Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy. Proverbs 27:6
for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. 1 Timothy 1:7
Almost, without fail, whenever an Evangelical addresses sinful acts, actions, or attitudes, people who easily demonstrate they know nothing about the Bible, rise up with venomous charges of homophobia, hate, or hypocrisy. All done no matter how much the Evangelical acknowledges their very own personal sin, no matter how transparent the Evangelical is regarding their own wretchedness. You can be sure the masses will nonetheless register feigned moral outrage.
Let me state most emphatically: miss me with that foolishness! God hates both the sin and the sinner. Granted, human beings do not possess the same ability to display hate towards the sinner like God does but make no mistake, sin; all sin is a direct affront to a thrice holy God. While people foolishly accuse the Evangelical of hate, the most loving thing an Evangelical can do is to confront the sinner with their sinful action.
Just today, I had the temerity, according to others, to post on social media that Brittney Griner is no hero and not worthy of adulation. Instantly I received scorn and ridicule as I knew would be coming my way. Note some of the scorn I received as my badge of honor:
[yawn] that one was rich!
Oh lordt, you big 😡
So, you think that she should do 9 years of hard labor in a Russian prison? You literally sound ridiculous.
—————- says Ricky, the homophobic judge stuck in the Old Testament Law.🫶🏾😂
Ricky Verndale Kyles I should have known. It wasn’t about her saying “screw America”, it was you spewing your Hate.
Ricky Verndale Kyles you wrote “Judgement Day is coming for her and her alleged spouse”? So, you are homophobic? Is this condemnation about her sexual preference? Because God made her, you cannot Judge her, and then cry about me judging you.
Bro – just say you hate women and especially athletic independent women and even more so Black women.
Most Evangelicals are reticent (my most charitable assessment) or just plain cowardly (my most honest assessment) to take a public stance because they fear the scorn they know they will take. Most Evangelicals apparently have either not read or taken their responsibility seriously God commands His representatives to serve as their Brother’s Keeper or as the Watchmen. God demands, not suggests that those who seek to follow Him do so, no matter the cost. If one can really view serving their Potentate as a cost when one properly understands serving God. We always get better than we deserve. All of God’s children are expected to honor and obey yet God so lavishly promises Evangelicals eternal rewards for faithful service.
I draw the reader’s attention to the Book of Ezekiel.
And at the end of seven days, the word of the Lord came to me: 17 “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me. 18 If I say to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, in order to save his life, that wicked person shall die for[a] his iniquity, but his blood I will require at your hand. 19 But if you warn the wicked, and he does not turn from his wickedness, or from his wicked way, he shall die for his iniquity, but you will have delivered your soul. 20 Again, if a righteous person turns from his righteousness and commits injustice, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die. Because you have not warned him, he shall die for his sin, and his righteous deeds that he has done shall not be remembered, but his blood I will require at your hand. 21 But if you warn the righteous person not to sin, and he does not sin, he shall surely live, because he took warning, and you will have delivered your soul” (Ezekiel 3:16-21).
In case once is not enough and you believe me God, once is more than enough. God instructs His prophet, Ezekiel, again
The word of the LORD came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head (Ezekiel 33:1-4).
Most explicitly and straightforwardly, God thunders (when God speaks, He usually thunders) from His majestic throne. Evangelicals are commanded to warn their brother/neighbor when Evangelicals witness their neighbor disobey God’s instruction. When Evangelicals do not, for whatever reason, they are expressly sinning.
Indeed, not the Unpardonable Sin, but Evangelicals actively seek to maintain short accounts with God, so scorn be damned, we speak God’s truth to the culture. We do so knowing God has called believers in the past and may call Evangelicals today to be ready to die, standing resolute upon our sincerely, deeply heed God-enabled convictions.
I, for one, almost daily, earnestly ask the Lord to forgive me of my sin. I claim the promise of 1 John 1:9 while simultaneously rejecting the heresy of sinless perfection.
God has spoken emphatically about the sacredness of life, marriage, and gender. As a slave of Jesus Christ, my soul is held captive to all that Christ, my Sovereign Lord, commands or forbids. Thus, when God forbids murder and America legalizes abortion, I will dissent and register my dissent in every legitimate fashion God empowers me to do until my last dying breath. All the while readily admitting my own wretchedness and need for forgiveness.
My fellow Evangelicals, I close with some somber words from Penn of Penn and Teller. Penn is no friend of Evangelicalism, but his words are still powerful and worthy of all mournful contemplation:
How much do you have to hate somebody not to proselytize?” Jillette asked. “How much do you have to hate somebody to believe that everlasting life is possible and not tell them that? If I believed beyond a shadow of a doubt that a truck was coming at you, and you didn’t believe it, and that truck was bearing down on you, there’s a certain point where I tackle you. And this is more important than that.”
My dear Brother or Sister in Christ, quit letting the world control the narrative. I do not hate Brittney Griner when I reject her views on homosexuality. Biblically speaking, and that should be the only speaking that matters, the best manner I can demonstrate love toward Griner is to call her actions just what they are: SIN.
When I post about Griner, it is not a criticism of her coming home. I would not wish any American to be subject to the immorality of the Russian government. Still, I am called to call a spade a spade when I see a spade.
Brittney Griner mocked America, yet when she found herself in a pickle, she and her cohorts expected America to flee to her rescue. Sorry, but that bothers me, and I will not pass up the opportunity to call Brittney Griner to repentance. Brittney Griner does not have a wife. One female cannot be married to another female.
I have a dear friend who will appreciate this inside joke, so please indulge me. Delano Squires, a rising African American social influencer, said recently, and I am now appropriating for my own use: The Designer is the Definer.
I am glad Brittney Griner is no longer in Russia. I do not believe for a scintilla of a second she is innocent, and I will never regard her as a hero or worthy of adulation. She is a political pawn in the pursuit to advance the LGBTQ+ sinful rebellion against God.
I understand the assignment. The assignment begins with Ricky Verndale Kyles acknowledging and detesting his personal sin. Once done, then I denounce the sins of others (absent any haughtiness) and call them to repentance. I am a Watchman. Every believer is a Watchman. God will judge every Evangelical on their obedience or disobedience in warning others about their sin.
As always, let me know what you think. Until then, keep your hands to the plow and seek to serve for an Audience of One.
With fear and trembling,
Ricky V. Kyles Sr. DEd.Min