The Day of the Saints & holiness

On November the 1st many liturgical denominations in the West celebrate All Saints Day. It is a wonderful time to think about the holiness of the saints. Landon Whitsitt, Vice Moderator of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has begun writing about the foundation parts of the New Book of Order on a blog for the Synod of Mid-America. Using, F-1.0302b, he writes about The Holiness of the Church. I like Whitsitt's thoughts that holiness belongs to Christ rather than to ourselves and how holiness means we are set apart to bear witness to the love of Christ.

But I think that more needs to be said about how that occurs and what it means that because of the love of Christ our sins are taken away. And although Whitsitt opines about our concern to build a firewall for orthodoxy, I think it is unnecessary to toss aside the importance of doctrine or orthodoxy when we think about holiness and Christ’s great love. Rather, I’m in agreement with Dorothy Sayers, the lay theologian and author of the Peter Whimsy detective stories, who insisted that “The Dogma is the Drama.”

To put it another way, the fact that Jesus, fully human, fully divine, loved us enough to bear our sins on the cross is a beautiful and grand drama of God’s redemptive love. The dogma is so deeply intertwined with our life and confession that we cannot in anyway dismiss it. And yes, because of the drama that is the dogma, we who have put on Christ have been clothed in his righteousness and made holy. Better still as Paul explains in Ephesians 2:4-10 we have been redeemed by grace and now walk in the good works that God had already prepared for us:

“But God being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the surpassing riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of god; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them.”

So how do we bear witness to the love of Christ-we tell what God has done for us by sending his Son to die for us. Of course that also entails Christ’s life and resurrection. We also walk into the good works that God has prepared for us. And because we are set apart, made righteous in his righteousness, we live for Jesus, with the help of the Holy Spirit, striving to be obedient to his word. As Paul puts it in another place “present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice.” (Romans 12: 1) That has to do with what Dietrich Bonhoeffer referred to as costly grace as opposed to cheap grace.

This is the paradox we live with; Christ did not buy our salvation cheaply, therefore we do not wear it for nothing. Freely it is given, freely we receive it, but because of it we walk through many valleys. His burden is light, because it is his, but still he calls us to carry it in hard places. We are sinners all, but also saints, who are being transformed into his image. Praise the lovely name of Jesus.
Picture by Stephen Larson

The Covenant Network seeking unity

10-A, the overture that has allowed some to ordain LGBT persons, has passed; what is coming next?[1] The Covenant Network, an affinity group connected to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has agreed that it is too divisive to endorse overtures asking that the Book of Order be changed to allow same sex marriage. They will not support such overtures at the 2012 General Assembly.

The group, whose main focus has been to change the constitution to allow for LGBT ordination, states, “Given that there are many in the PC (USA) who are troubled by the change in ordination standards, the Board of Directors lifts up this effort mindful of its commitment to tend to the unity of the denomination.” Instead they will lift up and endorse overtures, “seeking Authoritative Interpretation to protect pastoral discretion to celebrate same-gender marriages where they are sanctioned by the civil authorities.”

Two troubling issues arise with this decision. The first is the issue of unity; the second is the issue of aligning morality with the prevailing culture. Both are, however, alike; they put aside biblical teaching in order to pull the cultural milieu within the denomination. The world seeks for unity as well as diversity but not a unity founded on Holy Scripture and the Lordship of Christ.

But unity has already been broken; it cannot be so easily fixed by withholding support from overtures seeking to change the Book of Order. The truth is the Covenant Network, surely unintentionally, is seeking a worldly kind of unity which has nothing to do with the faith. Instead it is seeking after a unity that would mix biblical authority with experience, sin with righteousness and cultural norms with biblical mandates. It isn’t real. There is no such unity. But the seeking has taken a different turn.

The decision to uphold Authoritative Interpretations that would allow ministers to marry same gender couples in a state where it is legal is an attempt at alignment with a worldly culture. And this is where we must remember that the Kingdom of God is not the kingdoms of this world.

Some are standing in the wilderness with Jesus and Satan is pleading worship me and I will give you the kingdoms of the world. Jesus quoted God’s word back to him and Satan, the Scripture text states, “left him until an opportune time.” And Satan did come back. And he keeps coming back to the Church. This is not the first time that the Church has been tempted to lift up sexual immorality for the sake of its life in the world.

