BLOGINTHENOW

Now Hear This

2012-01-26T13:46:00.001-05:00

Couple of things...the book ('First, The Good News') is coming along quite nicely...I've taken a few weeks off from looking at it so that I can keep some perspective on the material...when you are immersed in it every day it's easy to get lost in the enormity of all you want and need to say, at least it is for me, anyway...but as of yesterday I've been able to proof it again with some objective eyes, and I must say that I'm really very proud of it so far...I mean, on one level I know I'm kind of asking for trouble in addressing some of the subject matter, but there's really not much of anything left to be said by the religious community that hasn't already been said about me, so it is what it is...the fundamentalists you have with you always...but I know that a lot of people are going to be set free by it, and not just people with same-sex attraction...freedom and authenticity and 'Real People Experiencing the Real God in the Real World' are blessings that everyone should be able to enjoy...I don't think that 2012 will be the end of the world, but I do believe that it will usher in the end of an age, or of an era...everything that can be shaken will be shaken, including the lies and pretensions that much of the modern church is built upon, and this book is some of the fruit of that shaking...I probably have two, maybe three more chapters to write, and when I do I'll post them here...might even finish the next one today...

Things are going well at both CITN locations...surprisingly well, in fact, and I'm not just making a statement of faith in saying that...we really are doing something that hasn't been done before, and even the things that appear to be setbacks (like foreclosures and financial challenges) are in reality all working together for our good...there are still just too many unfulfilled prophecies over the Conyers property, and it's quite possible we may not be able to leave there until they are manifested (yes, CITN EAST is still meeting at 1873 Iris Drive in Conyers, nearly a year after the foreclosure)...

Debye has done a great job ministering on Wednesday nights in January at CITNE, but now that she has finished her series on 'The Power of Agreement', I'll be back on Wednesdays, starting next week...not sure what series I'll be doing yet...may even do something in connection with Black History Month...

Look, I don't don't understand all that's going on with CITNE...God knows I've put those 43 acres on the altar a thousand times and have said goodbye in my heart to all of it, and yet we can't seem to be able to leave it...I mean, if it sells tomorrow I still believe that our steps are ordered, and that God will have something even better for us, but as of right now there are no deals of that nature on the table...

CITN MIDTOWN is doing well, and I really love it...I do, however, need to make some decisions about a permanent meeting place for us...in fact, tonight will be an important service there at The Biltmore House concerning that very issue, and I'm hoping to see many of you there...

Anyway, I'm going to try to get some writing done now...oh, by the way, today's 'A Year In The Now' is a really good one...check it out...if you don't have the book, it's posted on the CITN website (www.churchinthenow.org)...

Peace to you...

Today's AYITN: BIG PICTURE!

2012-01-24T14:10:00.001-05:00

While we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
(2 Corinthians 4:18)

1.Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I have made the decision to see my current circumstances in the light of the spiritual realm. I will see my life as a whole - something entire and complete. Although I am making the effort to live in the moment, I always know that there is more to my life than what is happening right now. Now is certainly important, but it is not all that there is to my life.

2.Today I will be able to regard my present circumstances as important pieces to the puzzle of my life, and I will cooperate with the Holy Spirit in assembling those pieces until the picture is complete. Seeing things come together to manifest God’s purpose for my life is an enjoyable adventure, even when the process is precarious.

3.Today I don’t have to understand exactly how the plan works for me, because I know that it always works out for me! In the big picture, all things are working together for my good, and that is all that really matters to me. I trust in the Lord with all my heart by not leaning unto my own understanding.

4.Today I will not allow negative, limiting voices from my past to create a defeatist mentality in me, because my spiritual eyes are on the big picture. I am able to maintain a “can do” attitude in all things, regardless of what I may be facing today.

5.Today, even though the big picture is painted in broad strokes, I will not be unaware of how important minute details are to the finished product. I will pay attention to the still, small voice of God in my inner man, and I will obey all of His instructions, not despising the day of small things (Zechariah 4:10). His every wish is my command.

6.Today I look at those things that are eternal, because eternity is now. I do not have to look to the past. I don’t even have to look to the future. The big picture is now, and I walk in the revelation of it in the spirit, instead of in the intellect.

7.Today I am unmoved by natural scenarios. I am a visionary and, therefore, can see what most people can’t. Because of this ability, I am strong, steady, patient, and focused as I work out my own salvation. Today I will enjoy seeing my personal path unfold as the big picture of my life manifests the glory of God. I will not underestimate the importance of today, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me to begin to see the big picture today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Today's AYITN: REJOICE TODAY!

2012-01-09T12:31:00.001-05:00

This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
(Psalm 118:24)

1. Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I understand and appreciate the energizing power of rejoicing in the now. Today I joyfully celebrate the present and all of the possibilities that it presents. I exercise my will—I will rejoice, and I WILL be glad in this day! Today I choose to wear the garment of praise instead of the spirit of heaviness. I choose happiness! I choose joy!

2. Today I will resist the temptation to whine, complain, murmur, grumble, mourn, lament, moan and groan, be depressed, feel sorry for myself, feel down and out, feel dejected, feel discontented, feel oppressed, be sad or even be in a bad mood. Instead, my merry heart will do me good like a medicine…I will glory in my infirmities (for when I am weak, then I am strong)...I will count it all joy when I fall into various trials...I will leap for joy at persecution...the joy of the Lord will be my strength!

3. Today I will laugh, finding the humor in my current situations. I will recognize what is funny, and I will not hesitate to enjoy it. I will not waste today by living in regret, but with joy I will draw water out of the wells of salvation. I will even find the proper way to appreciate the absurd and the ridiculous. I will let God use the foolish things of the world to confound the wise around me.

4. Today I will enter the Kingdom by becoming like a little child...laughing... playing... having fun...not taking life too seriously. I will make the effort to enjoy my day. I will smile at people. I will be a pleasure to be with. People will enjoy my company today because my joy will be both attractive and infectious. I will be a blessing to others.

5. Today, for the joy that is set before me, I will endure my cross. I will know the reality of the resurrection and, therefore, will see no situation as hopeless. Life will always triumph over death. I will celebrate my life. The same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead will live big in me today!

6. Today I will be optimistic. I will see the glass half full. I will think positively. I will think on those things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of a good report. I will walk in the Mind of Christ. I will be proactive in dealing with the people around me and with all of their issues. My joyful mind will cause me to think like a winner!

7. Today I will be thankful to God and grateful for my life. I will make melody in my heart to the Lord in an attitude of praise and worship. I will be renewed by the refreshing laughter of Christ in my spirit. This is my day that the Lord has made - I will rejoice and be glad in it and, today, I will live in the now!

Father, help me to remember to rejoice today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

LOOKING AHEAD

2011-12-27T16:20:00.005-05:00

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Good things are happening in the new year at CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST, CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN, CHURCH IN THE NOW ONLINE, and NOW MINISTRIES. Please check out these important dates, and be aware of certain changes, particularly the Week of Prayer and Praise (Jan 2 - 6), Pastor Debye ministering at CINTE/CINO on Wednesdays in January, the return of (NOW MINISTRIES) BODY-BUILDERS, and the new COMMUNION BRUNCH at CITNM, beginning on January 8...

Wednesday, December 28 -

Last CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST/CHILDREN ONLINE service of 2011...(P. Debye will be ministering on Wednesday nights at CITNE/CITNO for the month of January, so we'll be finishing up our study of Luke In The Now on 12/28)
7 PM, EST...

Thursday, December 29 -

Last CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN service of 2011...
Biltmore House, Imperial Ballroom,
7 PM...

Saturday December 31 -

No New Year's Eve service at CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST, but you're all invited to attend the Watchnight Service at THE CATHEDRAL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT,
10 PM

Sunday, January 1, 2012 -

FIRST SUPPER/UPPER ROOM SERVICE AND BAPTISM
CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST/CHURCH IN THE NOW ONLINE,
11 AM, EST*

*(please note that the service is an hour later)

No service at CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN

Monday, January 2 -

2012 WEEK OF PRAYER AND PRAISE, CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST
(led by Bishop Swilley)
7 - 8 PM

Tuesday, January 3 -

2012 WEEK OF PRAYER AND PRAISE, CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST
(led by Pastor Judah Swilley)
7 - 8 PM

Wednesday, January 4 -

BODY-BUILDERS (NOW MINISTRIES)
Mary Mac's Tea Room (Board Room)
224 Ponce de Leon Ave
Atlanta, GA 30308,
11 AM

2012 WEEK OF PRAYER AND PRAISE, CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST
(led by Pastor Debye)
7 - 7:30 PM

Pastor Debye ministering, CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST/CHURCH IN THE NOW ONLINE
7:30 - 8:30 PM, EST

Thursday, January 5 -

2012 WEEK OF PRAYER AND PRAISE, CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST
(led by Pastor Scott Pettite)
7 - 8 PM

CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN
(Bishop Swilley ministering,
Dan Shives leading worship)
Biltmore House, Imperial Ballroom)
7 PM

Friday, January 6 -

2012 WEEK OF PRAYER AND PRAISE, CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST
(led by Pastor Michael Person)
7 - 8 PM

Sunday, January 8 -

CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST/CHURCH IN THE NOW ONLINE
10 AM, EST

CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN
COMMUNION BRUNCH
Cypress Street Pint & Plate
817 W. Peachtree St. NW (next door to Biltmore House)
2 PM

TODAY'S 'A Year In The Now'

2011-12-26T18:29:00.001-05:00

THE KING!

NOW I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he Who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns. He had a name written that no one knew except Himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed Him on white horses. NOW out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And He has on His robe and on His thigh a name written: “KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16)

1. Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I confess that Jesus Christ is both Lord and King! His many names describe and define His perfectly multi-faceted nature and character, shown to me in every day of my life. I worship the One Who is called Faithful and celebrate His great faithfulness to me today (“Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is your faithfulness” –Lamentations 3:22, 23). I will worship the One Who is called True (“For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations” –Psalm 100:5).

2. Today I will worship the One Who has a name written that no one knows but Himself. I will not be religiously smug or pompous enough to claim that I know everything about Him or that I (or my system of fellowship) own the sole rights of access to Him. There is certainly more to the great King than what I know about or than anyone else knows about! His revelation will be ongoing and eternally progressive, and it is bigger and grander than the knowledge of men who know in part and prophesy in part.

3. Today I will worship and pay homage to the One Who is called the Word of God (“In the beginning [before all time], was the Word (Christ), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God Himself” – John 1:1 AMP)
.
4. Today I will worship, as a king myself, the One Who is called the King of Kings.

5. Today I will worship, as a lord myself, the One Who is called the Lord of Lords.

6. Today I will worship, without fear or dread, the One Who rules with a rod of iron.

7. Today I will follow Him into battle on the white horse of my own personal experience with Him. I will see the King today, and today I will live in the now!

Reign on, King Jesus! Long live the King! Amen.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-21T12:08:00.004-05:00

Call it magic or miracle, the truth is that this is the time when we open up our hearts to believe that the clunky and clumsy logic of natural law is completely suspended, and suddenly we re-visualize a world of possibilities...a dreamland where anything can happen...not just a place where every mother's child is gonna spy to see if reindeer really know how to fly...not just a dimension where an angel tries to get his wings by showing you that you've really had a wonderful life...not just a strange world where ghosts visit you in the night, and cause you to have a completely transformational paradigm shift about life, about money, about relationships, about yourself...but an amazing, timeless world where massive angelic choirs serenade shepherds out in the middle of nowhere, in the dead of night, for no apparent reason...a place where eastern magician-astrologers are led by celestial light to a foreign country just to worship an infant King...a nexus for the visible and invisible realms, where a virgin can somehow conceive, and, inexplicably, the Word is actually made flesh and dwells among us...a real place where He appears and our souls feel their worth.

I'm in agreement with you for your Christmas miracle.

All things are possible.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Fourteen, Part II

2011-12-09T21:05:00.002-05:00

Continued from previous post...

At this point the thought may have crossed your mind that if I'm so magnanimous and forgiving of my critics and attackers, then why even talk about them (the Christian press, et al) at all?

I think it's a valid question...one that I've asked myself more than a few times.

In fact, I'm constantly examining my motives for everything that I say (write) and do.

And I am also of the persuasion that if you are intentionally provocative, then you forfeit the right to moan and whine when people are provoked by what you say and do...it comes with the territory.

But I would like to point out that Jesus, while being the perfect example of one Who constantly turned the other cheek, and even laid down His own life, also never missed an opportunity to call out those who opposed Him, especially in the religious community.

I don't think the two concepts are mutually exclusive...in other words, I forgive all who have said really horrible things to and about me concerning my telling the truth about my sexual orientation, but I also think that it's my responsibility to tell it like it is and shine a light on their hypocrisy and ignorance.

Jesus called the Pharisees "snakes and vipers" and "white-washed sepulchers filled with dead men's bones", but He also said to them (nearly in the same breath) "The Kingdom of God is within you"!

My examining the things in this chapter has as much to do with trying to figure out why people are so preoccupied with the personal lives of other people as it has to do with issues of sexual orientation in general.

Why can't Christians just let other Christians "work out their own salvation with fear and trembling"?

I graduated from a well-known Liberal Arts/Bible College...a university that was birthed out of one of the largest Pentecostal denominations in the world...and in all the years since I left there, I basically never heard from any of my class-mates regarding anything I did or said in over three decades.

I have maintained a handful of relationships from there in the 30 plus years since I finished my course of studies, but no one I went to school with attended either of my weddings, never commented when I had children, or when I left the denomination...no one acknowledged that I started a church which became one of the largest churches founded or pastored by anyone who graduated from there...certainly the largest of anyone I was friends with...since 1985 only three people I went to school with ever stopped by to see any of the buildings we built when Church In The Now was at the height of its success...I mean, with the exception of one friend who was my roommate my freshman year that I have maintained a close relationship with, I pretty much have never heard from anyone about anything in my life since 1980 when I graduated.

But, boy, when I came out, they were all over me and were suddenly more than chatty and extremely opinionated...hostile e-mails, open rebukes on the social networks, lengthy discussions about me on their personal pages...suddenly, after 32 years of total silence, they all decided to talk...to me and about me...a lot.

Again, I'm not complaining about it so much as I'm trying to understand it.

If I had been caught in a sex scandal with a woman, would I have heard from the other alumni about it?

If I had left the ministry, would they have an opinion about it?

Would they have been so vocal about anything else?

Why did it take me coming out to finally get some reaction out of them...some acknowledgment of anything about my life?

To all of my classmates who openly attacked me when I came out I would say, "Hey, guys...where have you been all my adult life, and when did it start mattering to you so much what I did?"

A very well-known, super-rich pastor of an Atlanta megachurch preached about me to his enormous congregation, and said that I was "a sign of the times"....evidence that "the very elect would be deceived in the last days".

With having absolutely no idea of what people like me have struggled with their entire life, he dismissed it as me being unable to ignore my perverted "feelings", even though I've been married twice and have lived my entire adult life in opposition to my nature.

Wow, thanks for the love, Pastor.

What I would say to him if I could would be: According to your eschatology (which I don't embrace) shouldn't you be happy that I'm a "sign of the times"?

Aren't you supposed to "comfort one another with these words" and "lift up your head because your redemption draws nigh"?

Instead of judging me, you should be praying for me, and should also be excited that Jesus is about to return!

And for the people who have told me anonymously online that I'm going to hell I would say, "Well, then...shouldn't that take care of it? If I'm going to hell anyway, there's really no purpose in writing pages and pages about me, is there?

Why not just let God take care of me, or deal with me as He sees fit in eternity?

And to the pastors who have "demanded" online that I step down from the pulpit I would say, "Who do you think you are? God called me to the ministry, and only God could remove me from it. I probably disagree with nearly everything you preach, but would never have the audacity to tell you to step down. Jesus is Lord, not me."

The main thing about the Christian anti-gay websites, however, is that I think there is a bigger problem with them, and that is that many of them are quite obviously dealing with their own sexual conflict in being so obsessed with someone else's sexuality.

I have read about tests that have been done on these kind of "God hates fags" kind of Bible-thumpers who are the first to be physically aroused by gay pornography when exposed to it, and it doesn't surprise me.

Time and time again I am reminded of Shakespeare's immortal line, "Methinks thou doest protest too much"! (a misquoted line from Hamlet which actually reads, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." ) when I hear these guys preach their homophobic sermons or read their homophobic blogs.

However it's quoted or misquoted, the meaning of it is that when someone insists so passionately about something not being true or untrue that people suspect just the opposite of what that person is saying.

To make my point, it would be too easy to mention people here like John Paulk (no relation to my Uncle), Lonnie Latham, George Alan Rekers, or even Ted Haggard...just a few examples of men who have been outspoken opponents of gay rights, or have preached condemnation to people with same-sex attraction, who have been caught in gay sex scandals.

There are so many instances of that kind of thing happening that there is even an entire website devoted to exposing these guys called 'Evangelicals Who Hate Gay People but Love Gay Sex".

To further make my point I could refer to the brilliant HBO documentary Outrage, which tells story after story of politicians who, in the spirit of Roy Cohn (the man who worked for Joseph McCarthy in the 50's and exposed people for being gay but was gay himself and later died of AIDS) and J. Edgar Hoover, have made the lives of gay people miserable by their policies and unfair laws, but have been outed in even more gay sex scandals themselves.

There is definitely a pattern with these guys.

The ones who yell the loudest about it are generally the ones dealing the most with their own inner sexual conflicts

I would never out anyone myself, but I could even add some personal confirmation to this by saying that after coming out I have been privately contacted by men who say they have had sexual relationships with some of the very people who have been the most critical of me and have said some of the most hurtful things about me for admitting to my sexual orientation.

Some of them are people I know personally, but I choose to take the high road and not expose them for their hypocrisy...just trying to understand it...

What they say and do is between them and God, and God alone is my vindicator, so I refuse to take these matters into my own hands.

I only mentioned the names of some people here because what happened to them is public record.

I'm not exposing anyone or revealing new information in citing them as references.

I've been asked about Haggard and Bishop Eddie Long in nearly every interview I've done since coming out, and I've chosen to keep my opinions to myself about them. I did sort of discuss Haggard briefly on The Joy Behar show, but that was more in the vain of stating my disbelief in the effectiveness of any kind of conversion therapy.

Anyway, the bottom line is that no weapon formed against me will prosper, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (irrevocable), and I have favor with God and man.

The GOOD NEWS is that the haters online have given me a lot of great publicity that has ultimately attracted many new people to my ministry (Thanks, guys!)...

And the GOOD NEWS is also that, at the end of the day, we will all stand before the Judgment Seat of Christ and give an account of and for our own lives...not the lives of others...and the GOOD NEWS is that we know that He is good and merciful and kind to all...it is not His will that any should perish!

So again I say, Father forgive them all.

And forgive me, too.

And help me unerstand why things are like they are.

And help me to believe that things can change for the better...that people can love one another unconditionally...that they (we) can learn to mind their (our) own business...to "owe no man anything but to love him"...and whatever they (we) don't understandand about one another, they (we) can just leave in the hands of God...that more than anything else we can all just Behold the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world.

Period.

The idea of living in that kind of world sounds like GOOD NEWS to me!

　

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Fourteen

2011-12-06T17:48:00.001-05:00

CHAPTER XIV -

"I Always Feel Like Somebody’s Watching Me"

"Abner! Abner! Come look!"

-Gladys Kravitz

Funny how confirmation works.

I'm a little more than halfway through writing the book at this point, and the last few days, as I've been looking over the previous chapters, the thought has occurred to me more than once that maybe I don't need to deal with some of the things about which I've written.

Maybe some of what I've said isn't even necessary.

Maybe I'm repeating myself.

Maybe I'm overstating the obvious about Biblical interpretation, especially as it relates to sexual orientation.

I mean...this is the 21st century, right?

People know all this stuff already, right?

Maybe I should just take out that last chapter, altogether.

Maybe I sound too cynical, especially for a book that's supposed to be about GOOD NEWS.

And then....just when I was about to start second-guessing the whole project...bam!...an all-out assault from a "Christian"...someone who believes that the Holy Spirit sent them to confront and rebuke me about pretty much everything this book is about (and they didn't even know I was writing it).

They came from out of nowhere...came when I least expected it, from a place that surprised me...caught me totally off-guard...just a casual social setting in which I thought I was simply relaxing with some friends.

We were laughing and talking and having a great time, and then...pow!...it was an ambush...totally unprovoked...we weren't talking about God or the Bible or gay issues...we weren't even talking about me or my story...just chilling and having a good time...and there it came...wham!...it was an attack...and the speech was classic...a religious diatribe, filled with homophobic slurs, misinterpreted and misquoted Scriptures taken out of context, and loads of misinformation about "the gay lifestyle"...and then a personal rebuke from this person I had never even met before...

So I just went with "a soft answer turns away wrath", and let them spew their venom all over me until they felt that God was satisfied, and then they left...but not until they re-affirmed to me that they were sent there by God to do God's work.

Then, as they went away, content and self-satisfied with their own righteous indignation, we went on with the conversation and the relaxing and the chilling.

I've heard all of what they said before, so for me it's kind of like water off a duck's back.

But the good that came out of it for me was that it triggered a change in my thought patterns of the last several days.

In an instant I went from "Maybe I shouldn't be writing all of this stuff" to "Wow, do I ever need to be writing all of this stuff!"

The person who accosted me in the name of the Lord only confirmed to me that every word of this book is necessary and right on time...they convinced me in their own way that I'm doing exactly what I'm supposed to do.

So thank you, angry religious person whom I'd never met and will probably never see again...thanks for giving me the clarity and confidence to keep writing, and not change a single word of what has already been put down in words...thanks for the energy boost...you were just what I needed!

So...where was I?

Oh, yeah.

During my 15 minutes of fame I was treated very kindly by the mainstream press...ABC News, CNN (Don Lemon), The Joy Behar Show, NPR, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, People Magazine, Creative Loafing, Perez Hilton, The View, the Gayle King Show, and others were very gracious and fair in their coverage of everything concerning my coming out, and I greatly appreciated it.

Not that it matters now, but there were some who said I was enjoying the press coverage a little too much and was playing to the media, but what they didn't know is that I turned down many more interviews than I accepted, a producer who makes movies for HBO approached me about doing a biopic, which I turned down, and even though we signed contracts for a reality show, that project has not been picked up by any network as of yet, and I am totally fine with that.

The stuff that was written about me was something over which I had no control, and I didn't ask for any of it.

Whatever about all that, but the biggest issue was, of course, the "Christian" press.

Ah, the Christian press...where do I start?

I have, for the most part, kept silent about this, but I feel free to address it now.

At the time of this writing, all you have to do is google my name and you'll find an abundance of Christian gay watchdog groups who have had a field day with discussing me, dissecting every word of my coming out message (one guy had so much time on his hands that he created an entire eight-part series off of that one message), and showing their general obsession with me and with people like me.

And there are hundreds of comments from "Christians" on these blogs, and under the YouTube videos that have to do with my story. Some of these "Christians" would try to post as many as 20 times a day on my blog (all anonymously, of course).

Just think of how many homeless people they could have fed (something that Jesus actually talked about) in the time it took to post 20 homophobic rants a day.

It's hard for me to take the Christian gay watchdog sites seriously as being anything that actually resembles being Christian because there is nothing at all about Jesus on their blogs and websites...at least nothing that I've seen...maybe because Jesus was completely silent on the subject of sexual orientation, as we've already discussed.

All you will find on these websites is blatant intolerance, homophobia and hate speech.

Just scroll down and read the comments on their blogs, or the comments posted under some of the YouTube clips of me and you'll see what I mean...they and their followers are so gossipy, judgmental, petty, Pharisaical, fundamentalist, closed-minded, vulgar, and just downright mean-spirited, that they compromise any moral authority they might otherwise have, in my opinion.

As I said, Jesus didn't say a word about homosexuality, but he said A WHOLE LOT about love ( "this is the greatest commandment", "by this shall all men know you're my disciples", etc.).

Just read some of the "Christian" anti-gay blogs and tell me if you read anything that sounds even vaguely loving written in them.

What I would say to them if I could (which I can't, because they have no willingness to listen to anyone but themselves) is...Why do you care so much?

Why do you have an opinion about anything I do or say at all?

I think you guys take the Scriptures out of context for your own agendas, and preach what Paul called "another Gospel", and yet I would never be arrogant enough to tell you what to preach or not to preach, or set up a blog just to discuss you.

