Calvary Road Baptist Church

“WHAT’S WORSE, TRANSGENDER BATHROOMS OR OIL SPILLS?”

  

“The Black Robed Regiment was the name that the British placed on the courageous and patriotic American clergy during the Founding Era (a backhanded reference to the black robes they wore).[1] Significantly, the British blamed the Black Regiment for American Independence,[2] and rightfully so, for modern historians have documented that: [3]

 

There is not a right asserted in the Declaration of Independence which had not been discussed by the New England clergy before 1763.[4]

 

It is strange to today’s generation to think that the rights listed in the Declaration of Independence were nothing more than a listing of sermon topics that had been preached from the pulpit in the two decades leading up to the American Revolution, but such was the case.

 

But it was not just the British who saw the American pulpit as largely responsible for American independence and government, our own leaders agreed. For example, John Adams rejoiced that “the pulpits have thundered”[5] and specifically identified several ministers as being among the “characters the most conspicuous, the most ardent, and influential” in the “awakening and a revival of American principles and feelings” that led to American independence.[6]

 

Across subsequent generations, the great and positive influence of the Revolutionary clergy was faithfully reported. For example:

 

As a body of men, the clergy were pre-eminent in their attachment to liberty. The pulpits of the land rang with the notes of freedom.[7] The American Quarterly Register [MAGAZINE], 1833

 

If Christian ministers had not preached and prayed, there might have been no revolution as yet – or had it broken out, it might have been crushed.[8] Bibliotheca Sacra [BRITISH PERIODICAL], 1856

 

The ministers of the Revolution were, like their Puritan predecessors, bold and fearless in the cause of their country. No class of men contributed more to carry forward the Revolution and to achieve our independence than did the ministers. . . . [B]y their prayers, patriotic sermons, and services [they] rendered the highest assistance to the civil government, the army, and the country.[9] B. F. Morris, HISTORIAN, 1864

 

The Constitutional Convention and the written Constitution were the children of the pulpit.[10] Alice Baldwin, HISTORIAN, 1918

 

Had ministers been the only spokesman of the rebellion – had Jefferson, the Adamses, and [James] Otis never appeared in print – the political thought of the Revolution would have followed almost exactly the same line. . . . In the sermons of the patriot ministers . . . we find expressed every possible refinement of the reigning political faith.[11] Clinton Rossiter, HISTORIAN, 1953

 

The American clergy were faithful exponents of the fullness of God’s Word, applying its principles to every aspect of life, thus shaping America’s institutes and culture. They were also at the forefront of proclaiming liberty, resisting tyranny, and opposing any encroachments on God-given rights and freedoms. In 1898, Methodist bishop and church historian Charles Galloway rightly observed of these ministers:

 

Mighty men they were, of iron nerve and strong hand and unblanched cheek and heart of flame. God needed not reeds shaken by the wind, not men clothed in soft raiment [Matthew 11:7-8], but heroes of hardihood and lofty courage. . . . And such were the sons of the mighty who responded to the Divine call.[12]

 

But the ministers during the Revolutionary period were not necessarily unique; they were simply continuing what ministers had been doing to shape American government and culture in the century and a half preceding the Revolution.

 

It is in that vein of thought that I approach my message for today, reacting to a common but erroneous sentiment that is making its way through social media. Specifically, it is the notion that when there are terrible environmental catastrophes in the form of oil spills in the Gulf of Mexico and lead poisoning in the Detroit, Michigan city water supply, of what real concern should it be to us who uses what bathroom at Target? As a member of the Black Robe Regiment, I recognize my duty to speak out as a minister of the Gospel about social concerns that bear directly on our efforts to reach the lost for Christ. This is sometimes necessary when dealing with people who are gullible, people who are susceptible, people who are vulnerable, people who are not well-informed, and people who are the targets of a malicious and sophisticated propaganda campaign conducted to stifle opposition to the evil designs of the wicked.

My authority for making such statements are found in God’s Word. I begin with First John 5.19, in which is declared the evil intentions of the entire world system that controls so much of mankind, with the Apostle John’s inspired words:

 

“the whole world lieth in wickedness.”

