The world has undergone quite a number of changes in recent times. By now, most, if not all the world, would have heard and had their own take on the recent decision of the US Supreme Court to legalize same-sex marriage in all 50 US states. At this move, the internet has been flooded with a flurry of viewpoints at seeming loggerheads: celebrants and those in adamant opposition to the move, both from religious stand-points and from biological and other perspectives. In the years leading up to this decision, those who express any disagreement to the LGBT lifestyle have increasingly lost their freedom of religion, conscience and expression, not for hostile criticism or behaviour, but for merely standing by their beliefs.

 The Christian sect in particular has received the great part of the backlash, not only from LGBT propoonents, but unfortunately also from self-professed believers. Several arguments have been used in an attempt to quell or discredit any opposition to LGBT.

Here are the top 7 devious strategies every Christian should be aware of.

1. DISTORTION OF SCRIPTURE

This is by far the most decetive and subtle strategies used to silence Christians who speak out against the LGBT lifestyle. There is hardly ever a time that in counteracting Christian opposition, the 'Judge not lest ye be judged' scripture is pulled out as a 'mouth-stopper' argument, with the whole context of introspection of one's faults before pointing out someone else's is conveniently ignored. Not to mention the 'love' arguments: 'Speak the truth in love', and 'Love covers a multitude of sins' are so often quoted in response to Christians even expressing that they stand in support of God's design. Not even elaborating on the 'Queen James Bible', in which Bible Scriptures which mention homosexuality as sinful are wilfully and craftily distorted, it is amazing how LGBT propenents can quote book, chapter and verse at their own convenience, and yet insult and reject the core teaching that God has called them away from that lifestyle. However when quoting Scriptures such as Romans 1:26-27 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 which clearly show lesbianism and homosexuality as sins, and even when God's grace and hope for change are pointed out, Christians are in turn often labelled as hateful, intolerant  homophobic bigots. 

Christians remember: Even the devil can quote Scripture for his purpose (Matt. 4:5-7).

Jesus said: "If you obey My teaching, you are really my disciples; you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32).

2. ERRONEOUS IMAGES OF THE CHURCH'S ROLE IN SOCIETY

It is a common belief that the church is not to get itself involved in legal or state matters, and that the church should just 'mind its own business' and focus only on what is going on within its four walls. Unfortunately, this view point is not unique to non-Christians, but has been echoed from various church members and even leaders, causing many Christians to feel that being vocal in society about sinful trends is somehow 'unChristianlike'.

The world is the world and the church is the church' mentality is one that is far from the Lord's Great Commission to preach the Gospel to every creature - yes: government, president, king, queen  and common man included. 'But we're a democracy', many will rebut, 'the people rule.' Living in a colonial imperialist state did not stop the early Christians from correcting governors and other rulers by calling them to repentance. Even when the rulers warned Peter and John to never again speak to anyone in the Name of Jesus on any condition, Peter and John answered them: 'You yourselves judge what is right in God's sight - to obey you or obey God. For we cannot stop speaking of which we ourselves have seen and heard'. 'We must obey God, not men' (Acts 4:19-20; Acts 5:29).

 Another common argument is that the church 'cannot impose Christian values on society'. Very well then, let us take a look at this together. Let me introduce you to Vicki Knox, special education teacher at Union High School near Newark who was suspended from her job because of expressing on facebook her disapproval of a display at her school which promoted diversity in sexual orientation. Perhaps you may have also heard of Kelvin Cochran, fire chief who was fired after seven years of service for publishing in a book that homosexuality is a sin, Ake Green, a Swedish pastor who was threatened jail sentence for preaching in a church that homosexuality is a sin, or even all the way in the Caribbean, the Jamaican medical doctor, Professor Brendan Bain, who was temporarily suspended from his contract for showing from his medical knowledge the unhealthy effects of homosexual sex. All these case studies aptly show that it is the secularist, humanist worldview that has imposed their anti-values, stifling the freedom of religion, conscience and expression of several persons.Interestingly, it is not only Christians who have been suffering, but society's increased endorsement of the LGBT lifestyle has led to soaring HIV/AIDS rates, cancer, mental disorders within the LGBTcommunity in several countries which have legalized buggery. According to USA Today, for homosexual risk behaviours to be covered, public health care premiums may increase between US$300-500.   You see, every law that is drafted must have a basis for being drafted; that basis should be in the best interest of all citizens affected. The Christian way is clearly the best.

