What might God think about clergy affirming homosexual behaviour?
The world's view of how the church should operate is simple.
If society has gradually changed its view on a major issue such as homosexuality then surely the church must follow.
Indeed during a Sky News broadcast on the evening of April 16th 2004 various newspapers reports were being discussed with an invited guest. The invited guest read out a newspaper report that many clergy in the Church of England were deeply upset because the Archbishop of Canterbury having earlier refused to give celibate homosexual cleric Dr Jeffrey John the position of Bishop was now proposing to appoint him as a Dean. The newsreader looked at the invited guest in genuine bewilderment and said "Don't they realise that this is 2004?"
The appointment was announced by The Prime Minister's office at 10 Downing Street and the Observer religious affairs correspondent noted on April 18th 2004,
Number 10 officials are understood to have been dismayed by recent Church infighting over homosexual clergy. They believe the Church is in danger of being seen to be out of step with modern society.
It seems that many in the visible church agree with this sentiment, because in truth whatever awful square on the ‘god of this world’s’ chessboard society finds itself squatting on, it will - in due season - find a sizeable portion of the church arriving on the adjacent square, having adjusted its thinking in order to be ‘relevant’ to them. To keep in step with society.
It seems that scripture no longer sets the churches immovable plum line, but public pressure does.
In September 2006, BBC2 ran a documentary called 'York Minster' following the progress of a number of people preparing to be consecrated as Anglican clergy. One young man, who came from the American equivalent of the Anglican church (Episcipol) was openly gay. After being told that he was accepted as being gay as long as he remained celibate, he said to camera..
"We are expected to be celibate but how can they police that? Will they knock on the bedroom door and ask "have you anyone in there with you?"
He went on to say that everyone knew that they were not going to be celibate.
Now imagine the scenario. He is an Anglican clergyman. A young man comes to him under deep conviction of a sinful lifestyle which includes homosexual activity. This Anglican clergyman then tells him not to worry about his behaviour as in fact it is not really sinful at all, since he himself participates in such activities. Carry on young man. God does not mind at all.
It works for the world but it just doesn't work for the Kingdom does it?
This desire for the church in recent years to be society pleasers has been viewed by some observers with dismay.
The Daily Mail newspaper wrote this in its editorial comment of August 10th 1996.
..are we in danger of losing our moral bearings? There was a time when the church could confidently respond. No longer. These days the trumpet gives forth an uncertain note. Too many churchmen have surrendered to political correctness and moral relativism. Who can any longer be certain where the Anglican communion stands on such issues as divorce, homosexuality, abortion or euthanasia?
Perhaps it is not surprising that the number of young people attending services has slumped so dramatically. Yet the religious instinct is as strong as ever. The majority of us believe in God. The hunger for spiritual guidance and consolation is intense. How ironic if, in its determination to make itself ‘relevant’ the church has succeeded only in cutting itself off from that vast sea of faith.
There is no doubt that within the state-church at least declarations are now being made that even a decade ago would have been unthinkable.
An article in the Daily Telegraph on Monday June 11th 2001 entitled 'Homosexuality is divinely ordered, reported that a proposed new Church of England catechism' stated....
A RADICAL rethink of Church teaching on homosexuality that declares it to be "divinely ordered" is revealed this week in a catechism commissioned by the Archbishop of York.The second most senior churchman in the Church of England, the Most Rev David Hope, has given the new catechism his imprimatur and describes it in his foreword as "a celebration of Christian living". Written by Canon Edward Norman, canon and treasurer of York Minster, the catechism seeks to define Anglicanism for the first time since Thomas Cranmer wrote The Book of Common Prayer in 1662.
The Prayer Book version was a brief inquisitorial text intended for use in a pre-literate age. Canon Norman's is the first attempt fully to define Anglican teaching. In the section on sexuality, he contradicts official teaching and the views of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey.
"Homosexuality," says the catechism, "may well not be a condition to be regretted but to have divinely ordered and positive qualities." It continues: "Homosexual Christian believers should be encouraged to find in their sexual preferences such elements of moral beauty as may enhance their general understanding of Christ's calling."
A reader's letter to the 'Christian Herald' stated... 'a deep study of the issues around homosexuality has led me to understand that it can only be where one believes that sex (even in marriage) is sin that it could be judged as a sin within committed same-sex relationships' (It seems gone are the days when God judged what was sin, now we decide ourselves)
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The Daily Mail - May 28th 2005 - featured a double page spread on a planned civil marriage between two Christians - a lady vicar and a divorced mother of two. The headline declared that this was to be 'Britain's first Mrs and Mrs'. The first lesbian couple to marry in Britain under the new Civil Partnership Act.
In April 2005, the Rev. Gene Robinson suggested that Jesus may have been homosexual. The Telegragh newspaper reported on their 'news.telegragh' website on May 28th 2005..
The first openly gay Anglican bishop has sparked outrage for suggesting that Jesus might have been homosexual.
The Rt Rev Gene Robinson, the Bishop of New Hampshire in the Episcopal Church of the United States, said that Jesus was an unmarried, "non-traditional man" who did not uphold family values, "travelled with a bunch of men" and enjoyed an especially close relationship with one of his disciples. (a)(By Elizabeth Day. Filed: 03/04/2005)
In stark contrast, in September 2005 - the Pope took the step of banning homosexuals from becoming priests. One newspaper report at the time said
An incendiary study of the gay presence in many American Catholic seminaries has intensified calls by conservatives to block gays from becoming priests. In Goodbye, Good Men, an American journalist, Michael Rose, interviewed 125 people from 22 seminaries and claimed to have found 'a pervasive gay subculture' among both students and faculty' Belfast Telegragh Sept 23rd 2005
This 'gay' issue is not a lone issue that has emerged out of an
otherwise solid doctrinal base. In the immediate preceding years the
media had exposed slippage on other traditional issues.
A Sunday Times random survey of 200 Anglican clergy in January 1997
showed that 31% of them did not believe in the virgin birth.
No devil?
No problem. The poll showed 21% of clergy agreed.
The world wants its sexual pleasures outside of marriage cost free?
Not a problem any more.
33% of the clergy said that sexual intercourse before marriage was not a
problem.
The same percentage said the same thing about homosexual
activity.
Others didn’t believe in the miracles of Jesus.
Some had problems with His second coming.
For 4 clergy, there is no such place as heaven.
Indeed in England a sizeable group of clergy of like mind have banded together for mutual
comfort in a grouping known as the ‘See of faith’. What binds this group
together is no faith.
No faith in God, in the Bible, in Jesus being God’s Son, in heaven, in hell, in the
virgin birth, the resurrection, the second coming, judgement.
That doesn't leave much.
Just a lifeless empty shell called
Christianity
Scripture they say is just pleasant poetry.
The staggering thing is that the established church actually employs and
pays these people to preach from their total unbelief.
Against such an unstable base it is perhaps not surprising that the issue of
homosexual behaviour being 'of God and able to blessed by God' should find
many friends.
I hasten to add that the Anglican church - despite the above - has always had the 'seven thousand who will not bow the knee to Baal' and I count it a great privilege to be acquainted with some of them. (Romans 11:3-4)
Some years ago it would have been unthinkable that someone would have to write a
paper protesting about church leaders not only practising homosexuality, but actually
teaching the flock that God approves of it wholeheartedly.
But that is how far we have sunk.
The Daily Mail of April 22nd 1997 wrote..
'Now it appears that a new battle over homosexuals in the Church of England is about to break out with a call tonight from Dr. John Baker, retired Bishop of Salisbury, for a re-think of the rule that priests may not engage in homosexual practices. His plea carries weight because he is one of the authors of the six year old compromise on homosexuality that church leaders are struggling to maintain - faithful homosexual relationships can be accepted among ordinary church goers, but clergy may not indulge in active homosexuality. In a lecture, Dr. John Baker is understood to be ready to expand his new view that Anglicans should have 'an authentic Christian homosexual ethic accepted as such by the church'
Some years ago a pastor from London told me that a large proportion of inner London pastors were actively homosexual. He said that when they were ever challenged they simply trotted out the line “well that’s my sin, what’s yours?”
Rebel Northern Irish catholic priest Father Pat Buckley declared in October 1999 that he was gay. When asked was he celibate he replied "At the moment, yes'"
He also said that in his experience some 40% of the priesthood in Ireland was homosexual. There can be little doubt left that many have gone into such a calling as a cover for their sexual tendencies.
