By Josiah Espinoza| November 22nd, 2018

Sexuality and gender are at the forefront of almost every issue of controversy today. American society is continually “progressing” which means it is continually becoming more and more secular. The sexual “freedom” movements of the radical feminists and of the homosexual community have quickly become the platform for all kinds of progressive voices and their voices are loud and they are resonating throughout America. Hollywood, Social Media and the music industry have all helped to push this message of sexual freedom and inclusivity. Before President Obama took office biblical marriage and God ordained sexuality were important political positions to uphold for both political parties. Even Obama stood for traditional marriage when he was newly elected. Then from 2008-2018 there were several major incidences that pushed America deeper into a sexually liberated state.

In 2008 the state of California voted on Proposition 8. A yes vote would have eliminated same-sex marriage; a no vote would allow it. Californian’s voted 52.3% to 47.7% in favor of eliminating it. Did that quell the voices of the sexual liberationists? Absolutely not. They blasted America with messages of sexual freedom. TV shows, songs and movies were continually being released promulgating the idea that same-sex marriage was just as moral and good as traditional marriage. Then in 2010 an unimaginable thing took place. The Supreme Court overruled the voice of the people and did away with Proposition 8. The reason? They claimed that it was “unconstitutional”. This pushed the country even further into a sexually liberated state which dramatically changed the political platforms of the Republican and Democratic Party. In May of 2012 then President Obama stated in an interview on ABC that his way of thinking had “evolved” and that he was now in favor of same-sex marriage. No doubt this was a political move because the elections were coming up. His opponent in the 2012 race for the Presidency was the very conservative Mitt Romney. Mitt Romney came out in favor of traditional marriage and the Church supported this candidate, though with much reservation because of his Mormon background. However, that did not change a thing. Obama won with a land slide victory of 332 to 206 electoral votes.

From 2012-2016 the Democratic Party dramatically changed from a semi-liberal traditional party to an extremely leftist and progressive party. However, they were not the only ones that changed, the Republican Party had changed as well. In the 2016 election the extremely liberal and progressive Democratic Presidential Candidate, Hilary Clinton, ran against a “new kind” of Republican Presidential Candidate, Donald Trump. By “new kind” I mean that it was quite obvious that the once conservative party that stood for God ordained traditional marriage and sexuality had now “evolved” as well, though not forthright, it was a hidden evolution and the Church did not see it. Donald Trump was pro-gay marriage and the Church supported him, but the shocking thing was that he was more progressive than that. In April of 2016 there was a lot of controversy surrounding the issue of transgenders and restrooms. The Church came out against the idea that men should be allowed to use the restrooms where little girls were. Donald Trump in an interview with NBC stated that he believed transgender people should be allowed to use whatever restroom they felt most comfortable with. Did that change the Church’s position on supporting Trump? No, it didn’t. The Church, including the Evangelical Church, came out in strong support of this very liberal Republican Candidate. In November 2016 Trump became the newly elected President of the United States of America thereby redefining the Republican Party forever. The topic of transgenderism has not become a big issue for Trump since his election, nevertheless, media, movies and songs keep pushing for greater and greater transgender rights. If I know anything about history, its this, it always repeats itself. If Obama “evolved” in his way of thinking for homosexual rights for his re-election in 2012, then I can foresee Trump taking a much stronger stance in favor of transgender rights in his possible 2020 reelection campaign. The question is, will the Church reject him, or will it continue to promote him because he is “Making America Great Again”?

The Church Must Repent

The Church must repent! Ever since Obama’s Presidency, denomination after denomination has come out in favor of sexual freedoms and transgender rights. Churches all across America have openly accepted the idea that you can be a homosexual and a Christian. In a Pew Research Study they calculated the acceptance rates of church denominations for homosexual relationships from 2007-2014 and the data was shocking. 54% of all Christians accept homosexual behavior in the Church! The Evangelical Church rose from 26%-36% in seven years. Who knows what the acceptance rate is now. One thing is for sure though, the Church must repent. It must repent from its acceptance of homosexual relationships and turn back to God established marriage and gender. From the beginning God created one male man and one female woman. They were created for one another to be united in a sexually covenantal relationship. Genesis 2:24 says, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” Any deviation from this God established, God ordained marriage is a perversion of the natural order of things.

The Church must also repent of its lack of discipline in divorce rates. Though there has been recent studies that have come out to show that divorce rates in the Church are not exactly the same at the rest of society (50% in America), it is still calculated that somewhere between 25%-35% of marriages in the church end in divorce. That number is still not okay. The Church must repent. God hates divorce (Mal. 2:16) because in his sovereignty he has predestined his children to marry precisely who they were meant to marry. With that being said, he also hates the sins that leads people to divorce, which is why there are biblical grounds for divorce, but if we were to remain truly biblical the divorce rate would not be as high as it is right now. Proper discipline and teaching must be promoted in the church when it comes to divorce and wise decisions must be taken in each situation. Lastly, it must repent from endorsing any and all government figures that stand against these principles. The socio-economic well being of the nation is not the primary concern of the Church, we are to be lights in the dark and if the light is promoting darkness, how can it change anything in society? The Church must repent.

Biblical Marriage: The Great Cultural Battleground

As the Church repents it must take practical steps to bear the fruit of repentance. Biblical marriage is the great cultural battle ground of the Church. It is in God ordained marriage that the Church reflects to the world God’s standard of holiness, sexuality and God established gender. As Christians we are called to stand for marriage between one biologically male man and one biologically female woman. As we stand for that we rightly recognize that God created men to be men and women to be women. Each gender is created in the image of God with wonderful intrinsic traits. Each gender is innately valuable because they are made in the image of God. (Gen. 1:27) Their biological traits are God given gifts. Men and women are both strong, reasoning and loving creatures capable of beautiful and creative things.

A strong biblical Christian marriage can show the world the wonderful design of men and women when they rightly love one another. God ordained marriage stands against homosexual behavior and seeks to rectify sexual and gender confusion through the preaching of the gospel, through loving and compassionate marriage and by raising a new generation of children that rightly see their sexuality and gender as a gift of God that is meant to be practiced and viewed within biblical teaching. Biblical marriage shows the world how Christ loves the church. (Ep. 5:22-33) That Christ is the authoritative head of the church and that he shows his eternal love for the Church by giving himself over to her completely. In return the Church submits to her husband and follows his faithful lead. In the same way, wives are to submit to their husband as her husband lays down his strength and life for her, tenderly loving her and gently understanding her as the weaker vessel. (1 Peter 3:7) Husbands, give honor to your wife and treat her as a daughter of the King. Wives, submit to your husband, showing him respect as the head of the home.

The Church should be full of marriages that reflect the glory of Christ, that promotes the holiness of God and that established God ordained sexuality and gender. Then and only then can the Church begin to make any real moral difference in America.