“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Isaiah 55: 6-7

_____________

#####

“Elohim created man in His own image, in the image of Elohim He created him; male and female He created them.”

On Saturdays, I go to Greenville, SC to spend time with my granddaughter. It’s a 40-minute drive. On the way there, I listen to the Bible on my iPhone. It’s Bluetooth connected, and I have a Bible app on my phone for The Word of Promise Audio Bible.

After spending a few hours with Winter, I drive home and listen to a Greenville Christian radio station: 91.9 FM HIS Radio Talk.

As I was driving home last Saturday, I listened to the Senior Pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Greenville, Susan Crowell. Her sermon was an explanation about how Trinity Lutheran became a woke church. She didn’t do it apologetically. She is proud of what she did and thinks she made a great contribution to the Greenville area.

Crowell started the sermon by saying that her daughter came out as a lesbian. When word got back to her congregation, many of them blamed her personally for not raising her daughter properly.

My heart went out to Crowell when she talked about her daughter, and it troubled me when Crowell explained the initial reaction of some members of her congregation. That said, my feelings don’t govern my behavior. Yahweh’s word and the leading of His Spirit do.

I wanted to listen to the sermon again to make sure that I understood everything Crowell said. I tried to retrieve it form various archives including YouTube, but for some reason, I couldn’t find it. The date of the broadcast was February 12, 2022 on 91.9 FM HIS Talk Radio in Greenville between 9:00 AM and noon.

I was driving, so I didn’t take notes. This SnyderTalk editorial is based on my memory of what Crowell said. I will focus on what I think is a perfect example of deception by none other than the master deceiver, Satan himself.

Embracing Sin is Not the Right Solution

According to Crowell, rather than addressing the sin in her daughter’s life, she embraced it and led her church to commit the same error. She sought and won the pity and support of enough church members to yank the rug out from under Yahweh’s faithful followers in her congregation. Eventually, most of them left the church.

Crowell said that the Trinity Lutheran Church congregation under her leadership took the position that Yahweh created her daughter as a lesbian and that He doesn’t have a problem with homosexuality or almost anything else. In her sermon, she used the acronym LGBTQ? a few times and talked about introducing “Queer-led Worship” at Trinity Lutheran. That’s not a joke.

“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight!” (Isaiah 5: 20-21)

Satan beat Crowell like a drum, and she doesn’t seem to know it.

Yahweh Accepts Us as We Are, but He Doesn’t Leave US Where We Are

Yahweh doesn’t wink at sin. The fact that the guilty party in this instance is the pastor’s daughter is irrelevant. No one gets a free pass in Yahweh’s kingdom. Yahweh paid the price for our sins when He gave His life for our redemption and salvation, but He redeems only those who admit that they are guilty, ask for forgiveness, and repent. Refusing to do that is the same as saying, “I am not guilty, so I don’t need a Savior.”

Yahweh is a loving Elohim. He accepts us as we are, but He doesn’t leave us where we are. When we come to Him and ask for forgiveness and salvation, He gives us His Spirit. Yahweh’s Spirit then leads us to correct living. Stated another way, the Spirit molds us into the Messiah’s image and makes us holy. That’s called “sanctification”. It takes place over time, and it must happen. If it doesn’t happen, the salvation experience wasn’t real.

The key point in this situation is not that the people at Trinity Lutheran embraced a sinner in their midst who needed help. That’s what believers are supposed to do. They key point is that they embraced the sin itself and treated it as normal, acceptable behavior. Anyone who knows Yahweh should know better than that, especially a pastor.

Faith and Obedience are the Measure of Success in Yahweh’s Kingdom

Crowell said that it took about 2 years for Trinity Lutheran to recover from the financial problem created by the departing members, but now, she said her church is raising more money than ever before. Preachers should never equate success and raising money. They are not the same thing.

Faith and obedience are the measures of success in Yahweh’s kingdom, not money. Preachers miss the mark completely when they think that raising money and attracting crowds so they can raise even more money are signs of Yahweh blessing their congregations. A preacher who focuses on money doesn’t have a close relationship with Yahweh if she has a relationship with Him at all. That way of thinking should be jettisoned.

“You of little faith! Do not worry then, saying, ‘What are we to eat?’ or ‘What are we to drink?’ or ‘What are we to wear for clothing?’ For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be provided to you.” (Matthew 6: 30-33)

Calling Sin “Good” Leads to More and Worse Sin

Before Crowell finished her sermon, I was angry. She wasn’t talking about a complicated theological issue that is subject to debate. This is nuts and bolts stuff that the Bible covers in great detail. I wonder what Crowell and other preachers like her will do when people join her church and demand acceptance of their pedophilia or their bestiality and who knows what else.

