“ . . let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me.”
So said Apple CEO Tim Cook in an article run by Bloomberg today titled Tim Cook Speaks Up.
Before diving into this, let me be clear about something as well: Apple products tend to be excellent. I love ’em. I own many of ’em and will likely own many more, Lord willing.
I also want to say that, while I do not personally know Tim Cook, I have no doubt that, in many ways, he’s a really nice guy. Obviously, he’s been blessed by God with a sharp mind and, no doubt, many other wonderful and impressive traits.
But “being gay” is not one of them.
Addressing the sinfulness of the homosexual lifestyle, while a very important matter for both the individuals and cultures that are impacted by it, is not the purpose of this post. Even so, all Christians should be about the heartfelt business of vigilantly praying for those who are currently in bondage to homosexuality while seeking and seizing every opportunity to proclaim and apply the Gospel-fueled Great Commission of Christ the King, who has equipped us to share the loving command to repent and be saved with everyone in this dark and dying world.
What I would like to take a moment to focus on here is the economic, political, and cultural impact of Apple and similarly gigantic, ultra-influential companies and corporations as they are increasingly led by folks who share Tim Cook’s sin-embracing worldview.
More specifically, as companies like Apple – long known for its Progressive sensibilities – go about the business of coming more and more aggressively out of the closet, they must inherently force those who actively live by the worldview which they most oppose into a closet (or something worse). As corporations more and more openly wage war on the Christian worldview in the name of progress, love, tolerance, and the like, obedient Christians will be inherently, increasingly persecuted in a more and more open fashion.
This is inescapable.
It cannot unfold any other way.
Biblically literate Christians know this to be true. Sadly, there aren’t many of these folks even in most self-described “good, conservative, Bible believing” churches.
As these corporations more openly embrace a flagrantly anti-Christian perspective on business, economics, art, entertainment, and everything else, they will quite naturally and automatically increase the pressure that they bring to bear on those who stand obediently with Christ in practice.
The more that the likes of Tim Cook are enabled and empowered by our culture, the more they will, quite naturally and reflexively, seek to impose their worldview on others.
However nice a guy Mr. Cook may or may not be in many ways, we can count on him acting in accordance with his pro-homosexuality, anti-Christian nature when it comes to how he will operate his life and his business.
While Tim Cook’s “coming out” publicly via Bloomberg may be the news and example of the moment, he is but one of many on a rapidly growing list of corporate leaders who are shaping corporate culture in a manner that is increasingly hostile to obedient Christians.
All with a “nice guy” smile, of course.
In this, we see the great lie that so many professing Christians have bought into and promoted through a “but business is business” approach to sequestering areas of life from the Gospel in an utterly unbiblical manner. Biblical Christianity could not be more opposed to this concept, and the well-being of obedient Christians and the future of the culture at large is even now being sacrificed in practice by professing believers for the sake of personal financial profit.
Ironically, Tim Cook and many in his camp are far more willing to put their bottom line on the line in advocacy of their anti-Christian causes. As published at ZeroHedge today in response to Mr. Cook’s “coming out”, there are many countries in which Apple is trying to do business where homosexuality is viewed very unfavorably. Thus, Mr. Cook’s open advocacy for the legitimacy and normalization of homosexuality could cost him and Apple quite a lot of market share and money in the short term.
But that doesn’t stop Apple and Cook from speaking and advocating their “truth”, does it?
No, they are true believers.
They take their religion very seriously.
They are more than willing to pay that sort of price to advance their cause, because they really do believe in it.
Sadly, most professing Christians in America are far less committed to anything even resembling the Great Commission when it calls for the risk of all (or even a large part) of their earthly status or treasure.
It is in this context that we as faithful Christians have to seriously consider and answer the significant questions that are right now staring us in the face as the culture shifts more and more clearly into an explicitly anti-Christian gear.
While we may, for a time, feel compelled to use tools crafted by the likes of Apple in order to best accomplish the proclamation and application of the Great Commission here and now, should we not be doing so with an eye always aimed at finding, inventing, and/or funding more and more Christ-centered and Christ-honoring alternatives? As Christians, should we not be striving to support people and companies who actively strive to honor the Lord with their work rather than demonstrating their hatred of Him by opposing His Word and persecuting His people?
And even though we may use products or services offered by some companies presently waging this war on Christ and His people from time to time, should we ever personally invest in such companies? Should we ever financially enable such warfare against the faithful and profit from it?
Where are things likely to go from here if we, as Christians, dismiss the Great Commission in practice and not only allow, but personally encourage and fund, the present anti-Christian trajectory of our corporate, business, and economic cultures?
