Lord would do, and of how we can deliver the message of the Word in a way
that it can be heard.
The message about homosexual conjunctions is that they are classed under
“adultery,” and adultery is so opposed to marriage that it would destroy the last
spark of its life. In the spiritual world, adultery literally stinks, but today many
have lost their sense of smell and do not recoil at its stink. What we want for
our sheep is for them to come into those advanced angelic states where they
are conjoined with the Lord and heaven, which comes about when they are not
only averse to adultery, but abhor and detest it in all its forms.
The tolerance that is so esteemed today is not the most caring thing we can
do. Rather, we are taught that we help those in evil by exhortation, discipline
and punishment and consequent amendment. (See True Christian Religion
407) He also sounded a note of caution against judging others spiritually and
being alert to those who are swept up in evil through no fault of their own. He
reiterated that his main concern is for the simple good people who are harmed
when evil is tolerated and accepted.
Three men who teach high school or college students were chosen for the
formal responses:
• The Rev. Barry C. Halterman confirmed that generally kids today don’t
see things as “evil” but “just different,” and raised the question of how we
can both foster their willingness to see good in everyone and also show
that evil really is bad.
• The Rev. Brett D. Buick expanded on the importance of presenting
people with choices and the value on showing the contrast between
opposites.
• The Rev. Scott I. Frazier spoke of the growing maturity of thought in
students over their college years, and of his effort to guide their initial
aversion to making any kind of “judgement” against evils that seem
harmless, to at least being willing to prefer what is good. Brad ended by
encouraging us to trumpet the truth in a way that can be heard by the
simple good who are caught valuing tolerance and seeing judgment as
bad.
Workshops
The first concurrent sessions after lunch were a workshop led by the Rev. Nathan
F. Cole on two computer resources: the Kempton Project, and NewSearch; and
another led by the Rev. Charles “Chuck” E. Blair titled: “Leading Churches in
an Age of Accelerations.”
After presenting the challenges of the rapid changes we experience
today as opportunities to leverage technology, shifting demographics in our
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