11 Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.
12 For we do not commend ourselves again to you, but give you opportunity to boast on our behalf, that you may have an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart.
13 For if we are beside ourselves, it is for God; or if we are of sound mind, it is for you.
14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus: that if One died for all, then all died;
15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
Please pay attention to this phrase in verse 12 - we can depend on the Lord to give "an answer for those who boast in appearance and not in heart." We can be compelled by the love of Christ, not living for ourselves, but being dedicated to spreading the truth of the gospel. Early in Holy Week, Jesus went into the Temple and made a statement - He exposed the corruption that had infiltrated the service of God. We have to make sure we allow Him to purify our hearts so that He can express Himself through us.
The message is clear from the event we see in Matthew chapter 21 - Jesus has come to cleanse His Church; He has saved us and made us new creatures. We can maintain a sense of His forgiveness and stand against the corruption that the enemy would want to bring about in our lives. We can find these words in that chapter:
10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"
11 So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."
12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "
14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
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10 And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"
11 So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."
12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
13 And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "
14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.
The cleansing of Jesus stands against the corruption of the enemy. Inside and outside the Church, the pollution of Biblical teaching on sexuality has become a harmful force.
A recent piece at The Stream discusses the cultural rot brought about by the promotion of transgenderism and the counteraction to it. It was composed by The Ruth Institute, whose President Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse is quoted, saying: “It’s about time people are pushing back against the trans train that is, among other things, ruining women’s sports and erasing women,” adding, "I applaud the brave souls who are speaking up on behalf of real women.”
The article goes on to say:
Houghton University President Dr. Wayne D. Lewis Jr. issued a statement, “In Defense of Women’s Athletics,” after his female track and field athletes lost to a biological male. He wrote, “Biological males’ participation in women’s athletics is wrong … Enough is enough.”
It also notes:
High school girls’ basketball coach Chris Goodwin forfeited a game against a team with a biological male after three of his female players were injured. Rather than being applauded for protecting his players, the Vermont Principals’ Association kicked his school out of all sports events.
“Fortunately, Goodwin is not taking this lying down,” Morse said. “With the help of Alliance Defending Freedom, he is suing, in part because students are ‘irreparably harmed by being denied participation.’ Good for him.”
Another example is Nassau County, New York, where county official Bruce Blakeman issued an executive order effectively banning transgender men from participating in women’s and girls’ sports.
State attorney general Letitia James has tried to stop that ban, but Blakeman is standing strong.
The article states:
“The trans train is slowly coming off the rails,” Morse added. “An increasing number of detransitioners are speaking out in documentaries such as The Lost Boys, Dysconnected, and No Way Back: The Reality of Gender-Affirming Care, as well as suing their doctors for pushing them into transitioning.”
The U.K’s Tavistock gender clinic was shut down last year after a class action lawsuit by transitioned individuals. Germany recently released a study saying that research supporting puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for minors is “low quality” and probably “substantially different” from the “true effect.”
The Stream article mentions Mallory Millett, whose sister, Kate, was a leader in the rise of feminism, writing a book called, Sexual Politics. Mallory says, “Kate wrote the exact right book at the exact right moment. It was as if it was chosen by Satan,” adding, “This is all about a war on God. Kate stated categorically that the complete destruction of traditional marriage and the nuclear family is the revolutionary or utopian goal of feminism..."
Mallory recalls going to a meeting of the National Organization for Women, attended by "founding members" Betty Freidan and Gloria Steinem:
They would start the meetings with a call/response sequence about being there to “make revolution… a sexual revolution… by destroying the family… by destroying marriage… by destroying monogamy… by promoting homosexuality, prostitution, promiscuity, and abortion.
“”We will promote those four things and that will destroy society,’” Mallory recalls them saying.
Morse punctuates her statements by saying, “More and more, around the world, people are waking up to reality..." She calls on Women's History Month in March to be a time in which real women are celebrated, stating:
“When did women’s empowerment suddenly become biological men taking over women’s sports, women’s prisons, women’s bathrooms, locker rooms, and even, in Scotland, rape recovery spaces?”Morse refers to "Women who don’t want to abort their babies. Women who build pregnancy care centers, not burn them down."
“This is women’s erasure, and it needs to stop,” Morse said.
“Women’s History Month usually means feminist propaganda to boost their agenda. Feminists claim to speak for all women, but millions of women still want to get married and stay home with their babies. Millions of women want the reliable love of a good man who will care for them and their children.
We need a cleansing - our culture needs a liberation from empty ideas that do not align with Scripture. The Church needs to recognize the holiness and authority of God and stop accommodating teachings that are not consistent with the Word of God. We need to embrace prayer and reject propaganda that doesn't honor the Lord.
Now, that's not to say people from the other side should be silenced; there are those who would certainly want to do that to us. People can believe what they believe - but we can courageously and persuasively state and live out Biblical ideas and help people come into the knowledge of the truth. The religious leaders of the day wanted to silence Jesus - His M.O. was to engage them; but - He did stand against errant practices taking place within the Temple. And, we should be careful to stand against what has infiltrated the Church that doesn't line up with what the Bible teaches.
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