General

Of the three primary idols of secular culture–sex, money and entertainment–sexual immorality is the more pernicious. Money is tempting and can harden our hearts toward others. Entertainment is often a waste of time and life.

But when you deny God’s wise prescription for healthy sexual activity–a man and a woman in the covenant of marriage–you not only harden your heart and waste your time, but you defile yourself in a way that is destructive to both body and soul.

Which brings us to a new phrase that I recently heard for the first time.

Sexual atheism.

It’s a great description of the essence of rebellion against God.

I’m indebted to long-time YWAM pioneer and spiritual father Peter Jordan for acquainting me with the phrase sexual atheism. If you have a YWAM background and don’t receive Peter and Donna’s eTouch monthly newsletter you can check it out and sign up for it here.

It’s loaded each month with wisdom that will benefit your life.

Peter is a pithy writer with many years of experience in life and love. The older I get, the more I treasure the “wisdom of the aged” who are not beholden to the whims and fads of twenty-somethings, but have learned what is true from real history and practical experience.

Peter’s recent article and deep burden for the problem of sexual atheism among young people today really spoke to me. I will include some of it here with accompanying commentary.

Peter Jordan’s recent article begins with these words:

“I’m probably considered to be a prude as well as a fool, certainly by unbelievers, and maybe even by some who identify themselves as followers of Jesus. Why is this? Am I deluded, or just simply not keeping up with the times? Is it just me that thinks that society’s morals are in a spiral dive?”

No, Peter, you’re not the only one who’s noticed. America’s moral airplane is definitely in a nosedive that could crash to the ground and burn.

He then goes on to discuss the concept of “critical mass” either for evil or for good. He states, on the positive side that “Jesus took 12 quite ordinary men (minus one dropout), a group of supportive women, and as many as 500 other full or part-time followers. 2000 years later, over one billion people identify themselves as Christians…Those early believers formed a critical mass—for good.”

Then he asks the question: “But what does a dark and demonic critical mass look like?”

He’s talking about the critical mass of sexual immorality that has exploded in in the Western world in his lifetime–what he calls “anti-Biblical habits and lifestyles.”

He laments, “What was the critical mass that got the ball rolling? Or has it always been this way? In one sense, of course it has—sin has been around a long time. But occasionally—as during the Puritanical and Victorian years—sin went largely underground. So, which is better for us and for our children? Underground, or ‘open pit’ sin?”

Good question with an easy answer. We used to believe that underground was better; that “closets” were good for hding clutter, dirt and grime and smelly shoes and clothing. Today, we celebrate bringing the crap out of the closet.

That’s quite a change in one lifetime.

In analyzing this trend, Jordan quotes Franklin Graham: “Like a frog in boiling water, our culture has been so desensitized to immorality and debauchery that we have lost even the semblance of a moral compass.”

You can read Franklin’s entire article here.

Peter Jordan next reveals both the statistics behind and the origin of the phrase sexual atheism.

“Kenny Luck, a pastor at Saddleback Church in California, shocks us by giving results of a recent study by ChristianMingle, an online dating ministry that asked Christian singles between the ages of 18 and 59, “Would you have sex before marriage?”

“The response? 63% of the single Christian respondents indicated yes. Luck concludes: “It is honest to say that over 6 out of 10 self-proclaimed single Christians are, in practice, sexual atheists…that’s to say, “God can speak into some things, but not sex.”

That insight is both profound and deeply disturbing. Here’s why.

The essence of being reconciled to God–becoming a follower of Jesus–is dying to our own opinions and ways and making Jesus Christ the Lord (authority) of our lives. The humbled, repentant heart says “You are wiser than I am.  I will put my trust in You.”

In all things–nothing less.

When someone is your boss or authority, you don’t pick and choose the areas you want to obey. If you do, you will probably be fired due to your selective obedience. Obedience to authority–unless they ask you to go against God’s commands–is always intentionally 100%. We may occasionally make mistakes or sin, but the intention is to follow all the orders of those over us.

In the case of making Jesus the Lord of your life, there must be absolute trust that He is wiser than you in every category of life. Thus, you humbly obey Him and seek to know His will in all things.

