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Republican
presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has said some good things, and some
bad things, regarding the issue of homosexuality. While running for the
U.S. Senate in 1992, he told the Associated Press that homosexuality
is "an aberrant, unnatural, and sinful lifestyle." Now, there is
a straightforward statement by a public official which makes a man proud
to be an American. Recently, when pressed by reporters about his 1992
statement, Mr. Huckabee answered, "I still believe this today . . . I
don't run from it, I don't recant it." As I said, the former Baptist
preacher has said some good things when asked about homosexuality. All
Christians ought to commend him for not apologizing for his earlier
statements.
But the
problem is, although Mr. Huckabee hasn't recanted or run from his earlier
strong statements, he certainly seems to be redefining and walking away
from them. In doing so, he is mirroring the backward slide of the
evangelical pro-family movement in general. Yes, the candidate still says
homosexuality is sinful, but he hastens to clarify that to sin means to
"miss the mark" and that every one of us "misses the
mark" in different ways. This is why, Mike Huckabee concludes, he
would not exclude sodomites from his administration! "Because the
fact is, I just said, everyone misses the mark. If I did that [exclude
sodomites], I couldn't have anybody in my administration; in fact, I
couldn't be in it."
Considering
Mr. Huckabee was once a pastor, one would think he would be a bit more
careful when he decides to preach to multi-millions on the campaign trail. It
would be overly generous to say that his comments on homosexuality and sin
are confusing. He states that living an "aberrant, unnatural, and
sinful lifestyle" is simply missing the mark. Then he says it is
missing the mark just as he misses the mark; and if he excluded
homosexuals from a future presidential administration for missing the
mark, why, he would have to rule himself out for the same reason! So this
leaves the old Baptist pastor's public congregation with three possible
conclusions regarding his teaching on sin. Choice number one would be
that Mike Huckabee is leading an "aberrant, unnatural, and sinful
lifestyle." Choice number two is that, of course choice number one is
wrong, and so the aberrant, unnatural sin of sodomy is no different from,
say, an unkind word spoken in a moment of weakness. Choice number three is
that Mike Huckabee's doctrine on sin is a grievous, destructive error
which mocks the righteousness of God and His law while desensitizing both
the saved and the unsaved alike toward sin, even "aberrant,
unnatural" sin such as the acts in which sodomites engage. I opt for
choice three.
I am not
writing this article as a political statement. I am not telling Christians
to reject Mike Huckabee's candidacy based on his recent statements to
the press concerning homosexuality, although I would say that if he
doesn't make it to be president and turns back to pastoring, his church
would be one Christians would do well to avoid. But I would encourage
Christians to reject Mike Huckabee's definition of sin and the
polluted well from which that doctrinal error was drawn. Mr. Huckabee is a
product of a neo-evangelical church and pro-family movement which is
increasingly manifesting the ill effects of neo-evangelical doctrinal
error and spiritual fornication with that woman who rides the beast, the
Roman Catholic Church.
With regard
to the specific subject at hand, what the sodomites cannot take by storm,
they are being given in increments by pro-family leaders and
neo-evangelical pastors who seem obsessed with convincing the church and
the world that, while homosexual acts are sinful, they really are not
abominable, unnatural perversion but simply a missing the mark. And since
we all miss the mark, the conclusion ends up being that open sodomites
certainly should not be discriminated against in any way, shape, or form,
including when it comes to holding office in civil government, teaching
children, and being involved in law enforcement and the judiciary. How
things have changed, thanks in part to neo-evangelical error which has
been spread far beyond the churches where it has been taught.
Until the
1960s, sodomy was a criminal act in all fifty states, with those laws
upheld in Georgia by the 1986 U.S. Supreme Court decision Bowers v.
Hardwick. Until 1983, sodomite acts were a crime in my home state of
Wisconsin. That year, our state legislature voted to repeal that statute,
thanks to groundwork laid by a Roman Catholic-led effort which teamed up
Roman Catholic Archbishop Weakland et al. and a Romanist sodomite
activist named Leon Rouse. The latter eventually did jail time in the
Philippines for committing sodomite acts on a young boy. But the
neo-evangelicals don't seem to see that they are gradually adopting the
rationale and the corrupt biblical hermeneutic the sodomites used a couple
of decades ago. And in the meantime, the sodomites rage against the
neo-evangelicals for holding their old position even as they—the
sodomites—push forward with ever more outrageous claims about the Word of
God and perverted sexual acts. Thus, the neo-evangelical leaders and
pastors credit themselves with being contenders for the faith while in
reality they are teaching a generation, saved and unsaved, to hold the
Word of God and His righteousness in contempt.
Of course,
we could talk about the effect this is having with regard to many issues,
but the issue here is homosexuality, sin, and the current political
situation. Back when Bill Clinton was the first president to appoint open
sodomites to posts in his administration, evangelical and pro-family
leaders rightly blasted him, in some cases holding up those appointments.
When his successor George Bush appointed a number of open "gays and
lesbians," criticism from evangelicals was muted, to say the least.
