Seagrove is a small community of some 285 souls. It sits just off Interstate 73 south of Greensboro, in a county of 141,752 people. If you turn east on Asbury Church Road it will bring you to, yes, Asbury Baptist Church.
The Rev. J. Allen Mashburn is pastor there. He attended Tennessee Temple University in Chattanooga and features in his teaching what scholars call eschatology: the study of the end times, the return of Jesus, and the judgment on the world.
But had you been there in June of this year you would have heard also the Lt. Governor of North Carolina, a Mr. Mark Robinson. I suspect you would remember what he said, at least, in part:
“I’m saying this now, and I’ve been saying it, and I don’t care who likes it: Those issues have no place in a school. There’s no reason anybody anywhere should be telling any child about transgenderism, homosexuality, any of that filth.”
Then he doubled down on the filth:
“And yes, I called it filth, and if you don’t like it, that I called it filth, come see me and I’ll explain it to you.”
The comments of the Lt. Governor were recorded, of course—video cameras are everywhere these days. And a few months later, the public knew all about it.
There are many religious groups that still consider sexual orientation a matter of grave moral consequence. They forbid homosexual activity and frown on gender change surgery. This is the prerogative of such groups, given our commitment to religious freedom. There was a time when religious groups said similar things about Jews, Catholics, Liberals, Blacks, and Latinos (to name a few).
Pastor Mashburn, a white man wanting to defend both his church and the public official, posted on his Facebook page this statement by another white minister, Gary Miller, of Ft Worth, Texas:
“North Carolina’s Lt. Governor Mark Robinson has taken a stand against filth posing as virtue. He is calling for an audit of textbooks or teachings that groom innocent children, preparing them for a life that deviates from God’s plan for their lives.
Of course, the Lt. Governor has been opposed by those who support violating the innocence of children. Sadder still, there are those who are calling for his resignation for speaking the truth. This political crucifixion can only take place, if this honorable man is crucified between two thieves, Silent Saints, and Shameful Charlatans.
All over North Carolina pastors and church leaders are standing up and opposing the abusers who want to end his political life …. Pray for North Carolina pastors. They are some of God’s finest.”
Well, I am the preacher for a North Carolina congregation. Whether or not I am one of “God’s finest” is an open question at this point; but I do know I need the prayers of my congregation … and you, also, if you are so inclined.
But somebody else who needs our prayers is the good Lt. Governor of the state. He also needs to read the Bible, especially that story recounted in The Acts of the Apostles wherein Simon Peter refused to associate with a certain group of people—they were unclean, he thought. You can read it in chapter ten.
Unclean is an old religious word that means filth.
The apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ was struggling with the same moral confusion that has pushed our Lt. Governor into hot water. Are there really some people who are clean and other people who are unclean?
Meanwhile, Rachel Levine was sworn in as the first openly transgender four-star admiral, capping a career in the U. S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. And Pete Buttigieg is traveling around the country as Secretary of Transportation, seeking to solve the serious delivery problems currently plaguing the economy of the United States and the world. He is a homosexual, you know.
On Sunday, millions of gay and transgendered Christians will gather with the rest of us for worship and service. Most of us will not even notice and the rest of us will not care. But I, as a congregational minister, will greet them with the very traditional words: “Grace and Peace to you, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
If and when Lt. Governor Robinson comes into our sanctuary, I will greet him the same way: no better, no worse—just the same. But if he starts to denigrate any of our people, I will rebuke him using the same words by which the angel rebuked Simon Peter: Do not call something (or somebody) filthy if God has made him clean!
(October 2021)
