People are going to Hell at a rate of at the very least 100,000 a day (That is assuming that 1/3 of the people that die each day are Christian, which we know isn’t true. Try Matthew 7:13-14. Even most who claim to be Christian aren’t). They do this from positions of denying God in many forms. They could be atheists, hanging on to every word of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens to justify their denial of God. They could be the Word of Faith member of a Oneness Pentecostal Church, who listens to T.D. Jakes and Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen daily and constantly try to speak their desires into existence. They could be the tribal in Africa who never heard the name of Jesus. In any case, they are going to an eternity of conscious torment. But those Red Starbucks Cups are just awful.
The church has been invaded. The largest church in the United States is no longer a conservative, Bible-believing Church with Biblical Doctrine and all of the essentials taught often. No, it is Lakewood, the church where the pastor couldn’t even say Jesus is the only way. Those who are consider the most popular “Christian” leaders today are either Word of Faith or Roman Catholic. But that isn’t the problem. The problem is those Red Starbucks Cups.
A Christian Family in this very country is losing their home because they refused to celebrate same-sex marriage. All around the world, Christians remain one of the most persecuted people groups on the planet. Saeed Abedini is an imprisoned pastor in Iran. He stays near death and the only thing that keeps him from giving in or going mad is our Lord. Christians, even at the youngest of ages, are shot and beheaded. Even the children of Christians are attacked. But please, worry about the Color of Starbucks’s cups.
Immorality is at its peak. It is legal to murder an unborn child. Even those who oppose this usually make exceptions for those who were conceived of rape an incest (Who still have a right to life and who were still made in the Imago Dei, or image of God). You can legally defile marriage by entering a union with someone of the same gender. People are now pushing for the “right” to marry someone of any age or marry multiple people. You can instantly Google something that will lead you to a site geared towards lust. They sell them at stores in the form of magazines, tapes, CDs, and even novels (“Fifty Shades of Grey”, for Example). There are many buildings dedicated to this same thing. There are companies dedicated to help people commit adultery and get away with it. Whole companies are built on in-utero infanticide and much of our government is still funding it. Profanity and the flippant use of God’s name are both at an all time high. But I really think those Red Cups are what we need to focus on.
If you haven’t picked up on the sarcasm yet, I just meant for this to show how messed up our priorities are.
If you don’t know, Starbucks, which is a privately owned company, has recently started using red cups in the place of the cups they usually use a Christmas time. To some, this is expected. To others, it is outrageous. Mostly headed by a Oneness Pentecostal named Josh Feuerstein, these people have been outraged over the change to a red cup.
Honestly, I am not shocked that Starbucks did this. And neither are those who know where their “charity” money goes: Gay Activism and Pro-Choice Campaigns. It’s been no secret that the owners of Starbucks are God-haters and have a liberal agenda to push. Why is something this small just now getting the attention?
When I say small, I mean it, small. This is a small matter. I am in no way trying to defend Starbucks, as they aren’t exactly a God-honoring company, but to spend so much time ranting about a red cup is wasteful. We needn’t worry about the red cup. That’s not where the real issue is. Some restaurants have never used red cups. The real issue is with the heart of man, so we need to be doing everything we can to preach the Gospel to these people. And we, as the Church, need to get our priorities straight. Dying souls come before red cups. Protection against wolves comes before the K-Mart greeter not saying “Merry Christmas”. Defending the helpless comes before people calling Christmas Trees “Holiday Trees” or switching to “Happy Holidays”.
** Note: This was originally posted at Branon Hines’ website, and reposted here with permission