I'm sure they believe that they have a prophetic mandate to expose false teachers like they believe me to be.

I could argue from the Scriptures that the role of a prophet in the New Testament is quite different than that of the OT prophets who announced destruction on unrepentant cities, but I really don't think that's the point.

I think it's a lot more superficial than that.

I think it's this...with so many voices out there today to compete with for an audience on Christian TV and radio, and especially on the internet, you have to say something different and loud to be heard...and this is something that's not limited to ministers ranting about the gays...I'm including all the ministries that take it on themselves to tell everyone else who is wrong or un-Scriptural or immoral or heretical or errant in their theology.

I understand them in way because they really think they know everything, and I can relate to that...I used to know everything, too! (see Introduction)

Back in the day, I wasn't as downright mean as the "Christian " homophobes are, but I definitely was self-righteous like them, so I get that part. It's awesome to really believe that you are right and that everyone else is wrong.

But it seems to me that those who want to be heard but really have nothing to say have no alternative but to tell you what's wrong with what everyone else is saying....kind of like they're the bottom-feeders of the religious fundamentalist ministry food-chain...scavengers who make a lot of hay out of telling you what's wrong with everyone else because that's all the material they have to work with.

And people like me have provided them with a lot to write and talk about, so I guess I would also say to them, "You're welcome!"

But, all sarcasm aside, I also want to say "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"...the very religious are often also very unhappy...it's really hard to "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world", when all you can see is the "sin of the world" in everyone else.

To be continued...

Today's AYITN - THE REVELATION!

2011-12-01T17:02:00.002-05:00

[This is] the revelation of Jesus Christ [His unveiling of the divine mysteries]. God gave it to Him to disclose and make known to His bond servants certain things which must shortly and speedily come to pass in their entirety. And He sent and communicated it through His angel (messenger) to His bond servant John, who has testified and vouched for all that he saw [in his visions], the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. Blessed...is the man who reads aloud [in the assemblies] the words of this prophecy; and blessed...are those who hear [it read], and who keep themselves true to the things which are written in it [heeding them and laying them to heart] for the time [for them to be fulfilled] is near. (Revelation 1:1-3 AMP)

1. Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I readily recognize and receive the revelation of the resurrected Jesus Christ, acknowledging that it is only through Him that anything can be given. I will believe that the blessings bestowed upon my everyday life are the result of my response and reaction to what has been revealed to my regenerated and reborn spirit! The revelation of Jesus Christ imparts the life of Jesus Christ into me; the dominion, authority and power that I walk in are in direct proportion to my prophetic paradigm.

2. Today I will understand that the Jesus Who unveiled divine mysteries to John, the Apostle, on Patmos Island—the Jesus Who is the same, yesterday, today and forever—is still revealing Himself to His bond servants in the now. He does not desire to hide Himself or shroud Himself in unsolvable enigmas. He wants to be seen and known. He wants me to want to see and know Him. And if He isolates me for a season, as He did John, I will believe that it is for the purpose of gaining my undivided attention so that He can show me things to come!

3. Today I will stay strong, steady and stable by standing on the Word of God and will triumph over every test or trial by trusting in the testimony of Jesus!

4. Today I will be blessed by hearing and reading aloud the words of this prophecy and by laying them to heart. I will be a doer of the Word and not a hearer only!

5. Today I will have a sense of knowing what is going on. Wisdom and understanding will be a natural part of my make-up and I will bring insight into every conversation that I have today, speaking as one who has authority.

6. Today I will walk as a seer and a visionary, comprehending spiritual and abstract ideas as I perceive the poetic nature of prophecy (the spiritual man judges all things - 1 Corinthians 2:15).

7. Today I will see beyond the veil, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me walk in revelation today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Thirteen (Part 2) - REVISED

2011-12-01T16:30:00.003-05:00

Continued from previous post...

But before I deal with this first one, I need to give it some context.

Earlier in the book when I referred to the "Adam and Steve" comment, I mentioned another often-said phrase that I find equally offensive:

"Love the sinner, hate the sin."

It's the poisoned apple of homophobic slurs

More than anything else, it's a lie.

I've seen from my own experience that, typically, the "Christians" who say "Love the sinner, hate the sin" in an attempt to sound benevolent, yet uncompromisingly moral, not only hate the "sin" as they judge it, they actually loathe the "sinner"...and making this smarmy, phony statement is an unctuous way for them to camouflage their true feelings about it.

Their attempt at reconciling the Christ-delivered mandate to love everyone unconditionally with their actual contempt for homosexuals exhibits the very kind of hypocrisy that Jesus continually attacked with a vengeance.

The absurdity of "Love the sinner, hate the sin" reminds me of the scores and scores of letters I've received from those fluent in Christian-ese who begin their pompous missives with the statement "It's not my place to judge you", and then set out to write 3 to 5 pages of nothing but judgment on me!

It's as if saying "It's not my place to judge you" is the disclaimer that gives them carte-blanche to tear into you and say anything they want to say...like when someone begins a conversation by saying, "Now, I'm just saying this in love..."...

You know full well, if you've ever been on the receiving end of that opening line, that the words you hear spoken after that are generally anything but loving!

Here's a thought...if it's not your place to judge, then don't even write the letter!

And if you're saying something in love, you don't even have to qualify that it's said in love...love bears fruit of itself! Margaret Thatcher said, "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't"...in the same way, if you have to tell someone that love is your motivation for doing or saying something, it's the clearest indication that nothing could be further from the truth.

Some of those same people have written in those same letters, "Your personal life is between you and God", to which I also say...EXACTLY! Then why not just let God and me deal with it?

Anyway, this brings me to the question I get asked all the time:

Question #7: Is homosexuality a sin?

Answer #7: No way to answer that because it's not a valid question. Sexual orientation is not what you do, it's who you are!

　

The guy who always says "Love the sinner, hate the sin" is the worst kind of homophobic bigot, in my opinion, because he hides his prejudice inside polite statements like that in an attempt to deflect his real motives and true feelings.

He reduces homosexual orientation to merely a sex act, usually between men...one that he doesn't understand or finds repulsive...but let me re-affirm that there is no specific definition of gay sex, even though a lot of straight people think that there is. Just as there is no specific sex act that makes someone heterosexual, there is no sex act that determines whether or not a person is gay. Not all gay people express themselves sexually in the same way (just like with straight people), and it goes without saying that gay men do not and could not have the same sexual expression as gay women.

Being gay is NOT about how someone has sex, but about WHO that person is attracted to (more about that in the next chapter).

In fact, as I've already said, if a person is gay and never has sex, they're still gay!

If a gay man spends years going through"treatments" to cure himself, and he learns to control his behavior...if he subjects himself to cultural expectations and is pressured into marrying a woman...he's still gay! The same is true for lesbians.

They are the way that they are...the way that God created them...it's how they're wired.

When homophobes, especially the religious ones, make it all about sex or a particular sex act with which they are pre-occupied, their tactics are transparent.

Many of the letters I've received from those who have quoted the most Bible verses to me are actually quite obscene...in fact, in most cases, the more Bible references they include in their letter, the more graphic and distasteful their language usually becomes about what they imagine intimacy between gay people to be.

The tactic of creating "the other," through demeaning people by associating them with abhorrent behavior is what the men who support the "Kill the Gays" bill in Uganda use.

I won't even mention them by name, but these guys are reprehensible because they lump all gay people into one bizarre sexual category, and convince the public that all gay people are extreme and dangerous perverts.

It was the strategy so effectively used to turn a frustrated people against a disenfranchised minority in Germany many years ago.

When you make homosexuality only about the "sin", as you call it, you purposely marginalize gays.

At this point you may be asking , 'Where's the GOOD NEWS in all this, especially in a book that's supposed to be about GOOD NEWS?'

Well, sometimes you have to expose the bad news for what it is so that you can exalt the GOOD NEWS, so again, please bear with me through this.

But a little education is in order here.

First of all, not all gay men engage in the same sexual practices.

I'm trying not to be indelicate here, but I know and have counseled with a very large number of homosexual men who do not enjoy what many straight people assume is the only definition of homosexuality.

As I said, not all homosexuals are men, so what a straight person may think of as the definition of homosexuality probably doesn't even apply to women.

And I don't want to shock anyone, but I've been counseling with people long enough to know that many straight people do everything that gay people can do sexually, which brings me to the next question:

Question #8: Does gay sex cause HIV/AIDS?

Answer #8: Absolutely not! No sex act "causes" HIV/AIDS...the virus can be transmitted through a number of sexual practices, just like it can be transmitted through blood transfusions and the sharing of hypodermic needles, neither of which has anything whatsoever to do with sex.

Question #9: Then why is HIV/AIDS such an epidemic in the gay community?

Answer #9: Because, typically, gay men, especially young, single gay men are statistically more sexually active with a larger variety of partners than are other groups.

I'm neither defending nor explaining that last answer.

It is what it is.

But that does not mean that any specific sex act causes HIV/AIDS.

And finally...

Question # 10: Is HIV/AIDS the judgment of God

on homosexuals?

Answer #10: It is not.

I feel ridiculous even including that last question, because any intelligent person knows that couldn't possibly be true, if for no other reason than there were no cases of HIV/AIDS before 1981, and homosexuality has been a reality in the world since at least the beginning of recorded history.

I mean, if it was God's judgment on the gays, it sure took him a long time to figure out what to do to punish them.

OK, enough of this for now.

Thanks for reading with an open mind.

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Thirteen (Pt. 2)

2011-11-30T18:19:00.005-05:00

...continued from an earlier post (11/23/11)

But before I deal with this first one, I need to give it some context.

Earlier in the book when I referred to the "Adam and Steve" comment, I mentioned another often-said phrase that I find equally offensive:

"Love the sinner, hate the sin"

Truth be told, I actually think that this is the most offensive one...in fact, it's the deadliest...because it sounds so nice and fair and progressive and "Christian"...but at the heart of it is a cynical, condescending and smugly self-righteous sentiment that literally sends shivers up my spine.

It's the poisoned apple of homophobic slurs

More than anything else, it's a lie.

I've seen from my own experience that, typically, the "Christians" who say "Love the sinner, hate the sin" in an attempt to sound benevolent, yet uncompromisingly moral, not only hate the "sin" as they judge it, they actually loathe the "sinner"...and making this smarmy, phony statement is an unctuous way for them to camouflage their true feelings about it.

Their attempt at reconciling the Christ-delivered mandate to love everyone unconditionally with their actual contempt for homosexuals exhibits the very kind of hypocrisy that Jesus continually attacked with a vengeance.

The absurdity of "Love the sinner, hate the sin" reminds me of the scores and scores of letters I've received from those fluent in Christian-ese who begin their pompous missives with the statement "It's not my place to judge you", and then set out to write 3 to 5 pages of nothing but judgment on me!

It's as if saying "It's not my place to judge you" is the disclaimer that gives them carte-blanche to tear into you and say anything they want to say...like when someone begins a conversation by saying, "Now, I'm just saying this in love..."...

You know full well, if you've ever been on the receiving end of that opening line, that the words you hear spoken after that are generally anything but loving!

Here's a thought...if it's not your place to judge, then don't even write the letter!

And if you're saying something in love, you don't even have to qualify that it's said in love...love bears fruit of itself! Margaret Thatcher said, "Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren't"...in the same way, if you have to tell someone that love is your motivation for doing or saying something, it's the clearest indication that nothing could be further from the truth.

Some of those same people have written in those same letters, "Your personal life is between you and God", to which I also say...EXACTLY! Then why not just let God and me deal with it?

Anyway, this brings me to the question I get asked all the time:

Question #7: Is homosexuality a sin?

Answer #7: No way to answer that because it's not a valid question.
Sexual orientation is not what you do, it's who you are!

To be continued...

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-11-25T23:17:00.001-05:00

I hope you had an excellent Thanksgiving...ours was pretty much perfect...God is so good...

And now it's that time of the year again...where does the time go?!

I've revised and re-posted the Christmas Playlist...it currently has 150 songs...I may add some more later...I really love Christmas music in case you hadn't noticed...

Thanks for your great feedback about the book...I hope to have Chapter Thirteen finished and posted this weekend...

I also hope to see many of you at CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST or at CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN this coming Sunday (the Midtown service has been moved to 2 PM)...and for those of you who are not in the ATL area, I hope you will attend CHURCH IN THE NOW ONLINE (www.churchinthenow.org)...

Blessings to you and your household!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

2011-11-24T00:14:00.000-05:00

GIVE THANKS (Re-post)

G - race isn't a little prayer you chant before receiving a meal. It's a way to live.
- Jacqueline Winspear

I - f the only prayer you ever say in your whole life is 'thank you', that would suffice.
- Meister Eckhart

V - ery little is needed to make a happy life.
- Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

E - nter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good...
[Psalm 100:4, 5a]

T - o speak gratitude is courteous and pleasant, to enact gratitude is generous and noble, but to live gratitude is to touch Heaven.
- Johannes A. Gaertner

H - e who thanks but with the lips
Thanks but in part;
The full, the true Thanksgiving
Comes from the heart.
- J.A. Shedd

A - s we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy

N - o longer forward nor behind
I look in hope or fear;
But, grateful, take the good I find,
The best of now and here.
- John Greenleaf Whittier

K - now that the pain will pass, and, when it passes, you will be stronger, happier, more sensitive and aware.
- Mel Colgrove

S - ilent gratitude isn't very much to anyone.
- Gertrude Stein

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Thirteen

2011-11-23T21:06:00.020-05:00

Chapter Thirteen

"Momma Always Said, Stupid is as Stupid Does"

"Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped."
- Elbert Hubbard

God made Adam and Eve...not Adam and Steve!

If I've heard it said once, I've heard it a thousand times or more.

We discussed Adam and Eve a little in the last chapter (and nothing about sexual orientation issues, in case you didn't notice), but in this chapter I will need to discuss sexual orientation a lot.

Believe me, this isn't really what I want to be talking about, but I have to address some of the nonsense that has been thrown at me, and answer some of the questions about being gay and Christian that I've gotten over and over again from straight people, especially in the last year. This being the 21st century and all, I shouldn't even have to deal with this stuff, but you gotta do what you gotta do...

So bear with me.

OK...first, let me say, once and for all, that HETEROSEXUALITY IS ALIVE AND WELL!

I make this simple and obvious statement for the sake of the many people who, for whatever reason, write, e-mail, call, text, or post on this and my other blog to remind me that God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve.

I’m not really sure what this tired and overused phrase is supposed to mean, really, or what it is supposed to accomplish. I guess it is said to me and to people like me for the purpose of possibly snapping my mind back to the reality of the creation story of Genesis 1, and to hopefully change my sexual orientation…as if a statement like this could alter my thinking about the long-held truth of my life, or my beliefs about human sexuality.

But I’ve heard the Adam and Steve thing said so much, not just to me, personally, but also publicly from pulpits across America over the years and in television debates over gay rights issues, that I have to deal with it, and make some observations that will hopefully bring a little clarity on the subject (and maybe stop people from saying it to me so often…).

And since I mentioned the preachers, let me interject here that there is a dark, manipulative side to the preaching ministry that most laymen are unaware of. By that I mean that if a preacher needs to stir a crowd and get a certain reaction from his audience, there are certain phrases and buzzwords...a sort of verbal bag of tricks, if you will...that can really work a crowd if you know how to use them.

The theme of homophobia is most times a sure thing when you want to get a rise out of a congregation of mainstream Bible-believers these days, and the "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" thing is the catch-phrase that seems to be the most memorable and effective.

It's been my experience that, typically, when a ministry puts an excessive amount of emphasis on "Family Values" instead of being Christ-centered in its message, you can just expect gay-bashing to be central in the preaching.

And when a fundamentalist preacher gets really wound up and starts yelling about the end of the world and the collapse of civilization as we know it, you can pretty much predict that somewhere in his sermon (rant) the gays are going to get blasted more than any other group. They'll get blamed for every earthquake and hurricane that's recently happened with the usual references to the wrath of God, then you'll generally hear some historically-inaccurate information about the founding fathers, finished off with a menacing threat that the gays are out to get your children.

Indeed, if a fundamentalist man of the cloth wants to work his narrow-minded, misinformed crowd into a frenzy, "Adam and Steve" are pretty much a sure thing for him, and a nearly sure-fire way for him to gain supporters.

Then you'll usually hear him make a pitch for a big offering, with something said like "Give to this ministry so that we can keep the perverted homosexuals in their place and protect your children from them!"

And it usually works.

Fear sells.

When a preacher uses the Bible to make gay people seem evil and threatening to an assembly of ignorant homophobes who are convinced that they are the "real Christians", it's like throwing meat to hungry dogs.

The haters just eat that stuff up.

But please allow me to say some things about all this...I can't make you agree with me about it, I can only say what I truly believe, and let you judge it for yourself.

But, if you can, try to hear me out without prejudice.

OK...let me reiterate that heterosexuality is not going anywhere.

Procreation is not in any danger.

The overwhelming majority of the world is straight, and always will be, and men and women will always continue to date, fall in love, get married, have sex, have babies, and do whatever else straight people do.

Despite what you regularly hear from the Christian right, the world is not turning gay.

There is no "gay agenda" to fear in the sense that gay people are trying to recruit heterosexuals to turn to a "gay lifestyle" (which also doesn‘t exist, by the way, but more about that later).

Nobody "turns" gay.

It’s just not possible.

And, yes, I've read the first Chapter of Romans (see Chapter Eleven) where Paul talks about men leaving women for men and women leaving men for women (the only hint at a reference to lesbians in the Bible, by the way), and all I can tell you is that whatever pagan temple sex rituals for worship that he was talking about there has absolutely no relevance to my life, whatsoever, nor to the life of any gay person alive today that I know.

I think I've already said this in a previous chapter, but for the sake of point I will repeat that homosexual experimentation between heterosexuals does not make those heterosexuals gay. For example, if two straight men in prison end up being sexual with each other in some way, they're not gay...they may be libidinous or desperate or lonely or whatever, but they're not gay. Disagree with me if you need to, but I'm telling you that's the truth.

There is about the same percentage of the world’s population that is homosexual as there has always been (10 %), you just hear about it more now than you did in the past for many reasons, and so it may appear that something strange or unprecedented is happening in society that isn’t necessarily happening.

Gay people, as a rule, are not anti-family, or even anti-heterosexual, for that matter…they are not against the idea of Adam and Eve and what they represent.

Every gay person knows that, were it not for heterosexual procreation, none of us, straight or gay, would be here! Straight people will always be straight, and gay people will always be gay.

Period.

I know that that statement usually opens up endless arguments on the subject, but so be it.

Sooner or later, people are just going to have to realize and admit that no one is making this stuff up. If someone says they’re gay…they’re gay! They didn’t choose their orientation any more than any heterosexual chose his or her orientation.

Why would a man like me say it if it weren't true?

I would have absolutely nothing to gain by saying it, especially at this stage in my life...as I said before, I wasn't outed by anyone, didn't have a scandal, and at the time of this writing am not even in a relationship and am celibate...and I'm still gay.

Why would a teen-ager make it up about himself or herself just to be bullied or ostracized...or worse, to have a reason to commit suicide?

The only "gay agenda" that gay people may have is their desire to have the same civil rights that every other citizen has.

Gay people are not after your children, no matter what the fear preachers tell you to make you afraid for their own control purposes. You should protect your children from pedophiles, and pedophilia and homosexuality are two COMPLETELY different things.

The overwhelming majority of child molesters are straight men who desire little girls, and the average gay person is just as horrified and disgusted by child molestation as any heterosexual, American citizen, or Christian. And please don't send me statistics and horror stories about Catholic priests and altar boys...I'm telling you, those men are in another category, entirely.

So relax...Adam and Eve and heterosexuality rock, and gay people don't want to destroy the family or the country or civilization as we know it...and they're not after your children. They just want to be able to live their authentic lives the way that you and everyone else want to live theirs.

So I hope the next time you hear a guy on Christian TV say "God didn't make Adam and Steve" you'll think about these words and realize how insensitive, idiotic, and out of touch with reality he sounds.

Now to answer some often-asked questions...

to be continued...

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Twelve (continued)

2011-11-21T16:44:00.012-05:00

...continued from previous post...

The Whole Truth and Nothing But the Truth

Were Adam and Eve the first people on the earth?

Clearly not...and that's according to the Scriptures.

Moses indeed begins his narrative about God's covenant with humanity with only Adam and Eve and their children, but in the fourth chapter of Genesis, after Cain kills Abel, we hear of other people who are already alive and living somewhere else in the earth.

After the murder, Cain is sentenced to become a vagabond, roaming around with no place to settle down. So he tells God that he is afraid that as he travels the earth, when other people find out that he committed fratricide that they will want to kill him, too.

So God puts a mark on him as a warning to anyone else who might want to do him harm because they had gotten wind of his terrible crime...and the mark means that everyone else who already lives on the earth is to leave Cain alone.

Other people already lived on the earth?

Who?

The Genesis account isn't clear about that, but whoever they were, they obviously had the ability to communicate, gossip, and threaten other people with murder.

And in the following verses we see that Cain ends up going to a place that already existed, east of Eden, called Nod.

There was apparently already a civilization there in Nod, and Cain finds a woman in that place who he marries, and they become the parents of Enoch.

If you rigidly hold to the idea that Adam and Eve and their children were the first people, then you can't make any sense of this part of the story...and you also have to conclude that Cain committed incest by marrying his own sister. In fact, if you follow this fundamentalist notion as an absolute, you would have to believe that all of the children of Adam and Eve married and had children with their siblings.

Typically, fundamentalists miss the point of this story, entirely.

The point is not the literalness of the historical facts of Adam's family...the point is, I believe, that God wants to be (and is very much) involved in the affairs of human beings...that our actions have consequences...and that even in punishing Cain for his wicked deed, God still shows him mercy and offers him protection.

These are important and powerful concepts...the multi-faceted moral of the story...the "truth" of the Genesis account, if you will.

Was there a flood that destroyed the entire world, except for the eight Hebrew people on Noah's Ark?

There most likely was a terrible and devastating flood in antiquity that caused mass destruction, and telling about it became part of the oral tradition of ancient peoples. But it seems impossible to believe that the flora and fauna, not to mention all the people of the earth, were all destroyed in one universal, global flood.

First of all, Moses, no doubt, would have believed that the earth was flat when he and whoever else wrote Genesis relayed the story of the Great Flood. Their idea of the whole world would have been just the world that they knew about.

Furthermore, if there were only 8 Hebrews saved on the entire planet, then where did Asians and Africans and Europeans and all the indigenous people of the earth come from?

The point of the story, as far as I'm concerned, isn't whether or not there were actually and literally two kangaroos and two zebras and two grasshoppers, etc. on the ark...the point of the story (and again, fundamentalists seem to miss this, altogether), is that one man can make a difference...indeed, one man can save the world!

If there were not a Noah story, there could be no Gandhi story...

...or Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr story....

...or Rosa Parks story...

...or the story of any other individual who has made an impact on humanity to the point that history was actually altered by their actions.

In reality, there couldn't even be a Jesus, the Savior, story without a Noah story.

Look, I'm not saying that the stories of the Bible are fables...I personally believe that there is an element of truth in all of them.

I can believe that there was a literal Adam and a literal Eve, but not to the point that I overlook and misunderstand the symbolism of their personalities in the story of God's relationship to humanity...

I believe that people who take the Bible so literally that they accept every single word of it as an absolute completely bypass the importance and significance of the power of story-telling.

Jesus certainly understood and employed the art of story-telling, because He taught nearly entirely in parables, and the effectiveness of His colorful tales have little to nothing to do with whether or not there was an actual/literal Unjust Judge or Prodigal Son or Good Samaritan.

And if you read the four Gospel accounts of the Resurrection of Jesus, you basically find four different versions of the events of that day...there is no official story of record, and you'd think there would be, considering that the Resurrection is perhaps the most important event recorded in the Bible.

But the one constant of the four stories is that Jesus was dead, and then He was alive. That's what matters...not how many women were in the garden, or how many angels there were, or whether or not there was an earthquake, or whether or not Jesus commissioned Mary Magdalene to tell the disciples about it.

Fundamentlism fixates on the facts of the story, and ignores the inspiration and relinquishes the revelation of the narrative.

So...is the Bible true or not?

The Bible certainly contains truth, and ultimately reveals "The Truth"...but it must be rightly divided before any truth can actually be found in it.

And, as I've already said...if you know where to look, you find that it's truthfully just loaded with pretty much nothing but GOOD NEWS!

