Gay Evangelical Christian

A $4000 Home

2011-11-30T00:54:00.001-05:00

Find A Gay-Affirming Church

2011-01-30T17:24:00.002-05:00

A Gay Affirming Church helps you grow spiritually like God intended.

And please,

Make sure you’re saved.

Thinking about starting a website?

2011-01-23T12:33:00.004-05:00

If you've been thinking about starting a website, this has great information.

Global Warming Farce

2011-01-16T00:33:00.001-05:00

Yep, I've talked to them too. This is pretty much how it goes...

God cares about the lost - Do you?

2011-01-05T14:49:00.005-05:00

How To Witness For Jesus
and
What happens when you witness

Fall To Grace by Jay Bakker

2010-12-19T19:01:00.004-05:00

Here we go again. Under the guise of ministering to the GLBT community, another Bible-rejecting pastor tries to dumb down the gospel, in the process turning it into meaningless drivel.

What is it with liberal christians? Why are they constantly talking about not judging anyone and then they attack Christians who believe the Bible? If you're really SO against judging others, why are you judging others?

Are you too obtuse to realize that your "don't ever judge" monologue ALWAYS ends up judging and attacking Christians who believe the Bible?

Jay has written a new book (which contains nothing new), which is kind of an emergent church primal scream. Its basically a liberal rant toned down a bit but a liberal rant nonetheless.

In the kind of fuzzy interior dialogue which passes for thought in liberal circles, it covers most of the required anti-Bible, anti-Christian biases which liberal rants must cover. And for that reason and in spite of its intellectual barreness it will probably be a best seller.

This about sums up Jay's book.

1. Christians who believe the Bible are TOO judgmental. Liberals aren't judgmental for judging Bible-believing Christians as judgmental mind you. Only Christians who believe the Bible are judgmental.

2. Our New Age touchy-feely God wouldn't send anyone to hell. See, we liberals are too busy promoting justice and criticizing Christians who believe the Bible. And we're too lazy to study the Bible and too intellectually elevated to believe the Bible and too afraid of public opinion to preach the Bible so we make up our own religious rules while decrying the rules of those who believe the Bible. Our rule is that we must never believe or preach ANYTHING in the Bible which is negative.

3. No one needs to worry about God's judgment because God is all about love, according to somebody from my transcendental meditation class. Because judgment and hell and the lake of fire are negatives, we never mention them as Bible truths. Instead, we make fun of people who still believe in that scary old judgment stuff.

4. Did I mention how judgmental most Christians are? Yeah, they judged me when I was a drunk and a druggie, sneaking out at night, lying to Mom and Dad. I could have repented and got my heart right with God but hey, I don't believe all that judgment stuff. Don't believe me? Read my cool new book, Fall To Grace.

5. Christians criticize people who get drunk, get high, have promiscuous sex and refuse to take responsibility for their actions. If you tell anyone anywhere that anything is wrong or sinful, you're being critical and judgmental. And we all know that ain't politically correct baby!

6. It irritated me when they judged me for my drunken, drug-addled ways so maybe now I'm gettin' back at'em by dissing their Biblical beliefs. And I'm promoting the false doctrine of universal salvation even though its never mentioned in the Bible. I'm just makin' it up as I go.

7. I'm denying that anyone anywhere needs to get saved cause ya know, everyone is already saved. Of course, Jesus never taught that and I claim to be following Him but what the hey, its a free country. I can promote any weird belief I want to promote. Is this a great country or what?

8. To prove my point I'm redefining grace to mean #7 above. No condemnation. No judgment for sin. No repentance. No salvation, well, we're all already saved even if we haven't believed in Jesus. Yeah, that's the story. We're all already saved.

9. My new gospel is palatable and non-judgmental. See, when you rework what the Bible says and chop out all the negative stuff, people will listen to your message in a bar. And if they're drunk enough, they'll think you're a cool preacher.

Wanna know what Jay Bakker really believes? Click the title of this post.

O Holy Night - Jussi Bjorling

2010-12-14T18:14:00.002-05:00

President Obama

2010-12-13T02:56:00.001-05:00

Jussi Bjorling sings Nessun Dorma

2010-12-13T00:28:00.002-05:00

7 ways to get extra CASH

2010-12-01T18:35:00.003-05:00

1. Ask your cable company to lower your bill by applying a special offer to you for the next six months or a year. If you have Internet service or phone service via cable, ask them to discount that too.

I save about $30 a month just by asking the cable company to lower my bill by applying special offers.

2. Switch your cell phone service to one of the Walmart type specials where you get talk, text and Internet unlimited for $45 a month. Why pay two to five times that much?

3. Clean out your closets and sell the stuff you don’t use on your local Craigslist. There’s no fee to sell on Craigslist and you can post pictures of your stuff. People will come over and buy it and you’ve got walking around money.

4. Sell your stuff on eBay. You’ll pay a fee for each item you sell on eBay and it takes some time and organization but thousands of people make a full-time living on eBay. I used to sell on eBay but if I want to sell something now, I use Craigslist. Its a free no hassle way to sell stuff I no longer need.

5. Dumpster dive behind apartment complexes or explore for treasure ahead of the garbage trucks. People throw out lamps, dressers, bicycles, small appliances, computers, computer monitors and all kinds of other treasure.

If you get there ahead of the garbage truck its yours for free! Be sure not to leave a mess. Take your treasures to the flea market each weekend or sell them on Craigslist.

6. Buy stuff at yard sales and resell it on Craigslist, eBay or in your local Penny Saver newspaper or at your local weekend flea market.

7. Get paid to donate blood or plasma. People who donate twice a week usually earn at least $35 per week for their donations.

Merry Christmas!

Thank You God

2010-10-25T15:16:00.001-04:00

Leg Cramps Ouch!

2010-10-25T12:00:00.005-04:00

Leg and foot cramps are experienced by most people from time to time. There are many reasons why foot cramps develop. Some are related to nutrition while other bouts of cramping are caused by excess strain on the feet themselves.

One of the more common reasons for foot cramps is old-fashioned fatigue. The most common cause of nocturnal leg cramps is calcium deficiency. Magnesium and potassium deficiency can also cause leg and foot cramps. Cramps can occur when the feet are simply tired from walking or standing for extended periods of time.

This can be especially true in situations where the walking and standing take place on a hard and unforgiving surface, such as concrete. Often, adding some cushioning inserts to the shoes will help to minimize some of the stress and strain placed on the feet and help to eliminate frequent foot cramps.

Foot pain and cramping may also be a sign of decreased circulation. When the blood flow to the extremities is not what it should be, those extremities do not receive the oxygen they need.

When it comes to the feet, an inadequate supply of oxygen can cause muscles in the feet to cramp. Addressing the health issue that is causing the decreased circulation will help to minimize the incidence of foot cramps.

A lack of essential vitamins and minerals can also lead to foot cramps.

Low potassium levels often cause cramps in both the legs and the feet. Nutritional deficiencies can be corrected by eating a balanced diet and using supplements to provide the body with anything it is not getting from the food.

A foot cramp due to poor nutrition can be reversed within a matter of days when the body begins to receive the right balance of vitamins and minerals on a daily basis.

Poor hydration may also trigger a bout of foot cramps.

Drinking water will often help; however, anyone who smokes or drinks alcohol regularly will want to try cutting back on those habits. Smoking and drinking alcohol increases the chances of dehydration and may sometimes be the root cause of foot cramps.

General health issues may also lead to foot cramps.

People with diabetes sometimes experience foot cramps due to the decreased flow of oxygen to the feet. There are treatments that help to minimize the physical discomforts brought on by diabetes and other health conditions and minimize the potential for experiencing cramping in one or both feet.

Idiopathic cramps

Most muscle cramps occurring in the foot and leg are idiopathic, (of unknown origin). The general principle of muscle is that if it is overstretched it will tend to go into spasm. Sometimes if a patient has spent the day doing a lot of activity they be more prone to night cramps that evening.

Night cramps

For most people, night cramps are an irregularly occurring problem but there are some, especially older individuals who are more prone to regular bouts.

The most common cause for leg-foot cramps is over-stretching of the muscles during the day. There are other conditions which may cause muscle cramping:

Some medicines can cause cramps as a side-effect, or make cramps occur more often.

These include: diuretics (water pills), nifedipine, cimetidine, salbutamol, terbutaline,lithium, clofibrate, morphine (withdrawal), phenothiazines, and nicotinic acid.

Other causes of muscle cramps

* Dehydration
* Conditions that cause alterations in the balance of salts in the bloodstream (such as a high or low sodium or potassium level).
* Some people who have renal (kidney) dialysis get leg cramps.
* An untreated under-active thyroid gland.
* peripheral vascular disease (narrowing of the leg arteries which causes poor circulation).
* Cirrhosis of the liver is a rare cause.
* Lead poisoning.
* Sarcoidosis.
* Rare disorders of nerves.
* Excess alcohol.

Preventing muscle cramps thru nutrition

1. Vitamin E supplements can help prevent leg cramps.
2. Magnesium supplements can help prevent leg cramps.
3. Drink six to eight glasses of water daily. Doing so will help
prevent dehydration, which may play a role in the cramping.
4. Form the habit of stretching calves and feet throughout the day and also at night if you get cramps.

Exercises to prevent cramps

Nocturnal muscle cramps can often be prevented by doing leg-stretching exercises, such as the one outlined below.

1. Stand 30 inches from the wall.
2. While keeping your heels on the floor, lean forward, put your hands on the wall, and slowly move your hands up the wall as far as you can reach comfortably.
3. Hold the stretched position for 30 seconds. Release.
4. Repeat steps 1 through 3 two more times.
5. For best results, practice this exercise in the morning, before your evening meal, and before going to bed each night.

Acupressure and massage

Acupressure or massage may help to ease the cramping once it’s started. Sit and bend the knee of your cramped leg, bringing your leg up toward your chest.

There is an acupressure point in your calf muscle on the back of your leg. It’s about halfway between the back of your knee and your heel, at the bottom of your calf muscle bulge. Press and hold there for about a minute or until you feel the cramp release – remember to keep breathing while you do.

You can also try gently massaging the back of your leg with long strokes upwards, from your heel to the back of your knee using the palm of your hand

Neuropathy is different than muscle cramps

It is important to differentiate leg pain from cramps. Neuropathy (nerve damage), sciatica, as well as clogged arteries in the leg (vascular disease) can cause leg pain.

These types of pain tend to occur throughout the day and not just at night. Vascular disease also causes cramping with walking. In vascular disease, nighttime pain is relieved with hanging the foot over the bed so that gravity draws more
blood into the feet.

Poor circulation also causes poor healing that results in persistent sores (ulcers). Leg cramps that occur at rest may have a different cause and treatment than cramps associated with activity.

Leg cramps are different than restless leg syndrome

Nocturnal leg cramps must be distinguished from restless leg syndrome, which is a crawling, uncomfortable sensation that forces you to get up and move your legs.

Junk food can make muscle cramps worse

Eating sugary foods forces your body to use magnesium just to metabolize the sweet stuff. Soft drinks contain phosphates, which experts say also deplete your body of magnesium and calcium.

Foods to avoid if you have leg and foot cramps

Soft drinks
Sugary sweet baked goods
Caffeine
Salt or sodium

Foods containing calcium are helpful

Milk
Yogurt
Cheese
Salmon
Sardines

Foods containing lots of magnesium are helpful

Tuna
Banana
Dried figs
Barley
Oatmeal
Whole wheat flour
Prune juice
Canned milk
Yogurt
Almonds
Cashews
Beans
-baked
-black
-kidney
-lima
-navy
-pinto
-white
-refried

Broccoli
Cornmeal
Pumpkin
Spinach
Sweet potatoes
Tomatoes

Foods containing potassium are helpful

Apricots
Raisins
Potato chips (low fat)
All Bran
Wheatgerm
Dried fruits
Unsalted nuts
Baked potato
Bran flakes
Sardines
Bananas
Dates

The info in this post is quoted from Internet sources.

Jesus and ER

2010-07-19T03:48:00.002-04:00

Will God answer my prayers and show me what to do?

2010-07-07T13:02:00.006-04:00

What is the right path for me?

Is it reasonable for Christians to expect God to show us what to do?

Yes, the Bible is clear that God provides leadership and direction to His people.

1. Expect God to honor the promises in His written word. See verses below.

2. From an obedient heart, claim these promises in your own life. See verses below.

3. Expect God to answer your prayers for guidance. Praying for rain and then not carrying your umbrella is a silly way to pray. Believing prayer based on the promises of God gets results.

4. When God provides guidance obey Him and do what He shows you to do.

5. Guidance may come through circumstances, one door closing and another door opening, a job offer or transfer to another area, an opportunity disguised as a duty like taking care of an aging relative, a defeat or setback which prompts you to change course or let go of something that wasn't working very well in your life anyway, etc.

Bible Verses About Guidance

"I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you shall go: I will guide you with my eye." -Psalm 32:8, American KJV

"Call to me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you know not." -Jeremiah 33:3, American KJV

"Trust in the LORD with all your heart; and lean not to your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct your paths." -Proverbs 3:5-6, American KJV

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delights in his way." -Psalms 37:23, American KJV

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that gives to all men liberally, and upbraids not; and it shall be given him." -James 1:5, American KJV

"The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way." -Psalm 25:9, American KJV

"What man is he that fears the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose." -Psalm 25:12, American KJV

"You shall guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory." -Psalm 73:24, American KJV

"Your word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." -Psalm 119:105, American KJV

"And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, This is the way, walk you in it, when you turn to the right hand, and when you turn to the left." -Isaiah 30:21, American KJV

"Thus said the LORD, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; I am the LORD your God which teaches you to profit, which leads you by the way that you should go." -Isaiah 48:17, American KJV

"Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." -John 8:12, American KJV

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Jim Elliot and friends; did they have to die?

2010-06-21T14:13:00.003-04:00

Sometimes in the muddle of life, it is difficult to discern God's hand. Its easy to drift into routine, forgetting that God is at work, usually behind the scenes but at work nonetheless.

If you are stressed and worn, thinking perhaps God has stopped working in your life, take courage from the example of Jim and Elisabeth Elliot.

Not One Thing Has Failed
by Elisabeth Elliot

I love to read people's journals. Except for one which I was allowed to read in the original handwriting, that of my late husband Jim Elliot, I have had to limit myself to published journals--those, for example of David Brainerd, early missionary to American Indians; Katherine Mansfield, short-story writer from New Zealand; Anne Morrow Lindbergh, wife of the famous pilot; and Mircea Eliade, Rumanian professor of the history of religion at the University of Chicago.

Jim Elliot was a jungle missionary in Ecuador. He died in 1958 when Warani warriors attacked Jim and four missionary friends. Their story of courage is told in this dramatic movie.

Jim started his journal as a means of self-discipline. He began to get up early in the morning during his junior year in college to read the Bible and pray before classes. He was realistic enough to recognize the slim chances of fitting in any serious study and prayer later in the day. If it had priority on his list of things that mattered, it had to have chronological priority. To see that he did not waste the dearly-bought time, he began to note down on paper specific things he learned from the Word and specific things he asked for in prayer.

"It is not written as a diary of my experiences or feelings," he recorded in his journal, "but as a 'book of remembrance' to enable me to ask definitely by forcing myself to put yearnings into words. All I have asked has not been given and the Father's withholding has served to intensify my desires.... He promises water to the thirsty, satiation to the unsatisfied (I do not say dissatisfied), filling to the famished for righteousness. So has His concealing of Himself given me longings that can only be slaked when Psalm 17:15 ['As for me I shall behold thy face in righteousness; when I awake I shall be satisfied with beholding thy form'] is realized" (From The Journals of Jim Elliot, ed. Elisabeth Elliot. Old Tappan, N.J.: Fleming H. Revell).

"All I have asked has not been given."

Not, that is, in the way or at the time he might have predicted. Jim beheld the longed-for Face much sooner than he expected. It is startling to see, from the perspective of nearly thirty years, how much of what he asked was given, and given beyond his dreaming.

In his meditations on the Revelation of John, Jim prayed for a greater love for God's church, which he saw "in a shambling ruins," sadly in need of awakening to her calling. "And where shall an overcomer be found? Alas, they all witness that there is no need for overcoming....

But Christ was among the churches. The tarnish of the lamp stand did not send Him away from them; He is still in their midst. Ah, turn me, Lord Jesus, to see Thee in Thy concern for Thy witness and let me write, publish, and send to the church what things I see."

Knowing Jim and the context in which he wrote, I am quite certain it was beyond his dreaming to publish a book. He wanted to witness. He wanted to preach. He was called to be a missionary. But he did not imagine himself a published author. The way this came about (his posthumous notoriety) cannot have entered the frame-work of his prayer.

When Jim prayed for revival he was instructed by reading in David Brainerd's diary how a revival came when Brainerd was sick, discouraged, and cast down, "little expecting that God had chosen the hour of his weakness," Jim wrote, "for manifestation of His strength."

"I visited Indians at Crossweeksung," Brainerd records, "Apprehending that it was my indispensable duty.... I cannot say I had any hopes of success. I do not know that my hopes respecting the conversion of the Indians were ever reduced to so low an ebb...

yet this was the very season that God saw fittest to begin His glorious work in! And thus He ordained strength out of weakness... whence I learn that it is good to follow the path of duty, though in the midst of darkness and discouragement."

Following the quotation from David Brainerd Jim includes in the journal a quotation I had sent him from a book which had encouraged me. At that time I was working for the Canadian Sunday School Mission in the bush country of Alberta. My own journal of the first day says, "It is a new and strange experience and I feel keenly my need of the mighty Fortress."

On the second day, "I woke at 4:30 with the farm fowl. Made a small breakfast and cleaned up my little home [a fourteen-foot trailer]. In the hot stillness of the afternoon I felt desolate, helpless, lonely, discouraged. Was helped by Deuteronomy 1:29, 30: 'Then I said to you, Do not be in dread or afraid of them. The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you."'

Jessie Penn-Lewis's book Thy Hidden Ones showed me God's purpose in my isolation and helplessness. It was her words I sent in a letter to Jim: "In the Holy Spirit's leading of the soul through the stripping of what may be called 'consecrated self,' and its activity, it is important that there should be a fulfillment of all outward duty, that the believer may learn to act on principle rather than on pleasant impulse."

It was a spiritual lesson that was to fortify me through countless later experiences when feelings or impulses contributed nothing to an inclination toward obedience. God allows the absence of feeling or, more often, the presence of strong negative feeling that we may simply follow, simply obey, simply trust.

Jim saw, in reading Brainerd, the value of his own journals. He also "was much encouraged to think of a life of godliness in the light of an early death... Christianity has been analyzed, decried, refused by some; coolly eyed, submitted to, and its forms followed by others who call themselves Christians. But alas, what emptiness in both!

"I have prayed for new men, fiery, reckless men, possessed of uncontrollably youthful passion--these lit by the Spirit of God. I have prayed for new words, explosive, direct, simple words. I have prayed for new miracles. Explaining old miracles will not do.

If God is to be known as the God who does wonders in heaven and earth, then God must produce for this generation. Lord, fill preachers and preaching with Thy power. How long dare we go on without tears, without moral passions, hatred and love? Not long, I pray, Lord Jesus, not long." I read these prayers now with awe--new men, new words, new miracles all granted as a result of this young man's death.

The next day, October 28, 1949, when Jim was twenty-two years old he wrote, "He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose." This was the lesson he found in Luke 16:9, "Make friends for yourself by means of unrighteous mammon, so that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations."

The lesson had one application for him in that early morning devotional hour. He did not know how poignantly it would be applied in his life, how aptly illustrated in his death, and how often quoted in the years following.

He wrote in 1953 of watching an Indian die in a jungle house. "And so it will come to me one day, I kept thinking. I wonder if that little phrase I used to use in preaching was something of a prophecy: 'Are you willing to lie in some native hut to die of a disease American doctors never heard of?'

I am still willing, Lord God. Whatever You say shall stand at my end time. But oh, I want to live to teach Your word. Lord, let me live 'until I have declared Thy works to this generation."'

God let him live another three years and then answered that prayer as he answers so many--mysteriously. Five men from a little Stone Age tribe speared him to death. "We thought he had come to eat us," they told me several years later when I had learned their language.

"Why did you think so?" I asked, holding the tiny microphone of a transistor recorder to the mouth of Gikita, the man who seemed to have made the decision to use his spear first.

He laughed. "Unungi!" "For no reason. For no particular purpose."

But the God who holds in his hand the breath of every living thing had a purpose.

He answered Jim's prayer mysteriously, and "exceedingly abundantly above all" that he had asked or thought. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Jim's generation for whom he had prayed were brought to their knees, some of them in lifelong surrender to the call of Christ.

Now another generation, born since Jim died, is reading the record of his young manhood - the days which seemed so sterile, so useless, so devoid of any feelings of holiness, when God was at work shaping the character of a man who was to be his witness; the prayers which seemed to go unheard at the time, kept--as all the prayers of all his children are kept, incense for God--and answered after what would have seemed to Jim a long delay.

I think of the farewell message of old Joshua to the elders, heads, judges and officers of Israel: "Be steadfast ... cleave to the Lord ... love the Lord your God.... You know in your hearts and souls, all of you, that not one thing has failed of all the good things which the Lord your God promised concerning you; all have come to pass for you, not one of them has failed."

