November 9, 2018 @ 7:30 AM
We're all familiar with the illustration of how a frog can be boiled alive. If you throw a frog in a pot of boiling water, he will jump right out. However, if you put a frog in a pot and slowly turn up the heat until it reaches a boil, the frog will end up boiled alive, having failed to realize what was happening. America, the great melting pot, is slowing becoming a boiling pot, in which Christianity is being incrementally boiled alive. Unfortunately, most Christians in our country don't have a clue as to what is happening.
Texas is arguably the most conservative state in America; however, a flaming F-bomb throwing liberal, Beto O'Rourke, almost unseated Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who is arguably the most conservative senator in the United States Senate, this past Tuesday. Way back in 2014, Anise Parker, the lesbian mayor of Houston at the time, subpoenaed the sermons of Houston pastors in order to scour them for hate-speech. Mayor Parker hoped to use the subpoenaed sermons to prosecute Gospel preachers who had called for the repeal of Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO), which many Christians feared would be interpreted by the courts as a mandate on churches and ministries to hire homosexual and transgendered ministers. Well, it's safe to say, in light of the screams of Houston's Christians and clergy, who were definitely feeling the boiling heat, that the city tried to simmer its saints too swiftly. Houston's Equal Rights Ordinance ended up being repealed by a city-wide referendum in 2015.
Today, in Austin, the capital of Texas, another attempted simmering of the saints is taking place. The city of Austin has passed an anti-discrimination ordinance that forbids anyone, including churches and ministries, from refusing to hire someone on the basis of their sexual orientation. According to Austin's Mayor, Steve Adler, and the city's Human Rights Commission Chairwoman, Sareta Davis, the city's new hiring ordinance will be vigorously defended. David Carroll, the Chairman of the Christian Action Network, has pinpointed Austin's anti-discrimination ordinance as proof positive that "the secular war against Christianity" is swiftly continuing in this country. Perhaps, like Houston, Austin will also suffer a backlash for attempting to bring things too swiftly to a boil, but one thing for sure, some conniving chef will soon slow down the simmer on this poisonous stew and successfully cook Christianity in this country. Are you feeling the heat yet, or are you, like so many other contemporary Christians, feeling smug in our country's simmering hostility toward Christ and all things Christian?