Michael Brown: The Apostasy of World Vision

Michael Brown

Shortly after I broke the news on my radio broadcast and on social media, Christianity Today confirmed the report: World Vision has decided to embrace homosexual “marriage” among its employees and to recognize practicing homosexual employees who profess faith in Jesus as true Christians.

This is a betrayal of the gospel, a betrayal of the Lord, a betrayal of the family and a betrayal of the countless thousands of Christians who have put their trust in World Vision as a legitimate Christian organization.

In no way does it contribute to “building a better world for children”—one of the fundamental goals of World Vision. In fact, it does the opposite.

Last June, World Vision U.S President Richard Stearns stated, “No one ever died of gay marriage,” thereby trivializing the importance of the issue, as if it contrasted with the organization’s mission of providing tangible relief to suffering humanity.

Today, he went much further, claiming that this radical, unbiblical move is actually a “very narrow policy change” that should be viewed as “symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity.”

What? World Vision redefines the nature of marriage—the most fundamental institution of society, ordained by God in Genesis 2 as the lifelong union of a man and a woman and reaffirmed by Jesus as such in Matthew 19—and ignores the explicit and repeated condemnation of homosexual practice throughout the Scriptures and then claims it is a “very narrow policy change”?

What? World Vision mocks the sentiments, convictions and sensibilities of countless thousands of its Christian constituents, rejects the historic testimony of virtually all branches of Christianity, decides to take a terribly controversial stand on the most socially divisive issue of the day, and then claims that this is “symbolic not of compromise but of [Christian] unity”?

With all respect to the massive amount of good that Richard Stearns and World Vision have done in helping the poor and needy for many years now, his words strain Christian credulity.

Stearns states, “We’re not caving to some kind of pressure. We’re not on some slippery slope. There is no lawsuit threatening us. There is no employee group lobbying us. This is not us compromising. It is us deferring to the authority of churches and denominations on theological issues. We’re an operational arm of the global church, we’re not a theological arm of the church.”

No slippery slope? No compromise? By sanctioning homosexual relationships, World Vision is “deferring to the authority of churches and denominations on theological issues”?

Worst of all, World Vision did not make this decision under duress or pressure, making their decision all the more inexcusable.

Stearns says, “It’s been heartbreaking to watch this issue rip through the church. It’s tearing churches apart, tearing denominations apart, tearing Christian colleges apart, and even tearing families apart. Our board felt we cannot jump into the fight on one side or another on this issue. We’ve got to focus on our mission. We are determined to find unity in our diversity.”

Is this not the height of self-deception? Does World Vision not realize that they have just exponentially increased that “tearing apart” of believers? Do they actually think that this divisive, destructive policy change will unite Christians around serving the poor? Does their board, which overwhelmingly approved the policy, actually feel that they have not “jump[ed] into the fight on one side or another on this issue”? It would be like saying, “Because politics can be so divisive and we don’t want to get into the fight, we’ll just vote for the Democrats.”

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SOURCE: Charisma News
Michael Brown