Pedophiles and “animal lovers” believe they were born that way, too. I’m not exaggerating or trying to be provocative. Those people are coming out now, too, and they are demanding acceptance of their lifestyles. In some Christian circles in America, they are already winning converts.

Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing

Lots of preachers pretend to represent Yahweh, but they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. Some of them may think they are doing Elohim’s work, but they are wrong. Yahweh gave us instructions on how to live. Those instructions are for our own good. All of us have violated Yahweh’s commands. When we do, we are supposed to examine our behavior, ask Yahweh for forgiveness, and repent. We are not supposed to embrace sin and call it good.

This is how John explained it:

“If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.” (1 John 1: 8-10)

That’s what Crowell should have told her daughter. Confessing our sins means to call sin what it is and to admit that we are sinners. When we do that, Yahweh forgives our sins, cleanses us from unrighteousness, and saves us.

Instead, Crowell decided that Yahweh was wrong (i.e., she called Him a liar), accepted her daughter’s sin as normal behavior, rejected the counsel of members of her congregation who told her that she was on the wrong path, drove them from her church, and led the remaining church members down a path that does not lead to Yahweh. That’s not what good shepherds do. That’s what wolves do when they are trying to pick off members of the flock and devour them.

Embracing Sin is an Act of Hate, Not Love

In essence, Crowell created another religion. It bears no resemblance to the faith and obedience that Yahweh demands and expects. The Lutheran Church in general has problems dealing with sexual immorality. It could be that Crowell was leading her congregation toward the mainstream in the Lutheran Church, and she saw her daughter’s coming out as an opportunity to do that. See “Stances of Faiths on LGBTQ Issues: Evangelical Lutheran Church in America”.

Crowell’s campaign to embrace sinners of all sorts and to make them feel good about wallowing in their sins is the exact opposite of what Yahweh expects from those who profess to represent Him. Yahweh’s Spirit would not lead anyone to do the things Crowell did.

Paul would have called someone like Crowell “a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.” (1 Corinthians 13: 1) She probably thinks her acceptance of gross immorality makes her a superior person, and she tries to portray her callous disregard for Yahweh’s word as an act of love and kindness.

Embracing sin is not an act of love. It’s an act of hate, because of where it leads. That’s how Yahweh sees it, and that’s what He said. What Crowell did may win her praise from the pop culture crowd in Greenville, but not from Yahweh.

The Messiah Didn’t Die on the Cross So We Can Wallow in Sin

The Gospel of John talks about a time when scribes and Pharisees brought a woman to the Messiah who had been caught in the act of adultery. They said, “Now in the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. What do You say?” (John 8: 5)

At first, the Messiah didn’t respond, probably because they were hypocrites who were trying to trap Him. But they kept asking the question, so eventually, He answered:

“He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” (John 8: 7)

The scribes and Pharisees were not so shameless and hypocritical that they were willing to admit publicly that they thought they were sinless. Thus, they turned and walked away leaving the woman and the Messiah alone together.

Nothing in the text suggests that the scribes and Pharisees were wrong. The woman was caught in the act of adultery. The Messiah literally saved her life that day. They would have stoned her had it not been for Him, but what did He tell the woman?

He said, “Go, and from now on, sin no more.” (John 8: 11) He did not embrace her sin. He told her to stop sinning.

Sin separates us from Yahweh. The Messiah is our Redeemer and Savior, but He didn’t die on the cross so we can wallow in sin.

Homosexuality is “an Abomination”

In her sermon, Crowell made one point that is undeniably true. She said that Yahweh loves everyone, but Yahweh never said He loves everything people do. In fact, He said just the opposite, and He zeroed in on homosexuality:

“You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” (Leviticus 18: 22)
“If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” (Leviticus 20: 13)

Yahweh left no room for doubt about where He stands on the issue of homosexuality. He called it “an abomination”. No one who knows Yahweh and believes Him can justify taking another position on the issue.

Crowell claims to be a Christian, and she’s a preacher. She knows what Yahweh said about homosexuality, and she must know what Paul said about it as well:

“For this reason, Elohim gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.” (Romans 1: 26-27)
“Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of Elohim? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of Elohim.” (1 Corinthians 6: 9-10)
“But we know that the Law is good, if one uses it lawfully, realizing the fact that law is not made for a righteous person, but for those who are lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and sinners, for the unholy and profane, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers and immoral men and homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to sound teaching, according to the glorious gospel of the blessed Elohim, with which I have been entrusted.” (1 Timothy 1: 8-11)

Paul didn’t stray one inch from the path that Yahweh set. Crowell can’t have it both ways. Either she believes Yahweh or she doesn’t. If she doesn’t believe Yahweh, she chose the wrong profession. It is foolish for her to stand in front of a congregation and tell them that she believes Yahweh, but she rejects His word.

