Pastor John, as you know, there's a trend in American culture of intolerance towards any worldview that refuses to affirm same-sex marriage. There's no surprise there. But there are indications here and there that we are maybe seeing this trend spread into the gatekeepers of online platforms, platforms that Christians use regularly.

The question on the table is this. Should Christians be preparing for a time when the cultural gatekeepers are so opposed to this countercultural position of Christians that mediums such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter will close the accounts of Christians or even app stores will discontinue ministry apps for those who affirm what Scripture teaches about the sin of homosexual practice?

Do you see this trend coming and how should we who use the web regularly prepare for it? Well, whether I see that coming or not probably has no influence on whether it will come or not unless my inclinations keep me from praying and God says to me, "You have not because you has not, John Biber." So my opinion about this is not very important in itself, I don't think, but there are important considerations in thinking about such things.

God is sovereign over all cultural shifts and he will do as he pleases in his infinite wisdom and goodness and justice. I don't know of any biblical or historical reason to think America will even exist in a hundred years, let alone tolerate Christians. It might. God could send a great spiritual awakening and this sin-saturated culture could be more gospel-saturated, more biblically shaped than it ever has been since the time of the Puritans.

That could happen, but there's no authority that guarantees that, not that I can see. Historically, I think what we need to keep in mind is that unjust limitations on Christians and opposition and even persecution would be more or less normal for Christians to face. And I use the word "normal" carefully because Peter, in addressing the churches of Asia Minor, middle of the first century, 1 Peter 4 says, "Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you." In other words, opposition and persecution and limitations on Christians are not strange.

And the opposite of strange, well, strange is what? Unfamiliar, foreign, not at home. And the opposite would be persecution is our native air, our home, familiar. But the America of the last 400 years is strange. It's the exception, not the rule, over the last 2,000 years. The New Testament itself is filled with persecution.

Isn't it amazing that our founding book, four of Paul's letters are written from prison? Almost all the books in the New Testament assume some kind of persecution. It was normal for 300 years until the Edict of Milan in 313. So persecution for Christians has been the story of our life, and the spread of missionary work among the among the unreached peoples of the world has always moved forward with death-defying risks to missionary life.

They used to pack their goods in coffins, for goodness sake. So it's always been assumed that the spread of the gospel, the flourishing of the gospel, happens through resistance. The ease and the comfort and the affirmation that we've enjoyed culturally for these several hundred years is extraordinarily unusual and not the norm.

So I think the Western Church desperately needs to be taught this biblical and historical perspective, because even though America is no longer the Christian-saturated place it was 50 years ago—I mean, when I was a kid, what a different world I lived in— even though that's true, and a lot of young people know it, we all tend to assume that in a morally regulated democracy, laws will protect me from discrimination.

You can't do that to me. And there's the rub, isn't it? Because a democracy regulated by laws to protect rights that we want assumes that there has to be a cultural consensus that those rights should be protected. None of us believes that all of the rights people want should be protected, right?

Sedition, racial hostilities, speeding with children everywhere, killing the unborn in the womb or the terminally ill, trashing your front lawn, inciting to riot. Most Bible-loving folks would be okay with those behaviors restricted by law, even though others might scream to high heaven, "I have a right to take my child's life, and I have a right to put my garbage in my front lawn." But so it all hangs on, does the bulk of society think that a behavior is acceptable and tolerable?

60 years ago, for example, in America, adultery would have ruined a man in office, and racism would not have. Today, it's exactly flipped. Shelby Steele pointed this out. Now, adultery won't ruin you, witnessed Bill Clinton, and racism will. You drop the N-word one time, your political career is over.

That was not true 60 years ago. That's the way democracy works. Cultural shifts dictate tolerance shifts and legal shifts, and all laws legislate somebody's morality. So if I take the question now to get, you know, personal and practical and say, "So what should we do in the light of the likelihood that social media of various kinds are going to shut Christians out?" Twitter and Facebook and app stores and so on, they're just going to shut us out because they don't like our views.

What should we do? Here's my closing counsel. Number one, faithfully, week in, week out, preach the whole counsel of God on every issue that affects our people. Number two, worship faithfully in a serious, reverent, God-centered way that stands against the alternative worship of cultural idols. Third, strengthen the church with solid teaching so that our people are unshakable in the face of the worst storms.

Fourth, fill our city and town with the teachings of Jesus Christ in every way we can. That's what the Jewish leaders accused the Apostles of doing. I love that sentence in Ex 5. "You have filled this city with your teaching." I could just see them smiling, saying, "That's what we've been trying to do." That's what I want to think about Minneapolis.

Just fill it. Just fill it with truth. Let the chips fall where they will. That's just not our job to make the chips work, but fill the city with truth. Number five, carry through the legal recourses and arguments for the tolerance of your views while that's still possible. In other words, yeah, go ahead.

In a democratic setting, defend your rights to say what is true, but don't assume success in the courts and don't regard legal defeat as spiritual defeat. Instead, resolve to count it all joy and move forward with your witness and courage and without fear or vindictiveness. Six, create as many alternative outlets as possible for the dissemination of truth.

If you get blocked in one area, create another one until you're totally put in prison, and then create some more. Number seven, pray earnestly for a great awakening, awakening for leaders, awakening for the church. 1 Timothy 2 says, "Pray for leaders that we may lead a life of peaceful and quietness and godliness, dignified in every way," because God wants all people to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

Evidently it's good for evangelism and good for missions to have leaders who create situations where Christians can pursue their truth-loving lives with dignity and peace. And then finally, I say with Paul, "Take your share of suffering," to Timothy. "Take your share of suffering," for the gospel, 2 Timothy 1.8.

So, in answer to the question, do I see things like Facebook, Twitter, Apple Store, iTunes, etc. shutting out Christians for taking biblical stands on social issues? Yes, I do. But here's what's more important. I think my short-term pessimism should have the effect of putting me on my knees to pray for the spiritual awakening, the doctrinal reformation, the worship transformation, pervasive personal holiness, and cultural impact that would, perhaps, if God wills, turn back such developments.

Amen. And whatever is to come, what a gloriously important role the local church plays. And what a great reminder of God's design for getting His message out. He has the mechanism in place called the local church. Thank you, Pastor John. Tomorrow, we will close out the week with a question from an African-American who wants to know, "Why are there so few African-American Calvinists?" I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

We'll see you tomorrow. . . .