The Nakedness of a Whore, Harlot, … Advocate for Social Justice
Many of you will have seen, hopefully with the images appropriately blurred, news reports, photos, or video of a female protester in Portland who stripped naked earlier this week and performed various ballet poses, defiant gestures, and sexually erotic and perverse postures in the middle of the street opposite police, who were modestly attired in riot gear, the evening fashion wear preferred by all stylish law enforcement officers this season. I say she was naked, but that’s not entirely true. She was wearing a face mask and a stocking cap. It’s a good thing too. If she hadn’t been wearing a mask, she might have been arrested for public indecency. I hope I am not causing any offense by referring to her as a female protester. Perhaps I should not assume her gender. I’m operating on the assumption that she identifies as a female because if a man had done what she did he would be in jail and registered as a sex offender by now.
The media is in a congratulatory dither over the protester. Evidently they’ve never seen a naked woman acting like a pervert before, or the newsrooms of our major media outlets are largely staffed by persons still in junior high, mentally if not academically. The latter possibility is easier to believe than the former. The adulation of the news reports praised her fearlessness and vulnerability and favorably compared her to the goddess Athena and Lady Godiva, whose infamy has nothing to do with chocolate. Maybe when some of the villains outed by the #MeToo movement took off their clothes and sent nude pictures unsolicited, they were only intending to protest racial injustice and police brutality too. They had the indecency to do it in hotel rooms. Perhaps they should have done it in the middle of Times Square instead.
Now some of you are thinking right about now that it’s inappropriate for a pastor to be talking about such things, especially on a G-rated church mailing list. Clearly you’ve never read the Old Testament prophets or the Book of Revelation. If you have not, it may surprise you to learn that sexual perversity and shamelessness was not invented in the twentieth century. It did not even reach new heights, or depths, depending on your perspective. Those who know their history might be uncertain whether to feel disgust and scorn over the depravity being praised or at how poorly it is being done. Nero’s indecencies were so wretched and vile that later translators left portions of the record in Seutonius’s The Twelve Caesars untranslated. Evidently there is some perversity you are simply unprepared to read about until you know how to read Latin. But neither Seutonius nor any of his twenty-first century counterparts will be writing about the Portland Athena, not because she is not perverse but because she is pathetic. Her resemblance to the ancient goddess is roughly comparable to the similarity between Puzzle the donkey in his soggy, stitched together lion suit and the great Lion Aslan whom he sought to portray. In other words, there is no resemblance at all. The Portland Poser may have made headlines in the LA Times, but any pervert nowadays can do that, and the LA Times is certainly not The Twelve Caesars. The paper might be worth reading, if it were written in Latin.
It’s hardly worth noting that a woman stripped naked and posed in front of a bunch of men in Portland earlier this week. After all, that kind of thing happens every day in countless cities around the world, and no one calls it courage. They call it commerce. But in this case, I point out what ought to have been obvious for weeks, months, and years but evidently was not. That is that Black Lives Matter, the social justice movement, and the current agitation for transforming America has nothing to do with black lives, social justice, or a better America. It is a movement to destroy the foundations of moral and civil society. It is rooted in perversity, sensuality, and rebellion. It is unashamed, unrestrained, and unfettered by conscience or moral values. It relies for its continued existence on a double standard and the cowardice of public magistrates too enlightened to admit the Emperor is naked, and a pervert. The mask is off, or in this case, everything except the mask was taken off. But this is exactly what the Lord said he would do.
To Assyria:
“Behold, I am against you,” says the LORD of hosts;
“I will lift your skirts over your face, I will show the nations your nakedness, And the kingdoms your shame.
I will cast abominable filth upon you, Make you vile, And make you a spectacle.
(Nahum 3:5-6)
To Babylon:
Remove your veil, Take off the skirt, Uncover the thigh, Pass through the rivers.
Your nakedness shall be uncovered, Yes, your shame will be seen; I will take vengeance.
(Isaiah 47:2-3)
To Jerusalem:
For the greatness of your iniquity Your skirts have been uncovered, Your heels made bare.
Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
(Jer. 13:22-23)
To Rome (or whoever you take the Harlot in Revelation to be):
And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled. And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 17:16-18)
We human beings are slow learners. This is not a debate between good-hearted, moral people over best practices for policing, advancing economic opportunities for underprivileged minorities, or encouraging greater awareness of injustice and compassion for victims. This is the earthly manifestation of an unseen, but no less real, cosmic war, a battle between good and evil, between angels and demons, between the Creator and Rightful King of the universe and the fallen creature who aspired to greatness, fell into darkness, and was broken beyond recovery. Satan knows he has lost. He has known it since the resurrection of Christ (cf. Rev. 12). His only plan now is to create violence, chaos, anxiety, and fear. He cannot defeat the Church. He cannot change God’s work in Christ. He cannot cause even one person whom God chose to save to be lost. Satan knows that he is as naked as the pervert in Portland, and just as defenseless. He is hoping you will not notice. But I trust you will not be fooled.
“Do not say, ‘A conspiracy,’ Concerning all that this people call a conspiracy,
Nor be afraid of their threats, nor be troubled.
The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow;
Let Him be your fear, And let Him be your dread.
He will be as a sanctuary,
But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense
To both the houses of Israel,
As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many among them shall stumble;
They shall fall and be broken, Be snared and taken.”
(Isaiah 8:12-15)
--JME
