November 23, 2002

In January of 1973, at the age of 21, I became positionally pro-life. I was not a Christian; but when the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the infamous, eternally unlawful Roe v. Wade decision, it caused me to think about abortion. By the grace of God and by the influence of a very "conservative" upbringing, I decided it was wrong to kill defenseless unborn human beings--wrong, that is, unless the mother had been raped or was the victim of incest or her life was in danger. At that time, and for some time, I did not do anything about abortion other than try to vote rightly and occasionally donate money to a Right to Life organization.

Several years after my pro-life awakening, it became clear to me that if abortion is the taking of an innocent human life, then it is murder in all cases. Thus I lost my exceptions. As the years progressed, my wife and I, and eventually our children, became more and more involved in the pro-life movement. We simply came to hate the murder of innocent little babies by blood-thirsty wretches called "doctors." In January of 1979, my wife and I took part for the first time in a pro-life public rally and, feeling a bit sheepish and hippy-ish, carried signs for the first time.

In 1983, we both were adopted as God's children through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. Our pro-life commitment expanded and deepened considerably immediately after we were born again. This is because the Holy Spirit opened up the Holy Scriptures to us; and we realized that as Christians, among other responsibilities, we had a duty to reprove the "unfruitful works of darkness" and "deliver them that are drawn unto death." Over the years, we have been involved in politics, starting a crisis pregnancy center; and most of all, we have been deeply and continually involved in street ministry which has included my being arrested many times for blocking abortion clinic doors with my body as part of the "rescue" movement which first swept across America in the late 1980's.

As soon as I was saved and in a church, I began harping at my pastor to take a public stand against innocent bloodshed and for our helpless preborn neighbors being slaughtered for fun and profit in America's modern-day death camps. Over the years, and to this day, I have continued to exhort pastors to do their duty and set an example by publicly contending for God's Word and His Name as well as for the lives of helpless preborn babies by openly resisting and speaking out against abortion.

Eight years ago, I became a pastor myself and ever since have keenly felt my responsibility to take a prophetic, public stand against evil and for good. After all, that is clearly part of my job, even if I do not always do it as well as I should. If the shepherds of God's flock will not contend with the ravening wolves who are roaming this land in which their flocks live, if the ministers of God will not be the watchmen on the wall, if the pastors will not publicly contend for the Law of God and defend the weak and innocent, why in the world does anyone think the rest of the Church of Jesus Christ is going to do so consistently and zealously or, for that matter, at all? Yes, pastors have a primary duty to preach and propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ; but they also have a duty to offensively lead their people in the defense of life, liberty, and God's true Law. At the same time, their people have a duty to follow them into battle.

With regard to abortion, better called child-killing, it took years to get to the place where at least most true pastors (and their churches) do something about abortion--not nearly enough in most cases, but at least something. At the end of the 1970's and right through the mid part of the 1980's, the Church was for the most part silent about abortion. When the mass rescue movement burst on the scene in 1987, the cry on the lips of all of us involved was, "Why is the Church silent?" God had deeply impressed upon us not only the humanity of the preborn child, the brutality of abortion, and the duty of the Church to speak out against innocent bloodshed and to defend the helpless, but also the already awful consequences realized by the Church for not taking action sooner and the horrific consequences which would one day befall our posterity and our land if the Church remained silent.

It is too bad that American Christians seem to take so long to learn the obvious and take appropriate action on that knowledge. It is tragic that American pastors and their people have so much trouble finding their voices and their courage in the face of pure evil and looming disaster. With regard to abortion, the silence and inaction of the Church of Jesus Christ has resulted in a bloodbath of epic proportions and the wrath of God being directed toward our nation. The current semi-silence and tepid response of that same Church is what causes the slaughter to continue virtually unabated and will result in the blood tide lapping at the doorstep of every family in America someday. Blood touches blood, and the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.