But back to Peter Jordan who shares a Scripture from The Message by Eugene Peterson:

“It is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community. I could go on” (Galatians 5:19-21).

That powerful paraphrase strikes home. Being our own authority leads to disaster in morals, relationships, and many arenas of life. Nothing could be truer than Father knows best. We really do need a wise and forgiving Lord and Savior to guide our daily choices.

Peter goes on to describe the landslide of immorality that’s the result of sexual or other forms of selected atheism. “Immorality of all kinds has become acceptable by more and more who bear the name, ‘Christian.’ You may think me harsh, judgmental, out of touch and more. We’re all fallen people. Donna and I and just about every family or extended family we know, has been touched by those who flaunt or ignore their sin, or else they don’t see that there’s any need to change.”

“Today, cheating in universities is a big problem, but big deal! It’s pretty well overlooked. The drug culture of the 60s, legalized abortion in the 70s, lasciviousness (Ephesians 4:19) in the name of art is now widely available; men are marrying men, women marrying women. Our children are susceptible to gender-confusion. What’s next? The mind boggles. Polygamy? Polyandry? Worse?”

Yes, Peter, it’s far worse. Being a sexual atheist can easily lead to pedophilia and bestiality (sex with animals). That was the case of the Roman Empire when it fell and other kingdoms who refused to obey God’s commands.

Peter ends his article with the following action points:

• Go see the movie God is Not Dead. He says it will remind us that atheism is really a very dangerous philosophy.
• Put on your spiritual armor and trust that God is wiser than you when it comes to every area of life–especially important things such as human sexuality.
• All is not doom and gloom: Don Finto writes, “I don’t look forward to living at a time when world wickedness has reached its zenith, but I must remember that this will also be the finest hour for the people of God.”
• God is here with us and truly wants to walk alongside us, day by day, temptation by temptation; He is an ever-present help in times of trouble.
• Get religion! (in the biblical sense). “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27).

The worst from of pollution is not carbon-based. It is sin-based. And remember, the essence of sin is saying that I am smarter than God and will not live by his principles.

I like the term sexual atheism because it communicates rightly that all human beings have the capacity to say that we believe in God and then selectively deny that reality in various areas of life. Those areas include human sexuality, our speech and actions, our obedience to His will, and many other categories.

The Bible calls such dualism hypocrisy (e.g. Matthew 23:13-34).

Are you practicing sexual atheism or any other form of God-denial? Are you addicted to pornography?  Are you sleeping with your boyfriend or girlfriend outside of a covenant marriage?  Have you committed adultery and never made it right with all involved?

If so, the remedy is to repent of your rebellion and reassert Christ’s Lordship over all that you are. He is wiser than you. He loves you very much. His commands are for your good.

Put the sin back in the closet. Don’t be a sexual atheist or deny God’s reality in any area of your life.

Live for the glory of God (1 Corinthians 10:31).

War has been with us as long as city/states have existed. Human beings fight because fallen people are selfish and like to conquer others.

Behind human wars is a satanic war mentioned in the Bible in Ephesians 6:12. Paul explains: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.”

Recently, another kind of war has entered American politics called “The War on Women.” Progressive politicians have used this phrase in the past two election cycles to make it appear that conservatives and people of faith hate women and are trying to suppress them.

That’s not true–just like the promises of the Affordable Care Act (which is quickly becoming history’s most famous oxymoron).

Let’s discuss the real war on women taking place in America and around the world.

First, we must be clear that the so-called “War on Women” that Sandra Fluke and the 2012 Democratic Convention made famous is a crock that was cooked up to win votes.

Here are the facts: American single women tend to vote for liberal causes and American married women vote for conservative ones. This is understandable. In today’s world, single women are more dependent on government and more self-oriented in their lifestyles. Married women, with husbands and children in tow, possess greater family support and have learned through experience that life is not about them.

So, there is no “war” on American women in general. Single women lean left and married women lean right.  Let’s get rid of the nonsense of an overarching “War on Women.”

But worldwide, and inspired by the satanic realm, there is a very real war against the female gender. This is the true war on women that we ought to be praying and fighting against.

I will list, in order of severity, the real war on women that we must engage and win.

