The Bible and Confessions no longer have meaning for our denomination. It is as though some monstrous entity is walking through the land aiming at all that is righteous and good.

The Lord said to him ”Go through the midst of the city, even through the midst of Jerusalem, and put a mark on the foreheads of the men who sigh and groan over all the abominations which are being committed in its midst.” (Ezekiel 9:4)

Have you lately felt a mark on your forehead or heard the glide of a pen as God writes down in his book your conversation with other grieving brothers and sisters? (Ezekiel 9:4; Malachi 3:16-17)

As I read news reports about the onslaught of sexual permissiveness and the final decision coming from the General Assembly Permanent Judicial Commission (GAPJC)concerning the Lisa Larges’ ordination case I am deeply grieved.

The Bible and Confessions no longer have meaning for our denomination. It is as though some monstrous entity is walking through the land aiming at all that is righteous and good.

Several days ago Hans Cornelder of ChurchandWorld linked to an article “Students Walk out on Dan Savage.” The article was about the sex columnist who was asked to speak at a conference called Journalism on the Edge. Savage “was invited to give a keynote address last Friday at the JEA/NSPA National High School Journalism Convention.” Rather than talk about bullying he made fun of the Bible and then ridiculed the Christian students who walked out. (I will place a video at the end of this.)

Later a friend, Robert Gagnon, linked to an article which truly showed the outrageous positions of Savage who advocates for non-monogamous marriages (among other vices). The article is “Married with Infidelities” and it is written by Mark Oppenheimer who seems to agree with Savage to a certain extent.

Add to this another article linked to on ChurchandWorld, “One of the most outrageous bills ever” [Editor’s note: the original URL (link) referenced is no longer valid, so the link has been removed.] about a pending bill, Senate bill 1172, in California which would permit:

lawsuits to be brought against therapists offering “sexual orientation change efforts” if the treatment occurred “without first obtaining informed consent or by means of therapeutic deception, or if the sexual orientation change efforts were conducted on a patient who was under 18 years of age at any point during the use of the sexual orientation change efforts.

And another article about another pending bill in California, “Bill would ask State Contractors: Are You Gay or Lesbian?” The author explains “The measure, Assembly Bill 1960, would enable the owners of businesses that contract with the state to identify themselves as gay, lesbian, transgender or bisexual. It would not require them to do so.” The bill is backed by all Democrats plus the “the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and by the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce.”

The article also states that, “The Department of General Services currently is required to collect data on contractors by race, ethnicity and gender. AB 1960 would add LGBT-owned businesses to that list.”

In California, schools are already required to teach students about LGBTs lifestyle and history.

We are weaving together a multifaceted sexual configuration for our society, which includes progressive denominations. Such a configuration will suck the Christian orthodox underground. But we must not go underground nor be passive in the midst of such awful cultural darkness. (And here it is important to insist that already the pro-choice death culture marches in step with the new sexual arrangement of our culture.) To paraphrase Dylan Thomas’ poem, “Do not go gentle into that dark night.” But, no, we will not rage against the dying of the light, because we walk in and with the Light.

We must walk within the light, with love and forgiveness, proclaiming the redemptive work of our Lord Jesus Christ. We do not know what trials lay ahead but we do know to whom we belong.

Viola Larson is a freelance writer who has BA’s in both philosophy and religious studies, an MA in history, and additional graduate work at Fuller Seminary. She is a ruling Elder at Fremont Presbyterian Church in Sacramento, CA. She is married to Brad Larson, a Steinway piano tuner, and they have six children, eighteen grandchildren and five great granddaughters. She blogs at Naming His Grace where this article first appeared; it is used with permission.