 

The problem with most people has to do with their evil and easily manipulated thoughts. Paul likens the minds of the unsaved to a strong fortress that resists the truth, in Second Corinthians 10.4-6, unsaved men’s thoughts being described as strongholds against God’s truth, imaginations that are exalted against the knowledge of God, and an overarching tendency toward disobedience. Then, of course, there are Paul’s warnings to Timothy in First Timothy 4.1-2, referring to those who falsely profess faith in Christ, which reads,

 

1      Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;

2      Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.

 

As you might imagine, most people are determined to resist the truth and cling to lies, some for a while seem to embrace the truth but then succumb to the false claims of unsubstantiated propaganda, and some few are as yet undecided. They are exposed to the lies and have access to the truth, but have not yet recognized that the vast majority of those who have and who express their opinions are quite simply wrong. The things I am about to say represent a world view. Not everyone who shares my worldview is a Christian. As well, not everyone who opposes my world view is an unbeliever. However, the overwhelming majority of the Gospel ministers of whom I am aware, and of those who both observe and communicate in writing who embrace the truth that God is, are in agreement with my observations and conclusions.

Allow me to make rather general comments under three headings:

 

First, WITH REGARD TO THE MATERIAL VERSUS THE MORAL

 

When someone thinks that it is ridiculous to concern yourself with something so trivial as which bathroom a guy born a man uses to relieve himself while thousands of barrels of oil are spilling into the Gulf of Mexico, that someone has identified himself as one who either cannot or does not distinguish between the material and the moral.

Man-made environmental catastrophes occur, and they are tragic in their impact on the environment, plants and animals that are affected, and the lives of countless numbers whose livelihoods are endangered by what has taken place. However, the question that needs to be asked is whether or not an environmental catastrophe is always a moral tragedy as well as a material tragedy. Some are obviously persuaded that nothing about the coal industry is moral, nothing about the petroleum industry is moral, nothing about the chemical industry is moral, nothing about the pharmaceutical industry is moral, nothing about the timber industry is moral, nothing about the nuclear power industry is moral, and on it goes. They point to the damage resulting from oil spills, the damage resulting from smog in large cities and lives lost in coal mining accidents, the damage that is done by chemical contamination, the damage done to individuals by drugs and vaccines produced by pharmaceutical companies, ecological damage resulting from timber company practices, and the danger resulting from nuclear power. May I agree with you that whenever a catastrophe occurs that is the result of intentional and malicious wrongdoing it is a moral issue? However, as a former engineer, may I suggest to you that some things are accidents, are unpredictable, and the fault of no one? Prosecute violators of the law. Sue those whose malpractice can be established. But recognize that sometimes terrible things are simply accidents resulting from big attempts to do great things that are beneficial to mankind when what is planned goes according to plan. And sometimes stuff just happens. Did you know that when explorers sailed into what we know as the Los Angeles South Bay, they saw the entire region of what is now the city of Los Angeles covered in a brown cloud of smog resulting from a mixture of methane gas from the La Brea tar pits and Native American campfire smoke?[13] So, do we blame the primitives for the smog hung over prehistorical Los Angeles? And do we discount the lives saved by vaccines, by warmth produced by coal and electricity, by fresh food made possible by coal and petroleum fueling our transportation infrastructure, by refrigeration that would be impossible without coal, oil, or nuclear power plants that keep food unspoiled? How about wood from forests that we use to build our houses and synthetics from oil that cloth our bodies? How did you get to Church this morning after you ate the food you had stored in your refrigerator? Probably a gasoline powered automobile, or an electric car that was charged with electricity generated by a coal-fired power plant, using batteries manufactured from materials removed from a mine that causes far greater damage to the environment than any oil well.

In addition to what are termed man-made environmental catastrophes that are traceable to the consequences of human engineering, be it mining engineering, nuclear engineering, civil engineering, chemical engineering, aeronautical and aerospace engineering, and industrial engineering, some tragic catastrophes occur without any known provocation by human technology. They are termed natural environmental catastrophes.

Consider a few of the many known environmental catastrophes, not those imagined by scientists as a way of hypothesizing why dinosaurs are now extinct:

 

 

Would you dare to compare the relative sizes and destructive consequences of man-made catastrophes to these natural environmental catastrophes? Man at his worst cannot compete with natural occurrences for the damage that is caused.