Copyright 1979, by Elisabeth Elliot,
all rights reserved.

Listen to Aristides

2010-06-20T09:55:00.004-04:00

Aristides was an Athenian Christian philosopher who died around AD 134. He is famous for his oration before the Roman Emperor Hadrian, around AD 124 in which he defended Christianity as superior to any pagan religion.

Aristides free quotes from Romans 1 in his oration, citing male-male sex as an example of idolatry. This impacts our understanding of Romans 1:26-27.

When a native Greek speaking Christian, within 70 years of the writing of Romans, publicly identifies Paul's words in Romans 1 with pagan worship of false gods, we have a strong clue that Romans 1 is not talking about homosexuality in general.

Isn't it about time we stopped to listen to Aristides?

Journey To Everest

2010-06-18T12:41:00.004-04:00

Journey to Everest Trailer from Epiphany Productions on Vimeo.

Life is a precious gift from God, full of blank pages we get to fill in one day at a time. Life is God's affirmation that He isn't through with us, that we can still grow, still serve, still tackle great adventures with God.

Life is God's promise writ large that He will give us everything we need to face enormous challenges and succeed, in Jesus' Name.

Life is not for the faint-hearted. Every day we face not only the joy of incredible adventure but the possibility of dismal failure.

Fear of failure causes many people to back off from God's grand adventures, avoiding life's challenges but that kind of life is hardly worth living.

Don't live in a way you'll regret twenty years from now.

You can do exactly the same thing every day for the rest of this year that you did last year and expect different results (that's the classic definition of insanity, by the way) or you can launch out into the deep.

Launching out into the deep with God is living expectantly every day trusting God to lead you through every adventure He has planned.

You can pursue the greatest opportunities, the most incredible adventures with God as your Intimate Companion if you have the courage.

And really, how much courage does it take? God has already promised: "I will never leave you nor forsake you."

With that guarantee why fear any adventure for God?

With that guarantee why waste any day without daring something bold for God?

Wretched Excess

2010-06-14T11:55:00.003-04:00

You can build a
Hobbit House
As I prepare to wander the country, I'll be looking for that special southfacing hillside under a fingernail moon, there to build by hand my own small hobbit house.

I don't plan on living in it always but only using it as a home base, a place of retreat from time to time when I weary of travel.

When I was in high school, my best friend Paul Warner and his family spent part of every summer traveling the USA in their pick-up camper. I always envied Paul the excitement of summer travel and thought that one day I would love to travel in a motorhome.

Imagine having your living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom always with you. Wherever you stop you're home. No unpacking, no moving into and out of a motel room. Traveling by camper or motorhome is convenient and fun.

Summer of 2009 my high school graduating class celebrated our 40th anniversary. I didn't make it to the celebration but what an incredible milestone to reach. Its hard to believe so many years have passed since we left high school and entered the world of adult responsibilities.

Which brings me to wretched excess. I'm selling my beloved books (including my cookbook collection with 1100+ cookbooks), my furniture and other possessions, moving with elan and determination toward voluntary simplicity as I prepare to sell the house and move into a cargo van which I'll convert into a mini-motorhome.

This week the collapse of a shelving unit in the master bedroom closet drove home the fact of my wretched excess.

I hung too many pairs of slacks on hangers and piled too many folded polo shirts and blankets on the shelf above the slacks until the screws pulled loose from the wall and everything tumbled to the floor.

As I cleaned up the mess I counted the slacks and shirts.

64 pairs of dress and casual slacks

94 shirts

plus excess shoes, sweaters, walking shorts and more.

I am amazed at what I've accumulated. Two years ago I went through the same closet and gave away 40 pairs of slacks and about 60 shirts. They seem to multiply when I'm not watching.

Moving into a small space requires stern self-discipline and severe thinning out of my wardrobe and everything else I own. I'll be moving from a 1600 sq. ft. house into a 100 sq. ft. Mercedes powered cargo van. It won't be easy deciding what goes and what stays but I love a challenge.

Once I've sold the antiques, the books, the wretched excess of clothing and shoes and the antique American pressed glass and other knic knacs inherited from my great-grandmother, life may seem spartan for awhile.

Yet the Bible tells us "a man's life doesn't consist in the abundance of things which he possesses." -Luke 12:15
Sometimes less is more.

Voluntary simplicity will free me from being possessed by my possessions. Without the necessity of supporting a sticks and bricks home and keeping a roof over all my stuff, I'll experience a new birth of freedom.

I'll roam the country at will, enjoying a backyard view of mountains one day and seacoast the next. Living expenses will be cut to the bone.

Instead of being forced to earn money to support a house I'll be free to live simply. Focused on living life and exploring the country, I'll chase my dreams instead of being tied to a piece of real estate till death us do part.

But what will you do for a home, someone asked? That my dear, is for upcoming Blog entries.

Passing out gospel tracts IS Free Speech

2010-05-23T17:09:00.004-04:00

I spend part of every weekend passing out gospel tracts and witnessing for Jesus. Sunday afternoon I went to the Riverwalk Arts Festival in Milton, FL to pass out million and trillion dollar bill gospel tracts.

I've passed out tracts and witnessed at other Milton festivals and never had a problem but Sunday was different. A representative of the Riverwalk Arts Festival to whom I had given a tract approached me and said:

"You can't pass those out here. There are other people who paid to have a booth and they're passing out literature. You need to pay for a booth if you want to pass out your literature."

I patiently explained that we were on a public street and that since I am a Santa Rosa County property owner and a business owner, my free speech rights extend to passing out tracts on a public street.

She responded: "Yes but I rented this street for the festival and you don't have the right to be passing out literature if you haven't rented a booth."

I explained that the First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees me the right of free speech and the Supreme Court says that extends to passing out gospel literature on public streets and sidewalks.

At this point she was getting red in the face. She asked: "Why do people like you always think its alright to get a free ride on someone else's dime? If you want to pass out literature why don't you pay for a booth like everyone else?"

Again I patiently explained that in America we have the right to free speech and passing out tracts in public places. We aren't required to get a booth.

I then asked her if she was a Christian. She replied, "Yes I am."

I asked: "Why would you as a Christian object to me passing out gospel tracts and telling people about Jesus?"

She repeated what she had already said, I should pay for a booth and be part of the community instead of freeloading while others pay.

I explained that I own a business and two pieces of real estate in Santa Rosa County and that I am part of the community.

Since she was growing angrier and more red, I suggested we find a law enforcement officer and get his input on whether or not I have the freedom to pass out gospel tracts on a public street.

At that point she told me just go ahead and pass them out and she walked away and I continued passing out gospel tracts and talking to people about Jesus.

Sometimes its interesting to discover who opposes you when you pass out gospel tracts and witness for Jesus. Sometimes the opposition comes from professing Christians more than from unsaved people.

I encourage you to witness for Jesus and pass out gospel tracts. Its one of our responsibilities as Christians to witness and tell others about Jesus.

And by the way, Federal Courts and the Supreme Court have decided many cases in favor of our freedom to witness and preach and pass out gospel tracts in public places.

Freedom of Speech and
Freedom of Religion

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances." -the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

“Leafleting, sign display, and oral communications are protected by the First Amendment.” Hill v. Colorado, 530 U.S. 703, 715 (2000).

“The fact that the messages conveyed by [leafleting, sign displays and oral communications] may be offensive to their recipients does not deprive them of constitutional protection.” Glasson v. City of Louisville, 518 F.2d 899, 904 (6th Cir 1975).

“It is well settled that a municipality cannot place content-based restrictions on the protected exercise of speech.” Deborah Kay Anderson et al v. Charter Township of Plymouth, Michigan, et al, USDC CN.02-73056 in order granting Preliminary Injunction.

“We have repeatedly referred to public streets as the archetype of a traditional public forum.” Frisby v. Schultz, 487 U.S. 474, 479 (1988).

“Wherever the title of streets and parks may rest, they have immemorially been held in trust for the use of the public and, time out of mind, have been used for purpose of assembly, communicating thoughts between citizens, and discussing public questions.” Hague v. C.I.O., 307 U.S. 496 at 515 (1939).

Federal Court of Appeals, Florida, 1972: Hostile audience is not basis for restraining otherwise legal first amendment activity. U.S.C.A. Const. Amend. I (Collie v. Chicago Park Dist., 460 F. 2d. 746).

Federal Court of Appeals, Florida, 1974: Public expression of ideas may not be prohibited merely because ideas are themselves of offensive to some of their hearers. West's F.S.A. 877.03; U.S.C.A. Const. Amend. I (Wiegand v. Seaver, 504 F. 2d. 303).

“A function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger. Speech is often provocative and challenging. It may strike at prejudices and preconceptions and have profound unsettling effects as it presses for acceptance of an idea. That is why freedom of speech... is... protected against censorship or punishment... There is no room under our Constitution for a more restrictive view” (Terminiello v. City of Chicago, 337US 1) (1949), at 3-5).

“The fact that society may find speech offensive is not a sufficient reason for suppressing it. Indeed, if it is the speaker’s opinion that gives offense, that consequence is a reason for according it Constitutional protection.” Simon & Shuster, Inc. v. Members of New York State Crime Victims Bd., 502 U.S. 105, 118 (1991). See also Forsyth County v. Nationalist Movement, 505 U.S. 123, 134-35 (1992)/ Erznoznik, 422 U.S. at 210/ Cohen v. California, 403 U.S. 15,21 (1971).

“Our decisions establish that mere public intolerance or animosity cannot be the basis for abridgement of these constitutional freedoms... The First and Fourteenth Amendments do not permit a state to make criminal the exercise of the right to assembly simply because its exercise may be “annoying” to some people.” Coates v. City of Cincinnati, 402 U.S. 611, 91 S.Ct. 1686, 1689 (1921).

“Reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on free expression and their enforcement cannot be based on speech thereby restricted.” Davenport v. City of Alexandria, Virginia 683 F.2d 853, on rehearing 710 F.2d. 148.

“The right to speak carries the right to be heard... Freedom to be heard is as vital to freedom of speech, as freedom to circulate is to freedom of press... [When] the right to be heard is placed in the uncontrolled discretion of the Chief of Police... He stands athwart the channels of communication as an obstruction which can be removed only after criminal trial and conviction and lengthy appeal. A more effective previous restraint is difficult to imagine.” Saia v. New York, 334 U.S. 559.

“Freedom of speech is protected against censorship or punishment unless shown likely to produce a clear and present danger of a serious substantive evil that rises far above public inconvenience, annoyance, or unrest... There is not room under our Constitution for a more restrictive view.” Edwards v. South Carolina, 372 U.S. 229 (1963) at 703.

[For Pennsylvania Use] “Civil law may, at times, give way to religious beliefs.” Commonwealth v. Barnhart, 345 Pa. Supp. Ct. 9.

“The right to speak carries the right to be heard.” Saia v. New York, 334 U.S. 559.

“Annoyance at ideas can be cloaked in annoyance at sound.” Saia v. New York, 334 U.S. 562.

“The native power of human speech can interfere little with the self-protection of those who do not wish to listen.” Saia v. New York, 334 U.S. 558, 568.

“The ordinance also proscribes conduct that tends to disturb or annoy. The language of the ordinance is both vague and overbroad. The constitutionally protected exercise of free speech frequently causes a disturbance, for the very purpose of the First Amendment is to stimulate the creation and communication of new, and therefore often controversial ideas. The prohibition against conduct that tends to disturb another would literally make it a crime to deliver an unpopular speech that resulted in a disturbance. Such a restriction is a clearly invalid restriction of constitutionally protected free expression.” Gardner v. Ceci, 312 F2d. 516/ Landry v. Daley, 280 F. Supp. 968.

“The phrases leave determination of what is legal behavior to the unfettered and arbitrary discretion of the individual “person in authority”, and is unconstitutionally broad.” Shuttleworth v. city of Birmingham, 394 U.S. 147/ 89 S. Ct. 935/ Gardner v. Ceci, 312 F2d. 516.

Borrowed from Reuben Israel's
Official Street Preachers Website

Yes, I am aware that Brother Reuben is anti-gay. He's wrong on that issue but right about our free speech rights, our Christian duty to tell others about Jesus and the absolute necessity of trusting Jesus Christ alone by faith alone, without any works being involved, as your Savior from sin.

Logan Sky Angel Cowboy

2010-04-29T18:55:00.003-04:00

From Logan's Mom-

"Wow, is the only word I can think of when I think of what God has done through this phone call that Logan made over a year ago. God continues to use it to minister to people around the world. Some are encouraged and struck with emotion. Others have found healing for their hearts through the phone call. Some have even come to Christ through the message.

The Holy Spirit has definitely been at work through this from the beginning. Logan, from the beginning, has been humble about all that has happened and even has had the 'deer in the headlights' look at the response that he continues to receive.

To him, he was just sharing his heart from a life experience on the ranch and expressing what God had laid on his heart.

This message is going around the world again. Millions of people have heard it and they continue to share it with others.

Logan still gets cards, emails and phone calls every week. We still do interviews here and there. We love to talk about what all God has done through this one phone call. Logan's Dad and I desire for the message to continue to be used according to God's plan, for many to come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior and Lord of their life, and for God to guide Logan in how to continue to use this gift of communicating that he has been given."

Logan and his sister

Ed Koch compares Obama to Neville Chamberlain

2010-04-02T00:58:00.004-04:00

According to the Bible, Jesus the Messiah is coming back to restore Israel to their land and rule over them for 1000 years, Revelation 20.

You Can KNOW God's Will

2010-03-22T00:58:00.002-04:00

1. Its God's will that you get saved - 1 Timothy 2:4

2. Its God's will that you be filled with the Spirit - Ephesians 5:17-18

3. Its God's will that you be sanctified or separated - 1 Thessalonians 4:3

a. from sin
b. from sexual immorality
c. from lust
d. from dishonesty (defrauding anyone)

4. Its God's will that you be submissive to God - James 4:7

a. submit to each other - humility - Ephesians 5:21
b. submit to spiritual shepherds - Hebrews 13:17
c. submit to civil government - 1 Peter 2:13, Romans 13:1-2

5. Its God's will that you suffer - 1 Peter 3:17, 5:10 - you can't do right and get away with it.

Jesus suffered - Hebrews 5:8 and in human flesh, learned obedience by the things which He suffered.

Suffering teaches you lessons you can't learn any other way.

I walked a mile with pleasure;
She chattered all the way.
Yet none was I the wiser,
For all she had to say.

I walked a mile with sorrow,
And not a word said she.
But oh the lessons I learned that day
When sorrow walked with me.

6. Its God's will that you be thankful - 1 Thessalonians 5:18 - give thanks IN everything, not FOR everything

Conclusion: If you're doing these six things, you can do anything you want.

How so?

Because of Psalm 37:4

"Delight yourself also in the LORD: and he shall give you the desires of your heart.

Commit your way to the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass." -Psalm 37:4-5, American King James Version

When you're doing the six things above and delighting yourself in the LORD, you will want what He wants for you.

My Dad died Friday morning

2010-03-21T11:29:00.003-04:00

L.H. "Brent" Brentlinger
August 9, 1921 - March 19, 2010

My father died early Friday morning, in Pandora, OH. He was 88. For the last few days of his life, he was in a comatose state. My sister Chris spent most of Friday sitting with him because she knew he was in the end-stage of life. About 9:30 in the evening she went home, took a shower and was getting ready for bed.

She told Steve, her husband, that she wasn't sleepy and she was going back to the nursing home to sit with Dad for a while. In his comatose state, Dad wasn't moving at all. He was lying peacefully, not in distress. Chris said at 3:51 in the morning, Dad raised his head, opened his eyes, looked at the ceiling and a big smile brightened his face, then he laid his head back on the pillow and was gone.

We had been praying that the Lord would take him home so its a blessing to know he is now in heaven with Mom, my two brothers David and Dan, who died several years ago and with so many others he knew who were already in heaven.

For the first time in his life, Dad is seeing in person, the Jesus who saved him and Whom he served so faithfully on earth.

Dad told my sister several months ago that he wanted to close his eyes on earth and open them in heaven and that's exactly what he did.

Here is the Obituary I wrote for Dad.

L.H. "Brent" Brentlinger, formerly of Pace, FL, was a member of Bible Baptist Church, Pace, FL and an avid witness to the grace of God in Jesus Christ, was born on August 9, 1921, in Wapakoneta, Ohio and died in Pandora, Ohio on March 19, 2010, at age 88. His wife, Connie preceded him in death on January 3, 2002, after 55 years of marriage. Brent and Connie got saved in 1951 and God radically changed their lives. Brent was the loving father of six children, Rick, of Pace, FL, Chris (Sandy), John, Dan and David (both deceased) and James and proud grandfather of 13 grandchildren.

Brent served for three years as an Army Medic, first in New Guinea and later in the Philippines during World War II, finishing his tour of duty as part of the Army of Occupation in Japan. In civilian life Brent was a Master Tool & Die maker, an Independent Baptist Deacon at Northside Baptist Church in Lima, Ohio, Sunday School Superintendent, Bible teacher and witness for Jesus Christ. A strong believer in the power of prayer, it gave Brent great joy to know that all of his children had trusted Jesus Christ as Savior.

Brent will be interred beside his loving wife Connie, at Barrancas National Cemetery, Pensacola, FL. He requested that no service be held for him. In lieu of flowers, Brent encouraged those who knew him to support Bible believing missionaries who preach the gospel around the world.

Gay Christian Mall

2010-03-17T16:39:00.004-04:00

We have built a stand alone Amazon Affiliate Store for our GayChristian101.com website. We call it Gay Christian Mall. Click the title to see our store.

GayChristian101.com provides hundreds of pages of FREE information and resources to the GLBT community around the world.

When you purchase something from Amazon through our Gay Christian Mall, you pay the same price you would normally pay.

And all your purchases are protected by Amazon's superb security and excellent customer service. Because we're advertising for Amazon, they pay us a small percentage based on what you buy.

That small percentage helps us pay the bills and keep GayChristian101.com online, providing FREE information for tens of thousands of visitors each month.

Your support - buying things through our store - is a great way to partner with us in this gay Christian ministry. It costs you nothing extra but it helps us get God's truth to thousands of people. Thank You!

If you'd like to post a Link to Gay Christian Mall on your Blog or website, feel free to do so. Here's the address of Gay Christian Mall.

http://astore.amazon.com/gaychri-20

Many thanks! -Rick

Leather Jackets and Atheists

2010-03-15T16:45:00.002-04:00

The Gospel is more than...

2010-03-14T03:01:00.003-04:00

The gospel is more than feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, helping the sick...

God designed the gospel to be the good news that our sin debt was paid by Jesus, dying in our place, as our Substitute...

He shed His sinless blood to pay the penalty for our sins, "God made him to be sin for us," and then He arose from the dead so that we could be saved. -1 Corinthians 15:1-4

How To Witness For Jesus

2010-03-08T19:27:00.002-05:00

What will happen if you witness faithfully for Jesus Christ, week by week, year in and year out?

Aggie Hurst

2010-03-07T00:53:00.005-05:00

I want to encourage you that God has a purpose for everything He allows in our lives, including the bad, hurtful, difficult things which defy human logic and make us feel as if God has forsaken us.

In truth, God has neither forgotten nor forsaken you. I read this story online tonight and wanted to pass it along to you. It reminds us of God's faithfulness, even in the most terrible of circumstances.

In 1921, a missionary couple named David and Svea Flood went with their two-year-old son David, from Sweden to the heart of Africa—to what was then called the Belgian Congo. They met up with another young Scandinavian couple, the Ericksons, and the four of them sought God for direction. In those days of much tenderness and devotion and sacrifice, they felt led of the Lord to go out from the main mission station and take the gospel to a remote area.

This was a huge step of faith. At the remote village of N'dolera they were rebuffed by the chief, who would not let them enter his village for fear of alienating the local gods. The two couples opted to go half a mile up the slope and build their own mud huts.

They prayed for a spiritual breakthrough, but there was none. Their only contact with the villagers was a young boy, who was allowed to sell them chickens and eggs twice a week. Svea Flood — a tiny woman missionary only four feet, eight inches tall, decided that if this was the only African she could talk to, she would try to lead the boy to Jesus. And in fact, after many weeks of loving and witnessing to him, he trusted Christ as his Savior.

But there were no other encouragements. Meanwhile, malaria continued to strike one member of the little band after another. In time the Ericksons decided they had had enough suffering and left to return to the central mission station. David and Svea Flood remained near N'dolera to go on alone.

Then, of all things, Svea found herself pregnant in the middle of the primitive wilderness. When the time came for her to give birth (1923), the village chief softened enough to allow a midwife to help her. A little girl was born, whom they named Aina (A-ee-nah).

The delivery, however, was exhausting, and Svea Flood was already weak from bouts of malaria. The birth process was a heavy blow to her stamina. After seventeen desperate days of prayer and struggle, she died.

Inside David Flood, something snapped in that moment. His heart full of bitterness, he dug a crude grave, buried his twenty-seven-year-old wife and took his children back down the mountain to the mission station. Giving his newborn daughter to the Ericksons, he said, "I'm going back to Sweden. I've lost my wife, and I can't take care of this baby. God has ruined my life." With two year old David, he headed for the coast, rejecting not only his calling, but God himself.