A former Chief Rabbi came ‘out of the closet’ and said that he too was an active homosexual who regularly went to Amsterdam to carry out his sexual activities in peace. He said that it had not hindered his relationship with the Holy Spirit in any way.
When challenged, he trotted out a similar strategy for his defence.
He said that the Bible tells ‘Christians’ that it is better to cut of their hand
rather than sin, or pluck out their eye rather than sin, and he doesn’t see too many
hand less or blind Christians running round. He said that the Bible tells Christians that
if you have two coats and you see a man with none, give him one of yours, and he sees a
lot of Christians running round with two coats..
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach would agree with him. Writing on www.beliefnet.com he states
"Homosexuality and sodomy are not ethical sins. No one is being hurt, no one is being cheated, nobody's rights are being infringed upon. Homosexuality is a religious sin, analogous to other Biblical prohibitions, like not eating the carcass of a dead animal, or not sleeping with a woman during her menstrual cycle."
If Rabbi Shmuley can dismiss the homosexual sin mentioned in Leviticus chapter 18 verse 22 with a sweep of his pen, then he would also have to sweep away the other sins mentioned in the same chapter under the same category. Sins such as the 'uncovering' or viewing the nakedness of your parents, brothers, sisters and in-laws (verses 6-18). Sins such as having sexual intercourse with your neighbour's wife (verse 20) and sins such as bestiality (verse 23)
If he wants to sweep away the homosexual sin mentioned in Leviticus 20 verse 13 with a sweep of his pen, then he would also have to sweep away the other sins mentioned in the same chapter under the same category. Sins such as turning to spirit mediums (verse 6) Sins such as cursing your father and mother (verse 9) Sins such as adultery (verse 10) and the sin of having sexual intercourse with your mother or daughter-in-law (verses 1112)
It can be made to sound so intellectually plausible to ears itching for a release into their particular area of sexual sin. It especially sounds so relevant to today’s culture, doesn’t it?
However Adam Clarke's commentary on 1 John 2:18 includes this challenging statement.
"Every man who opposes the spirit of the Gospel, and every teacher and writer who endeavours to lower the Gospel standard to the spirit and taste of the world, is a genuine antichrist, no matter where or among whom he is found"
What does God say on the matter?
And how strongly does He say it. Let's start with one
of the verses discussed above..
“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman, that is detestable” (Leviticus 18:22)
Leviticus 20 verse 13 says it again, but stronger.
“If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is.. detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads”
From a God who does not change, that’s pretty black and white.
Homosexuality - along of course with all ungodly heterosexual activity including fornication and adultery - is declared by God to be sexual immorality.
Several web site articles seeking to ease the consciences of Christians actively engaging in homosexual acts state that as the Bible does not mention long term homosexual relationships therefore they must be alright in God's eyes.
Scripture does not mention long term homosexual (and lesbian) relationships because it calls all such activity - whether it be short term, long term, loving or abusive - as detestable. Listen again.
“Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman, that is detestable” (New International version)
Other sites say that scripture only reproves sodomy, not homosexuality itself.
When Scripture wants to specifically state sodomites it refers to them as such. (e.g. 2 Kings 23:7)
'Sodomites' <qadesh> ('consecrated' 'devoted') were not inhabitants of Sodom or their descendants but were men consecrated to the unnatural vice of Sodom as a religious rite. In Deuteronomy 23:17 the toleration of a sodomite (cult or shrine prostitute) was expressly forbidden and the pay received by a sodomite was not to be put into the Temple treasury. "The wages of a dog" is a figurative expression used to denote the gains of a sodomite who was called kinaidos by the Greeks because of the dog like manner in which he debased himself. (Ungers Bible Dictionary)
There shall be no whore of the daughters of Israel, nor a sodomite of the sons of Israel. {whore: or, sodomitess} Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God. (Deuteronomy 23:17-18 KJV)
Paul, writing to the Corinthian church included both homosexuals and sodomites in his warnings.
Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals <malakos>, nor sodomites <arsenokoites>, (1 Corinthians 6:9 NKJV)
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<malakos> means 'of uncertain affinity..a catamite:--effeminate' (The word 'catamite' is described as 'Anal sex with a male partner' by the The Encyclopedia of Unusual Sex Practices. The gayhistory web site states that 'catamite' is a term for the youthful lover of an older man derived from the Latin name Catamus, a latinized form of the Greek "Ganymede." and unpacks the word "Ganymede" as follows. "In Greek mythology, Ganymede, a mortal shepherd boy so beautiful that the god Zeus spirited him away to Olympus, served as the god's cupbearer and lover. In 17th and 18th Century France and England, "Ganymede" came to be used for the boyish lovers of older men, and eventually for any male willing to be penetrated during anal intercourse".
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<arsenokoites> means a 'sodomite:--abuser of (that defile) self with mankind'.
Jesus didn't have to comment on it. Everyone knew from the existing old testament scriptures what was sexually right and what was wrong. Verses such as Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 blanket-covered all acts of homosexuality by all.
Jesus didn't mention abortion or euthanasia either. Does that also mean these were not matters worth commenting upon? Hardly. The prohibition on murder blanket-covered all acts of murder whether inside or outside the womb.
To use this argument - that Jesus only commented on sexual morality once - is a nonsense. Twice Jesus stated that sexual immorality was the only acceptable reason for divorce. ( Matthew 5:32 and 19:9) So strongly does the New Testament decry sexual immorality that it is mentioned no less than seventeen times in seven of the New Testament books.
The same site states that the Old Testament scriptures condemning homosexual acts (such as Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13) were either ambiguous or were really referring only to 'temple prostitution', and it also states that the 'true' or the 'exact' meaning has been 'lost' or is 'unclear' in the New Testament scriptures condemning the act of homosexuality (such as the verse in 1 Corinthians 6:9 unpacked four paragraphs above) A most convenient theology!
To remove any such doubts here is Leviticus 18:22 in six more of the major translations.
'Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination'. (Leviticus 18:22 - King James version)
'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination'. (Leviticus 18:22 - New King James version)
'Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination'. (Leviticus 18:22 - American Standard version)
`And with a male thou dost not lie as one lieth with a woman; abomination it is. (Leviticus 18:22 - Young's Literal Translation)
'You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination'. (Leviticus 18:22 - Revised Standard version)
'You may not have sex relations with men, as you do with women: it is a disgusting thing'. (Leviticus 18:22 - Bible in Basic English)
Looking at these widely accepted translations we see that there is no difference in their understanding, and these translations must surely cover a substantial number of translation committees that were comprised of internationally recognised Hebrew scholars.
When scripture says 'a male', or 'mankind' it means any male, of any age. It does not narrow it down to only sodomites as pro-homosexual debaters try to claim. Despite the unanimity among so many learned translators one pro-homosexual commentator said he would prefer to have the above verse translated as..
"Two men must not engage in sexual activity on a woman's bed. It is ritually unclean"
Twisting and bending scripture has been tried by many people on many occasions.
One aged clergyman interviewed on television, said that he had met a nice young boy on
holiday and had fallen in love with him. When he told his bishop, the bishop’s
response was that it was about time he fell in love, and he hoped this relationship would
bring him much happiness.
When the television interviewer challenged him with Leviticus 18:22 the clergyman smiled gracefully
and explained to the interviewer that God also found woman dressing in men’s clothes
‘detestable’ and so homosexuality was equivalent in God’s eyes to a woman
wearing jeans. (If this was what God meant then Scotsmen with kilts would be in trouble!)
Leviticus chapter 18 is to do entirely with the sexual practices that are unlawful in
God’s eyes, and includes God’s promises of blessing for those who obey His will
on these matters and as always, also includes God’s curse upon those, and upon the
land they live in, should they choose to follow urges of their flesh or the trends of the
world, rather than following His Sovereign ruling on the matter.
First the blessing Verse 5
“Keep My decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord.”
Then the curses, verses 24 to 29 (remembering that verse 22 describes homosexual acts as 'detestable')
“Do not defile yourselves in any of these ways, because this is how the nations that I am going to drive out before you became defiled. Even the land was defiled, so I punished it for its sin, and the land vomited out its inhabitants. But you must keep My decrees and My laws. The native born and the aliens living among you must not do any of these detestable things, for all these things were done by the people who lived in the land before you, and the land became defiled. And if you defile the land it will vomit you out, as it vomited out the nations that were before you. Everyone who does any of these detestable things - such persons must be cut off from their people. Keep My requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that were practised before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I AM the Lord your God”
For clergy to go against this crystal clear understanding - or to imply that God has changed - is pure rebellion. And to remain silent on this matter as many church leaders call right what God calls wrong is to strengthen that rebellion.