But at least the Church of Jesus Christ is saying and doing something about preborn child-killing; and where there is life, there is hope. The Church as a whole has moved from silence and inaction to an overall torpid state of "doing something"--granted, not enough. Still, as long as many Christians are praying for an end to abortion, some Christians are making great efforts to end it, and many other Christians are consistently doing something to end it, and that something is based on a sense of conviction and duty, there is hope that the bloodletting may come to an end. The fact that there is a tiny number of righteous pastors and zealous Christians who are fighting furiously and preaching loudly against the child-killing industry certainly is responsible for much of the hope I have that the modern-day Auschwitzes which dot our land will someday be shut down. When it comes to abortion, we may be encouraged that the Church of Jesus Christ across this nation is at least making her presence and perspective known to the world; and consequently, very few people today are eager to publicly defend preborn child-killing in the Name of God. I wish I could say the same with regard to another clear, present, and growing evil in our land.

In the last two decades, a New Sodom has grown up in our midst. In spite of what the Bible says about contending for the faith, reproving the unfruitful works of darkness, hating evil, and standing against the wicked; in spite of the awful historical examples we have of Sodom unchained, beginning with Genesis, chapters 18 and 19; in spite of the brazen fashion in which Sodom's heirs are publicly vandalizing and mocking the Word of God; in spite of the obvious duty we Christians, especially pastors, have to stand against the unbelievable filth, lawlessness, and tyranny of the sodomites, the Church of Jesus Christ, as a whole, is virtually silent once more!

She was silent when the law codes prohibiting sodomy were taken off of the books in most states. She was silent when sexual orientation was added to non-discrimination statutes in many states. She was silent as sexual perverts began parading in the streets during "gay pride" month to show their sin as Sodom. She was silent when open sodomites began running for public office. She was silent when sodomites started adopting children. She was silent when "gay theologians" and their friends began wresting the Word of God in order to claim homosexuality is not a sin but is in fact an activity blessed of the Lord. She was silent when a new "gay" denomination called the Metropolitan Community Church was birthed and began spreading.

She has been silent as mainline denominational churches have brazenly boasted of their "open and affirming" policy toward sexual perversion. She has been silent as the sodomite propagandists engage in the worst sort of demagoguery and intimidation to shame and confuse the general public into accepting and affirming "gay and lesbian" youth. She has been silent as tax money has been used by the Public Broadcast System and the government school system to brainwash Americans into accepting and embracing homosexuality. She has been silent as Republican politicians and elected officials, including President George W. Bush, have quietly provided the citizens of Sodom a giant leg up in their quest to complete the sodomizing of America. Last, but not least and certainly not conclusively, the Church of Jesus Christ has been for the most part silent in the face of a new Bible edition, the Oxford Annotated Third Edition to be exact, which contains pro-homosexual footnotes.

In the face of daily gains by the heirs of Sodom, the vast, vast majority of local churches and pastors have been, and to this day remain, publicly silent. Silent, silent, silent . . . deadly silent. If things do not change, I fear the only way the Church may wake up is when they hear the clanking of their own chains, riven in place by a cadre of sexually perverse task masters wearing pink swastikas. History, observation, common sense, and most importantly of all, God's Holy Writ all dictate that the local churches must take concerted action and raise a righteous roar against the lies being daily spewed out and the atrocious acts being daily played out across our land by the champions of perversion. Why is the Church silent? For what are the pastors waiting? Do they expect the "pro-family movement" to do their job for them? Are they expecting, in spite of their public silence, revival to sweep through the streets of New Sodom and its suburbs? If so, they would do well to consider the all-important question, "How shall they hear without a preacher?" If the pastors of this land continue to act like Lot, living in vexed but silent coexistence with a growing legion of sexual perverts, they should be prepared to end up like Lot--pathetically, impotently whining to a howling sodomite mob, "I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly." They should also expect their children and grandchildren to grievously suffer for the silence of their fathers and grandfathers.

Before doing anything at all about abortion, many Christians, led by their pastors, waited until our government had sanctioned the murder of innocent preborn babies on demand at any time up to birth. Now history is repeating itself with regard to sexual perversion and a growing homosexual nation within our nation. Have pastors, and Christians in general, adopted the attitude of some of the Corinthian Christians Paul acidly rebuked? Do they have the notion that being silent in the face of a vicious assault upon righteousness and truth is somehow a holy act?