Within eight months both the Ericksons were stricken with a mysterious illness (some believe they were poisoned by a local chief who hated the missionaries) and died within days of each other. The nine month old baby Aina was given to an American missionary couple named Berg, who adjusted her Swedish name to "Aggie" and eventually brought her back to the United States at age three.

The Bergs loved little Aggie but were afraid that if they tried to return to Africa, some legal obstacle might separate her from them since they had at that time, been unable to legally adopt her. So they decided to stay in the United States and switch from missionary work to pastoral ministry. And that is how Aggie grew up in South Dakota. As a young woman, she attended North Central Bible college in Minneapolis. There she met and married a young preacher named Dewey Hurst.

Years passed. The Hursts enjoyed a fruitful ministry. Aggie gave birth first to a daughter, then a son. In time her husband became president of a Christian college in the Seattle area, and Aggie was intrigued to find so much Scandinavian heritage there.

One day around 1963, a Swedish religious magazine appeared in her mailbox. She had no idea who sent it, and of course she couldn't read the words. But as she turned the pages, all of a sudden a photo stopped her cold. There in a primitive setting in the heart of Africa was a grave with a white cross and on the cross was her mother's name, SVEA FLOOD.

Aggie jumped in her car and drove straight to a college faculty member who, she knew, could translate the article. "What does this say?" she asked.

The instructor translated the story:

It tells about missionaries who went to N'dolera in the heart of the Belgian Congo in 1921... the birth of a white baby girl... the death of the young missionary mother... the one little African boy who had been led to Christ... and how, after the all whites had left, the little African boy grew up and persuaded the chief to let him build a school in the village.

The article told how that gradually the now grown up boy won all his students to Christ... the children led their parents to Christ... even the chief had become a Christian. Today (1963) there were six hundred Christian believers in that one village.

Because of the willingness of David and Svea Flood to answer God's call to Africa, because they endured so much but were still faithful to witness and lead one little boy to trust Jesus, God had saved six hundred people. And the little boy, as a grown man, became head of the Pentacostal Church and leader of 110,000 Christians in Zaire (formerly the Belgian Congo).

At the time Svea Flood died, it appeared, to human reason, that God had led the young couple to Africa, only to desert them in their time of deepest need. It would be forty years before God's amazing grace and His real plan for the village of N'dolera would be known.

For Rev. Dewey and Aggie Hurst's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary, the college presented them with the gift of a vacation to Sweden. There Aggie met her biological father. An old man now, David Flood had remarried, fathered four more children, and generally dissipated his life with alcohol. He had recently suffered a stroke. Still bitter, he had one rule in his family: "Never mention the name of God because God took everything from me."

After an emotional reunion with her half brothers and half sister, Aggie brought up the subject of seeing her father. The others hesitated. "You can talk to him," they replied, "even though he's very ill now. But you need to know that whenever he hears the name of God, he flies into a rage."

Aggie could not be deterred. She walked into the squalid apartment, with liquor bottles everywhere, and approached the seventy-three-year-old man lying in a rumpled bed.

"Papa?" she said tentatively.

He turned and began to cry. "Aina," he said, "I never meant to give you away."

"It's all right Papa," she replied, taking him gently in her arms. "God took care of me."

The man instantly stiffened. The tears stopped.

"God forgot all of us. Our lives have been like this because of Him." He turned his face back to the wall.

Aggie stroked his face and then continued, undaunted.

"Papa, I've got a little story to tell you, and it's a true one.

You didn't go to Africa in vain. Mama didn't die in vain.

The little boy you both won to the Lord grew up to win that whole village to Jesus Christ. The one seed you planted just kept growing and growing. Today (about 1964) there are six hundred African people serving the Lord because you and Momma were faithful to the call of God on your life."

"Papa, Jesus loves you. He has never hated you."

The old man turned back to look into his daughter's eyes. His body relaxed. He began to talk. And by the end of the afternoon, he had come back to the God he had resented for so many decades.

Over the next few days, father and daughter enjoyed warm moments together. Aggie and her husband soon had to return to America—and within a few weeks, David Flood had gone into eternity.

A few years later, the Hursts were attending a high-level evangelism conference in London, England, where a report was given from the nation of Zaire (the former Belgian Congo). The superintendent of the national church, representing some 110,000 baptized believers, spoke eloquently of the gospel's spread in his nation. Aggie could not help going up afterward to ask him if he had ever heard of David and Svea Flood. "I am their daughter."

The man began to weep. "Yes, madam," the man replied in French, his words then being translated into English.

"It was Svea Flood who led me to Jesus Christ. I was the boy who brought food to your parents before you were born. In fact, to this day your mother's grave and her memory are honored by all of us."

He embraced her in a long, sobbing hug. Then he continued, "You must come to Africa to see, because your mother is the most famous person in our history."

In time that is exactly what Aggie Hurst and her husband did. They were welcomed by cheering throngs of villagers. She even met the man who so many years before, when she was less than a month old, had been hired by her father to carry her down the mountain in a soft bark hammock.

The most dramatic moment, of course, was when the pastor escorted Aggie to see her mother's grave, marked with a white cross, for herself. She knelt in the soil of Africa, the place of her birth, to pray and give thanks. Later that day, in the church service, the pastor read from John 12:24:

"I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds."

He then followed with Psalm 126:5: "They who sow in tears shall reap in joy."

(An excerpt from Aggie Hurst, Aggie: The Inspiring Story of A Girl Without A Country [Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing House, 1986].)

Personal note:

Sometimes I get so discouraged with my life because I feel like a failure. Life always seems like a struggle, with much difficulty, loneliness and hardship and little visible success for the cause of Christ.

Reading this story of God's faithfulness behind the scenes in a situation which looked like disaster but which God used to bring hundreds of people to salvation encourages me that God is faithful even in the midst of our most awful circumstances.

"Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit."

Only in heaven will we know how God turned so many of our failures and defeats into triumphs of His grace.

Have you taken time to tell someone about Jesus this week?

How to witness for Jesus

2010-03-01T15:52:00.002-05:00

Are you fulfilling your purpose in life?

Have you told anyone about Jesus lately?

This witness to Lilly and Travis was recorded live in California.

Where can I get some good gospel tracts to pass out?

men who have sex with men?

2010-01-05T16:46:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year! I've been corresponding with Colin Smith, founder of an Australian website, GaysAndSlaves.com

Colin is encouraging the NIV Committee, when they revise the NIV, to translate the Greek word, arsenokoitai, in 1 Cor 6:9 as "men who have sex with men."

Here is Colin's most recent email to me on the topic.

"Hi Rick

Thank you for your email earlier this month about my suggestion for the revision of the NIV.

It appears to me that although we both have a similar objective, we are using different tactics to achieve the objective. “GayChristian101” seems to aim at showing that any biblical condemnation of homosexuality (same-sex activity) is actually condemning only specific activity such as shrine prostitution, and not sex between faithful, committed, same-sex equals.

Conversely, the “Gay and Christian” site (www.gaysandslaves.com) accepts that the Bible does prohibit and criticize all penetrative sex between men (homosexuality). But the site also shows that the prohibition and criticism do not apply today when the sexual activity causes no harm. Also, the prohibition and criticism do not apply today because they applied only to the ancient Israelite and Greco-Roman cultures. The Bible criticizes, but does not prohibit, sex between women. The site gives detailed reasons for all these conclusions.

In answer to your first, third and fourth points, it does not really matter what arsenokoitai meant during the first 600 years of church history since words change meaning over decades and centuries. It only matters what arsenokoitai meant during Paul’s time.

The fact that Paul does not define arsenokoitai is, strange as it may seem, an indication that it means “men who have sex with men”. We can assume that Paul intended the Corinthian Christians and Timothy to understand what he meant by the newly-coined word arsenokoitai (without defining it). They would therefore have had to work out its meaning. And the only way they could do this would be to break the word into its constituent parts (arseno – male and koitai – beds or sexual-lying) and recombine it as male-bedders (men who take men to bed for sex). This is a special instance where one can only find the meaning of a word from its constituent parts.

You also stated that arsenokoitai may have indicated shrine prostitution, based on Philo's assertion that Moses intended to prohibit shrine prostitution in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. However a careful study of the full passage you refer to (The Special Laws, III, VII, 37-42) shows that if Philo is referring to Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13, he is primarily referring to men acting like women and men having sex with other men. He refers only incidentally to shrine prostitution. Therefore arsenokoitai does not really indicate shrine prostitution at all.

In answer to your second point, I don’t think that using “men who have sex with men” in 1 Corinthians 6:9 and 1 Timothy 1:10 will make the present situation any worse for gay men. It seems probable that the NIV translators will at least change the NIV words to those in the TNIV, i.e. “nor male prostitutes nor practicing homosexuals” (Corinthians) and “those practicing homosexuality” (Timothy). Therefore men having sex in faithful same-sex partnerships would be criticized in the new NIV whether “practicing homosexuals” or “men who have sex with men” is used. Using the latter has the advantage of avoiding any stigma attached to the word “homosexuals”.

And “men who have sex with men” also has the advantage of being a more accurate translation. These suggested words would reflect Paul’s apparent intention of not covering same-sex women (lesbians) while covering straight men who have sex with men (his letters uphold the sexual conduct parts of the Torah, including Leviticus 18:22, in line with Acts 15:28-29).

It might be noted that both malakoi and arsenokoitai in 1 Corinthians 6:9 are included in my suggested translation of “men who have sex with men”. Malakoi probably means either “effeminate men” or “men who have passive sex with other men”. It would appear that the case for malakoi meaning “men who have passive sex with other men” is the stronger, particularly because Paul implicitly condemns such men elsewhere in his letters (Romans 1:27) but does not similarly condemn effeminate men. A detailed examination of the possible meanings of malakoi can be seen onhttp://www.gaysandslaves.com/mal_discuss.html.

Finally, I would emphasise again that although I consider the Bible does prohibit and criticize all penetrative sex between men, I also consider that the prohibition and criticism do NOT apply to men today for the reasons given on the “Gay and Christian” site (www.gaysandslaves.com). Sex between men is therefore okay provided no one is harmed.

As you sent substantially the same email to Mary Pearson of ChristianGays.com, I am sending a copy of this reply to her also.

Regards.

Colin Smith"

And here is my reply to Colin.

"Hi Colin-

How nice to hear from you again. I hope you are enjoying the beautiful Australian summer. Its chilly here (even in north Florida where I live, it is expected to be 25 degrees tonight) and I long for the warmth of summer.

I believe we have a basic disagreement over what the Bible says about homosexual relationships. You are of the opinion that the Bible prohibits and criticizes all penetrative sex between men, essentially the Robert Gagnon position.

A careful reading of Dr. Gagnon's book indicates that he believes the Levitical prohibitions are linked to shrine prostitution (see pages 100-110, 130-136) but he segues from that truth to conclude, against the evidence, that Moses and God intended nonetheless, to prohibit all lesbian and gay sexual activity.

Your views about 1 Cor 6:9 and 1 Tim 1:10 are inextricably linked to your incorrect view of Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13. Starting from an incorrect understanding of Leviticus leads inexorably to a false conclusion about Paul's use of the arsenokoit stem.

I believe it is vitally important to know what the arsenokoit stem meant in the early centuries of church history.

You wrote: "We can assume that Paul intended the Corinthian Christians and Timothy to understand what he meant by the newly-coined word arsenokoitai (without defining it)."

I believe we need not "assume" your conclusion, that arsenokoitai means "men who have sex with men" or that Paul intended his readers to arrive at that conclusion based on the etymology of arsenokoitai.

Philo's views were widely known in the first half of the first century. Jews and intelligent Gentiles knew that arsenos koiten (from the Greek Septuagint version of Lev 20:13) was understood as a reference to forbidden male incest (from the Talmud) and shrine prostitution (from Philo's writings). Either one of those meanings is far more plausible than "men who have sex with men."

Over the next six centuries the arsenokoit stem also came to mean rape or anal sex (usually with one's wife) or masturbation.

If arsenokoitai meant "men who have sex with men," as you believe, we would expect to find arsenokoitai used that way during the first 600 years of church history. Yet arsenokoitai is NEVER used to mean "men who have sex with men," not even one time.

46 of the first 56 historical uses of the arsenokoit stem simply quote 1 Cor 6:9 or 1 Tim 1:10, without defining arsenokoitai.

I am unable to see the logic in your assertion that "men who have sex with men" has the advantage of being a more accurate translation of arsenokoitai.

If your opinion is true (that arsenokoitai means "men who have sex with men"), one would expect someone in the early centuries of the church to use arsenokoitai with the meaning you imagine it had yet they never did.

I believe you have given too much weight to Rob Gagnon's opinon that Romans 1:27 condemns men who have passive sex with men. Again, the historical context of first century Rome and the personal context of Paul (who got converted after hearing Stephen preach against shrine prostitution in Acts 7:43) points to the Romans 1:26-27 prohibition being aimed at shrine prostitution.

The almost universal testimony of early Christians for 250 years after Paul wrote Romans is that 1:26-27 refers to shrine prostitution. Even anti-gay commentators down the centuries linked Romans 1:26-27 to shrine prostitution, not homosexuality in general or committed gay relationships in particular.

You are arguing for a translation of 1 Cor 6:9 which has no historical substantiation - no one ever used arsenokoitai with the meaning you give it - in the first six centuries of church history.

However, shrine prostitution as the meaning of arsenokoitai fits historically since that was the Jewish understanding of arsenos koiten, from Leviticus 20:13, in the first century when Paul penned arsenokoitai in his original letter to Corinth.

I wish you God's best as you walk the path of His purpose for your life. I admire your intelligence and look forward to meeting you in person eventually.

I remain, your loving brother in Christ,

Rick Brentlinger
"

What about Gary Lee?

2009-12-28T21:54:00.009-05:00

Okay, yesterday's post (December 27, 2009) was about emails from Gary Lee, an anti-gay christian who loves to condemn gay people and then claim that he's "just quoting scripture." For example, Gary Lee used the following phrases.

a Sodomite Christian

all Sodomites do is recruit and die of aids

Blessing and reproduction are for heterosexuals

lesbians and sodomites are cursed

perverts can only pervert the Scripture

Homosexual is... like an alcoholic, a thief, a liar, a murderer

Sodomite death style

you twist the scriptures

Sodomy is an evil deed

Here is my response to Gary Lee

Hi Gary Lee-

In spite of your accusing language and unkind words, I pray God will give you peace in your heart and help to deal with the pain in your soul. Wishing you God's best,

Your brother in Christ,

Rick Brentlinger

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. Trust ye in the LORD forever for in the LORD Jehovah is everlasting strength." -Isaiah 26:3-4

Gary Lee's answer
to my words of grace

"Unless you repent you will perish. I simply quoted the Bible!

Historically speaking Homosexuality is a blight on any society! God love required His Son to Shed His Blood to save mankind from sin.

God's Justice requires men repent of Sin to be saved.

There is no such thing as a Sodomite Christian. Such were some of you, but you are washed, you are sanctified! To call homosexuality Christian is to call Atheists SAVED!"

Weird emails

2009-12-27T14:52:00.004-05:00

Its tin foil hat time!
Occasionally we receive really weird email rants from anti-gay christians. Here's one we received on December 26, 2009.

From Gary Lee -

"Sodomy is a sin. Unless you repent you shall all like wise perish. a Sodomite Christian is about the same as a Born Again Atheist. The 2 cannot be reconciled.

The fruit of homosexuality is extinction. All men are created equal, all sex acts are not. Repentance means to give up your sin. Read Genesis 19, Romans 1, Leviticus 20 vs 13 and 18 vs 22, and read them in context.

Judges chapter 19, anywhere sodomy takes root, it destroys the society. Two of the same cannot marry. Only male and female can advance the human race. All Sodomites can do is recruit and die of aids. Judgment follows homosexuality. Blessing and reproduction are for heterosexuals. Read the Bible and understand that lesbians and sodomites are cursed. God calls the act vile and reprobate.

david and Jonathan is not a story about sodomite affection. It is a story about a fleshly love (agape) that surpasses physical pleasure. Of Course perverts can only pervert the Scripture, otherwise you would repent of sin instead of trying to defend it.

Please use the Bible to support any of your comments.

In Christ Who is My Life,

Gary Lee"

My Response
Hello Gary-

Greetings in the precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Thank you for writing and sharing the burden of your heart. Although we disagree on what the Bible says about homosexuality, I am glad you are actively engaged in witnessing. Were you one of the guys who witnessed to David Berkowitz and led him to trust Jesus Christ? Praise God for his salvation and changed life. Has it ever occurred to you that saved gays and lesbians are also your brothers and sisters in Christ?

If you care enough to read Biblical views which challenge your incorrect interpretation of the clobber passages, you will find lots of conservative, hermeneutically sound, Bible believing information on my website. Click the buttons on the NavBar to find my answers to the scriptures you listed.

If nothing else, would you be so kind as to educate yourself about the meaning of the word, sodomite? Sodomite is never used in the Bible to mean homosexual. Sodomite(s) in the Bible always translates the Hebrew word, qadesh, which has no linguistic relationship to Cedom, the Hebrew word translated as Sodom in English language Bibles. In the Bible, qadesh and qadeshah or sodomites always describes pagan, cult prostitutes (shrine prostitutes or temple prostitutes) who worshiped the Canaanite fertility goddess. I present the Biblical proof at this Link:

http://www.gaychristian101.com/sodomites.html

I pray God's richest blessings on you and your family as you walk the path of His purpose for your lives. Perhaps 2010 will be the year our Lord returns to catch up His bride.

With thanks for your fellowship in the gospel,

Your brother in Christ,

Rick Brentlinger
http://www.gaychristian101.com/My-Coming-Out.html
Two responses from Gary

Response #1

The name is Gary Lee - not Gary!

The Scripture says, "forever Oh Lord thy word is settled in Heaven." "ALL SCRIPTURE IS GIVEN BY INSPIRATION OF GOD!" THOSE WHO CHANGE ONE JOT OR TITTLE OF GOD'S WORD, THEIR NAMES ARE REMOVED FROM THE LAMB'S BOOK OF LIFE.

You need to repent, ask The Lord Jesus to change your heart, and he will make YOU A NEW CREATION IN CHRIST! Homosexual is a different type brought about by sin. Like an alcoholic, a thief, a liar, a murderer, and so on. Only male and female can have sexual relations with each and receive God Almighty's approval!

When God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah it was because of the Sodomite death style. I do not want Him to destroy America! Repent, Jesus blood, Resurrection, and Sending of the Holy Spirit makes being Born Again possible. YOU MUST BE BORN AGAIN!

God is angry with the wicked everyday!

Gary Lee - The Poet of Truth

Response #2

Rick,

It seems you have embraced God's peripheral attributes but denied repentance and his Holiness!

Read Romans chapter 1 - Men with men working that which is unseemly. God gave them over to reprobate minds. You Rick have a reprobate mind. Rather than repent you twist the scriptures. Why? Because men love darkness rather than light because THEIR DEEDS ARE EVIL. Sodomy is an Evil Deed.

Please read the verses in context. Why? Because language without definition in context is meaningless.
Your word study cannot be right because it is in direct conflict with the maning of each passage and the Bible as a whole.

Rick, repent or die in your sins! There is no hope unless you repent!

Gary Lee - The poet of Truth.

Merry Christmas to you - O Holy Night by David Phelps

2009-12-23T23:15:00.004-05:00

Why not give yourself as a Christmas present
to Jesus this year?

Why is Obama silent?

2009-12-11T15:27:00.004-05:00

Dateline: December 10, 2009

GOProud Urges President Obama to Publicly Take a Stand against Proposed Uganda Law

Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director - "If the President wants to start earning the Nobel Peace Prize he is accepting, he can start by speaking out against this outrageous Ugandan law."

(Washington, D.C.) - While the President is in Norway accepting a Nobel Peace Prize, Ugandan political leaders are considering a bill that criminalizes gays and lesbians. "If the President wants to start earning the Nobel Peace Prize he is accepting, he can start by speaking out against this outrageous Ugandan law," said Jimmy LaSalvia, Executive Director of GOProud - the only national organization for gay conservatives and their allies. "President Obama's lack of leadership on international human rights issues is appalling," continued LaSalvia. "From his refusal to confront the radically anti-gay regime in Iran to his refusal to speak out against this proposed Ugandan law - this President's silence speaks volumes about his priorities."

Ugandan political leaders have been debating legislation that would impose criminal penalties on gays and lesbians living in Uganda. Certain proposed versions of the bill have even called for the death penalty or life imprisonment for being gay.

While President Obama has been silent, leading Republicans have spoken out forcefully against the proposed Ugandan legislation.

Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), the ranking member on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said, "I am deeply saddened and troubled that such blatantly ignorant and hate-filled legislation would see the light of day anywhere in today's world. It needs to be stopped in its tracks immediately."

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK), one of the leading conservatives in the Senate, said, "Over the past two decades, political, religious, and community leaders in Uganda have united to promote a rare, winning strategy against HIV that addresses the unique and common risks of every segment of society. Sadly, some who oppose Uganda's common sense ABC strategy are using an absurd proposal to execute gays to undermine this coalition and winning strategy. Officials in Uganda should come to their senses and take whatever steps are necessary to withdraw this proposal that will do nothing but harm a winning strategy that is saving lives."

"It is time for this administration to stand up for human rights across the globe. Not another day should pass without President Obama making it clear that he unconditionally opposes this Ugandan law," concluded LaSalvia.

Gay marriage - its a privilege AND a rite.

Why does Rick Warren lie?

2009-12-11T01:40:00.003-05:00

"men who have sex with men" is NOT a good translation of 1 Cor 6:9

2009-12-10T13:57:00.004-05:00

I recently received an email from Colin Smith of gaysandslaves.com encouraging me to contact the NIV Committee and recommend that they change their translation of 1 Corinthians 6:9 from homosexual offenders to "men who have sex with men."

While I am thankful that Colin is my beloved brother in Christ, I do not agree with him on the issue at hand.

Here is my response.

To suggest THAT as an accurate rendering of malakoi and arsenokoitai is deeply offensive to gay men for many reasons.

First, malakoi and arsenokoitai are rarely, if ever used with that meaning (according to conservative heterosexual scholar, Dr. Gordon Fee).

I list the first 56 uses of the arsenokoit stem on my website (which covers the times the word is found in Greek literature during the first 600 years of church history). arsenokoitai was NEVER used with the meaning, "men who have sex with men" in its first 56 uses during the first 600 years of church history.

The Greek word, arsenokoitai, where there is enough information in the context to guess at its meaning, indicated:

1. Rape
2. Shrine prostitution, according to Philo the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher
3. Humans having sex with angels or the gods, or
4. A man having sex with his wife

Second, switching from "homosexual" to "men who have sex with men" does nothing to improve the translational difficulties of the NIV. To phrase it, "men who have sex with men" is a flat-out negative blast at EVERY gay man in committed partnership. It makes the verse say that gay men in committed partnership will NOT have a heavenly inheritance or will NOT go to heaven.

Third, there is absolutely NO linguistic evidence that Greek speaking people in the first century used the word arsenokoitai to mean "men who have sex with men."

Fourth, "men who have sex with men" is an interpretation of 1 Cor 6:9 based on anti-gay bias and guesswork, not historic usage of arsenokoitai. Dr. Gordon Fee, noted heterosexual Greek scholar (in his commentary on 1 Corinthians), admits that translating 1 Cor 6:9 to mean "homosexual" is "a best guess." He then admits that we do not know what the word arsenokoitai means.

In my opinion, it sends the wrong message to ask gays and lesbians to request that the NIV committee translate 1 Cor 6:9 in a way that attacks gay men in committed partnership, "men who have sex with men," when there is NO historical evidence that anyone in the first century used arsenokoitai with that meaning.

Fifth, if there was strong historical substantiation that arsenokoitai meant "men who have sex with men," then the anti-gay crowd might have a case.

But given the fact that there is no historical evidence which points to arsenokoitai meaning, "men who have sex with men," it is a horrible attack on gay men in committed partnership to suggest THAT as the meaning.

"Men who have sex with men" is NOT more accurate and is NOT less offensive.

Pope Rick Warren's "Encyclical" To Ugandan Pastors

2009-12-10T12:22:00.004-05:00

Under extreme pressure from gay Christians and gay media for almost a year, as to why he didn't oppose Uganda's Kill Gays bill, and with only a few weeks before the bill may become law, Pope Warren, who supported supporters of the Kill Gays bill, finally speaks out against it in this "encyclical.". Its awfully late AND about time.

I wonder if he finally spoke out because he really supports the right of GLBTs everywhere to live free from persecution or if he spoke out in an attempt to salvage his damaged public image...

Mary Did You Know?

2009-12-06T00:59:00.001-05:00

Rick Warren is a Moral COWARD!

2009-11-30T14:38:00.005-05:00

Rick Warren is a moral coward who, after supporting the Ugandan politicians who birthed the "Kill Gays" bill, now refuses to condemn their hate legislation.

If you support Rick Warren's duplicitous "ministry," shame on you.

Read about Rick Warren's moral cowardice
at Box Turtle Bulletin.

Struggling with loneliness

2009-11-29T01:43:00.005-05:00

Thanksgiving to Christmas always feels like running a marathon for me. This is my least favorite time of year.

I struggle against crushing loneliness that threatens to overwhelm my soul. We were not created to live alone, without a significant other, without a deeply intimate, emotional, spiritual, physical relationship and yet, here I am, alone.

Christians from the past like C.S. Lewis testify that I am settling for far less than God intends.

I don't know where "he" is or how to find him so I'm trusting God that He will guide "him" to find me.

"If we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires, not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

-from C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delights in his way." -Psalm 37:23, American King James Version

I'm trusting God...

Pray, then kill gays and lesbians?

2009-11-27T12:28:00.003-05:00

NEW YORK – Truth Wins Out (TWO) today urged world leaders and members of Congress to skip the National Prayer Breakfast, February 4th, in protest of ‘The Family’s (aka The Fellowship) direct role in promoting a bill that would lead to severe human rights abuses against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in Uganda.

“The National Prayer Breakfast is giving legitimacy to those who promote barbarism in the name of the Bible,” said TWO’s Executive Director Wayne Besen. “We hope that world leaders who care about human rights will reconsider attending this year’s breakfast. To say grace with the people pushing this hateful and dehumanizing bill in Uganda would be disgraceful.”

Read the rest of the story here... http://www.truthwinsout.org/pressreleases/2009/11/5048/

Those kooky Ugandan heterosexuals

2009-11-23T12:44:00.004-05:00

Uganda wants to pass legislation mandating life in prison or death for homosexuals.

Seems to me Ugandan legislators are doing some serious over-compensating, especially when kooky Ugandan heterosexuals are pulling stunts like this.

Ugandan heterosexuals told to hold their genitals in church while they pray...

"KAMPALA-A pastor in one of the churches in Kamwokya, a Kampala suburb, recently caused laughter when he asked worshipers to hold their genitals in prayer. The man of God told people to close their eyes and hold their private parts in order to cast out demons of premarital and extramarital sex.

While some people took it seriously and embarked on serious prayer, others, especially the youth, giggled as they exchanged glances with one another. The pastor was not amused and rebuked them, saying this was a serious matter. He insisted on seeing everyone’s eyes closed with their hands on the groin."

from, The New Vision, Uganda's Leading website, click title of this Post for more information

And the Ugandan legislature intends to criminalize gays and lesbians?

Strange, really strange.

Just Following Protocol? Really?

2009-11-17T13:57:00.002-05:00

Other world leaders don't bow to the Japanese Emperor. Why does President Obama, as America's leader, insist on showing such subservience?

Or did he lose a contact lens?

Obama should know better

2009-11-14T16:11:00.005-05:00

Remember 1994, when the New York Times thought it was wrong for America's President to bow to foreign leaders?

POTUS Obama 2009

POTUS Obama
Nov 13, 2009

Just for the record,
below is how its
supposed to be done.

It is unseemly and deeply offensive for America's first black President to bow to the despotic Saudi King (who finances Wahabi Muslim radicals around the world) and the Japanese Emperor, who has spent his life being treated like a god.

At home POTUS Obama and the Statists in Congress want to jail American citizens (Pelosi's health bill) if we don't buy health insurance. Abroad he bows to foreign despots and useless emperors.

Would God our President had the grace to treat his bosses, the American people, with the deference he shows to dictators and "royals" who've never worked a day in their lives.

I didn't vote for him and he's still a major disappointment in so many ways.

How to be saved - fast and simple.

Does Jude condemn gays?

2009-11-13T13:47:00.005-05:00

Jude 6 - "reserved in everlasting chains
under darkness"

I. Jude 7 links fornication and strange flesh, not human flesh, so in context Jude is referring to angels, not to gay men, not to lesbian women, not to bisexuals, not to transsexuals. And by the way, that is not a "gay" interpretation. Many anti-gay heterosexual Christian scholars teach the same thing GayChristian101 teaches about this passage.

II. Jewish teaching in the first century AD was that the women of Sodom were trying to have sex with fallen angels so they could have supernatural children, like the giants in Genesis 6:2-13, who were the product of sex between earthly women and "the sons of God" (fallen angels).

These fallen angels changed the order of their nature and had sexual relations with the daughters of men, Testament of Naphtali 3:3-5. In the Sodom story, the men of Sodom tried to gang rape the angel visitors. The link is humans attempting to have sex with angels, not homosexuality - two men or two women falling in love and getting married.

III. According to many anti-gay Christians, the men of Sodom were "going after strange flesh" alleged by anti-gay Christians to mean homosexual sex, attempting to have sex with someone of the same gender.

When we consider what the Bible actually says however, that interpretation is nonsense because the Bible never says that in the Old Testament or the New Testament.

When gay Christians disagree with the illogical but traditional interpretation, does that mean gays are trying to alibi their sin?

Or do many heterosexual Christians agree with gay Christians that Jude describes a "sex with angels" problem?

Surprisingly, even a conservative Calvinist Bible teacher like John MacArthur rejects the convoluted traditional interpretation and agrees with gay Christians - that its a "sex with angels" issue.

Conservative heterosexual Calvinist Bible expositor John MacArthur agrees with gay Christians about Jude! Isn't that amazing?

Here's the rest of the story...

How can you say that Romans 1 has nothing to do with homosexuality?

2009-10-25T11:32:00.005-04:00

Ruins of Cybele's temple in Rome
The honest answer to your question is that two men loving each other and partnering for life or two women loving each other and partnering for life is vastly different from people in the Bible, often heterosexual, using sex to worship the fertility goddess.

The Bible has much to say about fornication. We are warned against fornication in 1 Thessalonians 4:1-6 and 1 Corinthians 7:1-9.

But we do not conclude from the warnings against fornication that all heterosexual sex is wrong.
The Bible tells us:

"Marriage is honorable in all and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge." Hebrews 13:5

God clearly puts a loving, faithful, committed marriage partnership in a class apart from the fornicating lifestyle of whoremongers and adulterers...

Read the rest of the article here.

The True Gospel is not about our human works

2009-10-23T12:29:00.004-04:00

James Montgomery Boice, 1938-2000

1 Corinthians 15:1-8

“ …if the death of Christ on the cross is the true meaning of the Incarnation, then there is no gospel without the cross.

Christmas by itself is no gospel. The life of Christ is no gospel. Even the resurrection, important as it is in the total scheme of things, is no gospel by itself.

For the good news is not just that God became man, nor that God has spoken to reveal a proper way of life for us, or even that death, the great enemy, is conquered.

Rather, the good news is that sin has been dealt with (of which the resurrection is a proof); that Jesus has suffered its penalty for us as our representative, so that we might never have to suffer it; and that therefore all who believe in him can look forward to heaven...

Emulation of Christ’s life and teaching is possible only to those who enter into a new relationship with God through faith in Jesus as their substitute.

The resurrection is not merely a victory over death (though it is that) but a proof that the atonement was a satisfactory atonement in the sight of the Father (Rom 4:25); and that death, the result of sin, is abolished on that basis.

Any gospel that talks merely of the Christ-event, meaning the Incarnation without the atonement, is a false gospel.

Any gospel that talks about the love of God without pointing out that his love led him to pay the ultimate price for sin in the person of his Son on the cross is a false gospel.

The only true gospel is of the ‘one mediator’ (1 Tim. 2:5-6), who gave himself for us.

Dr. Boice pastored Tenth Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA

Stephen Gately dead at 33

2009-10-11T18:49:00.004-04:00

Left -Andy Cowles
Right - Stephen Gately

Stephen Gately, 33, of the Irish band, Boyzone, died unexpectedly Saturday afternoon, while on vacation with husband Andrew Cowles, at their home on the Spanish island of Majorca.

Stephen and Andy were married in a March, 2006 civil ceremony in London.

Please pray for Andy in this time of sorrow and for Stephen's mother, father and siblings, in Ireland.

If YOU die unexpectedly, are you SURE you will go to heaven?

If you'd like to know for sure you are saved, click here.

How To Get Saved

2009-10-08T02:56:00.003-04:00

Getting saved is not difficult if you're willing to
repent (change your mind about your sins) and trust Jesus alone.

Today, right now, is the perfect time to receive Jesus as your Savior.

Repent (change your mind about your sins) and trust Jesus Christ to forgive your sins today.

“For whosoever shall call upon the name
of the Lord shall be saved.” Romans 10:13.
Please Pray This Prayer

"Lord Jesus, Thank You for dying on the cross for my sins.

I admit that I am a sinner and I need your forgiveness.

I believe that You shed Your blood on the cross to pay for my sins.

I believe that You rose from the dead to prove that God the Father accepted Your payment for my sins.

I open the door of my heart and receive You as my Savior. Lord Jesus, please help me live for you all the days of my life.

Thank you Jesus, for saving me from my sins.

In Jesus' Name, Amen."

What about the heathen who've never heard of Jesus?

2009-10-03T00:36:00.003-04:00

1. God takes no pleasure when lost people die.

“For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” Ezekiel 18:32, 23

2. God wants everyone to be saved.

“For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." I Tim 2:3-4. Jesus wants the heathen to get saved. Do you?

3. God is good to everyone, including the unsaved.

“The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works.” Psalm 145:8-9

“That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.” Matthew 5:45

“He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.” Deu 32:4

4. God wants everyone to hear the gospel and be saved.

“Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:22. This includes the heathen everywhere.

“The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.” Isaiah 52:10

“Ge ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:” Matthew 28:19

“And he said unto them, Ge ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15

Here's an entire lesson on, What About The Heathen, to use in your church or home Bible study.

The Rapture - Are You Ready?

2009-10-02T14:17:00.002-04:00

We don't know the exact day or the exact date. But we know it could be anytime.

Jesus could come back today. Are you Ready?

Lone Ranger Christians

2009-10-01T15:05:00.004-04:00

LRCs (Lone Ranger Christians) are born again believers who got tired of church politics or quit church for a variety of reasons...

That doesn't necessarily mean they quit loving Jesus or quit trying to live an honorable Christian life.

Why are some GLBTs Lone Ranger Christians? Their reasons for becoming LRCs are many and varied.

Some were kicked out of church because they are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.

Some who were kicked out of "straight" churches tried going to a gay church or a gay-affirming church and got discouraged because the Bible was never taught verse by verse or the Bible teaching couldn't honestly even be described as skim milk (since its so weak and watered down...)

Christians are designed to be part of a body, not Lone Rangers

"For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him. And if they were all one member, where were the body?But now are they many members, yet but one body.

And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked: That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." -1 Corinthians 12:13-27, KJV

We are intentionally designed by God to need each other, to thrive in each other's company.

God created Christians for community, to be part of a family. Christians are like the many parts of the human body. Each part is designed by God to work with the other parts, smoothly, efficiently, almost effortlessly so that the body functions normally.

1. When we got saved, God adopted us into the family of God, Ephesians 1:5. Like it or not, born-again Christians are part of God's family, with all the intricate and sometimes difficult relationships found in any family.

2. God intentionally designed our spiritual selves to thrive as part of God's family, 1 Corinthians 12:13-26.

3. God placed pastors/teachers in local congregations to help us grow to spiritual maturity, Ephesians 4:11-16. This means that not being part of a local congregation is at odds with God's plan. By staying out of church, we may be settling for a lot less than God intends for us.

4. Scripture assumes that Christians will be part of a local church, including giving heed to pastors who watch for our souls before God, Hebrews 10:25; 13:17

5. Spiritual growth stems in part from loving interaction with our brothers and sisters in Christ, Ephesians 5:3, 8, 21, 30. We share laughter, tears, sorrow and joy. We face challenges together and pray about the difficulties we face. Family is important.

Lone Ranger Christians? - You're welcome to use this Bible study for your Sunday School class. Click here to copy and paste.

Part of the Pride

2009-09-30T14:34:00.002-04:00

I imagine this is how it might have been with Adam in Eden. Part of the Pride looks like an interesting book, by the way.

Michael Jackson's Real Cause of Death Official

2009-08-31T15:53:00.005-04:00

What really caused Michael's death and where did he go after death?

You can know for sure where YOU are going when you die.

If you'd like to know FOR SURE, Click here.

Do you struggle with depression?

2009-08-27T20:51:00.002-04:00

Do you struggle with depression? Someone asked me how I've dealt with depression in my own life.

My younger brother David, on January 19, 2000, took his own life as a result of depression. My mother struggled with depression all her life as a result of bi-polar disorder.

When I'm feeling depressed, I keep these things in mind.

1. God loves me no matter how I feel. There are days when I feel unlovable and depressed and it seems nothing will ever work out. On those days, I need to remind myself that "I am accepted in the beloved (Jesus)" and God loves me as much when I'm depressed as when I'm happy.

2. Depression doesn't last forever. Things DO get better and the things I worry and obsess about rarely happen. Since I've learned by experience that depression is temporary (although recurring), I can cope better by reminding myself of that fact.

3. Don't make major decisions when you're depressed. If I try to make a big decision while I'm depressed, I end up making the wrong decision. I've learned by experience to defer decisions like quitting a job or dropping a friend because most of the time, the depression is making the decision, not my real self.

4. St. John's Wort, an herbal remedy, sometimes helps mitigate depression, without the negative side effects of psychotropic drugs. I've never used psychotripic prescription drugs for depression because the side effects seem worse than being depressed.

Of course, depression treatment is not a one size fits all proposition. Prescription drugs may work great for some people.

5. I've learned that God is faithful even when I'm depressed, but He will not give me everything I think I need. This is important because depression can cause us to doubt God's goodness. But think about it, if we could pray and get anything and everything we ask for, it would ruin us.

Many of the good things in life, like long-term friendships, specific job skills, creative abilities honed by years of practice and exercise, would never develop if we could use God like a genie in a bottle and get everything we want without work and effort, thought and planning.

If you're struggling with depression, seek help. See a counselor, a pastor, a psychiatrist or psychologist. Depression can be conquered and you don't have to struggle alone.

What it means to believe in Jesus

2009-07-18T22:44:00.005-04:00

Examples of what it means
to believe in Jesus

1. A Chair - You may believe that a chair will support your weight, but until you sit on the chair and commit yourself to the chair for support, you have only expressed intellectual assent, not true faith.

Just as true faith sits on the chair, so to truly believe in Jesus means you commit yourself to Him.

2. A Lifeboat - In 1912 the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. Hundreds of people drowned because there were not enough lifeboats. Some of the available lifeboats had room for more people but some Titanic passengers drowned anyway because they didn't get in the lifeboats.

Jesus is your lifeboat on the sea of life. But its not enough to view Jesus as your lifeboat. You have to get in the lifeboat if you want to be saved.

Just as true faith gets in the lifeboat, so to truly believe in Jesus means you get in Christ by receiving Him into your heart by faith.

Jesus is our Bridge
3. A Bridge - If you're driving along the highway and you come to a bridge, how do you know its safe to cross?

Do you stop your car at the edge of the bridge or do you drive across? Experience tells you that thousands of cars and trucks have crossed this bridge safely. You may believe the bridge is perfectly safe but your belief is meaningless until you have enough faith to drive across the bridge yourself.

Just as true faith crosses the bridge, so to truly believe in Jesus means to trust Him.

4. An Elevator - You're visiting the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. You may believe that the elevator will carry you safely to the Sky Bridge observation deck but until you step into the elevator, your belief is only theoretical. You are not really trusting the elevator to carry you to the top until you get on the elevator.

Just as true faith gets on the elevator, so to truly believe in Jesus means you trust His finished work of salvation instead of your own efforts.

5. An Airplane - You may believe an airplane can take you to Los Angeles but until you actually get on the airplane, you're not going anywhere.

Just as true faith gets on the airplane, so to truly believe in Jesus means you're relying on Him instead of relying on yourself.

6. A Parachute - Now let's say you're on the airplane and both engines quit. There's a parachute on the seat beside you but just believing in the parachute will not save your life. You have to put on the parachute if you want it to save you.

Just as true faith puts on the parachute, so to truly believe in Jesus means you put Him on or in plainer words, accept Jesus as your Savior.

Will simply believing facts about the parachute save your life? Of course not. And simply believing facts about Jesus will not save your soul.

Just as you have to actually put on the parachute for it to be effective, so, you have to put on Jesus Christ. The belief that saves your soul puts on Jesus Christ instead of just believing facts about Him.

Mental assent (mere intellectual knowledge) does not save you but believing in your heart does save you.

The Bible says, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires." -Romans 13:14, ESV

To believe in Jesus, what is sometimes called saving faith, goes beyond just believing facts with your head. Belief that saves actually "puts on Christ," trusting Him in your heart by faith alone.

Read the entire article here.

For Moshe Kale, with the fake email address

2009-07-05T19:05:00.004-04:00

Recently I received the following email from Moshe Kale. The email address he gave appears to be a fake address and my email answer bounced back as undeliverable.

So, here is what he wrote to me about my GayChristian101.com website, followed by my response to him.

"It does not surprise me that you approach the Torah with a typical Greek mindset. You are blinded to the truth. Yahshua (Jesus)said He did not come to do away with the law, but to fulfil it!!! This means to show how to keep it. He said the law would not disappear until heaven and earth disappear, look out your window and you will see they are still there. You are blinded to the truth because you continue to promote that which YHWH (G-d) calls an abomination. There is more than enough scriptures to extinguish your justification for this wickedness. For this reason you have been sent a strong delusion so that you would believe a lie. We know where lies come from don't we? Repent and turn back to the truth whilst there is time. I hope and pray you make the right decision!" - Moshe Kale

Here is my response

Thank you for writing to us Moshe. What a lovely and blessed name you carry - such a blessing to know you are a believer in Messiah. I appreciate your input and receive it in the godly spirit with which you offered it.

