Over a decade ago, I went to Yale University to give a speech at the law school. While I was there, my host took me on a tour of the campus. When we visited the divinity school, he commented on the fact that atheists often sought their divinity degrees at Yale. We both agreed that it made sense. If you really hated Christianity, it would only be wise to try to destroy it from within.
The concept of destroying Christianity from within was not unfamiliar to me when I visited Yale. I had already seen it before on my own campus. On one memorable occasion, a campus gay activist sponsored an event meant to deceive people into thinking that the Bible supported homosexuality. He wore a gigantic silver cross on the outside of his shirt in order to make people believe he was a Christian while he was intentionally undermining basic Christian teaching about sexual morality.
On several other occasions, the director of one of our five campus diversity centers sponsored events meant to teach that Christianity and homosexuality were compatible. She also banned pastors who wanted to come to her center and present an alternate view (read: Biblical view) of sexual morality. In addition, she tirelessly promoted what she called “gay-friendly” churches while simultaneously claiming to be a Christian herself. Her profession of Christianity was clearly false and meant to undermine a religion she saw as condemning her sexual choices.
There are many obvious examples of people who pretend to be Christians as part of a conscious effort to undermine Christianity. But others actually start out with what seems to be a sincere belief before eventually selling out and going to work for the Enemy. Examples are easy to find in either the local church or the local campus ministry. Here are just a few:
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*Two girls were prosecuted under the campus speech code at a public university in Georgia. The girls later decided to sue. So-called gay rights activists went ballistic and began protesting against the plaintiffs - one of whom was a committed Christian. The LGBT crowd attacked the women with profanity and even made physical threats of violence against them. Leaders of a campus ministry (a ministry that was formerly named after Christ) jumped into the controversy. Remarkably, though, they sided with the homosexuals! In fact, they argued that it was time for Christians to show more tolerance towards the LGBT community. The “Christian” ministry maintained its support of these “tolerant” homosexual activists even after they started making specific death threats against the plaintiffs. These campus “ministers” are not clueless Christians. They are not even Christians. In fact, they are now crusading for the Enemy while other clueless Christians keep joining their support team.
*A prominent pastor saw the cultural drift in favor of same sex marriage and decided to take a six-month break from talking about homosexuality so he could “reflect” upon his stance on the issue. To no one’s surprise when he returned to the issue he affirmed both same sex marriage and homosexuality in general. His “reflection” was motivated solely by a desire to remain popular and to keep money flowing into the church. Now, he is no longer leading people to Christ. He is “affirming” people straight into the gates of hell. And he knows it. He isn’t confused. He just has a mortgage to pay. He is now paying it off by working for the Enemy.
*A United Methodist pastor prohibited his youth pastor from talking about abortion and creationism in weekly youth group meetings. After she resigned in protest, her replacement was allowed to argue in favor of same-sex marriage at those same youth group meetings. To make matters worse, the pastor also taught parishioners that simply being unhappy is a justification for divorce. When he started actively telling people they could leave their spouses in order to find happiness he ceased to be a Christian in any meaningful sense of the word. He just wanted happy parishioners. Happy parishioners write checks. But in order to keep them happy he had to start working for the Enemy.
*A young Christian pro-life speaker gave a talk to a campus ministry (formerly named after Christ). During the middle of his speech the director of the ministry interrupted the speaker. After shutting down the pro-life talk, he castigated the speaker for “offending” people with his pro-life message. Before sending him home he let the defender of the unborn know he was not welcome with their campus crew of “Christians.” To make matters worse, other members of the ministry later sided with the censor over the pro-life speaker. One even had the audacity to warn him that if he publicly criticized the ministry for what they did to him he would be “burning bridges” and hurting his future career. These campus ministers are no longer crusading for Christ. They have joined the Campus Crusade for Comfort. Now, they are clearly working for the Enemy in his war on the unborn.
Committed Christians must soon wake up and realize that the stories in this column are not isolated. They are part of a growing trend within the church. Indeed, there is a cancer growing within the body of Christ. It is time we began to extract the cancer before the entire body is consumed. The proper method of doing that is another issue altogether. That will be the subject of a future column.
… To be continued.
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