And then there are the moral catastrophes. I refer, of course, to abortions that kill millions of the unborn, and to human trafficking that produces the molestations and rapes of unnumbered boys and girls. I refer to drugs and prostitution, to drunkenness and theft, to dishonesty, divorce, and the breakdown of the family unit. You might be relatively unconcerned about the horrors associated with children born out of wedlock, with boys pretending to be girls, with girls pretending to be boys, with men identifying as women and using restroom facilities with girls and women. You might think global warming concerns are far more important than men wearing women’s panties. However, you who think that way are so very shortsighted. You see, it does not matter at all what you or I think. What matters is what God thinks. And God does not want people having sex who are not married, or men wearing women’s attire, or women dressing like men, or confusion reigning with respect to sexual identity.[17] That which is material matters to God, but not nearly so much as that which is moral matters to God.

 

Next, THE REDS AND THE GREENS

 

Are you familiar with the political terms red and green? The late Tim Russert wrought confusion on American politics when he arbitrarily ignored a century of American and European political shorthand by calling Republicans red and Democrats blue during the 2000 presidential election cycle.[18] Before that leftists and communists self-identified as red and conservatives self-identified as blue.[19] The military organization formed by Leon Trotsky to protect the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was called the Red Army. The Soviet Union’s flag and Communist China’s flags were red because red was always the internationally recognized color of leftists, socialists, and communists.

I mention the color red and its association with communism because the most environmentally irresponsible regimes in human history have been communist regimes. Look at the record of pollution in Communist countries, from the Chernobyl nuclear power plant disaster[20] to the devastating pollution taking place in China down to this day.[21] I am not suggesting that only communist countries are guilty of pollution. I am suggesting that the worst of the polluters have always been communist countries and that totalitarian regimes of every stripe are notorious for their refusal to address environmental concerns.

However, the specific point that I seek to make at this time, especially to those so naive as to believe the propaganda about man-made global warming and the vitriol spewed against big corporations has to do with who is pointing the fingers of accusation? Who are these environmentalists? Interestingly, many of those groups originally founded by the environmentally conscientious decades ago have now been taken over by a subsequent generation of political rather than environmental activists. Consider just one example, the most well-known of the environmental activist organizations, Greenpeace. Its founder has resigned and now repudiates Greenpeace because of its alarming change of direction.[22] I began to notice this kind of thing after the fall of the Soviet Union and observed that an astonishing number of communists and communist sympathizers had jumped on the environmentalist bandwagon, not because of any concern for the environment, but to use environmental fears as the newest tool with which to control the population after failing in their attempts using communist doctrine. The one primary characteristic of modern-day environmentalism is its insistence on eliminating personal property rights, a carryover from their communist days and the belief that private ownership and control of property interferes with the government’s control of the individual. This is why the old pinks and reds have become the new greens. Hello, Al Gore. Hello, Leonardo DiCaprio. Hello, Robert Redford.[23] Beware. Why beware? Because God’s Word establishes the importance of the private ownership and control of property as a means of demonstrating one’s stewardship of God’s blessings.

 

Finally, SUSTAINABILITY VERSUS SCRIPTURE

 

The word sustainability is a popular word among environmentalists these days, and reflects the secular notion that this world has been around a long, long time, and we need to take care of it because we plan on being here a whole lot longer.[24] Really? I have no issue at all with anyone who favors responsible stewardship and care for our environment, but I take serious issue with the notion that we have lived on this planet for a long, long time, and we need to make sure we can continue living on it for a long, long time. That view does not fit what science shows, and it does not agree with what my Bible tells me. This planet is less than 10,000 years old according to many objective criteria and a normal reading of God’s Word.[25] What does this mean for the Christian? It means God has assigned to us the responsibility to exercise responsible stewardship over this world, with the word dominion used by God in Genesis 1.26 having the force of exercising rule.[26] Thus, while the atheists and other unbelievers are concerned about sustainability for millions of years, my concern is about responsible stewardship until the Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

And when the Lord Jesus Christ comes again prophecy foretells that He will come after a series of environmental catastrophes unlike any this world has seen since the Flood in Noah’s day. Look at a few verses with me that describe events following the Rapture:

 

Revelation 6.6:   “And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.”

 

A measure is one person’s food needs for a day, with a penny being a day’s wages. So the cost of food skyrockets, while the price of [olive] oil and wine (consumed by the wealthy) remains unchanged. It will be manipulated inflation of food prices after the Rapture and before Christ returns.

 

Revelation 6.8:   “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

 

Violence toward others and starvation will result in the loss of life for one-fourth of mankind. That will be roughly two billion dead to start things off.

 

Revelation 6.12-17: 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;

13    And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.

14    And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

15    And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;

16    And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17    For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

 

How does your Gulf oil spill compare with this? How does a chemical plant malfunction compare with this? This is not a description of either a natural catastrophe or a man-made catastrophe, but a God-caused catastrophe.

 

Revelation 8.7-13:  7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

8      And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

9      And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

10    And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;

11    And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

12    And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

13    And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!

 

Revelation 9.18-21: 18  By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.

19    For their power is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.

20    And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

21    Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.

 

I have obviously skipped over large portions of Scripture. But the reason is to focus on why one-third of men are killed, with previously one-fourth of the population dying, to take note of how those who are not killed will react, verses 20-21. They will not repent of their idolatry, or their murders, or their sorceries, or their sex sins, or their thievery. These environmental debacles will not be the result of environmental irresponsibility, but the wrath of God being visited upon the human race for immoralities such as idolatry, theft, drugs, murder, and sex sins of all kinds. We haven’t the time to read Revelation chapter 16, where is predicted grievous sores, every living thing in the oceans dying, the water in the oceans and in all the fresh water streams becoming as blood, the Euphrates River drying up, the most powerful earthquake that’s ever been, cities being destroyed, and a great plague of hail. Yet for all that men will not repent of their sins.

And then, beginning in Revelation 19.11, the Lord Jesus Christ comes to slay every unbeliever still alive. The greatest environmental catastrophe the world has seen since Noah’s Flood, in which some four billion people will die from starvation, disease, murder, and who knows what else, will be nothing more than a prelude to the King of Kings coming to execute wrath and judgment upon an unbelieving and Christ denying world.

 

The really big picture, taking into account what the Word of God tells us about the end times, and what will happen after the Rapture and before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, kinda puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? For all their screaming and yelling about the bathroom rights of a few twisted sisters, while ignoring the safety and security of tens of millions of innocent little girls, it is good to have a handle on the moral issues that God cares about.

While it is true that we are supposed to exercise good stewardship over God’s creation, stewardship is best exercised individually rather than corporately or under the hobnail boot of a government bureaucrat who thinks nothing of depriving you of your God-given property rights. As well, it really does matter who uses what bathroom. It really does matter how someone born a little boy identifies sexually as an adult. And parents who are not alarmed by what is happening in department stores, what is being taught in public school classrooms, and what their children are exposed to on daily basis, are guilty of parental malpractice.

That is why I applaud parents who homeschool to protect their children, who enroll their youngsters in a Christian school to protect their children, and who are all over what is taught to their children as well as the character of their children’s teachers and who know what they must do if they choose to enroll their kids in government schools.

Most teachers are not the wonderful Christians we know who teach in public schools, so parents need to get all over the situation to find out what their kids’ teachers think about gender identification, and what they think about same-sex marriage, and what they think about homosexuality and Lesbianism. Am I suggesting that you be unkind or disrespectful to anyone? Not at all. But you cannot counter how a public school teacher indoctrinates your son if you do not know what she believes or where she stands on important moral matters. It is one thing when your child is taught global warming hysteria by someone who doesn’t know better while John Coleman, the founder of the Weather Channel, says man-made climate change is a myth.[27] However, it is another thing when a mental misfit disagrees with God by claiming that exposing children to sexually confused adults poses no risk to them and that parents are not negligent who are not alarmed by such things.

Beloved, Jesus Christ is coming again. I know not when, but I do understand that we are to occupy until He arrives on the scene.[28] You cannot occupy if you are not saved yourself. You do not occupy if you do not protect your children. And you will not protect your children if your beliefs and values are not informed by God’s Word. I am concerned for the children whose parents basically agree with the unsaved propagandists of this world. I am concerned for the children whose parents do not bring them to Church whenever possible. I am concerned for the children whose parents do not stand against the prevailing errors of the day at home, speaking openly, speaking frequently, and speaking against the erroneous and unscriptural propaganda their kids are exposed to.

I greatly fear for a child who is raised in the kind of home I was raised in, whose mother did not read the Bible to me, whose mother did not pray with me, whose mother did not take me to Church when my dad could not or would not. In Luke 18.8 the Lord Jesus Christ asked, “when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

   Moms? If the answer to that question depended entirely and only on your actions with your children, what would the answer be?