Are professing Christians going to fund and fuel a “mark of the beast” for use against actual, obedient Christians?
Sadly, that seems to be more likely by the fiscal quarter. (See: Corporate “Mark of the Beast” Rollout Continues.)
How much harder will it be tomorrow for an obedient Christian who has dared to speak clearly and boldly in defense of truth to find a job at a company like Apple than it is for them to do the same today?
Make no mistake, it is much harder today for many such obedient Christians to find such employment than it was even just five years ago…and it is getting worse by the minute.
So what do we do?
Who do we support? And why?
What are our goals? What is our worldview? Who is our God?
Put another way: How do Christians actively apply the Great Commission right here and now when it comes to deciding who and what to invest in on any level? (See: Dear professing Christian investors: Please stop funding the war on actual, obedient Christians.)
Until and unless we, as professing Christians, start taking questions like this very seriously, obedient Christians will be more and more persecuted in America and throughout the West…all by design…and most often at the hands of corporations that we invest in and profit from.
That sort of self-serving profiteering may be just “the way business is done” in America these days, but it is far more anti-Christian and gay than anything Tim Cook or Apple are into.
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© 2015 Scott Alan Buss – All Rights Reserved.
Soli Deo Gloria!
Cook to me was self serving every time he claims God made him gay. So what if he is, the natural course of human reproduction is between a Man and Woman. If we were all gay we would eventually disappear from Earth. Human's are not perfect, we all have certain predisposed issues and maybe being gay is one of them. So maybe God did make some gay, not by choice but by a human flaw that occur and like anything else its what people learn to live with. Of course Christian's haven't followed the gospel to the letter for decades maybe even longer. So like Tim Cook would love to rewrite the Bible to there comfort zone. Yeah find a clergy that says God is OK with that and ignore every part in the Bible that claims the opposite. Personally I don't care what Cook is as long as he wants to make these claims for some sort of self serving reinforcement of his sexual preference so be it. But like other left who want to rewrite the Constitution I think many would also like to rewrite religion.
You should spend as much time reading the Bible as you do writing this crap.
Read Lots story. His daughters got him drunk and raped him and became pregnant. God made them Righteous.
A prophet of god cursed children for calling him bald. God sent bears to murder the kids.
At Passover your procedure god murdered little babies…
But we are supposed to care if a dude is gay? You might want to reflect on your violent murdering fake god…
Your logic is flawed. You believe you will be forced into a closet and "It cannot unfold any other way."
Of course it can. You could realise like we have that your belief system is silly, unfounded, and entirely without merit. Then you would be free from thinking that this is an us/them scenario and become part of the human race living in the freedom of not judging people because they don't conform to your own personal worldview.
The closet you forced gay people into and now fear will become your prison is entirely of your own making and just a figment of your imagination. Free your mind.
Dave said: "Your logic is flawed. You believe you will be forced into a closet and "It cannot unfold any other way."
Of course it can. You could realise like we have that your belief system is silly, unfounded, and entirely without merit. . ."
Thanks for affirming the point you thought you were refuting.
Have a good one,
Scott
Tim Cook is a Christian
If Tim Cook is unrepentant about his sin, he may be a professing Christian, but he is not an actual Christian.
Why continue to buy Apple products and enable him any further then?
Bingo.
All Christians draw their own personal lines somewhere…And seem to chastise others for drawing it higher or lower.
The writer of this article acknowledges hIs own funding and lining the corporate pockets of Apple’s Tim Cook by the purchase & use of these products for whatever reason in his personal and business life.
However, according to him, supporting Apple through funding -such as investing – works directly against the cause and commission of Christ.
Perhaps it true that all of Christianity excuses themselves while pointing the finger at their brethren.
Thanks for chiming in, Sylvia.
The difference between contributing to the bottom line of a company by buying their product and partnering/profiting directly with them by way of stock ownership is significant. This distinction is important and was addressed in the article.
Also addressed was the need for those buying products from aggressively anti-Christian companies to do so with an eye always open and seeking for a similar product made by a company operating in a God-glorifying manner (and obviously *not* actively engaged in a war on the Christian worldview).
While one *may* make a coherent case for acquiring a product made by an anti-Christian company, even if they go this route, they should do so with an eye always looking for a similarly effective product crafted by a God-honoring company, so that they might support Christians and promote the Great Commission even with the way they purchase tools like computers, phones, and tablets.
Investing directly and formally partnering with an openly God-hating company for the purpose of personal profit is, at the very least, in a different category of collaboration and support, where the corporate/individual relationship is concerned.
I hope that this clarification is helpful.