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Twelve

2011-11-19T21:50:00.005-05:00

CHAPTER TWELVE

You Better Think!

"I regard Christian and Jewish fundamentalism, and all other forms of fundamentalism,

as the enemies of God - and I hope you'll quote me on that."

-Arthur Hertzberg

They finally got Osama Bin Laden.

It was nearly ten years after the fact...ten years after September 11, 2001...but they finally got him.

As an American, I joined in with the rest of the country in breathing a collective sigh of relief in knowing that the despot had been removed from the world stage, and I applauded the obviously successful efforts of our Commander-In-Chief, and of the amazing soldiers who executed a virtually flawless raid on Bin Laden's Pakistani mansion/compound.

It's regrettable that it took so long to find him, especially since he had obviously been hiding in plain sight the whole time...but it's even more regrettable, as far as I'm concerned, that we are still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan at the time of this writing.

But, at least he's gone.

Being as patriotic as the next guy, I was moved by the spontaneous celebrations that broke out at the White House and in Times Square and at Ground Zero the night that the President announced that Bin Laden had been taken out, and I certainly don't want to be insensitive to the pain of the families who lost loved ones on that horrible September morning in '01...families that will never have full closure from the atrocities of that day, no matter who is assassinated...but I was quite sober when I heard the news.

Relieved? Yes.

Happy? Not really...at least not totally...

At the time, I expressed this same sentiment on my blog, and for the most part my thoughts were very well received...but there were those who misunderstood my point, completely (so what else is new?), and sent me numerous statistics of the many deaths for which Bin Laden was responsible...some even accused me of wanting to invite him to my house for dinner and become best friends with him.

(sigh)...

Certainly, no one needed to convince me what a bad guy he was...9/11 broke my heart...but I'm used to people missing the point on a lot of subjects that I discuss...being misunderstood comes with the territory when you have a large platform through which you express your ideas, especially ideas that aren't really mainstream.

Anyway, the point is this...we live in such an unkind world...people killing one another...hating one another...the longer I live, the more intolerable this reality becomes. So, even though what was done in Pakistan at Bin Laden's compound apparently had to be done, I couldn't and can't in good conscience really rejoice in the death of anyone, no matter how evil they are.

Am I glad he's gone?

No doubt about it.

I'm glad to know that we don't have to dread another of his videos coming out that shows he's still alive and still a threat to our safety.

But I am grieved that we live in a world where this kind of thing still has to happen at all.

What does this have to do with GOOD NEWS and the other things I've discussed in this book? Just that the world needs a revelation of the GOOD NEWS now more than ever!

Let me give that statement some context for this chapter...

The President gave a short but brilliant speech to the country the night of the assassination, in which he pointed out that Osama Bin Laden did not and does not represent Islam, and he was right about that.

In fact, Bin Laden killed more Muslims than he did any other group.

But where my mind went immediately was that the real enemy was not Osama Bin Laden or any other person, for that matter.

The real enemy was and is religious fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism kills...be it Muslim or Christian or that of any other religious persuasion.

The Crusades...

The Spanish Inquisition...

The Holocaust...

The violence between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland...

The Ku Klux Klan...

The Taliban, etc...

It's all about religious intolerance that stems from fundamentalist interpretations of Holy Writ.

I'm proud to be an American.

I'm proud of our President and of our troops.

I love my country, and I want it to be safe.

But I'm really, really tired of religious fundamentalism, and all the hatred and death that it inevitably causes.

Terrorism happens every day in the name of religion...believe me, I know of what I speak.

In The Beginning

Fundamentalist Christians read the Bible with no sense of context...no concept of how to discern the "spirit" of the letter, and so they just continue to fixate on the parts of the written script with which they agree, even though what they focus on is nearly always "the letter that kills".

For example: Of course God created the universe.

Call it intelligent design, or whatever, the fact is that science cannot answer all of our questions about the origin(s) of everything. Even though there is clearly and undeniably some evolution that takes place in every species, including that of humans (if you don't believe it, ask yourself why people have wisdom teeth), there is just no way that everything on the earth, including all of the different species of animals, could have evolved into such a sophisticated and complex bio-system.

And this is no doubt a very simplistic way to approach it, but I think it's obvious that we didn't come from apes for the very simple reason that there are still apes. If simians, regardless of how "human" they often seem in demeanor and mannerism, were just a link in the chain, then why didn't they eventually all evolve into homo sapiens?

So yes..."in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth".

That's a given.

But that doesn't mean that science is wrong in its assertion that the earth is older...much, much older...than 6,000 years, as many traditional creationists believe.

Did God speak the worlds into existence? I believe that He did, but that doesn't mean that I rigidly hold to the idea that He created the earth absolutely and definitely in only six 24-hour periods, and then rested on the 7th.

If Moses were here today, I believe that he would explain to those mainstream Bible believers who read the Genesis account strictly through a fundamentalist paradigm that he was speaking poetically when he wrote the creation account in Genesis 1. The ancient Hebrews, of course, would have understood that. Moses wasn't there when God created everything, so he had to find a way to explain the creation of all things in a way that his readers could understand.

The important thing is that, ultimately, God created everything...whether or not he did it in 6 days or 6 seconds or 6 million years. The fact is that creation is an act of divinity, and the product of the God-kind of faith.

When Christians argue over the "6 days" creationist stand versus the idea that God created everything through a process of evolution, they miss the point, entirely.

Bottom line, it was a miracle, and God did it.

...to be continued...

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - The Rest of Chapter 11 (finally!)

2011-11-15T16:49:00.008-05:00

...continued from previous post...

You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

In the Preface to the book I mentioned about how many times two passages from Paul's letters...one to the church at Rome, and one to the church at Corinth...have been sent to me (as if I've never read them) in letters and messages from "Christians" who wanted to straighten me out (no pun intended).

In the days and weeks following my coming out, and the media coverage of it, there was an absolute avalanche of mail that came in from all over the world, especially after the video of my message to the church went viral on the internet, and most of them were from furious "Christians".

The reason I put the word "Christians" in quotations here is that nearly every one of these letters that contained references to Romans 1 and I Corinthians 6, with the exception of maybe less than I could count on one hand, also contained the vilest, most vitriolic and vulgar language I've nearly ever heard in my life. No mention of prayer...no mention of love...and for those who think of people with same-sex attraction as fallen reprobates, no mention of any kind of offer of restoration, whatsoever.

Just hostile hate-speech, sent and received over and over and over again.

Typically the hundreds and hundreds of letters from people who sent me references to the abominations mentioned in Leviticus (see Chapter Nine) were relatively tame...but for some reason, the people who have quoted Paul to me are some of the angriest, meanest homophobes I've ever heard from.

I mean, seriously...if you could read some of the stuff I've gotten from "Christians", you'd know that it's not over the top, or too politically correct to have people lobby for hate-crime legislation for gay people...there are some very scary heterosexuals out there!

I've deleted or thrown away all of their letters now because they're just so dark, but really you just wouldn't believe some of the things that the "Paul-quoters" have said to me...liberal usage of the word "fag" and "faggot"...explicit references and descriptions of what they imagine intimacy between two men is like (no mention of lesbianism...they generally seem to be fine with that)...and lots and lots of references to demon possession, hell, judgment, "sodomy", false prophets, signs of the times, and many, many threats of AIDS as a judgment from God.

I'm reluctant to empower this thought, but my favorite was the one that read:

　

HOW CAN YOU DARE TO CALL YOURSELF A PASTER [sic]?????????? YOU NEED TO READ THE BIBLE AND RECEIVE JESUS CHRIST AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVOR AND LORD!!!!!!!!!!! SOMEBODY NEEDS TO CAST THE DEVIL OUT OF YOU SO YOU CAN GET SAVED!!!!!! YOU ARE GOING TO HELL!!!!!!! GET RIGHT WITH GOD AND READ LEVITICUS AND ROMANS 1 YOU GODDAM FAGGOT!!!!!!!!!! REPINT [sic]!!!!!!!!!
FROM, A "REAL CHRISTIAN"

Truth be told, I hate to include that in a book that's supposed to be about GOOD NEWS, but it just really says it all, I think.

On the other hand, it's that kind of talk that actually makes me want to stay in the ministry and double my efforts to share some GOOD NEWS with the world, because if that's what a "real Christian" sounds like, then Jesus still has a lot of work to do with His followers! As the song says, where is the love?

Speaking of Jesus, He said that the thing that would separate the sheep from the goats, and send the goats into the fire ("hell" for those of you who believe that's what He meant), was whether or not you visited the sick and incarcerated, clothed the naked, and fed the hungry.

I dare say that if I had gone on national TV and announced to the world that, regardless of the commandments of Jesus Christ, I wanted to make a declaration that I would never, ever feed another hungry person, or visit a prisoner in prison, or provide clothing for someone who was indigent for as long as I live, that I probably would have gotten no reaction from it at all...wouldn't even be a blip on the radar screen of the "real Christians", because that kind of stuff is generally pretty low priority with them.

And to the Paul-quoters I would also interject that he said that he preferred that all people spoke in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:5), but I don't expect to hear the Southern Baptists speaking in tongues any time soon...are you kidding me? The denominational Pentecostals hardly speak in tongues any more!

Guess it doesn't matter what Paul said about that, unless you're a Charismatic Baptist, and I don't even know if there still are any of those around.

Paul said that women should cover their heads in church, but I don't see a lot of women wearing hats on Sundays...at least not like they used to.

Guess it doesn't matter what Paul said about that, unless you're a traditional Roman Catholic.

Paul said women should have long hair, and men should have short hair.

Guess it doesn't matter what Paul said about that, unless you're from an old-school Holiness church.

Paul said a good bit about the required marital status and family-life of Bishops, Pastors, and Elders, but I don't think a lot of the people on Christian Television know or care a lot about that...I don't know, maybe their ex-wives do.

I could go on and on about some of Paul's commandments that don't seem to push any buttons with most church people these days, but when you tell them that you have always had same sex attraction...well, OK...I think I've made my point.

When in Rome

You can read it for yourself (if you don't have a Bible, just google it).

As I said earlier, I assume that the people who have cut and pasted this passage to me so many times must think that in 40 years of preaching I never came across these verses.

Let me tell you...I 've read them.

Many, many times.

And here's the deal...I could go verse by verse and show you that he was referring there to ancient pagan practices of temple worship...people who were worshipping graven images of "birds, animals and reptiles"...and, as I said in an earlier chapter that Sodom and Gomorrah has no more relevance to my life than it does to the life of a straight man, I could add that this reference has no relevance to my life as a gay, Christian man living in the 21st century, whatsoever.

I mean, I'm gay, but I promise you I've never worshipped the statue of a bird...

...or of a reptile...

...and I don't know any gay people who have, either.

In other words, pagan temple worship of idols didn't turn me gay. I do not identify with these people of antiquity in any way.

If I were to take this whole passage literally, I would have to deduce that people who aren't "thankful" turn gay...that people who "do not retain God in their knowledge" turn gay.

Sorry, that's not true.

I'm very thankful...always have been...still gay.

I retain God in my knowledge every day of my life...always have...still gay.

Nothing "turns" you gay...you either are or you aren't.

I could also point out that these people who were "given over to depraved minds (KJV uses the word 'reprobate')" were not identified by who they were in relationship with...the litmus test of the reprobate mind was this:

"Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." (Romans 1:28-32 - NIV)

Again, a literal interpretation would conclude that people who are full of envy are "given over to a reprobate mind".

Same goes for people who are in strife...

...and greedy people...reprobate!

Gossipers...reprobate!

Slanderers...reprobate!

Arrogant people...reprobate!

People who boast...reprobate!

People with no understanding...people who show no love or mercy (in other words, most of the Christians who have sent me hate-mail)...

...even people who are disobedient to parents...I don't know, did you ever disobey your parents? Well, welcome to the world of the reprobate mind!

Wow...if I take these words literally, I would have to presume that most of the whole world, including people in the church, are gay!

I could even take you to the first verse of Chapter 2 and show you that Paul said if you even judge someone for doing or being these things, that you are the exact same thing!

"You, therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge another, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things." (Romans 2:1 - NIV)

So I guess the appropriate response to the hundreds of "Christians" who have sent me a cut and paste of this passage because I'm gay would be, "I know you are, but what am I?"

Bottom line...I could show you all these verses in their proper, historical context, along with studies of original Greek words...and there are many books already written out there that do a better job of that than I could, authored by people who are more educated than I am...but it has been my experience that if you present a more educated way of thinking to someone whose prejudices have been established and deeply ingrained by what they think the Bible says, that they generally aren't swayed by your words at all.

The response from them is usually something like, "Well, I guess you're right about that passage, but I still say..."

And sometimes they get really, really, really mad about it.

And when they get violently angry about it, you understand why Jesus said not to cast your pearls before swine, because they will "trample them underfoot, and turn and rend you".

In 1 Timothy, Chapter 1, Paul indeed writes to his protege, and lists the kinds of rebels for whom the law is made...and included in that list, along with, liars, murderers, and fornicators is what the KJV interprets as "them that defile themselves with mankind"...some modern translations use the word "homosexual" or "sodomite"...

But the verse that has been quoted to me the most often is probably 1 Corinthians 6:9, in which Paul gives a partial list of those who will not "inherit the kingdom".

I guess some people think I've never read it.

In this list the KJV uses the word "effeminate" (which is the Greek word "malakoi", which actually means "soft" or "weak" or "spineless"), and the term "abusers of themselves with mankind", which refers to the type of physical mutilation that was practiced among pagans in bizarre sexual/worship practices among young male temple prostitutes. Some modern translations make a difference here between homosexual and sodomite used in the same sentence.

Whatever the case, many Paul-quoters don't seem to be all that concerned with the fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, people who covet, drunks, revilers and/or extortioners, but they want to make sure that the gays know they're not going to heaven (which is not what that verse is talking about if you read in it context), as they interpret this verse to mean....by the way, "not inheriting the Kingdom" and "not going to heaven" are two different things...but I'll save that for later.

Paul made lots of these kinds of lists in his letters, but the ones found in 1 Timothy and in 1 Corinthians are the ones that contained words often seen as being relevant to what it means to be gay by many traditionalists.

Again, here's the point...

I could examine these words and split hairs over meaning and context here, but the bottom line is you're basically going to see what you see in the Scriptures, no matter what I say...or anyone else, for that matter.

As I said, many books have already been written that examine these things, and even more similar articles are available on the internet....and the books and articles on both sides of Biblical interpretation on these matters don't always agree.

Think what you need to think about Paul...or about legalism...or about what Paul said that Jesus didn't say...

When I use the phrase "You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch", I'm not calling The Apostle Paul the Dr. Seuss character by that name...I'm talking about the religious people who think that they can speak for Paul when it serves their purposes of oppressing people and putting them in religious bondage.

As I said, I love Paul.

Still.

But, at the end of the day, trust your own heart on these matters...it's what Paul himself called "working out your own salvation with fear and trembling."

Need to go meditate a minute on some GOOD NEWS now.

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - More of Chapter Eleven

2011-11-14T16:22:00.007-05:00

Continued from previous post...

Not By Bread Alone

I am willing to accept and believe without reservation that "all Scripture is given by inspiration" (which is something that Paul said to Timothy in a letter, by the way), but there's no way to know whether or not Paul ever intended for his personal letters, many of which were largely administrative in nature, to be considered Holy Writ.

Would he have been surprised to know that down through the centuries, his Epistles to certain, specific churches would become what they eventually became to the world? Would he be further surprised to find out that his letters to a few individuals...individuals whom he personally mentored...would attract such a larger audience...that they would be included in what became The Bible?

May I go so far as to ask if he would be surprised to discover that some people would actually come to a point where they began to consider the Bible to be "THE" only Word of God?

I know that many Christians consider these questions to be a dangerous, slippery slope, because they have been taught to accept the canon of Scriptures as an absolute of perfection...most likely these same people have been taught to not question anything at all when it comes to the Bible ...that questions are really just blasphemy in disguise.

But I really and sincerely wonder if Paul considered his own letters to be the Word of God.

There's no way to know that, of course...there's even some dispute among some theologians and historians as to whether or not he actually penned all of the letters that we assume he actually wrote.

I say all that, not to discredit the writings of Paul (as I said, I love them), but to put them in some perspective.

I think that legitimate truth can withstand some honest questioning and real examination.

For what it's worth, here's how I see it. In my opinion, the Scriptures are definitely inspired, but not necessarily infallible. Some Christians have a meltdown when I say that, but I honestly think that many people have made the Bible into an idol...a sort of religious icon that must be worshipped as a fourth addition to the Holy Trinity...and have elevated it to a point to which it should never have been elevated.

Look, the Bible no doubt contains and archives a lot of the Word of God...a lot of what He said in the past to different people and people groups for whatever was happening at that time...but the Word of God is a proceeding (present tense) Word...a now Word...as it is written,"man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word which PROCEEDS out of the mouth of God."

But I do believe that the post-resurrection revelation of Christ that Paul wrote about is real...supernatural...other-worldly. I don't believe that it came from the mind of a brilliant man...I believe that it came from heaven.

That does not mean, however, that I think Paul was the "go-to" guy for advice on human relationships, especially human sexual relationships.

Was he anointed? No doubt.

Called? Absolutely.

An Apostle? Yes, because Christ continued to appoint people to ministries and "give gifts unto men" even after He was no longer revealed in the flesh as Jesus, the Son of Man, just as He continues to do today.

Was Paul who he said he was? Yes, I believe so.

Did Paul have "issues"? You bet! Just like you and I do...in fact, he talked about them a good bit.

In a word, when I want to know more about the revelation of Christ, Paul is my guy.

When I need clarity on the realities and complexities of human sexuality, not so much.

Why? Well, here's a little of Paul's perspective on romance, marriage, sex, etc. You be the judge.

He referred to natural, physical desires as the thing that was waging a certain "war in his members".

Read Romans, Chapter 7, in the Amplified Bible, and tell me it doesn't sound like he was referring to some kind of personal, sexual conflict when he talked about the problem with his flesh.

Paul just didn't seem to like women at all for some reason...well, if he indeed liked them, he at least was insistent on keeping them in their place, as he saw it....and this is in spite of the fact that Jesus clearly and continually went against the social mores of His day, and liberated women. It was an integral part of His message.

Paul said that the ONLY reason to get married was if you were so weak in character that you just couldn't live without sex ("It is better to marry than to burn"), as if there is nothing to love, companionship, romance, or relationship in a marriage...nothing to two people building a life together because of compatibility and mutual interests. And, yes, I know about Ephesians 5 ("Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church")...I've been using that passage in wedding ceremonies for decades, and I already discussed that. Paul said that he wasn't talking about marriage there.

I dare say that if the only reason you are married today is because you just simply can't contain your burning lusts, and need a sexual facilitator to help you deal with them, that you probably don't have a real marriage, anyway. To me, that kind of arrangement sounds more like prolonged prostitution than real matrimony.

I'm just sayin'.

But that was Paul's idea of the reason to get married.

He wore his own celibacy as a badge of honor, and looked down on those who didn't have the same "gift" that he had.

He even defined the act of marital sex by using the decidedly dismal and unromantic phrase,"rendering due benevolence". Don't agree with me about that? Fine. You straight, married guys, next time you want to be intimate with your wife, try saying something to her like "Honey, get in here and render me some "due benevolence", so that I can stop burning in lust!", and see how the night goes for you. I dare say that that line is not going to work for the average married woman!

But Paul didn't empathize with women.

In fact, the entire Bible, whether inspired or not, was written by men to men, because women were kept illiterate then, as a rule. All of it is written from a male perspective...even the parts that are inspired by the Holy Spirit are filtered through the paradigm of a man.

And when it comes to dealing with the issues of people with same-sex attraction, I would add that the Bible was written to straight men by straight men...men who had no comprehension, whatsoever, of what it really means to be gay.

...to be continued...

　

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Eleven (on 11/11/11)

2011-11-11T18:19:00.003-05:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

A Man of Letters

"For we know in part, and we prophecy in part..."
- The Apostle Paul

I love Paul.

My preaching finds its source nearly entirely in the New Testament, divided pretty much right down the middle...about half of it from The Gospels, and the other half from Paul's Epistles.

I guess if I had to claim a favorite chapter in the Bible it would probably be Romans, Chapter Eight, part of his letter to the church at Rome ( "There is therefore now no condemnation..."..."the whole creation groans, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God"...).

I love His post-resurrection revelation of Christ...I consider it to be pristine.

I love his independence...the fact that, after his conversion, he went to Arabia for three years to develop his own theology/ideology, instead of going to Jerusalem to be mentored and/or influenced in any way by the original Apostles. He thought for himself, nearly to the point of being unteachable...and this is in spite of the fact that he learned at the feet of Gamaliel, a teacher who was to Israel and to Judaism what Socrates and Plato were to the Greco-Roman world.

I love that he never stopped defending his Apostleship, even though it was questioned, challenged and debated for as long as he lived because he wasn't one of the original twelve.

I love his mystical side...the part of his gift that produced the kind of imaginative writing we find in the first chapter of Ephesians...that sort of out-of-the box thinking that enabled him to present concepts such as "The Body of Christ", or the notion that Jesus was crucified "before the foundation of the world".

I personally believe that he wrote the book of Hebrews, and if he indeed did, I think it's amazing how he took the symbolism and typology of the Old Covenant in that book, and made it relevant to those who were not originally of the seed of Abraham.

I love his faith and tenacity...that bulldog kind of can-do perseverance that enabled him to survive beatings...being left for dead on more than one occasion...shipwrecks...all kinds of intense opposition.

I love his universalist teaching, like when he said things like "Christ is all and is in all"...or when he said that Christ was even in the Scythians (the most primitive of the barbarians), a concept that would have been considered outrageous to most civilized people at the time.

I love that he never talked about hell or eternal damnation, and confirmed the promise of ultimate reconciliation by saying that eventually "every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess".

I love that he continued to evolve as his tradition gradually (and sometimes reluctantly) bowed to his revelation...something to which I can definitely relate.

I love his flawed humanity...the fact that he struggled with his own beliefs, and was sometimes inconsistent, like when he circumcised Timothy, even though he constantly insisted that circumcision didn't mean anything under the New Covenant.

I love his candor and transparency...the inner conflict that he openly shared with his readers in Romans 7 ("Oh, wretched man that I am")...the fact that he had issues with his ego, and was often intolerant and inflexible with others, like when he had a permanent falling out with Barnabas over Mark. He could be totally full of himself at times, and yet he could write the ultimate masterpiece on love in 1 Corinthians 13.

I love that he set an example of knowing "'how to be abased, and how to abound"...how to be content in every state in which he found himself...and in that context could say that he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him.

I love that he said that those who are in the ministry should be financially supported by the ministry, but also did what he had to do, making tents to supplement his income when it was necessary.

I love that he eventually made peace with his life ("By the grace of God I am what I am...''), and even made peace with his death ( "To live is Christ, to die is gain...")...

I could write a whole book about Paul, and one day I might.

But not everyone holds my high opinion of him, even among theologians and scholars...some of the greatest thinkers in history...mainly because Paul's writings seem to be in conflict with some if not much of what Jesus taught.

This is not a problem for me, personally, because, as I've already said, I embrace and even celebrate Biblical contradictions...the exchange of ideas that comes from different paradigms (THE BIBLE IS NOT A BOOK! THE BIBLE IS A LIBRARY OF BOOKS!)

To make my point, here are a few quotes...I neither fully agree nor fully disagree with any of them, even though I do (and always will) love Paul and his mind and his teaching...

"... Paul is in effect the first Christian heretic, and his teachings, which become the foundation of later Christianity, are a flagrant deviation from the 'Original' or 'pure' form extolled by the leadership. Whether James, the 'Lord's brother,' was literally Jesus' blood kin or not (and everything suggests he was), it is clear that he knew Jesus...personally. So did most of the other members of the community or 'early Church,' in Jerusalem, including of course, Peter. When they spoke, they did so with first hand authority. Paul had never had such personal acquaintance with the figure he'd begun to regard as his 'Savior.' He had only his quasi-mystical experience in the desert and the sound of a disembodied voice. For him to arrogate authority to himself on this basis is, to say the least, presumptuous. It also leads him to distort Jesus' teachings beyond recognition, to formulate, in fact, his own highly individual and idiosyncratic theology, and then to legitimize it by spuriously ascribing it to Jesus."

