As Falsehood’s Spirit Wide Has Spread and Error Boldly Rears Its Head
Sermon Series: “Remaining Steadfast in Evil Days”
“The numbers of the armed troops who came to David at Hebron to turn Saul’s kingdom over to him, according to the Lord’s word, were as follows: … From the [tribe of] Issachar, men who understood the times and knew what Israel should do: 200 chiefs with all their relatives under their command.”
(1Chronicles 12:23, 32)
Like the men of Issachar, we want to and need to understand the times. I am called to be a faithful pastor – faithful to the Word of God and faithful to you, the members, as we seek to understand the times in which we live. This sermon is the first in a series. The theme today is, “As Falsehood’s Spirit Wide Has Spread and Error Boldly Rears Its Head.” This comes from stanza 5 of hymn #511 in our Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary – “Lord Jesus Christ, with Us Abide.” Here’s the entire stanza:
O God, how sin’s dread works abound!
Throughout the earth no rest is found,
And falsehood’s spirit wide has spread,
And error boldly rears its head.
The entire hymn emphasizes the church and Christians under attack, a struggling church, in very disturbing times, a church in need of perseverance and hope and strength that can be and will be provided by the Word of God. This hymn was written at the time of the Reformation towards the end of the 16th century when it was illegal to be a sincere Lutheran in the Holy Roman Empire. Its author, at least the last seven stanzas, is Nicholas Selnecker, who was a contributor to the Formula of Concord of our Lutheran Confessions. The famous reformer Philip Melancthon perhaps wrote the first two stanzas. Again, this was a time when you could be put to death for confessing certain truths and practices found in the Bible. They were days of “sore distress” (stanza 2).
We here at St. Timothy Evangelical Lutheran Church, a church that confesses and strives to abide by the Holy Bible, increasingly live in such days ourselves, where “falsehood’s spirit wide has spread and error boldly rears its head.” In fact, in the history of this nation, we have never seen such evil, falsehood, and errors. So the question is, “What do we do?”
But first, I want to make sure we are all on the same page. So let me point out some events and beliefs now found in American culture that tell us we that this is a different culture compared to not too long ago. Kind of like that old commercial some of you remember, “This is not your father’s Oldsmobile.”
In the 1970’s, 90% of people identified as Christians. That number is down to 63%. The fastest growing religion is among those who say they have no religion (over 21%; that used to be 2% in the 50’s and 60’s). Church attendance through the mid 1980’s was 70% or more. Now it is 47%. Today, the vast majority of children are not raised in any religion. A shift.
At the beginning of the 20th century – over a hundred years ago – the divorce rate was 5%, maybe even lower. It began to grow, but it especially took off in the 1960’s and 70’s with the passage of what has been called “no fault divorce laws,” making it much easier to get a divorce for almost any reason, not just adultery or desertion. So since the 70’s the divorce rate has hovered around 50% or little lower. 5% to 50%. A shift.
In 1964, only 6% of children grew up in single parent homes. Today, that number is 25-30%. In many major cities, like Chicago, it is close to 70%. A shift.
In 1989, around 83% of Americans were opposed to same-sex marriage. The most recent polls reveal we are coming close to the opposite: over 70% support same-sex marriage, including 85% of young people. A shift.
The percentage of people identifying as LGBTQ among millennials (ages 21-39) is 30%. In the age group below that – Gen Z – the percentage is almost 40%. This is huge increase in just 10 years. A shift.
Today, in almost every state, there is battle in K-12 schools whether students should not only be taught about the LGBTQ ideology but also whether teachers and the curriculum should affirm those, including children, who want to identify as such, without parental notification. This never would have been imagined 25 years ago. Mutilation of body parts by surgeons and prescribing hormones is being done so people can more easily adjust to their claimed “transgender identity;” even young teenage children are having this done. It has become the new and medically approved fad. This has never happened on such a wide scale and with approval by so many “professionals.”
Not too many years ago, drag queens – men who dressed up as women in flamboyant and suggestive clothing – would perform lewd dances in sleezy bars in large cities. Back then they were considered obscene, or a laughingstock at best. Today, drag queens in the same dress are found at story-telling hours in public libraries reading books to young children or they are invited to other places billed as family-friendly venues where they dance for children and where children are sometimes asked to join in.
Today a person can be judged and found guilty in the court of public opinion or in schools and colleges for a sin their grandparents, great grandparents, or great-great grandparents may have committed, even though the person himself did not commit or approve of the sin; or he can be found guilty because of the color of his skin or his sex, even though neither he nor any of his ancestors participated or were even around when a particular sin was committed. People are told to acknowledge their guilt and complicity simply based on their skin color. We used to call this racism.