1. The Abortion War

Modern-day abortion is, by far, the world’s greatest holocaust. In the past forty years, it is estimated that 27.5 million female unborn babies have been killed in the United States–never to see the light of day. That’s like systematically killing all the residents of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas, San Jose, and Austin, Texas–the nation’s eleven largest cities.

Imagine the “fearfully and wonderfully made” women lost to American society whose beauty, creativity, mothering abilities and vocational gifts were lost to eternity on the pro-death altar of the sexual revolution.

And that’s just America. Possibly a half-a-billion to one billion women have been killed through the carnage of abortion worldwide. That’s like dropping atomic bombs on the entire continent of Africa and killing every single living person.

Abortion is the real war against women–and, of course, it includes an equal amount of men.

2. The Islamic War

There are about 50 Muslim nations in the world containing 2.3 billion followers of Islam. Let’s assume that 1.2 billion people in these nations are women, and that half of those women live in suppressive Muslim states (The Middle East and North Africa in particular).

So, today, in the modern world, at least a half a billion Muslim women live in subservient slavery where they are treated as property and sexual objects.  That is the true state of Muslim women who live under the teachings of the Koran.

We might be able to excuse this type of authoritarianism if we read about it during the time of the Dark Ages or maybe fifteen hundred years ago when Islam began.

But in 2014?  A half a billion Muslim women cover themselves from head-to-foot, are not allowed outside by themselves, do not go to school, are not allowed to drive, and are treated as a piece of meat by their husbands?  In our time period?

This is shocking even to contemplate because the Western world has been blessed by the Christian worldview which gives equality of value of women and has liberated billions of women worldwide.

But not in Islam. Women are still in chains. Where is the outcry? Where is the tear-stained scream for justice and civil rights for the women living in oppressive Muslim states?

3. The Sex-Trafficking War

The U.S. State Department estimates that between 600,000 and 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders each year. Eighty percent of those trafficked are women and girls, mostly for sexual exploitation. These figures overlook the millions more victims who are trafficked annually within their own national borders.

So, let’s say conservatively, that at least 480,000 women–really young girls–are used as sexual slaves for lusting men in the international arena each year. That’s equivalent to the entire city of Seattle being forced into prostitution. Those figures do not take into account the sexual slavery taking place within domestic borders.

Whichever figure you choose, the outcome is the same — far more women and girls are forced into brothels annually in the  21st century than African slaves were shipped into slave plantations each year in the 18th century.

Sex slavery is bigger today than racial slavery in the past. And the problem of sex slavery is getting worse. Trafficking for sexual exploitation is one of the fastest-growing organized crimes, generating $27.8 billion each year—most of it involving the abuse of women.

Sex-trafficking is certainly a satanic tactic to to hurt and destroy women.

4. The Inflation War

You may have never thought of this, but current American monetary policy is also a war on the female gender.

If you go back two generations, you find that a majority of women in American preferred spending most of their lives as wives and mothers who believed the greatest vocation was the care and nurturing of the family unit. Those generations were indeed blessed by the godly women who were not forced into the work world to provide for their families.

I grew up in the world of stay-at-home moms. My maternal mother was one. My mother-in-law was another. My wife also preferred to be a stay-at-home mom who tended the family fires and even home-schooled her six children.

The strength of America was built upon this foundation of many generations of stay-at-home mothering.

This changed when a Republican president, Richard Nixon, took America off of the gold standard in 1972. Then both Republican and Democratic administrations carelessly inflated the money supply for the next forty years. This caused the price of everything to rise–forcing many women into the work world where two incomes were required to pay the rising bills.

Most of us have never thought about the sudden emergence of two-income homes because it’s all we’ve ever known. Dad works and mom works (whether she wants to or not). But this is a recent phenomenon. Fifty years ago, only 7% of married women worked outside the home. Today, the number has “forcibly” risen to nearly 60%.

According to one study, about half (51%) of respondents say that children are better off if a mother is home and doesn’t hold a job. Nearly three-quarters of adults (74%) say the increasing number of women working for pay has made it harder for parents to raise children, and half say that it has made marriages harder to succeed.

