Have the “We will not obey!” Christian “leaders” repented of their role in bringing us to this hellish condition in the first place?

Have you ever known someone who’s been pursuing a destructive path for a very long time and has been warned by many friends at many times all along the way that what they were doing was wrong, dangerous, and would ultimately lead to serious consequences?

We’ve all experienced, witnessed or heard about such situations. You could say that we’ve all been that defiant character before, prior to our supernatural conversion by the grace of God into a New Creature in Christ. And even after our miraculous regeneration, we can struggle, slip, and fall for a season into that destructive old groove.

The familiar concept of the willfully blind and defiant rebel chasing after his own destruction in spite of the warnings and pleas from those who love him most seems to have particular relevance this week.

With the Supreme Court of the United States on the verge of a potentially culture-shaping decision as to how family and marriage will be understood, and after many, many decades of “church leadership” inspired submission to (and often support of) wildly unbiblical efforts undertaken by the American State – we are being told that there are some “Christian leaders” who are now ready to actually take an actual stand for actual biblical standards with regard to the biblically imposed definitions and limitations of civil government.

And to that I say: WOOHOO!

Praise God!

And: Where have you been!? Have you repented of your complacent, supportive role in bringing us to this hellish point in the first place? (That last part is not just me being snarky. It’s serious and very important.)

We’ll come back to the necessity of repentance in this context later. For now, consider the following opening lines from a report posted this week by Fox News:

“We will not obey.”

That’s the blunt warning a group of prominent religious leaders is sending to the Supreme Court of the United States as they consider same-sex marriage.

“We respectfully warn the Supreme Court not to cross that line,” read a document titled, Pledge in Solidarity to Defend Marriage. “We stand united together in defense of marriage. Make no mistake about our resolve.”

“While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross,” the pledge states.

Before we go all “rah! rah!” over the first few lines, we really need to look long and think hard about that last bit: “While there are many things we can endure, redefining marriage is so fundamental to the natural order and the common good that this is the line we must draw and one we cannot and will not cross.” Specifically, we need to notice this “while there are many things we can endure” idea.

What things, exactly, are we supposed to be willing to endure?

More specifically, why have you “Christian leaders” been willing to endure them and why have you been willing to lead us to endure them?

Are these things that you are willing to endure and willing to lead others to endure things that Christ has commanded us to lovingly confront, correct or perhaps even oppose in obedience to Him?

Do these things that you are willing to endure include the scads of overtly unbiblical over-reaches of the American State through its pursuit of Marxist/Statists concepts like Social Security, Medicare, and an economic system founded on what God calls an abomination? (See: Proverbs 11:1 and Fiat $lavery: We have been bought and paid for…with nothing.)

Do these things that you are willing to endure and willing to lead others to endure/ignore/support include an explicitly Marxist/Satanic State-controlled system of children’s education based on an approach to the pursuit of knowledge that was lifted straight from the serpent’s tongue in Eden? (See: Genesis 3 and Redeeming Children’s Education: Confronting Our Satanic Approach to the Pursuit of Knowledge.)

Do these things that you are willing to endure include the systematic, purposeful slide of our children and grandchildren deeper and deeper into anti-Christian, Marxist, and American Statist worldviews by way of the explicitly unbiblical  “public schools” that you coddle and defend, often to the point of haranguing and driving away obedient Christians who dare to stand firmly on the Word in this vital family-, culture- and civilization-shaping area? (See: Why is the beast of Socialism eating our children? Ask your pastor.)

Yes, I’m serious. And you should be too.

What exactly are the things that “we are willing to endure” according to these Christian “leaders”, and why – according to Scripture – are we supposed to be willing to endure, ignore, or even support “these things”, whatever they are?

Much of the reason for our having slid (or, more accurately, been led) this far down the cultural rat hole is that a secular Statist/Satanic spin on Romans 13 that would make Hitler proud has increasingly become the norm from even most professing “conservative Christian” pulpits over the past 150 years or so. (Seriously; Hitler loved and happily employed the now commonplace American “Christian” take on Romans 13.)

Bojidar Marinov recently summarized this problem well when he said,

On one hand, [the “We will not obey” proclamation] is good. Maybe the sodomite “marriage” issue will force some pastors to re-examine their interpretation of Romans 13.

Well, they may have an answer, but if that answer doesn’t begin with their personal repentance for what they’ve done to Christ’s people through their willful support of American Corporate Statism over and above the Lordship of Christ in practice (AKA “the pursuit of holiness”), those answers will be bad answers and will only serve to lead us all further down the path to cultural oblivion. This route has been charted for our culture first and foremost by a professing Christian church that has little or no appetite for the all-encompassing, comprehensive Gospel and Great Commission of Jesus Christ. (See: Judgment begins with the Church…not the Democrats.)

