Dan Savage and What the Bible Really Says

DAN SAVAGE, ALREADY GONE.

Yesterday there was a report of an activist named Dan Savage who was supposed to be delivering a talk on bullying to a group of high school journalists. It took a turn to another topic. The news and YouTube viral vid (I'm not posting the vid here) showed a group led by Jake Naman walking out on the speaker in the middle of it. That took courage to stand up and walk out I'm sure.

Dan Savage was on a rant about the hypocrisy of the Blble. I want to veer off here for what is not being talked about. 2/3 of the youth in the church are leaving it today by college age. There is a book named Already Gone: Why Your Kids Will Quit Church and What You Can Do to Stop It by Ken Ham and Britt Beemer with Todd Hilard. In this book they spell out and it's backed up by much research that most children are leaving because of questioning the Bible and it's starting in the middle school years not college years as some experts had thought for the last few decades. In other words, by the time our children hit college, they're already gone! They are ripe pickings for the liberal college professors.

HYPOCRISY IN THE CHURCH, NOT THE BIBLE

The reason that I see for this is the same reason I left the church at a fairly early age and went the wrong path for 40 years. The fact that I was taught Darwinism in school aside, I saw hypocrisy in the church. What I heard being preached was not what I saw, witnessed and experienced in it's people. The last straw came after already being gone and playing with a pop band in a nightclub in another county where I witnessed a deacon from my church dancing with a woman who was definitely not his wife. And the way the were dancing was not leading me to believe it was a sister, cousin, niece or just friend either.

Now returning to the story on Dan Savage, he obviously has either been seeing the same duplicity or has been taught that. He has not been taught the love that is in the Bible that I now read, experience and share with others. I feel really sorry for the young man. He really hasn't stood a chance up until now. The way I would have preferred to see Jake Naman handle that scene would have gone maybe like this. Just stand up in silence. That's what Jesus did for us. Stand up with that same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead. Pray in the spirit right then and there. Pray against the Jezebel spirit and stronghold that was obviously within Dan Savage. Not to turn their backs and walk out but to stand their ground, in love and let He that is greater overcome this situation just as He has already overcome the world.

I am not deriding what Jake and his friends did nor am I condemning them, only offering a different approach for the next time someone reading this is faced with what they called persecution. We don't know what real persecution is. Go to China and talk with people in the underground church and they'll tell you "Don't pray that the persecution stops!" They are reallly being persecuted and it's like throwing water on a grease fire, it just spreads it more and more. Our forefathers came to this country to escape persecution, we really don't know what it's like here in America in our protected little bubble. We are not arrested and thrown in prison for going to church here.

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE REALLY SAY

Now here's what the Bible really says in a nutshell. The New Testament is concealed in the Old Testament and the OT is revealed in the NT. The Bible is all about one thing, our need for a Messiah and how to love. (There is nothing that advocates, racism, bigotry, slavery, bullying or anything else Dan Savage mentioned except homosexuality.) We are to respond in every situation with love. We can not be offended because that is a reaction based in fear which has been cast out by perfect love. Offense is simply our flesh reacting because it doesn't know it's loved. The rules laid down in the Old Testament are good rules but can never be met. That is why Jesus came and declared that although we can't forget them, we need to basically adhere to these truths... Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and all our strength and love others as we love ourselves. The first mistake we make is not teaching our children to love themselves. We can't give away something we don't possess ourselves. The second mistake we make is not exhibiting in our own homes what we are taught in the Bible. The Bible teaches that you can't love or serve two masters at once. But yet, that's what I saw in the church. That is what young people see in many churches today. There is nothing to hold them there. A strong youth group meeting is not enough. These kids are under bigger, much bigger assaults from the powers of darkness than ever before.

The Bible teaches us to be servants, to take a back seat to never seek what we desire but what He desires. Many churches are run by those who serve themselves. Decisions are made based on what they want in their church. The young people are left out for the most part. They are pacified at times and it's not enough for them. With what they are bombarded with in public schools, from media, internet, tv, pop music and culture, they are not receiving the answers that they sorely need to all the questions this world raises to them. Church leaders have got to start embracing their youth as the future. People can't selfishly hold on to what they want and like in their churches or they will die a slow and terrible death and the youth will be lost. It doesn't matter if the kids want louder current music, it is not heretical, they will come to love hymns when the time comes and they mature but they can't be turned off to church by not having a say.

WHAT OUR YOUTH REALLY NEED

Most importantly, our youth need to be taught the power that can be within them. They don't understand- "The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead is inside of them." The gospel is power and they are not seeing that being exhibited, they are not seeing it in the lives of their elders. They must be taught how they can change an atmosphere where ever they go. They must be taught that whatever they touch will be healed, that demons will flee, that darkness must go. Matthew 10:7-8 sums it up. It doesn't matter what decisions you make about life, about school, about marriage... these things are insignificant, but "As you go, preach this message: The Kingdom of Heaven is near, Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give."

Our youngest daughter started healing people before she could drive. I've written about it before, in a parking garage in the middle of Baltimore around midnight on a Friday night. She was praying with a group of older kids she was with outside their car when a gang of young teens riding skateboards came by making noise and asking "Hey what are you guys doing?" She replied very abruptly and with attitude, "WE'RE PRAYING HERE!" Then added, as she saw the words dancing over their heads, HEART PROBLEMS... "Hey which one of you guys has heart problems?" The one boy stopped dead in his tracks, cursing at her, "WHAT THE F...?" "How could you possibly know that? I've got a congenital heart condition that they say needs fixed when I'm an adult!" She just ordered him to come to her and God was going to heal his heart. He relunctantly came over as his other friend bailed and left. She prayed and instantly he felt the change and a wave of heat. He said the skipping that he had all his life and could feel suddenly stopped and his heart was beating perfectly. He kept cursing and saying No F..ing way!! over and over. Then she kept going and prophecied over him that he was going to be a preacher one day but not an ordinary preacher but an unusual preacher in a huge house church movement. He took off scoffing at that like nothing ever happened but we know, his life was forever changed that night. That's living the Bible.

GOD BLESS JAKE AND HIS FRIENDS AND DAN SAVAGE

Jake evidently was not aware that he had the power to stand his ground yesterday, change the atmosphere and love Dan Savage right back to health. See Dan is sick, he just doesn't know it. There is a cancer in him and so many people in our country who are serving a master they don't even know or acknowledge. I pray for Dan and all others who stand in agreement with Dan's way of thinking. Holy Spirit, Have your way with them. Invade their lives, put real love, laid down lovers of Jesus in their lives to permeate all their beings from the inside out. Not with words but with love and affirmation. Let them know your pure and perfect love. In Jesus' name, Amen.