I know…you expected another edition of Saturday Sampler today. So I’ve started this sixth year of The Outspoken TULIP by disappointing readers who enjoy the selection of other blog posts and fellow bloggers who appreciate the free publicity. Take heart, everyone: Saturday Sampler will return next week with all sorts of goodies for you to explore.

Meanwhile, do you like my new decor? I’m celebrating a milestone in my blogging career, so I thought I’d dress The Outspoken TULIP up in honor of the occasion. You’ll notice a few minor changes around the blog in coming days, such as a switch from the English Standard Version to the New American Standard Bible (my husband and my pastor will be delighted). I’m also going to start using tags in addition to categories to assist readers in find posts that interest them. All this, to celebrate this blog’s fifth birthday!

Five years ago today I launched this blog in response to the legalization of same sex marriage, concerned that the “powers that be” at Google would squelch the blog I had maintained (for free) with Blogger. Here is that first post.

Maybe I needn’t have abandoned Blogger quite so early. I’ve noticed other bloggers, every bit as vocal as I about Biblical marriage and other issues, still writing on that platform without any apparent repercussions. I would have saved quite a chunk of money by remaining over there.

But I don’t regret moving to WordPress. I don’t regret starting all over with a more focused blog. And I don’t regret paying for the blog!

The realist in me understands that WordPress could at some point pull the plug on conservative blogs — particularly if those blogs uphold firm Biblical convictions. Paying for a blog doesn’t provide complete immunity from censorship. But John believes the fact that I own my domain and pay for the hosting could delay things a bit.

Yes, I still believe western culture aims to silence conservatives in general and Christians in particular. Anyone who pays attention to social media can’t help seeing that Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have begun to suspend accounts they deem to be purveyors of hate speech. Twitter has already flagged one of my articles as “potentially dangerous” (I think it was a Sunday Hymn post, of all things).

I also still believe that I should use my ability to blog for as long as possible to direct women to Biblical discernment through sound doctrine. As I ponder this mission, I think of a comment Jesus made immediately before He healed the man who was blind from birth.

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. ² And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” ³ Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him. ⁴ We must work the works of Him who sent Me as long as it is day; night is coming when no one can work. ⁵ While I am in the world, I am the Light of the world.” ⁶ When He had said this, He spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and applied the clay to his eyes, ⁷ and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated, Sent). So he went away and washed, and came back seeing. ~~John 9:1-7 (NASB)

Zero in on verse 4, ladies. Though it’s incidental to the story as a whole, the Lord certainly warned His disciples that they would be persecuted. And throughout the next 2000 years, societies have indeed worked very hard to distort, suppress and even eliminate the Gospel.

We have seen an acceleration of hostility toward conservative Christians in the past few weeks, as both secular and religious cultures demand the adoption of Marxist ideologies. I’ll write about that problem in future articles. My point today is that the compromises evangelicals have made theologically have made it harder to stand against this threat to the Gospel.

The world, of course, will move in worldly directions, and the Lord will ultimately use its rebellion to usher in His kingdom. I’m not naive enough to think that voting for conservative politicians will transform America into a Christian nation, and I caution you to resist that sort of thinking. Certainly, we should vote for candidates who support our values, but we need to understand that history is moving toward total godlessness.

My concern is with professing Christians who entangle themselves in worldly philosophies, all the while believing that they follow Christ. Fewer and fewer evangelicals exhibit the type on discernment that reflects sound doctrine. Women’s Ministry especially tends to pander to subjective personal experience instead of teaching women how to measure what they experience against God’s Word. As a result, evangelicals as a whole don’t have the fortitude to remain faithful to the Lord in times of persecution.

I write The Outspoken TULIP in order to encourage women to study God’s Word in preparation for the time when Christians will be banned from any form of social media. While God grants me the freedom to blog, I take joy in drawing you back to Scripture. I pray that everything I write will glorify the Lord by building you into strong Christian women.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin