If you have ever read the dystopian novel by George Orwell Nineteen Eighty-Four (which appeared in 1949), and wondered what it would be like to live in such horrific days, well you need no longer wonder. We are basically now living in those days.
Many of the things Orwell warned about are quickly coming to pass – not just in communist countries which he had in mind, but now in the West. The oppressive political correctness where not only actions but thoughts are punished is now happening all over the Western world.
About the only thing he did not foresee was how much of the ugly persecution and crackdowns would be coming at the hands of the militant homosexual agenda. They are perfectly fitting in with the vicious totalitarian government Orwell wrote about.
Only yesterday I documented yet three more cases of the pink mafia in action: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2013/01/10/the-war-against-faith-and-family-continues-unabated/
Yet that piece is already out of date with another glaring example of the Big Brother activists at work. Many of you know about American pastor Louie Giglio. He is known by millions for his amazing talks testifying to the greatness of God. I earlier wrote about one of his amazing videos: https://billmuehlenberg.com/2008/05/15/a-review-of-how-great-is-our-god-by-louie-giglio/
Yet for daring to have once spoken out on homosexuality, giving the biblical message on this issue, all hell has now broken out. Let me offer several news items on this. Fox News puts it this way: “A Georgia pastor selected to deliver the benediction during President Obama’s inauguration has pulled out of the ceremony after comments surfaced in which he described homosexuality as a ‘sin.’ The Rev. Louie Giglio, pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta, was announced as part of the inauguration program on Tuesday. But the website ThinkProgress subsequently published a lengthy sermon of Giglio’s from the ‘90s.
“In the sermon, he purportedly said: ‘If you look at the counsel of the word of God, Old Testament, New Testament, you come quickly to the conclusion that homosexuality is not an alternate lifestyle… homosexuality is not just a sexual preference, homosexuality is not gay, but homosexuality is sin. It is sin in the eyes of God, and it is sin according to the word of God. You come to only one conclusion: homosexuality is less than God’s best for his creation.’ Giglio, under fire by gay-rights groups, announced Thursday he was withdrawing from the Jan. 21 inauguration.”
But was it just a case of withdrawing, or being pushed? Another report has this more accurate headline: “Pastor Disinvited from Giving Inaugural Prayer Because of Sermon on Homosexuality”. It begins: “Louie Giglio, pastor of Passion City Church in Atlanta and founder of the Passion Conferences, an organization that brings college students together in prayer and worship, was selected by President Obama to deliver the benediction at his inaugural this month. He was disinvited, though, after it was discovered he had delivered a sermon about homosexuality in the mid-1990s.”
It continues, “According to Addie Whisenant, the spokeswoman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, ‘Pastor Giglio was asked to deliver the benediction in large part for his leadership in combating human trafficking around the world.’ But criticism over the selection came after the liberal website Think Progress posted audio of a sermon that Giglio gave in the mid-1990s….
“Think Progress described the sermon as ‘vehemently anti-gay’, a sentiment that seems to be shared by the White House. As Whisenant added, the inauguration committee was ‘not aware of Pastor Giglio’s past comments at the time of his selection and they don’t reflect our desire to celebrate the strength and diversity of our country at this Inaugural’.”
It concludes, “Several commenters raised questions about whether the use of the term ‘disinvited’ in the title was accurate. I’ll let the reader decide, but here is a quote from the New York Times that sheds some light on the issue: ‘People familiar with internal discussions between administration and committee officials said the White House viewed the selection as a problem for Mr. Obama, and told the panel on Wednesday night to quickly fix it. By Thursday morning, Mr. Giglio said he had withdrawn’.”
As Al Mohler rightly says, all this is really just “Moral McCarthyism”. He writes, “[The Whisenant] statement is, in effect, an embarrassed apology for having invited Louie Giglio in the first place. Whisenant’s statement apologizes for the Presidential Inaugural Committee’s failure to make certain that their selection had never, at any time, for any reason, believed that homosexuality is less than a perfectly acceptable lifestyle. The committee then promised to repent and learn from their failure, committing to select a replacement who would ‘reflect this administration’s vision of inclusion and acceptance.’
“The imbroglio over Louie Giglio is the clearest evidence of the new Moral McCarthyism of our sexually ‘tolerant’ age. During the infamous McCarthy hearings, witnesses would be asked, ‘Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party?’
“In the version now to be employed by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, the question will be: ‘Are you now or have you ever been one who believes that homosexuality (or bisexuality, or transsexualism, etc.) is anything less than morally acceptable and worthy of celebration?’”
Yes exactly right. He continues, “The Presidential Inaugural Committee and the White House have now declared historic, biblical Christianity to be out of bounds, casting it off the inaugural program as an embarrassment. By its newly articulated standard, any preacher who holds to the faith of the church for the last 2,000 years is persona non grata. By this standard, no Roman Catholic prelate or priest can participate in the ceremony. No Evangelical who holds to biblical orthodoxy is welcome. The vast majority of Christians around the world have been disinvited. Mormons, and the rabbis of Orthodox Judaism are out. Any Muslim imam who could walk freely in Cairo would be denied a place on the inaugural program. Billy Graham, who participated in at least ten presidential inaugurations is welcome no more. Rick Warren, who incited a similar controversy when he prayed at President Obama’s first inauguration, is way out of bounds. In the span of just four years, the rules are fully changed.
“The gauntlet was thrown down yesterday, and the axe fell today. Wayne Besen, founder of the activist group Truth Wins Out, told The New York Times yesterday: ‘It is imperative that Giglio clarify his remarks and explain whether he has evolved on gay rights, like so many other faith and political leaders. It would be a shame to select a preacher with backward views on LBGT people at a moment when the nation is rapidly moving forward on our issues.’
“And there you have it — anyone who has ever believed that homosexuality is morally problematic in any way must now offer public repentance and evidence of having ‘evolved’ on the question. This is the language that President Obama used of his own ‘evolving’ position on same-sex marriage. This is what is now openly demanded of Christians today. If you want to avoid being thrown off the program, you had better learn to evolve fast, and repent in public.
“This is precisely what biblical Christians cannot do. While seeking to be gentle in spirit and ruthlessly Gospel-centered in speaking of any sin, we cannot cease to speak of sin as sin. To do so is not only to deny the authority of Scripture, not only to reject the moral consensus of the saints, but it undermines the Gospel itself. The Gospel makes no sense, and is robbed of its saving power, if sin is denied as sin.
“An imbroglio is a painful and embarrassing conflict. The imbroglio surrounding Louie Giglio is not only painful, it is revealing. We now see the new Moral McCarthyism in its undisguised and unvarnished reality. If you are a Christian, get ready for the question you will now undoubtedly face: ‘Do you now or have you ever believed that homosexuality is a sin?’ There is nowhere to hide.”
Big Brother is now upon us. And the leading movers and shakers in all this are the militant homosexual activists and all their groupies in government, law, politics, the media and in education. George Orwell would be shuddering to see the extent of pink totalitarianism.
And it will only be getting worse, unless we stand up and start doing something about it.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/01/10/pastor-withdraws-from-obama-inauguration-after-sermon-on-homosexuality-surfaces/?test=latestnews
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2013/01/10/pastor-disinvited-from-giving-inaugural-prayer-because-of-sermon-on-homosexuality/
http://www.albertmohler.com/2013/01/10/the-giglio-imbroglio-the-public-inauguration-of-a-new-moral-mccarthyism/
[1391 words]