Be Prepared: The Onslaught of the Left

I wish I did not have to write this post, but yet I feel as though I have an obligation to do so. I see things at times in our society, sort of a cultural handwriting-on-the-wall, and I pray - asking God what to do with this information. Is it true? Or am I overreacting?

Ironically, the day that Sen. Barack Obama is announced as our President Elect, I received the following comment to one of my older posts regarding homosexuality:

you people are all hate - hate anything that doesn't fit in your box of normalcy. you don't have to like gay people, but keep your judgmental opinions to yourself.

gay people are born that way. they don't have a choice. no one chooses to be part of a judged group. my cousin and his partner are gay, live in suburbia and are blissfully happy and attend church regularly. so please do not assume that all homosexuals are disgraced and ashamed with themselves.

the reason so many gay people are upset and clinically depressed is because they can't be themselves. they can't be themselves because of people like you

we could all certainly make the same assumptions about good christian soldiers who are closet alcoholics or child molesters and the list goes on.

Jesus doesn't hate. He loves everyone. Judge and ye shall be judged.

I have to admit it was extremely tempting to respond in kind. When people attack, it's natural to react and with just as much passion. But I know this is not the response Jesus would advocate.

Jesus Christ did not hate people. He hated sin. He hated sin so much that He was willing to die an excruciating painful and humiliating death in order to pay the penalty for our sin. He was the perfect sacrificial Lamb, who takes away the sin of the world.

It was also tempting to 'fisk' the comment and respond line by line, but I'm going to refrain in order to point something out. The above comments are a fine example of Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals, the handbook for leftist activists during the 70's. I am going to point out six of them that have been used in justifying the comments above:


2) Never go outside the experience of your people

Gay activists live in a bubble. It's a constant "Us vs. Them" mentality and there is no middle ground. Either you embrace them - and in doing so, never judge the behavior as being sinful - or name the sin and be labeled a hater. If you notice, most responses to anyone who does not agree with the Gay Agenda is first, a defense of the sinful behavior and then an attack on you for noticing it. It always begins first with their experience. There is no other way they know how to open the dialog. In their eyes, they are being "attacked" when someone simply disagrees with their sexual preferences. When someone disagrees with me by stating the chocolate cake, which I find so divine, is not attractive to them - I don't get mad and yell at them. I say, "to each their own," and move on. Radical gays are obsessed with what people think of them. Disagreement, especially polite and civil disagreement - will not be tolerated.


3) Wherever possible go outside of the experience of the enemy

"You have no idea how difficult it is to live as a gay man in this country!" Or some such. Whatever the outcry, you can be sure it will focus on how you are outside of their own predicament and as such, cannot possibly comprehend how they feel. Gay activists are some of the most dramatically injured people in the U.S. When activists do this, they are trying to get you off point and confuse the issue. The ultimate goal is to make you feel unsure of your argument, your convictions, your values - and in that moment, they will take advantage by pressing on to the next tactic.


4) Make the enemy live up to their own book of rules

How effective this has been with many conservatives and also Christians. How these radicals love to point out how far we have fallen from what the Bible commands us to do. You know what? They're right. I've often told those who ridicule Christianity that I absolutely have fallen short of God's expectations for me. It is why I pray all the time and ask for His mercy and forgiveness. Don't let them trip you up on this one. Agree and move on.


5) Ridicule is man's most potent weapon

Another classic tactic that has been used quite extensively with Christians, especially when Christians stand up for the Culture of Life and against homosexuality. Remember what Jesus said about those who are persecuted. What is interesting is that we've already been told that we would be hated for holding firm to the truths of the Bible. Homosexuals, however, have only been told they are condemned for their behavior. With each word of ridicule that falls upon us, we should pray that God would have mercy upon those who say such things because when it comes down to it, none of us would be here without His mercy.


8) Keep the pressure on

The radicals never tire. This is their "bible" and they believe in it as fervently as we believe in God's Word. As they keep the pressure on, we must resist the attempts to wear us down and persevere in faith.


13) Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it

Ah, this is the most clever of them all. Christians are the target for such hateful words. We will be accused of not loving as Jesus would have us love and that is the polarization point. Keep repeating the truth and repeat it again and again, and again. Jesus loved people. He hated sin. This is as true for the homosexual as it is for the alcoholic and the child molester. Jesus Christ hated sin's hold upon man, how it affected his whole life, his relationships with both himself and others, and the ripple effect it had upon society.

We were created to love and be loved. When we sin, we fall short of God's expectations of us. We choose to think of self first before God. In fact, we get wrapped up in "self" so much that we fail to see the consequences of our behavior.

With sin, there is not only a separation from God, which is devastating enough, but a separation from who we were created to be. If I'm on the floor in a drunken heap, I certainly won't be available to a friend who needs a supportive shoulder to cry upon. I won't be available to work in order to help the company that employs me. I won't be able to function as a productive member of society on any level because I'm stuck in my own mess. That's what sin does. It sticks us so deeply inside ourselves that we miss being a blessing to those around us.

So learn about the Rules for Radicals because I believe they are going to be used in greater measure against us.

But as always: Greater is He that is in you than he who is in the world. (1 John 4:4)