Jesus told us all that we are called to be salt, and said that if the salt loses its
saltiness then it is no longer good for anything.. except to be thrown out.. and trampled
by men.
Jesus told us (Matthew 5) that we, His people, are the light of the world, and that we are
not to put the light He gives us under a bowl where it is of no benefit at all.
The darkness outside the bowl simply remains unaffected and goes unchallenged.
Yet we are frightened to bring God’s light into the darkness because we know
that it will cause us to suffer the slings and arrows of the world.
Our salt is no longer salty, and our God given light is tucked in under a church bowl.
Ephesians chapter 5 from verse 3..
‘Since you are God’s people, it is not right that ANY matters of sexual immorality or indecency or greed should even be mentioned among you. Nor is it fitting for you to use language which is obscene, profane or vulgar. Rather you should give thanks to God. You may be sure that no one who is immoral, indecent, or greedy (for greed is a form of idolatry) will ever receive a share in the Kingdom of Christ and God. Do not let anyone deceive you with foolish words; it is because of these very things that God’s anger will come upon those who do not obey Him. So have nothing at all to do with such people. You yourselves used to be in darkness, but since you have become the Lord’s people, you are in the light. So you must live like people who belong to the light, for it is the light that brings a rich harvest of every kind of goodness, righteousness and truth. Try to learn what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the worthless things that people do, things that belong to the darkness. Instead, bring then out into the light (It is really too shameful even to talk about the things they do in secret)’
In Revelation 21 verse 8 God speaks again on the matter of all sexual immorality.
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place will be in the lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death”
Even on the very last page of the Bible Jesus tells us this truth again in case we missed
it along the way.
Revelation 22 verses 12 - 15
“Behold I am coming soon! My reward is with Me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, The Beginning and the End. Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates of the City. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood”
God created man in His image, and the devil hates God and hates the image of God.
So because He can’t get at God, he gets at us. Defile man and he defiles God’s
image.
The marriage of husband with wife is God's symbol of Christ and the church.
'Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is head of the wife, as also Christ is head of the church; and He is the Saviour of the body. Therefore, just as the church is subject to Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself. For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as the Lord does the church.' Ephesians 5:22
Therefore, once again this male / female symbol is something satan will attack.
Scripture seems to show that aggressive homosexuality is the final stage in man’s rebellion against God.
(e.g.Genesis 19 & Judges 19) So the greater the depth of defilement the greater
the measurement of decay in our society.
The order of man’s fall has always been pride..rebellion..deception (believing a
lie)..perversion.
When people exchange the truth of God for a lie, and begin to worship the creature with
their bodies rather than the creator, they are given up to evil.
(see
editorial comment)
When values are turned upside down and moral anarchy appears, men burn with lust for other
men and women burn for women, and they will receive in their bodies the punishment for their actions.
Romans chapter 1 verses 18 - 27 where Paul traces out this downward spiral away from God..
“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities -His eternal power and Divine nature -have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him as God nor gave thanks to Him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator - who is forever praised. Amen. Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion”
Paul continues..
“Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity”
He finishes the chapter with these words..
“Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them”
People know God’s righteous decrees all right. That’s why we have the sad but
almost humorous reports of homosexuals actually going round hotels tearing out pages from
the Gideon’s Bible where God speaks out against homosexuality.
God watches over His word to perform it. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God says His
words will never pass away. Truth is not temporary, but eternal. It is not truth on
Thursday and untruth on Friday.
Pretending you don’t know God’s opinion, or knowing it and tearing it out of
every Bible you can find will make not a halfpenny’s worth of difference.
God’s truth stands in front of us, behind us, above us below us, and in every room we
ever enter, His truth is there. There is no escape from truth. Lies can change from day to
day, but truth goes marching on.
Men, and women, who have agreed with God on the matter, and turned away from the unlawful
burnings of their flesh, and placed their lives unconditionally under the Lordship of
Jesus, and so received a full pardon and a complete washing in the cleansing blood of the
Lamb.
All who sincerely call on the name of the Lord will be saved.
But remember, Jesus said, don’t call Him Lord if you don’t plan to
try and obey Him. (Luke 6:46) Such a person is still - as Adam and Eve
were - deciding for themselves what is good and what is evil.
"..you will be like God, knowing good and evil" Genesis 3:5
What fellowship can light and darkness ever have together. Listen to Paul in 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 verse 16
‘What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you. I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters”, says the Lord Almighty. Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.’
The Christian viewpoint is that every soul has immeasurable value.
The Christian viewpoint is that God loves the homosexual, but detests the immoral behaviour involved in that lifestyle. Just as He loves the adulterer, but detests the immoral behaviour involved in that lifestyle. Just as He loves the drunkard, but detests the immoral behaviour involved in that lifestyle. And the thief, and the extortioner etc. Simply put, we all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and we all need a personal Saviour.
The apostle Paul summed it up this way..
"Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
God loved the homosexual enough to send Jesus to take the punishment that the homosexual
deserves for his unlawful activities. But this pardon is always conditional on genuine
repentance, and the submitting to God’s authority and rule in their life under the
Lordship of Jesus.
Hebrews chapter 5 verses 8 & 9 tells us that..
“Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from what He suffered and once made perfect He became the source of salvation to all who obey Him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek”
Now this position of high priest is important because just some 9 or 10 verses earlier we read these important truths about Jesus..
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are - yet was without sin. Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need”
Jesus was always perfect. So what does ‘once made perfect’ mean?
It means that while He remained in the safety of heaven sinners could cry out to God,
“Yes You are perfect - but You don’t know what it is like to burn with
temptation”. No man could resist such lusts!” We’ve all fallen”
And so Jesus emptied Himself, setting aside equality with God, and took on human flesh,
was tempted in every way man can be tempted, yet He never once bowed the knee to that
temptation. Never once did He fall into disobedience.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way..”
Shock! Horror! ..but every way had to include being tempted with homosexuality.
Every way means.. every way.
There was no gaps in His saving work for man.
So no man or woman can ever cry out to Jesus, “Ah but these urges are so
strong.. you wouldn’t understand!”
He does. He’s suffered being there for you and that is why.. as scripture tells us..
“Jesus suffered and became perfect in order that He might be the source of salvation to all who obey Him”.
God allowed Him to suffer the homosexual’s burning temptations and of course the
adulterer’s temptations in order to become the perfect source of salvation for all
who obey Him.
Tempted in EVERY way..yet was without sin.
He knows what the homosexual suffers when he or she is tempted.
God allowed Him to suffer these in order to be the perfect source of salvation, and
obedience to Jesus opens the door for His strength to come into play.
When Jesus cried out on Calvary “It is finished” He really meant it.
He was taking on to Himself the punishment that God’s word decrees for ALL sinners.
Homosexuals included. Adulterers included.
The good news is that scripture never points out our problems without pointing us to the answer.
That answer is always submission to Jesus.
Ministers and priests who see nothing sinful in the practice of homosexuality and therefore lead their flock astray
by deceiving them will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Paul’s writings on immorality
within ‘the Body of Christ’ are crystal clear.
However, before reading what Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, it is important to note
in the Old Testament the penalty for homosexuality seemed to be more severe than
the penalty for a man sleeping
with his father’s wife.
Deuteronomy 22:30 & 27: 20 - man having sex with his father's
wife..
‘No man is to disgrace his father by having intercourse with any of his father’s wives’. ‘God’s curse on any one who disgraces his father by having intercourse with any of his father’s wives’
Leviticus 20 :13 - a man having sex with another man..
‘If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads’
Knowing this, see how strongly and how uncompromisingly Paul deals with the sin of the former when it arises in the New Testament church. 1st Corinthians 5..
‘Now it is actually being said that there is sexual immorality among you so terrible that not even the heathen would be guilty of it. I am told that a man is sleeping with his stepmother! How, then, can you be proud? On the contrary, you should be filled with sadness, and the man who has done such a thing should be expelled from your fellowship.
Note the counsel of Paul here.. ‘the man who has done such a thing should be expelled from your fellowship’.
And even though I am far away from you in body, still I am there with you in spirit; and as though I were with you, I have in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ already passed judgement on the man who has done this terrible thing. As you meet together, and I meet with you in my spirit, by the power of our Lord Jesus Christ present with us, you are to hand this man over to satan for his body to destroyed, so that his spirit might be saved in the Day of the Lord.
