Faith in our time – let the fight back begin

We live in an increasingly secular, supposedly ‘liberal’ and permissive society, which is another way of saying ‘anything goes!’.  In the midst of all this, the call of the Church is to be light and truth, and to act as a moral compass.  Over the last years, however, the Church has abandoned this role, adapting the message of salvation to fit more comfortably with what activists would have us believe is compassionate tolerance and acceptance of all.  
 
After all, the argument runs, would a loving God (if He actually exists) have made people to be the way they are, if He hadn’t intended them to be that way?  And despite what it says about God’s creating men and women in His own image, it’s obvious that some people are born in the wrong body, i.e. that God got their gender wrong.  So it’s pretty obvious that the Bible is simply a product of its time, and its moral imperatives are, therefore, essentially wrong.  Or (version 2) we’ve interpreted it wrongly and it’s time to update it to the 21st century. 
 
A major problem for Christians in countering these essentially duplicitous arguments is that we have allowed activists, intent on changing society, to frame the narrative.   We have accepted almost without question that we are intolerant, judgmental bigots, and have been so fearful of causing offence that we have gone along with their insistence that men and women have an absolute right to do whatever feels good, whenever and wherever they want – because this is being true to themselves, the universal and ultimate determinant of being.   
 
Which actually means that believers too have bowed down before the great god Self. Maybe from the best of motives – they want to show love and be tolerant, as commanded by Christ – but the net result is that they concede vital ground.  Even worse, trying to straddle an extremely uncomfortable fence, our vacillating apologists discover they’re no longer sure what it is they really do believe.  So the wheel comes full circle, and they start to try and redefine their faith in order to make it fit.   
 
Let us be clear, the reframing of Christianity to make it ‘more’ relevant to the prevailing culture is apostasy.  Such an approach makes mockery of Christ’s sacrifice and binds the unwary to chaos, putting them once again under bondage to sin.  Whether we understand it or not, this is a direct challenge by Satan to God.  
 
The secularists, of course, think they’ve got things sewn up.  This God – this fairy in the sky, as some mockingly call Him – hasn’t done anything yet, and it’s a pretty safe bet He won’t.  Christians are delusional!  Small wonder they think they’re winning!  But, actually, this is a very dangerous position to take. God does see all, and He will respond.  This time of supposed non-response is not indicative of a failure to react – proving His non-existence – but is rather allowing a period of grace, giving as many men and women as possible a chance to repent and be saved … before the inevitable comes.
 
But come it will.  
 
Increasing and unmanageable debt, financial turmoil, scandal after scandal and political chaos, corruption, growing authoritarian control, collapse of the nation’s infrastructure (seen most clearly in the NHS) … and over all the growing threat of war.  Let us make no mistake, these are first rumblings of the approaching storm, which will be like nothing ever before seen.   
 
The only hope of surviving what is to come is to repent.  The truth is, God loves us so much that He sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, into the world to save us from sin.  That battle was fought and won at the Cross, and those of us who acknowledge Christ as Lord have been set free and restored to that relationship with God for which we were created.  However, that salvation – freely given – demands choice.  We cannot hover around the middle, trying to hedge our bets.  It is a conflict between life and death, and we all have to choose which side we are on.
 
For the future of the human race, it is imperative that Christians stand up for the faith and honour God.  We must stop being so apologetic and reclaim the narrative, upholding without compromise the values of the Bible and our allegiance to Christ.  
 
All of life is the gift of God, and the marriage of one man and one woman for life in exclusive and monogamous union, for their mutual support and the bringing up of any children they might have, was given by God at our creation for the wellbeing and survival of humanity.  All sexual relations outside marriage are prohibited: because they weaken that exclusive union, cause harm to the individuals involved, put at risk the wellbeing of any children that might be conceived, and damage the wider community.  Same sex ‘marriage’ is therefore, by definition, forbidden, as is co-habitation of any kind.   
 
Similarly, the destruction of life before birth through the exercise of maternal and/or paternal ‘choice’ is sin.   Deliberately ending the life of another before their allotted time is also sin.  Suggesting to children that they are born ‘in the wrong body’ and can choose what they want to be by mutilating intervention … is sin. 
 
This week, Andrew Bridgen’s Bill in Parliament to ban the promotion of gender transitioning in schools was narrowly defeated by 40 votes to 34 (https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12239043/Bid-ban-social-gender-transitioning-schools-narrowly-killed-MPs.html#:~:text=A%20bid%20to%20ban%20the,his%20proposals%20for %20new%20laws).   Out of 650 MPs, only 74 cared enough to turn out to vote, and the majority voted against protecting children from this dangerous ideology now being peddled in schools, and ruining so many lives.  The bottom line is, we are normalising and promoting mental illness, and we are imposing such ideas onto young children, who, by definition, cannot judge the validity of what they are being taught for themselves.  
 
Shame on those MPs!  And shame on us – that we have allowed this poisonous and dangerous teaching to take root and spread.  Where are the leaders of the Church?  Why are they not crying out against this abuse?  Where are grass-root Christians?  Why are we not barricading the gates of Parliament and demanding protection for our children?
 
It is time for Christians to recover our voice, that we might best defend those who cannot defend themselves … and indeed everyone.  The future of humanity is at stake.