Q: "Does coming out as Gay mean I have to divorce or leave my (straight) family?"

No, it does not.

However, it does mean you need to work with your family to decide what is best for you and them in what was probably already a hard situation for both the closeted Gay spouse and the straight spouse, and which has now become a real stomach-twister – especially if there are children involved.

The Bible, of course, speaks of marriage (a family commitment of two people before God) and divorce (the ending of that commitment). It's often said that while the Old Testament allowed divorce, the New Testament does not. However, that isn't strictly true, and there simply are no black-or-white answers that will serve every situation.

God always insists that His people remain faithful to our commitments – both in our commitment to Him, but also in our various commitments to each other. In the case of divorce, In the Old Testament God also insists that His people take care of and protect those who have been made vulnerable in some way, due to their disconnection from a family unit.

For example, in Isaiah 1:17, God warns the ancient Israelites to (among other things), "defend the orphan" and to "plead for the widow". In ancient Israel, orphans and widows were among those left outside the family commitment that would otherwise have sheltered and provided for them economically, politically, legally, and religiously. Any divorce today can easily result in children and spouses who are essentially left as "orphans" and "widows", economically, politically, legally, and religiously, if we aren't careful in beginning, living, and ending marriage commitments.

In our modern cultures, for example, it's not only common to produce children outside of the protections of marriage, but also to later (emotionally, financially, and even physically) abandon children produced within the bounds of marriage. This has, in fact, become so commonplace that children who remain protected and provided for by two parents throughout their growing-up years seem "odd" in many parts of modern culture.

However, things are not "peachy-keen" within most modern, "traditional" Christian families, either. Two parents may remain married, yet the children are still abandoned (i.e., made vulnerable) to being physically and sexually abused, emotionally abused by ungodly and unbiblical male dominance, religiously abused by cult-like adherence to so-called "Bible-based" philosophies that have almost nothing to do with the real Jesus, and more.

Whether children and other family members are abandoned for all the world to see, or are secretly abandoned within families that pretend everything is "perfect", God isn't pleased.

And neither should we be!

All that being said, there is no, one, "right" answer that I can give you for your situation – and anyone else who tells you there is an easy "right" answer is either a con artist or a fool.

Sometimes in life there is just no answer that doesn't cause pain in one way or another. Sometimes we have to choose the least painful answer, or choose an answer that carries the most benefit to one or more despite the pain it may otherwise bring with it.

For example, yes – divorce hurts children and spouses alike. But so does marriage based upon one spouse's submission to something within the marriage that isn't right somehow. Few these days, for example, would tell a Christian woman being battered by her Christian husband that she must stay within the marriage. And few these days would tell two heterosexuals to remain married if being together made them so miserable that it was causing problems for the children.

Within a marriage between a man and a woman, where one spouse is heterosexual and the other is Gay, something isn't "right" within the relationship. And in this case, since the sexual orientation of both spouses is something God programmed permanently into their bodies, that means however much they may love each other as friends and partners, neither of them will ever have that deep, intimate emotional, physical, and sexual bond that God also intended to be a part of marriage commitments. In such a case, it won't only be the Gay spouse who is unhappy and perhaps looking for an "out". The straight spouse may also wish for that "out", which brings with it the possibility then of finding another heterosexual spouse who may provide that intimate marriage bond.

So, what should you do, then, if you are a Gay person currently heterosexually married?

First and foremost, you must consider all options for the protection of any children you have produced. This means also continuing to provide for them emotionally, and not just with a child support check each month, should you decided to end the marriage. And not just with your otherwise-distant presence around the house, should you decide to remain in the marriage.

You must also, to the best of your ability within your situation, make the decision to keep or break the marriage commitment with your heterosexual spouse. Both of you must have input into this decision. Yes, you are entitled to be who you are. However, you did choose to make this commitment with your spouse, before God, family, and community. You must honor your commitment and your spouse, to the best of your ability within your situation, in the ending of your commitment, just as you should during your commitment.

If you choose to remain within your heterosexual marriage, you must find ways to still honor who you are as a Gay person, just as you must find ways that still honor who your spouse is as a heterosexual person. You no doubt already know how difficult it is to find the emotional and sexual satisfaction all normal human beings long for, when you are living within the bounds of a marriage that doesn't perfectly "fit" you. Your heterosexual spouse no doubt has the same longings and the same difficulties within this imperfect "fit" you've decided to stick with. What will that be for you both? It will what fits you both and your individual situation.

If you choose to remain within your heterosexual marriage, you must also honor the emotional and sexual bounds of that marriage. Remaining married with a Gay lover on the side, or seeking out anonymous or semi-anonymous Gay sex in other places, is simply wrong – it's adultery. And that's just wrong, both within our human moralities, but also, more importantly, to God. Fulfilling your emotional and sexual needs outside of your marriage also threatens real harm to yourself, your spouse, and your family, in countless ways. Want to consider a few? Then think about what your family will go through if you end up arrested and have your name published in the newspaper because you were soliciting Gay sex in a public park. Think about the hurt you will cause your spouse if you bring home a sexually transmitted disease. And think about the confusion and hurt your spouse and children will live with, if it becomes known that you are cheating on the marriage.

Is any of this going to be easy? I can't imagine how it could be! But by choosing to heterosexually marry, you have bound yourself to the well-being and care of another person, and of more than one other person if you have children. And those responsibilities do not disappear simply because you realize you didn't make the best decision.

Make the decisions that need to be made, knowing there will probably not be a painless answer. Make them prayerfully, asking God for strength and forgiveness, as needed. And make them, to the best of your ability within your current situation, with your spouse and family.

Now, what about if you are a single Gay person considering becoming heterosexually married?

Don't do it!

Because of the prejudice of our society, and the unbiblical ways even our so-called "conservative" Bible translations are made, many Gay people choose to marry heterosexually. Some believe they can just make it work. Some believe it will make them straight. Some just want the family recognition that comes from such a union.

All of those are the wrong reason for anyone to marry. And they don't work for Gay people, either.