I am reading a book mentioned by Dr. Richard Mouw, The Lord as Their Portion: The Story of the Religious Orders and How They Shaped Our World by Elizabeth Rapley. Over and over the Church and the monasteries became a part of the world by choosing worldly riches, power and sexual immorality. Over and over they needed reformation. And still today, the same temptations involve the Church in seeking to conform to the sinful positions and laws of secular governments. And it is in many ways as much a temptation for power as it is for conformity.

This places the faithful in a dire position which has nothing at all to do with unity and everything to do with submitting to the Lord of the Church and his written word. There will be no unity when those in the PCUSA align with secular power while their brothers and sisters take the more humbling seat of refusing to walk with the culture.

[1] This is still to be settled in a court appeals case- see- An Appeal Will Be Filed

Reformation or descending darkness-a leadership letter to congregations

The king went up to the house of the Lord and all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with him, and the priests and the prophets and all the people, both small and great; and he read in their hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which was found in the house of the Lord. The King stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord, and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to carry out the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people entered into the covenant. (2 Kings 23:2-3)

The Presbyterian News Service recently posted a news article about a letter sent to congregations by “Cindy Bolbach and Landon Whitsitt, Moderator and Vice Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010), Gradye Parsons, Stated Clerk of the General Assembly, and Linda Valentine, Executive Director of the General Assembly Mission Council.” The letter was meant to uphold Reformation Day which occurs October 31st. The news article included the letter. I was troubled by several affirmations in the letter.

The affirmation I found the most troubling is the leadership’s belief that the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is in the midst of a “new reformation.” Another similar affirmation is that this is a time of another “great” reformation. The author’s of the letter did not base their affirmations of the “new reformation” on a return to the Holy Scriptures, nor an emphasis on justification by faith, nor did they write about the denominations return to Christ as the only Savior.

Instead they emphasized works, change, organization and visioning. And they wrote this at a time when some Presbyteries are simply falling apart as churches scatter looking for a denomination that will uphold the Holy Scriptures and the Lordship of Christ.

The other affirmation is that God is doing a new thing, that God is “creating a new church in and through us.”They use Isaiah 43:19 to support their affirmation. But they are misinterpreting the verse. And they also misunderstand how God has and does create his Church. The verse is speaking of how God will bring the Israelites out of exile in Babylon and rebuild the nation. This was new because it was different than bringing them out of captivity as in Egypt. Instead this was a time of redemption from exile caused by sin. The new thing also had implications for the future; it pointed to the coming Messiah. And it is in the Messiah that God, not us, builds the Church.

There are several stages that lead to reformation but if one looks at Church history it always begins with a return to the word of God. Of course that return occurs when the old institutions have become corrupt and turn toward all kinds of innovations to bolster diminishing fervor and growth. Both in monasticism and churches the cycle is almost always the same. Lack of faith, greed and sexual immorality destroy the integrity of Christian institutions, and then both leaders and laity turn toward politics, programs, power and even redefinitions of the essentials of faith in order to avoid a return to the clarity of God's word.

But the Church will not remain the Church if she does not return to the word of God. In the early years of America a group of men in Congregational churches, which had grown weak in faith, disregarded some Scripture texts. Their early beginnings included universalism but moved on to discarding the atonement and the Trinity. They became the Unitarian Church.

In the twentieth century they became the Universalist/Unitarian Church allowing any religious belief to be a part of their denomination. By the end of the twentieth century their adherents included both pagans, mainly wiccans, and atheist. Casting aside parts of the Bible was not the beginning of reformation; instead it was the beginning of darkness. In my library I have a study book used by some women, and men, in the Universalist/Unitarian Church, entitled Cakes for the Queen of Heaven. In the book a pagan goddess, Asherah and her son Baal, are honored; Jeremiah, the prophet, becomes the enemy.

We, likewise, have not entered a time of great reformation but a time of turning against those who call for reformation. Whether it is a teaching elder in Tennessee who calls the faithful, right-wing and superstitious, another who suggests that a devout pastor's letter should be read with a barf bag, or the Vice Moderator, tweeting that, those pursuing biblical morality standards in a church court appeals case are whining and costing the church money, the denomination is drifting toward rough seas. A subtle persecution of those who wish to bring the denomination back to the authority of the word is emerging rather than reformation.

