Life Advocate Commentary - Flotsam and jetsam or, even a bad moon reflects the light of the sun

July/August, 1997 Volume XII Number 7 - COMMENTARY

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Flotsam and jetsam or, even a bad moon reflects the light of the sun
by Paul deParrie

I was sickened and saddened on May 1.
That was the National Day of Prayer. I went to downtown Portland to pass out literature to the participants urging repentance for our own bloodguilt -- the chemical and IUD abortions within the Church. If only that were our only problem.
The leafleting went well and I, in my sandwich board signs (I found a new way to make a fool of myself), received several positive remarks. From those of us there, almost everyone received our "Is There Blood on Our Hands?" and "Understanding 'Birth Control'" pamphlets. (The first is the same text as appeared in the commentary by the same name in the May/June issue of Life Advocate.)
What I heard next convinced me that we are no longer all praying to the same God anymore. First, the moderator read a lengthy "proclamation" from the Right Reverend Bill Clinton, adulterer-in-chief and designated baby-killer, to open the evening's ceremony. Such proclamations do not just happen. Someone -- no likely a local leader of the National Day -- someone had to actually ask for such a proclamation. Then someone had to decide that it would be read. All of this reminded me that fish (specifically, those little fish you see on cars belonging to Christians) rot from the head first. Can Shirley Dobson, who is the national chairman of the event, really support such duplicity?
But this was not bad enough. Following the rancid words from Clinton's unclean lips, the mayor of Portland, Vera Katz was invited to speak. Katz spoke of how we all had "different spiritual journeys" and wasn't it nice that we all -- Christian, Jew, Moslem, and Buddhist -- could all join in prayer.
Finally, a local pastor prayed a prayer "in the name of Jesus." But this just had to be a different Jesus than I know. The Jesus I know is holy -- separate -- and would never share a podium or a prayer meeting with the likes of Buddha, Mohammed, or Allah. After all, isn't He the same God Who says, "There is none beside Me" all the time?
Anyway, I was about to puke or prophesy.
Since I didn't believe the Lord wanted me to prophesy -- and I really didn't want to puke -- I left.
The March for Jesus is not much better. They want participants to stay away from "issues" but, March for Jesus has been known to allow sodomites to march with them as "Christians."
In the past, Promise Keepers has not been much better. While concentrating on the politically correct "issue" of racism and ignoring abortion, they have tended to treat pro-life activists as pariahs. Two years ago, at a PK regional event, my friend Bryan Kemper was very rudely treated. This year was different as you can see from the story about our adventures passing out birth control literature in Seattle.
For the most part, though, these seem to have been completely co-opted by the syncretists and pagans.
Billy Graham compromises more and more every day and, despite recent disapproving statements about abortion, he is pro-choice for "exceptional cases" like overpopulation, rape, incest, fetal deformity, and Lord only knows what else.
The New International Version of the Bible is now coming out of the closet with an "inclusive" version in honor of "Our Parent Who is in heaven."
Things like this make me think that the Church has little or no chance of waking up before the Church's Head decides to spew us all out of His mouth. It feels like a "bad moon on the rise. Then I remember that these things are all happening "within the gate" so to speak.
The Bible tells us that Jesus suffered "outside the gate" -- outside Jerusalem and, figuratively, outside the religious system of the time. This also fulfilled the typology of the offering of the scapegoat which was sent outside the camp. Scripture also invites us to join our Savior and His work outside the camp (Hebrews 13: 12).
Not surprisingly, every worthwhile revival in Church history had to take place "outside the gate."
What keeps me going is what I am seeing "outside the gate."
I see more street-preachers -- but not the usual kind. These go as often to fellow Christians to call them to repentance as to the unbelieving world. I see young people with nose rings and purple hair making commitments to Jesus Christ and becoming active participants in reaching the lost as well as confronting abortion, pornography, and homosexuality. I see these same kids meeting in homes for Bible study.
Even the different reaction at the Promise Keepers event this year in Seattle provides a glimmer of hope. We'll just have to wait and see what happens when we go to the national PK in Washington, D.C. in October.
So while I see this "bad moon," I also am able to see that the light reflected off that moon is the Son and that means that the Son is alive and reigning and -- just around the corner.