I believe that G-d's law given to Moses has NOT disappeared. It still exists and is valuable in pointing out our sin. However the law is not our means of justification before G-d. We are justified by faith without the deeds of the law, Romans 3:28.

The New Testament is very clear that Christians are not under the Old Testament Jewish Law or the law of Moses. Here is what the Bible says.

1. "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace." Romans 6:14.

2. Christians are ”dead to the law." Romans 7:4.

3. "If ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law" Galatians 5:18.

4. Christians are "delivered from the law." Romans 7:6.

5. "Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster“ [the law]. Galatians 3:24-25.

6. For Christians, the Law is "that which is done away." II Corinthians 3:11.

7. For Christians, the Law is "that which is abolished." II Corinthians 3:13.

8. For Christians, Jesus, on the Cross, was "blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us." Colossians 2:14.

9. For Christians, the Law is taken "out of the way" and nailed "to his cross." Colossians 2:14.

10. "When God speaks of a new [covenant or agreement], He makes the first one obsolete (out of use). And what is obsolete (out of use and annulled because of age) is ripe for disappearance and to be dispensed with altogether." Hebrews 8:13, The Amplified Version

11. "And after that he said, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. Thus he put an end to the first in order to establish the second." Hebrews 10:9, Lamsa Translation

The position I take on GayChristian101.com concerning the law is the same view held by traditional Christians for 2000 years. Therefore, I wonder if: (1) you didn't read most of what I wrote about the Law, or (2) you prefer to hold a view which is at odds with the revelation of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Here is what I believe about the Law.

1. Must Christians keep the Old Testament Law? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Christians-Under-Law.html

2. What is the purpose of Old Testament Law for Christians? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Moses-Law.html

3. Must Christians keep the Jewish sabbath? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Sabbath-keeping.html

4. Do you agree with New Testament teaching that Christians are NOT under the Law of Moses? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Christians-Under-Law.html#placename

5. Should Christians be Torah observant? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Torah-Observance.html

6. Did G-d tell us to keep the law to be saved? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Saved.html

7. Did you know that only Jews living in the Holy Land were required to keep the Law of Moses? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Law-of-Moses.html

8. Did you know Jesus kept all of Moses' Law in our place because we cannot keep it? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Torah-Observance.html

9. Did you know the Law was given specifically to Jews, not to Christians? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Leviticus.html

10. Do you know why Christians do not keep Sabbath? http://www.gaychristian101.com/Sabbath-keeping.html

11. Do you know why Christians worship on Sunday? http://www.bible.ca/7-sunday-1st-day.htm

12. Can you answer the 80 questions Sabbath keepers don't like to be asked? http://www.bible.ca/7-sabbath-questions.htm

I praise G-d for shedding His precious blood to pay for our sins (yours and mine) and for justifying us by faith, entirely apart from works of the law.
I pray for you G-d's richest blessings as you walk the path of His purpose for your life.

If you have questions or if I can be helpful, please keep in touch and let me know what G-d is doing in your life.

Your brother in Christ,

Rick Brentlinger

8 Reasons I Don't Share My Faith

2009-07-03T12:49:00.003-04:00

Isn't it time you got over your fears and started telling others about Jesus?

How can I be a witness for Jesus and salvation?

You Can't Fix Stupid

2009-06-23T01:11:00.003-04:00

This is worth watching - only 55 seconds long. I am not responsible if you spit coffee all over your keyboard... I'm just sayin'

Top Ten Biblical Ways To Find A Wife

2009-06-22T12:03:00.008-04:00

Adam and Eve
Anti-gay christians often hold up Adam and Eve's marriage as the ONLY marriage partnership God will accept, even though the Bible never makes that assertion.

What's really happening is, they're putting their interpretational spin on what the Bible says and then teaching their interpretational spin as God's truth.

This false way of interpreting the Bible operates on the premise that:

"if the Bible says it, it must mean whatever I think it means, regardless of context and therefore, I insist that all christians live according to what I think the verse means.

In plainer words, if its in the Bible, it must be God's will for everyone (no exceptions!!!).

Now everybody pay attention here! We're gonna ignore the context 'cause we don't need no stinkin' context. Interpret it our way or hit the highway..."

It is this "kinda cultish" mindset that gay Christians are faced with daily on the issue of gay marriage.

So if modern christians REALLY believed their Bible, here is how they would go about finding a wife.

Top 10 Biblical Ways
to Find a Wife

10. Find a prostitute and marry her. (Hosea 1:1-3)

9. Buy a piece of property, and get a wife as part of the deal. (Ruth 4:5-10)

8. Find an attractive prisoner of war, bring her home, shave her head, trim her nails, give her new clothes and marry her. (Deuteronomy 21:11-13)

7. Go to a party and hide. When the women come out to dance, grab one and carry her off to be your wife. (Judges 21:19-25)

6. Cut 200 foreskins off of your future father-in-law’s enemies and get his daughter for your wife. (I Samuel 18:27)

5. Become the emperor of a country, hold a beauty contest and marry the winner. (Esther 2:3-4)

4. Find a man with seven daughters, impress him by watering his flock and marry one of the daughers. (Exodus 2:16-21)

3. When you see someone you like, go home and tell your parents, “I have seen a woman; now get her for me.” If your parents question your decision, simply say, “Get her for me. She’s the one for me.” (Judges 14:1-3)

2. Agree to work seven years in exchange for a woman’s hand in marriage. Get tricked into marrying the wrong woman. Work another seven years for the woman you wanted to marry in the first place. That’s right. Fourteen years of toil for two wives. (Genesis 29:15-30)

1. Have God create a wife for you while you sleep. (Genesis 2:19-24)

Note One: If you're a Creationist, this wife-getting process will happen quickly and will only cost you a rib.

Note Two: If you are a christian who believes in evolution, don't expect a wife anytime soon. By your own belief system, the wife-"creating" process takes millions of years.

Well, that's what you christian evolutionists profess to believe, right?

--- Hat tip to, Midwest Christian Outreach an evangelical counter-cult ministry (which is definitely not supportive of gay marriage), but which gave this satirical insight into what happens when christians rip verses out of context and then insist we have to do things exactly like their proof text says, regardless of the context.

Last but not least, here's an interesting look at using Biblical Analogy to validate gay marriage.

Scriptural analogies encourage us to accept homosexual partnerships.

What really happened in Sodom?

2009-06-19T00:19:00.003-04:00

Non-gay Christians frequently try to deceive gays and lesbians about what really happened in Biblical Sodom.

Do you know what really happened in ancient Sodom?

What were the real intentions of the angry mob in Sodom that dark night so long ago? Read Dr. Chris Heard's assessment of what really happened.

“The mob’s intention to inflict male-on-male rape on Lot’s visitors has nothing to do with sexual desire or sexual gratification. There is no hint here of homosexuality in the modern sense of “sexual orientation.”

The crime has nothing to do with preferring sex with males over sex with females.

Claims that the “sin of Sodom” per Genesis 19 related to homosexual orientation run aground on two ridiculous presuppositions.

First, such claims require us to accept the idea that 100% of Sodom’s adult male population was homosexual by orientation.

In modern studies, figures of anywhere from 3% to 10% are proposed for the fraction of adult US males who are homosexual by orientation, and when figures closer to 10% have been proposed, evangelical Christians have gone into a tizzy of objections that it can’t possibly be that high.

Yet some of the very same people who object that the fraction of modern US adult males who are homosexual by orientation can’t possibly be as high as 10% are willing to believe a 100% figure for biblical Sodom.

It is just too improbable to believe that 100% of Sodom’s male population preferred sex with males to sex with females.

Even if the story is entirely fictional and the people of Sodom just literary characters, the story loses all verisimilitude if we push it to that extreme. Sodom sin.

Second, claims that the “sin of Sodom” per Genesis 19 was male homosexuality require us to believe that either:

(a) the entire male population, every single male in Sodom, had seen the visitors and felt so irresistably attracted to both of them that they felt compelled to rape them in order to gratify their lust, or

(b) all homosexual men are indiscriminately attracted to all other men...

Read the rest of the story here.

Are You Good Enough?

2009-06-15T11:04:00.004-04:00

Are you a good person?

Accepting Jesus as your Savior is the theological hinge on which swings the door to eternal life. Here's how the Bible puts it.

"He who has the Son [Jesus] has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life." -1 John 5:12-13

“He that believes on Him [Jesus] is not condemned: but he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.” -Gospel of John 3:18

"He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." -Gospel of John 3:36

"And you will not come to me, that you might have life." -Jesus, in the Gospel of John 5:40

Point 1 - If you receive Jesus Christ, you will be a child of God the instant you do it. But if you do not receive Jesus Christ, there is nothing else you can do that will make you a child of God.

Point 2 - If you accept Jesus Christ, you will have peace of conscience. But if you reject Jesus Christ, there is nothing else you can do that will bring you peace of conscience.

Point 3 - If you accept Jesus Christ, you will have joy that is deep, satisfying and lasting. But if you reject Jesus Christ, there is nothing else you can do that will bring you deep, satisfying and lasting joy.

Point 4 - If you accept Jesus Christ, you will immediately receive eternal life as the free gift of God’s grace. But if you reject Jesus Christ, there is nothing else you can do to have eternal life in Christ.

Its as simple
as this

If you accept Jesus Christ,
God will accept you,
no matter who you are,
no matter what you have been,
no matter what you have done.

But if you reject Jesus Christ,
God will reject you,
no matter who you are,
no matter how many good things you have done.

So the real question is, Are you trusting Jesus or are you trusting your own goodness?

Marriage Equality Should Be For Everyone

2009-06-14T14:21:00.005-04:00

The talking points of the anti-gay marriage crowd just don't make sense but Rob Tisinai, the man in the video, makes excellent common sense on the gay marriage issue.

Don't let the anti-gay crowd snow you! Read and use the Transcript below the video.

Transcript of the video, TALKING EQUALITY (Part 1)

1) We're defending traditional marriage.

a) We all support traditional marriage. In fact, marriage equality means we support opposite-sex marriage just as staunchly as we support same-sex marriage. It doesn't have to be protected or defended. No one's trying to take it away. There's only one side here trying to take away marriage rights, and it's not us.

2) Personally I think gay marriage is wrong.

a) But you didn't answer the question. You didn't tell us why you think your personal beliefs should be laws that everyone has to follow.

b) My parents were conservative Catholics and they thought divorce was wrong. My dad thought birth control was immoral. But they didn't take the huge leap to thinking these things should be illegal for everyone.

c) Natural law is usually just code for "this is what I'm used to." Decades ago smart people thought natural law said blacks and whites shouldn't mingle. The world is complex and what seems natural to one generation leaves the next thinking, "How could they believe that?" So don't talk about natural law - it doesn't have a good record where minorities are concerned.

3) Settle for civil unions - all the rights but without the word marriage

a) That's like saying, You can get on the bus, you just have to sit in the back.

b) I know what it's like to be a gay teen in a small town, with well-meaning parents telling me how awful homosexuals are. Those gay teens are still out there, they can't change their orientation, and thousands of them call suicide hotlines every year because of what they've been taught.

And settling for civil unions, what would that tell them: "Any relationship you have might have isn't good enough for marriage. Good enough for an uninspired legal phrase - not for the real thing. Good enough to live on the awkward outskirts of our culture, but not the heart, the core, the soul of America." That's just wrong. And it's not true. They deserve better.

c) Whatever many rights we have, our most vocal opponents want us to have fewer. They opposed civil unions until marriage became a possibility and then civil unions became their public fallback position. But if we said, "Civil unions, okay," they'd start fighting us on that. Now some of them say, "Civil unions are a perfectly appropriate thing," but if so, why didn't they say that before?

4) You don't have the right to redefine marriage for everyone.

a) Maggie, you're working to pass laws that define - or in some states redefine - marriage for everyone. In a way that doesn't include everyone.

b) I don't think your statement makes sense. When women were fighting for the right to vote, you wouldn't have said, "You don't have the right to redefine voter for everyone." That would have been just an obvious distraction from the real issue, and it's ridiculous, but it's essentially what Maggie's doing right now.

c) Civil marriage involves a legal definition not a religious one, and legal definitions evolve constantly. The laws around marriage have changed again and again, and it's no use pretending they haven't, unless you think we're still in the days when women were property of the father or husband they belonged to.

5) Children need traditional families

a) That study was about divorce, not gay marriage. Your reasoning comes down to, "Divorce is tough on kids, so let's ban same-sex marriage!" Can you even make an argument without twisting the facts?

b) The two halves of humanity. That would be one huge wedding. However poetic that sounds, we know that marriage is about bringing together two people who want to build one home, one family, one shared life together. That's what marriage has always been, and marriage equality does nothing to change that.

c) Polls consistently show that people who know gays are more likely to vote for marriage equality. If there's such a gulf between gay and straight relationships, then Maggie needs to explain why straights who actually know us are less likely to think so.

d) You like to talk about "their own mother and father."My parents adopted my brother before I was born and if you ever tried to tell my mom that she wasn't his own mother, you'd have had one furious traditional devout Catholic woman on your hands

e) Let me see if I can get this right. An opposite sex couple who can't have kids and doesn't have kids is a better marriage than a lesbian couple with a biological child because marriage is about procreating, which makes the straight couple better because they could have a biological child if they could have a biological child, and they're better than a gay couple with an adopted child because marriage is about raising kids and the straight couple could raise their biological child if only they could have one.

And that makes me wonder how you would rank a straight couple with an adopted child against a lesbian couple with a biological child, and now I'm feeling weird because I'm asking you to rank families you haven't even met, although you seem to be perfectly happy going on national television again and again and doing exactly that.

6) Gays are calling us bigots

a) No Maggie, we see a difference between the leaders of our opposition and the everyday Americans who are counting on them for the truth and aren't getting it. I won't call you a bigot unless you say one group is inherently better than another and deserves unique treatment because they're special.

b) I hear you saying that we simply can't have relationships as special as yours. I know you hate being called a bigot, and I'm not applying that term to you right now, but it's hard to avoid the label if you go around saying our lives are inherently inferior to yours.

c) If you said the marriages of Christians are inherently better than those of Jews, you'd be called a bigot. And you ARE making that type of comment about gays and lesbians. When you denigrate an entire category of people, you open yourself up to that charge -when you start creating different classes of human beings. We've had enough of that thinking in the past and we've seen the harm it can do.

7) Slippery Slope

a) Do you really not see a fundamental difference between an adult and a child, or a dog and a human? Really?

b) No one's allowed to marry a dog or a child or a group of people. That really would be something entirely new. I'm just asking for the right to marry a man. Half our population (females) already has that right. You can't say that about any of your scare-tactic scenarios.

c) Arguments like this make it sound like tradition is the only reason we don't let people marry kids or dogs. And that's just not true.

i) We don't let kids marry to protect them from exploitation.

ii) Young kids don't have the intellectual capacity to understand marriage.

iii) Older kids and teens don't have the emotional maturity to make this kind of commitment.

iv) And animals--good lord, after what I just said about kids, it's hard to believe that people like Bill O'Reilly talk about people marrying goats. A goat would be more likely to eat a marriage license than to sign one.

d) We've seen the exploitation, abuse, and sexual violence that comes with polygamy. But we haven't seen that in our national and international experience with same-sex marriage. Which sets up a great big roadblock on that alleged slippery slope.

e) Suppose we had marriages of 10 or 100 or 100,000 people. Can current marriage laws accommodate that? Can they deal with issues like child custody, inheritance, Social Security benefits, and financial liability? No. States would have to create entirely new laws to deal with entirely new situations raised by this entirely new institution.

And that’s not true with same-sex marriage. In California, when it became legal, all they had to do was start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples. And that just goes to show how different same sex marriage is from polygamy.

This transcript provided courtesy of: Rob Tisinai - http://wakingupnow.com

Talking Equality, Part 1, by Robert Tisinai (http://wakingupnow.com) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

Stress Relief Now

2009-06-11T15:43:00.002-04:00

A bird window like this would make a great Father's Day gift...

When You're Cryin'

2009-06-07T02:36:00.001-04:00

When you’re cryin’ on the inside, and puttin’ on the face,
When your heart feels like its breakin’ and you want to quit the race.

You are not alone, dear child, the Father gently says,
Lay your head upon my shoulder and let Me calm your fears.

When you’re cryin’ on the inside but actin’ like alls well,
When you feel so sad and lonely and life has gone to hell;

You’re not alone in darkness, God sees your secret pain.
The God who rules the Universe will soon make all things plain.

Give up your heart to His embrace, rest in His mighty arms,
And know that God works all things out, protects you from all harm.

When you’re cryin’ on the inside, your tears won’t last the night.
The morning sun will soon arise, when God makes all things right.

The joy you lost, the tears you shed, the heart you felt would break,
These distant memories soon fade, as God a new life makes.

Start livin’ in the sunshine, stop drownin’ in your tears,
Stop livin’ life a captive to all your doubts and fears.

God’s plan for you is victory, God’s love for you is clear,
Each problem in your life you face, your Lord is standing near.

You cannot be defeated, you cannot lose or fail.
The storms God lets invade your life can only fill your sails.

The storms of life can only blow, the howling winds must drive,
Your ship to sunny, cloudless seas, in places where you’ll thrive.

God uses storms and tears and pain, to shape us for His way,
The stress and darkness, tears and pain will teach us how to pray.

So when life starts to get you down and you really hurt inside,
Trust God’s pure love and God’s kind hand to always be your guide.

- Rick Brentlinger

Does Romans 1:26 condemn lesbians?

2009-06-04T21:12:00.006-04:00

Lesbos Harbor on the
Greek Island of Lesbos

No, Paul is NOT condemning
lesbians in Romans 1:26.

"For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature:" - Romans 1:26

Anti-gay Christians arrive at that conclusion because they believe that Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 condemn both gay male and lesbian relationships (even though neither females nor lesbians are mentioned in the Leviticus verses).

Anti-gay Christians then assume that since Paul was a Jew, he must have interpreted Lev 18:22 and 20:13 the same way anti-gay Christians interpret them today, as universal proscriptions of all homosexual behavior, including lesbian behavior.

So when they get to Romans 1:26, they interpret "against nature" to mean lesbianism and nothing but lesbianism. According to their opinion, Paul couldn't possibly have been referring to any of the other "against nature" behaviors I list at this Link.

If it does not fit,
you must acquit.

The anti-gay interpretation of Romans 1:26 does not fit the rest of scripture however, since lesbians are never condemned in the Old Testament or anyplace in the New Testament.

Many leaders in the early Christian church did NOT hold the view that Romans 1:26 condemns lesbians.

Early church leaders who did NOT hold the anti-lesbian view include Clement of Alexandria and Saint Augustine, who understood Romans 1:26 to refer to anal or oral sex between heterosexuals.

One early Christian writer, Anastasios, clearly dismisses the view that Paul was referring to lesbianism in his comments on Romans 1:26.

Clearly they (the females referred to in Romans 1:26) do not go into one another, but rather offer themselves to the men. (Brooten, 1996, p. 337n)

Augustine continues this line of thought (fairly explicitly):

But if one has relations even with one's wife in a part of the body which was not made for begetting children, such relations are against nature and indecent. In fact, the same apostle earlier said the same thing about women, "For their women exchanged natural relations for those which are against nature." [quoting Romans 1:26] (Marriage and Desire, 20.35)"

Shrine Prostitution best fits the context
of Romans 1:26

There is however, ONE female sexual practice:

(1) which is condemned in the Old Testament, Deuteronomy 23:17-18,

(2) which is linked to Gentile idolatry and

(3) which perfectly fits Paul’s "against nature" argument.

That sexual practice is female shrine prostitution, using sex to worship Ashtoreth, (the fertility goddess consort of the male fire-god Molech).

Qedesha-female shrine prostitutes, are mentioned in Genesis 38:21-22, Deuteronomy 23:17, and Hosea 4:14. It better fits the context of Paul's argument in Romans 1:26 (idolatry) to understand that Paul is referring to the illicit sexual practice of female shrine prostitutes who serviced men than that,

suddenly and unaccountably, with no Biblical basis from the Old Testament, Paul injects into his teaching against idolatry, a one verse condemnation of lesbians, (which is unrelated to idolatry) and which is without any basis in the Old Testament.

The Justice of God

2009-06-03T15:00:00.004-04:00

Is God fair?
Recently a frustrated, discouraged Christian sent me the following. He has allowed me to share it with you to get your responses.

If you've been saved and trying to live for God for very long, you may have wrestled with similar doubts and questions.

Feel free to leave your response as a Comment.

"No matter what I do or try, nothing is going my way. Once again the Great GOD and Savior is asleep at the wheel. If I tithe I have troubles. If I don't tithe I have troubles so what's the use?

If I pray I don't get a fraction of what I ask for. If I don't pray I still don't get a fraction of what I should get. Its all hocus pocus bull!

Why is it we have never seen or heard anyone come back to life since the time of the apostles?

Why do we pray for the unseen afflictions of the body like cancer but not for God to restore a lost limb?

Where are the things that we are supposed to do that are "greater" than Jesus did?

