Two PCA Presbyteries have taken the issue into their own hands, and as church courts communicated their grievance to Missouri Presbytery about this innovative Side B sexual identity.  One of those is my own Presbytery – Westminster.  These two presbyteries are asking for an investigation, but again, I don’t see Missouri Presbytery turning against one of her own.  Whether the matter can be appealed to the Standing Judicial Commission of the PCA remains to be seen.

The Presbyterian Church in America (PCA) is in the fight for its life.  I am inclined to think that the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is too.  The Side B homosexual-identity movement is spreading so fast that there is little hope in stopping it now.  Side B refers to those Christians who identify themselves as homosexuals but choose to practice celibacy.  At least one Teaching Elder in the PCA identifies himself as a Side B Christian, and he does this with the support of his Presbytery (Missouri Presbytery).

A Study Committee on Biblical Sexual Ethics has been appointed by the PCA General Assembly to bring back a report on all of this, but considering the widespread influence of this movement, even in intellectual circles, I’m not optimistic about this report.

Two PCA Presbyteries have taken the issue into their own hands, and as church courts communicated their grievance to Missouri Presbytery about this innovative Side B sexual identity.  One of those is my own Presbytery – Westminster.  These two presbyteries are asking for an investigation, but again, I don’t see Missouri Presbytery turning against one of her own.  Whether the matter can be appealed to the Standing Judicial Commission of the PCA remains to be seen.

The enthusiasm for this identity movement by leaders in the PCA is alarming.  Add to this the typical “play it safe and keep the people ignorant” attitude of most PCA pastors, and you have the formula for the seizure of the PCA.

Where did all of this come from?  Why is it happening now?  Why have the proponents become so bold?  These questions are not really difficult to answer.  No doubt, there have always been Christians who have battled with the sins of homosexuality since the Fall.  The heart is desperately wicked.  We all battle with powerful temptations, and we do so on a daily basis.  But the question remains before us.  What has created the environment for boldness in this sexual-identity movement at the present time?

What has been overlooked is that the seedbed for this Side B sexual-identity movement and other similar obsessions such as fixing racial inequality (and now fixing income inequality) was planted many years ago and has been spreading ever since.  The popular terminology used in many circles to describe this seedbed is Cultural Marxism.

Cultural Marxism is a child of Classical Marxism.  Classical Marxism developed out of the thinking of Karl Marx.  It is a worldview antithetical to the Christian worldview.  Marx saw the world through the lens of a class struggle – the bourgeoisie against the proletariat. There was an economic disparity between the haves and the have-nots. His solution to this inequality was theft by war – literal war with guns and swords.  It resulted in the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917.

However, as often is the case, Marx’s potential utopia turned out to be the poison of death.  Millions were slaughtered.  The wealthy economic class was replaced by another wealthy political class of tyrants.  It proved to be a catastrophe – a major failure. Historians called it Communism.  In America today a similar form of Marxism has become respectful again and goes by the name of Socialism.

Recognizing the failure of Marxism, others subsequently (probably in the 1920’s) changed the strategy and tactics of Classical Marxism.  They tweaked it and developed what today is called Cultural Marxism.  There are two major differences between Classical Marxism and Cultural Marxism.

First, gradualism replaced militant insurrection.  It was admitted that change must be pursued by capturing the institutions of a society over a long period of time.  Capture the minds of the people, and a bloody revolution will not be necessary.

Secondly, the war must not be defined in mere economic terms, but it must be expanded as an attack made on all other cultural diversities in society.  Rather than only pit the wealthy against the poor, the races must be pitted against each other.  Also, there must be hostility created between the male and the female.  And, for our purposes in this article, sexual deviancy must be normalized and set in opposition to traditional Christian principles.

Cultural Marxism has captured America.  It has permeated the Democratic Party, and the Republican Party is not far behind.   Sadly, it is conquering the church through her colleges and seminaries.  Again, the folks in the pew are generally totally unaware of what is happening.

The only antidote is the gospel and the law of God. Only the gospel can bring peace between the rich and the poor, the various races, and the male and the female.  Only the gospel can create unity in diversity. The law of God is the only standard to judge justice.

Cultural Marxism blames the white man as the oppressor.  The straight (sexually) old-white man is the ultimate despot.  All others are victims.  The Bible’s focus is on sin and the cross as the antidote for the depravity that exists in this world, but today it is being replaced with something new.

Cultural Marxism has provided the seedbed for the current sexual-identity crisis in the PCA.  Side B Homosexuals have declared themselves to be victims, and this has been empowered by Cultural Marxism.  The environment of Cultural Marxism has given them the boldness to fight what they consider the good fight of faith.  Thus, we see the reason for the crisis in the PCA and also for what is brewing in the SBC.

Recently, it has been reported that a SBC congregation voted to hire a black pastor.  The minimum 85% vote was not attained and the leadership accused the minority voters of racism.  However, one reported reason for the negative votes was that the potential pastor was a supporter of a socialist candidate for President of the United States, and that he also took the position that homosexual desires are not sinful.  If this proves to be true, it is just another example of Cultural Marxism replacing Christianity, this time in the SBC.

Sadly, this movement is accelerating.  A year’s delay by the PCA General Assembly on being clear about this issue is like an eternity.  Also, once all the straight, old-white men die off, it will spread even faster.  However, be assured that in the end it will fail.  Paradise promised without the solid rock of biblical principles always turns out to be a living Hell.

Larry E. Ball is a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church in America and is now a CPA. He lives in Kingsport, Tennessee.