As Christmas approaches and we straddle the familiar threshold between years, as we take stock of our lives and “frisk our souls,” we must remember that there is no neutrality when it comes to Christ. The Doobie Brothers were wrong: Jesus will not be “just alright” with you. You’ll either love him or hate him. You will either bow to him as King of Kings and Lord of Lords or you will buck him as a rival who threatens your autonomy. 

Have you ever spread Marmite on toast? It’s a British condiment made from yeast left over from beer brewing. It is dark, thick, and sticky, like a savory molasses. Marmite is hailed as the superhero of sandwich spreads because it’s bursting with vitamin B. Over the past century, it has come to the rescue of soldiers in the trenches of WWI, anemic mill workers in India, and malaria sufferers in Sri Lanka. But Marmite’s flavor is so powerful that it is polarizing, winning as many friends as foes. This little jar of food paste has inspired some strong opinions. For years, the company’s slogan was “Marmite: Love it or Hate it.”
The birth of Jesus has a Marmite effect, inspiring equally passionate, polar responses. In a sense, the gospel’s catchphrase could be: “Jesus: Love him or Hate him.” This contrast is evident when we consider the opposite reactions of the wise men and Herod to the Messiah’s birth in Matthew’s gospel.
The Response of the Magi
Everything about these mysterious Magi exudes a radiant love for their newborn King. First, they sought him. Matthew says they traveled “from the East” (Matthew 2:1), or literally, “from the rising of the sun.” The terrain they traversed is some of the most treacherous on earth. How many months did they chase after that prophetic star? How many rivers and deserts did they cross? How many mountains did they scale? How many dangers did they face? But they were driven by their love for Christ.
Second, their love for Jesus is seen in their trust. Though we don’t know the nation from which the wise men came, we know their radical journey of faith began with open bibles: “a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel,” (Numbers 24:17), and “from [Bethlehem] shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2). Indeed, the wisest thing about these wise men was that they read and believed the word of Christ in the Scriptures! It is a radical faith that clings to the Bible as the soul’s compass, crying “Lord, wherever you call me I’ll go. Whatever you ask of me, I’ll give. All to Jesus, I surrender.”
Third, the wise men’s love for Christ crescendos in exuberant worship. Contrary to your mom’s mantle nativity, the visits of Matthew’s wise men and Luke’s shepherds were not concurrent.
Read More

The LGBT culture is alive and flourishing within Disney. During a recent virtual meeting, a group of Disney filmmakers together with employees said they have been given the freedom to add “queerness” and LGBT characters to children’s programming, but they believe a lot more needs to be done. Such was expressed during an “all-hands” meeting following controversy regarding Florida’s parental rights bill that prohibits classroom teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