Consider, for example, the hurt you will bring to your spouse, when you are unable to commit emotionally and sexually with them in a heterosexual manner, in the way a heterosexual spouse would. How are they going to feel if later they find out you already knew you were Gay, but married them and encouraged their heterosexual commitment to you anyway? After all, marriage is supposed to be an open, honest, partnership, and here you've started off from a dishonest position.

Consider, too: who is your spouse going to be able to talk to about having a Gay spouse and all the confusion, loneliness, alienation, and hurt they feel? After all, if you got married because you wanted to escape the anti-Gay hatred of your church community, then your spouse no doubt has only anti-Gay friends and family to try and speak with about what's happening in his/her marriage to you. Will it be any surprise if your spouse either won't talk about it to anyone (and therefore suffers without an outlet to help him/her resolve this), or adds anti-Gay hatred to the angry hurt he or she already feels towards you?

Marrying heterosexually when you know you are Gay is just wrong. Wrong because it involves deception. Wrong because it promises intimacy it cannot produce. Wrong because it makes other people (including children of the marriage) have to deal – now and in the future – with the very painful disconnect of strained relationships or divorce.

It you are Gay and thinking about becoming heterosexually married, think again!

What's the better solution? It's to learn to heal the homophobic self-hate and self-denial you are struggling with, rather than simply dragging others along in it. It's to be open and honest – with yourself, and with those you wish to be responsible to and for.

It's to honor the God who created you to be who He created you to be: a Jesus-loving, Holy-Spirit-filled, Gay Christian living either celibate or married to another Gay person. And it's to honor the God who created the heterosexual person you are dating or engaged to, to be who He created him or her to be: a Jesus-loving, Holy-Spirit-filled, straight Christian living either celibate or married to another straight person.

You must prayerfully find what works for your situation, and then walk with God to accomplish it!

Here are some additional resources you might find helpful:

Gay Husbands - Straight Wives, which includes among other things "Come out to your wife", a "plea to gay men to be honest with their wives about their homosexuality", and "Why not to get married if you're Gay", which "discusses the various reasons why gay people get married, and talks common sense about why they shouldn’t".

Straight Spouse Network,  which includes among other things, online support and reading lists.

God bless you!

Q: "What's wrong with so many Gay churches? Why do the people in them act so badly?"

Many of us have been really hurt or grossed out in straight churches (see our discussion of what’s wrong with so many straight churches, too), and we may be overjoyed to discover a “Gay church” in our area. However, it’s also possible for us to discover that a Gay church can be a painful or ugly place to be, as well. Why is that? 

Well, first of all, being Gay doesn’t mean we’re immune to the same kinds of “churchy” sins that straight people struggle with!

• Many of us have grown up in straight churches, and we unless we’re healed of it first, we will bring the worst of what we learned to accept as “normal” from straight churches to our new Gay churches, just like we’ll bring along the best!
  
  So, for example, if our previous straight church taught us to believe that gossiping is ok, we’re going to be gossipy in our new Gay church, as well, until we repent of it. And if our previous straight church allowed church leaders to be control freaks, then we’re going to continue thinking that’s normal until we start testing our leaders like the Bible tells us to. 
  
  
• Many of us long to re-create the culture and atmosphere we were accustomed to in straight churches, when we join or create a Gay church. Unfortunately, a lot of that culture and atmosphere is simply human-made and unhealthy nonsense that has nothing to do with the real Body of Christ – and that means our Gay church efforts will be as human-led and damaging as the straight church efforts were.
  
  So, for example, if our previous straight church was very into the “things” it could get from God, then we’ll come wanting the same from our new Gay church. And if our previous straight church had people barking like dogs as “proof” of being “in the Spirit”, then we’re going to think something’s wrong with our new Gay church unless it starts sounding like a kennel, as well. 

Second of all, as Gay people we often have extra "baggage" we haven't surrendered to the Lord yet. 

And there’s nothing wrong with that – the world gives us extra things we need healing for when it abuses us, condemns us, and so on, and a real church is a place we should be able to find understanding and healing for all that.  

However, if it’s not recognized and dealt with, that pain can become a poison in the church, causing people to, for example:

• Abandon rather than find their real strength in the Bible;
• Abuse others who aren’t as strong as they are;
• Create a theology that justifies sin, rather than seeking real sanctification;
• Deny the gifts of the Spirit in order to maintain power and cliques;
• Seek after signs and wonders from any spirit, rather than accepting only those from the Holy Spirit,
• Pursue advancement into church leadership roles (pastor, prophet, teacher, elder, etc) as a way to “patch” a very low self-esteem or express one’s own neurosis,
• And more!

This is especially spiritually deadly when those who act as “leaders” in one form or another aren’t healed of their extra “baggage” before taking on a leadership role in the Gay church. For example, I’ve seen far too many people who were closeted and grossly unhealthy church leaders in straight churches come to lead Gay churches without first being healed of the damage done to them in those straight churches. It should be no surprise whatsoever that even in the Gay church they remained semi- or fully closeted to the world (which means that part or all of their lives continue to be lies), slack role models for their intended flock, a trouble to others with their questionable theology, and so on!

So, what’s wrong with Gay churches? 

In summary, they are full of human beings, just like straight churches are. And they require the same amount of Bible-commanded work and testing as straight churches do! 

What should you do if you are unsure about or uncomfortable in a Gay church?

• Pray and ask for the Lord’s help!
• Seek out others to discuss the situation with (not for “gossip” -- gossiping is talking about things you aren't part of the problem or solution for! -- but to get other impressions the Holy Spirit may be giving others, as well)!
• Never discount your own “gut feelings” about something. Even if everyone else says everything’s fine, if the Holy Spirit is putting a question mark in your gut, then listen and act on it!
• Seek out biblical justification for what seems wrong. For example, if your pastor says it’s ok for everyone in church to speak in tongues at once, ask for the Scripture that says that’s ok. Then look that and other related Scriptures up, and see if he or she is right!
• Realize that the people around you are just as human as you are – and they probably have the same hurts you have (or had). But don’t let that hurt be a justification for making worship time into “therapy time” where people vent their emotions chaotically just because it feels good or gains attention and so on!
• And consider some of these things (saying “no” to any of these means something’s really wrong!):
  
  
  • Do your leaders fit the qualifications the Bible requires for church leaders?
  • Are your leaders “out” (of the closet) and holy-living role models for those they lead?
  • Does your church follow the Bible and only the Bible for its decision-making (so, for example, prophecy is only accepted if it conforms to Scripture teachings)?
  • Do you continue to grow in love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, and knowledge in God’s Word, the longer you attend this church?
  • Is this church a place to worship and learn more about God, instead of just a place to socialize, or to show off, or to feel superior to others, or to get a "rush" to carry you through to the next Sunday?

