“And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14
For over a year, I’ve been following Jessica Tapia, a P.E. teacher from Temecula, California, who was fired when her Christian convictions didn’t line up with the Woke culture. I could not help but wonder how, as a former (California) teacher, I would have reacted in her place. She was called to task when she refused to use “preferred gender” pronouns and keep parents in the dark if/when their children struggled with gender issues. When asked if there was anything else she wouldn’t do, her response was, “I will not allow male genitalia into the girls’ locker room no matter who they think they are.”
For this, she lost her job.
Recently, I heard her share on an Instagram reel that she never considered herself political, but there comes a time in a Christian’s life when they have to take a stand, regardless of the repercussions.
Like Jessica, I do not consider myself a political person, although I do have an opinion and know which way I will vote. It’s a sad commentary on our times that it appears today’s political agenda is to obliterate conservative Christian ideology. There will come a day when we will either have to take a stand for what’s right or find ourselves out of God’s will.
The problem is that even in the Christian community, there is a discrepancy regarding right and wrong. I’ve seen on social media where people are using 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a prayer for our country:
“…if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and heal their land.”
Although it’s a beautiful prayer, that scripture was for meant the Israelites—not for our us today. Does that mean God won’t heal our land if we turn from our wicked ways and repent? Of course not. God can do anything He wants—He’s God!
I’ve prayed this myself, but I tend to get caught up in how unsaved people can distinguish sin when many of our churches are defiled. If there is one thing I absolutely believe in, it’s the inerrant, infallible Word of God. We have churches claiming that it’s passé—no longer relevant for our culture.
So, let me ask this: If the Bible has been relevant for over 2,000 years, how is it suddenly not so for this generation?
We are a culture of people who mistakenly believe we’re smarter than God—if we believe in Him at all. We blatantly sin in so many different ways, we probably aren’t aware when it happens. One obvious accepted sin is having sex outside of marriage—both heterosexual and homosexual. If that’s not bad enough, we have churches with pastors (some homosexual) who perform same-sex marriages. That’s not only accepting sin; it’s celebrating it.
I’m reading through the Old Testament right now, and we don’t look much different than the Israelites did before God allowed them to be taken captive by Babylon, using the wicked King Nebuchadnezzar for His purposes. The Lord was so broken-hearted over the sins of His people, He chose for them a serious wake up call. And this was after centuries of being merciful and giving them chance after chance after chance.
One of the most heinous acts were of those who sacrificed their children to their “god.” We can gloss over this while reading the Bible, but they were literally burning them alive to appease their lifeless idols.
We do the same thing today with every abortion performed. But our idols are no longer lifeless—they’re us. We idolize ourselves so much, we don’t think anything of sacrificing our unborn babies to keep our lives free from the constraint of children. You can believe from here to eternity that the unborn aren’t yet human beings, but it doesn’t make it true.
You can claim “my body, my choice,” except there is another body that doesn’t get a choice. It’s that little person paying the price for the sins of its parents.
The entirety of my mom’s “lecture” to me on premarital sex was a couple questions: Are you prepared to raise a child right now? No? Then don’t have sex. It’s that simple.
The Bible is clear on this. God didn’t lay down a list of commands because He wanted to be cruel and keep us from enjoying life. He did it out of love. If we were to follow His commands, our lives would look a whole lot different—in a good way.
But how many self-proclaimed Christians are reading the Bible (or not bothering to do so at all) and taking it out of context to fit it into their preferred lifestyle? How can they not when we have pastors who tickle the ears of those living in sin so they can fill their pews.
A quote from one of my books says it this way: “Just because a body sits in church doesn’t make him a Christian any more than standing in a garage makes him a car.”
Those who preach from the pulpit are held to a much higher level of accountability than the rest of us. They might be like the false prophets and priests of Jeremiah’s day that God struck down for leading the Israelites astray. Can they not see this truth when they read the Bible? And if they don’t know the Bible, they certainly shouldn’t be “teaching” it to others.
It’s time to for us to wake up and call out sin for what it is. I once had a pastor I very much respected who would often say, “Hate the sin but love the sinner.” That does not mean we excuse their sin or conform to their way of thinking, so their feelings won’t be injured.
We have brought this current culture on ourselves. It’s no longer politically correct to merely tolerate sin—no, we must approve it or else be called racist, homophobic, judgmental, unloving, and a host of other harsh things.
When a woman such as Riley Gaines loses a women’s swimming competition to a biological male (Lia Thomas), we see how quickly individual rights have been stripped. If you’ve followed small business owner Jack Philips of Colorado’s Masterpiece Cakeshop, you know he’s had to spend years in court to defend his right to religious freedom. The rights of homosexual couples trump the rights of conservative Christians.
This country is in trouble, and it’s only going to get worse if something drastic doesn’t change.
I am well aware that it doesn’t matter who is in political power, because no one can thwart God’s plans. He has allowed us to fall this far, and I can only wonder if it’s because so many of us have kept one foot in each camp for fear we may offend. It’s like He’s drawing a line in the sand and asking us to pick a side. Go along like a bunch of mindless sheep so we can remain comfortable or take a stand for what’s right and pure and true.
We, like Esther, “…are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.” 1Peter 2:9.
We need to be on our knees and pray that God will have mercy on us. Otherwise, we may find we have a lot in common with the Israelites who lived in captivity for seventy years. Jessica, Riley, and Jack are all normal people who refused to cave into the Woke culture. Yes, they have paid a price, but God is using all of them for such a time as this. And they will be blessed.
