Speak Softly, and Say the Word “DEMONIC”

Understandably, there’s a lot of debate in the Church these days about how to respond to gender (and other) ideology, and all that these ideologies entail.

I find that many whose lives have actually been impacted by it (as opposed to those yet unscathed who are trying to find their own navigation and even guide others through the difficult waters) fall into three basic categories:

1. The response from the place of fear (those attempting to prevent or mitigate any personal devastations)
2. The response from the place of theology
3. The response from the place of both theology and personal devastation

I’m reminded of several things.

First, I think of an old commercial, “If you want to capture someone’s attention…whisper…”

Two. I think of an old joke I once heard. While all this is no joking matter, I think this joke highlights the fact that it doesn’t matter if you whisper or shout something, per se. It’s the content itself that is offensive. There is just no way to highlight doctrines of demons and demonically-energized trends and belief systems without offense to those who believe these are policies of kindness, and if you say otherwise, you are hateful. (And worse, not following the way of Jesus.) And then for some, the very name of Jesus or Christ and historic biblical truths are added offense. I’m not sure there is a clear way to navigate through all the muck.

Thirdly, I think of Teddy Roosevelt saying, “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” Not sure I can make a one-to-one correlation of thought as applies to speaking about the destructive lies of transgenderism (and other things), but, it did come into my mind.

There are strange fires of many sorts burning through the Church today...and we must ask ourselves, are we being purified in purpose and allegiance to the way of truth, or are we passing some strange fire in the name of Jesus that will lead others to many devastations?

Love first does no harm to its neighbor. The subject of love, the love of God and especially, how to love and be loving, rightfully prompts many conversations and sometimes (often) clashes of thought between those in the Church.

I don’t think there is any soft way to name something as demonic.

~written 7/21/23 to 7/31/23