Evangelical theologian Albert Mohler, who serves as the ninth president of the Louisville-based Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, has warned about the challenges the Christian church faces in 2022, specifically aboout the LGBT agenda, which he claims will eventually criminalize Christian speech as it goes against same-sex ideologies. The 62-year-old said that the Christian community is now at a "turning point."
"If the government can tell you it is illegal to teach biblical truth on the issue of human sexuality, the array of LGBT issues, understand two things," Mohler spoke of the government's move to uphold trans rights, as reported by WND.
"Number one, it won't stop with LGBT and understand, eventually it means the criminalization of whatever Christian speech is no longer politically attractive. And that eventually will mean everything that is revealed in scripture, most essentially, the gospel of Jesus Christ."
In a column, Mohler argued that the "turning point" is happening, wherein a challenge is coming to the Christian church "more clearly" and "more ominously." He warned, "We are about to find out where the biblical Christians are on both sides of the Atlantic, and as you and I know, on both sides of the American/Canadian border."
The Christian Institute cited Mohler's remarks, noting his reference to governments in the U.S. and U.K. banning "conversion therapy." Governments argue that "conversion therapy," which is the pseudoscientific practice of attempting to convert a person's sexual orientation from homosexual or bisexual to heterosexual using psychological or spiritual interventions, harm patients if counselors explain to patients alternatives to adopting and endorsing same-sex or transgender ideologies.
In some places, agenda-driven laws are banning "conversion therapy" but promoting the LGBT agenda, such as the implementation of transgender policies in schools and allowing trans athletes to compete in women's sports. In Canada, the U.K., and Ireland, proposals are already on the way to legalize the ban on "conversion therapy." Mohler argued that this goes against the Bible's teaching that God "made us male and female and he gave us the unalterable rules of human sexual behavior and conduct."
Mohler also claims that LGBT activists do not want just a change on a single issue such as rights, but also seek to "criminalize and sanction and make illegal any confrontation on biblical terms of their own new morality." The prominent theologian said that it could result in "restrictions in pulpits" and restrictions on what parents can talk about with their children.
Mohler alleged that LGBT advocates who "claim to be a platform of sexual liberation" are not just calling for change in legislation, but change in "the entire society" as well. He said, "They want to criminalize and sanction and make illegal any confrontation on biblical terms of their own new morality."
Mohler took aim at the Canadian legislation, which he worries will be a threat to "Christian institutions, Christian organizations, and even Christian churches" because it is "directed to the pulpit." He described the legislation as "radical" because Canada's liberal government's justice minister, David Lametti, said that such criminal laws on conversion therapy are "among the most comprehensive in the world."
