Seraphim Hanisch
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
It seems that for at least a year, the newsies were afraid to say anything about this. Now some prominent people are beginning to, and any reasonable Christian person can only say, “thank God” for even the weak level of questioning that is going on. The topic concerns one Mayor Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, who is at present a leader in the primary contests for the Democrat Party nomination for their candidate for President of the United States. Most of the time the media in the US, left-leaning or cowardly right-wingers, have remained almost mum on the subject that in Buttigieg’s “family” there is NO “mum”. Just two men. A man and his “husband.” This issue has even affected conservatives, such as Jesse Watters on Fox News’ program The Five, where he asked “am I ready for a gay president? Sure, I am open minded. But is America? That is a different question.” To be sure, he is correct so far as he goes. But he and the rest of the cowed media in the US are not asking the real question.
What would happen to America with a gay president at the helm?
Were it the case that the President was unaccompanied by anyone this would be bad enough, but Mayor Pete regularly kisses his “husband” on the national stage, and these images get broadcast all over the world.
To some people, this is progress, though one wonders what it is progress from and where is it leading. Mayor Pete maintains that he is a Christian, and indeed, according to a piece by Rolling Stone, he makes “his Christian faith a cornerstone.”
But, wait.
Didn’t the apostle Paul give a complete run down on homosexuality, calling it both an abomination and a sin against one’s own body? He had to address the Roman Christians in his day, who were doubtlessly confused as to why this new faith of theirs was against homosexuality, which had been largely normalized in the Roman Empire of that time.
His explanation is so clear and simple that it is summarily ignored by those of Buttigieg’s ilk, but not only by liberal Protestant believers but by Roman Catholic and even Orthodox believers as well. Here is what Paul actually said about this. For those of you who feel biblically inclined, this didactic is in chapter one of Romans. We removed the verse numbers so the text reads as a unified message, which is how it was meant to be.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
“Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
“Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful:
Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
There it is, with the results in bold type. Pete Buttigieg is involved in that “men with men working that which is unseemly” thing, and in the reaction of the American press and some of the political class, the last bold-typed statement says it: they “have pleasure in them that do them.”
Whatever Mayor Pete may think his faith is, it is not Christianity. It is something else, something way off course.
Of late this story has surfaced on two fronts. The rise of Pete Buttigieg stands in opposition to a recent piece of news from Russia. Yahoo! News even carried this. In Russia there is some question about normalizing gay marriage, and President Putin on Feb 13th, was absolutely clear on this manner:
[Mr. Putin] made clear he would not allow the traditional notion of mother and father to be subverted by what he called “parent number 1” and “parent number 2”.
“As far as ‘parent number 1’ and ‘parent number 2’ goes, I’ve already spoken publicly about this and I’ll repeat it again: as long as I’m president this will not happen. There will be dad and mum,” Putin said.
During his two decades in power, Putin has closely aligned himself with the Orthodox Church and sought to distance Russia from liberal Western values, including attitudes toward homosexuality and gender fluidity.
The response from the assembled leaders was clearly favorable. Look at this video clip in Russian (auto translate does work reasonably well here.)
The most telling aspect of this piece though, are the reader comments for this news piece on LIBERAL Yahoo! News. Here is a sample.
In other words, a lot of people even from liberal corners of the internet (after all, who reads Yahoo! News?!) are easily – and gratefully recognizing that Russia is not taking the course of the liberal secularized West.
This points to a further, and to quote President Trump, a YUGE matter regarding the possibility of American having such a president as Pete Buttigieg: It would spell utter disaster for the United States in terms of geopolitics.
Imagine, for example, the image problem it creates for the United States, already known for its debauchery in the world, if it presents “its best” to the world in the form of a gay man who kisses his “husband” in public in the White House.
The leader of any nation characterizes that nation.
Consider what we think of Russia with Putin as its President. Consider what we think of the USA now, with Trump at the helm. Think about Ayotollah Khameini of Iran and Hassan Rouhani and the images the portray to the world about their Iran. Or what Netanyahu makes the Israeli nation look like to the world.
All these men project character traits we automatically associate with their respective nations. Those images are very powerful and they stand as the “first faces” of these nations. So, think about it: A gay man and his sexual partner in the American White House: What image does this portray to the world?
And while we are at it, what is the world’s reaction to that image?
For the Islamic nations who hold something over a billion people, the reaction will definitely NOT be politically correct in any way. At best, Muslim countries will never take such a leader seriously. President Putin is definitely understood as an Alpha male, a true “man’s man” in every sense of maximum masculinity, even at his somewhat advanced age. Since he is Christian, he would be civil to such a leader, but since he is Christian and Russian, (where there is no political correctness), there is no reason to believe he would feel comfortable dealing with a President Pete unless he could completely dominate the dialogue, which he probably would do.
Some readers will be understandably quick to point out that these attitudes are “provincial” and that they reflect “primitive thinking” and “lack of progress.”
Yes.
So?
The nasty little bit of reality that such liberal progressives never face is that the rest of the world does not and will not see it the way they do. More accurately, of course, the way they try to convince themselves that they do. Such extreme levels of denial that allow people to think that homosexuality is normative, or even blessed by Jesus Christ (when absolutely nothing in Christianity agrees with such a view), is exactly as St Paul wrote.
In very plain English, we can distill St Paul’s text above in this way:
- People forget God.
- They start to drift into pseudo, “new” religious ideas.
- The more they do this, the more their minds become warped.
- They begin to rebel more and more against their very natures, sexually and otherwise.
- The more they do this, the more they justify themselves
- The more they justify themselves, the more difficult it becomes for them to bear the actual truth.
This is what has happened with Mayor Pete and his “husband”, everyone who tries to support this travesty, and everyone who tries to assuage people to not worry about it because it is “progress”, and “tolerance” and even “being loving” to abet such things.
It is very important to understand that St Paul wrote a didactic that, while it certainly is tied to the abandonment of obedience to God, the sequence and results are absolutely real and practical. They were in fact, the reality that made the newly-minted Roman Christians of that time probably ask Paul “why are we making such a case about homosexuality?” – and Paul answered their question, as well as our own.
There does not have to be any “religious hocus locus” involved to see that the effects of such a presidency would be utterly disastrous for the American nation and her people. It would probably mark the end of American dominance in the world. Some people will jump to thinking that is a good thing, but that evaluation is unclear. Maybe it would allow Russia to take its place as the Christian nation that leads the world back to sanity.
But it would also mean tragedy for hundreds of millions of people, maybe even more, in the United States and around the world. who find themselves persecuted ever the more for their faith, as their lives are ground out of existence by the sheer political force of the militant activists who would champion people like Pete Buttigieg.
St Paul noted their characteristics: being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful…
Don’t we see this now?
“What began in Russia will end in America” – St Ignatius of Harbin
Maybe this is what he meant.
The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of this site. This site does not give financial, investment or medical advice.
5 days ago
6 days ago
5 days ago
6 days ago
6 days ago