This narrow way

“Round and around and around we go, where the world’s headed nobody knows.”

(Actually, we do know. But more on that later.)

When the Temptations song “Ball of Confusion” was released in 1970 those lyrics couldn’t have been more appropriate and descriptive of the times. For those not old enough to remember, the late 60’s early 70’s was a time of political, social, and cultural upheaval in this country. Martin Luthier King and Robert Kennedy had been assassinated in 1968. People protesting against the Vietnam War and those demanding Civil Rights were taking to the streets in nearly every city across America. Another line from the song was “cities are burning in the summertime” which referred to the 1967 and 1968 riots in Detroit, Newark, Chicago, and many other places. It was truly a time of chaos, confusion, and turmoil all across America. 

But I would submit to you that the times we live in today are more chaotic and confused than even those of 50+ years ago. Those protests and demonstrations were about correcting longstanding political and social wrongs. What is under assault today is human biology, language, the family structure. Things that have always been accepted as the very essence of not only what defines us as human beings, but as a country and a society, are being turned upside down.

What is a man? What is a woman? Nobody knows, not even a recently confirmed Supreme Court Justice. Men can be women and women can be men, or they can be neither, depending on what state of mind they’re in at any particular time. Little boys who may not enjoy playing with toy trucks or like sports, and little girls who at one time would have called tomboys are being sent to “gender affirming” specialists who start them on a course of life changing and irreversible medications, so called puberty blockers. From there the next step is sex change surgery. In the state of Oregon, for example, this surgery can even be performed without parental notification or consent. Gender? Human biology and just plain common sense have always told us there are two, male and female. Oh no, there are now an infinite number. 

Language. Male pronouns are he and him, females pronouns are she and her, more than one person is referred to as they or them. Since the English language came into existence that has been the case. Nope, not any more. Now we have preferred pronouns. He can be she, she can be he, individuals can be they. Either can be both and both can be neither thanks to ridiculous terms like non binary and gender fluid. 

Chaos and confusion all around. People who hold to traditional beliefs and norms, even though it seems we are getting fewer and fewer in number almost by the minute, are confounded and asking themselves where is this coming from? First, I can tell you where it isn’t coming from, which might give you a clue as to the real source.

“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace” 1 Corinthians 14:33

Our God is a God of order. Just looking at his creation tell us that very clearly. In our solar system, planets revolve around the Sun. Our Earth, the planet itself not the people, is very orderly. One orbit around the sun is 365 days, one day is twenty four hours divided between daylight and darkness, the Earth rotates and tilts precisely on its axis to produce seasons, our Moon affects the ocean tides at times so precise we know when high and low tide will occur. Our Earth is exactly the right distance from the Sun to sustain life. Any closer or any further away and it would be uninhabitable.

Our human bodies are further proof of order. Our circulatory system, pulmonary system, digestive system, respiratory system, each functioning in accord with the others to sustain life. Our brain sending signals to every cell and every organ within us instructing it what to do and when to do it. Of course, there are those who would tell this is all one giant coincidence, that somehow, someway nothing exploded and became everything, and that mankind started out as a single cell that crawled out of the ooze somewhere (never mind where the ooze came from) and evolved into this complex and miraculous thing we call a human body. But that is a whole ‘nuther subject for another day.

So, from whence cometh the confusion? I’ll take the pit of Hell for $200, Alex. In Satan’s first contact with mankind what did he do? Sowed the seeds of doubt and confusion. “Did God really say you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” (Genesis 3:1) Eve said, we can eat the fruit of any tree but one or we’ll die. The serpent then doubles down on confusion. Paraphrasing, ‘Nah, go ahead and eat, you won’t surely die.’ We all know what happened next. 

From that day to this our adversary has been “prowling around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8) and he’s doing plenty of devouring these days. Just as Jesus Christ is the “author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2) Satan is the author and perfecter of confusion. The good news for believers in all this confusion and chaos around us is that we’ve read the last chapter of the Book and we know how the story ends. 

“And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” Revelation 20:10

Meanwhile:

“For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17