Isaiah 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21  Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
22  Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink:
23  Which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!

We are taking a detour from our study of the book of Romans for today. There have been concerns raised over another bill that the Liberal govt. is bringing forward in Parliament. The bill has been brought forward before, in a different form, but did not pass. It is now called “The Online Harms Bill”. It is just newly being presented in Parliament and there has not been any clarity yet on what is all in the Bill. The Bill is like hiring a fox to fox-proof a chicken coop.
Mr. Trudeau, as is his nature, is trying to spin this as his party’s great concern for the safety of our children. This is coming from the man who wants to allow willfully brainwashed teachers to encourage children to reject their parents’ counsel and let the teachers tell them whether they should be comfortable living with the gender that God made them. The teachers want the freedom and the power to greatly harm young children.
Years ago there was great concern and anger expressed for governments that had deliberately sterilized people that they felt were not worthy of reproducing. That was considered to be barbaric. Now the government is encouraging children to make choices that will keep them from being able to reproduce and will also do grave emotional harm to them for the rest of their lives.
From all that I have read, both from the secular crowd as well as from the religious group on this latest attempt of government overreach, is that the key figures in this whole matter are missing.
If we want to address any issue in life, we need to go back to the design that God has in mind for life. I know the governments are not interested in this, but we need to stop and take stock of the facts.

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
28  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
29  And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.
30  And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

In these verses we read that God made man. He did not make government first. He made man first. He had already established the head of government and that was Himself. God created man to live under His authority.
When God created man, He commanded man to be fruitful and multiply. We know from Genesis 4 that the way man was to be fruitful and multiply was to have children. He would not do so by having some special relationship with animals or with birds. He would produce seed after his kind. Adam and Eve had two sons in Genesis 4. We have families being developed in Genesis 4 and from that point forward.
The Bible teaches us that parents are to teach their children the law of God. That precludes that parents are to know and believe the law of God. We also learn from the Bible, that each person is born with a freewill. Cain and Abel were the first two children born into the world. We do not know how good Adam and Eve were at teaching them, but we know that those two boys chose completely different paths. Both of them started out the same. Both of them started out as lost sinners. Cain chose to remain in that state and Abel chose to turn to God and believe in Him. The result was that Cain chose to make a wicked choice in developing a humanistic form of religion, while Abel chose to honour God. The end result was that Cain murdered his brother and tried to hide his wickedness.
We do not see Adam confronting Cain with his sin. We see God confronting Cain with his sin. God spoke directly to Cain. He does not need to do that today and in fact He does not do that audibly today. He still speaks directly to man through His Word. Parents need to be involved in their children’s lives and they need to remind their children of the imperative of believing in the true God.
As we move on in the Bible, we continue to see that man is accountable to God for his actions. Enoch walked with God and God took him. Noah walked with God and God chose him to build an ark to the saving of his family. The rest of humanity perished in the worldwide flood.
Abram was called to leave his homeland and his extended family and go to a new land that God would give him. He was to take his wife with him and leave. Prior to that account, we see that Nimrod decided to lead a massive rebellion against God and God stepped in and confounded the language of the people and He caused them to scatter.
It is clear from the Bible that fathers are to be the head of their homes, and that fathers are to know the true God and lead their families in obedience to God’s Word.
Fast forward to the recent concerns that are being raised. Parents are not in the discussion. It is all about how we need to vote for better government. Those who blindly follow the mantra that if we get a different government we can turn things around, are only empowering wicked men and women to take more and more control over the individual.
We will see in Romans 13 that governments have their place, but governments are to be under God’s authority. God-fearing parents should not be looking to the government to fix the social problems of society. The discussion that I have heard is that children have their phones and they are subjected to so much information through those devices. How about the novel idea that children do not need to have their own phones. How about parents protecting their children and helping them to see the need to know the true God?
It is not that long ago that people had phones fastened to the wall of their house. That phone was hooked into a “party” line. There were other people on that line and you had to share the line with them. Sometimes you would have someone on your party line that would listen in on your conversations. Sometimes they would be rude and interrupt your conversation and demand that you hang up so they could use the phone. Sometimes people did not respect the party line and they hogged the line for foolish talking. If you went outside, you did not have access to the phone. If you went to town you did not have your phone with you. Now we are so tied to the phone that we think it is our right and it is a need to have that phone with us 24/7.
Together with that mentality is the fallacy that our children must have their own phone. After all, the world is so dangerous that our children need to be able to call for help when they are in trouble.
Again, what is missing in this discussion is the fact that parents need to know the fear of the LORD and that includes being a part of a good local church that will teach them and their children the truth. Parents that make their home and their church their life will have greater opportunity of protecting their children from evil. The danger is when parents do not know the Lord or they might know the Lord but they are not diligent enough to choose a good church to attend. Then of course there is always that personal responsibility issue as well.
At present, we do not know how this latest bill will flesh itself out. I am not holding my breath that anything good will come from our government or from the opposition parties. I expect this bill to further intrude in the freedoms that God designed for mankind. I believe that God is still in charge and He can turn the heart of the king and limit the evil intent of the king. As a husband, father and pastor, it is my responsibility to live right and to speak the truth in every place that I go.
I listened to a rare individual this week. He is a lost man and was speaking at a secular gathering. Interestingly and thankfully, he did not use foul language. He spoke the truth openly. He stated some things that are very obvious, but most people are afraid to say. He was able to get his audience excited with his short speech.
While we were still New Evangelicals, I was searching for truth. God led me to some old time Fundamentalist preachers. For me, reading their material was like a breath of fresh air. It encouraged me to look for a meeting with someone from the IFB camp. Eventually I found someone in that camp and we left N.E. and joined an IFB church. I have witnessed an erosion of the “fire” that was in those men that I was reading about in my search for truth. There is a rush toward the “emergent church” philosophy within the IFB camp. The “emergent church” movement is just another name for New Evangelicalism. It is poison.
Fathers and pastors need to know the Lord and we need to be willing to speak the truth. The truth is not popular and it is not appreciated by very many. The threats of financial cost and even freedom of movement are rising. If we read our Bibles, we know that Jeremiah did not enjoy freedom of movement near the end of his life. We also learn that Peter and John and Paul did not enjoy freedom of movement. They also did not have financial security. What they had was peace in their hearts and the opportunity to impact their society for the truth. They did not seek to be politically correct. They did not seek the counsel of the compromised religious crowd. They took God at His Word and they boldly proclaimed the truth. They suffered greatly for believing in God and serving Him faithfully. They are currently resting in Jesus and they will be resurrected one day soon to spend the rest of eternity with the Lord Jesus. There were many who took great pleasure in persecuting them. Those who died in that state are in torment today and will spend eternity in the lake of fire.
There is a great need for godly men to be willing to stand up and speak the truth today. We do not need modern day politicians. We need godly men who will obey God and serve Him faithfully. He may want some to be in government. However, He will want them to have godly convictions and be willing to speak the truth. The garbage that is being accepted today is just that, it is garbage. The truth is what sets the captive free.
Pastor Bartel