Lamentations 2:14: “Thy prophets have seen vain and foolish things for thee: and they have not discovered thine iniquity, to turn away thy captivity; but have seen for thee false burdens and causes of banishment.”
The leader of an easy-believist, charismatic church in Bangor has expressed his great disappointment that a public building in a nearby town will not be lit in the rainbow colours to honour sodomites from the borough.
Glen Mitchell, who is the lead pastor of King’s Church, based in the County Down town, took to Twitter to outline his dismay that a local council move to light up Newtownards Town Hall in a celebration of sodomy had been voted down by a majority of councillors present at the North Down and Ards Council monthly meeting for September.
Glen Mitchell has already proven his aversion to abiding by the Bible by publicly affirming his disagreement with the Biblical account of creation.
And he has further cemented his attitude by saying it was wrong not to light up a town hall in honour of those whose conduct is called an “abomination” and “against nature” by God.
Taking to Twitter to express his dismay at councillors taking a stand against the most fashionable sin of the day – sodomy – Glen Mitchell said: “Hugely disappointed by this, although unsurprised. A gesture like the one suggested threatens nothing and no one.”
He then followed this up a short time later with another tweet, referencing how professing Christians had contacted him to express “surprise” at his previous tweet, though that seems like a fairly soft response to his ludicrous comment.
Explaining himself, Glen Mitchell said that the Area and North Down “borough isn’t a church and shouldn’t be run like one”, that such “gestures build desperately needed trust and understanding between opposing groups”, before concluding his risible self-justification by saying that “Christianity thrives at the margins of society, not when it’s central”.
All three points are very weak indeed and fail to stand up to scrutiny, indeed, they barely stand up at all.
His first point that the borough “shouldn’t be run” like a church is a strange one for a supposed religious leader to make.
Surely he should want the district or borough to be run in a way that would be pleasing to God? Or should godlessness such as sodomy be allowed to run rampant in society? In fact, the pride of place sodomy takes in so many areas of modern society is largely attributable to the shameful downgrade of the standard of so-called religious leadership in our country.
The Bible says that our rulers have a responsibility to act against sinfulness and take measures to restrain it.
Romans 13:3: “For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil.”
Not only that, but we have an example given to us in Judges for our instruction as to the consequences of a lack of leadership.
Judges 18:7, 27-28: “Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. And they took the things which Micah had made, and the priest which he had, and came unto Laish, unto a people that were at quiet and secure: and they smote them with the edge of the sword, and burnt the city with fire. And there was no deliverer, because it was far from Zidon, and they had no business with any man; and it was in the valley that lieth by Beth-rehob. And they built a city, and dwelt therein.”
The people of Laish “dwelt careless” and “there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing”.
This was a land which had nobody to enforce the laws of good and evil on its people, everyone was allowed to do as they pleased.
They took no measures to protect themselves, their city was not well guarded, they had no alliances with any of the peoples living nearby, and look at the consequences, they were easily routed and destroyed.
Leadership needs to be strong and pleasing to God, and indeed Glen Mitchell appears to want the members of that council to go against their own beliefs and vote for something which is gravely displeasing to God.
Acts 5:29 tells us of the danger of such a move. It says: “Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
Glen Mitchell seemingly wants those councillors to obey men rather than God. What a sad position to occupy.
His second point that lighting up the council building in honour of sodomy is equally misinformed, though we give him some credit for pointing out that Christianity and sodomy are opposing positions.
Luke 16:13 outlines that. It says: “No servant can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”
However, to say that Glen Mitchell shows a misguided attitude is an understatement.
The Bible flatly condemns homosexuality, this is an issue we have covered on many occasions and readers are invited to look at Romans 1:22-27 and Leviticus 18:22 to get a flavour of God’s rejection of such conduct.
Christians ought not to be coming to terms with homosexuality but rather should be constant in pointing out not only that God rejects it, but that salvation is freely available to the homosexual, if they would, as every other sinner, which is all of us, turn from their sin.
2 Corinthians 5:17 tells us that when we are saved we are changed. It says: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
We are not to compromise with sin, but rather to reprove it and implore those who are unsaved to turn from it.
However, Glen Mitchell is pursuing a line of thought which seeks to encourage the cause of sodomy, which is rebellion against God.
His third reason for his unscriptural stance is perhaps the weakest of all, saying that Christianity thrives when on the margins.
What type of Christian wouldn’t want Christianity to be at the very centre of our society and civil and public life?
What type of Christian wouldn’t want the majority of the people in society to be saved and using whatever position they have to better advance the cause of Christ?
What type of Christian wouldn’t want elected representatives to defend the cause of Christ publicly?
Instead, he chooses to attack those, no doubt many of them professing Christians, who took a stand for the teachings of the Bible.
Proverbs 14:34 reminds us that a country is lifted high when it follows God. It says: “Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people.”
Why would Glen Mitchell not want the nation to be exalted?
When countries departed from God, that was when judgment came. One must only read the book of Judges to see the repeated story of Israel departing from God and then falling into the hands of their enemies to see that illustrated clearly.
Northern Ireland is suffering today because of sin, both from our religious leaders and our political leaders.
You have the leaders of the Church of Ireland and Irish Presbyterianism, the two largest so-called Protestant churches, meeting the Pope and engaging in all manner of ecumenical compromise.
And you have the leader of political unionism, Arlene Foster, speaking at a sodomite event in Belfast and compromising with Islam.
You have not one professing Christian willing to back Jim Allister of the TUV when he stood against sodomite pardons being introduced in Northern Ireland, be they from the DUP, UUP or the Alliance Party.
Indeed, the Alliance Party, many of whose members claim to be Christians, including their leader Naomi Long, were the ones who brought this motion before the Ards and North Down Council.
What a sorry state our land is in and Glen Mitchell is encouraging another retrograde step be taken? What a shameful attitude.
His comment reeks of the nonsensical guff often propagated by such easy-believists and charismatics who like to talk about religion being “radical” and “counter-cultural”, trying to make it sound like some sort of hipster minority interest.
Pleading forgiveness of God, righteous living and faithful adhering to and preaching of the Bible from our religious leaders, political leaders and ordinary Christians are the route to revival.
If that is achieved, then God will be central in our land, and not confined to the margins.
Let us devote ourselves afresh to God, to pleasing Him and pray He will bless our land once more with revival.
2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
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