Perversion and Post Christian Kids

 By Al Baker - Posted at Forget None of His Benefits:

“. . . God gave them over to a reprobate mind.” -Romans 1:28

A recent survey of students at Brown University found that 38% of them identify as LGBTQ+. That is more than double the number of students who identified in like manner in 2010.[1] I preached with my friends Geoff Kirkland and Tom Raborn at my first Gay Pride event in St. Louis in 2018. What immediately struck me was how many of the vast hordes attending the event were in their twenties or younger. And the phenomenon of “transgenderism” is now “hip and cool” with teens and twenty somethings. You no doubt know kids who grew up in your church, who gave strong evidence of true saving faith, but who now announce on FaceBook and Instagram that they are proudly homosexual. Some of them may say they still believe in Jesus and that they are very happy to still follow Him.

I was recently listening to a lecture by the great Welsh preacher, Martyn Lloyd-Jones on “The Permissive Society,”[2] in which he makes a distinction between sin and perversion. I think his position makes sense Biblically. He says that sin is natural, that since we are all born sinners, sin is the natural result of our unregenerate state. Of course sin is rebellion against God, breaking His law, but when a person sins there is still some degree of guilt associated with it. There is an awareness that something should be done about it. Permissiveness, however, is unnatural. Permissiveness flaunts, glories in, and exalts anyone who engages in wickedness. Permissiveness knows no shame. Permissiveness and perversion go hand in hand. Lloyd-Jones draws a distinction between sinners and perverts, and no doubt what we are seeing at Brown University and everywhere in our culture is not natural. It is unnatural. It is perversion. These people may correctly be called “perverts.”

How did this happen? First of all we need to realize that our present age is not the first time we have experienced perversion. The Apostle Paul, writing to the Romans, is highlighting the perversion so prevalent in his day. Romans 1:18-32 is a vivid, accurate, and sordid portrayal of life then. We have witnessed this many times before, not the least of which was the first third of the 18th century in England.[3] However, beginning in 1735 and lasting for thirty years or so, God poured out His Holy Spirit on the preaching of men like George Whitefield, Gilbert Tennent, Jonathan Edwards, Samuel Davies, Howell Harris, and Daniel Rowland. As a result hundreds of thousands of people were born again and became sincere followers of Jesus. Historians have long opined that the Great Awakening, as it was called, saved England from the horrific French Revolution which within ten months (September 5, 1793 to July 27, 1794) sent at least 40,000 people to the guillotine.

Continue here.

See also:

• Preaching at Pride Fest 2018 – FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS (home.blog)