Wednesday, 28 March 2018

Welcome Allies

Distinct, Clear Trumpet Calls

We are engaged in spiritual war.  Our wrestling is not against flesh and blood.  It is against the principalities and powers of the Dark Lord.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. [Ephesians 6:10]
These spiritual powers manifest themselves in and through some of the political rulers and governing powers, the lawmakers and judges. But these are mere tools, false flag slaves.  The real powers are invisible--what the Bible calls the "the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places".

When Christ's Church stands firm and does battle against these enemies, we rejoice.  Whoever is taking up arms against the devilish spiritual forces of our day commands the respect and thanks of all visible churches throughout the world.

The following piece, therefore, is cause for thanksgiving.

The Vatican under Pope Francis is consolidating its opposition to “gender theory,” the notion that maleness and femaleness can be separated from biological sex, according to veteran Vatican analyst John L. Allen, Jr.

Although prior popes were also critical of gender theory, Allen writes in a March 15 essay, opposition “has intensified on Francis’s watch.”  The pope has repeatedly warned against the dangers of ideologies that separate sexual identity from biology, decrying gender theory as “against the nature of things.” It seems, Allen writes, that folks at the Vatican have picked up on Francis’ war on gender theory and have decided to throw themselves into the fray.

As an example, Allen cites a conference at Rome’s Santa Croce University this week that featured a forceful critique of gender theory, notably during a panel chaired by German Archbishop Georg Gänswein, aide to emeritus Pope Benedict XVI and currently the Prefect of the Papal Household.  The paper was prepared by canon lawyer Vincenzo Turchi, which served to throw some doctrinal heft behind the pope’s sometimes casual statements on the subject.  [Breitbart News]
Doctrinal, theological, and, above all, biblical heft is sorely needed in our day--particularly in doing battle against the sexual and gender "isms" now being run by our Enemy, the Satan.  "Thank you--and welcome to the fray" must be the response of all Christ's servants.  And, we trust, we will be duly welcomed in turn.

Allen condenses the Church’s opposition to gender theory into three bullet points, all contained in Turchi’s talk:
– It undermines the objective moral norms governing sexual behavior by proposing that sexual identity and orientation are not given in nature, but rather the result of contingent historical and cultural factors.

– In the hands of educators, it jeopardizes the right of parents to be the primary teachers of their children.

– It threatens traditional Christian morality by casting it as discriminatory and bigoted.
Amen, and amen.

Gender "theory" relies upon an arrogant rebellion against God and His creation.  It advances the belief that "we can all be whatever we want to  be".  It is doomed to wretched failure.  It represents the next logical iteration of homosexualism, where for decades now advocates of that ideology have claimed they "were made this way".  They were homosexuals by nature.  Gender theorists have leapfrogged this and sneered at the (now antiquated) notion.  "Stop being a nancy," they proclaim.  "You are what you choose to be.  Period.  End of story."  Homosexuality--and gender identity--is (and always has been) a matter of self-determination.  Man up!  Woman up!  Or "Whatever" up!

But, of course, the Enemy knows people need help to move away from the terrible tyranny of Nature and its natural order.  They need help.  They need encouragement.  They need the surgeon's knife.  It's "holy" work because it is helping people be what they really want to be.  It is alleged to be the ultimate expression of human self-worth, dignity, freedom, and liberation.
Gender theory is based on “the primacy of culture over nature,” Turchi’s paper reads. Since gender theory views nature and biology data as “marginal,” sexual differences are fluid and changeable and can be fashioned on the basis of “individual self-determination.”
Clear trumpet calls are critical when a battle is upon us.  "If the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle?" I Corinthians 14:8]  Who indeed.  And so we are thankful and encouraged by the Vatican's emphatic stance.

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