Behold the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off.

Romans 11:22, ESV (modification mine)

Last year, in 2019, my ‘State of Apologetics’ focused on the continuity of our duty as Christians to keep doing what we’ve been doing for 2000 years since King Jesus came into the world. Now that 2020 is nearing the end (of all things?), I cannot tell you (with any confidence) that I foresaw these events that have unfolded since last November. Yes, the world had changed from 2009 to 2019… but the amount of change that has occurred in the world during 2020 is nothing short of spectacular and unprecedented!

Since November of 2019, President Donald Trump was impeached by the Democrat controlled House of Representatives but was not removed from office due to the Senate being controlled by the Republican Party. When 2020 and the State of the Union happened this year, the world was still consumed by the impeachment of Donald Trump and the impending Democratic nominee being declared for the November 3rd Presidential election just around the corner. Then on March 11, 2020, the entire world changed. The World Health Organization declared the most unprecedented pandemic of our lifetimes, even more dramatic than the H1N1 scare a decade earlier. Immediately after declaring the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic, the 2020 shutdowns began. China – where the virus originated – had already started their own lockdown, but because of their negligence to share what they knew about this particularly nasty form of Coronavirus, it had already spread far and wide across the globe. The United States had already shut down travel from China in January (hoping to control the spread), but as time progressed infection rates rose in both Europe, North America and abroad… leading to global economic and social lockdowns everywhere the virus went. But this was just the beginning…

May 25th came and the killing of a black man (George Floyd) occurred in Minneapolis, MN, at the hands of law enforcement. Due to the use of counterfeit money, the convenience store Floyd had visited called police to report the use of fake money and police responded while Floyd was still sitting in his vehicle. In standard procedure, Police were able to detain him and began to investigate what had occurred at the store. But instead of remaining a calm interaction, Americans witnessed the video footage of onlookers showing a distraught Floyd crying out that he could not breath while the arresting officer continued to keep Floyd pinned to the ground with a knee to Floyd’s neck. George Floyd eventually died on the scene and the video footage went viral on the Internet. News media outlets decried the abuse of the arresting officers who did nothing to alleviate Floyd’s suffocation while he cried on the ground and this single event lit the fire that has become known as the George Floyd protests of 2020. These protests (and riots) have not yet ceased (as of the writing of this entry) and new deaths refuel the protesting and rioting as black Americans are killed (even in justified police responses) due to violent encounters that result in lethal force. To organize these protests and riots, two primary anarchist groups in America – Antifa (meaning antifascist) and Black Lives Matter (BLM) – have vowed “no justice, no peace” until major structural change occurs in cities and states where policing and the use of force continue to lead to black indivudals being severaly harmed or killed in the process. And if we thought the pandemic was bad in March, none of us had seen anything yet: Cities set on fire, local stores pillaged, and violent fights against police and security forces filled the streets of many major cities. Everything was suddenly up for grabs and government monuments and buildings were decried by protestors as symbols at the heart of ‘systemic’ racism – which they say is the entire American system. America had reached a tipping point with “anti-racist” rhetoric claiming that the American system was inherently and systemically RACIST.

I can testify today that the combination of COVID-19 state and local shutdowns with all the race riots and protests has become more than many people can stand. Groups seeking to protect their community businesses have formed in America. Individuals, who never believed they would have to own a gun, have purchased guns and ammo to the point that even the supplies to reload your own ammo casings are not plentiful enough to buy anymore. As of the end of October 2020, businesses in major cities are boarding up their store fronts to protect from the anticipated rioting and looting to come if the election is undecided or, especially, if President Trump wins again. Even the White House is erecting a ‘non-scalable fence’ around its perimeter and we are about to find out just how serious these anarchist and revolutionary groups are, come the week of November 3rd.

