For one historic Presbyterian church in San Francisco, Isaiah 5:20 is a glaring reality.
The verse warns, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil; who exchange darkness for light, and light for darkness, who exchange bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.”
By hosting an all-ages “Drag Queen Bible Story Hour,” Calvary Presbyterian Church brought blasphemy and shame into the house of God last Sunday. The nearly 200-year-old church’s services featured drag performers speaking to audience that included young children.
While it was a first for the church, LGBT advocates Rev. Jane Spahr and Rev. Victor Floyd welcomed the drag queen performers with open arms.
“We’re hoping to offer a little balance to all of the hateful rhetoric that is out in the country and especially from churches and politicians who are using churches and using trans people as their props,” Floyd told a local NBC affiliate television station.
On top of its deplorable actions inside the sanctuary, the church’s Facebook page boldly proclaimed, “For the gift of Drag Queens, O God, we give you thanks!”
A Facebook post from the church on June 18 read in part: “… We thank God for the great diversity present in this world and hold to the truth that each and every one of us is created in God’s image and loved by God.”
The Blaze reported that the service included a drag queen read from the Old Testament book of Exodus, with children situated at the front of the sanctuary near the altar. Drag queen “Flamy Grant,” an apparent reference to Christian pop singer Amy Grant, played guitar while leading the congregation in the hymn, “Be Thou My Vision.”
But clearly this type of service is not God’s vision for His church.
Floyd told the local media outlet that Calvary Presbyterian Church has held a pre-Pride service in the past.
It is not surprising that Calvary Presbyterian has carried its actions so far.
The Christian Post reported that Spahr is a self-described lesbian who has advocated for gay ordination into the Presbyterian USA as far back as 1993 and was convicted by a denominational PCUSA commission in 2010 for violating her ordination vows by conducting same-sex marriages.
In 2015, PCUSA approved an amendment to its constitution and changed its definition of marriage to include same-sex couples after the Supreme Court struck down all state bans on same-sex marriage and legalized it in all 50 states.
The media also reported that the church has advocated for using third-person pronouns for God and even has a banner hanging above the church entryway which reads, “GOD: the original they/them.”
Many churches across the country are embracing drag queens and their popularity among the LGBTQ community, despite what it says in Deuteronomy 22:5, “A woman must not wear man’s clothing, nor is a man to put on a woman’s clothing. For all that do so are abominations to the Lord your God.” {eoa}
Shawn A. Akers is the online editor for Charisma Media