Now, former pastor, Republican Mike Huckabee gets a free pass from
neo-evangelical pro-family leaders and high-profile preachers when he says
that he is willing to appoint sodomites to positions in his administration
because they are sinners who miss the mark, just like everyone else. Don't
get me wrong: I am thankful that here in America we have some public
figures who have the courage to call homosexual acts a sin. But the
egalitarian sin doctrine being preached by many politicians, pro-family
leaders, and their pastors must certainly stir the wrath of the Lord and,
in the long run, will be the undoing of the evangelical pro-family
movement's efforts to turn back the tide of sodomite perversion and
tyranny. This is not to even mention the horrendous effects in general of
teaching Christians and unbelievers alike such an error. To so degrade the
sinfulness of sin is a great impediment to the effectual preaching of the
gospel and a great license given for all manner of sin, within and
without the church.
Yes, a
Hebrew word from which sin is translated in the Old Testament has
the meaning of missing the mark. Another Hebrew word, more common yet,
which is translated to the English word sin means to commit an
offense. The Greek word translated sin in the New Testament in some
cases means to miss the mark but in most cases means to commit an offense.
The important thing is, the mark missed is the law of God and the offense
committed is against God and His moral law. Sin is the transgression of
the law, God's law (1 John 3:4). Sin is an
offense against the law of God and certainly God Himself. Any sin, in
thought, word, deed, or intent of the heart, including the sin of
neglecting to perfectly fulfill every duty we owe to God and man, merits
eternal death for the sinner. That is the sentence of the immutable,
unyielding law of God. "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23).
The law demands perfect, pure, perpetual obedience—in short, perfect
righteousness—as the condition for acceptance with God and eternal life.
This is the righteousness only Christ can provide His people. It is
the righteousness imputed to those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and so they are legally justified by God.
But surely,
regarding the audience to whom I write, none of this is new, and the way
of justification and salvation by grace alone through faith alone in
Christ alone is understood. But neo-evangelicals don't seem to understand
that while all sin equally condemns the unsaved to eternal damnation, all
sins are not equal. The Lord hates some sins more than others, and He
clearly deals, in a temporal sense, with some sins much more severely. It
also goes without saying that some sin destroys the body, sears the
conscience, and results in being given over to a reprobate mind. But
again, in the interest of keeping the length of this article under
control, I will assume my readers are well versed from God's Word with
regard to this issue of sin and its consequences, both temporal and
eternal.
The
important point I do want to press home, in this brief space, is my
earlier comment concerning the pro-family movement suffering the ill
effects of neo-evangelical doctrinal error and ecumenical relations with
popery. Mike Huckabee's comments on sin are classic neo-evangelical error
which stems from an utter neglect of sound teaching on the central
doctrines of our Christian faith, including justification. New
evangelicalism is superficial, man-centered, and men-pleasing. The
egalitarian sin doctrine is birthed in an ignorance of the
Scriptures, false humility, and a man-centered religion which seeks the
glory of man rather than the glory of God. The egalitarian sin doctrine
also happens to be less obnoxious to the world than telling the truth that
God judges
sodomy to be an abomination—a grievous, filthy, lawless abomination.
Now, what
about the new evangelicals and the spiritual fornication with popery
which I mentioned as greatly contributing to a losing strategy against New
Sodom? The evangelical pro-family movement is completely entangled in
Rome's ecumenical "separated brethren" web. Clearly,
evangelicals cannot expect to prevail over their enemies if they refuse to
honor the Lord and obey His Word. This ungodly ecumenical situation
has also polluted millions of new evangelicals and their leaders with
dangerous Romanist doctrine, including with regard to homosexuality. For
instance, the Lord commended the faithful kings who "took away the
sodomites out of the land," but today Christian civil rulers offer
sodomites government jobs! Meanwhile, Christian pastors preach what can
only be called "compassionate conservatism" and even suffer
unrepentant sodomites to sit in their churches, thus corrupting the Lord's
flock! It would be interesting to do a nationwide survey of evangelical
pastors and see how many of them rightly believe the Bible teaches that
homosexuality is not just an abominable sin but also a criminal act which
the civil government is duty-bound to punish. I fear the vast majority
would check the option that homosexual acts are sad, bad for health, and a
missing of the mark; but since we all miss the mark, homosexuals certainly
should be accepted and not be discriminated against, so long as they don't
use tax dollars to push their "lifestyle" on impressionable
children.
Anyone who
has listened to or read the teachings of neo-evangelical pastors knows the
human source of the egalitarian sin doctrine. But from whence does this
"no discrimination" against open sodomites originate? Simply
put, from Rome. The Roman Catholic catechism states that homosexuals
"must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every
sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided."
This is the official position and teaching of the Vatican which is echoed
throughout other Romish documents and by Roman Catholic priests and
pro-family leaders. It is the heart of Roman Catholic political policy
which is being promulgated in our state and federal governments by various
official Roman Catholic lobbying organizations. "Evil communications
corrupt good manners" (1 Corinthians 15:33).
The no-criminalization/no-discrimination-against-sodomites teachings of
popery have become the creed of neo-evangelical pro-family leaders, and
this has become the teaching of pastors of the same persuasion, thanks to
the ecumenical corruption of the evangelical churches. The decriminalizing
of sodomy unleashed an implacable, relentless, perverted enemy of
religious liberty. The egalitarian sin doctrine combined with the
no-discrimination error makes all things possible and, in the long run,
probable for the sodomites, at least politically and legally.
This
confluence of errors is the basis of Mike Huckabee's statements which in
turn further discipled many millions with a deadly error which spawns a
plethora of deadly effects, including assuring the sodomites victory, if
not now, someday. "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not
according to this word, it is because there is no light in them"
(Isaiah 8:20). |