One can repeat the words “Great Reformation” in the same manner that a new age devotee repeats a mantra, it will mean nothing. But like the ancient Israelites who found the lost book of the law in the temple we must find again the word of God and, as they did, submit to its authority. It is the word of the Lord of the Church. As we submit to him, we will submit to his word. We pray that in mercy through Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our denomination will turn back to the word, repent and be truly reformed.

[1] See both Leaving & Staying in Faithfulness: looking at various church ages & movements 2 and Leaving & Staying in Faithfulness: looking at various church ages & movements 3

[2]Conrad Wright, The Beginnings of Unitarianism in America, (Boston: Starr King Press 1955).

[3]See Jeremiah 7 and 44.

Rich Mullins & the Ragamuffin Band-and a verse from Psalm 23

Have you ever had God drop a Scripture text into your heart and mind unexpectedly? Just as our plane was landing coming home from the fellowship gathering, this summer, a verse from Psalm 23 dropped into my mind and I couldn’t wait to get home and do a study on it. The verse, “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies.” There is more to that verse but that is what God dropped into my heart. I wrote a posting on that verse and my study, A table prepared by the Lord.

Today someone mentioned and linked to a song by Rich Mullins. It was a beautiful song and I listened, but as I was listening I noticed another video of Rich Mullins which was a whole concert with both him and the Ragamuffin Band. I had never heard of Rich Mullins until my daughter Penny told me of her grief that he had been killed in a car accident. Then I found that another daughter, Jenny also was deeply grieved over his death. His music is beautiful.

But the fun thing for me is that in this concert two friends that used to come and visit me every so often when I was doing apologetics in the ARC office at Warehouse Ministries are a part of the Ragamuffin Band. I haven’t heard Jim Abegg or Aaron Smith play for many years. But returning to my original theme “a table prepared by the Lord” and that in the presence of my enemies, God through this beautiful and joyous concert reminded me of all of his many blessings.

I am thinking of all blessings, family, friends now and yesterday, of Jesus’ presence in the midst of many trials, now and yesterday, of his promise to come again. His tender care of all of his children, the Church. His word that lights our way. This is the table He spreads for me and for all of you as you walk with him in the presence of enemies.

I am posting the video here. It is almost an hour long, but please listen, you will be blessed. You will know who Jim Abegg is when he sings about a dream. Aaron Smith is the fantastic drummer.

Carta a la Iglesia PCUSA (Letter to the PCUSA)

This is a letter written in Spanish to members of the PCUSA by Rev. Hector Reynoso. It was published in English by the Layman on October the 13th. Now the whole Spanish speaking Church can read it. I am placing it here for several reasons. One reason is that it is a call to the church to repent of sin and turn and be faithful again to Jesus Christ. Another reason is that the Presbyterian News Service placed a letter, written by Archbishop Desmond Tutu to the PCUSA, within a news article about the troubling problems that have occurred among partner churches in other nations because of the PCUSA’s decision to ordain gays and lesbians.

Tutu’s letter, sadly, assured the leadership of the PCUSA that they are setting a good example to other Global churches. This was posted in a letter reminding the denomination that the National Presbyterian Church of Mexico had cut off partnership with the PCUSA. After this the PNS posted the same letter in Spanish which was surely aimed at the Presbyterian Church in Mexico.

So besides being for the Spanish speaking PCUSA members in the United States this letter, as far as I am concerned, is for all Spanish speaking Presbyterian Churches including those in the Global South.


Carta a la Iglesia PCUSA


Querida Iglesia PCUSA, miembro(a)s, anciano(a)s y diáconos, consistorios, pastore(a)s, presbiterios, sínodos y AG

Les saludo en el dulce, amoroso y poderoso nombre de Jesucristo nuestro único Señor y Salvador. Mi nombre es Héctor Reynoso y soy pastor en la iglesia Presbiteriana USA (PCUSA). Vengo ante ustedes en un espíritu de amor y humildad y espero que reciban esta carta en este mismo espíritu. Me motiva a escribir el amor tan profundo que tengo por la PCUSA y toda su gente.

Seguro que muchos de ustedes habrán leído y escuchado que un gran número de iglesias a nivel mundial están cortando sus relaciones con la PCUSA o están haciendo fuertes declaraciones en contra de ella. Esto está sucediendo específicamente por una razón, la inclusión de la enmienda 10-A (ahora G-2.0104b) en nuestro Libro de Orden. Estas son noticias muy desalentadoras.

