Because a girl danced

This blog comes from my new habit of listening to this AM gospel station on my way to work.  One day at work an author had a book signing, and this gospel station came to sponsor it.  I got its frequency and now I listen to it frequently.  I can hear the music that I sell.  Mostly I enjoy it.

Sometimes, however, they have preaching.  Mostly I enjoy it, too.  The guy preaching really does love and preach Jesus.  Sometimes he slips and preaches himself, but he mostly sticks to Scripture and points to Jesus.  He decided to preach on Matthew 14, the death of John the Baptist.  He had good insights, but in the end I was not really sure what his sermon was about.

I think ultimately, John the Baptist spoke out against Herod's immorality at the expense of his life.  In the year 2014, we also must speak out against rampant immorality, and yes it will cost us our lives.  Herod would often take different in-laws and marry them.  He married his brother Phillip's wife who had this beautiful daughter who danced for him and also eventually became his wife.  This was basically an incestuous orgy.  John the Baptist spoke against it.  Herod was popular and could decide how he lived.  He liked John.  He liked to listen to him.  But when John spoke a sermon that called Herod to deny his lusts and to serve the Lord, Herod put him in jail.  And when Herod had a birthday party, and his step daughter danced before her drunken king and his friends, he promised her anything.  She asked for John's head on a platter.  John died because a girl danced.  He was in a position to die because he boldly told the royal family that their lifestyle choice is not merely a personal preference: it's a destructive sin and they are accountable to God.

Even though the Gospel was preached, this man on the radio sometimes had a word for himself.  Just like John, he preaches and it is unpopular.  And he's right.  Rampant sex lives are very popular right now and endorsed by our president.  Whether heterosexual or homosexual, sex is the religion, and our president will do all he can for it.  He will force abortions on people.  He will force churches to recognize same-sex marriage.  He will fire people for not supporting a gay wedding.  And this man on the radio is open about his opposition to homosexuality and general libertinism.  At the same time, he's a black man.  I can't be sure, but I think he likes Obama like most of his culture despite his rampant anti-Christian policies.  But he still speaks against sin even if he should die in the process.

Ultimately, I think I'll enjoy the radio preacher even if I vastly disagree with some things that are characteristic of our cultural differences.  He will at least provide me with blog material and I can try to weed out my personal biases and separate it from what I am convinced that Scripture teaches.  And hey, I think he does the same thing.  Praise God that he can use both of us to spread the Gospel despite our faults.