As Americans, on Memorial Day we honor those that made the ultimate sacrifice. We celebrate those who served and lost their lives preserving our liberty, while protecting our country and our way of life. On the 4th of July, we celebrate our nation’s independence. These two singular days of huge national importance immediately precede and follow the month of June, which is now an entire month dedicated to celebrating pride.
When President Clinton issued Proclamation 7203 in 1999 to establish Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, the goal was to promote tolerance and equality for gay and lesbian citizens. President Obama added the bisexual and transsexual initials into the pot, and by 2016 the GLAAD organization had added Queer, so now we have the full LGBTQ acronym. With the pride movement bringing queer activists into the fold, the mission to promote tolerance and equality is now infiltrated by a sect whose primary goal is political opposition to anything that is considered normal. This has opened the gates to increasingly inappropriate public displays of sexuality and self-identity, often specifically targeting children.
According to Merriam Webster, the definition of pride is:
the quality or state of being proud: reasonable self-esteem: confidence and satisfaction in oneself
pleasure that comes from some relationship, association, achievement, or possession that is seen as a source of honor, respect, etc.
exaggerated self-esteem
When it comes to identity, some people identify as a mother or father. Some get their identity through their career. Others identify with their faith, seeing themselves as a Christian or Muslim. Traditionally, men identify as providers while women identify as caregivers. All of these identifiers are things that a person seeks, or strives to excel at, or gives them a purpose beyond themselves. By contrast, pride identities are self-absorbed, perverted variations of the natural male/female that can be possessed as a source of honor.
Pride Month is about displaying pleasure in self-identity, as a member of a group that is increasingly defined by non-conforming gender and sexual desires. Participants openly accept depraved sexual proclivities, and affirm lustful desires. Pride is the epitome of satisfaction in oneself above all else as if the most important aspect of life is sex and sexuality. In short, pride shows who people are, and what type of people they like to have sex with.
Several local “pastors” and religious leaders participated in, and helped organize, pride festivals around Ottawa County. One has to wonder what master they serve. In a recent blog post about a Satanist giving the opening invocation at the Ottawa County Board of Commissioners meeting, Reverend Jared Cramer wrote, “The Church of Satan, founded by Anton LaVey, embraces a more nihilistic philosophy with roots in Nietzsche. For them, Satan is a symbol of personal freedom and rebellion against arbitrary authority but with a focus on the individual living as their own pride and carnal nature dictates – a more hedonistic outlook.”
What better example of “personal freedom and rebellion” and focusing on “the individual living as their own pride and carnal nature dictates” than an entire month-long celebration of every form of sexual identity and attraction? Definitely a “more hedonistic outlook” than one would expect a pastor to have.
Galatians 5:19-21 says, “Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”
One might wonder why local churches would invest in a month-long celebration of licentiousness, selfishness, and other works of the flesh, which aligns more closely with the teachings of the Church of Satan. After all, every aspect of “pride month” is about the flesh: the source of physical, sexual gratification, the carnal desires of the individual, the attempt to remake their bodies (flesh) in their own image, rather than the image of God. So why are churches all around the county (and country for that matter) involving themselves in this celebration, even billing events at pride festivals as “family friendly?”
I mentioned “Reverend” Jared Cramer isn’t alone. While he was a driving force behind the Grand Haven Pride Festival, sponsoring churches included St. John’s Episcopal Church (Cramer’s church) and the United Methodist Church of the Dunes. In Holland, the list is longer. Sponsors include All Saints Episcopal Church, Peace Lutheran Church, Hope Church, Holland United Church of Christ, Grace Episcopal Church, First United Methodist Church of Holland, First Presbyterian Church of Holland, and Douglass United Church of Christ.
Why are local churches and religious leaders supporting events that more closely align with the ideals of the Church of Satan than they do with the Church of Christ? Is it because those engaged in illicit behavior have a deep need for affirmation and certain pastors in search of power, or status, fulfill that need? Or is it the reverse, in which certain pastors express approval of illicit behavior and so followers of the pastor, not God, begin to explore? While Restore Ottawa has written many articles examining the false teachings within the education system, some churches and our government appear to be offering false teaching as well.
In addition to pride month, there are now 48 additional days reserved for LGBTQ focus listed on the LGBTQ community calendar. This year, the Biden Administration symbolically prepared a proclamation for Transgender Day of Visibility which fell on the same day as Easter Sunday.
While not all teachers are false, our misplaced priorities are certainly a reflection of our educational system, misguided church leadership, and unprincipled government puppets. Rewriting history from a Marxist (materialist) viewpoint, and diminishing the word of God in favor of self-absorbed worldly views, closely aligns with the ideas of the Church of Satan.
In the book of Jude, it’s written: “For admission has been secretly gained by some who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly persons who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ”. He continues, “Just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.” [] “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions.”
What are our priorities as a society? One day is set aside to honor the lives of those who died protecting our freedoms, and one day is spent celebrating our nation’s independence, yet an entire month and numerous other days throughout the year are dedicated to celebrating the most extreme and selfish of our liberties. Perhaps the churches that participated in the celebration of the sin of pride should remember the words of Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”
May we as patriotic Americans go back to honoring accomplishments and great works that led to unparalleled freedom.