Pastor's Note - June 16 
I’m old enough to remember some apparent threats to Christianity that caused great distress in the church, but seem to have faded from influence and impact. Dan Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code” comes to mind. At the time, it was seen as an attack on the historical reliability of our faith and the Scriptures. While causing much discussion at the time, I’m not sure it has had much lasting influence (though it was certainly representative of a broader cultural suspicion of Christ and the Bible). With that in the background, I have been thinking about pride month, and the distress the LGBTQ movement has caused Christians. Is this all much ado about nothing? Is this another moral panic that will fade away without lasting influence? Are we overreacting by spending time addressing it in sermons and studies in the church? I don’t think so. Our culture is dedicating a whole month to this, with corporations lighting up their logos in rainbow colors (though there has been some pushback against corporations adopting new gender ideologies – see Bud Light and Target). Beyond that, schools and other institutions are adopting LGBTQ doctrine and enforcing, to various degrees, compliance within their ranks. And that, I think, is what makes the LGBTQ movement different. It’s a set of doctrines and beliefs – a different religion – that is receiving widespread cultural appeal. LGBTQism presents different beliefs about who God is (all affirmation without any judgment for sin – or at least sexual sin), who we are (obligated to follow our own desires, and not obligated to submit to God’s authority as those made in His image), and how we relate to one another (obligated to “love” one another, as defined by unequivocal affirmation)… among many others. LGBTQism is a different religion. And with all religions, there are traces of truth within them. The focus on welcoming and loving of others is a powerful Christian truth that is essentially embodied in Christ, though understood and applied very differently than it is in LGBTQism. Many will get (and have gotten) caught up in similar twisted truths that sound very appealing. And many will attempt to syncretize LGBTQism and Christianity. Many already have. That’s why the church, I believe, has to spend some time addressing it, in the same way Old Testaments prophets called Israel not to bow down to the Baals and Asherims. The church must, with gentleness, humility, and conviction, make a clear distinction between truth and error, and lovingly call all to the truth of Christ and the Scriptures. I don’t think LGBTQism will fade as quickly as Dan Brown’s novels. I do know that in the end, no threat to the church or to the Lord will stand.