This sad reality is evidenced in the way that these “leaders” seek to engage the enemy, even now using the language of secularism and All-American religious pluralism while avoiding clear stands on the unpopular (and therefore unmarketable) Word of God. We see pragmatic “arguments” galore and appeals to “common sense” and “the common good” every time we turn around, but how many of these Christian “leaders” are standing before an increasingly unbelieving culture and faithfully proclaiming the one and only message that sufficiently addresses the issue of marriage (and the perversion that is “gay marriage”)? How many are ditching their secular pragmatism and “marketable” appeals to “common sense” for the irreplaceable, supernatural power of “Thus saith the Lord!”

Not a lot, if any.

And that tells us all that we need to know about whether these “leaders” are going to lead us anywhere but to the same place they’ve been (perhaps unconsciously) leading us all along: Into the arms of the State as god in practice.

Do these men not have faith?

I mean real, active faith?

The kind that you rely upon entirely when the stakes are highest? (And, ideally, in every other circumstance as well.)

Do they not believe?

Will they not stand upon God’s Word now and trust Him to perfectly handle the consequences?

What is their Gospel? What is their Great(?) Commission?

We need to become comfortable with kindly, lovingly and seriously asking these questions.

The true Gospel touches everything. It’s not some narrowly defined set of points pertaining to human salvation or soteriology. (See: Beware the “Gospel in a Bottle”.)

The Gospel-fueled Great Commission touches everything – every area of life in every realm of God creation. It’s not about ignoring obedience to Christ in all things here and now so long as we can “just get saved”; it is about proclaiming obedience to Christ in all things here and now because we are saved. (See: Christianity in a Box: Containing the Contagion of Obedience to Christ.)

We must have leaders who understand this and act accordingly.

The test of true Christian leadership is not perfect obedience, perfect humility, or perfect anything else. We all need to show grace and love toward one another at all times. This is one of the marks of true Christians.

And as we strive to demonstrate true love and a Spirit of Christ-centered grace, we must lovingly confront, correct, and seek the repentance of leaders who have in the past led us so far astray.

If we love Jesus, we will do this.

If we love these “leaders”, we will do this. (And, make no mistake, I love these guys!)

If we love our fellow Christians who are looking to these “leaders”, we will do this.

If  we love our children and desire for them to escape the hellish future that our “leaders” have almost secured for them through their happy cooperation with an anti-Christian State, we will do this.

If we are going to have Christ-honoring leaders who inspire us by example to give our all to the Gospel-fueled Great Commission of Christ the King, we must do this.

Finally, let’s not be afraid to look elsewhere for leadership. Let’s not be afraid to insist upon the Nature of God as revealed in His Word as the true standard by which we are to live in every area of life right here and now in practice. Let’s not settle for “leaders” who tell us what we want to hear, appeal to our laziness, enable our apathy, and help us polish our favorite idols. Let’s seek out and become the leaders that our homes, families, local churches, and cultures so desperately need.

Let’s be leaders who are led by Christ, by His grace, for His glory, and to our eternal benefit.

Let’s pursue His Great Commission…for real…(something tells me it just might work)…

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

Matthew 28:18-20 (emphasis added)

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You can also help support the Fire Breathing Christian mission by checking out these books:

Stupid Elephant Tricks – The Other Progressive Party’s War on Christianity takes a painful but much needed look at how Christ-less “conservatism” has captivated Christians and co-opted them into helping march the culture ever deeper into darkness:

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The Beginning of Knowledge: Christ as Truth in Apologetics is an approachable, easy to read introduction to Christ-centered apologetics:

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Apathetic Christianity: The Zombie Religion of American Churchianity explores the tragic true horror story of all-American dead religion masquerading as Christianity:

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On Education is a compilation of some of the most provocative and compelling Fire Breathing Christian articles on the subject of children’s education:

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There Is No “God-Given Right” To Worship False Gods is a compilation of some of the most provocative Fire Breathing Christian articles on the subject of America’s embrace of a satanic approach to religious liberty:

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Fire Breathing Christians – The Common Believer’s Call to Reformation, Revival, and Revolution is the book that first presented the FBC mission to apply the Gospel-fueled Great Commission in every realm of God’s creation:

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An alternate white cover version of Fire Breathing Christians is available:

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There is also an alternate black cover version of Fire Breathing Christians:

Finally, here are a few good intro/reminder links for those of you who are new to Fire Breathing Christian and curious about exactly what’s goin’ on ’round here:

What are you, some kind of [insert label here] or something?!

What’s with that shark-fishie graphic thing?

Intro to Fire: The Power and Purpose of the Common Believer

When the Bible gets hairy. (Or: Is it right for men to have long hair?)

And especially this one: Never forget that apart from God’s grace you and I are complete morons.