"As things transpired, however, the mainstream of the new movement gradually coalesced, during the next three centuries, around Paul and his teachings. Thus, to the undoubted posthumous horror of James and his associates, an entirely new religion was indeed born, a religion that came to have less and less to do with its supposed founder."

- From the book, "The Dead Sea Scrolls Deception" by Michael Bajgent and Richard Leigh (Corgi Books, London, 1991)

"Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus."

- Thomas Jefferson

"Where possible he (Paul) avoids quoting the teaching of Jesus, in fact even mentioning it. If we had to rely on Paul, we should not know that Jesus taught in parables, had delivered the sermon on the mount, and had taught His disciples the 'Our Father.' Even where they are specially relevant, Paul passes over the words of the Lord."

- Albert Schweitzer

"Paul hardly ever allows the real Jesus of Nazareth to get a word in."

- Carl Jung

As I previously mentioned, Jesus said to call no man "Father" on the earth...Paul, however, insisted that he was to be considered and called a father by his followers, even though they may have had thousands of instructors.

Jesus elevated the status of women and seemed to enjoy their company...all kinds of women...prostitutes...a woman caught in adultery...a woman with an issue of blood...a woman who had had five husbands and was living with a man to whom she wasn't married.

The first person Jesus called to the ministry of proclaiming His resurrection was a woman, Mary Magdalene.

Paul told women to keep silent in the church...didn't allow them to usurp authority over men...told wives to submit to their husbands...

Women apparently found Jesus to be approachable...a safe place for them in a very patriarchal world in which they were considered to be not much more than objects...

Suffice it to say, a harlot never felt comfortable enough to wash Paul's feet with her hair!

And when it comes to the subject of homosexuality, as I said in the last chapter, it didn't even seem to be on Jesus' radar screen...but it was definitely on Paul's.

To be continued...

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Ten

2011-11-08T14:24:00.001-05:00

CHAPTER TEN

The Sound of Silence

"Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock..."

Matthew 7:24 - NKJV)

Words are important.

According to the Genesis story, the worlds were spoken into existence...literally created by words (Hebrews 11:3)...

To a Christian, the words of Jesus should be the most important words ever uttered...words to live by...words on which to build one's spiritual house.

In most Bibles, His words are printed in red to give them the honor and prominence that they deserve.

The words of Jesus Christ are the most important ones in the Bible.

In the last two chapters we've discussed a story in Genesis which many people believe has relevance to people with same-sex attraction, and two things that Moses said that many modern-day Bible believers like to quote to show their disapproval of gay people. We'll get to Paul's Epistles next, but right now we come to what I believe is perhaps the most important chapter in this book.

When Jesus said in His teaching "You strain and gnats and swallow camels", He was talking about knowing the difference between what may or may not be important to God, and what is absolutely vital to Him. To me that means that, as a Christian, if Jesus talked about it then it's vital to me...if He never mentioned it, I have to assume it's low priority, if not completely immaterial to Him. Thank God for what David and Isaiah and Abraham and Peter and the rest of the Bible authors said, but at the end of the day, what matters most...maybe all that really matters...is what Jesus Christ said.

Jesus talked about a lot of things...a nearly endless array of a variety of topics...His Father...His purpose for coming to the earth...the Kingdom of God...religion...the Pharisees...His parables...love...forgiveness...baptism...prayer...faith...the Temple...Abraham...sowing and reaping...the destruction of Jerusalem...servitude...the rich...the poor...unbelief...the Sabbath...fishing...the lilies of the field...sin...living water...the Scribes...taxes...the heart of man...prophecy...Samaria...loving your enemies...sparrows...harvest...the Holy Spirit...Jonah...money...death...feeding the hungry...healing the sick...fasting...casting out demons...the anointing...foxes...Gehenna...the cost of discipleship...satan...sheep and goats...judgment...John the Baptist...turning the other cheek...the Two Great Commandments...worry...the Law...Noah...stewardship...the end of the age...His death, burial and resurrection...and on and on...

He was eloquent when He wanted to be...confrontational when He needed to be.

His words were so revolutionary that they said of Him, "Never a man spake like this man."

He said, "The flesh profits nothing, but the words I speak are spirit and they are life..."

...and "Now are you clean through the words I have spoken to you"

That being said, I want to talk about Jesus' words...about what Jesus taught...concerning people with same-sex attraction. As I said, we've looked at what Moses said about it, and we'll look at what Paul said about it, but the Kingdom of God is built on the words of Christ...Jesus' words...the words in red...the words which are definitive. They are the most significant of all.

He said that heaven and earth would pass away, but His words would remain, so I think it's of the utmost importance that we, as Christians, examine and take to heart every single thing that Jesus said on this and every other subject.

The life of Jesus, the Christ, is of course revealed to us through four biographies that we call The Gospels...The Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John...

First, let's look at everything Jesus said about homosexuality recorded in the 28 chapters of the Gospel of Matthew*:

That's everything.

Now let's look at His complete teaching on the subject...all that Jesus said about homosexuality in the 16 chapters that comprise the Gospel according to Mark:

That's every bit of what Jesus said about it in Mark.

Now, let's also examine the entire teaching of Jesus on God's attitude toward homosexuality in the 24 chapters that make up Luke's Gospel:

That completes His entire teaching on the subject in the three Synoptic Gospels.

And, finally, let us read every single thing that He said about homosexuality throughout 21 chapters in the Gospel of John:

That completes Jesus' entire teaching on the subject.

The Gospels are so important, especially if you really want to be a disciple...a follower of Jesus Christ. That's why we need to take the time to observe and meditate on all the teachings of our Lord.

Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, so we need to pay attention, not only to the things that Jesus did in His earth-walk, but especially to the things that Jesus said, because they indicate what was abundantly in His heart...what was really important to Him.

We also need to pay attention to the things He didn't say.

Selah.

*As I said earlier, I personally do not believe that Jesus' teaching on eunuchs in Matthew was in reference to homosexual people, mainly because He said that some people are eunuchs by choice, and I absolutely do not believe that sexual orientation is a choice. However, many of my contemporaries...some of them much more academically astute than I am...do believe that He was talking about gay people there. In fact, I know several learned scholars who believe and teach that every time the Scriptures mention eunuchs throughout both Testaments that they're really talking about gay people. I have no argument with them, just a difference of opinion. But, for the sake of point, I will include the much-debated passage from Matthew In The Now...hopefully it will bring some clarity to the subject for you...

3. And while He was in the area, the Pharisees came to Him again and put Him to the test by asking, “Is it legal and right for a man to dismiss his wife…to divorce her for any reason that he may have?

4. He replied to them, “Have you never read in your Scriptures that He Who made them from the beginning made them male and female?

5. This is why a man has to leave his father and mother at some point, and be united and bonded to his wife…and when that happens, the two of them become, in a sense, one single entity,

6. so that they are no longer two separate physical bodies, but actually become one new one. And if a particular union between a man and a woman is, indeed, God-ordained, then no human being should do anything to create a disconnect between what God has put together.”

7. They shot back at Him, “Well if marriage is so special…if, indeed, it is a God-created thing, then why did Moses make it so practical and easy to get a divorce? According to his law, all a man has to do to get out of a marriage is to send his wife a written notice, and then just simply dismiss her from his life, and be done with her, altogether.”

8. He said to them, “Moses set up this system basically because of the hardness of your hearts…specifically, your insensitivity to women. He permitted you to simply dismiss your wives with no regard for required responsibility to them because you have had no concept of covenant. But in this Moses did not have the heart and mind of God, considering that this self-serving male convenience was not in God’s original plan.

9. But I say to you that whoever just casually dismisses his wife for no legitimate reason, and marries the next available woman who comes along, really is only committing adultery with her. His shallow flippancy in such a case shows that he has no understanding of the seriousness of covenant. The situation is somewhat different if the wife has been unfaithful to her husband, but the real issue is still about the apparent disregard of covenant. So if a man marries a woman just because she was dismissed for her unfaithfulness to her husband, he is still just committing adultery with her if there is no genuine commitment to the covenant of marriage.”

10. The disciples, listening in on this conversation, said to Him, “If that’s really what marriage is about…if covenant is really that important…if God takes it that seriously…then no man in his right mind would ever want to get married! What would be the point of limiting your options by binding yourself to that kind of commitment?”

11. But He said to them, “Marriage is for men…not for boys. That’s why not all men can accept this concept. It’s for those who are mature enough to understand and appreciate the value of human, adult relationships.

12. But it also requires a certain kind of maturity to understand that this kind of relationship isn’t for everyone. There are some asexual men who, from birth, never seem to give women or marriage a thought. Other men may have been intentionally emasculated for cultural purposes, or for other reasons. And still others are single and celibate for spiritual pursuits…as if they were married only to the Kingdom of/from the heavens. Whatever the case, it requires insightful maturity to comprehend that not everyone takes the same path, or has the same needs in these matters. If you can receive this, you will be able to live and let live.”

Amen.

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Nine

2011-11-07T18:10:00.003-05:00

CHAPTER NINE

"Why Don't We All Just Get Stoned?"

"As long as we continue to live as if we are what we do, what we have, and what other people think about us, we will remain filled with judgments, opinions, evaluations, and condemnations. We will remain addicted to putting people and things in their "right" place."
- Henri J.M. Nouwen

ABOMINATION!!!

If I had a nickel for every time that word has been included in a letter, e-mail, text, phone message or blog comment addressed to me from a "Christian", especially in the months right after I came out, I would probably have enough money for a nice little vacation somewhere.

Hey...wait a minute...I thought this book was about GOOD NEWS, you say...what's all this ABOMINATION stuff about?

It is! It is about GOOD NEWS...and I'll get back to that topic...just got to sort through all the religious/legalistic stuff so that I can get back to the good part.

I have to address the system that uses the Scriptures as a weapon on the vulnerable, and that may get a little tedious in the next several chapters...but I promise it all ends with GOOD NEWS, so stay with me through these parts if you can...

Now, where was I?

Oh yeah...ABOMINATION!!!

That word gets thrown around a lot, especially when the religious intolerant want to make a point to prop up their personal prejudices.

Shouldn't be surprising, though....the Bible does, in fact, use the word quite a bit.

Here are but a few of the many Bible references to it:

Cheating is an abomination (Mic. 6:10).

A proud look is an abomination (Pro. 6:16-17).

A lying tongue is an abomination (Pro. 6:17; 12:22).

Hands that shed innocent blood are an abomination (Pro. 6:17).

A wicked scheming heart is an abomination (Pro. 6:18).

Feet that are quick to sin are an abomination (Pro. 6:18).

A false witness that speaks lies is an abomination (Pro. 6:19).

A sower of discord among brethren is an abomination (Pro. 6:19).

A false balance or scale is an abomination (Pro. 11:1).

The sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination (Pro. 15:8; 21:27).

The proud of heart are an abomination (Pro. 16:5).

Condemning the just is an abomination (Pro. 17:15).

Divers, dishonest weights are an abomination (Pro. 20:10, 23).

Divers, dishonest measures are an abomination (Pro. 20:10).

Refusing to hear the law is an abomination (Pro. 28:9).

The prayers of a rebel are an abomination (Pro. 28:9).

Eating the flesh of a peace offering on the 3rd day is an abomination (Lev. 7:18).

Taking ornaments from idols when they are being destroyed is an abomination (Dt. 7:25-26).

Any Idolatrous practices are abominations (Dt. 12:31; 13:14; 17:4; 18:9; 20:18; 29:17).

Offering an imperfect animal to God as a sacrifice is an abomination (Dt. 17:1).

Re-marriage of former companions is an abomination (Dt. 24:1-4).

Cheating others is an abomination (Dt. 25:13-16).

Making images or idols is an abomination (Dt. 27:15).

Incense offered by hypocrites is an abomination (Isa. 1:13).

Eating unclean things (pork, shellfish, etc.) is an abomination (Isa. 66:17).

Offering human sacrifices is an abomination (Jer. 32:35).

Robbery is an abomination (Ezek. 18: 6-13).

Oppression of others, particularly the poor or vulnerable is an abomination (Ezek. 18: 6-13).

Violence is an abomination (Ezek. 18: 6-13).

Breaking vows is an abomination (Ezek. 18: 6-13).

Lending with interest to a brother is an abomination (Ezek. 18: 6-13).

Sleeping with a menstruous woman is an abomination (Ezek. 18: 6-13).

Hardness of heart is an abomination (Ezek. 18: 6-13).

Injustice is an abomination (Ezek. 18:6-13).

Things highly esteemed by man are an abomination (Lk. 16:15).

There are even more abominations mentioned, but you get the idea...

Of course, the "abomination" that many fundamentalist Christians feel most obligated to either inform me of or remind me of is mentioned in two verses from Leviticus...Leviticus 18:22 and Leviticus 20:13...which basically say that if a man has sex with another man, they should both be killed (nothing is mentioned about Lesbians anywhere in the Old Testament).

And the ones who want to use the "A-word" to beat up the gays are not just limited to the fundamentalists. People with virtually no knowledge of the Scriptures...people who otherwise never even think about the Bible...suddenly become authorities on Holy Writ when it comes to the subject of homosexuality. They don't care about much of anything the Bible has to say about much of anything else, but, boy, when you start talking about the gays, they start quoting the Bible like the house is on fire and water is ten miles away.

A Trip to the Library

As I've already said, "The Bible" doesn't talk about homosexuality...at least not as some kind of theme that runs through the entire collection of books. There are a handful of verses in which Moses, Paul and Jude used words that got translated into our modern understanding of people with same-sex attraction, and in this chapter I want to highlight the two verses where Moses used the "A-word"...but "The Bible", as a collection of books, not only doesn't condemn homosexuality, it doesn't even mention it.

OK, now for some of the tedious part I warned you about...my apology for that, but I need to make a point here, and that is this: the way some homophobic preachers talk, you'd think "The Bible" just talks non-stop about people with same-sex attraction, and that's just not the case.

So let's look at it, book by book.

Moses is the primary author of Genesis through Deuteronomy (known in Hebrew as The Torah). He compiled the pre-flood manuscripts of the early chapters of Genesis, along with other manuscripts from which Genesis is comprised. He wrote the other four books of the Torah during the 40 years Israel wandered in the wilderness.

In Genesis there is the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, which we've already discussed.

The book of Exodus never mentions homosexuality.

The book of Leviticus mentions it twice, as I've said (referring to homosexual men only).

The book of Numbers never mentions homosexuality.

The book of Deuteronomy never mentions homosexuality.

Joshua wrote most of the book bearing his name, while Samuel completed the final portion of that book, in addition to Judges and Ruth. Samuel edited his own additions, plus portions of the Torah. Joshua never mentioned homosexuality, so the book of Joshua never mentions homosexuality.

The book of Judges never mentions homosexuality.

The book of Ruth never mentions homosexuality.

Samuel, who also wrote much of the initial chapters of I Samuel never mentioned homosexuality, so that book never menions it...unless you consider the story of David and Jonathan (more about that later)...

The prophet Isaiah wrote the remainder of I Samuel as well as II Samuel and I and II Kings, and Isaiah I and II Kings. Much of the work by Samuel and Isaiah was done by collecting and compiling older accounts recorded by prophets close to when the events took place. For example, Elijah had written much of what Isaiah compiled as part of the books of the Kings. I and II Chronicles, Ezra and Esther were recorded by Ezra, who was primarily used by God to edit, compile and canonize the entire Old Testament. So I Samuel never mentions homosexuality...

II Samuel never mentions homosexuality

I Kings never mentions homosexuality.

II Kings never mentions homosexuality.

I Chronicles never mentions homosexuality.

II Chronicles never mentions homosexuality.

In the book bearing his name, Ezra never mentions homosexuality.

...neither does Nehemiah.

...nor does the book of Esther.

The book of Job was most likely written by Job, and he never mentions homosexuality.

King David wrote more than half of the Psalms, and David never mentioned homosexuality (at least not in a negative way.)

Others portions of that book were written by Moses, Hezekiah, Solomon and others, and none of the Psalms mention homosexuality.

King Solomon also wrote Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon, and he never mentioned homosexuality in any of those books.

Isaiah, in his book, never mentioned homosexuality.

Jeremiah wrote the book bearing his name and authored the book of Lamentations, and he never mentioned homosexuality in either of them.

Ezekiel, in his book, never mentioned homosexuality.

Daniel, in his book, never mentioned homosexuality.

Hosea, in his book, never mentioned homosexuality.

Joel, in his book, never mentioned homosexuality.

Amos, in his book, never mentioned homosexuality...

neither did Obadiah...

...nor Jonah...

...nor Micah...

...nor Nahum...

...nor Habakkuk...

...nor Zephaniah...

...nor Haggai, Zechariah or Malachi.

That does it for the Old Testament, and I will devote an entire chapter to everything that Jesus said about homosexuality in the next chapter, so I won't go into Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John here. After that we'll also discuss what Paul said about it, and we've already discussed what Jude said about it in the previous chapter, so that does it for the New Testament, as well.

Playing the Leviticus Card

But for the average, run-of-the-mill homophobe, the two verses in Leviticus are enough to make the case for the hatred and intolerance of gay people. After all, Moses said to kill them, right?

Well, yeah, he did...but he said a lot of things that were just as extreme...mentioned a lot of types of people who should be executed under his system (including a lazy son who won't work for a living!). God may have indeed given him the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai, but by the time we get to the end of The Torah, Moses has presented us with 613 commandments!

Wow, that's a lot of trips up to the top of the mountain!

So if you believe that the two verses about same-sex relationships should be observed and obeyed, what about these other things that Moses said in Leviticus? If you're going to play the Leviticus card, you have to play the whole hand with commandments like this:

Don't let cattle graze with other kinds of cattle (Leviticus 19:19)

Don't have a variety of crops on the same field. (Leviticus 19:19)

Don't wear clothes made of more than one fabric (Leviticus 19:19)

Don't cut your hair nor shave. (Leviticus 19:27)

Any person who curses his mother or father, must be killed. (Leviticus 20:9)

If a man cheats on his wife, or vise versa, both the man and the woman must die. (Leviticus 20:10)

If a man sleeps with his father's wife... both him and his father's wife are to be put to death. (Leviticus 20:11)

If a man sleeps with his wife and her mother they are all to be burnt to death. (Leviticus 20:14)

If a man or woman has sex with an animal, both human and animal must be killed. (Leviticus 20:15-16).

If a man has sex with a woman on her period, they are both to be "cut off from their people" (Leviticus 20:18)

Psychics, wizards, clairvoyants, and so on are to be stoned to death. (Leviticus 20:27)

If a priest's daughter is a whore, she is to be burnt at the stake. (Leviticus 21:9)

People who have flat noses, or are blind or lame, cannot go to an altar of God (Leviticus 21:17-18)

Anyone who curses or blasphemes God, should be stoned to death by the community. (Leviticus 24:14-16)

And my personal favorite...anyone who fails to tithe on their produce/income must get caught up on it and be charged a 20% penalty (Leviticus 27:30, 31)...wow, if people still practiced that I wouldn't have any financial challenges with my church!

Makes you wonder why there are so many people wanting to site Leviticus for gay bashing, but they never mention these other rules.

How strange.

It's common that a fundamentalist "Christian" will generally blow off these old precepts with something like, "Jesus came to change (fulfill) the Law(s), so these are obsolete and outmoded, and we don't need them"...I find that they are adamant about that law thing when it comes to the subject of the tithe penalty (!)...but throughout Leviticus, God states that these laws are to be followed forever.

Most people with some Bible knowledge are at least vaguely familiar with The Ten Commandments listed in Exodus (although I find very few people, even among fundamentalists, who can actually quote them). But there are also often-overlooked rules in Deuteronomy which nobody ever seems to mention, at least not to me, such as:

Anyone who dreams or prophesies anything that is against God, or anyone who tries to turn you from God, is to be put to death. (Deuteronomy 13:5)

If anyone, even your own family suggests worshipping another God, kill them. (Deuteronomy 13:6-10)

If you find out a city worships a different god, destroy the city and kill all of it's inhabitants... even the animals. (Deuteronomy 13:12-15)

Kill anyone with a different religion. (Deuteronomy 17:2-7)

And another of my personal favorites, which I already mentioned (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)...if you have a son who is stubborn and won't obey his parents...even if your only issue with him is that he eats all the groceries in the house and drinks some...you are to take him to the elders of the city and tell them that he's a lazy glutton and have them stone him with stones until he is dead!

Wow...that's some serious disciplinary action for grown kids who still live at home with their parents.

OK, OK...enough...I could add more, but you get the point...reading the Laws of Moses gets oppressive pretty fast, so let's move on.

Makes you hungry to hear some GOOD NEWS.

You may ask, if so many things in the Bible are so clearly irrelevant to life in our modern world, why believe any of it at all?

Because there's hidden treasure in these books, and if you know how to rightly divide them, you can find a whole lot of GOOD NEWS within their pages!

Really!

Paul wrote to the Romans and said that the purpose of the Law was that it was to implode...to self-destruct, as it were, so that it could ultimately show us how wonderful Christ is...

For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful humanity to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in human flesh...(Romans 8:3 - TNIV)

See? I told you this was still about GOOD NEWS!

But just remember...don't play the Leviticus card because you might end up getting stoned, just like the rest of us.

Regardless of what Moses said or what the Law said or what Moses said through the Law, God is real and God is love.

Amazing isn't it?

Nearly sounds like the Bible is sending us mixed messages, but at the end of the day it really isn't.

It's still all about the GOOD NEWS!

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Eight

2011-11-04T17:34:00.021-04:00

CHAPTER VIII

"We Gotta Get Out Of This Place"

“‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy."
(Ezekiel 16:49 - TNIV)

Sodom and Gomorrah.

No one wants to live there.

I certainly don't.

The realities of those strange cities from the distant past and their bizarre inhabitants certainly have little, if anything, to do with me and my life as a civilized man who lives in the 21st century. The only way they could have any less relevance to me or anyone like me is if they had been built on Mars.

And yet, I've been asked about them, endlessly...for some reason, there are people who somehow connect the full truth of my life, or that of others like me, with the events of the story in Genesis of God's wrath being poured out on Sodom and Gomorrah.

It's funny how the minds of some people work.

But, in fact, these cities are so much a part of our collective consciousness, at least subliminally, that it's virtually impossible for any one of us to ignore them...so we will discuss these often-misquoted and generally misunderstood Biblical references.

Sodom...the mere mention of the name of this ancient and doomed metropolis evokes a feeling of darkness and basic ickiness, even though it was actually one of many geographical areas that was destroyed by God in the days of the Old Testament.

Because of the way language has evolved with the coining of terms like "sodomy" and "sodomite", there is just something about Sodom that sounds dirtier and more evil than Tyre and Sidon or Jericho or any of the other wicked cities mentioned in the Bible like Ninevah, or even Babylon.

Gomorrah, it seems, was basically just guilty by association because we know nothing specific about it.

But they were the original sin-cities, and they were obliterated as a result of their wickedness, if you take the stories of the Old Testament literally.

We can see from the above Scripture verse, however, that Ezekiel clearly had a different take on what, exactly, was the sin of Sodom. His perspective certainly was different from that of the conventional wisdom. This prophet said that the sins of the city were arrogance, gluttony, and indifference to the poor and needy.

And yet, the city of Sodom, particularly, has become inextricably linked over the centuries to people having same-sex attraction, and to the perceived hatred and intolerance that God apparently has for such types. This is in spite of the fact that homosexuality is never once mentioned in the Scriptures as the reason for God destroying it.

In the Hebrew Bible, Sodom was a city destroyed by God because of the evil of its inhabitants. The clearest texts on the sin or sins for which Sodom was destroyed are found here in Ezekiel, and in the book of Jude (I'll get to that in a minute).

But here's the big question:

QUESTION #6: Did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexuality?

Answer #6: No, He destroyed it because Abraham stopped at 10!

The story of the city of Sodom's destruction (again, nothing is really ever said about Gomorrah)...and of Abraham's failed attempt to intercede with God to prevent that destruction...appears in Genesis, Chapter 18 and 19.

No specific sin is given as the reason for God's intense wrath, but in the story, Abraham asks God if He will spare the city for the sake of 50 righteous people who might be found there, and God says, without hesitation, an absolute yes.

Then Abraham asks God if He will spare it for 40, and again, God says yes.

Then he asks if God will spare it for 30...again God says yes.

Then there is a request for the city's salvation for the sake of 20 righteous people, and God immediately agrees to the proposition with no argument, whatsoever.

