Scripture.

• A celebrity chooses to pose nude for a magazine, or appear in filthy love scene in a movie, and is described as courageous for stepping out of her typical role and pushing the envelop.  Immodesty and lewd behavior is still sinful behavior, even if it takes courage to take your clothes off!

Each of these, and more, could illustrate the truth that Christian people must always openly consider the righteousness and holiness of an act by itself.  Just because it required courage or fortitude for someone to do the act, doesn’t make it a righteous act.  It may still be a sinful act, that is wrong in the eyes of God.

“Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil;

that put darkness for light, and light for darkness;

that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”  (Isaiah 5:20)

by Brad Harrub

On May 5, 2018, medical student Mirjam Heine, gave a TEDx talk at the University of Wurtzberg in Germany.  TED is a nonprofit organization that produces short powerful talks that originally focused on technology, entertainment, and design (though TEDx events are organized independently from the main annual TED conference). Today these popular “TED talk” videos cover everything from science, law, history, education, technology, etc. Mirjam Heine’s talk was extremely different than most TED videos.

Heine’s (13:30 minute speech) focused on a person named Jonas, a pedophile who preferred girls aged 6-12. She goes on to proclaim, “anyone could be born a pedophile.” She argued that pedophilia “is an unchangeable sexual orientation, just like, for example heterosexuality.” Her TED talk was all about how the general population should change our view and offer support to those who are pedophiles.  She stated: “Just like pedophiles, we are not responsible for our feelings.” She continued by asserting, “We do not choose them…but it is our responsibility to…overcome our negative feelings about pedophiles and to treat them with the same respect we treat other people with.”

Two months later, on July 28, 2018 a poster was placed on a telephone pole near Willamette primary school in Oregon City that read, “Pedophiles are People Too. Because Love is Love.” The poster had a picture of an adult holding hands with a toddler, both of them featuring a big red heart in the center of their chests. The argument given is that as long as it doesn’t hurt the child then “love is love.” Make no mistake about it, normalization of pedophilia has begun in America.

 = = = = =

In what can only be viewed as ironic, the LGBT community has come out against the pedophile posters, and many homosexual activists are upset that people might use these posters to discredit the LGBT community. However, one does not have to look far back in our history to recall the homosexual community declaring that it was their “right” to be able to marry someone of the same sex. “It’s my right…” has become the mantra that individuals now use to defend any type of behavior.

So now what prevents pedophiles from riding the coattails of homosexuals, declaring that it is their right to have sexual relationships with children? Answer: Nothing. In September 2015, Selwyn Duke wrote an article for The New American titled  “Shocking Times: Movement for Pedophile “Rights” Marches On” in which he pointed out this very movement has already begun.

Again, let me be clear—the normalization process for pedophilia is already underway. For instance, pedophile activists have already begun asking the media to stop using the term pedophilia and instead refer to their community as “Minor attracted persons.” And the normalization will continue. For many people, their gut instinct when they hear about pedophilia is revulsion. They can’t believe that this crime against children would ever be allowed in a civil society.

However, in an op-ed that appeared in the New York Times in 2004, Margo Kaplan declared that pedophilia was “a disorder and not a crime.” Therefore it should be treated and not punished. Also, consider that decades ago homosexuality was viewed with the same type of revulsion in America. Today it has been normalized to the point that our culture feels comfortable promoting homosexual behavior in television shows.

So what is the Christian response? I’ll agree that there is no direct mention of pedophilia in the Bible. However, there is not a direct mention of a lot of things in God’s Word. That does not alter the fact that this behavior is indeed discussed in Scripture. The Greek word porneia (where we get our English word pornography) is used to describe all types of immoral sexual behavior that would include pedophilia. In his letter to the Christians in Galatia, Paul uses this word porneia (fornication) in his description of the lusts of the flesh (Galatians 5:16-21).

Notice Paul does not say it is a person’s “right” to behave in this fashion. No. Instead, he points out that people who commit these acts will not inherit the kingdom of heaven. So one of the things Christians must realize is that if we allow or condone this behavior we are in essence condemning those who participate to hell. These people need the Truth about sin and the blood of Jesus—just like all sinners.

In Ezekiel chapter 16 God uses a metaphor about His love for Jerusalem and His relationship with the children of Israel. In that description He starts out talking about their birth (verse 3).  He then talks about them growing up, struggling in their own blood and God making them thrive (verses 6-7). He says, “I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field, and thou hast increased and waxen great, and thou art come to excellent ornaments: thy breasts are fashioned, and thine hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare.” (verse 7).

Only after this maturation and having gone through puberty did God acknowledge they were ready for love. We read, “Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness. . .” (verse 8). In Ruth 1:12-13 we find Naomi distraught after the death of her sons and she tells her daughters-in-law, “Turn again, my daughters, go your way; for I am too old to have an husband. If I should say, I have hope, if I should have an husband also to night, and should also bear sons; Would ye tarry for them till they were grown?” (emp. added.).

Consider also, the first command God gave Adam and Eve was to be fruitful and multiple (Genesis 1:28)—the indication being that they were already able to have children.  Nowhere in Scripture do we read of God condoning sexual relationships between children and adults. Paul on two different occasions wrote about things being “without natural affection” (Romans 1:31; 2 Timothy 3:2). The implication is that there are things that God views as natural affection and things that God views as unnatural.

One of the arguments that is used to justify pedophilia is when Jesus said, “Let the children come unto me” (Matthew 19:14; Luke 18:16). However, this passage has nothing to do with sexual attraction and is being used grossly out of context. People were bringing their children to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them and the disciples were rebuking the parents and holding the children back.

Notice one chapter earlier Jesus, speaking about children, warned: “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea” (Matthew 18:6).

Normalization is happening. Our children and grandchildren will be indoctrinated with the idea that they should be tolerant of pedophilia—just like they have been successfully indoctrinated with the idea that sodomy is an alternative lifestyle that should be tolerated. And yet, sin is still sin. Now more than ever parents need to study God’s Word and instill His precepts deeply into the hearts and minds of the next generation.