Fools for christ
We all like to be liked, to fit in, to feel like we belong. In high school, it's commonly a matter of peer pressure, which so easily overrides parental concerns. Strong families act as a counter-force, but as things fall apart, and more folks are isolated, the opinion of others has a stronger gravitational pull. That peer pressure is not just a high school hallway phenomenon, but now it's Rumblr, Tiktok and all the rest.
And what are kids are being bombarded with is the new religion of Woke. There's full blown rainbow pride. For those not ready to jump in, there's the lie that anyone who questions the movement is somehow a bully. Likewise, there's CRT with all its Marxist, anti-nuclear family, anti-patriarchy rhetoric, but then for the persuadable young Christian, there is a softer version. It can be complicated. If some are claiming the name of Christian, let them raise the Christian banner, and speak against gay marriage, and tell us that sin is sin. And if someone is claiming the name of Christian, let him tell us to avoid Abrim X Kendi, let him speak well of fatherhood, and of family, and of hard work, and of all the things that might help pave the way for a better future, no matter who we are.
Look around and see the truth that for many young Christians, soft Wokeism is a gateway, and it's a diversion. Fatherlessness is by far the biggest social problem, and it leads to every other kind of societal ill. But this takes time, instruction in the right direction. Maybe only a little can be done at a youth gathering, but that's where we need our best teachers to lay out and expose the false religion that is Wokeism. We might think that we can offer them a little Christianlight Wokeism, but it won't work, for they are born from different spirits.
So, think of the 20th century. We might say that we can have a kind of Christian communism. After all, the workers are exploited, and greedy people do evil things. But the problem is, communism is totalitarian in nature. God, church, and family are obstacles, and must be either done away with or made subservient. So also in Wokeism, as it is taking over the churches. It comes in as a friend, and then soon sets the agenda. The evidence is clear, not only by what is said, but what is no longer being said.
So, some might say that though they are spreading the ideology of Woke, that it's not really the ideology, is just phrases, and truths gleaned from the secular world. Then let them condemn the secular tree from which the fruit comes. Let them say that the rainbow pride promotes a cruel ideology that is destroying the lives of young people. Let them say that we desperately need fathers and in tact families. Let them rally, and now is surely the time to rally our youth, in favor of life, to stand courageously for the unborn. And if we are unwilling to say such things, then what we actually do say should come under all the more scrutiny.
And, as a kind of epilogue, what's needed most, from all of us, is of course, repentance. But then piety, that is reverence for God, the Scriptures, those who came before, in the church, the world, and our nation and more. For with piety there is a recognition that we are all not all that, and that we have and awful lot to be thankful for, which leads to all that we really have to offer, which is the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
The Rev. Dr. Peter Scaer is chairman and professor of Exegetical Theology and director of the M.A. program at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Ind.
Be Informed
Did you know that “The American Academy of Pediatrics called for ‘reproductive justice’ and advocated for pediatricians helping minors get abortions without their parents’ knowledge in the July issue of its official journal Pediatrics”? Click here to read more.
Be Equipped
Learn more about the passage of a pro-same-sex marriage bill in the U.S. House with Joe Grabowski of the National Organization for Marriage.
Be Encouraged
“We trust in Jesus Christ as we walk by faith and not by sight. As we thus walk in His light, we walk with many who are in darkness. Death, which is sin’s wages, has been defeated. Jesus Christ is risen from the dead and lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true, and this instructs and informs our lives in this world. We join with God, and we seek life.”
Help support our efforts to contend for the freedom to proclaim the faith. Click here to learn more or to donate.
