This narrow way

“Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” Galatians 6:7.

I’m sure by now most of you have seen the photo or the video from last night’s opening ceremonies at the Paris Olympic Games. (Said photo/video won’t be posted here because I kind of like to follow a strict no blasphemy rule, but that’s just me). My initial reaction was probably along the same lines as most other Christians. Disgusting, sickening, nauseating, revolting, filth. And yes, this Satanic performance, conceived in the pit of Hell, mocking the famous painting of The Last Supper with drag queens in the place of our Lord and his disciples, was all those things.

A few hours reflecting on last night’s proceedings have made it no less disgusting and despicable, but it has brought to light one thing. Once again, God’s word is still 100% infallible and inerrant. This is exactly what Paul wrote about in his letter to the Romans.

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, and evil… Romans 1:28, 29.

If Paul had been alive to review the Olympics opening ceremonies he would have written those exact words.

This is not the first time we’ve seen God and Christianity made the object of our culture’s scorn and ridicule, only the latest example. But we seldom, if ever, see other religions treated with the same contempt. I’ll leave to your imagination what would become of performers who made similar mockery of Mohammed. Just ask Salman Rushdie how that works out. So why God and Christianity? Why the intense, vile hatred?  A few reasons come to mind.  

Satan hates God, and by extension Christianity, above all else. He has no such hatred for the world’s other gods and their religions. Why would Satan hate them? He is their creator and founder. It was God, the true God, who cast him out of Heaven for rebellion. It was God who placed the curse on the serpent in the Garden of Eden that the seed of the woman would crush the head of the serpent. Satan has tried many times over the millennia to keep that from happening and failed every time. He tried to tempt Jesus during His time on Earth and failed (Matthew 4:1-10). Satan thought he was victorious at Calvary only to be thwarted again by Jesus’ resurrection. Satan knows his fate and it is God who will cast him into the lake of fire for eternity.

This world, and particularly our present world, hates and reviles God for His creation and His creative order. Unbridled hedonism is the religion of the day. License and licentiousness rule. God has order and commandments. If God created me then I’m accountable to Him. No way. ‘I am the captain of my ship, I am the master of my soul,’ this world proclaims. God created them male and female? Oh no, can’t stand for that. I can’t be whatever my depraved mind tells me I am under that standard. Ours is a culture of self-aggrandizement and self-exaltation. Jesus commands us to deny ourselves and follow Him.  We have a month devoted to pride. James 4:6 tells us “God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

So, is this Olympic debacle as bad as it gets? Has depraved man finally scraped the bottom of the blasphemy barrel? Unfortunately, not even close. Paul’s Second Letter to Timothy assures us that “evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived” (2 Timothy 3:13). Should Jesus delay His Second Coming another 4 or 8 years, I shudder to think what future Olympic ceremonies have in store.

Yes, I am coming quickly. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. Revelation 22:20.