Unmasking the Impostor
Nearly everyone loves a masquerade party. It can be fun to dress up and pretend to be someone else for a little while . . . maybe a beautiful princess or a superhero. But putting on a superhero costume doesn’t give you x-ray vision or the ability to fly. Beneath that costume is the genuine article, the real McCoy.
Satan is a master of disguises. He is expert at deception. He is superior at presenting sin to us in an appealing and desirable package. He relishes producing a God-mocking counterfeit with which he successfully deceives the masses. Today’s most popular imposter is called same-sex marriage. Satan’s ancient deception is enjoying a revival ~ Sodom and Gomorrah have nothing on modern America. Homosexual "marriage" is a perverted imitation of a God-ordained covenant.
The book of Genesis gives the account of Creation. We read that Almighty God created everything from nothing. He not only created the heavens and the earth, He created all that is within it. When He fabricated His most complex creation, man, He created two distinct varieties ~ male and female. From the moment of conception, we are one or the other. In God’s amazing wisdom, He joined the first man and woman together in history’s very first marriage. The two were ordained to live together for the duration of their earthly lives, helping and supporting one another, producing and rearing children, and serving the Lord together. For millennia, God’s Divine appointment of marriage and family hasn’t changed. Cultures change but God’s plan is constant and His Word is everlasting.
In our current culture, just as in past cultures, we have gradually fallen away from God’s perfect plan for the family. Just a few short generations ago, it was unthinkable for a couple to engage in sexual intimacy before marriage. It was unheard of for couples to live together outside the bonds of Holy Matrimony. It was rare for a woman to have a child out of wedlock. Today, these behaviors are commonplace. For as many years as the earth has existed, the turning-away from God and His precepts has followed the same pattern. This abandonment of Truth eventually leads to the demise of the indiviual and even entire civilizations. Disobedience always comes at a cost.
Predictably, our modern culture is following suit and moving forward in the same pattern as in past cultures. The Father of Lies has, once again, repackaged sin and is using the current culture to promote deception. Homosexuality has been declared normal and healthy. Same-sex marriage is championed as the new frontier in civil rights. Our culture is saturated with propaganda promoting the noble cause of “marriage equality”. The rationalization is that God is love, love is good, and love between two men or two women is therefore also good. Entire denominations professing to be Christians are not only embracing this deception, they are promoting it. Pastors and other church leaders are openly living a homosexual lifestyle.
But what does God have to say about all this? Is His Word truly as vague as some would have you believe? Compare what popular culture says as opposed to what God’s Word says . . .
Pop-culture says:
Homosexuals are born that way.
God’s Word says:
“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.”
~ Leviticus 18:22
“These laws are made to identify as sinners all who are immoral and impure: homosexuals, kidnappers, liars, and all others who do things that contradict the glorious Good News of our blessed God, whose messenger I am.”
~ 1Timothy 1:10-11
“Indeed, I was born guilty. I was a sinner from the moment I was conceived.”
~ Psalm 51:5
“What your corrupt nature wants is contrary to what your spiritual nature wants, and what your spiritual nature wants is contrary to what your corrupt nature wants. They are opposed to each other. As a result, you don't always do what you intend to do.”
~ Galatians 5:17
“Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
~ Galatians 5:19-21
"But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires."
~ Romans 13:14
God does not contradict Himself. His Word is consistent and absolute. Sin is a deliberate choice to disobey God. We are all born with a natural tendency toward sin, toward disobedience to God. We are all born with a self-centered nature that seeks to please our own flesh and satisfy our own desires. God declares homosexuality a type of sexual sin and, like any other sin, is a personal choice ~ God’s Word is crystal-clear on this. Repeatedly throughout Scripture homosexual behavior, along with a multitude of other sins, is called “an abomination”. Homosexuality is no more a sin and no less a sin than any other sin. All sin is disobedience to God and all sin separates us from Him and comes at a cost.
Pop-culture says:
God accepts & approves of homosexuality.
God’s Word says:
“For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.”
~ Romans 1:26-28
God never condones any form of sin. We are not only deceiving ourselves when we indulge in sin, we are sentencing ourselves to the due penalty of sin. There are natural, God-ordained consequences to sin, and there are supernatural consequences as well. We not only harm the flesh, we harm the Spirit. The result of sin can include physical illness and disease, mental anguish, emotional trauma, and spiritual bankruptcy.
We must be careful, however, not to confuse the sinful behavior with the sinner. God loves each and every human being. He says that nothing can separate us from His love {Romans 8:38-39}. Just as a parent would discipline a disobedient child for the child's own good, so God disciplines His children. He will not wink at sin, neither will He ignore it forever. He will deal with us and He will deal with our sin.
Pop-culture says:
Same-sex marriage is just as holy & God-ordained as heterosexual marriage and therefore deserves equal status as well as government & church approval.
God’s Word says:
“But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
~ Mark 10:6-9
God ordained the Holy covenant of marriage to be between one man and one woman for life. He ordained the sexual relationship to be shared between husband and wife within the lifelong marriage relationship to fulfill the natural desire for sexual intimacy. Procreation is a part of God’s plan for marriage and family, and for furthering His Kingdom, and it can only be accomplished with a man and a woman.
According to Scripture, two members of the same sex can never be married. Likewise, God could never approve of such a marriage, neither could He bless it. To do so would be to contradict Himself. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever; it is not possible for Him to forsake His own precepts. To suggest that same-sex marriage is equal to the God-appointed covenant of marriage is to discard Scripture and to embrace a perverse understanding of matrimony.
If we as Christians are to be representatives of Christ, we must accept all of Scripture as Truth. We must hold fast to God's flawless instruction. We must remain obedient to Him in all things even if it costs us the approval of others. In our increasingly corrupt culture, it is more important than ever to deepen our relationship with the Lord, strengthen our resolve, and purpose to be steadfast in our faith.
Unmask the impostor. Reveal him in the light of Truth for all to see.
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" . . . Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."
~ 2 Corinthians 11:14