En verdad que ha sido triste ver como a través de los años la luz de esta denominación se ha ido apagando poco a poco. Sin duda alguna la aprobación de la enmienda 10-A ha acelerado este proceso. Pese a todas las advertencias en cuanto a las consecuencias, la mayoría votó a favor de la enmienda 10-A a nivel Asamblea General y después a nivel de presbiterios. Las implicaciones de esta enmienda van mas allá de simplemente remover “fidelidad y castidad” como estándares de ordenación. Lo que esta enmienda hace es darle vuelta a un orden divino pre-establecido…antes de 10-A, entendíamos que Dios, de acuerdo a las Escrituras definía el pecado…ahora nosotros lo definimos. Nosotros escogemos lo que es el pecado y lo que no es…como si fuéramos dioses. Además, afirmamos que Cristo murió por nuestros pecados, pero si nosotros podemos escoger y definir lo que es pecado y lo que no es, entonces debemos preguntarnos seriamente, ¿Por qué pecados murió Cristo? La enmienda 10-A implica que Cristo murió por nada, o para nada; amigos y amigas, la enmienda 10-A crea un cristo diferente al que Dios nos ha revelado en las Escrituras.

Aún mas, la enmienda 10-A reduce la Biblia, la Santa Palabra de Dios de ser La Palabra inspirada por Dios y la única autoridad para la doctrina de la iglesia a ser simplemente una guía, al mismo nivel que las confesiones. Si creemos de esta manera, ya no podemos tomar en serio pasajes de las Escrituras tales como el Salmo 119. Este Salmo dice en le versículo 4, “Tú has establecido tus preceptos, para que se cumplan fielmente (NVI).” Permítanme presentarles una traducción tal vez un poco sarcástica, simplemente para establecer mi punto. “Nosotros hemos modificado tus sugerencias, para que se consideren fielmente.” Querida iglesia PCUSA, la enmienda 10-A hace a un lado la autoridad que Dios le ha dado a las Escrituras.

Además, esta enmienda no solamente abra las puertas a la ordenación de la comunidad LGBT (lesbian,gay, bisexual, transgender) como ministros, ancianos y diáconos, sino que también abre las puertas a la ordenación de cualquier individuo(a) que se encuentra envuelto en cualquier actividad sexual que la Palabra de Dios llama pecado. Esta enmienda de ninguna manera llama a nadie que busca la ordenación al arrepentimiento ni a reconocer su pecado. En vez de confrontarnos con el poderoso, amoroso y transformador evangelio de Jesucristo nos enseña que nuestro pecado sexual es algo natural, una inclinación normal, no algo que escogemos, que es simplemente un estilo de vida, que Dios nos hace de esta manera y que El completamente acepta esta manera de vivir.

Sin embargo, el propósito de esta enmienda es la ordenación de la comunidad LGBT; esta enmienda no busca la ordenación de gentes envueltas en otros pecados sexuales. Muchos han señalado que la practica LGBT es un pecado de acuerdo a las Escrituras, La Santa Palabra de Dios; yo afirmo lo mismo. La Iglesia PCUSA está llamando bueno al pecado, estamos llamando al pecado algo deseado por Dios, no solamente esto sino que también estamos forzando al cuerpo de Cristo, su Iglesia, a aceptarlo y adoptarlo.

Querida Iglesia PCUSA, en algún tiempo fuimos la luz de Cristo en un mundo caótico, ahora estamos trayendo obscuridad y confusión al mundo. Amada Iglesia PCUSA, hemos cometido adulterio puesto que hemos creado nuestro propio dios, nuestro propio salvador, nuestra propia biblia, nuestra propia definición de lo que es santo y de lo que es pecado. Ya no podemos ver claramente, necesitamos ayuda. Como institución, hemos abandonado al que dio su vida por nosotros, al que sufrió por nosotros, al que pago con su sangre por lo que ahora nosotros llamamos un estilo de vida.

No puedo evitar que las lagrimas corran por mis ojos el escribir esta carta…como pudimos hacerle esto a nuestro Señor y Salvador, no titubeamos en poner nuestros deseos antes que a El y sobre El, antes que a sus ovejitas. Pastores fuimos llamados a cuidar el rebaño del Señor! No el nuestro! Fuimos llamados a guiarlos a Cristo y a la Santidad de Dios pero los hemos dejado y ensañado a que hagan lo que quieran.

