They've Snuck In!
And they're not going away quietly either.
It was November 1st, about two in the morning, when I was abruptly woken from my sleep.
We live in the country; some call it the "boonies." Our nearest neighbor is a half mile away. Just past our driveway, the pavement ends, and it's a dirt road for the next fifteen or twenty minutes. I think of the song "Red Dirt Road" as I write this, and ironically, my road is just off Rural Route 3.
"I was raised off of Rural Route 3
Out past where the blacktop ends."
We live in a culturally vanishing part of America. To avoid surprises, many people lock their doors only at night when they're home asleep. When gas was cheap, people left their cars running with the heater or air conditioning while shopping in the market.
A few years ago, a convict on the run stole a pickup truck. It wasn't difficult. Many folks then and now leave keys on the dash or the sun visor of their car or truck.
People wave at total strangers while they're driving. It's what neighbors do in our valley.
So, what woke me up in the middle of the dark November night at Halloween? We have a flood of foxes in the forest that surrounds our home. When we first moved to rural Siskiyou County, I thought a woman was screaming for help in the woods. It was only a fox. That November night was the same but different.
Perhaps the loud banging on the front door, accompanied by the loud yelps of help, was what caught my attention.
She was one of the reasons we locked our doors at night. There she was. She had dirt on her face, glassy eyes, weeds, and debris in her tangled mass of blond but greying hair. She appeared to be "jonesing," a term for someone coming down from meth. My assumption did not disappoint.
She had been out with her boyfriend four-wheeling in the high hills behind our house on Halloween night. They were high in the mountains and high on drugs and the booze you could still smell on her breath and clothes. The boyfriend boldly declared he knew a shortcut down the hill and then drove off the side of the logging road.
The hills here are covered in buckbrush. With stiff branches and a compact form, buckbrush can grow to six or eight feet tall. The truck had launched off the road and came to rest on top of a mass of buckbrush. Being the consummate country gentleman, he offered to stay with the truck and told his gal, "Go get help."
She reluctantly obeyed and, upon opening the door and getting out, found herself hanging onto the frame of the truck, unable to touch the ground and too intoxicated to climb back in without help that wasn't offered. "Get going, or we'll never get this truck down the mountain."
Her rewards for going on a date that night were the weeds, dirt, scratch marks, and haggard appearance. She had dropped through the buckbrush to the ground below and crawled under the bushes in the dark until she found a logging road to follow down the mountain. She thought it had taken her about two hours to see the first house with a light on, and it was mine.
She just wanted to use the phone to get help. I let her call several friends and family, but no one came out at three a.m. to pick her up and take her into town and home.
The last thing I wanted was to have her on my porch or sofa until daylight, so I offered to take her. My dog, Bear, didn't much like her. He was sounding out a soft growl. When we got into my family van, he put himself between the two of us and between the front seats. I wished I had a pistol to bring with me.
The 7-mile trip to town was uneventful. As she got out of the van, the blond-haired woman thanked me. I asked her if she would call for a tow truck to take her "boyfriend" down the mountain. She'd had enough. "Let him find help himself; I'm going to bed."
I still lock the doors at night, watch out for my neighbors, and try to be a good Samaritan. I lock the doors and stay wary because I don't want anyone creeping into my house "unawares" or by stealth. If I were to quit guarding my house, folks would eventually be creeping in while I slept.
Keeping the Creeps Outside
In Jude verses three and four, we read the following.
[Jde 1:3-4 KJV] 3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Last week, during the Presidential Inauguration of Donald Trump, we saw what it looks like when "certain men" have crept into the Church unawares.
Mariann Budde was appointed by her religious organization as a Bishop of the National Cathedral. However, according to the Biblical standard, she is not qualified to be a Bishop.
It appears someone left the lights on and doors unlocked in the middle of the night, and Mariann waltzed in and took up residence. I wouldn't be as troubled if it were an isolated incident. The problem, as I see it, is that there are many churches where "certain men" have crept in and have now turned the grace of God into lasciviousness.
I've described the culture of rural America, where I live. Yet, even in small towns, "certain men" have been creeping in. For fear of offending others, some topics cannot be mentioned in the pulpit.