Note again the uncompromising counsel of Paul..'you are to hand this man over to satan for his body to destroyed, so that his spirit might be saved in the Day of the Lord.
Paul continues unabated in his zeal for his Father’s House..
..It is not right for you to be proud! You know the saying, “A little bit of yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise” You must remove the old yeast of sin so that you will be entirely pure. Then you will be like a new batch of dough without any yeast, as indeed I know you actually are. For our Passover festival is ready, now that Christ, our Passover Lamb, has been sacrificed. Let us celebrate our Passover then, not with bread having the old yeast of sin and wickedness, but with the bread that has no yeast, the bread of purity and truth. In the letter that I wrote you I told you not to associate with immoral people. Now I did not mean pagans who are immoral or greedy or are thieves, or who worship idols. To avoid them you would have to get out of the world completely. What I mean is that you should not associate with a person who calls himself a brother but is immoral or greedy or worships idols or is a slanderer or a drunkard or a thief. Don’t even sit down to eat with such a person. After all, it is none of my business to judge outsiders. God will judge them.
Paul then sums up these instructions..
But should you not judge the members of your own fellowship? As the scripture says, “Remove the evil man from your group” ’.
If you want to know what Paul would say today about a Christian living an unrepentant immoral lifestyle you have just read it.
So if that was Paul's reaction to the sin of a man sleeping with his father's wife we can imagine his reaction to the practice of homosexuality within the Body of Christ.
Today, with little fear of God we are more apt to apply 'human mercy' to
such situations.
In the following chapter of his letter to the church at Corinth he explains how
a brief, unemotional sexual encounter with even a prostitute, has the
unseen but very real effect of joining the two together.
‘..the body is not to be used for sexual immorality, but to serve the Lord; and the Lord provides for the body. God raised the Lord from death, and He will also raise us by His power. You know that your bodies are parts of the body of Christ. Shall I take a part of Christ’s body and make it part of the body of a prostitute? Impossible! Or perhaps you don’t know that the man who joins his body to a prostitute becomes one with her? The scripture says quite plainly, “The two will become one body” But he who joins himself to the Lord becomes spiritually one with Him. Avoid immorality. Any other sin a man commits does not affect his body; but the man who is guilty of sexual immorality sins against his own body. (1 Corinthians 6:16)
So when two people come together in an act of penetrative sex they become 'one flesh'.
Paul finishes this discourse by drilling this great truth into all believers..
'Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourselves but to God; He bought you for a price. So use your bodies for God’s Glory'
In his letter to the church at Thessalonica Paul covers this ground once more.
In 1st Thessalonians 4 : 3 - 8 he writes..
'For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality.. that each of you should know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honour, not in passion of lust, like the gentiles who do not know God; that no one should take advantage of and defraud his brother in this matter, because the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also forewarned you and testified. For God did not call us to uncleanness, but in holiness. Therefore he who rejects this does not reject man, but God, who has also given us His Holy Spirit'
God’s word simply leaves us no place to hide on sexual sin. His clear
commands stand like mighty walls around the church, like the walls around Jerusalem. These walls
are intended to keep the enemy outside and His people safe inside. Right now the walls are broken down. And the enemy pours in to the church through every
breach.
Repentance - that is agreeing with God - is how an individual or a church begins the work of
restoration.
A man or woman’s repentance needs to be real.
One must not just hate the consequences of the sin, one must, as God does, hate the sin.
One plays about with God’s grace at ones peril.
He loves the sinner, but He HATES the sin.
Remember that God did not suddenly become a God of grace at Calvary.
Grace has always been a facet of God’s character. As early as Genesis 6 verse 8 we
read ‘But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord’
It was grace that called idol worshipping Abraham into His Kingdom.
And Isaac and Jacob.
Esau too was welcome through grace but he exchanged his spiritual inheritance in the
Kingdom of God for a few moments satisfying the pleasures of his flesh....and both the Old
and the New Testament records the frightening words.. that God hated Esau. (Malachi 1 :3
& Romans 9 : 13)
In Hebrews 12 from verse 16 God calls out to His people..
'Let no one become immoral or unspiritual like Esau, who for a single meal sold his rights as the older son. Afterwards, you know, he wanted to receive his father‘s blessing; but he was turned back, because he could not find any way to change what he had done even though in tears he looked for it’
The angels in God's Presence must cry out what effects them the most. When Isaiah saw the Lord seated upon the throne the year King Uzziah died, he saw the cherubim and they were covering their eyes and crying..
“Holy!.. Holy!.. Holy!"
How will clergy who have told the flock that sexual immorality is OK with God stand in His Presence?
Who will ascend the hill of the Lord, David asks in Psalm 24, and then gives the answer.
‘He who has clean hands and a pure heart’
You cannot come into the Lord’s presence unless you hate what He hates.
You cannot cherish sin in your heart and expect Him to hear your prayer.
(Psalm 66:18)
You cannot cherish or feed iniquity within you, or continually and willingly transgress
God’s commands and expect to experience His Holy presence.
He cast sin out of heaven the moment it manifested in Lucifer.
He is unlikely to welcome it back in alive and well in you or I.
Clergy who wantonly swim in sexual sin and teach that God has no problem with such sin have much
trouble awaiting them. James (4:1) writes that teachers to His flock are held ‘doubly’
accountable.
Jesus Himself said in Luke 12: 47-49..
‘..that servant who knew his master’s will and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much shall be required, and to whom much has been committed of him, they will ask more”
As we read earlier God’s Old Testament law decreed that homosexuality be punished by death.
That was fearful indeed. It seems extremely harsh to us in the 20th century.
However this ‘fear’ from above was intended to be a stronger influence than the
influence from within. Or from below. It was a ‘Godly’ fear.
When ‘Godly fear’ is removed the drives of the flesh somehow increase in
strength.
Shortly after the grace of Pentecost the early church saw what God did to Ananias and
Sapphira - recorded in Acts 5 - and we read
‘Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.’
They were believers who simply lied to God... and He killed them.
I imagine that even the most compulsive liars quickly found that sin no longer had dominion over
them after that.
Terry Virgo speaking at Mosney in 1993 told a story of a parishioner who was continually
unfaithful to his wife.
Time and again he would repent and time and again he would fall back into this sin. It was
he said, ‘too strong an urge for him to overcome.’
A well known visiting speaker with a prophetic ministry was visiting the church and displayed his usual amazing ability to hear
from God on even minute details about people he would be led to pray for.
After the services he asked to be taken to this man’s home because he had a word from the Lord
for him.
When he got there he confronted the man with his behaviour and was given the usual excuse
of being deeply sorry for his behaviour but being simply unable to overcome the drives
within him.
The visiting speaker then delivered his ‘word’
“The Lord says that if you do it again you will die”
Terry Virgo says he never did it again.
When church leaders remove the integrity of God’s Word on any particular sin, that
sin rises up in power and begins to take its unrighteous place within the life of the
church. And spiritual death follows quickly behind.
Jesus showed us how to behave towards sexual sin in His encounters with the woman caught
in adultery, and the ‘sinful woman’ who anointed His feet.
He loved them both but did not condone their sin. His love changed their lives.
He rebuked the arrogant Pharisees who bayed for their punishment.
Likewise He did not berate the outcast woman at the well.
He loved her and took a great interest in her. She in turn drew her whole village
to meet Jesus. They drew back from her in horror. Jesus drew near to her in love.
I was first drawn to Jesus and was forgiven a whole package of sexual sin.
Dare I stand with the Pharisees and point the accusing finger at those who are still in
bondage to the same thing? Heterosexual or homosexual.
But dare I also stand up in church and proclaim that Jesus has no problem with
me continuing in that sinful behaviour.
One of the saddest side effects of the rise of sexual immorality between men is that many
men who are great friends either avoid seeing too much of each other as a
‘pair’, or risk being ‘suspected’ of sexual immorality.
I remember - now with some amusement - an earlier time when I asked a friend to pray for me
while we were parked in a busy car park. Doing what he would do in a church or house group
setting, he put his arm round me and prayed a lovely.. and very long.. prayer from his heart. I
know God heard it but I didn’t. All I could think about was how this would look
to passers by!! My problem.
David and Jonathan loved each other deeply and emotionally, but there was no hint of sexual immorality.
As soon as the lad had gone, David arose from a place toward the south, fell on his face to the ground, and bowed down three times. And they kissed one another; and they wept together, but David more so. (1 Samuel 20:41 NKJV)
Two chapters earlier we read of where David and Jonathan made a covenant in the usual way that eastern tribes did.
