Silence Before the Storm Revelation 8-9 Tuesday Headlines: “Ex-megachurch pastor Bruxy Cavey arrested for sexual assault—there could be more victims” “New York church invites drag queens to service: ‘Worship is a Drag’ to celebrate pride month” “After the explosive Southern Baptist sex scandal report, where does the SBC go from here?” “ELCA trans bishop resigns following allegations of racism” “Mennonite Church USA passes resolution allowing pastors to perform gay weddings” “Texas lawmaker wants to ban drag shows for kids” “Most Americans think abortion is ‘morally acceptable’ for the first time, Gallup poll finds.” “Tampa Bay Devil Ray athletes under pressure for refusing to wear LGBT pride logo on uniform” “Virginia school district puts policy in place mandating people call people by their preferred gender pronouns” “Church puts on marquee regarding pride month, “When pride cometh, then cometh shame. Proverbs 11:2 “From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace” (Jeremiah 8:10-11) “I would anticipate that within five years we will witness a significant disruption across all major representatives of the Christian faith. The fault lines will run between those who find a way to accommodate to the world’s terms of good citizenship and those whose fidelity to Christ will lead to varying degrees of internal exile within this earthly city. The former will ultimately accept the collapse of biblical anthropology, repudiating its implications for sexual morality, for human identity, and for addressing the various socially constructed problems we now face, such as those of race and gender. The latter will maintain Christian teaching and be decried as being at best naïve, at worst bigoted.” Carl Trueman Seasons of a Church by Timothy Keller Winter describes a church that is not only in a hostile relationship to a pre-Christian culture but is gaining little traction; seeing little distinctive, vital Christian life and community; and seeing no evangelistic fruit. In many cultures today, the church is embattled and spiritually weak. Spring is a situation in which the church is embattled, even persecuted, by a pre-Christian culture, but it is growing (e.g., the church in China). Summer is what Niebuhr described as an “allied church,” where the church is highly regarded by the public and where we find so many Christians in the centers of cultural production that Christians feel at home in the culture. Autumn is where we find ourselves in the West today, becoming increasingly marginalized in a post-Christian culture and looking for new ways to both strengthen our distinctiveness and reach out winsomely. “We should inhabit the model that fits our convictions, whose ‘tool kit’ best fits our gifts. Once we know our model, we should be able, depending on the cultural seasons and context, to use tools from the other kits.” Timothy Keller (Quote) “The destruction of one-third of the trees (8:7) means shortages of fruit, including essential staples like olives, figs, and presumably grapes for wine (if vines are included as trees, as in Columella, Trees 11.1–2). The destruction of all the green grass means the impending death of sheep, goats, and cattle—hence the end of the world’s supply of meat, milk and cheese” Craig Keener, Revelation, p. 256.” “With their insatiable hunger for loot, they ransacked the houses of the wealthy, murdered men and violated women for sport; they drank their spoils with blood, and from mere satiety and shamelessness gave themselves up to effeminate practices, plaiting their hair and putting on women’s clothes, drenched themselves with perfumes and painting their eyelids to make themselves attractive. They copied not merely the dress, but also the passions of women, devising in their excess of licentiousness unlawful pleasures in which they wallowed as in a brothel. Thus they entirely polluted the city with their foul practices. Yet though they wore women’s faces, their hands were murderous. They would approach with mincing steps, then suddenly become fighting men, and, whipping out their swords from under their dyed cloaks, they would run through every passer-by” (Josephus, Wars, IV:9:10).