Bishop Terry Wiles:
Present Social Changes In Society And How To Respond To Them
Present
Social Changes In Society And How To Respond To Them.
Terry Wiles,
Bishop
Earlier, I
posted in haste my reaction to the change in society concerning the public use
of restrooms. I withdrew that post knowing that my responsibility as a
Bishop was to give a more reasoned answer.
My thanks to
Pastor Timothy K. Wiebe for asking the question: Wondering why the
transgender bathroom “issue” wasn’t an issue years ago and what’s the
significance of this day and this hour? His question helped me focus my
thoughts and resulted in the following answer.
This letter is
written to remind us of the battle for the souls of mankind and the rejection
of the principles of the Kingdom of God. It is a call to action for every
Christian leader.
The present
national battle over use of a public restroom is one of many battles that are
set in place to destroy every principle of morality and society itself.
There are many who have hardened their heart against God and His ways.
They suppress the truth in unrighteousness1. God has given them over to
their uncleanness that comes from the lusts of their hearts. They
dishonor their bodies among themselves. They change the truth of God for
the lie. They worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator.
1 Romans 1:18,
24-25
2 Our founding
fathers studied these philosophies and believed that Aristotle’s laws of Nature
were necessary components of a stable and peaceful society. While the
founding fathers were not “Christian” as we understand Biblical Christianity,
these principles closely mirror the moral laws of the Judeo-Christian
scriptures.
The matter of
which restroom to use is being made a religious issue for the purposes of
pushing back Judeo-Christian moral codes. We must be careful taking that
bait and responding using religious rhetoric. We must give answers.
The answers we give must be reasoned answers.
In the past (my
generation of growing up) the issue of which bathroom to use was a privacy
issue. Privacy was enforced by societal codes of “public” decency.
The owners of establishments with public restrooms simply put men and women
signs on the respective doors. Gender was “by Nature” defined according
to the unique physical makeup of the male and the female.
Today a lack of
privacy is being forced upon the populace by corporations and special interest
groups who reject all societal codes of “public” decency which in this case
redefines what gender is. It is for this reason that this is an issue
today.
Behind it is an
all-out war against the order of the universe set forth by Aristotle’s laws of
Nature2 and a forcing of the acceptance of Rousseau’s inversion of Aristotle in
which Rousseau presents man as an isolated individual, a self-sufficient
god. (See Jean-Jacques Rousseau, “The Reveries of a Solitary Walker” (New
York: Burt Franklin, 1971).
In Rousseau’s
“Discourse on the Origin of Inequality,” he says, “There was one [appetite]
that excited [original man] to perpetuate his species; and this blind
propensity, quite void of anything like pure love or affection, produced
nothing but an act that was merely animal. The present heat once allayed, the
sexes took no further notice of each other, and even the child ceased to have
any tie in his mother, the moment he ceased to want her assistance.”3 His
argument is that “societal codes” soon took that freedom from man and enslaved
man.
3 See
article:
(http://legacy.fordham.edu/Halsall/mod/1782rousseau-inequal.asp)
For Rousseau,
man is a creature of desire and appetites. Reason is subordinated to
those desires and appetites. Reason is man’s tool for satisfying his
desires and passions.
It is this
thought, built upon by others, that has opened the door for the embracing of
the ideas that declare: “I am what I want to be, I want to be what my
desires urge me to be. My physical birth design will not determine the
course of my life. My desires will determine the way I will live.”
The end result
of Aristotle’s laws of Nature were understood by the founding fathers of our
country. They embraced the idea of “Nature’s Laws and Nature’s God” as
being the foundation of a civil society. The founding fathers believed
that good rules for living in a civil society could be found in the
Judeo-Christian principles of the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.
The public would be well served if they followed them. They closely
mirror Aristotle’s laws of Nature.
Rousseau’s
inversion of Aristotle’s laws of Nature results in a person being totally
independent of societal rules. This total independence results in a
person who is very alone. The alone man cannot live with himself so he
must have societal laws that support his position. And if the “public”
doesn’t like it, the public be damned.
Ultimately,
that is what the “issue” is about. It is the “new world order” that we
are living in. It is a world where there is no King that rules over the
individual. It is a world where every person does what is right in his
own eyes.
What is an
appropriate response? For some it will be to keep silent. For
others it will be to boycott. For still others it will be to use “Family
Restrooms” where the door can be locked. For those in leadership of
Christian churches the appropriate response is to teach clearly the ways of
God.
We have lost
the battle for the multitudes. We have a responsibility to seriously teach
God’s ways to our adults, teens and children. It won’t be easy but it is
necessary or we will lose them too. We may have already lost a
generation of young people who are continually exposed to Rousseau’s way of
thinking.
Rousseau’s way
is now the law of the land. It is becoming the law of the courts of the
land. God has been kicked out. Those who embrace the freedom that
Rousseau presents are celebrating. But their victories are not
sufficient. The Constitution is out of date and must be revised.
The state is now responsible for educating all children in the progressive
thought that ends with lawlessness.
As
representatives of the Kingdom of God we must counter the current philosophy
with serious Bible teaching. We must go beyond simple sermons and dig
deep into God’s word and other sources which have reasoned understanding of
“Nature’s God worldview.” We must be preachers like the one God sets
forth in Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes
12:9-11
The Preacher
was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yes, he pondered and sought out
and set in order many proverbs. The Preacher sought to find acceptable
words; and what was written was upright—words of truth. The words of the
wise are like goads, and the words of scholars are like well-driven nails,
given by one Shepherd.
May God raise
up men and women to teach the truth in love. I pray I will be one of
them. Let God’s people bind the words of truth around their necks and
write them on the doorposts of their houses and keep them always in front of
their eyes. Our Master prayed “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your
word is truth.”4
4 John 17:17
This is the
task that is before us. It is the work God has called us to. May
God help us in our efforts by the active work of the Holy Spirit who will lead
and guide us into all truth.
All for Souls,
Terry Wiles,
Bishop
