EVIL, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE.

I'd like to start today's post off with a disclaimer. I don't do this all the time, but I noticed that our last published article was after the Grammy's and I don't want to mislead anyone or give them the false impression that we put any weight or value into Hollywood or the popular culture.

On the contrary, we've been informed (by the powers that be) that in order for our posts to get traction and receive better distribution by the social-media algorithms, we need to write on topics that are trending.

​Lord knows we certainly don't want to find out that our content stale or irrelevant, so we're doing our best to keep up with the Mother Jones's, the Page Six's, and the other celebrity gossip repositories. With that in mind, we decided to weigh in on the events of the 95th Academy Awards; better known as The Oscars...and also known as, "Who Really Cares". 

GENDER ROLES AND VIRTUE SIGNALS

I'll do my best to avoid accusations of mansplaining, but I also want to avoid leaving anyone who might find themself in the same boat as us (i.e. out out of the loop because you don't actually care), confused; because you're out of the loop and don't actually care.

So let me set the table quickly, to bring you up to speed. Apparently—in spite of the demands of an ever-progressing culture—the gender-specific categories for the Oscars have not been woke-washed to scrub any connections to the cis-gender structures which have oppressed humanity since...well, I guess since God created humans, in the first place, as male and female.

So, men still win the award for best actor and women still win the award for best actress. But that won't ever stop Hollywood from pandering to the people who keep them atop the celebrity food chain.

That's why this year's winner for the category of Best Director, Director Daniel Scheinert for the movie: Everything Everywhere All at Once, made his obligatory and charitable nod to subjective-morality by sticking up for this year's most oppressed-yet-protected class of Americans. The Drag Queens.​ 

Let's hear what he had to say in his acceptance speech:

DISTURBING, PERVERTED, AND A THREAT TO NOBODY.

That's right. Self-admittedly, one of the two members of "The Dan's" described his history, in film, in 3 words. Disturbing, perverted and a threat to nobody.

Now, to be fair, the threat that he was speaking of specifically, was the threat of dressing up in drag. And although it is a drag to see how frequently we are made to see and talk about drag, we're not going to simply let this one go.

You see, herein lies the problem for us. Progressives would love for people to hear and believe that things like grooming children, desensitizing adults, or celebrating perversion in public places throughout America genuinely won't hurt anyone. But any Christian, who is worth their weight in sanctification, knows better. And we know better because God's Word tells us so.

Our sin is not benign and neither are the sins of our culture.  In fact the bible makes it explicitly clear that God has held nations accountable for the ways that they have embraced, celebrated, practiced, and condoned sin.

Here's one example from the book of Leviticus:
​

24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. 30 So keep my charge never to practice any of these abominable customs that were practiced before you, and never to make yourselves unclean by them: I am the Lord your God.”

Leviticus 18:24-25, 30

EVIL, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE

This is why we, at the Pugnacious Pilgrim, make such a big deal out of the sins we see being celebrated in our culture. It's not because we're trying to hyperfocus on some sin we don't have to deal with. We have to deal with the sin in our own lives each and every day; and believe me when I say this, there is plenty to deal with.

But that's kind of the point. Sin is meant to be dealt with. It's a poison. It's a cancer. It's deadly. We don't deal with sin by celebrating it. That doesn't make the problem disappear. It makes it worse.

There are many reasons why the Bible is such a helpful tool for understanding God and understanding the human condition. One reason is that we have history we can look to, in order to learn from it. When we look at Genesis 6 and how Moses captures God's description of humanity—who had essentially been left to their own vices—we get a very helpful picture of a world completely overcome by evil. 

5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. 7 So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

Gen. 6:5-7

Sin corrupts. And sin left undealt with, corrupts completely. God looked upon humanity, and was grieved in his heart, because all that God saw was evil, everywhere, all at once.

CHRIST, OUR HOPE, ONCE AND FOR ALL
But that isn't the end of the story. It easily could have been, but God is faithful to his promises even when people are unfaithful to him.

God found favor in Noah. The favor God found wasn't in Noah's perfection or his works or his worth, but rather in Noah's humility and his faith.

Hebrews 11 tells us that it was by faith that Noah—being warned by God concerning events yet unseen—in reverent fear constructed an ark to save his family.

In a similar way, we too have been warned of the coming calamity. God's Word clearly tells us that the wages of sin is death. Sin destroys. Sin corrupts. Sin leads to eternity in hell; separated from all things good and from God.

So, for a Christian, we can't come into agreement with the deception that sin (whether it be perverted comedy, disturbing horror, or 'family friendly drag shows')  doesn't hurt anyone. We know better. We know that sin always hurts. And when sin is embraced, ignored, or celebrated by a nation...that nation will always suffer consequences.

The impact to this generation, with the apathy of a previous generation towards sin and ungodliness, is already visible. We are living under the natural consequences of a culture who has forgotten how to blush and has become indifferent towards sin.

Jesus didn't die so we could carry on as we were. He died, so that in his death and resurrection we too might die to our sins and be raised to newness of life. A life marked by a love for the things God loves and a hatred for the things that God hates.

And yes, I did say hatred. Not the kind of hatred that our culture would like you to believe exists in the hearts of Christians who push back against ungodliness. But rather the kind of hatred that God has.

God hates sin. God hates the kind of pride that shakes its fist at His expectations for His Creation. God hates nations who embrace sin and abominations and have become a cesspool of wickedness instead of a beacon of light. God hates evil.

Pilgrims, we can't tolerate sin. We can't be apathetic to the very things that are leading Americans to hell. We must be brave and we must be bold enough to speak the truth. When someone uses the platform they have been given, to spout lies about sin not hurting anyone, we too must take the platform we have been given to share the truth. Sin is the reason people go to hell. Sin is the reason people die. Sin hurts everyone.

And only by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ and faith in the events yet unseen, will a nation be saved. And even though evil is everywhere, all at once. Evil doesn't get the final word. God does.

What efforts are we making today, to ensure people aren't caught by surprise when that day comes?