Tristemente, concluyo que la Iglesia PCUSA, como institución, ha perdido su camino…pero no la Iglesia de Cristo, puesto que dentro de la PCUSA hay gente que no ha doblado su rodilla a otro dios o a otro salvador, hay gente que reconoce que son pecadores, de lo peor, pero saben que han sido rescatados, transformados y perdonados por la sangre del Cordero de Dios. En la PCUSA hay gente que está herida y en dolor, así como Cristo lo está, por los pasos que ha tomado esta denominación, hay gente que está lastimada y enojada así como también Dios en su justicia está enojado por todo esto, dentro de la PCUSA hay gente que está tratando de amar y mostrar cariño hacia aquellos que han escogido un camino contrario a las Sagradas Escrituras, hay gente que está tratando de ser fiel al Dios de Abraham, de Isaac y de Jacob, al Padre de nuestro único Señor y Salvador Jesucristo quien nos da su Espíritu Santo para guiarnos hacia la verdad de acuerdo a las Escrituras.

No soy más que un pecador perdonado, sé que no merezco su atención, pero mi Dios ha escogido no permitirme dormir hasta que hable a aquellos que escuchen. Amados amigos y amigas, Dios no es simplemente un muñequito que dice “si” a todo lo que queremos, El te ama, El me ama…y su amor es poderoso y transformador, y se encuentra solo en, y por medio de Jesucristo. Este es un llamado a la confesión y al arrepentimiento. Humildemente vengo ante ustedes en el nombre del Rey de reyes y Señor de señores y con amor y en el poder del Espíritu Santo hago un llamado a la Iglesia PCUSA para arrepentirse por la aprobación de la enmienda 10-A.



Con cariño y amor en Cristo

Standing for Jesus

Rev. Hector Reynoso

Disclaimer: I am not speaking on behalf of my presbytery, or on behalf of any organization I belong to or have belonged to in the past. I am simply communicating what I believe our Heavenly Father wants me to say to the PCUSA.

Deepak Chopra & pantheism

Deepak Chopra upheld spirituality against the attacks of atheist apologists, including Richard Dawkins, but in doing so he opened a different can of worms.[1] In the religious section of the Huffington Report, in an article entitled “War of the Worldviews: Let’s Talk God,” Chopra expressed the usual eastern view of religion, pantheism. The God he counters atheism with is actually located in creation rather than outside of creation. Chopra, after caricaturing the biblical God, presented several thoughts about the identity of his version of divinity:

I think a new and expanded spirituality can deliver a God that is the same as pure intelligence, creativity and consciousness. Such a God is our source without being human -- a source from which all possibilities emerge and flow. Quite a number of credentialed scientists are thinking in the same direction without necessarily being religious. It would explain a lot about the cosmos if we fit into a living, conscious universe.

In other words Chopra’s God is the universe seen as “pure intelligence, creativity and consciousness. Chopra also asks, “If God is the word we apply to highest purpose, why not keep it?” and even suggests that we find this within ourselves. There is another name for this kind of religious viewpoint; it is called “supernatural naturalism.”

The implication is that there is nothing outside of the universe. God, or intelligence or consciousness or whatever you want to call it is the universe which includes humanity. So in a sense there are miracles, spirituality, and supernatural events but they are a function of the universe-they are supernatural but they are also natural in the sense that they are a normal event in the life of the universe. There is nothing that is other, the universe is everything.

C.S. Lewis, in his book Miracles writes about this ancient religious viewpoint. Lewis points out that Christians face pantheism as an opponent:

Platonism and Judaism, and Christianity (which has incorporated both) have proved the only things capable of resisting it. It is the attitude into which the human mind automatically falls when left to itself. No wonder we find it congenial. If “religion” means simply what man says about God, and not what God says about man, then Pantheism almost is religion. And “religion” in that sense has, in the long run, only one formidable opponent—namely Christianity.

Chopra reveals how his beliefs about spirituality are in opposition to Christianity when he writes, “It's in the very nature of spirituality not to conform to everyday reason and logic. The point of spirituality is to transcend the ordinary world and reveal something invisible, unknown and yet part of ourselves.” This is not the spirituality of Christianity which is based on something altogether different.