Going to a Gay Bible-based church, or a Bible-based church that welcomes Gay people, can be one of the most wonderful, healing, and growing experiences you’ll ever have – if it’s a place where the leadership is truly biblical, and where the fellowship is truly about loving God and living the life He asks of us! 

If you are attending a Gay church that just doesn’t seem “right” somehow, then consider some other options. God knows you need friends and fellows, but you also don’t need to abuse yourself and risk your salvation with a fake church – whether it’s straight or Gay!

• Before you do anything else, always see first if there’s some way to fix the problems you find in your church -- they may not be easy problems to fix, but they just might be fixable with prayer, repentance, and a return to God's real Word!
• If all else fails, see if others are interested in doing a simple Bible study in someone’s home (that’s how the early church ran!), or if there are ways to fellowship with other Queer Christian people interested in the Bible on the internet.
• Email me if you'd like some help looking for new resources or assistance.

God bless you!

Q: "What's wrong with so many straight churches? Why do the people in them act so badly?"

Well, to put it quite simply, the vast majority of the people in them don't really follow Jesus, and therefore aren't really Christians! Not as Jesus and His earliest disciples would have defined “Christian”, anyway.

Now, before you roll your eyes, let me say this: I realize that sounds a lot like one of the most popular games in Christendom – defining who is a “real” Christian and who is not. Their game-definition of “real” seems to change all over the place, depending on who's doing the defining!

But that's not a game I'm interested in at all. What I am interested in, though, is answering your question in the way the Bible answers it – which is also the way that Jesus and His first disciples would have answered it. 

So here are 5 points for you to think and even ask God for more wisdom about, in figuring out why straight churches and Christians behave so badly:

1. The Bible warns everyone against submitting oneself in whole or part to the “kingdoms of the world” (even the “good” ones), rather than only to God's kingdom – but people are easily tempted and fooled.

So [when the nation of Israel still followed only God-appointed prophets and judges, rather than a political king] the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel [the prophet]  at Ramah. They said to him, “You are old, and your sons do not walk in your ways; now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.” But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.” [1 Samuel 8:4-7]

 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” [Matthew 4:8-9]

You adulterous people, don't you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. [James 4:4]

Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world—the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does—comes not from the Father but from the world. [1 John 2:15-16]

We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. [1 John 5:19]

2. The Bible also specifically tells everyone to watch out for, test, and then avoid false leaders and fellows (or risk going down a very nice but also very wrong spiritual path) – but very few people in the churches ever really bother.

Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them [Matthew 7:15-20]

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve. [2 Corinthians 11:13-15]

But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their shameful ways and will bring the way of truth into disrepute. [2 Peter 2:1-2]

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. [1 John 4:1]

You were running a good race. Who cut in on you and kept you from obeying the truth? That kind of persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. [Galatians 5:7-8]

3. It shouldn't be surprising, then, to discover that when so much of the Bible warns that most of those who claim to be God's people are not really His people at all – it's right!

Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. [Matthew 7:13-14]

Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!' [Matthew 7:21-23]

For many are invited, but few are chosen. [Matthew 22:14]

At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. [Matthew 24:10-11]

So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace. What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened. [Romans 11:5-7]

4. Through the Bible, God specifically describes for everyone what people are like (or growing to be like) when they have His Spirit and therefore belong to Him – and what they are like when they don't.

The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. [Galatians 5:19-24]

Now the overseer [a church leader] must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him with proper respect (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church?) He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil's trap. [1 Timothy 3:2-7]

We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. [1 John 2:3-6]

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. [1 John 3:10]

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. [1 John 4:7-8]

5. And we can use these Bible tools ourselves – not only to figure out who to count as a “real Christian” and who we should listen to and follow, but also how to figure out if we ourselves are choosing God's kingdom over the world's, too!

So, what's wrong with so many straight churches? Why do so many of the people in them act so badly?

We could summarize it this way:

You've probably heard the old expression: “Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car.” 

Well, through the Bible we can understand that calling yourself a Christian doesn't make you one of God's people any more than calling yourself a spaceship makes you able to fly to the moon.

It isn't what one calls oneself that defines one's real relationship with God. It isn't where one sits on Sunday (or Saturday). It isn't even how much one tithes, or sings in the choir, or gives to the needy. The Bible tells us that God makes someone a Christian, by putting His Spirit into them when they choose His Kingdom alone. And when God does that, even wanting to act badly disappears, more and more, from the real Christian's life!

So what's our response as Gay people to be?

God doesn't fool around. He doesn't want anyone deceived. And He certainly doesn't want Gay people walking or staying away from Him because people who aren't even real Christians have convinced us that God doesn't want us! So:

• Don't hold bitter or angry feelings towards people who call themselves Christians but don't seem to really be doing what Jesus said. No one is perfect, and each person is at their own stage in their spiritual development. And only God knows where someone will ultimately end up! Forgive them as you are able (pray for help, if you need it), and understand that at the very least they are spiritually immature or deceived, and at the worst they are demon-possessed. They have hurt you – yes. But it is to God they will answer. Pray for and love them, and leave their fate to God.
  
  
• Learn to use your Bible, every day. There's a lot of stuff in there that seems complicated. When you hit that stuff, try some study helps and talk to other Christians who have God's values in their hearts. If you still don't get it, then set that part aside and move on to the next part. I promise you: if you keep studying, when God wants you to understand that confusing part, it will make sense!
  
  
• Stop sacrificing your salvation on the altar of other people's prejudices and discomforts. Your salvation is between you and God – and no one else. Stop tormenting yourself and risking alienating yourself from God's love and work for you by listening to people who use biased human interpretations and translations of God's Word to justify how they would feel about Gay people anyway.
  
