The fourth chapter of Revelation depicts the setting around God's throne that John the Revelator saw in vision. At best, he could only use metaphors and similes to describe what he saw; a throne, a sardine stone, jasper, a rainbow surrounding the throne, and from his viewpoint it seemed to be bathed with the magnificent brilliance of crystal clear emeralds.
It is unfortunate that one of the earliest tokens of God's promise of love—a beautiful rainbow given after the destruction of a wicked world by a flood in the time of Noah—has been hijacked by the LGBTQ Pride movement to represent something that does not demonstrate His holiness and and love.
Jesus did not die to save the human race in their sins, but rather from their sins. This is the great deception of one who hates God and Jesus Christ with intense passion and who despises those who are the objects of His love. The last deceptions will not be like those in past where sin becomes normalized by culture and an atheistic ungodly belief system as in the days of the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, and other nations that were visited by God's judgements. Satan's last deception will be to combine good sentiments with evil so that sin not doesn't look so bad, to the extent that even churches will now endorse, and even embrace things like same sex marriage, and the LGBT agenda.
"There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 16:25).
Black Lives Matter
Another current movement that I believe has been hijacked by the enemy is the Black Lives Matter Movement. BLM is not an organic movement that is of the people and raised up by the people for Black people.
Unlike the Black Panthers, the Civil Rights Movement and The Universal Negro Improvement Association by Marcus Garvey in Harlem, were mostly financed and directed by the people they were serving so as to protect them from those who had other agendas. This organic element prevented these movements m from being controlled by people with dishonest agendas.
BLM, on the other hand, is financed mostly by a few very wealthy billionaires and corporations whose agendas would not have received popularity and acceptance had it stood on it's own. Their agenda, would not have had the traction it is has now, unless it aligned itself with a movement that in of itself has many legitimate concerns.
So the real agenda of BLM cannot truly be found in the loud chants of those who shout the acronym BLM, but rather with those who hold the purse strings of the movement. He who holds the loot controls the route and the agenda. The face of BLM touts that it is a global organization that protests police brutality against African American people. However, the broader movement has as other objectives: Diversity, Globalism, Empathy, Restorative Justice, and Intergenerationality (whatever that means). But what is not well publicized, is its behind the scenes agenda that perhaps was not part of its original focus in 2013—after the Trayvon Martin incident which gave birth to the 13 guiding principles of the BLM movement. Here are those principles, which reveal a lot about BLM. BLM is:
1. Queer Afirming...To free ourselves from Heteronormative thinking (so this discounts any contribution the Bible may have on the topic of sexuality).
2. Trans Affirming... Committed to make space for our transexual brothers & sisters and uplift them. (So how did the civil rights movement morph into what it is today? Would MLK be down with this? Huey Newton? Garvey? How many people would be supporting BLM today if they understood the hidden agenda of BLM? Why didn't Trans people start their own movement? What's wrong with...
TRANS LIVES MATTER!...or QUEER LIVES MATTER! You know as well as I do, that it would not be as readily embraced. So some influential people knew these movements needed a cover and developed a strategy.
God loves honesty. If you want gay rights, just say you want gay rights. Don't use black folks plight to advance your agenda! God loves everybody, and gives us power to live a holy life according to His Word. His grace is sufficient to transform us into His image. This is the only TRANS MOVEMENT I support.)
3. Affirms Collective Value...The idea that all black lives matter regardless of actual or perceived sexual identity, gender, or economic status. (Again the sexual agenda insulated with basic human values to make it easier to pass airport screening.)
4. Affirms Black Families... by "Dismantling Patriarchy."
(Which, in their view) is patriarchal practice that requires mothers to work double shifts i.e. to be a mother in private (at home or work) even as they participate in (social) justice work. (God-given roles of motherhood and fatherhood should always be the first priority of any family regardless of culture or race. It seems to me the answer to issues that threaten black community is to SUPPORT Patriarchy, to strengthen both the role of Fathers and Mothers, the core of the black the core of the black community.
Dismantling the father’s role in the home misses the mark entirely. The biggest problem or threat in our communities is not that there is an overwhelming cry of abuse by children, teens, adults and elderly folk like me who are feeling oppressed because they're not allowed to be gay, queer, transgender, transexual, bisexual. The greatest need for families statistically speaking is a need for competent present fathers. Police reform has its place, economic development, job creation and prison reform is important too. But if Black Lives Really Mattered, we would start with building and supporting fathers.)
Here is where the church can play an important role. Some people in the church can march all day long, but in the final analysis, what will have been accomplished? Great photo ops, yes. We may even make local headlines. It may strengthen ties with city officials who have a political agenda.
I'm not saying it’s impossible for good to come out of marches or rallies. But please understand, there is a bigger agenda operating here. You all can march all you want, but for me and my house, I'm marching straight to the house of the families around the corner of my church who lost two sons to black on black violence—which seems to happen almost weekly. I'm marching up to the police on the scene of a another incident that occurred two weeks ago where I offered help to assist in diffusing situations that occur between police and community members. I'm also marching sweeping up glass all along a busy Midland Ave. where protesters broke bottles all along the street in front of my church where community members drive up and down. If Black Lives Matter so do their tires. Don't worry I am not going to pressure anyone to say “BLACK TIRES MATTER.”
Back to BLM. I pray for those involved and those who have been deceived. Yes BLM is supported by corporations and by those who have a vested interest in it politically. Anarchist, socialist and even Communist may align themselves also with the goals of BLM to further their designs. I contend those who have vested interest in it, may not have Black Lives in mind. I would put myself on a limb and say what they may mean often is... Black Votes Matter... Black Dollars Matter...Black Affirmation Matters... because it helps to forward an agenda.
BLM is founded by three Black women. At least two of them, and it could be all three, identify as queer, gay, and/or transexual. This movement never would have caught crossover appeal, had it been founded and directed by straight men and women... because they never would have received the unusual financial backing that it now enjoys.
Could it be that the major funders of the movement share the same sexual identification? Or for whatever reason, they wish to promote as their highest agenda, alternative sexual lifestyles.
Stanley Dixon is Assistant to the President for Western New York, Northeastern Conference, and Pastor of Mount Carmel SDA Church.