I want us to notice two things. First, what we have here are not only changes, but most importantly a shift in thinking or beliefs. Or to put it another way, changes in worldviews – how people view the world, life, right and wrong, good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable, good and evil. But second, these beliefs, this acceptance of a different way of thinking, of a different worldview, a worldview that goes by various names – Wokism, Critical Theory, Cultural Marxism, Social Justice Theory – this worldview is in direct conflict with biblical teachings and the Christian worldview. And in many cases, these changes I noted are in in conflict with the beliefs that most people in most societies throughout history have readily accepted as normal and good and common sense, regardless of whether they were Christians.
The Bible teaches and most people throughout history have understood that marriage ought to be a lifelong union. The Bible teaches and all societies throughout history (until the 21st century), have understood that marriage is to be between a male and a female. You can find societies where homosexuality and even transgenderism was tolerated or accepted to some degree, but even in those societies marriage always and only was between a man and a woman. The Bible teaches and people throughout history have understood that children not only should have but also need a father and a mother; that is God’s design. Common sense. The Bible teaches and most people throughout history have understood that one is born either male or female, and they would remain male or female their entire lives. “Male and female he created them.” Two distinct sexes and only two. That’s a part of what we call God’s created order.
We have come a long way in a short period of time.
But we want to clarify what is going on from the perspective of God’s holy Word. What has moved in among us today, and even embedded itself, is what the Bible calls heresy or false teachings. That is the Christian perspective and reality. And the Bible also tells us where these heresies and false teachings come from: they come from the father of lies: Satan. They are all satanic lies.
These heresies and false teachings are not everywhere, but they are found in enough places and places that count. We find them in legislation here and court decisions there; we find them in social media platforms here and on the news media there; we find them promoted by a small business here, and by a larger corporation over there; we find them taught in a school district here, and by most colleges and universities everywhere.
Why? What is Satan trying to do with his heresies, teachings, and lies? For one thing, he is doing his best to prevent non-Christians from entering the Kingdom of God, from repenting of real sin and believing in the Messiah Jesus who has taken away the sin of the world.
And with Christians, he is using these lies to tempt us away from the Kingdom of the God, away from the truths of God’s Word, away from Christ, away from the church where Christ is found. And he has been very successful. Many have left the church. But, if cannot tempt us away from our Christian faith, he is at least trying to silence us, so we do not speak the truth and speak out against his lies. Again, we have to admit he has been successful. And, if he cannot silence us, then he will make our lives quite miserable. We will suffer persecution. Abandon Christ, silence us, or punish us.
We ran into a similar thing with evolution (and we still do). If it was found out that we believed in a 6-day creation and that the universe is quite young and not billions of years old, we have been called stupid, unscientific, and perhaps they felt sorry for us. It’s kind of the same now but worse. Today if certain people find out we hold to biblical teachings in the things I just described, they have no qualms labeling or calling us intolerant, bigoted, hateful, or even evil. They attack the soul. It’s one thing to be called stupid, it’s much worse to be called evil.
So, we are living in challenging days, more so than in the past. And we must understand this. But I also extend a caution to all of us. What is happening to us in one sense in is not new or surprising. Paul said, “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man.” (1 Cor. 10) St. Peter put it this way: “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.” (1 Pet. 4:12-14)
But there is another caution as well. We are to remember we have enemies not only out there – Satan, his lies, and the sinful world – but we also have the enemy within. We have our flesh and the sins that proceed from there and manifest themselves in thoughts, words, and deeds, sins that we are to repent of daily. So, in one sense, we cannot win in this life.
But in another sense, we do win. Not by our own strength, but by the powerful word of God, or, as our hymn we just sang puts it, “Thy strong word.” Stanza 3: “Thy strong word bespeaks us righteous; bright with thine own holiness, glorious now, we press toward glory, and our lives our hopes confess.” My human reason, strength, determination, wisdom cannot create or maintain or strengthen my faith in Christ. The Word and the Holy Spirit alone do that, and they will.
There is much more to say, but we will save that for the next weeks, where we will talk more about these false teachings, where they are found, whether they are somehow connected to politics, work, or education; the amazing helps God has provided for us along the way; and, very importantly, how we love those dear to us and our enemy who opposes us, as we seek to bring them out of darkness and into the light of the Kingdom of Christ – his love, forgiveness, joy, peace, and eternal life.
For now, rest in his strong Word, which brings to you the almighty King, who speaks forgiveness to all your sins, who by his mighty Word and Sacrament provides you with all the grace you need, grace that is freely given, and which you have by faith.
1 Lord Jesus Christ, with us abide, For round us falls the eventide;
Nor let Thy Word, that heav’nly light, For us be ever veiled in night.2 In these last days of sore distress Grant us, dear Lord, true steadfastness
That pure we keep, till life is spent, Thy holy Word and Sacrament.
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