  
• Never let go of Jesus – the real Jesus, that is. God understands that Gay people in the world today have a really difficult journey to make. Read Revelation 3:7-13 again and again to understand how much Jesus understands our struggle, and how He tells us to just keep holding on to Him, and we'll make it! But that really means Him – not some New Age, liberal, or conservative version of Him. Find a Bible translation that has the least amount of human bias written into it, and then put correction notes in it whenever you learn of another spot that hasn't been translated like God put it there in the original languages (it isn't just the stuff about Gay people that people have changed or tweaked, you see!). Read the Gospels until you know them by heart – they are a record, written down and confirmed by people who were alive at the time that Jesus was on this earth and teaching them and their teachers. Remember: when you know Jesus' heart, you know God's heart! [John 14:9]

God continue to bless you!

The Insanity of Overcoming

The world is becoming a crazy place.

Would you agree with that?

I know that many – both within Christ's body and out – point to other times in human history when things have seemed insane, bleak, and near the end. Those among us who see an End coming soon aren't the first to believe that Jesus or some other religious figure is about to appear and make some grand change in the world. And it's because so many before have believed themselves to be in the End Times that many Christians and non-Christians today easily discount any idea that we are now getting close to the end of this world. "People were ridiculously wrong before," they say, "and we'd be ridiculously wrong to believe it's almost the end today."

Years ago, I used to believe the same thing. There have always been incredibly devastating wars, famines, environmental disasters, political and religious tyrannies, and other kinds of widespread suffering, somewhere on the planet. Some – like Herod's slaughter of the young boys of Bethlehem, trying to kill the young Jesus – affected "only" a few hundred (as if "only" a few hundred is not just as devastating to those affected). Others, like the Black Death, affected more than 100 million. But something changed a bit more than a hundred years ago.

Within a few decades, the world saw a huge surge in the size and intensity of the crazy, bad things of the world. Before the modern industrial era, the old terrors of war, famine, disaster, tyranny, and suffering were something that most often affect hundreds, thousands, and occasionally hundreds of thousands and once in awhile millions. With our modern age, however, such terrors and sufferings now regularly and easily affects millions, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, and even billions of people, all around the world.

And many people lose their faith, in the face of such horrible happenings. In just the first part of the 20th century, for example, how many Christians and Jews lost their faith, for example, just in war and in the consequences of war:

• Colonialism (50 million soldiers and civilians dead)
• Imperialism in World War I (16 million soldiers and civilians dead)
• Fascism in World War II (62 million to 78 million soldiers and civilians dead, and 11 million to 17 million dead in the Holocaust, including Jews, Gays, racial minorities, people with disabilities, and more)
• Communism, just under Stalin (43 million to 60 million dead), Mao (38 million to 78 million dead), and Pol Pot (2 million dead)
  

Today, we live in a world where these 200 to 300 million 20th century war deaths could easily seem like a drop in the bucket, in comparison to what could, does, and will still happen. Today we live in a world where nuclear weapons, chemical weapons, and biological weapons have been perfected to such efficiency that a single "strike" (or mistake) by government, terrorist group, or individual could literally wipe out billions of people, in a very short time.

Dreadfully, we are forced to rely on the same sinful human nature that caused all the previous horrors in human history to spare us from the even greater horrors, to come.

Scary. Very scary.

But to not look at the reality of these things is a selfish act. Our hearts should break in compassion for those suffering under the evils of this world. To not look, is to not see Jesus in every suffering face.

But to look at the reality of these things is to risk being overwhelmed with fear, emotionally and even spiritually devastated by a problem too large to even imagine, much less fix. To look at what's really happening even now all over the world is to see the real world and its pain as the Ancient of Days does – as Jesus Christ does. Our puny, little human hearts alone just can't do it.

Many of us, then, turn quite rightly to Jesus, and to the Bible, for comfort and for answers. Yet too often our human religious traditions have ingrained in us orthodoxies of belief that are the height of human intellectual reasoning, but which leave not even a pinhole through which the Holy Spirit can infill and move us.

• We believe ourselves at peace with God, simply because we have ignored our own and others' suffering and unhappiness.
  
• We have convinced ourselves that God's purpose is fulfilled in our individual and family happiness in this world, and that He will remove us from this world before the really bad stuff begins.
  
• We praise His Name while we cling to human doctrines like the "Left Behind" fiction series, happy to know that at least those we know and love will be saved, and leaving behind God's Gospel work for everyone else to God.

Now, I am not arguing for or against any particular tribulation "doctrine." I believe that no human doctrine will ever hold the whole truth, because only One is perfect, and that One includes none of us (those who believe otherwise have troubles beyond what can be shared here).

However, because no human being, and no human understanding, is ever perfect, I invite you to keep an open heart on this matter – one waiting on the Holy Spirit to teach and guide and reveal as He moves, even when that runs counter to what you've always been taught (or taught yourself) to believe.

Why is that important?

Because, as the crazy things continue to get worse and worse, if you only believe you will be raptured before you reach the end of your endurance, where will your faith be when your endurance fails?

If you only believe that God will allow only good things in your life, where will your faith be when you and untold others around you suffer bad things like you could never have even imagined before?

And finally, if you only believe that God will spare you great pain because He loves you, then where will your faith be when – as for so many hundreds upon hundreds of millions of people before you – He does not?

This is what our sister in Christ, evangelist and Holocaust survivor Corrie Ten Boom, had to say about all this in 1974:

The world is deathly ill. It is dying. The Great Physician has already signed the death certificate. Yet there is still a great work for Christians to do. They are to be streams of living water, channels of mercy to those who are still in the world. It is possible for them to do this because they are overcomers.

Christians are ambassadors for Christ. They are representatives from Heaven to this dying world. And because of our presence here, things will change.

My sister, Betsy, and I were in the Nazi concentration camp at Ravensbruck because we committed the crime of loving Jews. Seven hundred of us from Holland, France, Russia, Poland and Belgium were herded into a room built for two hundred. As far as I knew, Betsy and I were the only two representatives of Heaven in that room.

We may have been the Lord's only representatives in that place of hatred, yet because of our presence there, things changed. Jesus said, "In the world you shall have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." We too, are to be overcomers – bringing the light of Jesus into a world filled with darkness and hate.