Then Abraham, seeing that God is so agreeable to giving the city a reprieve, asks if He will spare it for the sake of only 10, and God, again, agrees.

But then, for some reason, Abraham stops at 10.

Even though God was apparently totally open to showing mercy to the city, Abraham never thinks to continue in that vein and say "Will you just spare it for my family...or even just for me?"

The pattern in the OT was that God would typically pronounce judgment on a city/nation/group of people, usually through a Prophet, and then wait for the city to repent, or for an intercessor to rise up and call for mercy to thwart the judgment.

He told Moses in a similar story concerning the Israelites, "Now leave me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them!", implying that if Moses would ask for mercy, He would have no choice but to give it.

And he did.

And He did.

In Ezekiel He said that He would spare a nation for the righteousness of just one man..."I looked for A MAN to stand in the gap and make up the hedge, but could find none, and so I sent destruction..."

But for some inexplicable reason, Abraham just stopped the bidding at 10. Even though God was clearly flexible and open to an alternative, Abraham never asked for anything beyond the sparing of the city for 10 righteous people, and in so doing, sealed the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah.

It's not like this was the original "God Hates Fags" campaign in which God was out to rid the earth of all the homosexuals, regardless of anything Abraham or anyone else had to say about it. The subject of homosexuality never comes up in the discourse between God and Abraham.

The connection between Sodom and homosexuality is derived from the depicted attempt of a barbaric mob of city inhabitants to gang-rape the male guests who come to visit Lot.

Much has been said and written of the sinfulness of that instance. For the original writers of the Biblical account, it has been speculated, the actual sin may have consisted mainly in the violation of the obligations of hospitality, which in ancient cultures was a very big deal. But this view does not take into consideration that before the "guests" arrived in the city Genesis 18:17...before any "hospitality" could have been rendered...its destruction was already planned. So we probably need to rule that out as being the only reason for God's wrath, even though in The Book of Judges (19-21), we find a similar account where a city is almost totally destroyed in punishment for a mob of its inhabitants raping a female.

Many times in the "Pentateuch" (Torah) and in the Major and Minor Prophets, writers use God's destruction of Sodom to demonstrate His awesome power.

This happens in Deuteronomy 29 (no mention of homosexuality)...

...in Isaiah 1, 3, and 13, (no mention of homosexuality)...

...in Jeremiah 49 and 50, Lamentations 4 (no mention in either)...

Amos 4:11 (no mention)...

...Zephaniah 2:9 (no mention)...

Deuteronomy 32, Jeremiah 23:14 and Lamentations 4 reference the sinfulness of Sodom but do not specify any particular sin.

Specific sins which Sodom is linked to include adultery and lying (Jeremiah 23:14)...

...impenitence (Matthew 11:23)...

...careless living (Luke 17:28)...

...fornication (Jude 1:7 - KJV)...

...and an overall "filthy" lifestyle (2 Peter 2:7), which word ("aselgeiais") elsewhere is rendered in the KJV as lasciviousness (Mark 7:22; 2 Corinthians 12:212; Ephesians 4:19; 1 Peter 4:3; Jude 1:4, or wantonness (Romans 13:13; 2 Peter 2:18).

In Ezekiel 16, a lengthy comparison is made between Sodom and the Kingdom of Israel: "Yet you have not merely walked in their ways or done according to their abominations; but, as if that were too little, you acted more corruptly in all your conduct than they." (Ezekiel 16.47 - New American Standard Bible)

There is no explicit mention of any sexual sin in Ezekiel's summation, and "abomination", as we will see in the next chapter, is used to describe many sins.

Don't Miss the Point

But here's the bottom line...whether the story of Sodom and Gomorrah has any relevance whatsoever to modern day people with same-sex orientation or not, the fact is that if you went to visit the "gayest" city in America tonight...

...San Fransisco...

...West Hollywood...

...South Beach...

...Atlanta...

...wherever...you wouldn't have to worry about the locals gathering outside your door, threatening to gang-rape you in the streets!

Gang-rape, whether done publicly or privately, is both immoral and illegal, as it should be. In fact, rape of any kind is generally condemned by both the gay and straight communities...and this kind of threat made by these primitive people wasn't even about sex, anyway...it certainly wasn't about love...for these barbarians it was about intimidation...about letting the outsiders/intruders know that they weren't welcome.

And even though this occurrence wasn't the reason for the city's destruction, (because it had been sentenced to annihilation prior to this event), it definitely shows you how grossly dark they all were.

And if it doesn't prove how irrelevant the lives of these crazed savages are to those of responsible gay people living in the modern world (who are or should be against rape), the thing that removes it even farther from anything we can identify with is that they weren't even trying to rape people!

According to Jude 1:7, they were after "strange flesh", which is rendered in better translations as "celestial beings":

Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

In 40 years of counseling I've heard just about everything...every kind of sexual issue you can imagine...but I never met anyone who wanted to rape an angel!

Then the story gets even more weird, because Lot, when he hears the threats of the would-be rapists, offers to send his virgin daughters out to the men so that they could sexually assault them, instead of the celestial guests in his house!

Then, later in the story, these same daughters get their father drunk and attempt to seduce him so that he could impregnate them!

Suffice it to say, no one in their right mind, gay or straight, wants to live in a place as messed up as Sodom and Gomorrah! So please don't bring up Sodom and Gomorrah to me to make your point about what you think about God and His relationship to gay people. As a man with that orientation, I can't relate at all to wanting to gang-rape angels, or mortals, or anyone at all, for that matter...and even though I know a lot of gay people, I've never met anyone who was cool with that idea on any level. In that sense, these cities are just as removed from gay people, both intellectually and emotionally, as they are from straight people.

And as a father, I certainly can't relate to the idea of seeing my daughters as "things" or as property...commodities that can be sent out, against their will, to be raped by strangers!

The fact that God was willing at all to spare the place when He entertained Abraham's incomplete intercession for it is really quite remarkable.

So if you want to exercise your homophobia and clobber a gay person with some Scriptures, just by-pass this story in Genesis, altogether.

That gay person is more than likely just as grossed out by the story as you are, and can't relate to it any more than you can.

Next question...

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Seven (Part II)

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Anyway, you get the point. The Scriptures are inspired...no doubt about it.

But they were spoken by the Holy Spirit through human beings...fallible, imperfect human beings...which is why, again, they must be rightly divided, and why the contradictions in the Bible (the ones mentioned here are just a few) are found throughout the entire collection of inspired writings.

It's the same with the Gifts of the Spirit...the Gift of Prophecy is God speaking, indirectly, through human beings, which is why Paul told the Corinthians that prophecy must be judged by at least three elders for validation. Just because the message originated in the mind of God doesn't mean that what you hear spoken or see written down is the fullness of God's intention in saying it.

I love seafood, especially shellfish (even though it's an abomination to eat it, but more about that later). But I don't want to eat the shells of a crab, oyster, or lobster. Rightly dividing, to me, is like removing the shell from the crab legs to get to the delicious meat...or like peeling a banana or an orange to get to the sweet, edible fruit inside. When we rightly divide the Scriptures, we remove the shell of cultural bias and human opinion to get to the eternal food within that sustains and nourishes us, spiritually.

That's why I don't waste my time arguing the Scriptures with narrow-minded religious people who have never made the effort to break open the shell/husk/peel/outer layer of dogma to find the real Word within the Scriptures...the GOOD NEWS that is at the center. They have never "tasted and seen that the Lord is good", so they don't even know what I'm talking about when I share revelation.

Straight Talk

I know that I said this wasn't a "gay" book, but I do have to address some things here pertaining to that issue so that I can be done with the subject and move on to other things in future books. Thanks, straight people, for bearing with me through these parts.

I will say, however, that I have received scores and scores of letters from heterosexuals who tell me that they watched my coming out video and were greatly moved by it...many times to tears...and that it inspired them to be authentic in their own lives. Here's an example:

Just saw the CNN report tonight with Pastor Swilley. I don't normally email, blog, etc, however, I must share that I found his interview VERY refreshing. Never have I seen a pastor, especially of a megachurch, be so honest. I am a wife and a mother and a heterosexual. I do not attend church, mainly because of too many churchgoers wanting to cast the first stone and be so judgmental of others. I would absolutely go to church if this man was at the pulpit. He is obviously very intelligent, and I am so pleased to see him have the courage to step forth and handle his "coming out" so professionally and with confidence. Pastor Swilley, you will hear many harsh words in the coming days, weeks and months. You know what you did was right, and hopefully this will give the strength to others to stop trying to live their lives according to how others think they should. Perhaps you will even spare a suicide. Stay strong!!!

Anyway, in the following chapters I'm going to go through every reference the Bible makes to homosexuality, but it's not for argument's sake.

I have found when I show someone what these passages say in the original Greek, or explain the original context of some of the phrases used...when I show them that a reference made to boy prostitutes used in pagan temple worship got translated as "homosexual" or "effeminate" in some translations...that religious people will hear the truth as I have explained it and respond by saying, "Well, I see your point, but I STILL say it's wrong and God hates gay people!"

It's why Jesus said not to cast your pearls before swine...why He said to shake the dust off your feet and move on to a more receptive audience when you're rejected. Some people are never going to see beyond their own bigotry, and they are convinced that God shares their prejudices.

But I don't argue about the Bible and sexual orientation for the same reason I don't argue the pros and cons of the virtues of slavery.

The Bible supports slavery...even in the New Testament.

Paul said, "Slaves (not "servants") obey your "Masters"...in the very same chapter where he says "Christ is all and is in all" (Colossians 3:11), he says to obey your Owner "in everything", meaning even if they mistreat you. He wrote to the Corinthians and Galatians about it...he also said that even if a believing slave's master is also a believer, that the slave should not assume the master isn't superior to him.

That's what The Bible says about slavery, and yet, in modern times, no Bible-believer, no matter how conservative, would invite me into a debate about the validity of slavery. Even though the Bible supports it, our culture has moved beyond that...the verdict is in...nothing else to discuss about it.

So we rightly divide the Scriptures about slavery by removing the antiquated, archaic shell of a certain Scriptural viewpoint on human rights that no longer relates to us as a society.

The Bible says you can sell women as property.

Moses said that if your daughter is raped you can sell her to the rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28,29). No one today, no matter how "Christian", would engage me in an argument about whether women were personal property or human beings. The Bible says it, but our culture has moved beyond that mindset. We have rightly divided the Scriptures on that subject.

So...I love the Scriptures, but slavery is still wrong!

I believe the Bible, but I would never sell my daughter to anyone, much less a man who raped her!

And I know what the Bible says, but God still loves gay people...just as they are...

OK, let's knock out this next part...

...maybe set some people free...

...share some GOOD NEWS!

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Seven (Part I)

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CHAPTER SEVEN

Throw the Book at Them

“If someone isn't what others want them to be, the others become angry. Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own.”
- Paulo Coelho

"Fat People Should Commit Suicide"...that's what I had originally planned to name this book, but then I thought better of it.

I know that title would have been a little too provocative and difficult to explain...it certainly would make the book unmarketable...but the idea comes from my frustration with so many fundamentalist Bible-thumpers who keep telling me and people like me that we need to "get back to the Bible" and "obey the commandments of God" and not "water down the Scriptures" with our message of grace and our liberal theology.

I'm fine with the concept of obeying the Bible in theory...but if we're going to take part of it literally and obey it to the letter, then we have to take all of it literally, and obey all of it. You can't pick and choose. I'll get more into this in the chapter about Leviticus, but suffice it to say that there are a lot of people who use certain Bible verses to clobber other people whom they disapprove of, but they only pick and choose the verses that prop up their own agendas and protect and preserve their prejudices. Then they ignore the ones that don't matter to them.

I heard a man on Christian TV recently preaching against those who support gay marriage, and in his rant he said "We need to get back to the BIBLICAL definition of marriage and not vary from it in any way!"

It's certainly within any one's rights to be either for or against same-sex marriage. I've heard all the arguments, both pro and con, and I understand where everyone is coming from on the subject. It's a tricky one, at best.

But don't use the Bible to make your point for marriage between one man and one woman as we know it today if you want to have credibility.

I mean, whose marriage in the Bible can you set up as the example?

Adam and Eve weren't married.

Noah apparently had a wife, but we know nothing about her.

Abraham's wife, Sarah, was his sister, and she offered her servant, Hagar, to him so that he could sleep with her to impregnate her (which he did, because that kind of thing was customary then), and she gave birth to Ishmael.

Even a marriage like Isaac's and Rebekah's was an arranged thing (people marrying for love is a relatively new idea).

Jacob fathered the men who became the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel through 4 women (2 wives and 2 concubines).

Basically, all the married men of the Old Testament were polygamists with harems (Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines!). Within that context, I don't even know how you would define adultery for a man who already has multiple women available to him, sexually.

So you don't need to look in the OT for marriage role models because you won't find any.

And the New Testament is predominately about Jesus and Paul, neither of whom were married.

Jesus did, however, challenge the accepted concepts of marriage when He talked about the life and function of eunuchs (Matthew 19:10, 11). He said that some people couldn't understand or accept this, but that that there are those, like eunuchs, who aren't made for marriage as we know it at all. Many of my contemporaries believe and teach that He was referring to gay people in that discourse, but that's not settled in my mind at this point for reasons I will discuss later.

The disciples had wives, but they were all nameless as far as the Bible is concerned.

We see a couple named Priscilla and Aquila in Paul's narrative who were apparently married, but have virtually no information on them.

Even in the 5th chapter of Ephesians when Paul talks about husbands and wives, he ends that part by saying that he wasn't talking about marriage between a man and a woman, he was actually talking about Christ and the church.

So if you want to argue against same-sex marriage, fine. Just say that you stand for "traditional" or "conventional" marriage...don't say you stand for "biblical" marriage, because that may not be what you want at all.

Another preacher was defending the nuclear family and saying we need to model our families on what Jesus said.

Really?

What did Jesus say about the family?

"He who does not hate father and mother is not worthy of me".

"Who are my mother and brothers but those who do the will of God."

"Don't think that I came to bring peace...I came to bring a sword...to set mother-in-law against daughter-in-law..."

He even told one man not to bother with taking care of his dying father when He said, "Let the dead bury the dead."

Many of those who say that they beleive and practice the whole Bible should probably go back and actually read it, especially before they start yelling at the ones who they think aren't doing it right.

Men in Glass Houses

I get a lot of correspondence in a week (email, letters, texts, phone messages), both positive and negative, but one day I got a private Facebook message from a man who was blasting me because, according to him, I didn't really preach obedience to the Bible because I had "chosen" the gay lifestyle. He went on to say that if you don't obey all of the Bible you can't really call yourself a Christian, and that I was dangerous because I encouraged people to ignore the commandments of God.

His letter contained the usual vehemence and mean-spirited jargon that I get a lot from people in the conservative religious community, and I was just about to do my typical pushing of the delete button (I don't even read them any more because they all just say the same thing) when I happened to notice his profile picture.

He looked like he probably weighed in excess of 400 lbs, maybe more...definitely appeared to be morbidly obese...and as I stared for a minute at the sour expression on his wide face, perched atop all of his chins like a big, pink pumpkin, I decided to make an exception and write him back a message that said something like this:

"Thanks for your message, sir, and you know what? You're absolutely right! We do need to get back to the Bible and start living it as we should. You've helped me see the light! I'm going to start telling all the gay people that they should repent for "choosing" their sinful "lifestyle"...and I'm also going to tell all the fat people...those who have chosen the fat lifestyle...that they should commit suicide because the Bible says " ...and put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony" (Proverbs 23:2 - NIV)...We just can't, as you say, compromise the Scriptures. They must be obeyed! I just hope your suicide won't be too painful."

But then I decided not to send the message...just deleted it, because I'm a gentleman...maybe even a Christian...and just let him enjoy his smug self-righteousness and self-satisfaction in believing that he had put me in my place (and please don't write me to inform me that obesity isn't always the result of overeating, because that's not the point).

Then I blocked him on Facebook.

Look, I do love the Scriptures...with all my heart, in fact.

But I hate when they're taken out of context and used on other people as a weapon.

The best parts of the Bible are the ones that carry the GOOD NEWS.

That's what matters most, and there's a lot of GOOD NEWS in there if you know where to look for it!

Lift Every Voice and Sing

With clever editing you can make the Bible say just about anything you want it to say.

It has no one particular voice, because the Bible is NOT a book!

It is a collection of books...and ideas...and concepts...many of which are in contradiction to some of the others.

The protestant canon is a collection of 66 books written by 40 authors over a period of 1,500 years in different languages to different people groups in different generations for different purposes.

Therefore, the Scriptures must be rightly divided instead of wrongly connected.

In other words, each book must be judged in its own context and on its own terms, whether it confirms any other book or not. In this way, biblical contradictions are not only acknowledged and accepted...they are expected.

I celebrate the tension caused by the conflicting viewpoints of the writers who had different paradigms of God. Their contradictions make the Bible literally pulsate with life! And amazingly, in spite of the given contention, the confirmation of Jesus, the Christ, is still the glue that holds the whole collection together!

In this way, the Bible is actually a miracle.

But you can't ask what "The Bible" says about anything, because "The Bible" is a collection of books.

That would be like asking what the library says about something.

The library says a lot of things.

The library says 'War and Peace'.

The library says 'Of Mice and Men'.

The library says 'Alice in Wonderland'.

There is no official voice of the library.

That's why we have basically four different resurrection stories in the Gospels. The one constant among all the variables (number of women in the garden, number of angels, catastrophic events, such as an earthquake, or lack thereof) is that Jesus was in the grave and then He came out of the grave alive.

But there is no official resurrection story of record.

Contradictions abound between the leather covers.

For example, if you asked what "The Bible" says about using the title of Father, there is no definitive answer.

Jesus said to call no one "Father":

"And do not call anyone on earth ‘father,’ for you have one Father, and he is in heaven." (Matthew 23:9 - NIV)

But Paul said just the opposite:

"Even if you had ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel." (1 Corinthians 4:15 - NIV)

Peter tells wives that they are responsible for the salvation of their husbands...puts the onus entirely on the women by saying that their godly lives lived in front of their unbelieving spouses is more effective than The Word...

In like manner, you married women, be submissive to your own husbands [subordinate yourselves as being secondary to and dependent on them, and adapt yourselves to them], so that even if any do not obey the Word [of God], they may be won over not by discussion but by the [godly] lives of their wives, When they observe the pure and modest way in which you conduct yourselves, together with your reverence [for your husband; you are to feel for him all that reverence includes: to respect, defer to, revere him--to honor, esteem, appreciate, prize, and, in the human sense, to adore him, that is, to admire, praise, be devoted to, deeply love, and enjoy your husband]. (1 Peter 3:1, 2 - AMP)

But Paul says just the opposite:

But if the unbelieving partner [actually] leaves, let him do so; in such [cases the remaining] brother or sister is not morally bound. But God has called us to peace. For, wife, how can you be sure of converting and saving your husband? Husband, how can you be sure of converting and saving your wife? (1 Corinthians 7:15, 16 - AMP)

No doubt, these next two passages are talking about two different things, but at first glance it appears that Jesus is telling us not to judge anyone/anything, while Paul is saying to judge everyone/everything!

But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
(1 Corinthians 2:15 - NKJV)

But the spiritual man tries all things [he examines, investigates, inquires into, questions, and discerns all things], yet is himself to be put on trial and judged by no one [he can read the meaning of everything, but no one can properly discern or appraise or get an insight into him].
(1 Corinthians 2:15 - Amplified Bible)

But Jesus says...

“Don’t set yourself up as a judge who takes the liberty of casually condemning others, or even as a critic who thinks that he or she has the right to criticize them, because when you do that, you set a universal law into motion that will inevitably bring negative things back into your own life. In other words, don’t judge so that you may not be judged and criticized and condemned yourselves. For in direct proportion to your judgment, criticism and condemnation of others, you will be personally judged and criticized and condemned. It’s just the way the law works. And in accordance with the measure you use to deal out to others…whatever you may deal out…it will be dealt out again to you. You define the terms of your own life in this sense. (Matthew 7:1, 2 - Matthew In The Now)

Jesus said to think and be like a child to be able to enter the Kingdom:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child, whom he placed among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes a humble place—becoming like this child—is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
(Matthew 18:1-4 - TNIV)

But Paul says...

Brothers and sisters, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. (1 Corinthians 14:20 - TNIV)

...to be continued

AYITN for October 31: NO MONSTERS!

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You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra, the young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot. (Psalm 91:13)

Behold! I have given you authority and power to trample upon serpents and scorpions, and (physical and mental strength and ability) over all the power that the enemy [possesses]; and nothing shall in any way harm you. (Luke 10:19 AMP)

1.Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I am free from every curse—I do not fear demons or witchcraft or any work of darkness. My light cannot be overtaken and God has not given me a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind!

2.Today I will not be afraid of “the beast,” or of Armageddon, or the sign of 666. I know that God has given me dominion on this planet and I hold the keys of the Kingdom!

3.Today I will not fear the future. I declare the end from the beginning!

4.Today I will not fear any accusation from the brethren’s accuser, because I am covered with the blood of Jesus and I am familiar with the word of my testimony.

5.Today I will not be afraid in my house—no plague will come near my dwelling! I am not afraid of the terror by night or of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor of the destruction that lays waste at noonday!

6.Today I will not be afraid of any accident or calamity, for the angel of the Lord sets up camp around me and bears me up in his own hand.

7.Today, even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil for God is with me! His rod and His staff comfort me today, and today I will live in the now!

Father, keep me safe today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Six

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CHAPTER SIX

Bad Boys, Bad Boys Whatcha Gonna Do?

　

"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones."
- William Shakespeare

Morality matters.

Sin is a bad idea.

Of course, the definition of morality is different for every person, and after Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount, pretty much everything was labeled by Him as a sin.

According to His startling revelation that day ("You have heard it said, but I SAY..."), if you hate your brother, you are a murderer. If you fantasize about committing adultery it's exactly the same thing as actually going through with it. If you call your brother "raca" (the equivalent of calling him a faggot) you should be brought before the Council. And if you call him a fool you are in danger of the fires of Gehenna (traditionalists say hell). Also, if you commit any of these type sins, you should dismember yourself ("If your hand offends you, cut it off...if your eye offends you, gouge it out"...).

And you thought Moses was hard.

Of course, Jesus' intention in this sermon was to show the futility of the Law, and to leave us no alternative but to lose ourselves in His righteousness...to recognize that we are crucified and risen with Him...to reckon ourselves to be "IN CHRIST", so that we could return to God's original desire for His creation to walk in a"Tree of Life" paradigm, as opposed to that of the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil".

Still, the Scriptures say that the wages of sin is death.

...that the way of the transgressor is hard.

...that they who sow to the flesh will of the flesh reap corruption.

So, morality...good.

Immorality...bad.

And righteousness, holiness, uprightness...however you may define them...are things to which you should aspire.

And integrity is important.

And character, goodness, virtue, ethics, principles, and standards are all desirable things.

And criminals should pay their debt to society.

And people should be held responsible for their actions.

And you should always try to do the right thing, even when other people don't.

To me, saying all this is stating the obvious, but there are those who apparently think that when you preach the triumph of the cross over sin, or the restitution of all things...when you proclaim that the Lamb of God took away the sin of the world...that you are somehow giving license to people to live reckless, immoral, undisciplined, ungodly lives with no repercussions for the bad things they may do.

I mean...why not? You have told them that in the end they will all be reconciled to God, no matter what, because of what Jesus did on the cross, so it's not about their righteousness, anyway, right? Their righteousness is "as filthy rags", and therefore they shouldn’t even bother with pointless attempts at discipline or self-control...shouldn't waste their time trying to live a holy or moral existence at all. Everyone is in Christ, so everyone should just have a free-for-all of sin and degradation, all day long, every day. Their lifestyle should just be one big orgy of decadence and excess and hedonism and the satisfying of the lust of the flesh and the seeking of pleasure with absolutely no boundaries

I'm really making an effort to avoid sarcasm here...well, at least I was before that last paragraph...but honestly that's what a lot of people must think I believe and preach. When some hear that you don't believe in the existence of a literal, burning hell in the center of the earth, they somehow assume you have no moral compass, whatsoever.

And if they don't think that, totally, just try admitting publicly to them that, even though you have loved and served God your entire life, that all that time you've had same-sex attraction.

That'll do it.