And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle. (1 Samuel 18:4 KJV)
One commentator seeking to prove that their relationship must have been physical states..
Since people in those days did not wear underwear, Jonathan stripped himself naked in front of David. That would be considered extremely unusual behaviour (then and now) unless their relationship was physical.
Any visit to the men's communal changing room will show that men have no qualms whatsoever about stripping naked in front of each other - if indeed Jonathan had no underwear!
It is sad that where most people see this eastern style covenant between David and Jonathan as a type of the New Covenant established between God and us at Calvary, (e.g. Jesus takes our filthy rags of righteousness and we get His robes of righteousness etc) others see the evidence of a homosexual relationship.
The Bible has no fear or embarrassment about describing sexual intercourse (e.g. Genesis 38:18) incest (Genesis 19: 33-36) or rape (2 Samuel 13:12-14) etc so where it does not describe such perverse activities it is safe to assume that they did not take place.
Naomi and Ruth loved each other as widowed mother in law and widowed daughter in law, but there was not the slightest hint of sexual immorality. Indeed with mother in law's help Ruth went on to marry Boaz (Ruth chapter 3) and become great grandmother to King David.
..and Boaz begot Obed; Obed begot Jesse, and Jesse begot David. (Ruth 4:21-22)
Despite this, the following declaration by Ruth to Naomi has become the portion of scripture most used in same ceremonies in order to try and give Biblical validation to the union.
But Ruth said: "Entreat me not to leave you, Or to turn back from following after you; For wherever you go, I will go; And wherever you lodge, I will lodge; Your people shall be my people, And your God, my God. Where you die, I will die, And there will I be buried. The LORD do so to me, and more also, If anything but death parts you and me." (Ruth 1:16-17)
Two verses earlier we read where Ruth clave or 'cleaved' to Naomi
And they lifted up their voice, and wept again: and Orpah kissed her mother in law; but Ruth clave <dabaq> unto her. (Ruth 1:14 KJV)
Attempts have been made to link this with the Biblical command to cleave to one another as in a 'marriage' relationship where the two have sex and become one flesh.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave <dabaq> unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24 KJV)
As with most Hebrew words the meanings can be broad. <dabaq> covers the following:- to cling or adhere; figuratively, to catch by pursuit:--abide fast, cleave (fast together), follow close (hard after), be joined (together), keep (fast), overtake, pursue hard, stick, take.- and there can be little doubt that translations such as the New King James 'Ruth clung to her' is the correct meaning to readers.
Daniel 1:9 is used by some commentators to show that Daniel had a physical relationship with Ashpenaz, the prince of the eunechs.
Now God had brought Daniel into favour and tender love with the prince of the eunuchs. (Daniel 1:9 KJV)
The verse before this one however sets this verse in its context and shows that Daniel's intent was not to be defiled, even by food. He asked the chief eunuch to permit him this fast.
But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself. (Daniel 1:8 KJV)
He would be unlikely to be so passionate about not defiling himself with the king's meat, but have no problem defiling himself with the king's prince of eunuchs. Daniel avidly read the scriptures in order that he might live by them, and of course knew scriptures such as Leviticus 18: 22 & 20:13.
Jesus 'loved' John - indeed no less than 4 times scripture mentions the disciple whom Jesus loved - and He had no problem with John laying his head upon Jesus’ chest during the last supper. It was a very personal act of affection in a room full of males.
Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. (John 13:23)
It was only a matter of time until
someone - in this case the Rt Rev Gene Robinson{a} - implied that they were in a homosexual
relationship. Same sex agape love and loyalty are ok with God and we need to relearn this.
Bringing sexual
expression into such a relationship is not, and we need to relearn this. This
is where the line is crossed.
Jesus' love for the sexually immoral drew Him to Calvary to take that punishment of
death on our behalf. His death paid their penalty and His resurrected life birthed within empowers them to a
life where sin will not have its former dominion over them.
If we teach less than that we insult God and remove all hope from the sinner.
If we teach that a sexual sin has ‘dominion’ over the believer then we teach
that sin is stronger than the power of the cross. Scripture as we have seen, shows clearly that homosexuality is a gross product of, and
evidence of, man's fall.
I agree with Tony Campolo when he says that after all the debates and studies we still do not know why certain people are homosexual in their orientation. From observation, study and ministry experience I believe that a measure of the roots of homosexuality are emotional, spiritual, generational, cultural and possibly biological.
Emotional: I attended a lecture by a man who works with male homosexuals in New York and he said (and repeated the statement to emphasise it) that in every single case there was either damaged or zero fathering involved.
A study paper entitled 'Homosexuality: Finding the way of Truth and Love' by Christopher Townsend says
'Indeed many psychoanalytical theories identify disturbances in parent child relationships as a crucial factor: a perceived rejection by a child's same sex parent may, depending on the child's reaction, result in emotional needs. The sense of rejection by and loss of the parent may occur, for example, because of divorce, prolonged absence, illness, ill treatment and the child becomes a psychological orphan'
I can confirm this is as a factor in the lives of the people I have ministered to so far.
 |
I know homosexuals who are orphans and many others who are indeed 'psychological' orphans. For example: one man - raised on a farm - had a father whom everyone in the area looked up to as a great benefactor. However, outside of the public eye, this father always belittled his son and continually beat his son with farm implements, even to breaking a spade over his back. This deeply damaged son then sought to 'gain favour' with his heavenly father by becoming a Minster, but when this failed and when his (also damaged) wife rejected him emotionally and sexually he finally found acceptance and 'male favour' in the homosexual scene. Gradually this progressed from occasional sex to regular attendance at homosexual orgies. Another was forced to fight his elder brother for his father's base amusement, and made to watch his father in bed with a prostitute. This does NOT mean that every person who has suffered from damaged or zero fathering becomes a homosexual. |
They may, in many cases, suffer from a deep sense of rejection or worthlessness which can lead to strongholds of addictions / rebellion etc but in a proportion of cases the damage caused by the absence of Godly fathering, running alongside the normal sexual awakening at puberty, can make a person vulnerable to a strong desire for male 'favour and affirmation' manifested in male touch and male 'love' and the scavenging powers of darkness are then quick to capitalise on this deep emotional damage.
That is why in ministry, - after first ensuring that the person is in agreement with God on the issue of homosexuality (because Jesus sets us free from our enemies, not our friends) - we always begin by teaching / ministering the wonderful truth about the Father heart of God.
It is the truth of the fact that we really do have that perfect Father we always longed for that begins the process of drilling out the damage caused by damaged parenting.
The most common emotional defence for homosexual behaviour is that the person has always felt that way.
"I always knew I was different - I had no interest in the opposite sex but was always attracted to people of my own sex"
Indeed many of the background stories - such as the one's above - are very moving, and if we get moved 'emotionally' on a subject we can, in our human mercy, begin to disagree with spiritual laws on that issue. (read stories from other ministries)
If we were to take that same emotional defence into a sexual orientation that both God and society still agree is 'sin' - paedophilia - we see that such a defence carries little weight because such a sexual orientation still remains outside of the laws that society has set for itself.
(Note: I am not linking paedophilia with homosexuality. Paedophilia is well known to involve men and women with both homo and hetro-sexual orientation towards children)
Yet the paedophile's strong emotional and sexual attraction to children will not simply go away by an act of their will. Most would claim that they 'were born that way' That their strong sexual orientation is with them all the time.
However society rejects this as a defence and declares that those who act upon their orientation will be classified as criminal (Society's version of 'sinner').
God, and thus the Kingdom of God, has a law that tells people who feel sexually orientated towards same sex relationships that they must not act upon it otherwise they will be classified as a sinner.
Society changes its laws regularly to accommodate developments within society.
Less than fifty years ago the emotional defence of 'always knowing you were different' was unacceptable as a reason for homosexual behaviour in British society, but, after much activity from homosexual pressure groups, British society has decided that homosexual behaviour is now totally acceptable to them.
However there are already several pressure groups established to try and change society's views on the sexual orientation of paedophiles and though we are rightly disgusted at such attempts, and believe them to be futile, in truth, as more and more 11- 14 year olds give birth to children through fathers of the same age, who knows what society's reaction to this orientation will be in twenty years time.
Homosexuality was decriminalized in the UK in 1967 for adults over 21.