Sometimes I get frightened as I read the Bible, and as I look in this world and see all of the tribulation and persecution promised by the Bible coming true. Now I can tell you, though, if you too are afraid, that I have just read the last pages. I can now come to shouting "Hallelujah! Hallelujah!" for I have found where it is written that Jesus said,

"He that overcometh shall inherit all things:
and I will be His God,
and he shall be My son."

This is the future and hope of this world. Not that the world will survive – but that we shall be overcomers in the midst of a dying world.

Betsy and I, in the concentration camp, prayed that God would heal Betsy who was so weak and sick. "Yes, the Lord will heal me," Betsy said with confidence. She died the next day and I could not understand it. They laid her thin body on the concrete floor along with all the other corpses of the women who died that day.

It was hard for me to understand, to believe that God had a purpose for all that. Yet because of Betsy's death, today I am traveling all over the world telling people about Jesus.

There are some among us teaching there will be no tribulation, that the Christians will be able to escape all this. These are the false teachers that Jesus was warning us to expect in the latter days. Most of them have little knowledge of what is already going on across the world. I have been in countries where the saints are already suffering terrible persecution.

In China, the Christians were told, "Don't worry, before the tribulation comes you will be translated – raptured." Then came a terrible persecution. Millions of Christians were tortured to death. Later I heard a Bishop from China say, sadly,

"We have failed.
We should have made the people strong for persecution,
rather than telling them Jesus would come first.
Tell the people how to be strong in times of persecution,
how to stand when the tribulation comes,
– to stand and not faint."

I feel I have a divine mandate to go and tell the people of this world that it is possible to be strong in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are in training for the tribulation, but more than sixty percent of the Body of Christ across the world has already entered into the tribulation. There is no way to escape it.

We are next.

Since I have already gone through prison for Jesus' sake, and since I met the Bishop in China, now every time I read a good Bible text I think, "Hey, I can use that in the time of tribulation." Then I write it down and learn it by heart.

When I was in the concentration camp, a camp where only twenty percent of the women came out alive, we tried to cheer each other up by saying, "Nothing could be any worse than today." But we would find the next day was even worse. During this time a Bible verse that I had committed to memory gave me great hope and joy.

"If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye;
for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you;
on their part evil is spoken of,
but on your part He is glorified."
(I Peter 3:14)

I found myself saying, "Hallelujah! Because I am suffering, Jesus is glorified!"

In America, the churches sing, "Let the congregation escape tribulation", but in China and Africa the tribulation has already arrived. This last year alone more than two hundred thousand Christians were martyred in Africa. Now things like that never get into the newspapers because they cause bad political relations. But I know. I have been there. We need to think about that when we sit down in our nice houses with our nice clothes to eat our steak dinners. Many, many members of the Body of Christ are being tortured to death at this very moment, yet we continue right on as though we are all going to escape the tribulation.

Several years ago I was in Africa in a nation where a new government had come into power. The first night I was there some of the Christians were commanded to come to the police station to register. When they arrived they were arrested and that same night they were executed. The next day the same thing happened with other Christians. The third day it was the same. All the Christians in the district were being systematically murdered.

The fourth day I was to speak in a little church. The people came, but they were filled with fear and tension. All during the service they were looking at each other, their eyes asking, "Will this one I am sitting beside be the next one killed? Will I be the next one?"

The room was hot and stuffy with insects that came through the screenless windows and swirled around the naked bulbs over the bare wooden benches. I told them a story out of my childhood.

"When I was a little girl, " I said, "I went to my father and said, 'Daddy, I am afraid that I will never be strong enough to be a martyr for Jesus Christ.'"
"Tell me," said Father, "When you take a train trip to Amsterdam, when do I give you the money for the ticket? Three weeks before?"
"No, Daddy, you give me the money for the ticket just before we get on the train."
"That is right," my father said, "and so it is with God's strength. Our Father in Heaven knows when you will need the strength to be a martyr for Jesus Christ. He will supply all you need – just in time…"

My African friends were nodding and smiling. Suddenly a spirit of joy descended upon that church and the people began singing,

" In the sweet, by and by,
we shall meet on that beautiful shore."

Later that week, half the congregation of that church was executed. I heard later that the other half was killed some months ago.

But I must tell you something. I was so happy that the Lord used me to encourage these people, for unlike many of their leaders, I had the word of God. I had been to the Bible and discovered that Jesus said He had not only overcome the world, but to all those who remained faithful to the end, He would give a crown of life.

How can we get ready for the persecution?

First we need to feed on the Word of God, digest it, make it a part of our being. This will mean disciplined Bible study each day as we not only memorize long passages of scripture, but put the principles to work in our lives.

Next we need to develop a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Not just the Jesus of yesterday, the Jesus of History, but the life-changing Jesus of today who is still alive and sitting at the right hand of God.

We must be filled with the Holy Spirit. This is no optional command of the Bible, it is absolutely necessary. Those earthly disciples could never have stood up under the persecution of the Jews and Romans had they not waited for Pentecost. Each of us needs our own personal Pentecost, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We will never be able to stand in the tribulation without it.

In the coming persecution we must be ready to help each other and encourage each other. But we must not wait until the tribulation comes before starting. The fruit of the Spirit should be the dominant force of every Christian's life.

Many are fearful of the coming tribulation, they want to run. I, too, am a little bit afraid when I think that after all my eighty years, including the horrible Nazi concentration camp, that I might have to go through the tribulation also. But then I read the Bible and I am glad.

When I am weak, then I shall be strong, the Bible says. Betsy and I were prisoners for the Lord, we were so weak, but we got power because the Holy Spirit was on us. That mighty inner strengthening of the Holy Spirit helped us through. No, you will not be strong in yourself when the tribulation comes. Rather, you will be strong in the power of Him who will not forsake you. For seventy-six years I have known the Lord Jesus and not once has He ever left me, or let me down.

"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him", (Job 13:15)
for I know that to all who overcome, He shall give the crown of life. Hallelujah!"

- Corrie Ten Boom – 1974

Amen, dear sister Corrie! Amen!