“M. I. C. K. E. Y, M. O. U. S. E!  Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck!  Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck! …”  Many of us remember this sing-along song that opened the Mickey Mouse Club program when as children we were enjoying the biggest name in entertainment. That, of course, was the wonderful world of DISNEY. At one time, Walt Disney’s family-oriented programming was enjoyed by almost everyone, adults and children alike. However, times have changed and so has Disney, so much so that ole Walt is probably “turning over in his grave”. Disney now promotes the progressive anti-family and anti-Christian LGBTQ woke culture that the founders of BLM intended for the destruction of the nuclear family.
Chances are that if you want to watch a good movie, sporting event, or have your child watch an animated cartoon program, more than likely it will be connected to the vast empire that Disney has become, owning a good portion of the television and entertainment world. Just three years ago Disney, for $73.1 billion, bought the film and TV assets that were held by 21st Century Fox, marking the transaction one of the largest media mergers in history.
The above is just for starters. Add to that the list of Disney-owned companies and you begin to get a sense of just how big Disney really is. That list includes ABC, ESPN, Touchstone Pictures, Marvel, Lucasfilm, A&E, The History Channel, Lifetime, Pixar, Hollywood Records, Vice Media, and Core Publishing among many others.
Included are recognizable brands and film franchises as the following: Star Wars, The Muppets, The Marvel Cinematic Universe (but not the X-Men – yet!), Disney Princesses/Princes (such as characters from Cinderella, Mulan, Frozen, Aladdin, and The Lion King), The Chronicles of Narnia Franchise, The Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise, Pixar Films, (such as Toy Story, The Incredibles, and Cars), The Winnie the Pooh Franchise, The Indiana Jones Franchise, Grey’s Anatomy and other popular ABC shows.
The LGBT culture is alive and flourishing within Disney. During a recent virtual meeting, a group of Disney filmmakers together with employees said they have been given the freedom to add “queerness” and LGBT characters to children’s programming, but they believe a lot more needs to be done. Such was expressed during an “all-hands” meeting following controversy regarding Florida’s parental rights bill that prohibits classroom teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. Florida’s Governor Ron DeSantis has signed the bill into law.
In a series of videos released by journalist Christopher F. Rufo, a fellow at the Manhattan Institute, Disney executive Karey Burke told attendees of the meeting that she is the “mother of two queer children – one transgender child, and one pangender child”. Wanting to see more LGBT characters in Disney programs, she states, “We have many, many, many LGBTQIA characters in our stories, and yet we don’t have enough leads and narratives in which gay characters just get to be characters and not have to be about gay stories.” Rufo, in a tweet, said that Burke added in the video that she wanted a minimum of 50 percent of characters to be LGBTQIA and racial minorities.
Latoya Raveneau, directing two episodes of The Proud Family on Disney Plus, reports she previously had heard “whispers” – when she worked for other studios – that Disney does not allow LGBT characters in its programs. But she said that’s not the case. The Proud Family includes a same sex married couple. She says, “My experience was bafflingly the opposite of what I had heard, and the showrunners were super welcoming of LGBT characters.” She further states, “Our leadership over there has been so welcoming to my not-at-all secret gay agenda…I don’t have to be afraid to, like, let’s have these two characters kiss in the background. I was just, wherever I could, just basically adding queerness [to projects].”
Another Disney production coordinator, Allen Martsch, discussed adding LGBT content to the upcoming Disney series, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur. Martsch applauds Disney saying, “They’ve been really open to exploring queer stories, …we take place in modern-day New York – so making sure that that’s an accurate reflection of New York. So I put together a tracker of our background characters to make sure that we have like the full breadth of expression.”
He concludes by saying, “…It’s not just about a numbers game of how many LGBTQ-plus characters you have,…The more centered a story is on a character, the more nuanced you get to get into their story. And especially with trans characters, you can’t see if anyone is trans – there’s not one way to look trans. And so kind of the only way to have these canonical trans characters, canonical asexual characters, canonical bisexual characters, is to give them stories where they can be their whole selves.”
Yes, Disney holds great power to persuade children and adults into believing it is kind and loving to accept this perverted worldview. Add to this the promotion of the LGBTQ lifestyles by politicians and lobbyists, then a sense of the battle takes on a greater sense of urgency. And it gets more complicated when the President of the United States aids and abets the issue. Just recently some observed a Transgender Day of Visibility and President Biden has declared his support of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria to undergo body mutilating surgeries or use puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones to look more like the opposite sex despite unknowns about the long-term side effects.
Standing in opposition to the above procedures the American College of Pediatricians said, “There is not a single long-term study to demonstrate the safety or efficacy of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for transgender believing youth,”… ” This means that youth transition is experimental and therefore, parents cannot provide informed consent, nor can minors provide assent for these interventions. Moreover, the best long-term evidence we have among adults shows that medical intervention fails to reduce suicide.”
Also, on their website, acpeds.org has a page stating that “Transgender Interventions Harm Children” and that puberty blockers may cause both mental illness and permanent physical harm adding that such is not only experimental but dangerous.
Besides Disney, now Apple is lending its strength to opposing gender legislation. That makes two very powerful entities. According to an article in Politico, Apple’s communications, government affairs and legal offices are working with policymakers and advocacy groups to plot out strategies in filing court briefs in cases involving LGBTQ “rights.”
Fred Sainz, their senior of corporate communications, recently pressed leaders of fellow Fortune 500 companies to denounce an order by the Texas governor that called for child abuse investigations of parents who provide transgender children with “gender-affirming” procedures despite opposition from doctors. Sainz asked these leaders to lend their company’s name to the issue because Apple will lend its name and logo to fight for LGBTQ rights. All Americans will be affected by decisions made by Disney and Apple.
Note:  I believe it is important to distinguish some terms.  The so-called “anti-LGBTQ” laws are not against the 1% of the population who identify as transgender or the 3% who identify as homosexual (percentages according to the YouGov poll released in March). Instead these laws should rightly be termed parental rights legislation or child protection laws to protect the vulnerable from possible lifelong harm.
What is a parent to do? What is a Christian to do? How are parents to handle the area of children’s programs and entertainment? How do we respond? Boycott Disney? Throw away your Apple phone? Good luck with that! Even if that were possible, the extensive effects of Disney influence are worldwide. I think it is safe to say that one thing Americans will not give up is their freedom to be entertained. I’m probably including myself. I love sports. Many people do and to give that up would be a challenge.  “Don’t mess with my entertainment” might be the prevailing attitude.
I remember reading about the contrast between Christians in the Soviet Union under Khrushchev and Christians in America during the same time period. The difference was Christians under Khrushchev were tested by persecution while Christians in America were tested by their freedoms. Can it be said that our freedoms have blinded us and are holding us hostage, preventing us from bringing every thought captive to the word of God and keeping us from seeing the threat at our doorsteps? Some say that only time will tell, but I believe time is already telling! Let’s open our eyes and be accountable to truth.  Let’s seek to be transformed by the renewing of our minds in the Word of God instead of being conformed to the world system and its culture.
Clete Hux is Director of the Apologetics Resource Center headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. A Teaching Elder in the PCA, he has pastored churches in Alabama and South Carolina.

