Forget about banning books, our desire should be to see transgender and sodomy books go up in flames, with the smoke from the conflagration reaching up to heaven as a sweet-smelling aroma.
I suppose I’ll have to explain myself.
To begin with, the beef between parents and school districts over sexually explicit and gender-bending books could all be avoided if said parents extracted their sons and daughters from the cesspool of government indoctrination centers. It’s a hard truth for some to hear, but it is a futile fight to reform the government school system – the only solution is to end it (and that can start by getting your children out of there posthaste). Parental permission and library protocols fail to address the root problem: idolatry and enmity against Christ.
So, while I understand the motivation of those fighting to change the books in government school libraries, I am not overly interested in trying to get a Christ-hating institution to issue permission slips before a student can read a perverted book. The whole enterprise is rotten, and I’d rather focus on toppling the gangrenous institution by applying continual pressure to its festering roots.
But that sort of cultural change can only happen with a paradigm-shifting message that renews people’s minds. Thankfully, the true church of Jesus Christ has been entrusted with just such a message.
Being therefore armed with the everlasting gospel of Christ, our efforts should be focused on the sort of radical transformation that would cause people like Parker Webb, Kellye Martin, and the board members of the apostate Lititz Moravian Congregation to join with hundreds of others in dousing transgender books in gasoline and striking a match.
And just so no one can libelously accuse me of instigating arson, let me be clear: these would be controlled burns with the permission of the books’ owners. Sort of like a community bonfire – we can even roast marshmallows and sing Kumbaya.
Now, for the church ladies and community outreach pastors who recoil at the thought of such evangelistic combustion, I present the case of the Ephesian bonfire in Acts 19.
The evangelistic efforts of the Apostle Paul and other Christians led to the “name of the Lord Jesus [being] extolled” in the ancient city of Ephesus. It is worth noting that Ephesus was a seedbed for paganism and idolatry (not unlike downtown Lititz or Lancaster during pride month). But the Christian outreach in Ephesus wasn’t the evangelism of seeker-friendly churches, afraid of offending sinners – this was gospel-centered, Christ-exalting, sin-denouncing evangelism that led to our model for book burning.
“Also many of those who were now believers came, confessing and divulging their practices,” Luke records for us in Acts 19:18-19. “And a number of those who had practiced magic arts brought their books together and burned them in the sight of all.”
Coming to faith in Christ means rejecting faith in the old ways. It means rejecting one’s pagan past, including vile literature. The Ephesian Christians came to (rightfully) hate their previous idolatry and the destruction their occult books bred. Their willingness to turn those books to ashes represented their even more important willingness to leave that way of life behind forever.
Luke, the writer of the book of Acts, doesn’t lament the loss of such literary filth. Rather, he appends this to the conclusion of the fiery account: “So the word of the Lord continued to increase and prevail mightily” (Acts 19:20).
The book burning in Ephesus was not the work of lawless brigands, but an example of thoughtful, deliberate, and lawful destruction of the relics of paganism.
We need more such heat in our day. Not only should the transgender books be going up in flames, but pornographic materials and occult volumes should also be put to the fire.
And neither was the book burning in Ephesus a small affair: “And they counted the value of them [the books] and found it came to fifty thousand pieces of silver” (Acts 19:19). Some estimates put that figure at $6 million in modern currency.
No, we shouldn’t sell our old pagan books on Amazon to make a few bucks – we should incinerate them.
What would true revival look like in Lancaster County? Fires fueled by piles of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit editions and copious volumes of Gender Queer: A Memoir.
In order for us to get to that point, however, we have some work to do.
But it starts the same way it started in Ephesus: with the faithful, often confrontational, proclamation of the lordship of Jesus Christ.
If we love Christ and his Bible, then we should eschew the pansy religion being propagated in the name of Christ today, even in our county. It is a shallow, soulless, gutted religion which has no courage to confront darkness and call sinners to repentance. It lacks the love necessary to warn apostates and sodomites of coming judgment. It lacks the biblical awareness to understand that the gospel will of necessity lead to worldview confrontations and spiritual clashes.
And, finally, it lacks the nous to know good kindling when it sees it.
Chris Hume is the host of The Lancaster Patriot Podcast and the author of several books, including Seven Statist Sins. He can be reached at info@thelancasterpatriot.com.
No legitimate journalistic outlet would publish anything in support of book burning.
But it’s “patriotic,” dontcha know.
great article Chris!
keep up the good work 🙂