The enemies of God, and of our families, have in this case not only slapped the Church in the face, but they have also kicked her pastors in the pants and spit upon the Word of our God! They have boldly preached that evil is good and good is evil; they have legislated immorality; they have taken truth hostage; they have rewritten the Bible; they are training up a cadre of corrupt "theologians" to spread their vicious lies in the Name of Christ; they have brainwashed a generation of children; and they are thumbing their noses at the blood-washed followers of Jesus Christ with full confidence that the sleeping giant is a selfish pygmy with a crisis of confidence in the Word of God and God the Word along with no inclination to do anything about anything New Sodom sets its mind to do next. The tragedy is that thus far they are right!

Why is the Church silent? When will her pastors start publicly proclaiming and defending what the Word of God really says about homosexuality? Do they not realize that the sodomites are the elite shock troops of an army of implacable God-haters which the Church faces? Do they think it is a coincidence that homosexuals are a driving and sustaining force behind the public nudity movement, public obscenity, and the destruction of all laws restricting any sort of "sexual expression"? Have they yet to notice that a commitment to preborn child-killing is woven into the sodomite culture? Do they not understand that, by and large, the politics of New Sodom are the politics of socialism, which is only communism in its adolescent stage? Surely the enemies of life, law, and Christian liberty have a spear pointed at the heart of the Church of Jesus Christ; and the sharp point of that spear is the sodomite juggernaut that daily achieves new conquests in its march to crush all resistance to its unholy agenda.

When will the true shepherds of God confront the howling wolves who boldly declare that they speak the Word of God in the Name of Christ? When will the leadership of local churches, the elders and pastors, sit down and, by the Lord's leading, work out a plan to consistently and publicly tell the truth about homosexuality and confront those in their area who champion those acts labeled by God as abominable, lawless, unnatural, and filthy? What is so difficult about local churches consistently airing truth in the theater of operations which God has trusted to their care? Surely Christ's charge to us, His disciples, that we "teach all nations . . . to observe all things whatsoever" He has commanded must include making it crystal clear to the world what the Bible says about homosexual acts, how that revealed Law of God should be expressed in civil law, and what will happen to our nation if it is not!

There are so many ways the local churches, led by her pastors, can take a stand for righteousness and truth against the flood of lies and the increasing tyranny of Sodom's heirs and allies that there is simply no excuse for the free ride the devil is getting in this matter. How difficult is it for a pastor to write a letter to the editor a couple of times a year, or lead his flock in doing a literature drop in their town every six months or so? How difficult is it for churches to buy space in the newspapers or on the radio to publish truth, or to hand out literature at the local high school, or perhaps to even do a prophetic picket now and then with signs and banners bearing biblical messages about homosexuality? In the face of continued attacks upon the Word of God and His immutable Law by the sodomites and in consideration of what is at stake in this situation, how difficult would it be for pastors and their flocks to do some or all of the above? How difficult is it especially knowing that God loves truth and will bless the efforts of those zealous for His truth?

And yes, such efforts are conducive to preaching and spreading the gospel. It is a bit troubling to consider that many Christians, including pastors, apparently do not think themselves capable of sharing the gospel unless they are in some sort of sterile vacuum. Beyond that, confronting sin is certainly an integral part of spreading the gospel. Certainly we must pray for homosexuals to repent of their sins, believe the gospel, and call upon the name of the Lord for salvation. Because of the heart-hardening nature of the sin of homosexuality, most sodomites will never turn to Christ (Rom. 1:26-28); but some will, and we must wrestle and fight and pray for such individuals. However, for Christians to hide behind the excuse that the Church of Jesus Christ should just preach the good news of the gospel and avoid confronting evil is to follow the cue of the sodomite apologists and others who grossly distort the Scriptures to avoid coming to grips with and obeying the whole counsel of God's Word.