If we were to take Jesus' statement seriously that He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18), and that one day everyone from every nation will be judged by God's Word (John 12:48), it means the church has the forefront responsibility to be vocal to influence all spheres of society for God's cause. It is up to us to preach to the world God's Way - or several more souls will be lost. 

3. VILLIFICATION OF THE CHRISTIAN COMMUNITY

Listening to speeches, surfing the internet, it is not uncommon when a Christian states he/she disagrees with homosexuality and same-sex marriage, to hear some accusation against the Christian community as to why they have no right to speak the way they do. 'Sin is sin' many will say, 'stop highlighting my sin like it is the biggest.' Some go to the extent to say that Christians are liars, thieves, and fornicators so why can't they be homosexuals?

Does it mean that because we all have sinned, no one can point out to anyone else their wrongs? Absolute nonsensical and deceptive reasoning. The world has distorted the meaning of who a Christian is - so much of our world profess to be 'Christian', but the Bible clearly distinguishes between people who claim to follow Christ and those who actually genuinely strive to do. The Lord Jesus Himself said the weeds and the wheat will grow together (Matt. 13:30). Indeed, the church has quite a whole lot to repent of - and Christians do fall, but the signal of a true follower of Christ is not staying in sin. A faithful Christian repents and goes back on the right track (1 John 3:6-10; Proverbs 24:16).

The prophets of old whom God sent to preach repentance, tearing their clothes in anguish at the people's sins were fallible human beings like you and I - but even so, having a heart that truly loved God, despite being fallible, they were called by God to call people to repentance. What hypocrites would the church be to only mind our own salvation and turn a blind eye to those caught in the devil's trap?

4. INHBITING ACTION

Another quite effective strategy of the evil one is inhibiting or severely limiting the scope of action Christians can achieve in speaking against wrong and call sinners to repentance, whether physically or psychologically. If the devil can succeed to deter and muffle the Christian voice in the public sphere, the world will easily remain in their sinful state and thereby will remain under his control. So he works in government with the implementation of 'hate speech' laws which find anyone who dare state homosexuality is sinful as 'hateful', and workplace 'diversity policies', which force all employees to even openly affirm LGBT as 'acceptable', even when it goes against their conscience, or else face legal action.

Unfortunately, the same 'crippling' effect is also widespread in several churches, which psychologically manipulate members to feel guilty of 'not having enough faith in God's power' if they actively speak out and hand out petitions for instance in an effort to nfluence the government. On the flip side, other church leaders merely facilitate a lackadaisical attitude toward this new surge of sexual anarchy by stating it as 'fulfilment of prophecy' so we should not try to fight it down. My dear friends, do not be so deceived by these attempts to weaken God's voice in the public sphere. No where in the Bible has the premise that the fulfilment of evil times meant that we should sit passively to watch its fulfilment. On the contrary, although 'perilous times shall come', we are told to preach the gospel to every creature. When God told Jonah of the prophesied punishment on Nineveh, when he went, thenatoin repented and God spared them at the time. As we preach, while we may not  change governments' minds, perhaps even one person may repent - that is reason enough not to keep silent!

As a Christian who has God's Spirit, it is only natural for events like these to stir up some amount of disgust and despair for the souls that are being and will be heavily influenced by the State's approval of sin. God does expect us as Christians to speak out, always in love - we have to show our disapproval. It is written in Jeremiah 5:30-31: 

  "A terrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: prophets speak nothing but lies; priests rule as the prophets command, and my people offer no objections. But what will they    do when it all comes to an end?"