You may preach a message of reconciliation that is simply and sincerely celebrating Jesus' finished work on the cross...the declaring of the evangel, or the GOOD NEWS...but what they hear you saying is something like, "Be sure to do some crystal meth with a prostitute before you knock over that 7 11 store tonight!"

Oops. There goes the sarcasm again.

My bad.

But I do get asked this question a lot: "Can you just do anything (bad) that you want and still be saved?"

Of course, if you force me into a simple yes or no answer to that question, I would have to say yes...Paul said, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are good for me".

Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds.

But, seriously, you may ask...what about pedophiles?

And satan worshippers?

And pornographers.

And serial killers?

And Democrats? (sorry...more sarcasm in honor of all those who have sent me YouTube videos declaring that President Obama is the anti-christ...)

But the Big Question is always the classic "Universalist" challenge:

"Do you think that Hitler is in heaven?"

Of course, that question ultimately comes from the paradigm created by having eaten from the "Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil" as opposed to the mindset that comes from the more optimal "Tree of Life"...in other words, as Paul said, to be carnally-minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace..."...

People who are spiritually minded hear the message of reconciliation and think about how wonderful Jesus is.

People who are carnally minded hear the same message and want to know what's going to happen to Hitler.

I especially hate the Hitler question because it takes the emphasis off of the finished work of Christ, and puts it on the horrible actions of a deranged maniac. And, certainly, the idea of seeing Hitler (or others of his ilk) happily walking down streets of gold in heaven with Moses and Elijah or David is completely unthinkable to anyone with a sense of sanity or morality.

But so is the thought of someones sweet little grandma being sent to an eternity in hell with Hitler because she didn't pray the right prayer before she died, which is what some of these type people believe. I've even heard a televangelist preach that Mother Teresa and Gandhi are in hell because they weren't "saved" according to what he believed was necessary for salvation.

Wow.

Really?

Mother Teresa?

I'm thinking if Mother Teresa's not in heaven, there's probably not any reason to assume that any of us will be.

It's a Puzzlement

Look, I don't have all the answers as to how things like what to do with Hitler get worked out in eternity, I just try to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

That being said, it’s always interesting to me to observe how even people who believe in the triumph of the cross generally believe that the "really, really, really" bad people should be at least held more accountable, if not somewhat punished for their deeds. It’s a normal response to trying to get your head around some of the horrible acts that are committed every day by people in this world. Regardless of the fact that James said that if you are guilty in one point, you are guilty in them all, the sins of some people just naturally seem worse to us than the sins of others.

In eastern religions there is the concept of karma (basically what goes around comes around), to help people deal with the ramifications of evil. And reincarnation, which is based on the idea that if you do really bad stuff, you’ll come back in another life as something really disgusting.

But western Christians have the concept of hell to help them psychologically deal with the need for justice to be served in cases of unspeakable wickedness.

Most of our western concepts of hell, especially the notion that there are degrees of punishment there, come from The Divine Comedy, better known as Dante’s Inferno written by Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321. Seen as one of the greatest works of world literature, the poem's imaginative vision of the Christian afterlife is a culmination of the medieval world-view as it had developed in the Western Church over the centuries, and is much more responsible for shaping our ideas of eternal punishment than is the Bible.

I have read the transcripts from the murder trial of a diabolical man who intentionally ran over three little kids in a McDonald’s parking lot around the corner from my house on a Saturday morning a few years ago. In the document were the recorded words of the mother whose three year old daughter was killed in the incident. She spoke directly to the man who had brutally snuffed out the life of her baby girl just days before her third birthday (laughing while he did it, by the way), and said to him that the Bible says that there is a "hottest place in hell" reserved for him, and that she was going to laugh while she watched God throw him into it.

Now, I know that the Bible doesn’t say anything like that, and you know what I believe about ultimate reconciliation, but, as a parent, or just as a person who can’t make sense of that kind of evil, I completely understood why she said that, and in some secret place in my heart or brain I hoped that she was right!

In other words, what I know by the spirit doesn’t always jibe with what I feel emotionally, and if that were my little girl who was killed, I probably would have said the same thing, or worse!

In all honesty, I also really don’t think that I could ever forgive the man, nor would I even attempt to…only the "hottest place in hell" idea would give me some sense of psychological relief in the matter.

"You Can't Handle the Truth!"

But let’s look at some literal interpretations of the Scriptures which define the conventional Christian ideas concerning who should really go to hell, which are generally taken out of context (and I’m using the King James Version to make my point because it sounds more profound and scarier).

First of all, the dividing of the sheep from the goats mentioned in Matthew 25 is about compassion, philanthropy, and sensitivity to the needs of others…not about "sin" as we think of it.

Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels: For I was an hungered, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not. (Matthew 25:41-43)

The "goats" in the parable are sent into the "fire", not because they were mass murderers or serial killers or sexual deviants, but because they didn’t feed the hungry or clothe the naked or visit the prisoners. And yet we all know Christians who have never once entered a jail or prison to visit the incarcerated, and have never once helped a homeless person in any way. But if you asked them if Hitler is in hell (or if the man I mentioned earlier is going there) they would more than likely say a definite "yes", oblivious to the fact that Jesus said they were also going to hell!

Then in Luke 17, the rich man went to "hell" because he was rich, not because he committed any heinous acts (other than refusing to feed a homeless man). And Lazarus went to "heaven" (or Abraham’s bosom), not because he prayed the "Sinner’s Prayer" or confessed Romans 10:9, 10, but because he was poor:

But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. (Luke 16:25)

Have you ever heard a preacher preach that all the indifferent rich were going to hell, and all the suffering poor were going to heaven?

I haven't.

But that's what Jesus said, is it not?

So let me get this straight…Hitler is in hell because he committed genocide, Jeffry Dahmer is in hell because he was a murderous cannibal, John Lennon is in hell because he wrote "Imagine", and the man who ran over those children is going to the "hottest place" there because of what he did…and yet Jesus said that calling someone an idiot or a fool is grounds for eternal punishment (according to conventional interpretation of Scripture).

But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. (Matthew 5:22)

And do you know anyone who is afraid of anything? Well, apparently they’re going to hell, too, right along with the serial killers and perverts:

But the fearful…and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

Thank God, Jesus was speaking metaphorically in each of these parables. With the sheep and goats analogy he was talking about people who are indifferent to the suffering of others who will have to go through a fiery trial sent to burn out their pride, and force them to become empathetic and compassionate with those less fortunate. As I said, 1st century audiences would have understood what he was talking about.

And they knew where Gehenna was, so the idea of reaping what you sow was not confused in their minds with the fear of eternal damnation.

If you read John's Revelation in context, you see that The Lake of Fire is actually the purging of a merciful God…everything in His vision is symbolic...a crystal sea, a seven-headed dragon, a sun-clothed woman, a lake of fire, etc.

Compare John’s revelation of it with that of Paul:

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One). But if anyone builds upon the Foundation, whether it be with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, The work of each [one] will become [plainly, openly] known (shown for what it is); for the day [of Christ] will disclose and declare it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test and critically appraise the character and worth of the work each person has done. If the work which any person has built on this Foundation [any product of his efforts whatever] survives [this test], he will get his reward. But if any person's work is burned up [under the test], he will suffer the loss [of it all, losing his reward], though he himself will be saved, but only as [one who has passed] through fire. (1 Corinthians 3:11-15 – Amplified Bible)

It’s hard to understand with the natural mind declarations like "I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy" or "The first shall be last, and the last shall be first".

God’s ways really are higher than ours.

But think about this…what if you had never heard of Adam, or the Fall of Man, and someone told you that the behavior of just one man brought death and condemnation upon all of humanity.

You might ask, "What in the world did he do to bring about such a horrible condition?

Did he kill millions of people?

Was he a pedophile?

Did he own slaves and lynch innocent people?

Was he a serial rapist?

An abortionist?

Did he torture people and ruin people’s lives?

And the answer would be, "No, he just ate a piece of fruit."

So......how do we deal with all of this? If you live in a very black and white world where you are absolute in your ideas of right and wrong, good and evil, it's easy. Just don't read the Bible a lot because it will disorient you in your polarization of what is right vs. wrong. I'll deal with some of that in the next chapter.

For me, the answer is in "working out my own salvation with fear and trembling", "owing no man anything but to love him", and basically just letting God be God.

My morality may not be yours (I was taught as a child that all cigarette smokers go to hell when they die)...and yours may not be mine.

If you take on living your own life, and spend your time trying to please God by becoming the best you that you can be, you won't really have time to deal with what's going on with the goodness or badness of other people.

Or even have an opinion about it.

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Five

2011-10-27T18:41:00.001-04:00

CHAPTER FIVE

No Hell Below Us, Above Us Only Sky

SCARLETT: “Oh, Rhett. I am so afraid.”

RHETT: “I don't believe it. You've never been afraid in your life.”

SCARLETT: “I'm afraid now. I'm afraid of dying, of going to Hell.”

RHETT: “You look pretty healthy. And maybe there isn't any Hell.”

SCARLETT: “Oh, there is. I know there is. I was raised on it.”

　

As far as I recall, in the 40 years that I have been in the ministry, no one has ever one time asked me if I preach the Cross of Jesus Christ.

No one has asked if I pray for people to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

No one has ever asked if I feed the poor...

...or visit people in prison.

No one has inquired about my role in racial reconciliation,

or showed any curiosity, whatsoever, about whether or not I do anything to help the homeless…

...or drug addicts…

...or alcoholics.

It has never even once come up in conversation, and no one has even thought to ask if I preach on love and forgiveness...at least not that I can remember at the moment.

In fact, as I write this, I don’t even remember if anyone has ever asked if I believe in a literal heaven with streets of gold and gates of pearl.

But people have always asked me lots and lots and lots of questions about hell, especially in the last few years…

"Do you believe in hell?"

"Do you believe in the fire and the brimstone?"

"Who do you think is going to hell?"

"When are they going to go?"

"Will they start burning as soon as they die?"

"How long will they burn?"

"Are there degrees of punishment in hell?"

"Who is in hell now?"

"Do people feel the fire scorching and burning their flesh for ever and ever and ever there?"

"Do the demons torture you in hell?"

"Are all the Jews and Muslims and atheists and homosexuals going to hell?"

...and so it goes.

I can even say something about heaven possibly being just another dimension, and no one will bat an eye...but when you mess with the conventional religious ideas about hell that exist in peoples' heads, you stir up a lot of stuff, and you find out how obsessed with it and even defensive for it many of them can be (and are).

In the last several years I’ve taught extensively on this subject, and have examined, in-depth, the four words that were translated into "hell" in the King James Version and in some other translations.

I’ve explained that the word "Sheol" was simply the Hebrew word for "the grave" or "the unseen", even though it was translated as "hell" in the Old Testament...look it up;

...that "Gehenna" (or the Valley of Hinnom) that Jesus referred to was in reality a literal, burning garbage dump right outside the city of Jerusalem, a very nasty place, indeed (I've been there, and it's actually quite nice now, especially since they stopped sacrificing babies to the god Molech there...a well-kept grassy area at the foot of the Mount of Olives)...but when Jesus discussed Gehenna in His teachings (the word that Bible interpreters centuries later decided to call "hell"), his audience had no concept of a fiery place of eternal punishment at the center of the earth...maybe because they would have assumed then that the earth was flat...or maybe because He was pointing to the geographical location of Gehenna when He referred to it (it's literally right outside the wall of the Old City of Jerusalem). But whatever the case, the Jews didn't preach eternal punishment, so it would have never entered their minds that that was what He was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount...maybe because that was NOT what He was talking about!

...that "Tartarus" was a place of confinement for rebellious angels until the reconciliation of all things;

...and that "Hades", a word that Jesus only used twice, is the name of the pagan god of the underworld in Greek mythology, and was used as the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol.

I’ve also made mention of the fact that "hell" was never once mentioned in the original (Hebrew) language of the Old Testament. A place of eternal punishment is nowhere to be found in the OT. Adam and Eve were told they would die for transgressing the commandment of God...not go to a place called hell. Moses said that those who violated the Ten Commandments would be executed...not go to a place called hell. The inhabitants of the cities that were destroyed by fire only experienced a physical death...they were never threatened with a place of eternal punishment.

David actually said "If I make my bed in the grave (not in "hell" as it reads in some translations), behold you are there"...he also said, "You will not leave my soul in the grave..." (not in "hell" as many people teach today)...

David never heard of hell.

Nor did Abraham or Moses or Elijah or Isaiah, or any of the other prophets...the concept of a place of eternal punishment was borrowed from other religions and inserted into Christianity some centuries after Jesus walked the earth.

There is no hell mentioned anywhere in any of Paul’s Epistles.

Really.

John’s prophetic vision of a "Lake of Fire" in The Revelation was from the Greek word pur, and was symbolic of God’s purifying fire (same root as "baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire" or "our God is a consuming fire"). I’ve even written about and spoken on the topic of "The Second Death", or when Hades ("hell" in the KJV) is thrown into the Lake of Fire (Rev. 20:14), and how it literally refers simply to "the death of death", proving that "hell" and the "Lake of Fire" are two completely different things.

That being said, and in spite of all that I’ve expressed, the point of our theology should never be about disproving the existence of a literal "hell" or a place of eternal punishment and damnation for the wicked or unsaved.

As I said in the last chapter, I never want to be known for not believing in something.

The main theme and constant of everything that we study and believe should always be the complete triumph of the Lamb of God!

You, know...the GOOD NEWS!

In other words, if there were a thousand literal, eternally burning hells, the redeeming power of the Lamb’s ultimate and bloody sacrifice on the cross, His miraculous resurrection, and His subsequent intercession for all of humanity (Hebrews 7:25) would still be a stronger force than all the combined hells that anyone could imagine!

That’s why we behold the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world; it’s not about what we don’t believe in, it’s about in what—or rather in Whom—we believe!

And because we believe in Him, we behold Him (not the absence of hell, or the presumed liberty or imagined sins of others)...and because we behold Him, we worship Him in Spirit and in truth!

So here's the big question...

QUESTION #5: Do You believe in a literal hell?

Answer #5: Here's what I BELIEVE IN...I BELIEVE in the living God Who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe (1 Timothy 4:10), and that His salvation will ultimately reconcile all of humanity to Himself...

I BELIEVE that Jesus Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8), and I believe in beholding the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)...

I BELIEVE that every knee in heaven and on earth and under the earth will eventually bow, and that every tongue in heaven and on earth and under the earth will eventually confess to the glory of God that Jesus Christ is Lord (Philippians 2:9, 10)…

I BELIEVE that all were condemned in Adam, but all are justified in Christ (Romans 5:17-21), for as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive (1 Corinthians 15:22), so I BELIEVE we were lost in Adam, but found in Christ…condemned in Adam, but justified in Christ…dead in Adam, but alive in Christ…

I BELIEVE that Jesus Christ was and is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:22)...

I BELIEVE that He has removed our transgressions from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:12)...

I BELIEVE we were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love (Ephesians 1:4)...

I BELIEVE that, because Jesus was lifted up from the earth on the cross, He will ultimately draw (the Greek uses the word "drag") all peoples unto Himself (John 12:32), but that we can all still come to Him of our own free will…

I BELIEVE that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all humanity shall see it together (Isaiah 40:5)…

I BELIEVE that He will pour out of His Spirit on all humanity (Joel 2:28)…

I BELIEVE that every eye shall see Him (Revelation 1:7)...

I BELIEVE that it is not His will that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9)...

I BELIEVE that the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all people (Titus 2:11)...

I BELIEVE that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them (2 Corinthians 5:19)...

I BELIEVE that God has not appointed us unto wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:9)...

I BELIEVE that we will not all sleep in death, but we shall all be changed (1 Corinthians 15:51)...

I BELIEVE that all things shall be made subject to Him so that God may be all in all (1 Corinthians 15:28)...

I BELIEVE that Christ is all and is in all (Colossians 3:11).

I know that's a long answer...I actually could have made it a lot longer...but I think you get the point.

Bottom line, I'm not trying to disprove the existence of hell to anyone...I just want everyone to know the GOOD NEWS.

God wins.

Love wins.

God is love.

God loves you as you are because He made you as you are.

Last Adam trumps first Adam.

Jesus wasn't delusional when He said on the cross, "It is finished!"

It really was.

And is.

Wow...now, that's GOOD NEWS!

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS - Chapter Four

2011-10-27T02:20:00.014-04:00

CHAPTER FOUR

"Don't Worry, Be Happy"

Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.

(Philippians 4:8, 9 - The Message)

It's better to be positive than to be negative.

Don't you think so?

The Gospel...the GOOD NEWS...is, and should be, nothing but a completely positive message.

When the angels appeared to the shepherds in the Christmas story, they didn't ask them, "If you died tonight, do you know where you would spend eternity?"

They simply announced the GOOD NEWS to them.

GOOD NEWS to ALL PEOPLE.

Period.

On the Day of Pentecost the diverse population of Jerusalem heard nothing but a positive message delivered in Spirit-speak by the 120 who had been in the Upper Room.

They responded to them by saying, "Do we not hear them speaking (only) the wonderful works of God in our own languages?"

Jesus said that the Gospel was proactive, consisting of two "Do's" as opposed to the ten "Don'ts" that Moses received on Mt. Sinai. In the New Covenant, "thou shalt not" is replaced with "you SHALL love the Lord your God with all your heart, and you SHALL love your neighbor as yourself."

That's all the Gospel is.

Just two things.

Love God.

Love others.

To make it out to be anything more than that is, in my opinion, antichrist.

It's why the cross...something made of only two simple beams, a vertical and a horizontal...is the symbol of Christianity.

Two beams.

Two commandments.

That's all.

Even though it's been used as an image of hate in some instances...been burned on some front lawns as an intimidation tactic by some messed up people, etc., it's still the perfect symbol for the simplicity that is in Christ.

When Jesus appeared to people, both before and after His resurrection, His first words to them were nearly always, "Fear not!"

The GOOD NEWS should always confirm that salutation.

Kind of makes you wonder how the message of Christianity turned into one that is so fear-based.

Come Fly With Me

And...speaking of fear...

I've already mentioned "The Rapture" several times in this book (don't try to look it up in a concordance because it's not in the Bible), but if you weren't raised with the awareness of it looming over every day of your life...didn't have it as a main factor in every decision you made...if you never lived with the constant dread of it possibly occurring at any minute, and the fear that it most likely would be occurring without you being a part of it because you weren't good enough...or holy enough...then you can't appreciate what it can do to a person.

Fear really messes with your mind, especially when it's ever-present. Seriously, if you weren't raised with the daily threat that He was coming "as a thief in the night", you can't imagine what it was like for those of us who were.

You never rest well when you're afraid you may be the victim of a robbery.

OK, so anyway, I knew I had same-sex attraction as early as age four...don't ask me how I knew, I just did. And most of the gay people who write to me to tell their horror stories of failed exorcisms, conversion therapies, shock treatments, ex-gay programs, and other such nonsense, tell me that they knew at or around that age, too. Amazing how so many pre-schoolers were able to choose the gay lifestyle, even before they learned how to ride a bike!

But I digress.

Point being, one main reason I never considered either the probability or the necessity of my coming out...why I never thought my orientation was ever going to be a big deal in my life...is that I was raised believing that the end of the world was imminent.

I realized early on that my psychological wiring wasn't the work of a demon...wasn't a phase...or a sickness...or a mental illness. It certainly wasn't a choice (more about that later). So I accepted the fact that it wasn't going to change, and that I was in an impossible situation because of it and because of my call to the ministry, as I've already stated.

Any gay Christian who grew up knowing at least a little bit about the Bible probably has identified at some point with Paul talking about his mysterious "thorn in the flesh" that God refused to remove from him, even though he prayed three times that He would. Well...some of us prayed three thousand, maybe three million times that our "thorn" would be removed, but ultimately we had to just settle for believing that His grace would be sufficient to help us manage it.

But the reason I could deal with my own thorny reality is that I thought the majority of my young life that I would be flying away at any minute, and then I would go to heaven where Jesus could fix me. Don't get me wrong. The Rapture was never something I looked forward to. The thought of it always scared me, and made me very sad at the prospect of it preventing me from living out my life on the earth. But at least, I thought, it would take care of the problem.

Then, over the years as my theology progressed and evolved, and I came to believe that the Bible didn't really support John Nelson Darby's (the father of 'The Rapture') teaching, I just immersed myself more and more in the ministry. I dated girls and eventually got married with the intention of finally changing myself into a heterosexual...or at least learning to act like one. I mean, how hard could it be, really? If you believe the trumpet could be sounding at any minute, you at least know your condition of trying to be something you're not is, at the very least, temporary, and therefore doable and bearable.

Anyway, back to my point about being positive.

I have no regrets now about anything in my spiritual/theological journey, including my life with The Rapture.

It was what it was.

Growing up, I heard nearly every week in church that He was coming for those "who love His appearing" (which always worried me because I didn't really love it like I thought I should).

But I do love it now.

Now that phrase means something quite different to me, and I do love His appearing every day of my life with every new revelation of Him...every epiphany...every time I go from glory to glory and find Him in every one of those incarnations.

The Daystar has risen in my heart.

It's why I believe that Jesus said "no man knows the day or the hour" of His appearing...it's because it's not a single event...it happens at different times, and it happens differently for every person.

Nowadays if and when people ask me if I don't believe in The Rapture any more, I refuse to answer that question.

Well, it's not that I refuse to answer so much as I try to re-direct the framework of the conversation.

I don't ever want to be known as someone who doesn't believe in something.

I don't want to be known for not believing in The Rapture, or for not believing in hell.

I want to to be known for what I (do) believe!

If Darby was right and there is, indeed, a Rapture...if I literally hear Gabriel blow his heavenly horn...I promise you that I'll fly away with you and the other believers to wherever they're/we're going to go for seven years before re-entering the earth's atmosphere, and I will deliver a sincere apology to all concerned for getting it so wrong.

In the meantime, here's what I've been saying for years, and anyone who has any depth of understanding at all about these things will know what I mean by it. I'm going to use some terminology here that may be completely foreign to you.

If it is, don't worry about it.

It doesn't really matter anyway.

QUESTION #4: Do you believe in The Rapture of the Church?

ANSWER #4: Yes, I believe in a Pre-Tribulation Rapture of the Church.

If that doesn't happen,

I believe in a Mid-Tribulation Rapture of the Church.

If that doesn't happen,

I believe in a Post-Tribulation Rapture of the Church.

If that doesn't happen,

I believe that Jesus Christ will come back to the earth through the clouds in bodily form

If THAT doesn't happen,

I believe that there will eventually be a global, cosmic paradigm shift where the entire population will finally see the Christ...a time when His Spirit is poured out on all humanity, and "every eye shall see Him"!

Bottom line, it's all good.

Really.

All kidding aside, if you believe we're in the last days it's fine with me.

Namaste.

If you believe in The Rapture, cool.

If you're really looking forward to it, far be it from me to take away your hope.

Go ahead and believe.

All things are possible.

As I said, if there is one, I'm flying, too.

If I'm wrong about it all you can sit next to me at "the Marriage Supper of the Lamb" and say I told you so.

Just promise me you won't forget the part about the GOOD NEWS in whatever you believe.

It's very important.

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS: Chapter Three

2011-10-25T17:17:00.013-04:00

CHAPTER THREE

"Jesus is Just All Right With Me"

"We can set no limits to the agency of the Redeemer to redeem, to rescue, to discipline in his work, and so will he continue to operate after this life."
– Clement of Alexandria (c.150-211/216)

I've actually had two public "coming out" experiences.

The one that I discussed a couple of chapters ago was my second.

The first one happened a few years ago when I finally came out doctrinally, if you will, and started preaching with confidence what I had been seeing in the Scriptures for some time about Jesus being the Savior of the whole world.

At that time words and labels like

"Inclusion",

"Ultimate Reconciliation",

"Universalism",

"Christian Universalism", etc. began to be associated with and ascribed to me...

I suppose I shouldn't bring up something negative in a book that's about GOOD NEWS...(come to think of it, I've already brought up some negative things, so I guess it's no big deal to add one more)...but in many ways this first coming out seemed to be more controversial than the second one!

I've witnessed two rather significant exoduses (exodi?) of people from my church...the most obvious one...the one I've become most known for...was the result of telling the people who I really am...the other (previous) one...the one that didn't get picked up by the media...was the result of my telling the people what I really believe...

Truth be told, I'm pretty sure more people disconnected themselves from me and my ministry over my saying that the work of Jesus, the Last Adam, completely trumped the work of the first Adam, than left me because I admitted I was gay.