Unconditional love my ass! There is no such thing!

Christianity is a blind man's hopeless religion. Promises in the Bible always have a catch to them or they were written for someone else!

"Supplying all your need." That's the biggest joke of all.

What kind of power would create life only to punish it? I can understand a grown sinner getting it in the neck but when a baby is born into this world to suffer for a few years and then die, what is that?

We serve a God of pain and suffering. That's what brings Him joy and satisfaction - suffering, pain and confusion.

The Great GOD is sitting wringing His hands, not knowing what to do, while things are so messed up. All that power and never use it? Its all bull!

I'm so angry at God I could scream. He just doesn't care about me and all the Bible verses don't change that fact..."

As a born-again Christian, how would you respond?

Gay Christian 101

2009-05-31T16:52:00.001-04:00

This is a Comment I made on the Hip and Thigh Blog.

Dan-

Thanks for your comments. While I am more theologically conservative than you (on the Bible issue) and than Fred (on almost everything except the gay issue), I appreciate much of what you've said.

I think Fred and the spiritually obtuse folks at Gay Christian Movement Watch have no idea (at least I hope they don't), how incredibly wounding it is to have hetero christians constantly call us perverts and constantly compare us to pedophiles.

The vicious arrogance and the vituperative rhetoric seem willfully designed to wound us and drive us away from fellowship.

In a time when many conservative christian church leaders have been divorced and remarried (sometimes three times, for goodness sake!), and when divorced and remarried persons hold positions of leadership in most conservative churches, it is odd to have those divorced and remarried partnerships described as NOT serial sin while monogamous gay couples who've been faithfully together for twenty years ARE described as committing serial sin.

And then there are the gay folks like me (and Jay) and many others who live celibate lives of service to God yet we are also stereotyped as perverts by our "christian" brothers like Fred and the spiteful folks at GCMWatch.

In my opinion, there is NOTHING Christ-like about professing to extend the love of Jesus to the gay community and then continually labeling all gays as perverts.

Fred and GCMWatch and their ilk will experience huge bonfires at the Judgment Seat of Christ (1 Cor 3) as they witness their works being burned in the fire of God's holy judgment.

Meanwhile, gay Christians who love God and believe the Bible continue to live for the Lord, witness, pass out tracts and win souls despite the vituperative comments of those who profess to love us.

Rick Brentlinger

Arsenokoites

2009-05-24T00:59:00.003-04:00

On BNET, Gary Jepsen has a 9 page article in which he attempts to prove that arsenokoites (in 1 Cor 6:9), refers to homosexuality in general.

As usual with christian scholars, Jepsen fails miserably in his attempt to make the Bible say that God condemns loving homosexual partnerships.

Because I cannot post a response to his article without joining BNET, I am posting my response here.

Gary-

Your article, while interesting, makes as many leaps of illogic as you accuse Dale Martin of making. For example:

"The best we can say after examining Martin's argument regarding later material is that arsenokoites might have been occasionally used in texts considerably later than Paul to designate homosexual rape or sex by economic exploitation. On the other hand, it may also have been used to refer to homosexuality in general"

Is it possible you are unaware that the arsenokoit stem was never used in antiquity "to refer to homosexuality in general." To assert that "homosexuality in general" may have been its meaning is irresponsible (and also wishful thinking).

"Thus, it is no stretch to see how Paul, who undoubtedly would have been familiar with these verses from the Septuagint, could have from their influence put the two words together to form a new word, arsenokoites, and as he did so, clearly had in mind "a man bedding a male as a female" (Lev 20:13)"

That is such an odd and off-base conclusion, given the fact that Philo and other first century Jews viewed Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 (and Deuteronomy 23:17) as presenting Moses' (and God's) prohibition of shrine prostitution.

“(40) And I imagine that the cause of this is that among many nations there are actually rewards given for intemperance and effeminacy. At all events one may see men-women [androgynes] continually strutting through the market place at midday, and leading the processions in festivals;

and, impious men as they are, having received by lot the charge of the temple, and beginning the sacred and initiating rites, and concerned even in the holy mysteries of Ceres

[Ceres is another name for Cybele, the fertility goddess first century Romans referred to as the Mater Deum or Mother of the gods]. Remember, Philo lived from 20 BC to AD 40. He probably wrote this around AD 35.

(41) And some of these persons have even carried their admiration of these delicate pleasures of youth so far that they have desired wholly to change their condition for that of women, and have castrated themselves and have clothed themselves in purple robes...

[Philo here describes the castrated Galli priests who served Cybele or other fertility goddesses worshiped in Rome].

(42) But if there was a general indignation against those who venture to do such things, as was felt by our lawgiver..." [Moses was the Jewish Lawgiver. Philo refers to Moses' writings in Leviticus 18:22; 20:13 and Deuteronomy 23:17]

Philo, The Special Laws, III, VII, 40-42.

If historical facts (instead of anti-gay hysteria) guide our understanding of the meaning of the arsenokoit stem, we have no historical, factual reason to believe that the Greek word, arsenokoitai, ever referred to homosexuality in general, since it was never used that way in antiquity.

Since you believe the arsenokoit stem did refer to homosexuality in general, please present some ancient references where that is the case.

Of course, you are unable to present even one ancient reference where the arsenokoit stem referred to homosexuality in general.

The reason is, our ancient ancestors never used the arsenokoit stem with that meaning.

Based on historical usage, we have every reason to believe the arsenokoit stem referred to shrine prostitution (based on Philo's first century understanding) or rape, (based on its usage by Aristides, AD 126), within 68 years of Paul's writing of Romans.

Nothing in the Biblical text implies or compels a conclusion that the arsenokoit stem ever meant homosexual.

Rick Brentlinger
http://www.gaychristian101.com/

Do you have Daily Devotions?

2009-05-20T01:50:00.002-04:00

Make it your responsibility to carve out some time for God each day. Here are three websites with lots of helpful daily devotionals to choose from.

Jump start your spiritual life today.

Daily Devotions I

Daily Devotions II

Daily Devotions III

Read

Pray

Meditate

Learn

Grow

Serve

Grandma and the CFU

2009-05-19T12:35:00.010-04:00

The famous Ida fossil

"Great-Grammy Ida" - a very old lemur,
a long-tailed rat or
the eighth wonder of the world ?

The CFU - "credulous fool's union" - is at it again, this time pitching a 21 inch lemur fossil as their 47 million year old missing link "Grandma."

Never mis-underestimate the CFU. They intend to convince you that the Bible is not believable but that their science, falsely so called, is believable.

You should now add Great-Grammy Ida to your family photo album alongside Grandma Lucy.

No, not this Lucy! I'm talking about the other Lucy.

Just for the record, Jesus believed ALL of the Old Testament including the Genesis account of special creation by God apart from evolution, which precludes evolution as the mechanism of creation.

"O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken."
- Jesus, Luke 24:25

The CFU (credulous fool's union) insists you shouldn't believe the Biblical account of creation (everything God made reproducing after its kind) but you should instead believe their wacky, Bible-rejecting theories of origins, their puddle to paradise pipe-dream.

And Now, Here's Lucy...

Grandma Lucy, aka AL-288
SHE used to be their Grandma, hailed a few years ago as an entirely new, albeit sexually dimorphic (height challenged) species. Now Grammy Lucy has been supplanted by the even more diminuative Grammy Ida.

And so the sci-fi fantasy rolls on, fueled by (1) unbelief even among professing christians and (2) a desire to get rid of the authority of the Bible.

Don't let the hucksters and false prophets of science and religion put you off from believing the Bible and serving God. That wouldn't be prudent.

Did Jesus go to hell?

2009-05-18T13:46:00.006-04:00

Does the Bible say that Jesus spent three days and three nights in hell (or hades)?

According to Acts 2:31, Jesus DID go to hell for a brief period of time (Peter is quoting Psalm 16:8-11) but Jesus did NOT go to hell for three days and three nights.

"He [David] seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that HIS soul was not left in hell, neither HIS flesh did see corruption." - Acts 2:31

According to Jesus Himself, he would "be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth," Matthew 12:40, but that doesn't mean he would be in hell for three days and three nights.

In the Bible, Abraham's bosom (paradise) and hell are depicted as being side by side, with an impassable gulf between them.

Saved people from the Old Testament time period went to Abraham's bosom (the good place) and unsaved people went to hell or the pit (the bad place).

"And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence." - Luke 16:22-23.

When Jesus died, he went first to the hell part of hades, to show his triumph over sin and death, Colossians 2:15.

He "preached unto the spirits in prison," 1 Peter 3:19, who were in hell, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell..." - 2 Peter 2:4,

and took the keys "of hell and of death" from the devil, Revelation 1:18.

It doesn't say how long those three events took, probably only a few hours but certainly less than a day, because of Jesus' promise to the dying thief in Luke 23:43 - "To day shalt thou be with me in paradise."

Some people believe that while he was in paradise, Jesus also preached the gospel to the Old Testament saints, those who were saved but had little knowledge of God's complete plan of redemption since they died before Jesus came to earth. They base this belief on 1 Peter 4:5-6.

"Who shall give account to him that is ready to judge the quick (living) and the dead. For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

I tend to think 1 Peter 4:5-6 refers to prophetic truths preached to Abraham and other Old Testament saints instead of referring to Jesus preaching the gospel to the saints in paradise. I base my belief on Galatians 3:8, where the Bible says:

"And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed."

Gospel means "the good news" so the truth that God was also going to save not just the Jews but also the heathen, through faith, was indeed good news, especially 1800 years before the birth of Christ.

Jesus spent the remainder of the three days and three nights in paradise and then he ascended up on high and "led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men," Ephesians 4:8.

Some years after the resurrection and ascension of Christ, Paul was caught up to paradise, 2 Corinthians 12:4, "How that he was caught up into paradise..." which was then in the third heaven, 2 Corinthians 12:2, not in the heart of the earth.

Christians believe that when Jesus "led captivity captive," He took paradise or at least, all the saints in paradise (out of the heart of the earth), and up to heaven so that paradise is now an empty compartment.

Here's the $64 million dollar question.

Do you know FOR SURE that when you die, you're going to heaven?

Would you like to know for sure?

Hell? Yep, its a real place!

2009-05-15T21:12:00.002-04:00

The Gospel of Luke 16:19-31

Luke 16 begins with Jesus talking about money and how some people misuse money, vs. 1-2.

He is talking to Jews who thought they were better than Gentiles because they had wealth and earthly blessings.

Then Jesus talks about using your money in a way that affects eternity, vs. 9-11.

Then Jesus says that what men highly esteem is abomination in the sight of God. An abomination is not a good thing.

What we highly esteem, God calls abomination if it keeps us from being His disciples.

Jesus is making a strong point to the Pharisees, Luke 15:1-2 and to His disciples, Luke 16:1.

Human beings highly value:

Unity
Sports
Wealth
Popularity
Education
Scholarship
Fine Clothing
Social Status
Gourmet Foods
Expensive Possessions

God on the other hand, highly values believing the Bible, character, integrity, honesty and faithful, godly living.

Did you ever notice that the Bible never praises human art, literature, inventions and wealth?

1. The rich man in Luke 16 represents the Jews who were rich in worldly goods but did not believe in Jesus. Jesus on Hell.

2. The beggar represents the Gentiles, whom the Jews regarded as unclean, dirty and far from God’s blessings.

3. The Jews had Moses and the prophets but though they read them, they did not believe what they read in the written scriptures.

4. The Jews claimed to be Abraham’s children but they didn’t live faithfully like Abraham.

So Jesus tells a story in which the rich Jews who rejected Him die and go to hell and talk to their father Abraham but can get no help from him.

According to Jesus, the problem with the Jews was, they did not believe the written scriptures, v. 29-31.

“a certain rich man” - Some people like to make this a parable and not a true story, perhaps because Hell can then be said to be only a parable and not a real place.

Notice that Jesus does not say this is a parable and Luke does not say this is a parable. However you interpret it, true history or parable, it is a story told by Jesus, about two men with two very different eternal destinations.

1. One man seemed to be a loser on earth, yet he goes to the good place when he dies.

2. One man seemed to be a winner on earth, yet goes to hell when he dies.

Some people believe this story is nothing more than a lesson on treating people with compassion and does not teach us anything important about the afterlife.

Given the excruciating details Jesus gives in the story, it seems to me that part of Jesus’ intention was to teach us about the afterlife.

“clothed in purple and fine linen” - The rich man had all the trappings of great wealth. Its not a sin to be wealthy. It is a sin to trust in your riches instead of trusting God.

“fared sumptuously every day” - This man enjoyed his riches, just as Solomon said he should. He enjoyed his wealth every day. Do you enjoy, every day, the blessings God has placed in your life?

Solomon said: “Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.” Ecclesiastes 5:18.

Its interesting to notice that Jesus says nothing negative about the rich man. We know he is rich because he wears expensive clothing like Kings wear. We know he eats well because Jesus tells us he enjoyed fine food every day.

So far, Jesus seems to be painting the portrait of a virtuous man because in the Jewish understanding, prosperity was a sign of God’s blessing.

Even when the rich man is in hell, Abraham doesn’t reproach him for being rich. Instead, Abraham reminds the rich man of the blessings he used to enjoy.

“Son, remember that thou didst receive thy good things in thy lifetime.” Luke 16:25.

Nothing grossly sinful is pointed out about the rich man.

Yet he dies and goes to hell and the beggar dies and goes to paradise or Abraham’s bosom.

“there was a certain beggar named Lazarus” - Lazarus is a shortened form of the Jewish name Eliezer or Eleazer which means “God is my helper.” (Exodus 18:4)

The Hebrew speaking Jews to whom Jesus told this story would recognize the beggar as “the good guy” in the story based on the meaning of his name in Hebrew (God is my helper).

“full of sores” - Jesus draws a remarkable contrast between these two men. One is rich and well cared for, with plenty of food. The other is physically repulsive, poor and hungry and covered with sores.

“the dogs came and licked his sores” - Dogs were not loved in Jewish culture like we love dogs in American culture. Jesus is pointing out to us that Lazarus had no friends to help him with food or medicine.

He was alone and lonely in the world and only the stray dogs came and befriended him but no man cared for his soul or his body.

Jesus intends us to see the enormous contrast between the earthly lives of these two men.

“desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table” - Jesus seems to be telling us that the rich man helped to feed Lazarus and did not drive him away from his gate but he got only crumbs while the rich man ate sumptuously every day.

Thoughtful readers question why the rich man did nothing to help the beggar, except to allow him the crumbs from his daily feasts. It was certainly within the power of the rich man to be a blessing to the poor beggar at his gate.

May we apply this story to our own lives? We are the rich man. Is there someone in our life who is a beggar, whom we have the power to help if only we care enough to do so?

Both men die. Solomon, in Ecclesiastes 2:14-16, reminds us that one event happens to all of us - we all die. Rich people die and poor beggars die every day.

“And it came to pass, that the beggar died”

“And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment...” - Hebrews 9:27.

Each of us will die someday. And each of us will face what the beggar faced or what the rich man faced. What you face when you die and where you go when you die is up to you.

Do you remember when Jesus told us that the last would be first and the first would be last? That seems to be what happened in this story.

Remember, Jesus is talking to Jews who rejected Him as their Messiah and who also rejected the written scriptures which spoke of Him.

Jesus reminds the Jews that appearances can be deceiving.

“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

If you could climb in a time machine and go back two thousand years to visit the rich man and Lazarus before they died, what would you conclude by observing them?

1. It would be natural to conclude that the rich man was saved and the beggar was lost.

2. It would be natural to conclude that Jews were saved and Gentiles were lost.

3. It would be natural to conclude that straight people are saved and gay people are lost.

God had obviously blessed the rich man so he must be the saved one.

And God obviously had not blessed the beggar Lazarus so he must be the lost one.

If that is your conclusion, you are dead wrong.

“and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom” - Abraham’s bosum speaks of paradise, the good place where good people go when they die.

Hades (the New Testament equivalent of Sheol in the Old Testament) had two compartments. The good side, sometimes called paradise or Abraham’s bosom is where the saved go at death. Hell or the pit, the bad side, is where the lost go at death.

“the rich man also died, and was buried.” - Two men, two lives, two appearances, two eternal destinies.

We would naturally expect that the rich man would go to the good place. But Jesus has a surprise for us and for the Jews.

News Flash! This Just In... According To Jesus Hell Is NOT The Same Place As The Grave!!!

“the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes” - This is an astonishing revelation. According to Jesus, hell is not the same as the grave.

Hell and the grave are not synonymous. The rich man’s physical body was buried in a grave on earth but the rich man’s soul was tormented in hell.

Regardless of what you've been taught, according to Jesus, Hell and the grave are NOT the same place.

Big problem for the rich man! According to Jesus, the rich man is in hell and he is conscious and in torment. His soul is not asleep. He is not unconscious, waiting in the grave for the resurrection.

Instantaneously, when he dies, he goes to hell. His living soul is separated from his dead physical body but he is still sentient and conscious.

Many people believe that when you die, you are dead like a dog. They believe that death of the physical body equals cessation of conscious existence. According to Jesus, that belief is false.

Jesus is unmistakably clear that the lost go to hell when they die, they are conscious, not unconscious, they are tormented in flames and they want out but cannot get out.

“being in torments... I am tormented in this flame” - If this is only a parable and if there is no place called hell as the destination of the lost, Jesus is telling a very strange story.

The rich man in hell is conscious, thirsty, suffering and tormented in flames, according to Jesus.

Not only that but the rich man can see into the good place and he must have been shocked to see the beggar Lazarus in Abraham’s bosom. Abraham’s bosom speaks of a place of honor, the place everyone would have expected the rich man to occupy but would never expect the beggar Lazarus to occupy.

That is the contrast Jesus draws, the more carefully to point out to the Jews their great spiritual need. The rich man is desperate to get out of hell but he cannot get up and go to the good place.

According to Jesus, the rich man begs that Lazarus might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool the rich man’s tongue for he is tormented in the flames. This is an awful story with a tragic ending.

The rich man whom everyone viewed as saved and guaranteed a place in heaven, died and went to hell. The testimony of a man in hell, as Jesus tells the story, is that he is conscious, he is tormented in flames and he wants out.

But the rich man is told he cannot get out of hell - v. 26. Now the rich man in hell becomes evangelistic. He wants someone to go and tell his brothers about hell so they won’t go there when they die.

But the rich man is told that IF his brothers won’t believe the written scriptures (Moses and the prophets), they won’t believe if the beggar Lazarus rises from the dead and goes to talk to them - vs. 30-31.

1. According to Jesus, everyone is not headed for heaven.

2. According to Jesus, some of the people we think are going to heaven will end up in hell.

3. According to Jesus, some of the people we think are going to hell will end up in heaven.

4. Do you know where you’re going when you die?

Lessons We Learn From Luke 16:19-31

1. Appearances are deceiving. You can’t always tell who is saved and who is lost by outward appearances.

The contrast between the rich man and Lazarus on earth was great but the contrast between Lazarus and the rich man in death was even greater.

2. Having riches and fine clothing and good food does not necessarily mean you’re right with God or that you’re saved.

3. Hell and God’s judgment are very real and we all need to get ready before we die. Once you’re dead, its too late.

4. Hell is a place of conscious loneliness, desperation, torment and flames.

5. You can’t get saved in hell, according to the story Jesus told us in Luke 16. Once you’re in hell, its too late.

6. People in hell don’t want anyone else to go there.

7. The rich man’s problem was that he and his brothers, for all their riches, didn’t believe the written scriptures - v. 29-31.

8. God expects us to believe the written scriptures He gave in the Bible. If we refuse to believe the written scriptures, God is not obligated to do anything else for us.

Now the $64 million dollar question. If you die today, do you know for sure that you will go to heaven?

I was hungry

2009-05-12T01:27:00.002-04:00

Matthew 25 -

I was hungry,
And you formed a humanities group to discuss my hunger.

I was imprisoned,
And you crept quietly off to your chapel to pray for my release.

I was naked,
And in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.

I was sick,
And you thanked God for your health.

I was homeless,
And you passed by on the other side of the road.

I was lonely,
And you had no time to stop and sooth my heart.

You act so holy and close to God
But I am still very hungry – and lonely – and cold.

Anonymous,
via Simon, in Burundi, Africa

Gay Marriage and Joseph Goebbels

2009-05-08T19:08:00.007-04:00

Joseph Goebbels, chief Nazi propagandist

The arguments from Focus on the Family and the anti-gay "christian" right run something like this.

Gay marriage:

1. will destroy (makes a mockery of) heterosexual marriage

2. goes against what the Bible "clearly" says

3. goes against the historical view of every society about marriage for the last 5000 years (I don't know why they say 5000 years since chronologically the marriage of Adam and Eve was 6000 years ago)

4. will inevitably lead to polygamy and beastiality

5. will bring God's judgment on America and we'll be destroyed like Sodom

I believe these arguments are disingenuous at best and intentionally dishonest at worst.

Argument 1. Gay marriage will destroy (makes a mockery of) heterosexual marriage

Answer 1. Gay marriage says nothing negative about heterosexual marriage. Many anti-gay marriage proponents insist that (a) homosexuality is chosen behavior, that (b) no one is born gay or lesbian and (c) that gays only make up about 1% of the population.

