The following is my most recent article that I wrote for the Tacoma News Tribune. A couple years ago, I was invited to submit articles twice a month (1st and 3rd Saturdays) for their church page. It has been a joy to do this and an amazing outreach opportunity. These articles are also linked on my congregation’s website which you can see on the left hand side of this page. To God be the glory.

One of my favorite activities as a child was playing night games with my friends. What this usually entailed was two teams of kids: the good guys and the bad guys. The premise was for the good guys to catch the bad guys and put them in jail. I loved being a bad guy. Maybe that’s because it speaks to our innate sinful nature to love the darkness. Whatever the case, as the bad guys, light was bad. We had to operate in the dark in order to conceal our motives. Whether it was hiding from the good guys or trying to break our fellow bad guys out of jail, we stayed in the shadows. The good guys, though, were not afraid of the light and thus they operated in the light. Funny, we had no idea then that we were living out a theological truth straight from the Word of God.

“And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” [John 3:19–21 (ESV)]

Why do I share this story? Our world operates much in the same way. In order to conceal the truth, people have to operate in the darkness. Let’s use the abortion debate for an example. What we hear in the media or from those who are pro-choice is something along these lines: “It is alright to terminate/end the pregnancy of a woman in order to preserve/save her life.” When actually, what’s being said is, “It is alright to kill a baby for the sake of a woman’s health (physical or mental).” An unspeakable evil is being sanitized (kept in the dark) and equated with a medical procedure to promote the health of a woman. And who isn’t in favor of a medical procedure to save a life? But no one is going to talk about killing a baby because most people agree that killing is wrong. Therefore, abortion has to be sanitized because, consider this: The same people that support abortion also reject capital punishment.

Now, if you think I am getting too political, read these words from the prophet Isaiah, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness…” [Isaiah 5:20 ESV]

I am not being political. I am being biblical. You see, we must speak the truth in the light, not in order to win an argument but to save the souls of those residing in the darkness. We need to speak the truth in love, not hate. We need to shine a light in order to snuff out sin. We need to turn the Light on through our words and deeds. I am not being political. I am shining a light. This is not about trying to catch the “bad guys”. This is about the Truth and the salvation of souls. Amen.

The Pastor -|—