The biggest issue for everyone in that first exodus was over my challenging the conventional religious ideas about hell and eternal punishment.

In general, it's really important to a lot of people, especially Christians it seems, that someone somewhere burns in hell for eternity.

And here's what's especially interesting/funny/ironic to me about all that...when I came out about my sexual orientation, nearly every ministry that had ever networked with me on any level over the years instantly and completely severed all ties with me. In that first year it was like I went through a thousand little divorces from people who had been like family to me...some of them had been in my life for 30 years or more, and they immediately cut me off, entirely.

So I had to look for new people to connect with...you just can't be out there all alone...

Well, as it turns out, there are actually a lot of gay or gay-friendly or gay-affirming ministries all over the place (if you know where to look), and I've been received by a few of them...some of them have even invited me to preach in their churches.

But when people ask me if I've been welcomed by the gay community since coming out, the answer is yes and no...and mostly no when it comes to gay religious people.

There's a huge part of that population that has been so brutalized, rejected and hurt by the church that they've just turned their back on the idea of God, altogether.

Pretty much every message or piece of mail that I've received from those who fall into that category has been beautiful, supportive, touching, and effusive with thanks and praise for everything I've said publicly about God and gays.

In a word, those people love me.

A lot.

But they don't go to church or support ministries, so basically they have said a very nice "thank you", and then have gone back to the safety of their atheism, agnosticism and/or private and personal spirituality. A minister...any minister...even a gay one...just represents too much pain and heartache to them because of their own histories.

And so my reception by them has been marginal, at best.

There's another part of the religious gay community that is very connected to the formal, more liturgical churches. They, for the most part, have been warm and cordial to me, but they generally don't know how to relate to my kind of preaching, or the Charismatic worship style of my two congregations, and so they keep their distance.

Then there are the gay evangelical or Pentecostal or Spirit-filled or Full-Gospel ministries that would typically be more similar or friendlier to my type of ministry.

They're very nice.

But I discovered quickly that my theology of the finished work of the cross is considered too "out there"...too edgy...for many if not most of them.

In other words, "affirming" churches are not, as a rule, "inclusive".

Go figure.

In fact, many of them consider "inclusion" to be a false doctrine, and my teaching of eternal punishment (or lack, thereof) is a deal breaker for pretty much all of them.

So...suffice it to say...I have had to learn to be contented in isolation.

The people from my "Egypt" have nothing to do with me now, but neither do a lot of the people in my "Canaan", if that makes sense.

Jesus went to the wilderness after His baptism.

Paul went to Arabia after his conversion.

John was exiled to the Isle of Patmos because of His revelation.

I just told the truth about all of me, including about what I believe, and the truth set me free from most relationships.

My wilderness is psychological.

Straight church people are generally incredulous when I tell them that I can't preach in most gay churches that I've encountered because they very strongly believe in the Rapture and the Great Tribulation, and most certainly in a literal, burning hell reserved for unbelievers, and consider me to be errant in my theology of ultimate grace.

Straight church people can't believe that I'm considered too liberal for gay church!

I guess on some level they must believe, at least sub-consciously, that gay people are, in fact, going to hell, themselves, and are shocked to find out that hell is such a big part of the belief-system of a lot of Christian gay people.

I must say, I was a little surprised by it myself.

But I gave up trying to make sense of religion a long time ago, so it is what it is.

Oh, How I Love Jesus

Anyway, as I've already stated, I was raised with the scary, judgmental, "coming as a thief in the night", all-seeing-eye, holiness-demanding, intolerant Jesus who was coming any minute to separate the sheep from the goats (and most of the people on the earth, I was taught, were hell-bound goats!)

Then when I started in the ministry myself (my "on fire for Jesus" phase), I began to preach a more positive message of a loving Jesus with a New Testament emphasis on grace.

But back then I still believed that most people would probably not accept Jesus as their Savior, and would therefore miss the Rapture, and most likely end up in hell.

So I preached a lot of mercy and grace, but I also preached about the wrath of God for those who rejected that mercy and grace. That's what I was taught to believe, and not question, even though it never felt right to me in my spirit.

Never could really accept the fact that a loving God could send people into eternal punishment.

And the more I got into studying the New Testament and original Bible languages and church history it made less and less sense to me

In the early days I was much more interested in "souls" than I was in people, which is why I said in the Preface that I was so full of myself back then. I was an effective "soul-winner" because it made me feel good about myself to think I was keeping people out of hell by my preaching.

I said the ministry was about helping others, but it was really about helping me...about how it made me feel about myself. That feeling of elation that comes from believing you're pleasing God by ministering in that way helps diffuse any feelings of self-loathing you may have about your very hidden sexual orientation.

In other words, once I realized that I couldn't pray the gay away (and I realized that early on), I just immersed myself in the kind of ministry that I thought most pleased God.

It may sound crazy, but the thought pattern goes something like this...if I can make God see me as a great soul-winner, maybe He won't notice that I'm really gay. Homosexuals are repulsive to God, but soul winners are really important to Him...exalted, even...they get special crowns in heaven for the amount of people they've brought with them...sort of like an eternal perk...like receiving a spiritual finder's fee...homosexuals, on the other hand, are fried forever in the flames...so...you do the math...

I became a soul-winner.

I'm not saying that's the only reason...the only motivation...but it's a big part of it.

That may be too real for some people.

Maybe I'm being too transparent.

But at this point I have nothing to hide, so I might as well tell it all.

So what does that have to do with Jesus?

Just this: after all is said and done...and even though I've come full-circle with it all...I still really do believe in and love Jesus with a pure heart, and believe in what He did on the cross, and in His resurrection, now more than ever.

Here are the two questions that I've been asked the most since I came out, theologically.

QUESTION #2: Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God?
ANSWER #2: Undoubtedly!

It is written in the Scriptures:

He is the Savior of ALL people, especially those who believe: This is why we've thrown ourselves into this venture so totally. We're banking on the living God, SAVIOR OF ALL MEN AND WOMEN, ESPECIALLY BELIEVERS.
(1 Timothy 4:10 – The Message)

The main purpose of the ministry is to declare the evangel, or the GOOD NEWS, that the Lamb of God has taken away the sin of the whole world.

He has saved everyone, but not everyone knows or believes it yet (and there is definitely an advantage to being one of the ones who "especially believes"…it’s the way into the Kingdom!).

But in the same way that the Prodigal Son was always a son, even though he was lost and living in a pig sty, all of humanity is in the family of God (Ephesians 3:14, 15), but most of them are lost and living in their own "pig sties" of religion, unbelief, deception or bondage.

They’re just away from home ("All we like sheep have gone astray…")

They need to hear the Word of Reconciliation so that they can "come to themselves", as did the Prodigal Son, and then come back to the Father of us all.

That’s why in John 14:6 we hear Jesus say so confidently

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and NO ONE comes to the Father except by Me!"

He had already declared in Chapter 12 that if He was lifted up from the earth on the cross, that He would draw (literally the Greek uses the word "drag") ALL people to Himself.

The work that Jesus did on that cross for all of us is universal, unparalleled and unrivaled…the cross is the nexus (the thing that brings everything together) of the universe!

I don’t believe that Jesus Christ is competitive with or hostile and antagonistic to

Buddha,

Mohamed,

Moses,

Confucius,

and others of that group...
Jesus told His disciples that "they who are not against us are for us"

But because His atoning sacrifice and resurrection sets Him above and apart from every other sage, prophet, messiah, or spiritual/religious leader in history, I still believe in His unique superiority.

All of the others were great seers and teachers, and should be honored for their contribution to the world, but Jesus Christ alone is the Savior of the world.

In a word, Jesus Christ is Lord.

There.

I said it.

My knees bow and my tongue confesses to the glory of God that Jesus Christ is Lord.

But even though I believe that Jesus is ultimately the one way to God, I do not believe that all the

Jews,

Muslims,

Buddhists,

Hindus,

Sikhs,

Hare Krishnas,

agnostics and atheists, etc.

are all going to eventually walk down the aisle of a Christian church and pray "The Sinner’s Prayer" (see Glossary of Terms) and confess Romans 10:9 and 10.

Nor do I believe that they are damned and going to a place called hell if they don’t (I promise I'll get to the hell subject shortly...)

Let me explain.

Quite simply, Jesus of Nazareth perfectly embodied and manifested what we call "the Christ", and it’s Christ that is actually the way to God.

Jesus was and is the Christ, but the Christ was here before Jesus was born in Bethlehem.

According to Paul, centuries before Jesus’ Incarnation, even Israel in the wilderness was "in Christ" :

For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. They all ate the same spiritual food and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, AND THAT ROCK WAS CHRIST. (1 Corinthians 10:1-4 – TNIV)

And the writer of Hebrews said that Moses, while growing up in polytheistic Egypt, definitely knew "Christ", even though he would have no way of knowing who Jesus was:

By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He regarded disgrace FOR THE SAKE OF CHRIST as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. (Hebrews 11:24-26 – TNIV)

That’s why I always say there are those who know His name, but don’t know Him, as there are those who know Him, even though they don’t know His name.

In my belief system there is definitely one way to God and that is Christ…and flesh and blood cannot reveal Christ to us.

One way to God.

Many ways to Christ…

And Jesus is the Christ, but it is Christ, not Christianity that is the way, the truth and the life.

So, yes...undoubtedly, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Way!

And here's the other most-asked question...

QUESTION #3: Do you believe one must confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ to be saved?
ANSWER #3: Absolutely!

But it’s really an unnecessary question...a moot point, if you will...in that it has already been answered in the Scriptures…it is written that every knee WILL bow, and every tongue WILL confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, either now or later, to the glory of God the Father!

Therefore [because He stooped so low] God has highly exalted Him and has freely bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, That in (at) the name of Jesus every knee should (must) bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, And every tongue [frankly and openly] confess and acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9-11 – AMP) What is the official Christian method or formula for obtaining salvation?

It depends on whom you ask. Some say that it is water baptism by immersion...

...others say that it is baptism by sprinkling,

still others by christening/infant Baptism,

or baptism in the name of Jesus,

or baptism by invoking the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

or Holy Spirit Baptism with the evidence of Speaking with other Tongues,

or "calling on The Name,"

or catechism,

or receiving Last Rites,

or by church membership,

or by repentance from dead works,

or by sanctification and holy living,

or by public confession…the list goes on and on.

In the Gospels, Zacchaeus received salvation simply by restoring, fourfold, all that he had stolen from the people (without baptism or confession of faith)...

The harlot received salvation simply by washing Jesus’ feet with her hair (without baptism or confession of faith)...

The thief on the cross received salvation by simply asking for it (without baptism or confession of faith).

Paul and Silas told their believing jailer that his entire household would be saved just because they were related to him.

According to the Apostle Paul, all of humanity was "saved" at the same time (1 Timothy 4:10), but all are not yet believers.

He also emphatically answered this often-asked question "Does one have to confess the Lordship of Jesus to be eternally saved?" with a definite "Yes!"

He said that every tongue in heaven or on earth or "beneath the earth," according to His revelation of grace, should, and eventually will confess, either now or later!

Absolutely, everyone must confess the Lordship of Jesus Christ to be saved, and, thank God, according to the Scriptures, eventually everyone will!

One other thought...

It was suggested by someone...maybe more than one person, actually...that over the last few years I "created" a theology for myself that would make it easier for me to come out as a gay man...in other words, I just did away with hell, entirely, so that I could say I was gay with no fear of being sent to that bad place where all the gays go, according to conventional church-wisdom.

When I first heard this accusation I deeply resented it because what I believe about the Scriptures and about Jesus, the Word made flesh, is the result of years and years of my own prayer and study and revelation.

Preaching the Ministry of Reconciliation....the saving of the whole world by Jesus Christ on the cross...is not a theological fad for me.

I don't believe in it because someone else taught it, or because it's a popular teaching (because it's not...)

I am not a devotee of any other preacher or teacher...what I believe and preach is what I really and deeply believe to be true.

But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the accusation may not be entirely untrue, and I came to terms with it.

I can say that with no apology.

As I already said, I'm left-handed...I was born that way...I know I didn't choose it...but there was a time in history (and not really that long ago) that left-handed people were burned at the stake by the church because they were thought to be demon-possessed.

Had I lived in that time, I'm sure my left-handedness would have forced me into a deeper study of the Scriptures...that is, if I had time when I wasn't running for my life!

I'm sure I would have thought that God just couldn't be so impossibly unfair as to create you as you are, but then send you to hell because of the very way He created you!

And even though the right-handed people couldn't understand why some people "chose" the evil left-handed lifestyle, I would want to make them understand that even if left-handed people forced themselves to write with their right hands to please God, by nature they were still and always would be left-handed. They could write with their right hands, but it would always feel wrong (unnatural) to them.

I have blue eyes, but if I had read in the Bible that all blue-eyed people go to hell, I think it's safe to say that I could not have accepted that. My biological reality together with my belief in God would force me into a deeper study of the Scriptures...because if God's that mean and unjust, then we're all in big trouble.

So did my being gay force me into being open to interpreting the Scriptures differently than in the way I had been taught about salvation and grace and eternity and all that?

Perhaps.

Probably.

But if that's what it took to move me into a discovery of the fullness of the Truth, then so be it.

I would hope that I would have come to my theological conclusions had I been born heterosexual, but who knows?

One way or the other, it's all good.

It has brought me to the conclusion that, in the big picture, all that really matters is the GOOD NEWS.

OK, enough about that...I have other questions to answer...

But, yes, Jesus is the way...

Jesus is Lord...

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS: Chapter Two

2011-10-24T15:29:00.005-04:00

CHAPTER TWO

"I Want to Thank You for Lettin' Me Be Myself Again"

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less.

That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought."
(Matthew 5:5 - The Message)

"Line upon line...precept upon precept..."

That's a well-known Bible phrase that I like a lot.

To me it means that if you want to communicate effectively, you have to lay a foundation of what you want to say and then build upon it...and you have to build upon it, as that same Scripture goes on to say, "here a little...there a little"...

I do have a lot of things that I want to communicate to you...many things I want to talk about here...but I need to lay a foundation first, so that you can really understand with clarity my actual purpose in putting all this out there.

As I said earlier, I'm just writing what I know...and most of all, I know God. So my foundation has to be that of constructing somewhat of a theological framework.

Otherwise my subject matter becomes marginalized and trivialized.

Please don't let that be off-putting if you only picked up this book to read what I have to say about being gay.

It may sound like that part's going to be boring, but it's not. And it's important.

Everything I discuss will ultimately bring me back to the main topic of sharing the Good News with you, because at the end of the day that's really what I always want to talk about.

I was born to share GOOD NEWS.

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me to do it.

I re-iterate, this isn't a "gay" book. But I do think it's important that I deal with that whole subject from my God/Bible/Christian paradigm, and I will...everything from Sodom and Gomorrah to "abominations" to what the Bible says about it (and doesn't say about it) to legalism and homophobia, and so on...

I want to answer some of the questions on the topic that I'm asked pretty much all the time these days, and discuss two of the most obnoxious phrases that I've ever heard (and, believe me, I've heard them a lot!)...

They are,

"God didn't make Adam and Steve, He made Adam and Eve!" ,

and

"Love the sinner, hate the sin!"...

Just really find both of those statements extremely offensive for different reasons, and I'll be happy to tell you why when I get to that part.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I'll get to it.

All in good time.

But my sexual orientation does not define me entirely.

After being in full-time ministry for the better part of half a century, I would like to be known and remembered for more than just being gay...or for being the gay Bishop...or the gay minister...I'm not denying or hiding (obviously) that part of me, but that's just one aspect of who I am.

But knowing both the God part and the gay part does put me in a position that makes me feel it's my responsibility to address sexual orientation from a God-perspective.

To whom much is given, much is required.

Bottom line, I'm going to tell you what I know about all that, but first I need to tell you what I know about this.

I think the easiest way to to deal with my subject matter is to put it in question and answer form...to just give simple, straight-forward answers to the things that people ask me about the most.

So, for the sake of context, let me start here...

QUESTION #1: Do you think that your theology is “orthodox”?

ANSWER #1: Yes, I do!

The word orthodoxy was a word that I rarely, if ever, heard while growing up in churches within the classical Pentecostal denominations. In that tradition, the emphasis was always placed upon the power and manifestation of the Holy Spirit over and above the correctness of theology or Biblical doctrine.

Orthodoxy and all that it entails became a bigger part of my consciousnes as I received my education, but it didn’t really become so personally important to me until recent years.

The dictionary defines orthodoxy as the quality of being orthodox (especially in religion) a belief or orientation agreeing with conventional standards. The word is from the Greek ortho ('right', 'correct') and doxa ('thought', 'teaching', 'glorification'), and is typically used to refer to the correct theological or doctrinal observance of religion, as determined by some overseeing body; those beliefs which reflect the faith of the whole Church since the time of the apostles; a term used in a number of senses, of which the following are the most important: (1) Orthodoxy in the literal sense of 'right belief,' as opposed to heresy; (2) Orthodoxy in the sense of the forms of Christianity which are dominant in the East.

As we examine the Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and other historical and foundational Christian statements of faith, we see their relevance to ministry in the 21st century.

The more research that I do, the more confirmation I receive that the message the world is really waiting for is organic, original and orthodox Christianity…the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is simply the GOOD NEWS.

No more.

No less.

The actual, original Gospel is preached so rarely these days in the mainstream churches, that when it is presented in a candid and uncomplicated manner, many people who think that they are orthodox in their beliefs, actually believe that those who preach only the GOOD NEWS are unorthodox!

Amazing how things get turned around.

As far as I'm concerned, I don't think you can improve on what the angels anounced to the shepherds in the Christmas story..."Behold, I bring you GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY which shall be to ALL PEOPLE...unto you is born this day a SAVIOR!"...

That's the Gospel, pure and simple.

GOOD NEWS.

GREAT JOY.

ALL PEOPLE.

In recent years I have particularly developed a greater appreciation for the Apostles’ Creed, which is accepted by both the Roman Catholic and Protestant Church (the Greek Orthodox Church favors the nearly identical Nicene Creed) as an official confession of Christianity.

In both creeds (and this is true for all the other ancient Christian creeds) there is nothing mentioned about the devil, or a “rapture”, or a “tribulation period”, or about Israel becoming a nation in 1948, or anything about hell and eternal damnation.

The older Roman Catholic version of the Apostles’ Creed used to contain the phrase “He descended to hell”, but the Modern English Version uses the more Biblically accurate phrase “He descended to the dead”, because true Hebrew and Greek scholars cannot deny anymore that the Hebrew “sheol”, and the Greek “hades” should never have been interpreted as “hell”, because they simply mean the grave, or more specifically, “the unseen”.

More about that a few pages later.

Anyway, here it is:

THE APOSTLES’ CREED
(Modern English Version)

I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the Virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died and was buried;
He descended to the dead.
On the third day He rose again;
He ascended to heaven,
He is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and He will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.
Amen.

This creed is basically what I believe and preach.

The only revision that I would make to it would be to replace the phrase “God’s only Son” with “God’s firstborn Son” because of Romans 8:29:

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the FIRSTBORN among many brothers and sisters.(TNIV)

And I should also point out that the word catholic (lower case), simply means the Church Universal, the Body of Christ.

This term is not to be confused with Roman Catholicism, but is accepted by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike.

Webster defines “catholic” as “broad-minded, as in belief or tastes; liberal; comprehensive; large; universal in reach; general.”

I love the Church of Jesus Christ with my whole heart, and I respect its ancient traditions. Jesus said that He would build His church, and that the gates of hades, or the unseen, could not prevail against it. In other words, death or anything from the unseen realm (including the mysterious force of religion) can not ever overpower the life-giving power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, Who was crucified, buried and resurrected, and is the Head of the Church, the Lord of the Universe, and the Savior of all people, especially those who believe.

So, the answer to the question about my theology is, yes, I most definitely do believe that it's orthodox.

Next question...

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS: Chapter One

2011-10-22T15:21:00.013-04:00

CHAPTER ONE:

This Is My Story, This Is My Song

“There is no greater agony than
bearing an untold story inside you.”

- Maya Angelou

OK...let's take it from the top.

I really want to talk about you.

Actually, I want to talk about God and you...about your relationship with Him.

Want to share the GOOD NEWS with you...

But first I need to tell you a little bit more about me so you'll understand where I'm coming from.

So, here goes...

There's certainly more to my life than this, but basically, two profound realities concerning my identity as a human being exist…realities of which I have been fully aware for practically as long as I can remember.

These two absolutes have been the major part of everything I am, have influenced every decision I’ve ever made, and have shaped my particular and perhaps peculiar world-view throughout the entirety of my time on this planet.

Both things were, in my opinion, completely imposed upon me, as I didn’t choose or ask for either one of them, and I came to realize early on that neither of them would ever go away.

But the thing that ultimately created what I always thought of as my “impossible situation” was the fact that, as far as the world I came from (the one I already told you about) was concerned, these two aspects of my being were completely incompatible...incapable of the possibility of any compromise or co-existence.

The first absolute of which I speak is what I personally believe to be the call of God on my life.

I am a fourth-generation minister from the classical (legalistic/fundamentalist) Pentecostal tradition. My father and mother and both of my grandfathers were and are ministers from that same tradition, one of my great-grandfathers was a minister from an equally fundamentalist tradition, and several (if not most) of my immediate relatives are also involved in ministry/church-work on some level, either full-time or part-time.

I certainly understand and appreciate my legacy and heritage, but my personal call was, I believe, unique to me, and was not the result of any reluctant resignation on my part to join the family business.

Ministry and church is all that I have ever known, but my own experience with divine direction and God’s anointing on my life is and has always been personally very real to me, and I’ve never for a second doubted its validity.

At the time of this writing, I am 53 years old, and am still, at least for now, the full-time Senior Pastor of the Charismatic megachurch (as I suppose it is still considered, according to church-growth definitions) that I founded right outside of metropolitan Atlanta, GA, over 26 years ago.

For about half of that time I have been the Bishop over a network of churches and ministries around the United States, in the Philippines and in Uganda called NOW MINISTRIES, which is currently in transition for reasons that I will discuss later. Having begun preaching at the age of 13, I am now in my 40th year of ministry.

I love God and, as I said previously, believe that He is real.

I was raised in the south (in the buckle of the Bible-belt) in old-school, old-time religion, complete with hell-fire and brimstone, and an absolute belief in an imminent end-of-the world apocalypse. I don't know if I can say that I really loved God as I was growing up, but I definitely feared Him. In fact, I was taught to fear God and the devil and hell and the possibility of losing my salvation and the possibility (if not probability) of missing "The Rapture" (see glossary of terms) and having to live through "the Great Tribulation" and the communists and pretty much everything else, as I remember it.

I also lived my whole life with another horrible fear, but I'll get to that in a minute.

The part about me being "on fire for Jesus" that I was telling you about began a couple of months before my 14th birthday when I received what we in the Pentecostal church referred to as "The Baptism in the Holy Spirit". That night I believed that I heard God call me into the ministry, even though my parents tell me that I was actually preaching when I was in diapers.

Seriously.

Anyway, after that night I began preaching immediately at my high school and on street corners and in public parks and in prisons and hospitals and anywhere else where a teenage kid could find an audience. I did personal "witnessing" constantly...knocked on hundreds of doors to share the Gospel...passed out thousands of Gospel tracts. I can't even begin to count how many people I led in "The Sinner's Prayer" during that period (which lasted for some years, by the way)...I led someone to Jesus nearly every day of my life back then. I was what we called a "soul-winner", and I was good at it. (All of these words and phrases in quotation marks can be found in the glossary of terms for those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about)...

I was not just evangelical during that period...I was, in a word, obsessed.

I have my own thoughts about why I was so radically committed back then...hopefully some of the work I did during those years counted for something...but more than anything else, I believed that that was what God required of me, and I didn't want to disappoint or anger Him in any way. I guess I channeled a lot of my fear of God into trying to please Him by tirelessly working for Him that way...turned my childhood fear of hell-fire into a fiery teenage ministry that brought multitudes to a belief in Jesus Christ so that they wouldn't go to hell.

But the God that I believe in now is good and loving...in fact, I believe that He IS love.

Period.

I know He loves me, and I love Him back.

That's the GOOD NEWS I want to tell you about.

My theology has evolved over the years to a place of inclusion and tolerance/acceptance of other belief systems, but orthodox Christianity still holds my allegiance, and maintains authority in my life.
I don’t think that Jesus Christ is or ever would be as hostile and indifferent to people outside of Christianity as many of His “followers” are, but I do believe that He is the crucified and risen Savior of the world.

