The Final Countdown

A quick look at some news from the realm of state-sponsored and promoted “alternative lifestyles” in the United States and UK:

• In the UK, taxpayers are paying for government employees to participate in a homosexual parade. The goal is to increase attendance to lend more credibility to the homosexual movement in Britain.
• The number of government-funded sex change operations in the UK has tripled after the government health body declared the procedure to be a “right” belonging to all persons.
• New York Governor David Paterson said he will “make sure” the State Senate votes on same-sex marriage before the summer recess.
• Also in New York, a “Folsom Street Festival” is ongoing, complete with public sex acts and sodomy from both heterosexuals and homosexuals. These sex-fests are common place in San Francisco, where lewd promotional posters are displayed in areas frequented by children.
• Back in the UK, a government official has apologized on behalf of the government and his party for legislation that banned the promotion of homosexuality in school. That is right, the law did not ban the teaching of homosexuality, which the UK starts pushing on kids at the tender age of 5. This law simply put an end to encouraging homosexuality, and the government felt the need to apologize for it.
• US Attorney General Eric Holder said that proposed “hate crimes” legislation would give special protections to homosexuals who were attacked by religious people, but would not protect Christians who were attacked by homosexuals.

This last story provides a good jumping off point to see how Christianity is being treated by these same governments. In addition to the aforementioned snub in the so-called “hate crimes” laws, these stories also come from the UK and USA:

• Doctors in the UK face disciplinary sanctions for praying with patients, even when done at the patients request.
• The US Navy has ordered a support group for moms of sailors to drop “Christian” from its official title.
• The government run BBC is under fire for supporting and promoting Islam while attacking Christianity.
• A Judge has barred Christians from passing out tracts on public land in Dearborn, Michigan, a city with over 30,000 Muslim residents.
• The New York City Council has passed a resolution calling for Muslim holidays to be observed by government schools. This would include days off from school and teaching on what the holidays represent to the Muslim community. Of course, it is “illegal” to teach what Christian holidays mean.
• In California, administrators from government run schools have banned pro-life T-shirts that depict growing fetuses in the womb. The same pictures on the shirt appear in the textbooks, just not linked to life.
• For the first time in 40 years, the Air Force has denied a flyover request by the God and Country Family Festival, held in Nampa, Idaho. It is now deemed “too religious.”

The government promotion of sin (Jeremiah 50:14, 29; 51:24) and removal of Christianity (Jeremiah 50:11, 24, 29-32) are the two reasons given by Scripture for the coming catastrophic judgment against the West (Jeremiah 50:13, 26, 32; 51:8, 9, 29, 43; Revelation 18:8-10, 15-19).

The reports of a Chinese bookstore owner being jailed for three years for printing Bibles to give to local Christians is a somber reminder of how blessed we Americans are to live in a nation founded on God and His principles. Sadly, the Almighty remains under assault in the United States, with fringe minority groups having full support of the government in attempts to eradicate the name of Jesus from public life.

Consider these headlines from the last two weeks:

• Liberty University’s tax-exempt status challenged
• Pepsi stops donations to disaster relief ministry because it has ‘God’ in its name (Note: Pepsi has since reversed its stance)
• Senate, Supreme Court refuse admission to wearers of “Jesus is the Standard” shirts
• UCLA student told she can’t reference Jesus Christ in her personal graduation statement
• Bishop faces jail for ringing church bells (Note: Muslim prayer horns in Dearborn, MI are “protected,” regardless of the public outcry of noise pollution)
• Christians prohibited from conducting Bible study in public housing projects
• Oklahoma braces for challenge to Ten Commandments law
• Calls for Red Cross symbol to be axed

Thankfully there is some good news from this week. Students at Florida’s Pace High School thumbed their noses at the ACLU by standing in unison and reciting the Lord’s Prayer at their graduation ceremony. Also, a House committee has approved a resolution that, if passed, will fix the egregious removal of references to God from the US Capitol Visitor Center. Some of these “omissions” include leaving the National Motto, In God We Trust, off the replica of the Speaker’s rostrum; the removal of the Pledge of Allegiance; and the striking of references to God from the Northwest Ordinance and the Constitution.

The United States appears to be depicted in Scripture in Isaiah 18, Jeremiah 50-51, and Revelation 18. Among the many descriptions given we find a nation who was founded on God, but has systematically removed Him from society, growing worse and worse as time goes on (Isaiah 18:2, 7). There is even rejoicing that the Godly heritage of the nation is covered up (Jeremiah 50:11).

Because of great sin (Jeremiah 50:14) and the turning away from God (Jeremiah 50:29), monumental judgment is coming (Jeremiah 50:28; 51:24). This will come in the form of missiles (Jeremiah 50:14, 29; 51:3, 11) launched by Russia (Jeremiah 50:9, 41; 51:48) and perhaps even Iran (Jeremiah 51:11, 28). If this passage does indeed picture America, the United States will be completely destroyed (Jeremiah 50:13, 26).