All this leads us to the question… what is the state of Christianity and the discipline of Apologetics in 2020? Given the purpose and meaning of the word, Apologetics deals with a wide variety of areas: philosophy, worldview, world religions, cults, etc… But I must say that this year, 2020, has presented us with new challenges to the Faith that we have never experienced in our lifetime. The following are the primary challenges that I believe Christians face in the West, particularly America, as 2020 nears an end:

1. Critical Theory and Intersectionality
2. Widespread Cultural Apostasy
3. Political and Social Pressure

Critical Theory and Intersectionality

Critical Theory and Intersectionality (CTI) have been described as Cultural Marxism and movements like Black Lives Matter stand as exemplary CTI organizations. They have even given a formal confession of faith that is blatantly atheistic and secular in worldview and communist in political and social ideology. (Note that the link above to the statement of beliefs is an Internet archive because BLM removed it due to public concerns and opposition narratives that were working against their goals – but that is still what they believe.) These various forms of Cultural Marxism are not simply staying “out there” in the culture. Instead, they are entering the church and doing what genuine heresy always does – divide. The divisions have been forming for years now with a slow march of infection, but now that we are in 2020 and have witnessed the new race riots and protests, those heresy preachers of this Neo Marxist doctrine of Critical Theory have come out loudly and boldly to be seen by everyone. After eight years of President Obama laying the groundwork for ‘oppressed’ minorities to become ’empowered’ by his high-handed affirmation of LGBTQ rights and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the mainstream media and mainstream denominations in America have embraced it, without any caution. And as of 2020, faithful denominations (like the one I belong to) are being forced into compromise and fence sitting to try and keep their public face while maintaining the namesakes of the institutions and buildings that have ‘racist’ founders who either owned slaves or formed fellowships due to the American Civil War between the North and the South. The genuine propensity for further divisions to form in already small denominations – that decades ago broke away from the liberal mainstream – stands to weaken the remaining faithful churches and make Christians in America even more irrelevant in the culture wars of the 21st Century. This issue stands to be the most prominent issue in Christian Apologetics for at least a decade to come.

Widespread Cultural Apostasy

The question of whether “Cultural Christianity” is a good thing or a bad thing has been highly debated over the decades, but it was this past decade (the 2010s) that resulted in a watershed moment for Christians in America as census data and polling research found a rapid drop of 12% in the number of total Christians in the United States. As of 2020, the percentage of Americans identifying as Christian stands near 60% of the population. This smaller majority presses faithful Christians further and further towards the proximity of cultural minority status in a society who’s founding documents depend fundamentally on a theistic, Christian worldview and covenantal structure of society. Is it any wonder that the cultural revolutionaries are calling for the end of the Constitution and Bill of Rights as outdated documents for a 21st Century world full of ‘progress’ and technological advances that make them ‘obsolete’? America’s Christian heritage is being lost at light speed and unless the culture remains broadly Christian, the fate of America as a Constitutional Republic will remain in question for years to come due to a society that no longer holds to the worldview that produced it. The loss of this seemingly innocuous thing called ‘Cultural Christianity’ will be revealed as something much more devastating to American than those, who are happy to see it go, will ever admit. As it pertains to Christian Apologetics, this new cultural context presents a much harder path to live faithfully as a Christian in a society that no longer understands or sympathizes with our worldview and lifestyle commitments. Thus, “defending the faith” will be one of the most important disciplines in support of Gospel living and evangelism in a post-2020 American landscape. But even more than a mere discipline, the greatest challenge will be this: Can we successfully use Apologetics to save fellow Christians in our circles from mass cultural apostasy? An apostasy that is growing at a faster rate than any of us alive today have ever witnessed.

Political & Social Pressures

I end with this final challenge to Christian Apologetics in the year 2020. Buffeted by the winds of apostasy and Cultural Marxism, it has never been more apparent to me that the original, New Testament context of doing apologetics will become a reality for Christians in America at some point this next decade. Barring a massive revival here in the States, serious forms of slander and persecution will be seen over the next 10 years if the society continues to reject America as a Constitutional Republic and a majority of the society embraces a dominant, secular religion and culture. Why do I say this? Because Christianity as a religious and cultural minority is the very context in which the Apostles wrote their letters to Christian churches in the Roman Empire nearly 2000 years ago. The Apostle Peter wrote the primary text for doing Apologetics in the following cultural setting (note the underlined):

To those who are elect exiles of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia…

