The Homophobic Gospel

THE HOMOPHOBIC GOSPEL

Rom.3: - ²³ For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Since the fall of Adam sin has always existed and been practiced upon the earth. There are ebbs and flows as it pertains to certain kinds of sin, but sin itself continues its long and effervescent legacy. From the killings of the Inquisition, to the death and destruction left by Alexander the Great, to the humanistic Greek philosophers, to the Holocaust of Hitler’s Germany, and now with millions upon millions of abortions every year around the world, sin leaves its mark without embarrassment. The world is literally teeming with sin in all its forms and ways.

Since Jesus spoke in the first chapter of Acts about a worldwide gospel mission, and since the Day of Pentecost fulfilled His prophetic words of a coming power from on high, the church has been commissioned to spread the good news and to live lives which substantiate our gospel witness. We are called to be active and to “GO!” rather than be reactive according to the present dictates of the fallen culture. There is a vital and unmistakable difference between those two scenarios. In fact, one negates the gospel and expends much energy attempting to clean the outside of the cultural cup while the other spreads the gospel of redemption which is the only remedy for that same culture.

We live in an informationally drenched culture which disseminates all kinds of reports and information on a moment by moment basis and through a variety of media sources. Most of it, even though it is true, is clouded and shaded by the source through words and pictures and many levels of hyperbole. What we receive through the secular media has been processed through the perspectives of the men and women who manage that particular news source. So the focus and the tenor by which it is presented is slanted toward the opinion of the source. And it is no secret that our minds are easily affected by those kinds of commercialized news reports. And when they add the insights of “experts” millions are deeply affected in the way the news source has designed it.

And, sadly, the church has fallen prey to the wiles of the ever expanding informational age and the technology which places a variety of media receptacles in every room in our homes, in our automobiles, and in the palm of our hands. In effect we are walking antennas whose ears and eyes and minds are wide open waiting for the next piece of opinionated news or even blatant gossip. And when our ears and eyes and minds receive such things, it eventually makes its way into our hearts. Yes, we have been subtly manipulated by the fallen culture. And when the weight of that manipulation and deception is multiplied by the great numbers of professing believers being deceived, the church collectively falls into that same deception.

And instead of faithful shepherds warning the flock about this present evil age, these ministers are complicit and deceived as well. And instead of passionately speaking words of deliverance derived from God’s Word, these ministers use their oratorical prowess to fortify and even build upon the deception that has captured their flocks. Yes, they are blind guides who are not content with their own personal blindness. They must speak lies to their listeners and harden their hearts even further. It is an astonishing thing to behold for us who have been rescued from such deception by God’s grace, so we can only imagine how God Himself views this unfolding horror.

And with all the media outlets I have referenced, it offers many opportunities to publicize the heresies and the spiritual blindness entrenched within the evangelical community. Which brings me to the point of my post. Let me provide a link from which I will speak about what I now refer to as the homophobic gospel. As you read it please remember that the man doing the interviewing is a vicious individual who has called President Obama a real life demon. And the man being interviewed is the President of the largest protestant denomination in the world, the Southern Baptist Convention.  

HERE is that interview.

Ok, when I read that interview I was immediately reminded of the saying “Stupid is as stupid does”. Can it get any more bizarre and ridiculous? Let me rant for a minute before I come down from the ledge and deal with a serious principle. It is astounding to me that this man represents a leader in the evangelical community. And if you google the interviewer named Rick Wiles you will see some unbelievable quotes that are even crazy in a secular setting to say nothing of a setting which supposedly follows Jesus. And Pastor Fred Luter suggested that the world needs more men like Wiles. And when Wiles suggests that the nuclear threat coming from North Korea could be God punishing America for its stand on gay marriage, Pastor Luter admitted he was not real proficient in prophecy but that could well be a possibility. (Ok, at this point my breathing has become more pronounced.)

But there is an underlying principle that openly ignores our gospel commission and makes the church a reactionary moral institution rather than a place of redemption and humility. How and where did the church buy into their own moral superiority and ignore the many sins from which we were forgiven including the ones we commit today? And how can we present our orthodox doctrine which states that unconverted sinners cannot even know Biblical truth and are dead in their sins, and then we turn around and become obsessed with their sins? Homosexual behavior is a sin, but given how scarce the New Testament deals with that specific sin, how is it we have made it the pinnacle of all sins?

And men who look at women every day with lust in their hearts can climb a self righteous pedestal and speak volatile words about men who have same sex attractions including the unsaved? And now God is so mad about it He might use nuclear weapons from a godless culture? What kind of madness is this? This is not some unsaved Baptist conversing with an unsaved Catholic over a beer in a bar. This is the so called leader of a Christian denomination speaking insanity! It wasn’t too long ago that preachers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson said that AIDs was God’s punishment for homosexuals. I guess God is still experimenting with a disease for adulterers and pedophiles.

Hurricanes, tornados, earthquakes, economic collapse, unexpected deaths, and the events of 9/11 have all been assigned divine design centering upon same sex attractions.

But being obsessed with homosexual behavior does provide camouflage for the rampant sins within the church. I mean divorce has become an Olympic sport among believers. Greed and avarice are considered Biblical. Prayerlessness is pervasive. And how the kingdom of darkness operates is an obsession which replaces a passionate sharing of the gospel. And now the gay thing has become a replacement for the gospel.

Mary Griffith was a devout Christian in a conservative Presbyterian church in the 1970s and into the early 1980s. One of her sons. Bobby, had a secret. He felt same sex attractions since he was a child, and since he heard how people like him were going to hell, and since he heard many derisive remarks about gay people from his family and friends, he struggled to keep his feelings to himself. He had even heard his grandmother suggest they line up all the gays and shoot them. He even dated girls. But after confiding to his sister about his issue, his secret soon became know to his family. His mother especially tried counseling and prayer and strong admonitions to have him “cured”, but to no avail.

All the while Bobby was tortured inside because of his feelings. He desperately desired to be free and the condemnation he suffered from others was unbearable. He became seriously depressed and lived daily with a self loathing that most people never dream could even be possible. One day Bobby could no longer endure himself. He walked to a highway overpass and jumped in front of an eighteen wheel tractor trailer and was killed immediately. There are many believers who strongly and ignorantly suggest that all same sex attractions are a matter of choice. In Bobby Griffith’s case that was some choice. Suicide is prevalent among gay people with a self loathing being a common component.  

But this kind of personal tragedy elicits very little sympathy or compassion from the evangelical community. It seems very clear that our heterosexual credentials mean more to us than the souls of men. Moralism, which is a form of self righteousness, has overtaken the church. Content and satisfied with our doctrine and our ecclesiastical activities and our high tech Sunday services, the church literally has become insulated from the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the message of the cross. And in an amazing display of self serving motives, the gay community has been singled out as sinners above all the rest. And to be perfectly honest it isn’t the souls of gay people which motivates the church; it’s the political perspective and the affect they might have on the already fallen culture.

And now not only does the gay community have to dodge the sling and arrows of the evangelical church, but now they better duck from the incoming North Korea nukes! I believe it’s time once again to search for Jesus. Of course He now seems to be calling the righteous and treating the unrighteous as political fodder. Correction: That is the Jesus of the church and not the Jesus as revealed by Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

Avoid this homophobic gospel and embrace the true gospel which call all sinners equally to repent and believe.