5. OVERT DISCOURAGEMENT & DEFAMATION OF CHRISTIANS

While much of the deception comes in subtelty, there is an increased boldness on the part of the Enemy to detract from, and overtly discourage those who do speak out for righteousness. Verbal attacks are often spewed, many times in no way befitting what and how Christians say what they say, often including accusations of hatred, bigotry, intolerance, ignorance and downright stupidity. When this is not done directly, attempts to make the Christian feel like their words will make no diference, belittling the effect and purpose of calls to repentance in an attempt to divert both by-standers from the truth of the situation. Christians themselves are oftentimes left to second-guess their tone and their words as they resolutely stand driven by a motive of pure love, while unfortunately many by-standers are deceived to view Christian opposition as only 'mouth-talk', hatred and self-righteousness. 

But Christians, remember this: Jesus did promise that persecutions will come, but it is written that "...nothing you do in the Lord's service is ever useless." (1 Corinthians 15:58).

6. UNDERSTATEMENTS: DOWNPLAYING THE EFFECTS OF THE LGBT AGENDA

Ever heard the statement 'I mind what's in my bedroom, you mind what's in yours - leave other people's business alone'? It is quite likely you've heard this verbatim or a version of it - from government officials to the common man - sounds like quite an innocent and even plausible statement at first glance. After all, we're each entitled to our right to privacy, right?

Let's rub our eyes and look at this statement again. How consistent is the reasoning of proponents of in-bedroom privacy for child abuse, incest, pedophilia, drug trafficking, rape and homicide? If you notice, at least three of the punishable crimes mentioned are directly linked to sex - why would not most people argue if the police charged a man for having consensual sex with his underraged daughter? Even more pressing: does committing sin in privacy make it any less of a sin? Absolutely not!

Speaking in this way however, is quite a commonplace, deceptive argument which conceals the far-reaching effects that the state's acceptance of the LGBT lifestyle brings with it. Oh no - it will not only be limited to the homosexual's bedroom, bu their bedroom will be brought to our schools, our workplaces and even in our churches as shown in the earlier examples. Children as soon as they reach school age will and have been taught and forced to accept LGBT as an acceptable alternate lifestyle or punished.

7. SYMPATHY-SEEKING

To close-off on these strategies to look out for is the sympathy-seeing tactic. In stories on the internet, documentaries made, and even statistics generated, the proponents of LGBT have and continue to play on the emotions of the masses to somehow make themselves seem as the victims, the oppressed who are finally getting 'justice', and anyone who opposes, particularly Christians, as the villains. So often the mass media presents stories about homosexual abuse, concealing the fact that the majority of the abuse perpetrators are their fellow homosexuals themselves. Complaints about denied access to healthcare due to 'stigma' are so often touted as reasons to legalize the lifestyle, while the fact that it is the buggery act itself which causes HIV/AIDS rates to keep soaring, particularly where there is state endorsement, is often unmentioned.

Mind you, as Christians, we ought to be compassionate about everyone. True compassion however, would never lead anyone to make someone stay in a state of danger. Letting your child continue playing with fire, no matter how much he or she may enjoy the feeling, is not showing love! Many of the LGBT are truly hurting - numerous studies globally have shown that a substantial amount of lesbians and homosexuals have been abused in their early life, and thus the situation is indeed complex. As Christians, we must realize and read behind the devil's tactics - he will hurt people to distract them in life, lead them off as far from the right path as possible, promise them pleasure and happiness and keep them bound in a cycle of sin that is difficult to get out. Several ex-homosexuals and ex-lesbians have professed that through all the addiction of the lifestyle, it is a miserable state - the incidence of depression and suicide among LGBT is significantly higher than the rest of the population, even in longstanding 'acepting societies'. This shows that in all the deception, even if they get all the 'freedom' they want, deep down, many knnow what they are doing is wrong. Our duty as Christians must be to give a helping hand and show the right way. For those who are willing to listen, more souls will be saved; for those who will not, our duty has still been done. God's Seed may germinate in the future.

If you are struggling with any sin - whether homosexuality, fornication, stealing, whatever it may be - God is calling you because He loves you. THERE IS A BETTER WAY.

 if you need spiritual support or prayer, talk to someone you trust, or feel free to contact us and we will pray for you.