Wrong-headed inflationary policies are another form of war on women in America.

5. The Hollywood War

A cultural dimension of the real war on women is the Hollywood-inspired portrayal of females as sex objects. For two hundred years of American history, the Proverbs 31 model of womanhood held the day where faith, chastity, hard work, and family were the bulwark upon which a great society was built.

But starting with Marilyn Monroe, and then exploding into the starlets, models, and porn stars of today, women have been relegated today to the status of sex toys to meet men’s lusts. This is a huge step backwards into the female slavery of the Dark Ages and Ancient Roman obsession with sex.

This is not liberation. It is a sexual targeting of women.

6. The Advertising War

Finally, the Hollywood stereotype of women has been fueled by modern-day advertisers. A false image of “beauty” has been forced down women’s throats, telling them they must have a certain hairstyle, curves, bikini-body, breast implants, or plastic surgery to “compete” in today’s oversexed world.

This is also a lie– an expensive and depressing one. A woman’s beauty is her uniqueness and godliness, not whether she looks like Marliyn Monroe or Scarlet Johansson.

How many women are beaten down today by the advertising hype? Probably millions. Or maybe, they’ve just given up. This is yet another form of the devil’s war on the female sex.

Conclusion

Let’s reject about the phony war on women and focus like a laser on fighting the real one.

•  Give your effort and time to see the abortion holocaust halted (the repeal of Roe v. Wade).
• Pray for and share your faith with oppressed women in the Muslim world, believing that God can bring about an amazing deliverance.
• Support organizations that are freeing women from sex trafficking.
• Vote for political leaders who will restore us to sound monetary policy.
• Influence Hollywood to produce films that showcase Proverbs 31 women, not sluts.
• Reject the advertising lies, and encourage female freedom to be “beautiful in Christ.”

Yes, there is a global war on women (and human beings in general).  We must know our true enemy. We must resist his fake rabbit trails and understand his actual strategies.

Let’s help liberate the women of the world.

“Open Doors USA recently released its widely cited 2014 World Watch List—a report that highlights and ranks the 50 worst nations around the globe persecuting Christians.”

“The one glaring fact that emerges from this report is that the overwhelming majority of Christian persecution around the world today is being committed at the hands of Muslims of all races, languages, cultures, and socio-political circumstances: Muslims from among America’s allies (Saudi Arabia) and its enemies (Iran); Muslims from economically rich nations (Qatar) and from poor nations (Somalia and Yemen); Muslims from “Islamic republic” nations (Afghanistan) and from “moderate” nations (Malaysia and Indonesia); Muslims from nations rescued by America (Kuwait) and Muslims claiming “grievances” against America (fill in the blank __).”

“A common denominator, a pattern, exists, one that is even more extensive than Open Doors implies. According to that organization’s communications director, Emily Fuentes, ‘of the 50 worst nations for persecution, 37 of them are Muslim,’ or 74%. In fact, while this number suggests that the other 13 countries making the top 50 are not Muslim—for example Kenya and Ethiopia—those doing the persecution there are.”

“In other words, those persecuting Christians in 41 of 50 nations are Muslims; that is, a whopping 82% of all persecution around the globe is being committed by the adherents of Islam—sometimes in Christian majority nations; for example, the Central African Republic which, after the 2013 Islamic takeover, now ranks #16.”

“As for the top ten absolute worst nations, where, according to the 2014 World Watch List, Christians suffer “extreme persecution,” nine—that is, 90%—are Muslim.  (Indeed, Open Doors’ global map of Christian persecution can easily be confused with a global map of the Islamic world, with the exception of China (ranked 37, “moderate persecution”) and some sporadic countries dominated by crime and godless tyranny, Columbia, North Korea, etc.).”

“Similarly, a recent Morning Star News report listing 2013’s ten most horrific anecdotes of Christian persecution around the world finds that nine out of ten—again, 90%—were committed at the hands of those professing Islam.”

Ibrahim concludes, “Time is not on the side of Christians living amid Muslims; quite the opposite. Since the 7^th century, when Islam came into being, Muslims have been invading and conquering Christian lands, so that more than half of the territory that was once Christian in the 7^th century—including all of North Africa–are today the heart of the ‘Muslim world.’”