Who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil…

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

1 Peter 1:1; 3:13–17; 4:12-17 ESV

I end now with the promise of judgment that I began with. If it is true that we are to “Behold the kindness and severity of God” (Romans 11:22), then it also stands that God’s judgement begins with us. Regardless of what happens in 2020, regardless of who is elected as President of the United States, regardless of how many leave the Faith over the next decade… God calls all his people to a fundamental devotion: Faith in Jesus Christ and his Kingdom. No matter the cost, no matter the danger, no matter the division, no matter the fairness… every one of us will be called to persevere in the Faith until the end. Whether in peace or in persecution, whether in prosperity or famine, whether in Christian or Secular society… all of God’s chosen people will be tested and examined by our great King Jesus to see whether we are loyal to him and to his Kingdom. Therefore:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing… [for] blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him.

James 1:2-4,12 ESV

00:00 – The Chick-fil-A Debacle

Links:
Six Years In: Living With Lot Among The Sodomites
Chick-fil-A Foundation Announces 2020 Priorities
EXCLUSIVE: Chick-fil-A To Stop Donations To Anti-LGBT Charities

09:18 – Wilberforce Weekend 2020

Links:
Obianuju Ekeocha: Building a legacy of life, love, and laughter
Obianuju Ekeocha on BBC World News (2017)

13:09 – Transgender Issues Segment Begins

14:00 – ACLU Tweet

Links:
ALCU and International Men’s Day

20:26 – Revoice Conference and Dr. Karen Prior Seminary Hiring

Links:
Interview with Dr. Rosaria Butterfield
There Is No Peace article by Tom Ascol and Founders Ministry

30:38 – Pronoun Hospitality and the SBC President AMA

Links:
Southern Baptist president says he prefers to call transgender people by their chosen pronouns
When talking with a transgender person, which pronoun should you use?

It was June 27, 2013. Over six years ago I wrote my thoughts down about my first day of living in a Sodomite Nation. Many of us by now may have forgotten that before the decision of Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, there was the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and to uphold the lower court that declared California’s Ban on Same-Sex “marriage” (Proposition 8) to be unconstitutional. This happened on June 26, 2013. Therefore June 27, 2013, became the first official day that my entire nation would begin affirming and recognizing Same-Sex “marriage” on the Federal (national) level. It was the first day that law makers and defenders knew that State laws banning Same-Sex “marriage” would be struck down, ultimately leading to the inevitable events of the Obergefell decision two years later on that exact same day in 2015.

Now it is 2019 and this week many of us found out that Chick-fil-A’s 2020 charity foundation priority would be dropping support for all charities that had been labeled as “anti-LGBTQ” by activist organizations and would, instead, focus their support on only three charities rather than three hundred. But why is this significant you will ask in few years? Well, for anyone unfamiliar with Chick-fil-A’s storied history with the “gay marriage” debate, they were one of the last, major, American businesses to have “taken it on the chin” for supporting any groups who were opposed to the LGBTQ right agenda in the Western world. They had been banned from airports, they had their first store to open in the UK shut down after activists successfully protested during the location’s trial lease period, and I could go on. What once was simply the request to “marry” has now become the cancellation of more and more opportunities for any individual or business who will not celebrate and promote the LGBTQ way of life.

Make no mistakes. This is a war. The very soul of our own nation and all those within her is being fought state to state, business to business, person to person. This is not a neutral issue and it never will be. Just as “righteous Lot [was] greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard)” (2 Peter 2:7-8, ESV), we likewise who love Jesus feel the same distress and torment as our governments and businesses and families and friends corrupt themselves through greed and the abominable celebrations of the LGBTQ agenda. If you ever wondered how Lot must have felt, you are certainly able to empathize with him today in 2019 America.

Now, as I write this, I still leave room for Chick-fil-A to officially announce that they are not making any of these decisions on the basis of the activists and governments that have shut them out. But failing to gain any information from them, we all know how to add two and two together. As one Christian, cultural commentator noted on social media… when a company like Chick-fil-A states that they will be focusing on homelessness and they cut charitable giving to the Salvation Army for 2020, the LGBTQ activists get to run a victory lap for their bullying and aggression until Chick-fil-A either tells them to stop it or hands them some money to take victory photos at the headquarters. When a business like Chick-fil-A determines that they don’t need to publicly state that they have been wrongly labeled a hate group and, instead, tacitly offers those labeling them a hate group a public victory, the fight is either over or someone is really confused about the terms of the fight. It is similar to those politicians who said they were against “gay marriage” but, when asked personally, said that if a relative was having a same-sex “marriage” they would attend it rather than oppose it. The public fight is over once you are personally done with resisting it.