Q: "If it's ok to be Gay, it's still wrong to have Gay sex, right?"

This is an argument put out by those who push the whole "celibate Gay" idea.
 
It's supposed to be a more "enlightened" and even "compassionate" way of dealing with Gay people -- admitting, for example, that we are indeed "born this way" and aren't making a conscious, willful choice to be Gay, but still "saving" us from our "bad inclinations".

Some even say that being Gay is like being an alcoholic -- somehow not our "fault", and something we'll have to "struggle" against all our lives, but still something we have to "stop acting on".

Unfortunately for the Gay people who fall for this idea, it's simply false, all the way around. And despite the good intentions (one hopes) of those who push this idea, it's still intensely damaging to Gay people -- just in a more subtle (and therefore perhaps even worse) way.

Let's look at all this more closely.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say, "Thou shalt not be Gay" 

In fact, the Bible just doesn't mention Gay people very often at all, as compared to straight people.
Now, some use that to "prove" that God doesn't care for or approve of Gay people -- that we aren't somehow considered part of His "norm". But think about that: the Bible doesn't talk about women or Gentiles as often, either. And it doesn't mention many other cultural and tribal groups (like the Native Americans, for example, or the Indonesians) at all. In fact, most of the Bible is only talking about the lives and doings of ancient straight Hebrew/Jewish men.

Does that mean that modern people, women, Gentiles, Gay people, Native Americans, Indonesians, and any other kind of people not specifically talked about (or talked about a lot) in the Bible aren't part of God's "norm" or His plan? Or that we only have some kind of "secondary" or "lesser" role to play?

Ridiculous! And NOT supported in Scripture, as GOD gave it to us in its original languages and contexts. Yet it's certainly an idea that unrepentant human hearts would invent to set themselves above others, and made worse because they act as if it's all the Lord's idea!

But you see, most of what's described in the Bible is not a glory-story about a certain kind of human being. Instead, it's a long, repetitious tale of wickedness, of God-rejection pretending to be God-living, of self-centeredness and greed and lust and murder and oppression, all meant to illustrate for all the world that no human being (even among the spiritual, economic, and political "elite") saves even himself, much less anyone else. 

God's purpose in the Bible is to show us how to get and stay right with Him. And that most often involves NOT living and thinking like most of the straight Hebrew/Jewish men described in the His Word -- nearly all of whom were considered (by themselves if not also others) to be God's spiritual "elite", yet who were continually guilty of, among other things:

1. worshiping other gods;
2. combining God-worship with pagan worship;
3. pretending to love and live for God while loving and living first and foremost for themselves;
4. willful disobedience of God's direct commands;
5. being disrespectful to and abusive towards God and neighbor;
6. ripping off and economically abusing their neighbors;
7. pretending to follow God's law but re-inventing His meaning, adding to His commands, and ignoring what they didn't want to hear;
8. murdering those who spoke God's truth, those who had what they wanted, those who were vulnerable to them in some way, and just those they didn't like;
9. having sex with each others' wives and their own family members;
10. having sex with and making their wives sleep with animals;
11. rape (of both men and women);
12. burning their own children alive for (hoped for) material gains;
13. making war for profit;
14. political intrigue;
15. bearing false witness against and lying to others;
16. obsessing after material wealth, control of others, and worldly "success"...

...And so on and so forth until one has to wonder about people who use a few isolated scriptures to supposedly "prove" how "evil" Gay people are – but then completely ignore the thousands upon thousands of scriptures that by the same ridiculous logic would "prove" how much more evil straight people are!

The point of the Bible is to help us see how much we need God – NOT to get us to reverence a certain kind of human being over another.

Nowhere in the Bible does it say, "Thou shalt not have Gay sex" 

There are a few passages that, when interpreted falsely, or twisted completely out of context, or just plain re-written, make it "appear" as if Gay sex is condemned. 

But there just aren't any real passages (meaning, passages as GOD gave them to us) that condemn Gay sex (or straight sex) per se. 

Does that mean "Anything goes"? Absolutely not! See, the Bible does have condemnations of sex – but only when that sexual activity is tainted by lust, or by idolatry, or by both. 

Think about it this way, through this short, imaginary exchange:

Are strawberries bad?

No, of course not.

How about chocolate covered strawberries?

No.

Maybe white-chocolate covered strawberries?

Nope, nothing wrong with any of that.

Well, what about if someone becomes so obsessed with strawberries that they can only eat, think, and breathe strawberries all the time, so that things start to go wrong with their physical, emotional, and even spiritual health? Or what if someone becomes obsessed with NOT eating strawberries, so that they spend their lives in fearful avoidance of any situation that might even mention strawberries?

Or, what about if someone is actually allergic to strawberries, but they keep eating them anyway because it's "cool" and "empowering" to be a "rebel" and do things they aren't supposed to do?

Or, what about if someone uses strawberries to hurt people -- throwing and even mashing them all over people to ruin their clothes and humiliate them, just because it makes the person feel good to cause other people emotional and even physical pain?

Or, what about if someone starts to use strawberries as part of their religious worship, setting strawberries up on alters, praying to and bowing down to them?

I think we would ALL agree that these last four things are all VERY wrong.

But I don't think any of us would say the answer or "fix" for any of these things is to rid the world of one or more kinds of strawberries!

Yet that's what some people do with sex -- and what even more people do with Gay sex. 

They are like people who like strawberries, but don't like chocolate-covered strawberries. And in response to their particular "produce orientation", most people would just say, "Then don't have chocolate-covered strawberries!"

But these strawberry-only folks believe people are only right when they are just like themselves -- even though nothing in God's creation really says anything even close to that. So they invent political and religious movements to convince the world that those who like chocolate-covered strawberries are "perverse", "unnatural", and even "evil". And they even invent medical and psychological "therapies" that claim to "heal" people who like chocolate-covered strawberries and make them "strawberry-only" people, instead.

Truly, if such people weren't causing such horrendous and completely irresponsible spiritual, emotional, and even physical damage to the "chocolate-strawberry" people of the world, we'd just write them off as people with a silly, self-centered, control-freak problem!

