Some folks surf the fluid wave of trending pop culture and slang. I am not one of them. The Oxford English Dictionary is more happening than me. At least Oxford knows the term “woke.” It added the term back in 2017. Although this slang term originates from the 1960’s civil rights movement, it’s current ubiquity now demands official entry into the publication Christopher Hitchens once described as “the final court of appeal.” What does “woke” mean? According to Oxford, the US informal definition is, “Alert to injustice in society, especially racism.” Wikipedia had it before Oxford, “Woke is a political term of African American origin that refers to a awareness of issues concerning social justice and racial justice.”
Today, “Woke,” is used throughout the trench warfare of identity politics as an expression of those who are truly, favorably engaged in the fight for what Jordan Peterson calls the unholy trinity of “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion.” Diversity is not about opinion these days, its about race, ethnicity or sexual identity. Equity is not about equal opportunity, but an insistence on equal outcomes. Inclusion calls for the use of identity-based quotas to ensure such equity. These ideas are not “new,” however. 100 years ago, Herman Bavinck facing the semantic onslaught of similar ideology, wrote in his essay “Eloquence,” These are all sounds that rustle in the ear, that caress the mind like the song of the Sirens, that bewitch the heart, but that offer no substance to one’s thought. Upon deeper consideration they appear steadily emptier in meaning.
Nonetheless, you and I are not “woke” unless we campaign as an oppressed minority or an ally of an oppressed minority. If we are not an ally or a victim, than we are the oppressor. All this is sociopolitical background to the Revoice conference happening in St. Louis at a PCA church, July 26-28. This conference intends to change the way in which evangelical churches deal with LGBTQ+ issues and the way we relate to LGBTQ+ individuals. No longer are such desires, orientations or identities antithetical to Christianity. They are to be understood as innate to all kinds of people. Gay people can be Christians too! Since they are a “sexual minority” they have many challenges to overcome. The first and foremost of these is acceptance by the church at large as “LGBTQ+ Christians.” I guess I’m not woke. I suppose this makes me an oppressor.
Speakers and supporters are excited about the agenda. The following is an excerpt from Todd Pruitt’s blog, “For the Love of Those Fighting Against Homosexuality.”
Eve Tushnet, one of the speakers at Revoice, stated the following on her Twitter account: “What’s better than St. Louis in July? St Louis in July but SUPER GAY.” On the site Patheos, Ms. Tushnet promoted Revoice by writing, “This July, Come to the Big Gay Christian Extravaganza!”
The organizers and speakers, of course, affirm traditional marriage and give no approval of homosexual acts. They’re only interested in conversations such as the following: “Christians have often discarded the virtues of queer culture along with the vices, which leaves culturally connected Christian sexual minorities torn between two cultures, two histories, and two communities. So questions that have until now been largely unanswered remain: what does queer culture (and specifically, queer literature and theory) have to offer us who follow Christ? What queer treasure, honor, and glory will be brought into the New Jerusalem at the end of time?”
I have to say here, I think we’re all getting gas-lighted. It is so obviously not the case according to Scripture that we are to identify ourselves as Christians by the very things that keep people from entering the kingdom. 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.” [NASB] Do you see what name we are to be identified by? “the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.” What identities stand in absolute polar opposition? Names like “fornicators,” “idolaters,” “adulterers,” “effeminate,” [this term is conveniently erased from the NIV and ESV] “homosexuals,” “thieves,” “covetous,” “drunkards,” “revilers,” and “swindlers.” How can those who claim the name of Christ, also identify themselves by that which is Anti-Christ? To doggedly insist on such a profanity until all objections are silenced is gas-lighting at its finest.
What? Am I to claim that I am an emotional minority? I’m a racist Christian? I hate blacks, browns, Jews and people with oddly shaped eyes? I don’t act on it of course! This is who I am because it is how I feel. These hateful desires are not to be repented from. They are me. I just can’t act on them. This in essence is the assumption of Revoice. Christians who have been converted out of the LGBTQ+ lifestyle, who rejoice in the gospel-phrase, “such were some of you,” are not allowed to speak at Revoice. Their “discourse is not helpful.” Sorry, Dennis Jernigen, sorry, Stephen Black, sorry, Rosaria Butterfield. It seems to me that another term Oxford added in 2017 helps diffuse much of the hysterical nonsense of the folks who are “woke” and rejoicing in the Revoice movement. Here it is: Post-truth (adjective): relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping political debate or public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief. This Revoice conference and the whole “Gay Christian” movement is post-truth. It is about form and tone, not about truth. This preference, Bavinck warns, “soon crosses over into lying, which is love for the opposite of being, for idle nothingness.” There must be wholesale rejection of the meaning of repentance, the meaning of Christ’s work on the cross, the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the clarity, sufficiency and authority of the Scriptures in order to assert that because we feel or desire something, that makes us that thing, albeit racist or homosexual, and therefore we are this identity as well as a Christian.
I’m not upset with those who make an error, who mistakenly get a wrong idea from the Bible. I’m flat out angry at those who are systematically lying about what the Bible clearly says. As Bavinck reasons, “if to err is human, to lie is satanic.” It is a lie to tell people trapped in sin, any sin, that they are to own that sin as their identity even as they profess Christ. This is not loving, merciful or gracious toward those who own the LGBTQ+ label. This is selling their souls to the raging fires of hell so we can alleviate a little of the heat of persecution coming from a godless culture, who are disgusted with our Bible and our God.
According to Scripture, Revoice is not “woke.” Covenant Seminary is not “woke.” The TGC is not “woke.” The ERLC is not “woke.” The PCA is not “woke.” The SBTS is not “woke.” Consider Ephesians 5:3-14, “But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; 4 and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. 5 For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God.” That sounds familiar. This is a parallel passage to 1 Corinthians 6:9-11. The list of sins are different but similar. We observe these lists are neither exhaustive nor exclusive. Once again we are told that to identify ourselves by sin is to deny Christ, to be cut off from the Kingdom of Christ and God. But Revoice says different. Let’s continue in Ephesians 5, “6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.” Don’t be deceived by empty words. This love for idle nothingness, this lying, is satanic. “7 Therefore do not be partakers with them;” I guess we’re not supposed to rejoice in St. Louis being super gay this summer, or to join in with the Big Gay Christian Extravaganza! Why not? Because of our new identity in Christ. “8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light.” Are not the organizers, speakers and participants of Revoice trying to be a light to the Gay community? What is “being a light”? “9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), 10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.” What are we to do about the darkness then? “11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them; 12 for it is disgraceful even to speak of the things which are done by them in secret. 13 But all things become visible when they are exposed by the light, for everything that becomes visible is light.” Light, truth, righteousness, holiness must expose the darkness, lies, wickedness and profanity. To what end? Oppression of a sexual minority? No. Salvation of sinners from their sin and darkness unto Christ, His righteousness and light. “14 For this reason it says, “Awake, sleeper, And arise from the dead, And Christ will shine on you.””
This is “woke”—Divinely woke.
