Churches going woke need to wake up – part 3 (Drag queens in churches)

In the first part of this series, I discovered that both my local Lutheran church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA) advocate for full inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community in “Pride” events and church leadership. In part two, I discussed the current trend for churches to declare abortion as a “religious freedom” – even going so far as to bring lawsuits against states that are now banning the practice. What’s next? A pentagram placed next to the cross?  

For one Texas church, that concept came close to becoming a reality.  

The First Christian Church (FCC-Disciples of Christ) in Katy, TX, recently promoted their “Drag Bingo” night as a family-friendly event – with an adults-only show occurring at 8:00 pm on September 24. While such an event was already controversial, media outlets soon revealed further details that made the offering all the more disturbing. One of the performers hired by the church, Jaysen Kettl, was convicted in 2004 of planning a school shooting.  

At age 17, Kettl pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder at Vidor High School. Legal records evidence Kettl’s violent tendencies as he and another student planned to enact torture by “nailing people’s hands to a table, chaining them to trees – before they killed certain people.”  

A recent review of Kettl’s social media accounts shows his continued penchant for evil practices. In one photo, Kettl is pictured holding a red skull, wearing pentagram earrings and a t-shirt with a Baphomet image surrounded by a pentagram. Baphomet is a created deity allegedly worshipped by the Knights Templar and later used in occult practices.   

Rather than cancel the event when word of Kettl’s background spread nationwide, FCC Katy simply replaced Kettyl and continued their affair without missing a beat. Drag Bingo was sold-out, after all, and the “show must go on!”  

By selling $20 Bingo cards and $400 tables, Drag Bingo was not just a social event meant to bring community members together. FCC Katy is not shy in promoting their “intentionally progressive” church agenda – and this event was no exception. Proceeds from the show will be used to sponsor FCC’s “TRANSparent Closet” as part of their LGBTQ+ ministry. FCC describes the TRANSparent Closet as a “FREE clothing boutique designed for trans and exploring teens, youth, and young adults to have a safe place for clothing needs and beyond.”  

Rather than support impressionable youth in further developing their Christian faith, FCC Katy wants to provide “undergarments, style accessories, makeup, and more.” Per the church website, “We would love to host you and have one of our stylist help select just the right things for you. ” 

Make no mistake. This “boutique” is not a thrift shop for the impoverished but rather a church-sponsored gateway to confuse and misguide innocent youth into practices that take them further away from God.  

I can’t help but ask, whatever happened to bowling nights and youth group meetings for young people to learn more about how to become true “disciples of Christ”? Instead of potluck suppers, this so-called “Christian” church features photos from their booth sponsorship at the “Pride Festival.”

Lest anyone suspect that this ministry exists to save lost souls, one need only gaze at their tent – adorned in rainbow flags, pencils, and a “Love is love” banner – to know that talking about Christ is the farthest thing from this so-called religious intuition’s agenda. One might never suspect the booth belonged to a church were it not for the FCC sign, which proclaims it to be “Radically welcoming. Intentionally progressive” – with not a cross in sight.  

Further investigation reveals that FCC’s “Minister of LGBTQ+ Ministries and Social Media” is openly gay. He even writes a blog entitled “Gay by the grace of God” about being – you guessed it – a “gay seminarian.” If I could ask this leader one question, it would be for him to show me where the Bible says that God gives grace for someone to follow an unGodly lifestyle. Our Creator provides us with grace to cover our sins – even though we don’t deserve it – not continue them. I think this statement alone disavows the title and “calling” of this would-be seminarian.

Knowing where to begin to unpack all the above information is difficult. As a devout Christian who believes in the unerring word of God, I find it hard to stomach all the ways that today’s churches have descended into the sins of pride, perversion, and popularity.  

While I understand the penchant to be inclusive and accepting, Christians should never give up the unique attributes that separate us from the rest of our culture. The Apostle Paul provided this admonition to the Ephesians: “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.” (Chapter 4: 19-24)

How then, one must ask, can it be acceptable for a church leader to be living a lifestyle that affirms sensuality and impurity? Scripture clearly tells us that it’s impossible to follow both fleshly and spiritual desires. How can a church affirm, endorse, and – worse yet – bring impurity into its own halls as a form of entertainment and still call itself a church? More so, how can a church claim to be Christian while promoting an ideology that corrupts children by removing their innocence?

