"Beloved, while I was very diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3).

Gender is a hot topic in our society today. Our society is so gender crazed that some states allow parents to put "other" on the birth certificate. Some believe a man who thinks he is a woman should be allowed to go in the bathroom of his choice. Our society has accepted two men as parents to children. Women are entering more and more into traditional men's line of work and leadership roles including more activity in the military. Sadly, some churches are feeling compelled to expand women's roles in the church and to be more open-minded to same-sex marriage. Do the wind changes of society set the standard for truth in the church, or does the word of God?

Recently, the Southern Baptist Convention elected a new President. I am not endorsing this organization, just reporting what I read. One man who was up for the President of the Convention stood firmly on marriage being only between a man and a woman, believing in the husband as the head of the wife and rejecting the idea of women preachers. The other candidate was more open-minded to expanding women's roles and to other gender related social issues. The more conservative candidate was elected, but not without some challenge. The reporter giving the report seemed to endorse the loser who is said to be looking to the trends of society and saying the church must weigh in on the new directions our society is headed and adjust the sails accordingly (paraphrased). I just wonder how many others secretly think like this. People need to get in the word of God and read it and believe and stick to it! The faith has been fully delivered and it is our duty to defend it whenever it is attacked on any Biblical matter. Troublesome times are here, but Jesus will deliver His faithful.

Everyone must remember that the attitude that sent Israel down the path to destruction in the days of the Judges is the desire to have a king like the nations around them (1 Samuel 8:5). In desiring a king, they rejected God. Oh, how man messes things up when he ventures out all on his own! (Jeremiah 10:23).

We serve a God who does not change His mind about right and wrong (Hebrews 13:8; James 1:17). The Bible reveals the mind of God, and His Word does not come with the latest updates like an I-phone. Just like God, Himself, the Bible stays the same in every generation (Psalms 89:7). Until religious people get this point, they will never come to the whole truth concerning the organization of the local church or the home. Many will pick and choose what they will believe as if viewing the word of God through a pair of glasses that see current social trends as a standard to filter what to pick and what to reject from God's word.

The church should be as open-minded as God is and as close-minded as God. The standard for our beliefs and practices must be rooted and settled in the doctrine of Christ and His Apostles. Even if our society were to agree 100% that women's roles be expanded in the churches and that boys who think they are girls belong in the girl's bathroom, we must stand on the side of God and His word. Right and wrong is not determined by the number of people who believe a matter. The people of God have always been in the minority. Noah and his family were in the minority in the days of the flood (Genesis 6, 7). In the judgment, few will be saved compared to the large numbers of people who lived (Matthew 7:13, 14). The Bible says, "Though the wicked join hand-in hand, the wicked shall not be unpunished: but the seed of the righteous shall be delivered" (Proverbs 11:21).

Churches do not need conventions, Bible colleges or groups of men to tell them which way to set their sails in the churches to determine what to believe or how to worship and serve Christ. The matter is settled forever in Heaven (Psalms 119:89). We must not follow the multitudes to do evil (Exodus 23:2). If numbers of church members decide to leave because the local churches will not change their minds about gender issues; then let them leave! The Lord wants people who are right down the line in following His truth. You can call me strait-laced or legalistic or whatever, but in the end, I want to be called faithful! If you attend a congregation that is setting its sails according to the winds of our society, it is time for you to leave!

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Michael R. Baggett