Change

We are called to walk in the light of Christ, and that will involve calling out the sinfulness that, as Hebrews 12 says, "so easily ensnares us."  We can break free, we can experience a breakthrough.
Ephesians 5 states:
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.

The Bible shows us who we can be in Christ.  We can accept His forgiveness of our past sins, which were nailed with Him to the cross, and experience the victory He affords over the power of indwelling sin.  That is the classic struggle, and thankfully, God gives us the resources to be able to walk in His power so that we can be overcomers in Christ.  When we are tempted, we can draw upon God's strength to resist the evil desires that would seek to overpower us.

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There is a progression to how sin takes root in the life of a believer, and the Bible clearly teaches that even though the temptation is not sinful in and of itself, if we fail to deal with it, it results in sin.
James 1 outlines this:
13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone.
14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed.
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

There are so many sources of information that are available to us, and we continue to watch to see how large tech companies have been attempting to impede the flow of information; that has especially been seen in the case of Christians.

Now, it seems Amazon has gotten into the act.  And, the issue, as we find all too often is homosexuality, and a principle that has become Kryptonite to the LGBTQ agenda: that homosexuals can change their desires and actions.

Rod Dreher of The American Conservative points out a report from NBC News, which says:

Amazon has removed English-language books by a man largely considered “the father of conversion therapy” from its site following mounting pressure from LGBTQ activists.

The NBC story also says, regarding the author, Dr. Joseph Nicolosi: "His books are some of the most well-known works about conversion therapy, the pseudoscientific practice of trying to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity."

In response to this action, Dreher writes:

Do you see what’s happening? Amazon.com now bans the sale of works of an author that LGBT activists find offensive. Woke capitalism at its finest. Where does this stop?

Now that LGBT activists have shown that they can prevail upon Woke Capitalists to blacklist an author, will they come after other writers who offend them? Why shouldn’t they? What’s the limiting principle here?

He goes on to say:

These people, these activists, are totalitarian. They are trying to control via pressure on Woke Capitalists what people are allowed to read. People acting on the theories of Karl Marx, V.I. Lenin, and Mao Zedong massacred over 100 million people in the 20th century — and you can buy titles by Marx, Lenin, and Mao on Amazon.com. The Nazis killed over 6 million in the Holocaust, and were chiefly responsible for a world war that killed millions more — yet you can buy the works of Adolf Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels on Amazon.com.

But not Dr. Joseph Nicolosi.

Now, Denny Burk of the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood is not necessarily a fan of Nicolosi, but admits that this action from Amazon has far-reaching implications.  He states:

I affirm that the grace of God in Christ gives both merciful pardon and transforming power, and that this pardon and power enable a follower of Jesus to put to death sinful desires and to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord. I deny that the grace of God in Christ is insufficient to forgive all sexual sins and to give power for holiness to every believer who feels drawn into sexual sin.

He adds, "the reason that Amazon is banning Nicolosi’s books is not because he taught Christianity (he didn’t) but because he taught that it is possible to change someone’s sexual orientation." Burk likewise quoted from the NBC story and based on the language used in the story by an LGBTQ activist, writes:

The Amazon ban and the suggested legislation to ban conversion therapy isn’t limited to Joseph Nicolosi’s teachings. This ban defines any attempt to change one’s sexual desires as “conversion therapy.” Well guess what? That means that every single Christian who believes that that God’s grace changes sexual sinners would be implicated by this ban and by such legislation.

Michael Brown, in an article published at The Stream, is more charitable to Nicolosi, and identifies the slippery slope here:

Why, then, should Amazon ban his books but continue to sell the Bible, which provides the theological underpinnings for Dr. Nicolosi’s scientific work?

After all, gay critics of the Bible refer to the so-called “clobber passages,” referring to verses which have been used to speak against homosexual practice. If these verses have brought such harm to the gay community, why shouldn’t the book containing these verses be banned?

My point is not to debate the methodology or the theology of Nicolosi's work.  Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth, was supportive of the late doctor's work, writing for LifeSiteNews:

In a field fraught with ambiguous terminology (e.g., “sexual orientation”), escalating — even fanatical — LGBT opposition, media cynicism and misreporting, Nicolosi persevered. His counter-cultural message of “If gay doesn’t define you, you don’t have to be gay,” was outrageous and “hateful” to intolerant homosexual militants, but it brought hope to people of faith and others struggling with unwanted homosexual desires.

The censorship, or "ban," happened to the works of Nicolosi - it could happen to anyone who espouses that people who are homosexuals or struggling with same-sex attraction can change.  As Burk relates, "I’m saying that orthodox Christianity has always taught that Jesus both saves and sanctifies sinners—meaning that the gospel helps us to change, even in our wayward sexual desires. To the outside world, that may sound like “conversation therapy.” To those of us who are orthodox Christians, it sounds like the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3)."

But, while that is certainly the message of the Scriptures and the traditional teachings of orthodox Christianity, that message has become muted or has morphed into something else.  I was stunned to read this tweet from a well-known Christian teacher the other day:

It’s Pride Month, & I’ve been reflecting on what that means to me.

I’ve learned so much about the way of Jesus from my gay & lesbian friends.

This month & every month, I love you & stand with you.

I celebrate you & I’m grateful for you.

Another teacher, whose orthodoxy on the matter of homosexuality has come under scrutiny because of some social media associations with professing Christians who are LGBTQ-affirming, was asked by several Bible teachers for clarification.  After railing against critics, it was discovered that a powerful passage in a book written a number of years ago on the power of God to overcome homosexual desires had been removed from the Kindle version.  The reason: that identifying the sinfulness of this area could potentially be harmful.   Isn't that the essence of the gospel - because of our sin, we can recognize our need for a Savior?  Forget Amazon for a moment: collectively, if the Church is engaging in self-censorship and watering down the life-changing message of the gospel, then we reduce the level of hope and Holy Spirit power that we are offering.  Certainly, we can be sensitive in the manner in which we address these issues, but the message should not change.

There are those that would attempt to minimize an emphasis on homosexuality, saying it is just one sin among many.  In a sense, that is true - and the Bible has the same prescription for dealing with it.  Remember James 1: temptation comes, playing on a person's sinful desires, the desires produce sin, which brings death.  You are not your temptation and to identify as "gay," "LGBT," or "same-sex attracted," is an affront to the God who made you, in the same way that proclaiming and taking pride in identifying as a liar, a greedy person, or an angry and bitter person is - all can be dealt with under the power of the cross.

Even though Christians may disagree on certain matters (and, as I outlined, there are different takes on the theology of Joseph Nicolosi), we can continue to reinforce the power to change.  That's the heart of the gospel - Jesus came to save sinners, not so we can identify with our sin, but to identify with the new person He has made us to be.