Paul takes this further: “But among you, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God’s holy people. Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk, or coarse joking, which are out of place but rather thanksgiving. For of this, you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient. Therefore do not be partners with them.”

Christians are not called to “embrace diversity” to earn acceptance by the masses. Nor should our purpose on earth be to simply “enjoy life.” And yet, these principles are featured prominently as part of the mission of FCC Katy – as I suspect they are at many other “Woke” churches. The concept of serving God in faithfulness and purity seems to be gone from these religious institutions. If they want to become “Do-gooder” clubs where everything is acceptable, they should call themselves that to end the confusion and degradation of the gospel. Such concepts are not what Christianity is all about.

Christians are admonished to preach the gospel of Christ – which teaches that we must first accept that “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23) If we don’t believe ourselves to be sinners in need of a Savior, we are then free to elevate ourselves, our “good deeds,” and yes, even our acceptance of anything and everything in the world as more desirable than following the will of God. If there is no sin and everything is acceptable, why would we need Jesus? Does the sacrificial blood of Christ mean nothing to these churches? How can they call themselves “Christian” without understanding the purpose of Christ?  

Scripture tells us to come out of the world – not become part of it. Matthew 5:13 tells us, “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”  

I go into great detail about how Christians are told to leave their sinful nature behind in my blog about the church’s blanket acceptance of LGBTQ+ principles. In short, God does welcome everyone into His family – if we will acknowledge our sins, accept Christ as our Savior, and ask Him to make us a new creation. 

Furthermore, Jesus did not tell everyone to keep sinning. As Christ admonished the woman caught in adultery, “Go now and leave your life of sin.” (John 8:11) 

Both the Old and New Testaments warn against homosexuality and sexual perversion.  

• “‘Do not have sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman; that is detestable.” (Leviticus 18:22) 
• “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable.” (Leviticus 20:13) 
• “Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6: 9-10) 
• “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” (Hebrews 13:4) 

For a church to speak differently is to blaspheme the word of God. For a church to call itself Christian while refusing to call sin “sin” must break the heart of our Creator.  

We serve a divine Father who sees all and has infinite patience with us. John 3:17 tells us, “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him.” 

Nevertheless, salvation is not a cloak we can place over ourselves on Sunday and take off while sinning on Monday. We must follow our Savior every day and put God above ourselves. Proclaiming that we are Christians while clinging to our sins is the ultimate hypocrisy. Refusing to give up our worldly ways exemplifies our lack of understanding of God’s gift of eternal life.

“You who take oaths in the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel – but not in truth or righteousness – you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and claim to rely on the God of Israel – the Lord Almighty is His name. You have neither heard nor understood; from of old your ears have not been open.” (Isaiah 48:1-2)  

While God is patient with our sinful ways, there will come a day when His patience will end. Ultimately, each of us will have to stand in judgment before our Creator. Either we will claim the blood of Christ that covers all our sins, or we will learn that our refusal to accept Jesus as our Savior will separate us from Him for all eternity.  

“For My own name’s sake, I delay my wrath; for the sake of My praise, I hold it back from you, so as not to destroy you completely. For My own sake, for My own sake, I do this. How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.” (Isaiah 49: 9,11) 

We forget the sovereignty of God when we worry about the praise of man. We serve a holy and just Creator. He gave us the Bible as the guidebook for our lives. To skip over the parts of the Bible that we don’t like is to forget that we are made by and must one day answer to Him.  

“I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord, do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:6-7) 

Today’s Woke church needs to wake up. Churches that lead people astray, gloss over sin, destroy the innocence of children, teach affirmation rather than sacrifice, idolatry over divinity, and pleasure over piety will one day learn how very wrong they were.  

I am no saint, nor do I fault anyone else for their sins. Rather, I thank God daily for my forgiveness while asking Him to help me to do better, to serve Him more fully – with my entire being. I can’t do that by elevating my wishes over His.  

I pray that today’s churches will see their folly in seeking the popularity of people rather than the sovereignty of our Savior.  

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)