Dads? If the answer to that question depended entirely and only on your actions with your children, what would the answer be?

__________

[1] Boston Gazette, December 7, 1772, article by “Israelite,” and Boston Weekly Newsletter, January 11, 1776, article by Peter Oliver, British official. See also Peter Oliver, Peter Oliver’s Origin & Progress of the American Rebellion, Douglas Adair and John A. Schutz, editors (San Marino California: The Huntington Library, 1961), pp. 29, 41-45; Carl Bridenbaugh, Mitre and Sceptre (New York: Oxford University Press, 1962), p. 334; and Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American Revolution (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1958), pp. 98, 155.

[2] Alpheus Packard, “Nationality,” Bibliotheca Sacra and American Biblical Repository (London: Andover: Warren F. Draper, 1856), Vol. XIII p.193, Article VI. See also Benjamin Franklin Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 334-335.

[3] Introductory material obtained from http://nationalblackroberegiment.com/history-of-the-black-robe-regiment/   5/26/16

[4] Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American Revolution (New York: Frederick Ungar, 1958), p. 170.

[5] John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James Brown, 1851), Vol. III, p. 476, “The Earl of Clarendon to William Pym,” January 20, 1766.

[6] John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1850), Vol. X, p. 284, to Hezekiah Niles, February 13, 1818. See also John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co., 1856), Vol. X, pp. 271-272, letter to William Wirt, January 5, 1818.

[7] “History of Revivals of Religion, From the Settlement of the Country to the Present Time,” The American Quarterly Register, (Boston: Perkins and Marvin, 1833) Vol. 5, p. 217. See also Benjamin Franklin Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 334-335.

[8] Alpheus Packard, “Nationality,” Bibliotheca Sacra and American Biblical Repository (London: Andover: Warren F. Draper, 1856), Vol. XIII p.193, Article VI. See also Benjamin Franklin Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 334-335.

[9] Benjamin Franklin Morris, Christian Life and Character of the Civil Institutions of the United States (Philadelphia: George W. Childs, 1864), pp. 334-335.

[10] Alice M. Baldwin, The New England Clergy and the American Revolution (New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 1958), p. 134.

[11] Clinton Rossiter, Seedtime of the Republic (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1953), pp. 328-329.

[12] Charles B. Galloway, Christianity and the American Commonwealth (Nashville, TN: Publishing House Methodist Episcopal Church, 1898), p. 77.

[13] From a lecture I overheard while enrolled at Oregon State University.

[14] http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/pompeii_portents_01.shtml 5/27/16

[15] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krakatoa 5/27/16

[16] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pinatubo 5/27/16

[17] Deuteronomy 22.5

[18] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17079-2004Nov1.html/ 5/27/16

[19] http://www.ibtimes.com/why-color-red-associated-communism-295185 5/27/16

[20] http://www.livescience.com/39961-chernobyl.html 5/27/16

[21] http://www.cfr.org/china/chinas-environmental-crisis/p12608 5/27/16

[22] Beginning at the two minute mark of the video http://www.cfr.org/china/chinas-environmental-crisis/p12608

[23] https://www.biggreenradicals.com/nrdcs-big-green-hypocrites/ 5/28/16

[24] https://www.epa.gov/sustainability 5/27/16

[25] Harold S. Slusher and Stephen J. Robertson, (El Cajon, CA: Institute For Creation Research, Revised 1982), John D. Morris, The Young Earth, (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, Inc., 1994), Larry Vardiman, Sea-Floor Sediment And The Age Of The Earth, (El Cajon, CA: Institute For Creation Research, 1996), Don DeYoung, Thousands Not Billions, (Green Forest, AR: Master Books, Inc., 2005)

[26] Francis Brown, S. R. Driver & Charles A. Briggs, The New Brown-Driver-Briggs-Gesenius Hebrew And English Lexicon, (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1979), pages 921-922, and Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis - The JPS Torah Commentary, (Philadelphia, PA: The Jewish Publication Society, 1989), pages 12-13.

[27] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/28/weather-channel-founder-global-warming-myth_n_6060734.html 5/27/16

[28] Luke 19.13

Would you like to contact Dr. Waldrip about this sermon? Please contact him by clicking on the link below. Please do not change the subject within your email message. Thank you.

Pastor@CalvaryRoadBaptist.Church