The claim of a Christian to love good can only be validated by an obvious hatred of evil by that same person. "Let love be without dissimulation [hypocrisy]. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good" (Rom. 12:9). Homosexual acts are evil. They are sexually immoral acts which violate the Law of God. Homosexuals are not only sexual outlaws, as are fornicators and adulterers; but they also have gone a step further and exchanged the "the natural use into that which is against nature," "giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh." In this, sodomites not only deny and repudiate God as the Sovereign Lawgiver and Judge of the Universe, but they also reject Him as the Creator and Sustainer of all things. The Scriptures exhort Christians, "Ye that love the Lord, hate evil: he preserveth the souls of his saints; he delivereth them out of the hand of the wicked" (Ps. 97:10). Homosexual acts, along with the homosexual spiritual and cultural agenda, are the epitome of evil. That most American Christians do not hate such evil may explain why the Church is being gradually delivered into the hand of the wicked. That most local churches show no hatred of the spreading sodomite culture and influence perhaps has to do with a lack of fear of God. "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil . . . " (Pr. 8:13). The Church of Jesus Christ will never be a worthy opponent of the sodomite movement until Christians, led by the example of their pastors, begin to hate homosexuality and seek God's favor by faithfully standing for His kingdom and His righteousness in this matter.

Perhaps the difficult part which is holding local churches back from confronting and exposing the lies of Sodom with God's immutable truth is having enough love to do so--love for the Word of God, love for the Savior Who bought us with His own blood, love for our own families and our descendants, and love for the lost and vulnerable. I pray a lack of love is not the problem.

Perhaps it is a lack of courage. If this be the case, the American Church has lost its savor; has become a reproach to the Name of Christ; and has acted treasonously toward those Christians who have over the centuries hazarded privation, persecution, torture, and death rather than give in to the enemy of our souls and those who serve him. As for America, it is both cursed and doomed if the American Church has become impotent and useless because it is so cowardly as to refuse to stand up for truth against such a massive assault at such a comparatively small risk. The Scriptures state that "the righteous are bold as a lion." In the face of Sodom's unrelenting assaults upon morality, eternal law, the young, and the faith of our fathers, most Christians resemble not righteous lions but rather pampered pussy cats, purring contentedly in the comfortable lap of luxury.

I suppose one could hope that the Church's deadly and dastardly inaction in the face of the sodomite offensive is based on ignorance. At least the ignorant can be revived by truth and conviction. Whatever the reason for the Church's silence, it is a silence which must be broken and broken in a big way very shortly. Our chains are being forged; the grave of Christian liberty is being dug; our legacy is being written; our Lord is being mocked. If this be not enough to rouse a righteous zeal for truth in the bosom of the people of God, it must be asked how many truly are the people of God.

Surely someone will say, "All of this talk about confronting, resisting, and exposing is not kind. We must simply show mercy to the homosexuals and try to live in peace with them." I would reply that mercy without truth is hollow and cruel, while peace without righteousness is folly and ruin. "Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Ps. 85:10).

I leave the reader with one last exhortation. The sodomite nation which has sprung up in our land is truly a clear and present danger. The perverted sexual acts which define the inhabitants of that nation are an abomination in God's eyes just as is the tendency of most Christians, including some in the "ex-gay" ranks, to greatly downplay the evil of such acts (Prov. 17:15). My prayer is that the true shepherds of God who are now silent will soon break their silence in the face of the deafening, deceitful roar of the sodomite propaganda machine, and that when those pastors find their voice to defend God's Law, they will faithfully proclaim not only His goodness but also His holiness. I pray they will not only share the good news of salvation through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, but they will also faithfully define homosexual acts for the evil they are; and in the process, the incredible love of God will be sharply defined, rather than blurred and disparaged.

Jesus Christ, God the Word, "made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant," lived a life of sorrow, and died an agonizing death on a cross. The wonder is that He did it to pay the penalty for the sins, all the sins, of any who would repent and put their faith in Him. "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Jesus Christ was willing to die to satisfy the sentence demanded by God's Holy Law for sin, all sin, even for a sin the Bible labels as "abomination," "lawless," "filthy." "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool" (Is. 1:18). When we speak of sin as God speaks of sin, including sodomy and other sexually perverted acts, we exalt Christ, honor Him, and help others to more fully understand the love He showed by dying on the cross. In the face of God's amazing love, far be it from us, any of us for any reason, to downplay what Christ did at Calvary by refusing to confront and define sodomite sin with the very words God has given us for that very purpose.

May the Church of Jesus Christ all across America break her silence and take a visible, righteous stand against the vicious lies of Sodom. May it happen soon. Time is short.

Ralph Ovadal is pastor of Pilgrims Covenant Church of Monroe and host of "The Heart of the Matter" which can be heard at www.theheartofthematteronline.com.

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