When our faith is quickened and we are made one with God, He writes His truth on our hearts and we know the truth. This is made real for us when we study God’s Word and hear godly expositional preaching and Bible teaching. The Holy Spirit is working in our hearts to see and understand the truth. This is why we are so taken aback by the attacks against our faith. 

And on that day you will not question Me about anything. Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.John 16:23 (LSB) 
In our journey these past several weeks we have looked at the nature of faith, the veracity of the Bible as the Word of God, and the deity of Christ. Much of this has been done as the result of or in response to attacks by liberals, Christian and otherwise. I often ponder what could possibly be their goal. Why should they care that we proclaim that Jesus Christ is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE and no one comes to Father except through Him? When we analyze that then it becomes clear that their attacks are on the exclusivity of the genuine Gospel.
Genuine faith, the product of God’s grace (Romans 4:16; Ephesians 2:8,9) is possessed only by the regenerate. This faith is alive whereas before God’s grace quickened it, it was completely incapable and unwilling to believe in Christ as Lord and Saviour. This dead faith is inherited from Adam and the product of the fall. (Genesis 3) Without God’s grace according with man’s faith, there is no possibility of belief and, therefore, no possibility of salvation. However, when God quickens a sinner (we are all sinners) his or her faith comes alive. The spiritual blindness that marked them before regeneration is washed away.
But when the kindness and affection of God our Savior appeared, 5 He saved us, not by works which we did in righteousness, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that having been justified by His grace, we would become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.3:4-7 (LSB) 
With this cleansing and renewal of the Holy Spirit believers are made one with the Father. They have come to the Father through the Son. This faith is supernatural. It is cleansed and because of that it can see and understand spiritual truth. As Christian’s mature they will find that their spiritual walks become more and more lined up with God’s will. With this regenerated faith and the work of the Holy Spirit within them they have the ability to not sin. They can obey God. They can walk in repentance. On the other hand, before this none of this is possible because the unregenerate person’s righteousness is as filthy rags before the Lord. What is not of faith is sin. (Romans 14:23b)

Related Posts: