Cancel Culture
In this article on "Cancel Culture," we read - "Politics, religion, equality, race, sexual orientation and even sports, all of the topics you might avoid on a first date or at a family reunion" have the potential to damage or destroy relationships, effectively erasing the "offending" party from our lives.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
As the above article explains, many publicly-owned large corporations have bowed to the leftist "cancel culture" pressure, adopting LGBTQ, gender-neutral, and anti-racist policies for their corporate culture and public policies, caving in to the intimidation, bullying, and outright terrorism of the mobs. If this sounds rather "Orwellian" it's because it is: read Orwell’s 1984 and Today: "The Ministry of Truth" was the state's propaganda arm that continually drummed "War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength" into the minds of the proles. But a few brave holdouts in our society have resisted and have made this pressure backfire: one company that produces Latino foods was somehow labeled "racist" - they resisted this pressure and saw their sales shoot up by 1000%! So there are still sizeable numbers of Americans who can see right through this "cancel culture" nonsense.
This "cancel culture" ideology was foretold centuries ago in the Scriptures: "Do you think that I have come to give peace in the earth? I tell you, no, but rather division. For from now on, there will be five in one house divided, three against two, and two against three. They will be divided, father against son, and son against father; mother against daughter, and daughter against her mother; mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law, and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law" (Luke 12:51-53, which Jesus quoted from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah 13:2-6). It causes parents, children, and other relatives to erase the "offending" party from their lives.
The Good News provokes anger and resentment in those who have been immersed in our post-Christian, neo-pagan culture because it implies that their lifestyle of "Pleasure, Power, and Pride" - the three temptations of Christ, or as the Apostle Paul phrased it - "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life" - is ultimately futile and meaningless. Christ came to this earth to die: that was His goal in life. We must realize that our ultimate goal in life is also to die: we brought nothing into this world and we will take nothing out when we leave this world. We must die with Christ in baptism in order to put on Christ, to be transformed into His divine, eternal nature: see Theosis Is The True Purpose Of Human Life.
On the Day of Pentecost, the Apostle Peter concluded his sermon to Jews and proselytes from all over the known world with the words - "'Repent, and be baptized, everyone of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise, and to your children, and to all who are far off, even as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.' With many other words he testified, and exhorted them, saying, 'Save yourselves from this perverted generation!'" (Acts 2:38-40). Homosexual behavior and other forms of perversion had seeped into the culture of the Jewish dispersion because they were living in pagan cultures.
How should we as Christians respond to "cancel culture"? Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount - "Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God. Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. Blessed are you when people reproach you, persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice, and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven. For that is how they persecuted the prophets who were before you" (Matthew 5:9-12). "Blessed" means joyful, not fearful or hateful. And several verses later, He said - You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (vv. 43-45).
A while later, He said - "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you. Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the Gentiles" (Matthew 10:16-18). And at the end of His earthly ministry, in Matthew ch. 24, His disciples asked Him - "Tell us, when will these things be? What is the sign of your coming, and of the end of the age?" (v. 3). He replied - "For nation [ethnos] will rise against nation, and kingdom [ruling party] against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues, and earthquakes in various places. But all these things are the beginning of birth pains. Then they will deliver you up to oppression, and will kill you. You will be hated by all of the nations for My name's sake. Then many will stumble, and will deliver up one another, and will hate one another" (vv. 7-10). Ethnic and political conflict, hatred and betrayal: sounds familiar, doesn't it?
I'd like to call your attention to v. 12 - "Because iniquity will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold." The word "iniquity" is is "bezzakonie" in Russian - lawlessness, or "Ungerechtigkeit" in German - unrighteousness. The idea here is engaging in wrong or illicit behavior and rationalizing it as justified under the circumstances (situational ethics), or "payback" - retribution for past wrongs (reparations), or doing wrong things for the right reasons. The result: many people's love of family and neighbor will be canceled, normal societal relations will suffer breakdowns, leading to anarchy and revolution.
The Lord's and His Apostles' minds were immersed in the Scriptures: "You shall rise up before the gray head, and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God. I am the Lord. If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who lives as a foreigner with you shall be to you as the native-born among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you lived as foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity" (Leviticus 19:32-35). This includes respecting the elderly, treating immigrants fairly (but they were required to forsake paganism and abide by the Law of Moses), and practicing justice - using honest weights and measures which includes not "shaving the shekel" - depreciating the value of money by inflating the amount of currency.
The prophet Zechariah wrote - "Thus has the Lord of Hosts spoken, saying, 'Execute true justice and show kindness and compassion every man to his brother. Do not oppress the widow, nor the fatherless, the foreigner, nor the poor; and let none of you devise evil against his brother in your heart.' But they refused to listen, and turned their backs, and stopped their ears, that they might not hear. Yes, they made their hearts as hard as flint, lest they might hear the law, and the words which the Lord of Hosts had sent by his Spirit by the former prophets. Therefore great wrath came from the Lord of Hosts. It has come to pass that, as I called, and they refused to listen, so they will call, and I will not listen,' said the Lord of Hosts" (ch. 7:9-13). There comes a time when mankind's iniquity will overflow and the Lord must step in and put an end to it.
Later, while the Apostle Paul was awaiting execution in a Roman prison, he wrote - "Do all things without murmurings and disputes, that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world" (Philipians 2:14-15).
The Apostle Peter summed up how to respond to evil "cancel culture" and lawlessness - "Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but instead blessing; knowing that to this were you called, that you may inherit a blessing. For, 'He who would love life, And see good days, Let him keep his tongue from evil, And his lips from speaking deceit. Let him turn away from evil, and do good. Let him seek peace, and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, And His ears open to their prayer; But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil' [quoting Psalm 33:13-14]. Now who is he who will harm you, if you become imitators of that which is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you are blessed. 'Do not fear what they fear, neither be troubled' [quoting Isaiah 8:12]. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts; and always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, with gentleness and respect" (1 Peter 3:8-15).
We must fight the temptation to pay back evil with evil, to compromise our Christian morality because "everyone's doing it" - both of these attitudes are living according to the flesh. Instead, we should live according to the Spirit of Christ Who lives in us, gently and respectfully giving an answer for our hope. May we choose to do the latter!
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
Keep our websites free! Support Agape Restoration Society: click the DONATE button there.
Also, please Share Our Vision with your family & friends.
And bookmark our Amazon Smile link to shop at Amazon!
No comments:
Post a Comment