There Are 2 Genders

People are not born homosexual. It’s a learned behavior. There is no scientific support for the belief that homosexuality is natural. That way of thinking is based entirely on feelings, and feelings are as changeable as the weather.

See “Homosexuality from Several Viewpoints”.

There are 2 genders: Male and female. People are born either male or female, not something in-between.

“Elohim created man in His own image, in the image of Elohim He created him; male and female He created them.” (Genesis 1:27)

“He created them male and female, and He blessed them and named them Man in the day when they were created.” (Genesis 5:2)

In today’s pop culture, people are saying that there are many genders, not just 2. That way of thinking betrays Yahweh and denies reality.

Gender is not a continuum with male and female anchoring the extremes on the continuum and things in-between representing an infinite number of points along the continuum. That idea came from Satan, and he’s a good salesman. Many churches in America are adopting that way of thinking including Susan Crowell’s Trinity Lutheran Church. She bought Satan’s lie and sold it to her church. She is leading them to a kingdom, but it’s not Yahweh’ kingdom.

While I was teaching at the University of Virginia, The Washington Post was my daily newspaper. Somewhere in the mid-1990s, I remember reading an article in the Post about Fairfax County school officials being concerned that “being gay” had become a fad at Fairfax High School, and they wanted to solve the problem. That was less than 30 years ago. Things have changed a lot since then. Today, I think a school official in Fairfax County would be fired for suggesting that “being gay” might be a problem.

I feel sorry for Susan Crowell, but I don’t feel sorry enough for her to buy her lie. The sin she committed is an abomination, too. In fact, I think her sin is worse than her daughter’s sin because of the position she holds.

Rejecting Yahweh’s Word is Rejecting Him

Crowell rejected Yahweh. Why would she want to pretend to represent Him? Be honest, Susan. Admit that you rejected Yahweh and start another church that has nothing to do with Him. In America today, it could become very popular, but not with Yahweh. Or better yet, ask Yahweh for forgiveness and repent.

Crowell’s daughter needs help, and she’s not alone. There are lots of people like her, and the number of people like her is growing rapidly. Susan Crowell needs help, too. I think a lot of people who know her must know that.

Satan is “like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5: 8) He had a hold on Crowell’s daughter, but rather than trying to help her daughter escape from Satan’s grip, Crowell accepted her immoral behavior and promoted it at Trinity Lutheran as a good thing. In other words, Satan used Crowell’s daughter’s sin to gain a firm grip on her mother and her mother’s congregation.

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of Elohim abides on him.” (John 3: 36)

Telling the Truth About Sin is Not Hate Speech

People who are caught up in today’s pop culture refer to remarks like the ones I have made as “hate speech”, but that is far from the truth. Calling sin “sin” isn’t an act of hate. It’s an act of love. That’s exactly what Yahweh does.

Satan attacked the people in Sodom and Gomorrah the same way he attacked the people at Trinity Lutheran, and they did what Crowell did. It didn’t work out well for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Yahweh hasn’t changed. He’s the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Crowell’s daughter needs healing and forgiveness. Yahweh can provide both of those things, but pretending that sin isn’t sin prevents either of those things from happening. Embracing sin as though it’s normal, right, and good leads to more sin.

“A little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.” (Galatians 5: 9)

The Most Terrifying Words in the Bible: “I Never Knew You”

I would love to hear from some of the Trinity Lutheran members who left the church, especially people who had been in the church for a long time. If my hunch is correct, they felt like something important in their lives was stolen from them. It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that some of them see Crowell as a thief.

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the ones who do the will of My Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to Me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your Name, and cast out demons in Your Name, and do many mighty works in Your Name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me you who practice lawlessness.’” (Matthew 7: 21-23)

The video below addresses the problem of believers and people who say they are believers embracing sexual perversion and incorporating it into their philosophy of life as though it is acceptable and good. Nothing could be more abominable. True believers need to know that Satan uses things like sex to deceive believers because sex is a natural part of human existence. Believers need to know that they are under attack, and their response to those attacks determines whose they are. True believers follow Yahweh. Others don’t. If you follow Satan, you belong to him. If you follow Yahweh, you belong to Him. Choose whose side you are on, and choose carefully because your eternal destiny depends on it.

#####

_____________

#####

_____________

#####

“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”

John 10: 14-18