“Muslim persecution of Christians exists in 41 nations today as part of a continuum that started nearly 14 centuries ago.  The very same patterns of Christian persecution prevalent throughout the Muslim world today are often identical to those from centuries past.  The facts speak for themselves.”

You might want to take a quick look at the maps above. They show what missiologists call the 10/40 Window where Muslim nations are in the majority from North Africa to Indonesia. These are the nations where the greatest “hate” thrives It’s not just the jihadists. It is Muslims of all backgrounds and stripes.

This is because the Koran condones the hatred and conquest of those who do not submit (infidels). It has done so for centuries. During the Middle Ages, after the Muslims had pillaged the biblical lands and began to invade Europe, Christians made the mistake of responding in kind.

We call that era “The Crusades”–and it became violent, vindictive and evil. At least today we admit it. During that terrible time, Christians lost sight of the fact that truth is peaceful and self-controlled.

Muslims never learned. They are not relaxed in the truth and thus peaceful in its application. When you know the truth about God, life, sin, and the need for salvation, then you can “love your enemies.” You’re not motivated to persecute or hate.

Muslims need to find the “Prince of Peace”  and become established in the truth. Then they will be following the example of Dr. Martin Luther King.

Secularism

Secular governments are second worse in persecuting or hating others. Secularism simply means “worldly,” and is a philosophy that denies God’s existence while elevating dictators into places of government authority. Tyranny and persecution follow.

Communist China is a large-country example–a nation that persecutes Christians and many others. North Korea is the poster-child in the 21st century of a hateful, persecuting nation due to its god-like worship of Kim Jong Un and total rejection of biblical values.

But secularism is also becoming stronger in Europe and America. As it rises, tolerance of Christians and others is falling. We see this today under the Obama administration where the Affordable Care Act is trying to force Christians (such as the “Little Sisters of the Poor”) to go against their God-given conscience in the name of the aims of the state. This is just the beginning of a rising tide of Christian persecution and suppression that bodes ill for the future.

Remember: Truth is peaceful, not forceful or hateful–and even works to “love its enemies.”

Dr. Martin Luther King would not be pleased with the current secular death spiral in the US.

Richard Sherman

For those who are non-football fans, Richard Sherman is the All-Pro cornerback of the Seattle Seahawks who are headed to the Super Bowl. He is considered the best at his position in the NFL.

Sherman was raised in Compton, California when drugs and gangs ruled the streets. His Christian parents kept him and many others away from those things but the hateful and violent environment left its imprint. Sherman went on to play football at Stanford (an elite academic college) and was drafted by the Seahawks in the 2011 NFL draft.

I like Richard Sherman. He’s smart, articulate, confident and playful. He does much good in the community and is an energetic, fun loving guy.

But at the end of the NFC Championship Game, won by his Seahawks (in which he made the final game-winning play), Sherman ripped into his opponent in an explosion of emotion and boldly declared himself the best at what he does. You can see the rant here (viewed by 60 million Americans).

Some commentators and athletes defended his action. They say “trash talk” is normal in sports and people should be “authentic” in what they say and do.

Nonsense. Hitler, Stalin and Mao were “authentic” and so were the Ku Klux KLan and the leaders of the Inquisition. So what. They did what wrong. They expressed hate, condescension, anger and even violence toward their enemies.

Yes, football is a violent sport. But it can still be played with classiness, verbal self-control, and even graciousness (outside of the tackling and physical punishment). We all know many superb athletes who do just that (like Peyton Manning and Russell Wilson–opposing QBs in Super Bowl 48).

Sherman made a mistake. In an adrenaline-charged moment he snapped and came across as an arrogant hater (which is not his real persona). He also went against another wise truth:

“Let someone else praise you, not your own mouth–a stranger, not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2).

I’m glad he apologized. He would be wise now to elevate the “content of his character” to that of the late Dr. Martin Luther King and let his play (and conduct) speak for itself.

We should do the same in the game of life. Ditto Muslims and secularists.

Loving your enemies is the greatest mark of strength. Thanks Dr. King. It only comes through the power of Jesus Christ enshrined in the human heart.