Just as a new pair of glasses helps us to see the world better, Dr. Li-Ann Thio's book Prophecy, Pansexuality, and Pandemonium enables us to see clearly the moral chaos that is occurring worldwide and the reason behind it. She shares stark examples of how laws upholding moral values and traditional standards are being attacked and torn down at an alarming rate.
Dr. Thio's background and experiences provide a perfect recipe to satisfy the hunger of many for truth and spiritual understanding in an increasingly anti-God environment. Her knowledge and use of the Scriptures are impressive. Her goal, which she achieves, is to show how the man of lawlessness (Satan) referred to in 2 Thessalonians 2:9, is behind the moral chaos that is sweeping the world. She reveals how Satan's actions have created a spirit of lawlessness, thus fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 5:20 in which good is now called evil and evil is now called good.
Dr. Thio uses the word "Torah" throughout the book to refer to God's laws. She does an excellent job of using secular history and the Scriptures to build a case that the man of lawlessness is behind the cultural demise that is occurring and the resulting biblically inhospitable environment. She helps us to see that this spirit of lawlessness is not about anarchy--the rejection of man's laws outright--but a rejection of God's law. She points out that Satan's attacks upon God and His Word consist in the rejection, and/or rewriting of civil laws founded on Judeo-Christian principles. She declares that the goal of the lawless one is to bring about the removal of every vestige of God and His Word from society.
She identifies how that the methods of Satan have not changed. In Genesis he used humanism and heresy to get Adam and Eve to reject God's Word and determine for themselves what was good and right. He now does the same by employing diversity, tolerance, and feelings as the benchmark for determining what is right and wrong, good and bad. The end result is the destruction or distorting of God's creation and creative order.
She rightly declares that there can be no neutrality. Those espousing the new norms will not tolerate neutrality. A choice must be made and those who choose the Judeo-Christian way will suffer for it. In fact, she points out how the anti-Christian movement has given rise to a new term, christophobia, coined by Jewish law professor and noted scholar, J H H Weiler. Christophobia, she says, has been defined as an irrational fear or hatred of Christians, Christianity, or Christian convictions because of their position on moral issues, which results in verbal violence, or discrimination against Christians, or even subtle persecution and civil death (p. 47-48).
The battle, as she puts it, is between the sons of Zion and the sons of Greece. The sons of Zion represent "those who are "the community of believers in Jesus Christ who confess His Lordship and sovereignty over their personal and corporate lives." The sons of Greece represent "those who are opposed to God, and His Creation and Moral order."
She concludes the book by focusing on the need for the sons of Zion to fight the work of the sons of Greece, while reaching out to the sons of Greece in love and compassion. I found the book easy to read and very informative. The most compelling truth that I found clearly visible throughout her book was that Christians can no longer afford to ignore the rising tide of secularism and the searing winds of religious hostility. I have not read a better book for helping us understand the moral changes that are taking place in America and around the world.
From a practical standpoint she provides advice for ministers and church members. She points out three perspectives that must be considered for the church "to be the salt and light, hope and healing, a banner for righteousness and a haven where mercy and relational intimacy are deeply experienced" (p. 289).
1) First, people who struggle with same-sex attraction, sexual confusion, etc. fall into the same state that we all find ourselves. All of us are broken spiritually, just in different ways. We all need the grace, mercy, and healing of God.
2) Second, she states that the "Church needs to realize that there is a direct link between religious freedom and the pansexual movement which will destroy religious freedom." (p. 298)
3) Third, she emphasizes that, "If we are His, we will care about what is on His heart." She elaborates by warning the church and its leaders to be on the lookout for apostate churches and Christians. She stresses the need to love the truth, know the truth, and be willing to stand for it regardless of the cost.
The only negative I found in the book was a few missing words, but the context enables one to easily determine the word that was missing.
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