In my younger days, I supported World Vision. Being naïve and idealistic, I was confident that this
organization that all my young evangelical friends liked was surely all about
feeding the hungry in Jesus’ name, and I was all about that.
But then I noticed that there was a ministry philosophy about which
held that effective ministry to the poor and hungry need not include a clear
sharing of the good news about Jesus Christ. So I looked closely at what World Vision said about their
ministry, and I saw very little about actually sharing the Gospel. Being a hard man even back then, I did
not think assisting people in going to Hell well fed was particularly
meritorious. Therefore, sometime
in the 1980’s, I decided to give my world relief donations elsewhere. (The Anglican Relief and Development Fund is my favorite such organization now.)
Now some thirty years later, World Vision itself has proven me right in
perceiving something was wrong in its DNA. Its U.S. branch has decided to hire purported Christians in
same-sex “marriages”.
The explanation given by World Vision President Richard Stearns is
fatuous. He claims World Vision is
remaining neutral on the issue of same-sex “marriage”. No, World Vision’s policy for employees
was celibacy for singles and monogamy for the married. By deciding that gay sex inside of
same-sex “marriage” meets that requirement for employees, World Vision is most
definitely taking sides.
He says, "This is also not about compromising the authority of Scripture." Yeah, right. Scripture is very clear about what God thinks about gay
sex. This decision has
compromising the authority of Scripture all over it.
More from Stearns:
Stearns said
World Vision's board has faced a new question in recent years: "What do we
do about someone who applies for a job at World Vision who is in a legal
same-sex marriage that may have been sanctioned and performed by their church?
Do we deny them employment?
"Under
our old conduct policy, that would have been a violation," said Stearns.
"The new policy will not exclude someone from employment if they are in a
legal same-sex marriage."
Stearns said
the new policy reflects World Vision's parachurch and multi-denominational
nature.
"Denominations
disagree on many, many things: on divorce and remarriage, modes of baptism,
women in leadership roles in the church, beliefs on evolution, etc.," he
said. "So our practice has always been to defer to the authority and
autonomy of local churches and denominational bodies on matters of doctrine
that go beyond the Apostles' Creed and our statement of faith. We unite around
our [Trinitarian beliefs], and we have always deferred to the local church on
these other matters."
This is a cover for partnership with apostate denominations and letting
them call the shots. The United
Church of Christ holds to the faith of the creeds? Really? As long
as libchurchers can cross their fingers and mouth a creed, Stearns is just fine
with partnering with them and letting them set, nay, abolish Christian moral
standards for employees. And that
in the name of a unity which really destroys genuine Christian unity.
This serves as yet another object lesson for the orthodox. Partnering with false teachers who
claim to be Christian never ends well.
Unity-minded weak orthodox Christians greatly contributed to the
downfall of most mainline denominations by such partnering, and now World
Vision is and will be greatly weakened by partnering with apostates and the
compromise that brings.
It is not for nothing that Scripture and the fathers again and again
oppose partnering with false teachers who blaspheme by using the name of Christ
as cover for their “doctrines of demons” (1 Timothy 4:1). Partnering with them partners with
their unfaithfulness and only leads to an increase in unfaithfulness.
This sad World Vision news is not so much my being proven right as it
is the Word of God being proven right yet again.
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