If the antigay crowd is right, then gay marriage will always represent only a miniscule portion of folks getting married and will have no statistical impact on heterosexual marriage. So what are they so worried about?

According to famous conservative evangelical pastor (and leader of Dallas Theological Seminary) Chuck Swindoll, on his personal blog in February, 2008, 50% of heterosexual men in evangelical churches like his, have a problem with pornography.

Not 50% of men in general but 50% of men in evangelical churches including the deacons, elders and leaders.

A Barna poll of unmarried, heterosexual, born again evangelicals found that 32% of the evangelical heterosexual christian respondents admitted to having sexual relationships outside of marriage.

One cannot help but observe that if anyone is making a mockery of heterosexual marriage, it is heterosexual christians themselves, who prefer to scape-goat their gay brothers and lesbian sisters instead of putting their own house in order.

Argument 2. Gay marriage goes against what the Bible "clearly" says.

Answer 2. The anti-gay lobby reads the story of Adam and Eve and concludes that God will never bless any marriage relationship except the Adam and Eve, one man with one woman paradigm. Obviously the Bible proves that conclusion is wrong because God richly blessed polygamous marriages which are not after the Adam and Eve, one man with one woman paradigm.

Argument 3. Gay marriage goes against the historical view of every society about marriage for the last 5000 years.

Answer 3. If the anti-gay crowd was honest, they would admit that they don't really want modern marriages to follow Biblical patterns for marriage.

If the anti-gay crowd was honest, they would admit they are as against Biblical polygamous marriages and Biblical incestuous marriages and Biblical levirate marriages and Biblical prisoner of war marriages as they are against gay marriages.

They use the Bible when it supports their agenda and ignore the Bible when it doesn't support their agenda.

Yet polygamous, incestuous marriages like Abraham, Sarah and Hagar OR polygamous marriages like Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Bilhah and Zilpah are as much a part of Biblical marriage as the Adam and Eve patnership.

If Abraham could marry his half-sister Sarah and they could spend their long lives in a romantic sexual marriage relationship, with God's full and abundant blessing, it does not strain credulity to believe that the same principle, two people with complementary sexual orientations who love each other forming a life-long marriage partnership, can also apply to same sex couples.

Argument 4. Gay marriage will inevitably lead to polygamy and beastiality.

Answer 4. With all Christian kindness and no disrespect intended, this is perhaps the dumbest and weakest argument against gay marriage. Any Christian with a rudimentary knowledge of the Bible knows that polygamy first shows up in the Bible in Genesis 4:19, long BEFORE anything even remotely homosexual is mentioned in scripture.

A form of Beastiality (human women marrying angels) first shows up in the Bible in Genesis 6:1-13, long before anything even remotely homosexual shows up in scripture. By the way, this true story exposes the false teaching that angels are sexless beings incapable of procreation or that angels are female, but I digress.

So if we accept the Bible as true (I do, do you?), homosexuality doesn't lead to polygamy and beastiality - those occurred long before any same sex activity is mentioned in the Bible. I'm just sayin...

The Bible never posits that gay marriage causes polygamy and beastiality.

The world has had 6000 years of polygamy and beastiality, which have not produced an explosion of gay marriages.

The Focus (if you'll pardon the expresson) on gay marriage in recent history is the result of gay and lesbian Christians refusing to accept unscriptural interpretations and unChristian treatment meted out to us by so many professing christians.

Argument 5. Gay marriage will bring God's judgment on America and we'll be destroyed like Sodom.

Answer 5. Anti-gay marriage rants sometimes conclude with this sound bite:

"If God doesn't judge America or San Francisco or (insert your city here), He'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah."

This argument plays on the Biblical ignorance of professing christians who think that the Bible mentions homosexuals in Sodom or think the Bible says God destroyed Sodom because of homosexuality. Of course, the Bible never says anything about homosexuals or homosexuality in Sodom in the 48 verses where Sodom is mentioned in Holy Scripture.

For years, when anti-gay preachers mentioned gays, it was to excoriate gays for living promiscuous lifestyles.

Why did gays have to be SO promiscuous? Why couldn't gays settle down and rein in our carnal desires?

Aside from the insulting stereotype, when gays and lesbians formed life-long partnerships and did not live promiscuous lifestyles, the anti-gay preachers then adjusted their argument and accused gays and lesbians of trying to destroy heterosexual marriage.

Modern "christians" often speak of gays as a group, to be vilified, feared, attacked and discriminated against. They refuse to think of us as individuals.

Most gays and lesbians are too honest and have too much grace to do this but if we stereotyped heterosexual Christians the way heterosexual christians stereotype gays and lesbians, they would get angry.

Modern anti-gay "christians" use Joseph Goebbels style propaganda against gays and lesbians, attempting to portray us as untermensch (sub-human).

If they can convince people that gays and lesbians are sub-human and therefore, not worthy of equal rights, like the Nazis convinced Germany that Jews were sub-human and therefore, not worthy of equal rights, then they can legally destroy us.

If they can convince people that gays and lesbians are undermining heterosexual marriage and destroying western civilization by spreading AIDS, as the Nazis convinced Germany that Jews were a plague on German society and were spreading disease and death, then the next step is to take away the rights of gay people as the Nazis took away the rights of Jews.

Anti-gay "christians" hurl vicious false accusations against us, such as:

a. Gays and lesbians want to destroy heterosexual marriage and families

b. Gays and lesbians make a choice to live wicked immoral lives

c. Gays and lesbians are fake Christians, not true Christians

d. Gays and lesbians will bring God's harsh judgment on us

e. Being gay or lesbian is SO bad that the Bible says to kill gays and lesbians

f. Gays and lesbians have no morals

Let not your hearts be troubled, brethren.

God is still on His throne. Keep trusting God, walk in the Spirit daily and study so that you know what your Bible says. There is no substitute for knowing what scripture actually says instead of "knowing" what it is presumed to teach.

GayChristian101.com has lots of helpful FREE information about being both gay and Christian.

"Without natural affection"

2009-05-06T19:37:00.003-04:00

2 Timothy 3:3, the part that says "without natural affection," is often quoted at gays and lesbians to prove that our relationships are a sign of last days apostasy and rebellion against God.

P52, the oldest known Greek language
fragment of our New Testament
from John 18

To use 2 Timothy 3:3, "without natural affection," against homosexuals as if that is what Paul had in mind when he wrote it is shockingly ignorant.

If someone has used this verse against you, remember their "way out in left field" comment is only their private interpretation.

Most of the commentaries written over the last 2000 years do NOT link "without natural affection" to homosexuality.

"Without natural affection" in the context of 2 Timothy 3 refers to children not loving their parents properly, 3:2 and conversely, parents not loving their children properly, 3:3 - compare Matthew 10:21 for an example Jesus gives of being "without natural affection."

What famous heterosexual Christian commentators understood 2 Tim 3:3 to mean

1. "Without natural affection - To their own children." - John Wesley's Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible

2. "αστοργοι - aspondoi - Without that affection which parents bear to their young, and which the young bear to their parents. An affection which is common to every class of animals; consequently, men without it are worse than brutes." - Adam Clarke Commentary

3. "Without natural affection - (the same Greek word as used in Romans 1:31, there translated, implacable). This expression denotes the want of affectionate regard towards their children. The attachment of parents to children is one of the strongest in nature, and nothing can overcome it but the most confirmed and established wickedness.

And yet the apostle charges on the heathen generally the want of this affection. He doubtless refers here to the practice so common among heathens of exposing their children, or putting them to death. This crime, so abhorrent to all the feelings of humanity, was common among the heathen, and is still.

The Canaanites, we are told, Psalms 106:37,38, "sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils, and shed innocent blood, even the blood of their sons and their daughters, whom they sacrificed unto the idols of Canaan." Manasseh, among the Jews, imitated their example, and introduced the horrid custom of sacrificing children to Moloch, and set the example by offering his own, 2 Chronicles 33:6.

Among the ancient Persians it was a common custom to bury children alive. In most of the Grecian states, infanticide was not merely permitted, but actually enforced by law. The Spartan lawgiver expressly ordained that every child that was born should be examined by the ancient men of the tribe, and that if found weak or deformed, should be thrown into a deep cavern at the foot of Mount Taygetus.

Aristotle, in his work on government, enjoins the exposure of children that are naturally feeble and deformed, in order to prevent an excess of population. But among all the nations of antiquity, the Romans were the most unrelenting in their treatment of infants, Romulus obliged the citizens to bring up all their male children, and the eldest of the females- proof that the others were to be destroyed.

The Roman father had an absolute right over the life of his child, and we have abundant proof that that right was often exercised. Romulus expressly authorized the destruction of all children that were deformed, only requiring the parents to exhibit them to their five nearest neighbours, and to obtain their consent to theft death.

The law of the Twelve Tables, enacted in the 301st year of Rome, sanctioned the same barbarous practice. Minucius Felix thus describes the barbarity of the Romans in this respect: "I see you exposing your infants to wild beasts and birds, or strangling them after the most miserable manner," (chap. xxx.)

Pliny, the elder, defends the right of parents to destroy their children, upon the ground of its being necessary in order to preserve the population within proper bounds.

Tertullian, in his apology, expresses himself boldly on this subject. "How many of you (addressing himself to the Roman people, and to the governors of cities and provinces) might I deservedly charge with infant murder; and not only so, but among the different kinds of death, for choosing some of the cruellest for their own children, such as drowning, or starving with cold or hunger, or exposing to the mercy of dogs; dying by the sword being too sweet a death for children."

Nor was this practice arrested in the Roman government until the time of Constantine, the first Christian prince. The Phenicians and Carthagenians were in the habit of sacrificing infants to the gods.

It may be added, that the crime is no less common among modern pagan nations. No less than 9000 children are exposed in Pekin (Beijing) in China, annually. Persons are employed by the police to go through the city with carts every morning to pick up all the children that may have been thrown out during the night.

The bodies are carried to a common pit without the walls of the city, into which all, whether dead or living, are promiscuously thrown. (Barrow's Travels in China, p. 113, Am. ed.)

Among the Hindoos the practice is perhaps still more common. In the provinces of Cutch and Guzerat alone the number of infantile murders amounted, according to the lowest calculation in 1807, to 3000 annually; according to another calculation, to 30,000. Females are almost the only victims. (Buchanan's Researches in Asia, Eng. ed., p. 49. Ward's View of the Hindoos.)

In Otaheite, previously to the conversion of the people to Christianity, it was estimated that at least two-thirds of the children were destroyed. (Turnbull's Voyage round the World in 1800, 2, 3, and 4.) The natives of New South Wales were in the habit of burying the child with its mother, if she should happen to die. (Collins' Account of the Colony of New South Wales, p. 124, 125.)

Among the Hottentots, infanticide is a common crime. "The altars of the Mexicans were continually drenched. in the blood of infants." In Peru, no less than two hundred infants were sacrificed on occasion of the coronation of the Inca. The authority for these melancholy statements may be seen in Beck's Medical Jurisprudence, vol. i. 184--197, ed. 1823. See also Robertson's History of America, p. 221, ed. 1821.

This is a specimen of the views and feelings of the heathen world; and the painful narrative might be continued to almost any length.

After this statement, it cannot surely be deemed a groundless charge when the apostle accused them of being destitute of natural affection."

- Barnes Notes on the New Testament

Information Is Power Read Gay Christian 101

2009-05-04T17:20:00.002-04:00

Independent Baptist minister Rick Brentlinger persuasively argues in, Gay Christian 101 that on the issue of homosexuality, the church has it wrong.

In crisp, readable language, Brentlinger lays out the case from culture, history, linguistics and scripture, for full acceptance in church and society, of gay and lesbian people.

Gay Christian 101 presents fascinating historical proof that our ancient Jewish and Christian ancestors did not view the Biblical texts as universal indictments of homosexuality.

Many who were once cast out - women, people of color, divorced and remarried people - are leaders in the modern church.

Gay Christian 101 argues that the trajectory of Biblical truth also supports full inclusion of GLBT believers in the spiritual life of the church.

Brentlinger makes his case by quoting BC references to Sodom, by paying careful attention to the context of the clobber passages and by noting how ancient Jewish believers understood those passages and giving the quotes. In the chapter dealing with the Levitical Holiness Code, eighteen variant interpretations are offered.

A particularly interesting, ground-breaking section is the Gay Analogy chapter. Taking up a challenge from anti-gay author Dr. Robert Gagnon, that any Biblical analogy for homosexual relationships must closely correspond in particular details (including life-long sexual activity), Brentlinger presents five new, scriptural, gay analogies which strongly support full inclusion of gay and lesbian Christians in the modern church.

In the New Testament section of Gay Christian 101, a strong historical case is made that eunuchs in ancient times included gay men and lesbians and that Jesus pointed out this fact to His disciples when He specifically excluded eunuchs from participating in Adam and Eve style marriage in Matthew 19:3-12.

In another chapter, particular attention is paid to the story of the gay Centurion, his meeting with Jesus and Jesus' declaration that the faith of the Centurion exceeds any faith Jesus observed in Israel.

The arguments for a limited interpretation of Romans 1:26-27 vs. the traditional view that this passage condemns all homosexual practice, are compelling.

Besides listing 15 variant interpretations of the Romans passage, Brentlinger demonstrates from history and scripture, that the traditional view of Romans is simply wrong.

Many modern scholars are absolutely convinced that I Cor 6:9 and I Tim 1:10, use the Greek word arsenokoites to condemn all homosexual practice. They frequently use Greek lexicons to support that viewpoint.

Brentlinger goes beyond Greek lexicons to the ancient sources cited in the lexicons and lists the first 56 historical uses of arsenokoites to prove that no ancient use of arsenokoites condemns all homosexual practice.

In fact, no ancient use of arsenokoites ever referred to two men or two women in a committed, faithful, non-cultic relationship.

What many traditionalists find irritating about this book is that Brentlinger cites the written opinions of conservative, evangelical heterosexual scholars to support the points he makes throughout Gay Christian 101.

Gay Christian 101 is a fascinating conversation about history, theology and God's truth about gay people. If you are gay or lesbian or have a loved one who is, this book will help you reconcile the gospel truth that one can be both gay and a Bible believing Christian.

Gay Christian 101 is essential reading for everyone concerned with the future of a church torn by the homosexual debate.

How Do We Decide If Gay Is Okay?

2009-04-23T10:23:00.005-04:00

“Christians in the first century employed four criteria to guide their thinking on controversial issues. We should do the same.

(1) the leading of the Holy Spirit
(2) personal experience
(3) Christian charity
(4) the written scriptures

When their traditional interpretation of the Old Testament caused them to reject saved Gentiles as part of the family of God, the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, listened to the personal experience of Peter, Paul and others who witnessed the Holy Spirit actively blessing saved Gentiles.

Their eyewitness testimony was accepted as normative proof and convinced our spiritual ancestors that God loved, saved and affirmed believing Gentiles.

The twenty first century church should exercise the same common sense approach and affirm the personal experience and the evident working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of saved gays and lesbians.

Acts 15 is our relevant Biblical analogy and guide as the church slowly reverses course to embrace and affirm gay and lesbian Christians.”

Rick Brentlinger, founder of GayChristian101.com

Is there a gay centurion in the Bible?

2009-04-13T20:45:00.002-04:00

A centurion in Bible times was a non-commissioned officer in the Roman Army, commanding 100 men. Centurions are mentioned 21 times in 21 verses of the Bible.

The gay centurion is found in Matthew 8:5 and Luke 7:2. There are sound reasons to believe this centurion was a gay man. These reasons are given in detail on this page and its associated links.

There is another centurion mentioned who was present at the crucifixion of Christ, Matthew 27:54. While it is possible this centurion is the gay centurion from Matthew 8:5, these events happened two thousand years ago and there is no way to prove it one way or the other.

The apostle Peter had the privilege of leading another centurion to saving faith in Christ in Acts 10.

The apostle Paul interacted with three centurions, Acts 22:25, 24:23 and 27:1 but there is nothing in scripture to indicate that these centurions were the same individual as the centurion in Matthew 8.

It is a common misconception that the Apostle Paul spoke against homosexuality. Here are some web pages which factually refute that misconception.

The Context of Romans 1

Romans 1 and Homosexuality

What did arsenokoites mean to Paul?

What did malakoi mean to Paul?

7 Suicides in the Bible

2009-04-12T18:39:00.002-04:00

The Bible does not encourage anyone to commit suicide. Instead, the Bible encourages us to trust God in every situation.

The word suicide is not found in the Bible. Our English word suicide is from two Latin words, sui (meaning 'of oneself') and cida (meaning 'to kill').

Sampson committed suicide by pushing down the supporting pillars of the temple of Dagon, killing many of his Philistine enemies in the process.

There are seven suicides in the Bible.

1. Abimelech - Judges 9:52-54

2. Samson - Judges 16:25-30

3. Saul - 1 Samuel 31:4, 1 Chronicles 10:4

4. Saul's armour-bearer - 1 Samuel 31:4

5. Ahithophel - 2 Samuel 17:23

6. Zimri - 1 Kings 16:15-20

7. Judas - Matthew 27:3-5, Acts 1:18

If you are thinking about committing suicide, DON'T.

God has something better for you than suicide. Seek help, keep trusting God and He will make a way for you.

Suicide is always an unwise and permanent solution for a temporary problem. Don't do it.

"But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." - Philippians 4:19

Stop Being Religious!!!

2009-04-10T14:11:00.001-04:00

Every year at Easter, "religious" people play christian charades, volunteering to be crucified. Bible believers wonder why these folks don't read and study their Bible instead of putting on a crucifixion spectacle.

When people get genuinely saved, as opposed to being only genuinely religious, their lives are changed.

Instead of focusing on outward religious spectacles once a year, they live lives of Biblical spirituality all year long.

Someone needs to share the saving gospel of Jesus Christ with the folks in the photo.

Is your Christianity part of your life 24/7 or is it a once a year religious spectacle?

Conduct Unbecoming

2009-04-10T00:09:00.005-04:00

POTUS Obama bowing to a foreign head of state.
This is wrong, just plain wrong.

Are you trusting a false "Jesus?"

2009-04-09T02:33:00.004-04:00

1. The Jesus of Mormonism cannot save you. According to Mormon belief, their Jesus was the brother of the devil in the spirit world.

2. The Jesus of Jehovah's Witnesses cannot save you. According to the Watchtower, the Jesus of Jehovah's Witnesses is Michael the archangel.

3. The Jesus of the New Age cannot save you. According to New Age teaching, their Jesus is a man in tune with the divine consciousness.

Only the Jesus of the Bible can save your soul because only the Jesus of the Bible died on the Cross, shedding His sinless blood to pay the penalty for your sins.

Which Jesus are you trusting today?

How To Get Saved Right Where You Are.

Gay Condemnation and Rape

2009-04-06T22:10:00.005-04:00

The mindset of many Christians is to condemn every gay and lesbian simply because they are members of the group labeled homosexual. Yet condemning every member of a group is as foolish and off-base as condemning everyone who is heterosexual (based on the sinful activity of a few).

For example, scripture records several heterosexual rapes - (1) Genesis 34:1-2, (2) Judges 19:24-25, 20:5, (3) 2 Samuel 13:1-2, 11-14 - yet we do not conclude that all heterosexual intimate partnerships are wrong based on three Bible passages about rape.

Just so, scripture depicts the men of Sodom attempting to rape angels and scripture forbids same sex activity in the context of worshiping Molech and Ashtoreth the Canaanite fertility goddess, Lev 18:22 & 20:13.

Yet it is wrong to conclude based on Bible verses about attempted rape in Sodom and pagan idolatry, that all homosexual committed partnerships are wrong.

When we affirm committed, faithful, non-cultic same sex partnerships, we are not affirming attempted rape or pagan worship of the Canaanite fertility goddess or prostitution or drunkenness.

Heterosexuals engage in abominable public sexual activity during Mardi Gras in New Orleans and on spring break in cities around the world yet no one assumes that affirming heterosexuality implies affirmation of sinful celebration of Mardi Gras and spring break.

When we affirm committed, faithful, non-cultic same sex partnerships, that in no way implies that we affirm any sin prohibited in scripture, rightly divided.

Are you a good person?

Do You Have A Biblical Worldview?

2009-04-03T19:41:00.003-04:00

If you are a Christian, you ought to have a Biblical worldview. If you claim to be a Christian and yet do not have a Biblical worldview, something is seriously wrong with your Christianity.

A Christian is someone who professes to follow Christ, who professes to be His disciple, to believe what He believes.

Genuine Christians believe the Bible is true like Jesus believed the Bible is true.

Can you believe the Bible?
The Barna Group surveyed Christians and discovered that in 2009, only 9% of Americans have a Biblical Worldview. If you have a Biblical worldview, here is the bare minimum of what you believe.

1. I believe that absolute moral truth exists.

2. I believe the Bible is totally accurate in all of the principles it teaches.

3. I believe Satan is a real being or force and not merely a symbol.

4. I believe a person cannot earn his/her way to heaven by being good or doing good works.

5. I believe Jesus lived a sinless life on this earth.

6. I believe God is the all-knowing, all-powerful Creator of this world and still rules His universe today.

Again, at the barest minimum, this is what you believe if you have a Biblical worldview.

Gays and Lesbians CAN Legally Marry In Iowa

2009-04-03T13:36:00.006-04:00

The Iowa Supreme Court by unanimous decision of all seven Justices, decided today that gays and lesbians have the legal right to marry.

The Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution
The 69 page unanimous decision of the Iowa Supreme Court is available HERE.

eDisciples - Personal Bible Study

2009-04-02T12:54:00.004-04:00

Millions of people self-identify as Christians yet many of them never open a Bible or engage in personal Bible study in their free time.

Expecting to get enough spiritual food to stay spiritually healthy in one or two church visits a week is as silly as thinking you can get enough food in one or two restaurant visits a week to keep you physically healthy.

No one is more responsible for your personal spiritual growth than you. This should be your motto:

If its to be, its up to me.

How To Grow Spiritually
1. Thirst - I Peter 2:2,3, Matthew 5:6

Develop the habit of quenching your spiritual thirst with the written word of God. Read the Bible with a believing heart and an open mind to hear what God has for you.

"Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled." - Matt 5:6

2. Teachability - John 14:26, 16:13

Develop a willingness to learn through group study and self-study. If you don't take an interest in developing your spiritual life, you will be the loser. If you have a question about what the Bible teaches, seek out the answer for yourself.

"the Holy Ghost... shall teach you all things" - John 14:26

3. Time - Ecclesiastes 3:1

Develop the discipline of setting aside quiet time with God on a regular basis. Even if its just 5 minutes or 15 minutes a day, reserve time for God and His word.

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven." - Eccl 3:1

4. Tools

Develop your library of Bible study tools. To get started, buy a Study Bible.
You read investment books or books about sports or your favorite hobbies. Developing your spiritual life also requires tools.

a. Learn to "listen" to the Holy Spirit as you read and study the Bible

b. Learn to pray about verses you don't understand and expect God to answer your prayers.

c. Learn to compare scripture with scripture because the Bible often explains itself if you'll take time to read cross-references.

d. Buy and use a good study Bible with notes, outlines and maps

e. Buy good commentaries on your favorite books of the Bible

f. Keep a notebook to write down what God shows you in the Bible

g. Use online resources like the ones at this Link.

The time-worn "gay couples can't produce children" argument

2009-04-01T11:40:00.011-04:00

This morning I received a friendly email from a non-gay conservative preacher kindly pointing out that since gay couples cannot have children, their unions are barren, against nature and always outside the will of God because they are not part of "God's created order."

He understands God's created order to be one man with one woman. All other marriage iterations are wrong, sinful and never affirmed by God.

Here is an edited version of my response to this sincere (and sincerely wrong) Christian gentleman.

Plato, the Greek philosopher, 428-348 BC

"Thank you for writing to me. I do understand (but disagree with) your position on homosexuality being against God's created order.

Your position is known as Complementarianism and is as old as Plato (428-348 BC). In fact, the current "Christian" Complementarian position traces its roots to Plato, the unsaved Greek philosopher.

The problem isn't that I think women and men are not complementary (certainly they are in many respects just as two men or two women are complementary in many respects)...

But viewing male-female complementarity as the only option God will accept reads into scripture a private opinion that scripture never states.

You wrote that

"the union of a Holy-Spirit-filled man and woman together in marriage reflects the image of God on Earth."

Implicit in your argument is the idea that Adam by himself or Eve by herself, did not bear the image of God. This viewpoint has been argued by theologians for almost two thousand years. As with your Complementarian/created order argument, you are drawing a conclusion based on scripture not saying something (like, 'God blesses polygamous relationships' or 'God blesses gay relationships') and forming your doctrinal belief based on what scripture does not say.

If your created order argument is true (a Holy-Spirit-filled man and woman together in marriage), then polygamy cannot be blessed or affirmed by God. Yet only 44 verses from Genesis 2:24, in Genesis 4:19, scripture records the first polygamous marriage. And in Deuteronomy 21:15-17, God makes provision in the law for inheritance in polygamous marriages.

You will recall that the nation of Israel was formed from the children of a polygamous marriage where Jacob married two sisters plus the handmaids of each of the sisters. God affirmed this polygamous marriage by choosing children from each of the four wives to comprise the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel.

I make no argument for modern polygamy. I merely point out that scripture does not teach the exclusivism for 'one man with one woman' which you believe is the only kind of marriage relationship God will bless.

If we accept your exclusivist viewpoint, that

"A heterosexual union produces life. Children, the continuing of the generations, are the result. This is the created order at work. That created order reflects the nature of who God is"

then what do we do with an elderly widow and widower who want to marry each other?

They cannot have children. Their union is barren, exactly as you described the homosexual union.

"A homosexual union is barren. No life springs from it... For this reason, it cannot and does not reflect the nature of God or his character."

The elderly couple can nurture children or young parents. They can teach Sunday School, babysit for children or perform some other nurturing function for children. But of course, a gay male couple or lesbian female couple can also nurture and raise children.

There are many grandparents raising children today because the biological parents are drug addicts or in jail or prison. Does not life spring from their loving nurturing of children regardless they are not the biological parents of the children they nurture?

Do you recall the biblical story of Samuel (found beginning in 1 Samuel chapter 1 in the Bible)? When Samuel was about three years old, he was given by his biological parents to an elderly man, Eli, who raised him as his own son.

Did life spring from Eli's nurturing of Samuel? Eli, a man who made a mess of raising his own biological children, managed by God's grace, to raise an extraordinary foster son, Samuel, who became a great prophet of God and who also wrote part of the Old Testament.

And isn't God's grace really the point?

Life and nurturing depend on God's grace more than on meeting some formula derived from your 'created order' argument.

I have no doubt you will view your argument as perfectly valid against gay male couples and lesbian female couples but that you will allow an exception for elderly opposite sex couples who cannot have children. In your view opposite sex couples who cannot produce children may still marry in spite of the fact that they cannot have children and therefore their physical union is barren.

Yet if your argument permits exceptions at the two points listed above, (1) polygamy and (2) elderly couples beyond child-bearing, by what logic do you allow those exceptions yet still contend there cannot be a similar exception for gay couples?

Although you feel your beliefs are based on the Bible, it is clear to many of us that your beliefs are never affirmed in scripture as God's truth. Instead, you have formed your beliefs based on things scripture does not say and now teach what scripture does not say as absolute truth."

Rick Brentlinger

Plato & Anti-Gay Christians

2009-03-31T14:36:00.005-04:00

Molech, the fire god mentioned in Lev 18:21, provides historical context for Lev 18:22

Many Christians who preach against gay and lesbian partnerships have embraced Plato's ancient creation theory, gilded it with a veneer of spirituality and now call it Christian.

Based on their Complementarian theory (that the only kind of marriage partnership God will bless is one man with one woman), they often assert that:

"homosexuality does not reflect the created order of God."

What they've missed in their study is that Complementarianism, "Christian" or otherwise, is a Platonic concept, not a Biblical doctrine.

Anti-gay Christians also assert that:

"All mentions of homosexuality in the Scriptures are cast in a negative light."

The fact is, every scripture alleged to mention homosexuality in a negative light is dealing with same sex activity in worship of the Canaanite fertility goddess (Ashtoreth), not homosexuality in general.

We should never cast aside sound hermeneutic principles when we discuss homosexuality. Wresting verses from their historical context and then labeling them as negative toward homosexuality is not honest or hermeneutically sound.

Don't allow the dishonest tactics of some anti-gay Chrstians to confuse your thinking.

Gay Marriage

2009-03-30T11:34:00.008-04:00

Gay Marriage, although a hot button issue for some Christians, is nothing more and nothing less than equal rights for gays and lesbians.

"A guarantee of equality that is subject to exceptions made by a majority is no guarantee at all."

- Therese Stewart, San Francisco City attorney, representing plaintiffs, California State Supreme Court, March 5, 2009

Gays and lesbians study the Bible, go to church, work hard to raise their children in a moral and stable home and seek to be good citizens.

To deny some Americans the rights guaranteed them in the Constitution, such as equal rights under the law is to make gays and lesbians second class citizens. We seek legal help and consult attorneys not because we are litigious but because the Constitution applies to us too.

More about Gay Marriage on this page and its associated links.

Brothel houses and shrine prostitution

2009-03-28T12:16:00.005-04:00

Ashtoreth was a fertility goddess of ancient Canaan and consort of the infamous Molech, Leviticus 18:21

Raycol's comment prompts this follow-up post noting why it is hermeneutically sound to believe that the brothel house activity Ezekiel points out in Ezekiel 16:24, 31 and 39 describes shrine prostitution.

My reasons for pointing out the link Ezekiel makes between brothel house activity and shrine prostitution (sexual worship of false gods) are as follows.

1. In Ezekiel 16:2, God's prophet uses the word abominations, towebah, to begin his description of Israel's worship of false gods, the same word, towebah, which is used to describe the prohibited activity in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.

2. Much of chapter 16 analogizes Israel's behavior with the behavior of harlots while also noting that Israel has forsaken worship of the true God, Ezekiel 16:15, 17, 28, 32, 35, to worship false gods.

4. Ezekiel links Israel's harlot behavior with what God had forbidden in Leviticus 18:3, namely, doing after the religious practices of Egypt, Ezekiel 16:26, and doing after the religious practices of Canaan, Ezekiel 16:29.

5. Ezekiel points out the adultery of ancient Israel in forsaking God for false gods, Ezekiel 16:32. Jeremiah mentions this theme and declares that God divorced Israel for her adultery.

"And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce..." - Jeremiah 3:8

6. Ezekiel 16:21 points out that Israel sacrificed her children, "thou has slain thy children" to "pass through the fire," direct references to Leviticus 18:21, which places the Leviticus 18:22 prohibition in cultural, historical and religious context, as referring to pagan religious worship of the Canaanite fertility goddess Ashtoreth (who was Molech's fertility goddess consort).

7. Ezekiel links Israel's idolatrous activity to the sins of Sodom, describing what really happened in Sodom, again using the word abomination, towebah, Ezekiel 16:49-50, which links at least one facet of Sodom's sin to idolatry and the prohibited same sex activity later described in Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.

Brothel Houses + false religion

2009-03-27T18:47:00.007-04:00

Did you ever read Ezekiel 16? Its a very interesting chapter because it explains what the sin of Sodom really was.

Oddly enough, according to the Bible, the sin of Sodom was not homosexuality.

Ezekiel16:24

"You have built also for yourself a vaulted chamber (brothel) and have made a high place [of idol worship] in every street." - Ezekiel 16:24, - The Amplified Version

"That thou didst also build thee a common stew, and madest thee a brothel house in every street." - Douay-Rheims

"That thou didst build thee a brothel, - and didst make thee a height in every broadway:" - Rotherham's Emphasized Bible

"that thou didst also build unto thee a place of debauchery, and didst make thee a high place in every street:" - Darby Translation

"thou hast buylded thy stewes and brodel houses in euery place: yee at the heade of euery strete" - Miles Coverdale Bible, 1535

"And thou bildidist to thee a bordel hous, and madist to thee a place of hordom in alle stretis." - Wycliffe Bible, 1395

Ezekiel 16:24, 31, 39 - the Hebrew word, gab, carries the meaning of "brothel house," a place where harlots prostituted themselves, according to Gesenius's Lexicon.

God's prophet Ezekiel, under inspiration, links the brothel house to worship of false gods.

This is important because of controversy over the meaning of Genesis 19 and Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13.

Some Christians believe Genesis 19 and Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 proclaim God's wrath against all homosexuals.

In my opinion, the more thoughtful and scriptural view is that Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 only prohibit male same sex activity in worship of the Canaanite fertility goddess rather than being a universal prohibition of gay and lesbian partnerships.

Ezekiel sheds light on the issue by pointing out that Israelites who forsook worship of the true God combined their false worship with sexual activity in brothel houses.

That fits with the historical understanding that Leviticus 18:22 and 20:13 refer to ancient shrine prostitution, not homosexual partnerships which are committed, faithful, non-cultic.

Trash Can Potatoes

2009-03-27T14:49:00.008-04:00

Did you know you can grow your own potatoes on a patio, balcony, deck, sidewalk or someplace other than a garden?

Here's how it works.

Buy Potato Bags from Gardener's Supply Company

or Marshalls (a Brit company)

I like the look of the Marshalls Potato Bag - nice taupe color and all...

Or you can take a large plastic trash can and cut or drill 5 or 6, 1/2 inch drainage holes in the bottom.

Place a layer of newspaper 7 sheets deep on bottom of garbage can.

Pour rich humus or potting soil on newspaper layer about 10 inches deep. You can buy potting soil and humus at Walmart or Home Depot or Lowes or almost any garden center.

Slice your seed potatoes so that each chunk contains two eyes. You have seed potatoes when they start growing eyes.

Let the cut pieces sit for a day while their cut surfaces dry.

Next, plant the potatoes with eyes by pushing them down into the soil just far enough so they’re covered - and dampen the soil.

In only a few days you should find little plants sprouting through the soil. Each time these sprouts grow a couple of inches, cover with potting soil or a mixture of hummus and water your crop. The new potatoes form above their parent eye so eventually you'll have a trash can full of potatoes.

You can plant about six or eight potatoes in one garbage can.

As the potato plant grows a bit, continue adding soil an inch or so each time, but as the plants get to the top of the bag or trash can, let the potato plants grow uncovered.

When soil is near the top, mound it so the center is higher and the sides slope down to a few inches below the rim of the trash can.

That allows you to water your patio potato garden.

The idea is that you now have six or eight potato plants with long shoots growing and producing potatoes in the dirt in the trash can.

The more roots the potatoes have, the more potatoes they produce.

Early potatoes like Swift can provide you a crop in about seven weeks. Other kinds of potatoes longer, 10 - 12 weeks.

The genius of growing potatoes this way is that you can grow them on a sunny patio or porch or deck, without needing a yard or garden area. Potato plants do need to get 8-10 (or more) hours of sunlight, as any other summer garden plant.

Home Made Soy Milk

2009-03-23T22:38:00.012-04:00

Someone asked me,

"Don't you gay Christians ever do anything but talk about the Bible?"

The answer is, Yes, of course. On Monday evening I made fresh sweet soy milk. The 2 minute video that inspired my activity can be found by clicking the title at the top of this post.

How to make

Home Made Soy Milk

with photos

1. Soak one cup of dry organic soybeans overnight in four cups of water.

You can buy organic soybeans at your local health food store or food co-op or online. They're about $1.89 per lb.

2. After soybeans have soaked all night, place them in the blender with enough water to cover and grate for about 20-30 seconds.

If your blender has a small container, you may have to do it a little bit at a time.

DON'T use the high setting on your blender. Use the lowest or next to lowest setting.

3. Pour the blended soybeans into a large cooking pot.

4. Add 4 cups of water for each cup of soaked soybeans.

If you started off with 1 cup of dry soybeans, you'll have about 2 1/2 cups of soaked soybeans so you'll need 10 cups of water. If you like your soy milk thicker, use only 8 cups of water.

5. Bring the soybeans and water to a boil and cook for 20-25 minutes, stirring to make sure the mixture does not scorch on the bottom of the pan. Soybeans tend to get foamy on top and boil over so don't leave while the soybeans are cooking.

I used my Grandma's blue enameled cast iron cook pot. The heavy cast iron spreads the heat around evenly so it doesn't scorch on the bottom and it doesn't boil over.

6. After cooking for 25 minutes, remove from heat and strain the soybean mixture through a one gallon straining bag.

I bought mine at Home Depot, 2 for $2.24 but if you prefer to pay three times as much, gourmet straining bags are available online or from a cooking shop at the mall.

The bag has elastic around the top so it fits nicely over a one gallon glass jar. The bags are sturdy and reusable. Just wash in warm soapy water and allow to drip dry.

The bag strains out the pulp, called okara, and leaves clean, fresh, absolutely delicious soy milk.

Okara is great for cooking. You can stir fry it in canola oil or olive oil and use it like hamburger or make a vegetarian meatloaf using the okara or add it to crock pot soup.

I had some vegetable soup cooking in the crock pot so I added a cup of fresh cooked okara to the soup. It will slow cook overnight and make a wonderful spring-time lunch.

7. If you're used to soy milk from the grocery you'll probably want to flavor yours to make it taste more like what you're used to.

I used Organic Blue Agave Nectar. Its a wonderful tasting, low glycemic index natural sweetener.

I added 4 tablespoons to a half gallon of soy milk + 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1 tablespoon of vanilla flavoring.

8. As an experiment, I recooked the okara a second time in the blue pot, with fresh water and strained it again. The soy milk was thinner but still tasty and I got another quart of soy milk for my trouble.

It looks very much like cow's milk but still tastes like soy milk. The crock pot soy milk came out darker, with a much stronger beany flavor.

Casey, my Giant Schnauzer, loves the stronger flavored soy milk so I'm saving that to pour over her food each day.

I prefer stove top soy milk to crock pot soy milk. Stove top soy milk has a lighter, more delicate flavor and tastes delicious hot, warm or cold. Use it in cooking to replace milk.

I almost bought a soy milk maker but this recipe is so easy and the soy milk tastes so great, I now have no need for an electric soy milk maker like Soyabella, SoyQuick or SoyaJoy.

But if you prefer not to cook your soybeans in a big pot on your stove, perhaps a soy milk maker is just the ticket for you. With one of the brands mentioned above, you can have fresh hot soy milk in 15-20 minutes.

You can even make soy yogurt with your home made soy milk but that's a project I'll tell you about in another post.

And that's how I spent my Monday evening. I now have 3 quarts of fresh soy milk for about an hour of my time and $.30 cents worth of organic soybeans. Amazing!

Give it a try if you're feeling adventurous and let me know how it turns out for you.

Salvation is forever

2009-03-19T17:46:00.006-04:00

Once saved, always safe is sometimes called:

Never forget where you are.

1. Believers are positionally in heaven right now.

"(God)... hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Ephesians 2:6

If you’ve been born again, John 3:3-7, then you are already in heaven because you are “in Christ” and Christ is in heaven.

In order for you to lose your salvation, God would have to take you out of Christ and then kick you out of heaven. And nothing in the Bible indicates God would do that.

So rest in the Lord, always remembering that salvation is of the Lord.

* You didn't do anything to deserve it.
* You didn't do anything to earn it.
* And you can't do anything to keep it.

You are kept by the power of God. And THAT is reason to rejoice.

Are you a good person?

2009-03-16T18:06:00.004-04:00

What does it take to make it to heaven?

Is sincerity enough? Is treating others with kindness enough? Is just being a good person enough?

This short video explains how it works.

What will you do with Jesus?

Witnessing to Mormons

2009-03-16T12:44:00.004-04:00

When witnessing to Mormons, remember that Mormons use the same language we use but they give different meaning to Christian terminology.

The angel Moroni, according to Mormon belief.

Mormons use the same terminology that genuine Christians use but they assign different meaning to the terms, based on what they are taught by the LDS church.

1. When a Mormon hears about "Jesus" they think of Him as the brother they lived with in heaven before coming to this world. They do not view Him as the eternal God.

2. When a Mormon hears about "God or Heavenly Father" they think of their literal heavenly parents, their father and mother in heaven, who became Gods.

3. When a Mormon hears about "redemption" or "payment for our sins" they think of a conditional salvation Jesus provided for them and that they must work hard as a married couple to earn their real salvation which is exaltation and Mormon godhood in heaven.

4. When a Mormon hears the "Trinity" they think of three Gods for this earth. To a Mormon, the "Trinity" is not a Trinity in the Christian sense but only a unity of purpose among three separate Gods.

5. And in the back of the Mormon mind is the thought that someday a human husband and wife will become as God is now, exalted to Godhood.

6. When a Mormon hears about the "Cross" they acknowledge and agreed that Jesus died on the cross but they also believe that before going to the cross, Jesus had already made atonement and provided resurrection for Mormons by suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane.

Mormonism is not now and never has been a Christian religion. Mormonism rejects almost every cardinal doctrine of the Bible concerning Jesus Christ and God.

Warnings for authentic Christians.

* It is better to be divided by truth than to be united in error.

* It is better to be hated for telling the truth, than be loved for telling a lie.

* It is better to stand alone with the truth than to be wrong with the multitude.

* It is better to ultimately succeed with the truth than temporarily succeed with a lie.

There is only one true Gospel and the Bible says,

"If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed."
- Galatians 1:8

Do you love Mormons enough to witness to them and tell them the truth?

God hates figs?

2009-03-15T21:45:00.005-04:00

The tinfoil hat anti-gay crowd loves to wrest scripture out of context and then misapply it to condemn gays and lesbians.

Fred Phelps and his odd-lot congregation get much of the publicity for doing this but many other anti-gay folk use the same flaky approach when it comes to scriptures alleged to prohibit same sex partnerships.

God hates fags is the rallying cry of some nutcase Christians.

So the pic is an interesting twist on that theme, God Hates Figs.

Based on Matthew 21:18-20, Mark 11:12-14 and Jeremiah 29:17, one could argue with much more scriptural authority and more in context (than the anti-gay crowd), that God hates figs.

Hat tip to Dan Savage and Box Turtle Bulletin.

Amazing Grace

2009-03-14T00:28:00.003-04:00

Amazing Grace...

Have you thanked God today for His amazing grace in your life?

A Spoiled Generation

2009-03-13T18:33:00.002-04:00

We're too spoiled and all to often, we forget to give thanks for the thousands of blessings that flood our lives every day.

"In everything give thanks."