But then there's the other side -- the side of people that can be perverse, unnatural, and evil:

• Some people – both straight and Gay – do become obsessed with sex, so that sex is all they can think about, and all they live for (some people have the same problem, but express it in being obsessive about not having sex -- but it's still sexual obsession). And it's not a surprise when their physical, emotional, and spiritual health suffers. Sex and the pursuit of sex becomes their main identity.
  
  
• And there are other people – again, both straight and Gay – who willfully engage in sexual acts that are counter to their natural sexual orientation because they feel "good" by intentionally being "bad" – even though it hurts or dishonors them now and in the future. These people may also do drugs, rape (men, women, and even children), participate in pornography, and break the law, all just for the "thrill" of doing things "counter" to what's "normal" or "acceptable" to decent society. Living evil becomes their main identity.
  
  
• And finally there are some people – once again both straight and Gay – who make sex a part of their "magic" spirituality, just as the pagans did thousands of years ago. Being more "powerful", "wise", "wealthy", and so on through using supernatural means becomes their main identity.

And obviously none of these ways of being are ok. To be spiritually, emotionally, and physically healthy, our main identity must be in Jesus Christ – and not in what feels good to do or not do with our bodies, or in what pleases our worst sin-nature, or in what gratifies our desire to control and acquire in the material world.

But again, here's the important point: in all these sinful ways of being, sex itself is no more the "bad guy" than strawberries were in our imaginary example.

Rather, it's what we DO with sex, how we understand it within the larger context of our lives and God-created human nature, and whether we control our (sexual and other) desires or they control us, that truly matters. 

Everywhere in the Bible it says you are responsible to God -- to produce good fruit for Him in the field He's assigned you to work 

Neither Paul nor anyone else in the Bible ever wrote to condemn Gay people living full, whole, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and yes, even sexually healthy Gay lives. The shackles that other sinful human beings want to burden us with belong to those other human beings – not to God.

But all people – straight and Gay alike – are responsible to conform every part of our lives to God's way – including our sexual lives. Nothing in the Bible says, "The rules against adultery, fornication, and so on only apply to straight people." And – despite what some Gay and Gay-friendly straight people may argue - the sinful and anti-Holy-Spirit exclusion of Gay Christians from so many straight "churches" and fellowships does NOT excuse us from living godly lives.

So, what does all this mean?

It means that every ideal put forward in God's Word is to be our ideal – whether we are straight or Gay; male or female or intersexed; masculine or feminine or inter-gendered; of any racial identity; of any cultural identity; of any tribal identity. GOD's ideals are truly to be OUR ideals! [Matthew 5:48]

And among those ideals are:

1. Recognize that since Pentecost, God no longer lives in places built by human beings, but within our bodies. Therefore, honor God with how you use and treat your body [Acts 17:24-25; 1 Corinthians 6:17-20]
   
   
2. If you are truly called to live a single life, then live your life in a joyful, celibate manner, giving the time and energies you would otherwise spend on family to showing other people the Gospel, helping the needy, and so on [Matthew 19:11-12; Luke 2:36-37; 1 Corinthians 7:32-35]. However, keep in mind that simply being so emotionally unhealthy that you are afraid of getting involved with others, or avoiding intimacy because "the church" says you "have" to, are NOT the same as truly being called to a single life (instead, those things mean you're being called to find emotional and spiritual healing and growth!).
   
   
3. If you believe you are called to a single, celibate life, but are continually "pestered" by sexual desires that lead (or seriously might lead) you beyond your self-control, then prayerfully and seriously consider that God may not have given you the gift of celibacy after all. In that case, it would be more pleasing to God for you to be in a committed, sexual relationship than to "burn with passion". [1 Corinthians 7:7-9]
   
   
4. If you are in a committed relationship, take it as seriously as God does! Stick with it, share yourselves with each other because you belong to your partner just as s/he belongs to you. Don't sexually deprive one another except for short periods of time when you've both decided to give yourself to extra work for the Lord [Matthew 5:32; Romans 7:2; 1 Corinthians 7:3-5, 10-16]

And finally, whatever the life-circumstances you find yourself in, work the mission-field God's assigned to you. Being single or married, straight or Gay, Jew or Gentile – none of those things means anything towards what really counts (though there are plenty of confused and falsely-religious people who want to waste your spiritual time and energy worrying over them!)

No matter who you are, or what God's created you to be, what really counts is keeping God's commands, ministering to and evangelizing those around you, and being filled (and remaining filled) with God's Holy Spirit! [Acts 10:1-11:18, 15:1-31; 1 Corinthians 7:17-40; Galatians 5:6; Colossians 3:1-17]

Q: “But aren’t Gay people immoral – just because they’re Gay?”

That’s an argument thrown around relentlessly by those who hate Gay people — even by those who hate us “out of love”.

They point to immoral things done (or supposedly done) by some parts of the Gay population, and then use them as “proof” that Gay itself is immoral.

Is that true?

Well, let’s take a look at it. 

There’s nothing immoral that Gay people do that straight people don’t also do – just as often, just as much, and sometimes more. 

For example, sure, there are some Gay people who get drunk, high, naked, even sexual, and otherwise stupid at bars and Pride Parades and such.

But there are also some straight people who get drunk, high, naked, even sexual, and otherwise stupid at bars and events like Mardi Gras (if you don’t believe me, type “Naked Mardi Gras” or something similar in Google Images — but be prepared for some very immoral images, mostly straight but also some Gay. I found the one to the left here even with the standard Google “SafeSearch” turned on supposedly to block such images). There are even whole web sites and film studios that sell images of straight people getting drunk, high, naked, sexual, and otherwise stupid, all for the viewing entertainment of other straight people who think getting drunk, high, naked, sexual, and otherwise stupid is very cool.

And — there are some Gay people who molest children.

But there are also some straight people who molest children. In fact, one study found that “..[A] child’s risk of being molested by his or her relative’s heterosexual partner is 100 times greater than by someone who might be identified as a homosexual.” [from Carole Jenny, MD, Head of the Division of Child Maltreatment at Brown University, 1994, "Are Children at Risk for Sexual Abuse by Homosexuals?"]

And there are also some Gay people (mostly Gay men) who sleep around a lot, and don’t commit (or stay committed) in a relationship.