The Incarnation, God taking on flesh is a historical one time unique event. It does not come from humanity but from God. It is not unreasonable; it is beyond reason yet based in history. It is about Jesus, the one who was uniquely God and human. He could be seen, heard, touched. (1 John 1:1-4) And this coming of the transcendent God, the God who is beyond us, to humanity is deeply personal. “What we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.”

Knowing Jesus Christ gives the Christian an entirely different kind of spirituality than that promoted by Chopra and all other advocates of the various forms of pantheism. In ourselves we find uncertainty, darkness, lostness and evil. Our spirituality consists in being connected to that which is all goodness, holiness, truth and personal. We do not deliver a god through our spirituality, instead God delivers us into the fullness of his love through his Son who lived, died and was resurrected that we might know forgiveness and walk continuously into the purposes of God.

Drawing by Melissa Tregilgas 

[1]The article “War of the Worldviews: Let’s Talk God,” was linked to at CHURCHandWORLD.

Above all Jesus Christ!

“What an astonishing act of love was this, for the Father to give the Delight of his soul out of his very bosom, for poor sinners.” The Fountain of Life, John Flavel


Having shown in my last posting that the theology that bolsters the ordination of LGBT people and the push for same gender marriage is generally intertwined with a faulty Christology I want to address how one might respond as an orthodox Christian. Of course the issue of biblical prohibitions against LBGT sex should be upheld, taught and explained; and the ultimate work has already by done by Dr. Robert Gagnon. But the issue of Christology-who is Jesus, what is the meaning of the Incarnation, how does Jesus affect our theology must be the Churches biggest concern.

In making Christology the ultimate concern the devastating problems inflicted on the western mainline Churches by LGBT advocates will eventually be affected producing either a great expulsion of the orthodox from all mainline denominations or a renewal of biblical Christianity within. The truly biblical and confessional proclamation of Jesus Christ can never be ignored. The affect of that proclamation will be as Paul in 2 Corinthians puts it:

"But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. (3:14-17a)"

The proclamation of Christ also requires that all of the essentials of Christianity be lifted up including, the Trinity, the redemptive act of Christ and the sinfulness of humanity.

We understand from Scripture that Jesus is truly God as well as human, therefore the Trinity. (John 1:1, 14, 18; 1 Cor. 13:14; Col 2:9; Rev. 1:17-18; etc.) We know from Scripture that Jesus died for our sins, therefore the fall of humanity resulting in the sinfulness of humanity. (Matt 21:28; John 6:51, 10:11; Romans 5: 6-10, Eph 2:8-10; Rev 5: 9-10; etc.) We know from Scripture the promises of Christ that we will be empowered by the Holy Spirit therefore the power to be transformed. (Acts 1:7-8, 4 23-31; etc.)We know from Scripture that in our union with the resurrected Christ we bear the righteousness of Christ and are children of the Father. (Col. 3:1-4; Phil. 1:21, 3: 7-11; etc.) Christianity circles around the person of Jesus Christ.

This means that writing and speaking about the on-going battles over sexual sin in the Church, must be melded with proclamation about Jesus Christ. Simply put, if I say that homosexuality as a practice is sin, I must also say that Jesus Christ, who is Lord over all of life, loves the sinner and has died for sinners. If I write that homosexuality as a practice is deviancy I must also write that Christ transforms the sinner. But there is more.

The person of Jesus must be lifted up from a biblical position, and the words spoken saturated in prayer; his goodness and his beauty, his redemptive work and his kingship correctly and compassionately explained. The incarnation, from its lowly beginning in an animal’s food box to the powerful and glorious return of the King of Kings must be declared. We are compelled to speak of an empty tomb, the power of a resurrected Savior and the promise of life eternal.

And just as Martin Luther threw his ink bottle at the devil we should gather from Scripture every truth about Jesus Christ, reinforce the truth by confessional texts and throw it, so to speak, at the devil. As I stated in the first posting, “the lowering of sexual standards, is the place where the Church in the West, in this day, is called to do battle for the cause of Christ. It is here, on the issues surrounding deviant sexuality that all the essentials of the Christian faith can and will come tumbling down.” I add now, only the work of Jesus Christ on the cross will bring the great sins and heresies of our times to a halt. So preach, teach, proclaim the risen Savior in all his fullness and completeness.