In November 2000, the UK Government pushed through a change in the law, using a device known as 'The Parliament Act', to make gay sex at 16 legal in the UK
Almost immediately, Peter Tatchell, the leader of 'Outrage' - the leading militant homosexual pressure group - called for the lowering for the age of consent to 14. His web site's opening page (as on May 28th 2005) had the following headline
OutRage! advocates an age of consent of 14 for everyone, both gay and straight.
This shows that society's plum line, or society's understanding of 'truth'.. is flexible. The enemy of our souls is still telling people that they should decide what is good and what is evil and so 'be like God' It all started at the very beginning as we read in Genesis 3: 1 - 5
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; "but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'" Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
God's laws change not.
God's Truth is not subject to pressure groups or political correctness or emotional pleading.
Jesus is the Truth and He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
He came to set us free from the effects of the fall, not to agree with our bondage resulting from the fall.
That brings us to the 'spiritual' aspect of homosexuality.
Spiritual:
If Jesus is not Lord of a person's sexuality, then guess who is?
There is no spiritual vacuum.
Whatever behaviour God cannot bless satan has the legal right to. Always.
The principle applied in the Garden of Eden and it applies now.
Since God can never, and therefore will never, bless what He calls 'strange flesh' then we can be 100% sure that satan will have an interest there, building a stronghold of darkness in the lives of the individual, the city and the nation. Scripture shows how powerful these spiritual strongholds can eventually become in a nation.
For instance, homosexuality is the only reason given in Genesis 19 for Sodom's judgement by God.
Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house. And they called to Lot and said to him, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally." So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him, and said, "Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly! "See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof." And they said, "Stand back!" Then they said, "This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them." So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door. But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door. Then the men said to Lot, "Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place! "For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the Lord, and the Lord has sent us to destroy it.
Jude 7 confirms this..
'as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Again, in Judges 19 :22, we see the exact same manifestation of the same aggressive spirit emerging amongst men who wanted sex with these visiting men.
'As they were enjoying themselves, suddenly certain men of the city, perverted men, surrounded the house and beat on the door. They spoke to the master of the house, the old man, saying, "Bring out the man who came to your house, that we may know him carnally!" But the man, the master of the house, went out to them and said to them, "No, my brethren! I beg you, do not act so wickedly! Seeing this man has come into my house, do not commit this outrage'
Paul, as we read earlier, makes God's thoughts on the matter crystal clear again in the New Testament.
'Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting' Romans 1:27
Political correctness insists on homosexuals being referred to as 'gay' a word used for happy and carefree.
God uses the language of truth. The list of underlined words used so far are
'immorality - strange flesh - perverted - wickedly - outrage - lust - shameful - error - debased - not fitting'
As already stated, there are no spiritual vacuums. If God's hand cannot rest on a matter then satan's hand has the legal right to. Participating in homosexual behaviour will always draw in the demonic to turn the behaviour into a stronghold. And a stronghold is a strong hold.
This is how I prove to the person coming for ministry that there is this strongly spiritual dimension to their activity.
I ask them if it is their experience that - even when going to a new City - they will recognise another homosexual within an hour. So far all have answered in the affirmative. That is because spirits draw people together. (For instance, experience shows that the person with a 'victim spirit' and the person with the 'abuser spirit' will be drawn together until there is a full release in Jesus' Name. Ask anyone who has been emotionally, physically or sexually abused how many times it has happened to them no matter where they go)
Further evidence of the strong spiritual nature of homosexuality emerges when in ministry we come to cut soul ties with persons that they have had unlawful sex with.
The list may contain many many unknown names because the recognition and the response to the recognition is so powerful that there has been no interaction other than sexual.
For instance, one man who came for ministry told me that when he stopped for petrol he knew that the man on the other side of the pump filling his car was a homosexual and visa versa, and without a word being spoken both went to the service station toilets had a sexual encounter and left, never to see each other again.
Homosexuals 'know' other homosexuals in public toilets, whereas a non homosexual would not know unless the person was flaunting their homosexuality.
Locally, the most infamous meeting place for homosexual activity is an area on the outskirts of the City which was, in bygone days, a Druid's ring. It is a hilltop place marked out in a circle by large stones. It is a place where there was pagan worship and possibly / probably sacrifices offered to principalities, and it is in the car park that serves this minor tourist attraction that - despite regular police attention - so much activity takes place at night.
Those receiving ministry have told me how - against their will - they have been drawn like a magnet to that place to offend again and again with complete strangers in a dark and dangerous environment.
Another indicator of the spiritual nature of homosexuality is the sheer scale of sexual activity and the sheer quantity of partners. A heterosexual person can 'make love' a certain number of times within a period of time. Despite bragging male stories this is not as often as some men like to pretend to each other.
However homosexual activity can be on an altogether different scale.
I remember watching a television documentary investigating AIDS when it first first surfaced in the public awareness . Many homosexuals were interviewed and when asked about their sexual behaviour they clearly delighted in describing their sexual lifestyle in graphic detail.
There were claims of up to 2000 partners per year. Stories of an annual gathering on an island for two weeks of unbridled sexual activity included one of meeting daily under the pier and having 'endless sex with endless partners' every day. One participant declared ' never in the field of human sexuality have so many men had sex so many times with so many men'
In the documentary a journalist told of going to a 'gay sauna' in one city and seeing mass orgies going on in room after room .
A survey in the USA concluded that the average heterosexual male had 20 sexual partners in their lifetime, whereas the average heterosexual female had 6 sexual partners.
Contrast this with the average number of homosexual partnerships in a lifetime and you see the substantial difference.
One survey indicated that homosexual males have an average of over 50 sexual partners in their lifetime.
Another study found that 28% had more than 1,000 partners, 15% had 500 to 1,000, 32% from 100 to 500, and only 25% had less than 100 partners in their lifetime. (The Homosexual Network: Private Lives and Public Policy by E.Rueda, 1982 pages 52-53)
Anyone who has ministered into this area has little difficulty in agreeing with these findings.
This is not the sexuality that God built into men in order that they may go forth and multiply - this is satan's counterfeit sexuality.
What God calls perversion.
There is another, little known, aspect to homosexuality.
The truth is that, according to research (the Kinsey report), people were found with dual, intermediate, or fluctuating sexual orientation.
Only about 4% (of white American) men were exclusively homosexual throughout their lives, and 10% for up to three years.
Over 90% of men and 95% of women who had had a partner of the same sex also had a partner of the opposite sex. In other words exclusively homosexual behaviour was rare. In other words bi-sexual.
Homosexuality has always been associated with both spiritual worship and cultural wisdom I quote from John Daniel's 'Scarlett and the Beast' page 61..
'In pagan religions a homosexual was considered to be made in the image of his hermaphrodite god having both male and female tendencies. Thus homosexual rites became common practice within all mystery religions. And it was from homosexuals that pagans selected their priests. For example in the tenth century A.D, Buddhist monks in Japan were homosexual. The relation of the master to a disciple pupil was one in which the elder monk acted as a teacher and guardian, and the younger responded with love and devotions: typically the relation culminated in pedestary and homosexuality. This homosexual paradigm was likewise commonplace with the Greeks 1,500 years earlier, who staunchly had maintained that homosexuality was a branch of higher education. Greek culture venerated homosexuality because her 'wise men' indulged in it. Bullough confirms..
Plato was the lover of Alexis of Dion, and for three generations the position as head of the academy he founded passed from lover to beloved. Aristotle was the lover of his pupil Hermias, whom he immortalized in a hymn. Euripedes, the playwright was the lover of the tragic poet Agathon; Phidias, the sculptor, the lover of his pupil Agoracitus of Pharos; the physician Theomedon, the lover of the atronomer Eudoxus of Cnidus. Alexander the great had his male lovers. The list could be extended..
The Roman emperor Nero, the infamous persecutor of the early Christians was a homosexual. In fact Nero dressed as a bride in a wedding ceremony in which he was wedded to a male lover. Playwrights during the reign Nero era depicted the Roman elite exhausting themselves in every variety of homosexual indulgence.
Now meet the hermetic being called 'Azoth'
This hermetic being is bisexual. A person with a male head and a female head facing opposite directions.
In one hand this being holds a square and in the other a compass...
Unpacking the hermetic symbol of Azoth, Pike says on Pages 850, 851 of 'Morals and Dogma'..
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All masons and Orangemen take this as 'their symbol' |
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If God is not blessing this pagan spiritual symbol over the men's genitalia - who might be?
Freemasonry IS blatant idolatry (please see the Freemasonry section if you struggle with this) and it is interesting that Paul, in Romans chapter 1 links idolatry with homosexuality.