But the same is true of some straight people, as well. Divorce rates among straight people — including supposedly Bible-based evangelicals — is completely out of control. But also not often counted is the number of straight people who go in and out of sexual relationships with no thought for marriage whatsoever, or who are “testing” the relationship sexually and otherwise first, sometimes for years, before ever (if ever) committing to actual marriage.

So there just isn’t anything we as Gay people can be accused of that straight people can’t ALSO be accused of! That doesn’t mean it’s right when Gay people do these things — but it also doesn’t mean we’re any worse than anyone else, either. 

But isn’t it interesting how some people will only look at all this one way — the way that just happens to make them look good, and us look bad?  

That’s called “prejudice” — “affective prejudice“, to be exact.

And the idea that Gay people all behave in or live certain bad ways are called “stereotypes“.

Of course, people who are prejudiced against Gay people rarely admit to that. They say they’re just trying to “protect children” or other vulnerable innocents, and to “save society” and (their version of) their religion from an evil enemy or conspiracy that’s trying to harm or eradicate “decent” values (which only they hold) and “decent” people (which includes only people just like them).

But that’s just another part of their prejudice. It’s no different than prejudiced whites claiming to “defend” white women and “decent society” from black men, and no different than prejudiced European Gentiles claiming to “defend” their race from Jews.

It’s also just another part of their sin.

Take a good, long, real-Bible-as-GOD-gave-it-to-the-world look at the behavior (fruit) and character (hearts) of people who are prejudiced against Gay people. Truth be told, they are no more “good Christians” than the Pharisees were “good Jews”. They can claim all they want to be the only or best “real” Christians in the world today, and to be clinging only to “Bible-truth” — and they are often willing to push their claim at the point of a gun and the end of a fist. But their lives tell an entirely different story — just like Jesus said they would.

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So then, you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’ [Matthew 7:15-23]

So, what are the fruits of those who condemn Gay people?

• Claiming to cling to God’s literal truth, yet doing the same things they accuse others of doing: picking and choosing among scriptures, mistranslating scriptures, and taking scripture out of context, so that God’s truth as HE gave it to the world is lost.
• Arrogantly re-defining God, God’s truth, and God’s creation according to what pleases and fits their own natures and their own bodies and ideologies, to the exclusion of everything else (including other sexual and gender orientations, other racial and community cultures, and more).
• Twisting the Gospel message into a false one that glorifies and justifies war, violence, greed, materialism, political ideologies, domination, hierarchy, exploitation, hatred, and more all in the “name of God” — in other words, that seems to make the worst of their sin-nature “ok” by God.
• Turning more people AWAY from Christ than to Him, even as they themselves are truly turned away from Christ.
• Promoting more and more wicked, violent, self-worshipping, and just plain weird doctrines as time comes closer and closer to Christ’s return and the devil ramps up what delusion and damage he can do until then.
• Living “good Christian” lives on the outside while living vile, spiritually filthy lives in the inside, so that they claim to be living according to God’s Word while they are actually cheering on and helping the devil.
• Being a proud, unrepentant, and even joyful part of the False Prophet of the End Times.

“I want you to just let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good…Our goal is a Christian nation. We have a Biblical duty, we are called by God, to conquer this country. We don’t want equal time. We don’t want pluralism.” [Randall Terry, Founder of Operation Rescue, The News-Sentinel, Fort Wayne, Indiana, 8-16-93]

“I want to be invisible. I do guerrilla warfare. I paint my face and travel at night. You don’t know it’s over until you’re in a body bag.” [Ralph Reed, Christian Coalition, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot (November 9, 1991]

“I don’t know. Just get me a f*cking faith-based thing. Got it?” [Karl Rove, President George W Bush's top advisor, to the (unnamed) volunteer head of the Bush Administration's Faith-Based Initiative office, who had asked Rove how to set the office up in one week, without a staff or a budget, according to David Kuo, former special assistant to the President and the Number Two man in Bush's Faith-Based Office in his book, Tempting Faith (September, 2007)]

People who are spiritually immoral are NOT the ones anyone should listen to to find out if being Gay is immoral

Gay people can certainly BE immoral. But so can straight people, and no one (I think!) is saying “Straight people are immoral just because they’re straight!” (or “Asians are immoral just because they are Asian”, or “Australians are immoral just because they are Australian”, and so on) — that would be just as ridiculous and illogical.

But also ridiculous and illogical is to let people who aren’t themselves even close to “expert” at morality define for us whether we’re moral or not. It’s like letting someone who’s getting a failing grade in English tutor us in how to write an essay. If we do it we’re just setting ourselves up to ALSO fail!

So, why do we listen to them anyway?

Most often it’s because they’re pushy, and most of us don’t struggle back against bullies and people with domineering or controlling personalities if we can accommodate them, instead. We falsely assume — just as did most Jews 2,000 years ago — that the ones who are loudest, most demanding, most glitzy, most financially and politically powerful, and most “Scripture-educated” MUST be right. Otherwise they wouldn’t BE loudest, most demanding, most glitzy, most financially and politically powerful, and most “Scripture-educated”, right?

But that’s just our weak human nature leading us astray. Jesus and the rest of the Bible tells us NOT to go along with the false shepherds, no matter how “right” it might seem at the time.

We’re told to AVOID being eaten by the wolves of the world, not “go along to not make trouble”.

And we’re warned that in the End Times, it will become more and more important to stick ONLY with Jesus and the real Gospel that shows real fruit (as HE defines real fruit), and to avoid the anti-Christs and False Prophet that hope to deceive us and turn us away before He returns again to get us. 

Be yourself — AND be moral. God commands it! 

If God hadn’t wanted Gentiles to be among His people, He wouldn’t have filled them with His Spirit even when it bugged prejudiced Jews no end.

In the same way, if God hadn’t wanted Gay people to be among His people, He wouldn’t have filled US with His Spirit either, even though it bugs prejudiced straight people no end.

Be the Gay testimony to God’s love and God’s Gospel, everywhere God takes you in your life!

You need to be it — and other people, both Gay and straight, need to see it!

Q: “Does God really condemn Gay people?”

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