God is clear about murder, and yet we cannot call abortion the murder of a human life. God reveals to us that human life begins at conception and that He knew us before we were in our mother's womb. God declares us as human before we are born.
Plain talk about perverse sexual tendencies cannot be mentioned either. That's too political.
God calls cross-dressing an abomination, but we can't talk about that either.
We can't discuss the immoral and wicked behavior of political parties or individuals. We might offend someone. Many pulpits would ask the preacher to leave if he pointed out that the entire platform of the Democratic party is the antithesis of a godly and biblical worldview.
Bishop Budde's "sermon" at the National Cathedral focused on the same issues the Democrats endorsed. Bishop Budde, in part, said,
" I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican and independent families who fear for their lives."
Why do Churches tolerate the intolerable? The minister of Christ should be preaching righteousness alongside of mercy. They are inseparable companions.
What does the Bible say about "gay, lesbian, and transgender" conduct? How quickly the Church has forgotten the tale of Sodom and Gomorrah when the men of the city attempted to gang rape the male angels that came to deliver Lot and his family.
The Old Testament was clear.
[Deu 22:5 KJV] 5 The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so [are] abomination unto the LORD thy God.
The New Testament is clear.
[1Co 6:9 DBY] 9 Do ye not know that unrighteous [persons] shall not inherit [the] kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor those who make women of themselves, nor who abuse themselves with men,"
What do you call someone who breaks the law intentionally? A criminal, according to Google's AI.
"Someone who breaks the law intentionally is typically called a criminal or a lawbreaker; depending on the context, you might also use terms like "offender," "perpetrator," "transgressor," or "culprit.". [1, 2, 3]
"Criminal": The most general term for someone who commits a crime, which implies intentionality.
"Lawbreaker": Directly describes someone who violates the law. [1, 2, 3]
Generative AI is experimental.
[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lawbreaker
[2] https://www.dictionary.com/browse/lawbreaker
[3] https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/criminal"
Mariann Budde continued her plea for mercy for the millions of criminals who have entered our nation in direct violation of the law.
"And the people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in our poultry farms and meat-packing plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shift in hospitals – they may not be citizens or have the proper documentation, but the vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. They are faithful members of our churches, mosques and synagogues, gurdwara, and temples."
I would contend that the vast majority of "immigrants" who crossed the border illegally are indeed criminals. Millions of them. Many of them do not pay taxes. Many are not good neighbors. They deserve mercy and fair treatment but must go home and enter this nation legally.
We used to be a nation of laws.
What Does the Bible Say About the Sermon?
Mariann Budde is an excellent example of someone who has turned God's grace into lasciviousness. Lasciviousness means "unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, or insolence."
In her sermon, Mariann endorses the unbridled lust of men towards men and women towards women. The word "excess" means to go beyond the limits of what is normal, proper, or specified. It is not normal to bend the image of God that man is made in and twist it into another gender. When we do that, we deny God, saying that he made a mistake creating us male and female. God intended marriage to be holy, pure, and righteous. It is outrageous to think of surgically altering God's creation into what He calls an abomination. A transgender person is still a cross-dressing person.
Some of you might be in shock reading that. The sad reality is that while she can speak freely about such abominations and criminal acts, speaking Biblical truth is now controversial in many pulpits.
Men and women who have crept in and turned the grace of God are publicly denying God and Jesus Christ, who created them male and female. If we deny Christ before men, He will deny us before the Father. "Depart from me, I never knew you."
Let's speak the truth in love. No lie is of the truth. Mariann and others may have a title declaring them servants of God, but if they deny Him, they are neither of Him nor with Him. Those who use their office as bishop or deacon will gain great boldness in the faith.
Liars, deceivers, the sexually immoral, and those who turn the grace of God into the freedom to sin are denying the very Lord who calls them to repent, believe, and receive salvation and eternal life.
Watch out for the host of "certain men" who have crept into our Churches. Be on guard. You won't be popular if they're in your Church, but you need to call them out. If it's your pastor or elder, you may get kicked out for speaking out.
[Jhn 15:17-25 KJV] 17 These things I command you, that ye love one another. 18 If the world hates you, ye know that it hated me before [it hated] you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin. 23 He that hateth me hateth my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But [this cometh to pass], that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.