Rejection of the Creator by so much of humanity ( see editorial 'The curse of evolution') results in, and is made manifest by, rejection of the creation pattern for sexual relations by some.
Sadly, I have ministered to men who, in their youth, were sexually abused by a man (or men) and from that time found themselves plagued with an unwanted 'drawing' towards that orientation. It is well known that many of the jail rape cases find themselves drawn towards that orientation afterwards. This is because the sexual spirit easily transfers across the one flesh ties that Paul talks about in 1st Corinthians 6:16
Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two," He says, "shall become one flesh.
{see also 'Soul ties')
Sadly, I have ministered to men who confessed to simply trying homosexuality 'for a laugh' when they were in their teens or twenties, and found that they were continually then being 'drawn' back to that arena from time to time completely against their will. They had, of course, of their own free will, opened the door and given legal rights to something stronger than their will power.
He who digs a pit will fall into it, And whoever breaks through a wall will be bitten by a serpent. (Ecclesiastes 10:8)
In the next section I will describe an encounter with such a spirit.
Generational: Scripture makes it clear that the iniquities of the fathers ARE (not might be) visited upon the children. Iniquity is the 'drive' within a person that pushes them towards a certain sin. So if father was an alcoholic the children have a greater fight on their hands to resist alcoholism / addiction than someone not from that background. (see 'Understanding generational issues')
As already stated, Romans 1 makes it clear that homosexuality is linked to idolatry. Therefore if someone in the previous 1,2, or 3 generations has opened the door to an unclean spirit, then that sin will result in iniquity will being passed down to the present generation.
A man (or woman of course) who has homosexuality - known or hidden - in their recent ancestral line will find that iniquity drive present in their life. Should they give in to that iniquity drive and engage in homosexuality then that sin opens a new iniquity line for the next three or four generations.
I believe this is why some people say that they were born with their homosexual orientation, or say that it is 'hormonal'. (this thinking results in believing the lie that 'God made me this way')
The Pastor of a large church in Texas announced that he was resigning from His Pastorate after hearing that someone was going to expose his active homosexuality to the congregation. In a video taped resignation he told the congregation he completely agreed with God that it was wrong but said that he had struggled with homosexuality since he was a 5 year old boy.
Now a 5 year old child does not normally struggle with strong sexual desires. I have no doubt this good man was struggling against a generational spirit of homosexuality that had been given rights in his recent generational line.
Some years ago a church elder came to see me for ministry. He came with his wife and openly confessed that several times when he had been away from home on business he had found himself engaging in homosexual relationship. He neither wanted it, and obviously felt very condemned for falling in this sexual sin.
I asked him what his earliest sexual memory was and this is what he told me.
He was on a beach, being dried with a towel by his mother, so he estimated his age as 3 - 5 years of age.
He remembered distinctly the fact that his head turned round 'of its own accord' to stare at a man getting changed on the beach beside their family. He remembered feeling what he now knew to be a strong sexual burning as he looked.
For some this would be proof that 'people are born this way' but I believe that it is simply proof of an inherited homosexual iniquity drive empowered by a spirit.
God did not design a 3 - 5 year old child to experience sexual 'burning' in his flesh and therefore I believe that this was clear evidence of a homosexual spirit using the boy's body (and especially his eyes) to feed itself.
In Jesus' Name I commanded the spirit that had manifested itself in the man that day on the beach to leave the man and instantly all hell broke loose before me. The long established spirit came 'out of hiding' and screamed in my face with an intensity I have never before or since witnessed. At the end of approximately two long minutes all suddenly went quiet. That particular spiritual encounter was over, and I sat down exhausted.
I realised then how 'aggressive' the homosexual spirit can be.
Please note that I am not suggesting that deliverance is the easy or all encompassing answer, but I believe that through this very memorable incident God allowed me to understand the reality of the spiritual aspect of homosexuality.
I
remember once there was a programme on channel four where AIDS and homosexuality were
being debated.
The token Christian was on the panel and he was literally being thrown to the lions.
He lovingly and gracefully stood firm on God’s opinion on the matter, and the whole
audience nearly devoured him. One man in the audience stood up and screamed at him
uncontrollably again and again in a totally demonic manner. I recognised the same spirit
at work as I had seen in the ministry to this man.
At the peak of this, one of the panel of so called ‘experts’ - the leader of the
Terence Higgins Trust, - stood up and reached into his wallet, pulled out a condom and
threw it down on the coffee table before the camera and said with great confidence..
“This is the answer”
The audience exploded in applause, and he sat down again with such arrogance.
Of course he was wrong,
Jesus is the answer.
Biological
There have been, and continue to be, many experiments to identify a homosexual gene.
An Oxford neuroscientist Simon LeVay after studying dead bodies claimed in 1991 that a part of the brain called the hypothalmus (smaller than a snowflake) was found to be a different size in gay men. The media jumped on this report claiming that this was proof that homosexuality was purely genetic. LeVay however said that he had no idea whether the brains of homosexual men were like this at birth or whether they developed that way later.
"Although efforts have been made to establish the biological basis of sexual orientation, for example, by the application of cytogenetic, endocrinological, or neuroanatomical methods, these efforts have largely failed to establish any consistent differences between homosexual and heterosexual individuals" (LeVay, S., 1991. A difference in hypothalamic structure between heterosexual and homosexual men. Science 253:1034–1037 (p. 1034). )
In 1993 genetist Gene Hamer, at the National Institutes of Health claimed to have identified a genetic marker -Xq28 - which was far more likely to be found in homosexual men. The media jumped on this referring to the 'gay gene' but Hamer replied saying that things were not that simple and that 'there is not a single master gene that makes people gay' However much research to date since Hamer's report has failed to isolate this gene. A national newspaper - The Independent, (U.K.), April 23, 1999, p. 5 - reported
'One of the biggest studies to date investigating whether there is a genetic cause of homosexuality has failed to find any evidence for the existence of a so-called ‘gay gene’. The research team, led by Dr George Rice of Canada’s University of Western Ontario, initiated the study. It followed the earlier sensational claims of self-confessed homosexual Dr Dean Hamer and his team in 1993 purporting to have found a genetic link to homosexuality. Several years of frenzied research aimed at isolating the ‘homosexual gene’ proved fruitless. Now Dr Rice’s team, using a much larger study sample and sophisticated genetic tests, has found no evidence at all of any link between this marker and sexual orientation'.
Much research into twins, stress in pregnancy, family size and disease has overall proved to find a fail proof biological conclusion for homosexual tendency.
For a much fuller look at this area it would be helpful to read the paper by Dr Jerry Bergman (Ph.D Biology) 'Creationism and the problem of homosexual behaviour'
Genes are being claimed as the culprits for many behavioural and physical problems. God made man in His own image and so man was created in the beginning without faulty genes. Fallen man cannot claim 'my genes made me do it' Despite the pressures that come from living in this fallen world each person is held responsible for their choices.
We have all fallen short of the glory of God and we all need a Saviour.
Cultural:
The society we live in and are a part of has a massive influence on us.
We are like blotting paper absorbing something of whatever we touch.
Christians are told to be in the world but not of it, but of course prior to our salvation, (and sadly in so many cases, after it as well) we were 'of it' and the culture of this world stamped its powerful influence upon us. (Romans 12:2)
Laws are designed to provide a hedge of protection around society but when those laws which were originally based on God's word are removed that the flood gates open and the pollution comes in.
These Biblically based laws which protected society are removed when men become wise in their own eyes and there is no longer any fear of the Lord.
Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the LORD and depart from evil. (Proverbs 3:7)
Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! (Isaiah 5:21)
Since the fall, there has always been witchcraft, abortion and homosexuality but when the laws prohibiting them were removed (the walls around a nation) these sinful activities sweep over the nation like a flood.
Witchcraft now flourishes in mainstream society as never before, where witches are celebrities and new films come out where witchcraft is good. (see editorial 'Harry Potter')
Abortion rates have risen dramatically (Approximately 1,370,000 abortions occur annually in the U.S.A alone)
Homosexuality has become mainstream in our society to such a degree that..
'Gay' bars, 'gay' clubs, 'gay' saunas etc have become common place.
'Gay' comedians and 'gay' talk show hosts have become fashionable.
Pop stars - who are role models for the young - openly boast about and parade their 'gay pride'.
Whole evenings have been set aside for 'a season of 'gay' television and films'.
Thus our culture relentlessly soaks us and our children in these waters with inevitable results.
