More blogs »Posted on Jul 1 2021

As I write this, Tuesday of the previous week I arrived as part of a group of people to the public library of Plymouth to publicly disagree with the holding of a Drag Queen Story Hour for children. Friday I was called by people that heard on our local radio station that another such event was being held THAT DAY in the public library of Centerville. I went, talked to the librarian about this, she assured me that there WAS NO drag queen that day, that it was a story hour for children of a variety of books, and in one case a library employee would dress up as a character in a book and read that to the children. I observed the event, and if that employee wasn’t paid to be a drag queen, he was one most aspects of that term.

I gave a short comment to a young reporter to the effect that I don’t mind teaching children to be polite and not to be bullies, but that this sort of thing goes to far, a pretty mild statement. Later that day I wrote an email summarizing the event for a group of pastors who have an interest in protecting our children from a plethora of harmful subjects they are being taught in public venues, like public schools and libraries, and sent it.

This week, as late as Tuesday, the local radio station read from that email, without attributing it to me, which is fine (I have no idea how they got the email, but I’m not concerned). An audio of the brief interview I had with the reporter was played, this one attributed to me. I understand that with some people on Facebook I am the focus of their outrage, I have been contacted by others in a variety of ways with gratitude.

So, why am I doing this?

The short answer is recently we’ve witnessed a number of things in our state. An abortion bill was passed that makes abortion available up to the moment of delivery, and to children without any notification of their parents. A ‘Bathroom Bill’ was passed that said anyone announcing a claim to gender identification can go into the bathroom of their choice, and in it’s initial form there was no exemption for churches. Planned Parenthood was chosen by the our lawmakers to write the state’s sex education curriculum (it is in fact something off the shelf called CSE, Comprehensive Sexuality Education) which not only tells children that they need not discuss these matters with their parent;s, but the content is so shockingly graphic. Then there was the law promoting transgenderism in children, such that if a child and a school counselor agree the child has gender dysphoria, that child can be put on the transgender track and if the parents find out and don’t support it, that child can be removed from the family.

And in all of that, the voice of the Church was minimal. In fact, I think had it not been for the Massachusetts Family Institute, there would have been none at all.

All of these, and more, are moral issues that cry out for the prophetic voice. Sure, this is a free (relatively) country, but we still notionally have free speech, especially in venues that are funded with public dollars. We have a right to speak out on these issues, and given that so much of them air aimed at educating, molding, our children, we have a responsibility to do so. Especially since the lawmakers we’d THINK would represent us are not doing so at all.

But these are political statements. I’d argue these are also all spiritual issues, and the Church is called to be a witness and speak out when that is appropriate. Oh, I’ve heard that we should not contradict culture, but hope that culture comes our way. But why would anyone come our way if we are not giving them a reason, a distinction, to do so? Plus, I’d like to ask a series of questions. What was the last thing Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery? What did Jesus say to the woman at the well when she told Him she wasn’t married? What did John the Baptist say, and to whom, that put him in jail and ended up costing him his head? Were any of the Apostles jailed, and for what? How many times was Paul beaten, sometimes left for dead, and for what? How many of the Apostles lived to die of natural causes and old age, and what happened to the rest of them?

There IS a time to speak out, and on these topics and more I’m only surprised that I’m the only one near me. In fact, Ezekiel 33: 7 – 11 makes a strong case we should. We must speak the truth in love, as the Lord leads us.