When a person, business, or government is no longer able to say that public wickedness, such as sodomy and other abominations, actually distress and torment their souls… the fight is over and they will just as soon join in the revelry as they would have spoken against it days before. Christians living in the Sodomite nation of America have to guard all of their life – from their personal liberties to their business and public affirmations and denials. As the satire website The Babylon Bee pointed out, the LGBTQ activists won’t leave Chick-fil-A alone until they give their entire company soul to celebrating and promoting every demand of the LGBTQ agenda. And while Christians will continue to enjoy the good food provided in their neighborhood Chick-fil-A, they must never let that food poison their conviction and their disgust of those who would openly revel in wickedness and promote abominations in their society and the world at large.

“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt; save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.” (Jude 20-23, ESV) Jesus’ brother, Jude, calls us to build ourselves up in our most holy Faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, always being prepared to show God’s mercy to those trapped in sexual sin as we preach the Gospel, while at the same time fearing God and hating the very garments stained by their sexual acts as they corrupt themselves in abominations. Why, you will ask? It is because once we stop fearing God or stop hating the abominations that God hates, none of us will last long when the sexual revolutionaries come to your business or your home and demand your compliance, and celebration, and cohabitation with their deeds. As Christians called to defend our most holy Faith, don’t give up the fight as others are doing and always be ready to give an answer for your hope in Jesus, even if you are living like Lot lived among the Sodomites.

Update 1: GLAAD says Chick-fil-A donation shift not enough – “In addition to refraining from financially supporting anti-LGBTQ organizations, Chick-Fil-A still lacks policies to ensure safe workplaces for LGBTQ employees and should unequivocally speak out against the anti-LGBTQ reputation that their brand represents.”

Update 2: Chick-fil-A denies capitulating to LGBT activists – “Our goal is to donate to the most effective organizations in the areas of education, homelessness and hunger. No organization will be excluded from future consideration – faith-based or non-faith based,” the spokesperson said, noting “I also wanted to add that Chick-fil-A will not be opening on Sundays.”

Update 3: The FAQ – Did the Chick-fil-A Foundation stop giving to those organizations because they were characterized as being “anti-LGBTQ groups”? – “When there is a tension, we want to make sure we’re being clear,” Tassopoulos said. “We think this is going to be helpful.” The initial reactions, though, have shown that the company is certainly not “being clear.”

Update 4: Covenant House Affirms LGBTQ Agenda – “It’s critical, then, that Covenant House, the largest provider of services to youth facing homelessness in the Americas, ensure that our houses are welcoming, affirming, and safe for LGBTQ youth and all youth experiencing homelessness. Across the Covenant House federation, which encompasses sites in 31 cities in six countries, we have taken and continue to take determined steps to secure just that.” (also note that Covenant House proudly participated in the NYC Pride Parade)

Update 5: Chick-fil-A and This Present World – “But this much I know: seven years ago Dan Cathy predicted “I think we are inviting God’s judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, ‘We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.’ And I pray God’s mercy on our generation that has such a prideful, arrogant attitude to think that we have the audacity to define what marriage is about.” Considering the moral boldness of that statement, compared to the moral wobbliness of that same company’s recent decision and the confusion it will surely create.”

Update 6: Chick-fil-A Sold Its Soul For Canadian Foothold – “One clue to a Chick-fil-A’s new direction was hiring Navigator, a powerful, international lobbying firm, as part of its expansion in Canada. Navigator, which has a Toronto office, is the ‘number one gay lobbying firm’ in Canada.”