In Autumn 2000 the University of Michigan offered a course titled "How to Be Gay: Male Homosexuality and Initiation," ( the course has since been withdrawn after Christian protest)
Pleasant words have been adopted by the homosexual culture to cover ungodly sexual behaviour.
'Cruising' means picking up men for sex (usually in a car park)
'Cottaging' means meeting same sex in public toilets for sex.
Homosexuality can have several roots as already described, but when these roots are placed into this cultural soil the growth rate becomes rapid.
S.L Jones and D.E. Workman in their paper entitled 'Homosexuality: The Behavioural Sciences and the Church' printed in the Journal of Psychology and Theology, 1989, Vol. 17. no 3, page 221 state that homosexuality '...generally does not develop without the influence of learning and socialisation'
It is interesting that Ezekiel 16:49 - 50 adds a social backdrop to Sodom's eventual downfall.
"Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.
And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit"
The social backdrop was pride, wealth, much free time and no concern for the weak and the poor. The became haughty (pride manifested visibly) and committed abomination before God.
It is interesting that one of most visible homosexual organisations is called 'Gay Pride'
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The organisation began in 1970 but
began to grow in numbers about ten years later. By 1991 the annual 'Gay Pride' parade & festival in London attracted 40,000 people. By 1994 the numbers had risen dramatically to 160,000. By 1995 - its 25th anniversary - the Gay Pride festival in London's West End featured more than 200,000 people. It's anniversary theme was promoting 'Lesbian Visibility' The leading float featured a heavily pregnant topless woman, painted silver and gold, and bearing the word 'Lesbian' on her belly. By 2003 the 'Gay Police Association' was an official part of the march.
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In Sydney, Australia the annual homosexual extravaganza's become more and more an affront to God and more and more acceptable to the world. Even the conservative British Airways magazine devoted a page to their annual 'gay and lesbian mardi gras' under the heading
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Canada hosted the 'gay games' in 2006 which pre event news reports claimed 'could draw more than a million visitors and a $500 million economic windfall. |
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We are now in the age of a new social malignancy. Drug rape. It began with horrific stories of girls having their drinks doctored with the rape drug. Later, when they were in a stupefied state they would be raped by one or more men. The stories are now coming in about men who are being drug raped.
On one day, in a national newspaper I read accounts of two separate cases where men died after 'rough sex' involving homosexuals.
Surely, we are not far from the judgement of Sodom.
This paper is written to bring us - God's people - into Godly alignment again. The unsaved world will always be in rebellion to God and in desperate need of salvation. They will always set their own rules to live by. That is their choice. A wrong choice, but their choice.
The church however has stepped out of alignment to the point where many truly believe that God makes certain people homosexuals and that by practising their sexuality they thus honour how God made them.
As the end of 2005 drew to a close we saw the United Kingdom allow men to marry men and women to marry women.
In April 2007, after much representation from church leaders, the government of the United Kingdom passed a law prohibiting discrimination in any form, by anybody, against practising homosexuals. This means that if a Christian minister refuses to marry a homosexual couple he could be prosecuted. If a Christian boarding house refuse a room to a homosexual couple they may be prosecuted. If a Christian adoption society refuses to allow a homosexual couple to adopt they may be prosecuted.
Thus the issue of homosexuality has been the issue that has finally drawn a line in the sand, as many Christians committed to walking in the light of God's Word will not bow the knee to such a law.
Prosecutions, fines and jail sentences will inevitably result.
But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men. (Acts 5:29 )
The truth is that God's plan is still as written in Genesis 2:24 and confirmed by Jesus in Mark 10:6 (& Matthew 19:3) and confirmed by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 5:31.
"But from the beginning of the creation, God ‘made them male and female'. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh"
There is not one scripture, not even a hint in any single scripture to the contrary.
A great gulf separates the man or woman who disagrees with God as to what God calls right and what God calls wrong. Unless a person agrees with God that homosexual sexual activity is sinful behaviour, how can they repent and be saved from the consequences of their sin?
We, as God's people, always have the daily choice to sow to righteousness or to unrighteousness, and whatever we sow into is the harvest we must then live in come due season.
I have ministered to people who are trapped in the bondage of same sex attraction. It is my belief that when a man or woman comes into full agreement with God on the matter then it is counted as righteousness even though it may not feel like such as the war rages within them. Such a war is but proof that we have made the spiritual choice which leads to life and not the carnal choice which leads to death. Paul - like all who would serve Christ - knew such wars.
'For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin'. (Romans 7:18-25)
Jesus came to proclaim liberty to those in captivity to sin, and He died so that there would be a way opened into the Kingdom of God for all those who truly repented and came under His Sovereign authority.
He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord." Luke 4:18-19
John the Baptist proclaimed ..
“produce fruit in keeping with repentance!”
But the battle for this fruit is real.
Any long serving counsellor has experience of the strong power that drives the homosexually
orientated man or woman towards sexual sin.
A power or drive that I do not believe is from God or can be blessed by God.
Christian men struggling with homosexuality have described this battle to me and also the gross immorality which it has pulled them into.
One travelled 100 miles regularly to attend homosexual orgies.
Another would call in at a public toilet almost every day to have sex with complete strangers and sometimes go away with not one, but two men, for sex.
Another would stand out in the street at night to be picked up by complete strangers for sex in their cars.
Another would continually go to a well known car park for sex with complete strangers.
As a church we (and I include myself) have totally failed to provide a safe and loving place for men and women to own and seek help with any sexual issues. Christians have enough problems admitting struggles with depression, or unforgiveness or guilt, but few would be brave enough to admit struggles with pornograghy, masturbation, adultery or homosexuality. And so these issues remain in the dark where they become empowered by the powers of darkness.
I remember reading an entry on a Christian website dedicated to helping in this area.
'I've been a leader in my church for over twenty years. I never thought I would be watching porno..ever. I really can't tell anyone at my church about my addiction..which makes it more dangerous for me - I'm battling it out. But God dealt with me to post a confession on this web site..because I've got to tell someone..I've got to let it out..I know I'll get sick or something..I've already been in a bad car accident, I believe its related to my self hatred. ..It can happen to anyone'
A wise and caring Pastor posted this reply..
You have been heard.. you are being prayed for.. but you MUST find someone that you can confide in face to face.. get SOME accountability with someone who can ask you the tough questions daily. It is the only way out. 'He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will find compassion' Proverbs 28:13
Jesus always leads us in victory, but throughout scripture we see that you can’t have
a victory without first having a battle.
Yes, the battle is real. Statistics are not encouraging. We are reaping what we have sown
into.
We have empowered sexual sin with ‘legal rights’.
The Government disagreed with God and declared homosexuality was ok for the nation it
guards.
Then slowly a sizeable proportion of church leaders came and
continue to come into agreement.
The breach was complete. The nation’s legal and spiritual hedge was uprooted in this
area.
The flood came in with such power that we were all caught by surprise.
Some ask 'What is the answer'.
That's the wrong question. It should be 'Who is
the answer?'
Jesus is the answer.
He was yesterday, He will be today, and He will be tomorrow. He will be the sinner's answer every day until that day when He returns again, and the
door of grace slams shut.
Human mercy is a most admiral grace, but not when it clashes with God's grace.
Human mercy so easily wants to take the humanist outlook. To proclaim the 'rights' of the individual. Human mercy wants everyone to feel good about themselves.
God's mercy is to convict on sin, which when that conviction has outworked, should turn the sinner towards Calvary, His source of grace. God's mercy is that we be saved, and not condemned.
Here are two samples of God's grace being described by Jesus. First we see Jesus combine proper fear of God with the high value He puts on each of us as individuals.
"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. "But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him! "Are not five sparrows sold for two copper coins? And not one of them is forgotten before God. "But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Luke 12:4-7 NKJV)
Then we see how seriously He exhorts us to stay away from sinful behaviour in order that we may be in a safe place with Him.
"If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. "And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30 NKJV)
For God's ministers to proclaim what God calls sin as not being sin is evidence of wolves among the sheep.
As the waters fell in judgement in Noah’s day because God saw how great man’s
wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his
heart was only evil all the time..we read that God shut the door of the rescue ark that
had remained open to anyone up to that moment.
God will soon shut the door of grace. And then comes judgement. It will be a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Right now the door is still open. Jesus is the door. The Way home to
our Father who art in Heaven.
Maranatha.
Come Lord Jesus.
useful link:
http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v9/i1/homosexual.asp
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See also the
editorial comment on this subject
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