Against the wishes of parents, California continues to push an agenda of teaching about “alternative” lifestyles to children as young as five years old. Earlier this month we wrote about the proposed “Gay Day” celebration where “Harvey Milk’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender legacy” will be mandatory teaching. Now, the Oakland/San Francisco suburb of Alameda wants these lessons taught 5 year-olds, with no opt-out available for parents who object to the material.

A group of parents in a California school district say they are being bullied by school administrators into accepting a new curriculum that addresses bullying, respect and acceptance — and that includes compulsory lessons about the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community that will be taught to children as young as 5 years old.

The parents from the Unified School District in Alameda, a suburb of San Francisco and Oakland, say these issues are best learned at home and most definitely are not age-appropriate for elementary school children.

The parents are also angry that they will not be allowed to keep their children out of the classes.

“I believe these children are far too young to be learning about what these issues mean,” said Alaina Stewart, who has three children who attend elementary school in Alameda. “These are adult issues and they are being thrust upon the children.”

But the school board says otherwise, and its attorneys say that if the curriculum is adopted, the parents will have no legal right to remove their children from class when the lessons are being taught.

These aren’t the only ways the gay lifestyle is being promoted to children in California. Posters for the upcoming Folsom Street Fair are being prominently hung where children can see them. Last years, these posters mocked the Last Supper, where sex toys replaced the bread and juice. In San Diego, the Padres are holding a premium promotion to attract children to the ballpark on the same day they are recognizing the San Diego chapter of Gay Pride.

Elsewhere, same-sex marriage is taking root in New York. All the while church leaders are tossing in their support, with a majority of Protestant ministers supporting hate crimes legislation and adoption rights for gay couples. Most alarming was that 45% of respondents to this survey say they are more liberal now than 10 years ago. God help us!

We are living in the time of 2 Timothy 4:3-4, where churches are turning against sound doctrine and preaching what people want to hear, all in the name of church growth. This is leading to pews full of unconverted converts, and the great falling away from the faith that occurs just before Christ returns (2 Peter 2:1-2; 1 Timothy 4:1; 2 Thessalonians 2:3).

Something is wrong with this picture. Ponder the following two sets of stories from the past few days.

Group one:

• U.S. boy, 8, to live as a girl after being diagnosed with ‘gender identity disorder’
• Teen viewing diaries reveal alarming diet of sex, greed and cruelty
• New Theme Park is ‘Sexually Explicit’
• Girl Scouts exposed: Lessons in lesbianism

Group two:

• Judge rules Christians need “speech permit” to hand out tracts
• Cambridge students axe traditional grace for being ‘too religious’
• Obama’s Faith-Based Adviser Urges Challenge to ‘Heteronormative’ Fatherhood
• Gay activist appointed to White House faith-based council
• Former fundamentalist professor ‘debunks’ Bible

Matthew 24:12 37; Genesis 6:5, 11; 1 Timothy 3:2-5; and 2 Timothy 3:13 are playing out right before our very eyes.

***The Turkish-Iranian Business Forum, currently taking place in Ankara, has yielded a new trade agreement between the two countries. Ties will continue to strengthen between Iran (Ezekiel 38:5), Turkey (Ezekiel 38:6), and other nations as they form a confederation with Russia (Psalm 83:4-5) that eventually attacks Israel (Ezekiel 38:15; Luke 21:20).

***The swine flu has gone global, with the World Health Organization raising the pandemic alert to level 5. Diseases from animals, such as the avian flu and AIDS, may play a significant role during the Tribulation (Revelation 6:8).

***Even the Japanese are seeing a surge in communist and socialist philosophies among the citizenry. This is another example of how the free-world is opening its arms to collectivism, a philosophy used by the Antichrist to gain influence over the globe (Daniel 11:24).

***Albania applied for EU membership today. The EU continues to expand and will be the catalyst for a global government (Daniel 7:23).

***The United States has become a nation of no core beliefs whose citizens define their values based on opinion polls, according to Joseph Farah. This backs up a New York times story detailing the shift in the Republican stance on gay marriage, for no reason other than to get votes. As US Representative and proud Christian John Fleming says, the country is marching towards socialism and secularism. The constant degradation of American society (Isaiah 18:2, 7), and the attempt to remove God from all walks of life (Jeremiah 50:29) will lead to America’s judgment (Jeremiah 50:28).

The United Kingdom has already made sex-education mandatory for five year-olds, and now they have announced that homosexuality must be taught (including sexual aspects of it) beginning with eleven year-olds. America’s mother is truly ashamed and confounded (Jeremiah 50:12).

***Astronomers have taken a picture of an object in space 13 billion light years away. That is 76,254,048,000,000,000,000,000 miles from your computer screen. Incredible. (Luke 21:11, 25; Mark 13:24-25.)