So many things have changed. Technology, society, culture, denominations, jobs, friendships, communication. Since the Great Recession, roughly 10 years ago, I myself have changed. Lost my job, lost a daughter, lost some of my health… I’m sure I could go on…

But also in these last 10 years I’ve found a new job, I’m on the verge of adopting a new daughter with my wife and our other 3 children, still trying to figure out the healthy living… and yet through it all, I never lost my love for Apologetics. My love for Jesus, his kingdom, and his church remains steadfast by God’s grace alone. “Yahweh gives and Yahweh takes away, blessed be the name of Yahweh.” (Job 1:21, translation mine)

Yahweh gives and
Yahweh takes away,
blessed be the name of Yahweh.

Job 1:21, translation mine

In accordance with Apologetics, God gives the good gift of his word to his people and the answers we need are always found within it. The Christian Bible stands firm, in all its wonderful translations, and does not flinch when you come to it with questions. And those answers form the basis of all apologetic discourse for the Christian, who desires to say that “Jesus is Lord” and tell others that the whole goal of the creation is found only in him (1 Peter 3:15; Colossians 1:16). But is that old Bible still applicable today, they will ask. Can you really stand firm in what it says?

The world really has changed, hasn’t it? Here in the States, American society went from having our first black president to our first reality TV star being elected to the same high office. We went from merely tolerating sodomy to affirming sexual preference and gender identity as the unquestioned law and absolute rule over everyone in society. Every marriage is now a gay marriage, as far as the government is concerned. Freedom of speech and religious liberty are on the cusp of being ‘old fashioned’ and simply ‘outdated’ for modern American standards. They truly are on the chopping block of progressive history. Social Media went from being a cool new way to keep in touch with friends and share news and information, to being something that many believe shifted the outcome of our elections through ‘fake news’ and ‘foreign interference’. The world really has changed.

The world really has changed.
But God doesn’t change.
He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

But God doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Or as the preacher to the Hebrews tells us, “Jesus, the Messiah, is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore!” ( Hebrews 13:8, translation mine) Or as Buzz would tell us, “To infinity and beyond!” When the world and humanity are faithless, God remains faithful. (2 Timothy 2:13) And, as always, let God be true though every man a liar. (Romans 3:4)

The saying is trustworthy, for:
If we have died with him,
we will also live with him;
if we endure,
we will also reign with him;
if we deny him,
he also will deny us;
if we are faithless,
he remains faithful—
for he cannot deny himself.

2 Timothy 2:11-13, ESV Bible

Don’t shoot me, I’m only the messenger! Oh wait, that’s right, that’s why Jesus sent us out… “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” (Matthew 10:16, ESV) “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you… If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.” (John 15:18-20, ESV) Unlike the prosperity ‘gospel’ preachers (who really have no good news, except for the money they can put in their bank while their hearers lay unconscious on the ground), faithful Christians know what God has called them to and that our calling is irrevocable and full of glory beyond all comparison! (2 Corinthians 4:17)

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18, ESV Bible

We were made for moments like these. When the world feels like it built all its foundations on sinking sand (due to ‘man-made’ climate change, of course) and they are all convinced that they can save their sinking ship by using bio-degradable duct tape and spare baby parts… Christians remain firm in their faith, built on the reign of King Jesus, who sits in the heavens and laughs, holding them all in derision. (Psalm 2:4) No matter the cost, no matter the consequence, Christians around the world stand ready to give an answer for why they have any hope at all, and particularly, why they have all their hope in this man named Jesus of Nazareth, the son of David, the son of God, who died and was buried, but is alive never to die again.

So what is the state of Apologetics in 2019? Well, it really is no different than it was 1000 years ago or 2000 years ago… it really is no different than it was when Seth was born after Cain killed Abel, or Harry met Sally, or Bob Ross taught all of us that everyone can learn to paint. The Scripture says:

But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

1 Peter 3:14-17, ESV Bible

And that is where I will leave you. Doing the same thing Christians have been doing for the past 2000 years. Apologetics is a simple discipline, with a big thirst for God’s word and a big heart for loving the world, even while the world hates you. Don’t be surprised when the trial comes upon you, to test you, as though something odd were afoot… instead Rejoice! Rejoice in the fact that you are sharing in the sufferings of Jesus and that this is full proof that you belong to him and are filled with the Spirit of Glory. (1 Peter 4:12-14) Amen!