I am persuaded that the Bible, although obviously subject to the fallibility of the humanity through which it was written, was and is ultimately inspired by the Holy Spirit.

I believe that prayer works.

I believe in miracles.

I believe in the Kingdom of God.

I believe that the church is relevant to the world.

I believe that I am called.

For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable. [He never withdraws them when once they are given, and He does not change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call.] (Romans 11:29 - Amplified Bible)

And Now for the Rest of the Story

The other reality is my sexual orientation.

I am a gay man.

I’ve always been gay, even though I didn’t know what to call it or how to explain it when I was a child.

I was born left-handed, but I was taught to live as a right-handed man in a predominately right-handed world. In the same way, I also believe that I was born gay, and even though there is no hard scientific proof yet that I am aware of to verify that, the fact is that I have had same-sex attraction for as long as I can remember, so whether or not I was actually born that way, my world-view was shaped as such so early on that I may as well have been.

This is an undisputed truth in my life, as far as I'm concerned, and yet I learned from a very early age that I had no choice but to live as a straight man in a predominately straight world, especially if I was going to be a Christian, much less a minister…and so I did.

The horrible fear that I mentioned above was the fear that if I were to let the important people in my life know about my orientation, they wouldn't love me any more.

Oh yeah, and the fear that if I admitted it I would go to hell.

Or be "turned over to a reprobate mind" (more about that later)...

I am a twice-divorced father of four wonderful kids, (three sons, one daughter) and the grandfather to two little angels who are the light of my life. I will explore later in this writing why and how I was married and sired children (and, yes, they were conceived in the conventional way, if you must know...

I'm trying not to turn this into an autobiography...just got to tell you this part.

As I said in the Preface, it's a book about authenticity...about the power of learning to be yourself, and about accepting the fact that God loves you just as you are.

I want to write something encouraging and empowering to those who have been bullied and beaten up by society, or by the religious community, because they are different or perceived to be different. The Bible shouldn’t be used as a weapon, and religion shouldn’t be something that oppresses people.

The bottom line is that God loves you regardless of your gender, race, nationality, ethnicity, body-type, belief system or sexual orientation.

Really.

You’re awesome in His sight simply because you are His creation.

Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn't talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, "Why did you shape me like this?"
(Romans 9:20 - The Message)

Anyway, to fast-forward the story and get to the incentive for writing this book, I finally "came out" to the whole world on Wednesday, October 13, 2010.

I actually came out to Debye before we were married (but we got married anyway...more about that later), and I came out to my parents nearly a year before I did it publicly. I came out to my kids not long after that, and then to my staff a little later, so October 13 of that year wasn't a shock for any of my immediate family or the people with whom I work.

But that night I shared something entitled, "A Real Message to Real People" with my congregation which became the most watched/heard/talked about message of my entire 40 years of ministry. In it I talked about these two realities...about my lifetime effort of trying to harmonize two personal absolutes which have been a part of me for as long as I can remember...one, the call of God on my life...the other, my sexual orientation.

I explained how I didn't ask for either of them, and how that, through a series of events including the amicable divorce that Debye had sought a year earlier, I had come to terms with both of them.

The tape of the service went viral on the internet almost immediately after I delivered the message, became for a few days the video with the most hits on YouTube, and garnered an unbelievable amount of unexpected media exposure in the following weeks and months.

The response to it was, for me, astounding.

On that Wednesday night I had no plan or outline of what I wanted to say...no script or pre-meditation of it at all. Had I known beforehand that the video was going to become so high profile, I would have no doubt phrased a few things that I said that night differently, but it was what it was.

But there was not one day in the following year that I didn't hear from someone somewhere in the world who wanted to thank me for it, or to tell me that it changed their perception of God or of religion or of people with same sex attraction.

Many told me that it changed or even saved their life.

Atheists told me that it made them want to believe in God again.

Straight people told me that it helped them come to terms with their gay friends and family members, or even with their own authenticity issues.

Some gay teens told me it kept them from considering suicide, and many of their parents told me that it opened up broken lines of communication, and brought much-needed healing to their families.

So even though the letter of the message wasn't perfect, the spirit of it apparently came through loud and clear, and for that I am very grateful.

Anway, there was a good bit of speculation at the time about my real reason for coming out when I did. On many of the "Christian" blogs that discussed my coming out ad nauseum, the rumor was that there was a gay sex scandal about to come out on me, and so I used the opportunity to get in front of the story and do some damage control, but that was not the case. No such scandal ever surfaced for the very simple reason that one did not exist.

No one outed me.

No one threatened to out me.

Even with Debye divorcing me, I could have gone the rest of my life and never publicly admitted to my sexuality...I could have just avoided the subject altogether, as many closeted celebrities and high profile ministers do.

Truth be told, if anything at all outed me, aside from an unprecedented number of gay teen suicides around that time, it was my own life's message of building the Kingdom of God with "Real People Experiencing the Real God in the Real World".

The truth really does make you free.

You know...authenticity.

Good news.

Anyway, that's my story...most of it, at least.

I'll come back to a few things written in this chapter later.

OK, let's continue...

Write the Book: Taking a Step of Faith

2011-10-21T17:59:00.006-04:00

I had originally planned to write a few more installments of 'One Year Later', which is currently in three parts (see previous posts), but I think I've pretty much said everything I wanted or really needed to say about all of that, so I'm ready to move on now... ready to get to what I really need to be writing, which is the book I've been working on (on and off) for about a year now. I've talked with a couple of publishers over the last 12 months who sort of had a different vision of what they thought I should write than what I had. I even hired a publishing agent, but at this point, nothing has really come of that. I am certainly still open to that working out, but in the meantime, I feel an urgency to just get this stuff out there in any way that I can. I've also looked into just doing an e-book, and I haven't ruled out that possibility. Normally, I would self-publish as I have always done before, but in all honesty, I simply don't have the kind of up-front cash to get that sort of project going as I did in years past. Things are a little different for me now in that department. I'm not poor-mouthing...I know that God supplies all of my need...but I feel that if I don't just take a step of faith and start putting it out there that nothing's going to happen with it at all. Some people say you shouldn't publish your writing for free on a blog because it will prevent people from buying it later in book form, but I can't worry about that now. If you would like to donate to the publishing of my book or even invest in it in some way, I am also totally open to that. But, one way or another, I'm writing this book. So my step of faith is to just start where I am with what I have to work with. Beginning today I will post the book, chapter by chapter, on the blog, and whatever happens with it happens. Just living in the now and doing what my hand finds to do...

FIRST, THE GOOD NEWS

by Bishop Jim Swilley

PREFACE:

"One Thing I Can Tell You Is,
You Got To Be Free"

They say that writers should write what they know.

Makes sense.

Well, OK then...here's what I know.

I know God.

I don't know everything about Him, but I know that He's real, even though my perception of Him has changed rather profoundly over the course of my life and ministry, especially in the last few years.

I used to know everything about Him when I was a young preacher just starting out at the age of 13...when I was young, zealous, dynamic and committed...obsessively faithful to the call that I believed God had placed on my life. It was beautiful...you should have seen me. I was...how shall I put it? Oh, yeah...I was "on fire for Jesus", and, quite frankly, completely arrogant and full of myself, in retrospect.

Well, maybe not completely arrogant...the touch of God on my life was real enough that it prevented my motives in ministry from being totally self-serving.

But, yes...definitely...back then I knew pretty much everything there was to know about God and the Bible and about what it meant to be a Christian.

Everything.

And I was happy to let you know that I knew everything, especially if you disagreed with what I believed was the truth. And if you disagreed with me, you were just dead wrong, and that's all there was to it (which is why I can completely empathize now with many of my critics...but more about that later in the book).

Anyway, it's an awesome thing to know everything.

I just don't know where I lost that information.

Every now and then I'll drive by a church and will see written on their signage out front something like this..."Our Mission: To Make Him Known to the World!"

Sounds good.

Nice slogan.

But if you really think about it, it's a rather pretentious idea to assume that you know enough about God to make Him known to the whole world.

I know, at this point...at least for myself...I can only tell you about the part of Him that I know (or know about)...about what I've learned on my journey...about how He's worked in my life...about what has worked for me in my spiritual evolution.

I can't and won't set myself up as someone who has such a grasp on the width and length and depth and height of the mysteries of God that I can tell you about Him fully. I now realize after many years of preaching (40, to be exact, at the time of this writing), that I only see a little corner of the whole thing...the "big picture" of God, if you will.

I know that I know in part and I prophesy in part.

The bottom line is, I'm only an authority on the subject of what I know about my relationship with Him.

Everyone else will have to work out their own salvation, including the ones who consider me to be their bishop/pastor/teacher/spiritual leader . The sower simply sows the word...the different types of soil that receive the seed of it produce different results in their lives. If what I know and have learned (and continue to learn) about God can help another person on their own spiritual path, then, as the song says, my living shall not be in vain.

The other thing I know about is internal conflict...the kind of conflict that comes from living your life in a way that is contrary to your nature, in order to conform to the appearance of what you believe...or of what you say you believe...or of what you think you believe...or of what you want to believe.

In a word, I know what it means to be gay in a world where being gay is unmentionable, unacceptable, damnable, abominable and just plain wrong...what it means to spend your entire life trying not to be something that you know you are not so as to support what you believe is right.

As I said, I used to know everything about God and the Bible (and if you don't realize that that's a tongue-in-cheek statement, it's probably going to be a waste of your time to try to get through this book). But what I "knew" and what I REALLY "knew" were just totally incompatible.

I didn't grow up "in the closet"...in the world in which I grew up, the closet would have been freedom. No, I wasn't in the closet, I was in a vault 100 feet underground where I refused to admit to myself on any level what I really knew to be true, because if I were to admit or accept that truth, I would have to reject the other truth...the Bible truth...the God truth. And that just couldn't be done.

I'll be saying a lot more about this in the following pages, but I want to first establish that this isn't a book about being gay. It's a book about authenticity...the ability to be exactly who you are, exactly how you are, without any fear of being rejected by the God you believe in, and about Whom you preach.

Ultimately, then, it's really about GOOD NEWS.

I'll be discussing a lot of things about God and religion and spirituality and sexual orientation and about coming to terms with the truth that sets you free.

But before I explore any of that, I need to make a few statements of what I believe to be fact, and it's fine with me if you disagree with me. You certainly won't be the first. But you should know at the outset that this is what I believe to be true, and if you don't accept these statements, this book is only going to irritate you.

Anyway, here goes...

First, some people are gay, in the same way that some people are straight. There's a percentage of all people who are homosexual...about a tithe of the entire population by most estimates. The world isn't turning gay. No one can "turn" gay... you either are or you aren't. No one can "recruit" you to be either gay or straight.

Again, the world is not turning gay, even though many religious/conservative/fundamentalist people apparently seem to think that it is. There are no more gay people on the planet than there have ever been. It may appear that way, but that's because more people are free to talk about their sexual orientation now than in the past, and because those people are more visible than they were before for any number of reasons.

People are who they are. Gay people aren't gay because they have sex with people of the same sex, in the same way that sex with the opposite sex doesn't make someone straight. In fact, there are gay people who have never had sex with the same sex, or sex at all for that matter...orientation is about orientation, not about activity.

There is no such thing as "the gay lifestyle".

Being gay is not a sexual fetish or an aberration.

It is not a choice. No one can choose homosexuality any more than they can choose heterosexuality.

If you are gay, you will always be gay, regardless of whether or not you have sex with the same sex, or with the opposite sex, or if you choose to be celibate.

I will say more about all of this, but before I do, I need to tell you that I already read the Bible. I need to establish that fact before anyone starts up their computer to send me a message from God.

I'm very familiar with the handful of passages that refer to homosexuality, which are, for the most part, a couple of statements made by Moses, and a few others by Paul.

I am familiar with Leviticus, which I will later discuss.

And in the year prior to this writing, the first chapter of Romans and the sixth chapter of 1 Corinthians have been cut and pasted and sent to me about 2, 500 - 3,000 times...so even though I appreciate the fact that those who have sent me those passages have the ability to cut and paste with their computers, they should know that I have read, studied, meditated and wrestled my entire life and 40 years of ministry with said passages. The majority of my preaching is from Paul's epistles, so I'm pretty familiar with everything he said about everything.

Well, that's about it for opening statements. As I said, I'll come back to all of these things later in the book.

But for now, the most important thing I can tell you is that the Gospel is good news.

Period.

And at the end of the day, that's really what I want to talk about. But I have to get this other stuff out of the way first, so please bear with me if it's not applicable to you, personally.

How am I going to bring all these topics together into one book that makes sense?

One chapter at a time.

Ok, let's get started.

One Year Later (Part III)

2011-10-15T17:18:00.007-04:00

Q. HOW HAVE YOU DEALT WITH THE MEDIA EXPOSURE?

A. IT'S ALL GOOD. During my 15 minutes of fame I was treated very kindly by the mainstream press...ABC News, CNN (Don Lemon), The Joy Behar Show, NPR, The Huffington Post, The New York Times, People Magazine, Creative Loafing, Perez Hilton, The View, the Gayle King Show, and others were very gracious and fair in their coverage of everything concerning my coming out, and I greatly appreciated it. Not that it matters now, but there were some who said I was enjoying the press coverage a little too much and was playing to the media, but what they didn't know is that I turned down many more interviews than I accepted (Dr. Phil, Jane Velez-Mitchell, Wendy Williams, to name a few). A producer who makes movies for HBO approached me about doing a biopic, which I turned down, and even though we signed contracts for a reality show with Freemantle Entertainment, that project has not been picked up by any network as of yet, and I am totally fine with that. The stuff that was written about me was something over which I had no control, and I didn't ask for any of it.

Whatever about all that, but the biggest issue was, of course, the "Christian" press.

Ah, the Christian press...where do I start? I have, for the most part, kept silent about this for a year, but I feel free to address it now. All you have to do is google my name and you'll find dozens, maybe scores, of Christian gay watchdog groups who had a field day with discussing me, dissecting every word of my coming out message (one guy had so much time on his hands that he created an entire eight-part series off of that one message), and showing their general obsession with me and people like me. Some of these guys would try to post as many as 20 times a day on this blog (all anonymously, of course). Just think of how many homeless people they could have fed (something that Jesus actually talked about) in the time it took to post 20 homophobic rants a day.

It's hard for me to take them seriously as being anything that resembles being Christian because there is nothing at all about Jesus on their blogs and websites (maybe because Jesus was completely silent on the subject of sexual orientation)...just blatant intolerance, homophobia and hate speech. They and their followers (just scroll down and read the comments and you'll see what I mean) are so gossipy, judgmental, petty, Pharisaical, fundamentalist, closed-minded, vulgar, and just downright mean-spirited, that they compromise any moral authority they might otherwise have, in my opinion.

As I said, Jesus didn't say a word about homosexuality, but he said A WHOLE LOT about love ("this is the greatest commandment", "by this shall all men know you're my disciples", etc.). Just read these blogs and tell me if you read anything that sounds even vaguely loving written in them.

What I would say to them if I could (which I can't, because they have no willingness to listen to anyone but themselves) is...Why do you care so much? Why do you have an opinion about anything I do or say at all? I think you guys take the Scriptures out of context for your own agendas, and preach what Paul called "another Gospel", and yet I would never be arrogant enough to tell you what to preach or not to preach.

A very well-known, super-rich pastor of an Atlanta megachurch preached about me to his enormous congregation, and said that I was "a sign of the times"....evidence that "the very elect would be deceived in the last days". With having absolutely no idea of what people like me have struggled with their entire life, he dismissed it as me being unable to ignore my perverted "feelings", even though I've been married twice and have lived my entire adult life in opposition to my nature. Wow, thanks for the love, Pastor.

What I would say to him if I could would be: According to your eschatology (which I don't embrace) shouldn't you be happy that I'm a "sign of the times"? Aren't you supposed to "comfort one another with these words" and "lift up your head because your redemption draws nigh"? Instead of judging me, you should be praying for me, and should also be excited that Jesus is about to return!

And for the people who have told me anonymously online that I'm going to hell I would say, "Well, then...shouldn't that take care of it? If I'm going to hell anyway, there's really no purpose in writing pages and pages about me, is there? Why not just let God take care of me, or deal with me as He sees fit in eternity?

And to the pastors who have "demanded" online that I step down from the pulpit I would say, "Who do you think you are? God called me to the ministry, and only God could remove me from it. I probably disagree with nearly everything you preach, but would never have the audacity to tell you to step down. Jesus is Lord, not me.

Anyway, I could say a lot more about that kind of stuff, but I need to concentrate on answering the question above.

The main thing about the Christian anti-gay websites, however, is that I think there is a bigger problem with them, and that is that many of them are quite obviously dealing with their own sexual conflict in being so obsessed with someone else's sexuality. I have read about tests that have been done on these kind of "God hates fags" kind of Bible-thumpers who are the first to be physically aroused by gay pornography when exposed to it, and it doesn't surprise me.

Time and time again I am reminded of Shakespeare's immortal line, "Methinks thou doest protest too much"! (a misquoted line from Hamlet which actually reads, "The lady doth protest too much, methinks." ) when I hear these guys preach their homophobic sermons or read their homophobic blogs. However it's quoted or misquoted, the meaning of it is that when someone insists so passionately about something not being true or untrue that people suspect just the opposite of what that person is saying.

To make my point, it would be too easy to mention people here like John Paulk (no relation to my Uncle), Lonnie Latham, George Alan Rekers, or even Ted Haggard...just a few examples of men who have been outspoken opponents of gay rights, or have preached condemnation to people with same-sex attraction, who have been caught in gay sex scandals. There are so many instances of that kind of thing happening that there is even an entire website devoted to exposing these guys called 'Evangelicals Who Hate Gay People but Love Gay Sex".

To further make my point I could refer to the brilliant HBO documentary Outrage, which tells story after story of politicians who, in the spirit of Roy Cohn (the man who worked for Joseph McCarthy in the 50's and exposed people for being gay but was gay himself and later died of AIDS) and J. Edgar Hoover, have made the lives of gay people miserable by their policies and unfair laws, but have been outed in even more gay sex scandals themselves. There is definitely a pattern with these guys. The ones who yell the loudest about it are generally the ones dealing the most with their own inner sexual conflicts

I would never out anyone myself, but I could even add some personal confirmation to this by saying that in the last year I have been privately contacted by men who say they have had sexual relationships with some of the people who have been the most critical of me and have said some of the most hurtful things about me for admitting to my sexual orientation. Some of them are people I know personally, but I choose to take the high road and not expose them for their hypocrisy. What they say and do is between them and God, and God alone is my vindicator, so I refuse to take these matters into my own hands.

I only mentioned the names of some people here because what happened to them is public record. I'm not exposing anyone or revealing new information in citing them as references. I've been asked about Haggard and Bishop Eddie Long in nearly every interview I've done in the last year, and I've chosen to keep my opinions to myself about them. I did sort of discuss Haggard briefly on The Joy Behar show, but that was more in the vain of stating my disbelief in the effectiveness of any kind of conversion therapy.

Anyway, the bottom line is that no weapon formed against me will prosper, the gifts and calling of God are without repentance (irrevocable), and I have favor with God and man.

The good news is that the haters online have given me a lot of great publicity that has ultimately attracted many new people to my ministry (Thanks, guys!)...

OK, enough about that...next question...

To be continued...

One Year Later (Part II)

2011-10-13T14:32:00.005-04:00

Q. How is CHURCH IN THE NOW doing?

A. CHURCH IN THE NOW is alive and well, but it has definitely gone through some transition. As has been widely reported, the property on Iris Drive went through a foreclosure back in April of this year and was put up for sale, at which time we moved back into our original building on the property. We've been meeting there for the last six months and leasing the building from the bank. There have been a few offers made on the property during that time, but, as of yet there is nothing definite. The word on the street is that the property has already been purchased by another Conyers church, but that is not the case at the time of this writing.

The ministry in Conyers is now called CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST, and most Sundays there are several hundred people who attend the 10 AM service there, and hundreds (perhaps thousands) more attending CHURCH IN THE NOW ONLINE. On Easter we had approximately 1,000 in attendance, but most Sundays the attendance is in the hundreds. Apparently, a lot of people think that the church was disbanded when I came out, but that's certainly not true. We're not as big in numbers as we were before, but we're definitely as strong, if not stronger. The presence of the Holy Spirit is very evident in all of our services, and miracles continue to happen there on a regular basis as God is exalted.

Many of the hateful "Christian" blogs (more about them later) have celebrated what they believe was our demise, but, as Mark Twain said, "The rumors of my (our) death have been greatly exaggerated". The bottom line is that the property was not foreclosed on as a result of my telling the truth about myself. Of course that was a factor, in that many of our financial supporters left the church because of it...but anyone who knows our history knows that we have been in a financial struggle since we built the main building. We were headed toward foreclosure long before 10/13/10.

Some other of the mean-spirited "Christian" bloggers have speculated that I came out because I knew we were headed toward financial ruin, and I wanted to re-invent myself so as to attract and fill up the church with gay people who could support the church. Well, let me tell you that that idea is, as they say, a hoot and a half! Be assured that telling people in the Bible-belted South that you're a gay minister is NOT, I repeat NOT the way to fill up a church! These people...these anonymous bloggers with their crazy suspicions...continue to amaze and amuse me. Believe me, if I was wanting to save the church building at any cost I would have NEVER told the truth about my sexual orientation!

Considering everything that has happened at and to CITNE, the fact that we still have what we have...a church that is still considerably larger than the average American church, and still meets the definition of a Megachurch...is really quite remarkable. If and when the property sells we will simply move to a more manageable location (one with less than 43 acres and three large buildings to maintain!) and will continue to meet somewhere on the East side of Metropolitan Atlanta, preferably in Conyers or Covington.

We are not worried about the future of CITNE for two reasons. The first is that God has always taken care of us and we know He always will...and the second is that the church is more than bricks and mortar and acreage. The "CHURCH" in CHURCH IN THE NOW is what really matters, and it's not going anywhere.

In the meantime, we have added a second congregation in Atlanta called CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN, currently meeting in the Imperial Ballroon of the iconic Biltmore House. That church is doing very well, and I am blessed to be able to minister weekly in both locations. I've already said a lot about CITNM, so I won't repeat myself...but I do want to make it clear that CITNM is NOT a gay church...nor is it a black church, or a white church...it is a melting pot of all kinds of people, gay, straight, black, white, young, old, married, single, liberal, conservative, democrat, republican, believer and non-believer...in a word it is simply REAL PEOPLE EXPERIENCING THE REAL GOD IN THE REAL WORLD.

I have never had a ministry demographic, and I never will. I only want to pastor a New Testament Church where we recognize that "Christ is all and is in all", and that's what we have in Midtown. CITNM is certainly gay-affirming and has a considerable gay population, but everyone is welcome there, and everyone comes. The gay people I have spoken to there have no desire to attend a "gay" church...they just want a church where they can hear the Word and be themselves without fearing the wrath of religious bigots and pharisees...a place where they are not forced to live a lie, but can worship God in Spirit AND IN TRUTH. We provide that place weekly at CITNM.

The vision...the Big Picture, if you will...is that there will eventually be a CHURCH IN THE NOW NORTH and a CHURCH IN THE NOW SOUTH in addition to the two current locations...maybe a CHURCH IN THE NOW in every city in America. Who knows?

In the meantime, it's all good. Many people who left CITNE because of my telling the whole truth are now returning. They have realized that absolutely nothing about my ministry has changed, and they still hear my voice as being the voice of their shepherd, so they want to come back and find the green pastures of revelation that have sustained many of them for the last 26 years. We gladly receive every one of them back, no questions asked.

This past year has no doubt been an adventure and a walk of faith, but we believe that our latter will be greater than our former!

One Year Later (Part I)

2011-10-12T18:38:00.004-04:00

Hey, Bloggers...

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I suppose I should tell you at the outset that it's probably going to take me several days to say everything I want to say. I don't post here on the blog as much as I used to...these days, for the most part, I just communicate through the social media (Facebook, Twitter) like everyone else. But today I wanted to write some things here to catch you all up on where we are, and to answer some of the questions that so many of you have asked.

As you may or may not know, tomorrow marks the year anniversary of my publicly "coming out", a term with which I am still, for whatever reason, trying to become completely comfortable.

On Wednesday, October 13, 2010, I shared something entitled, "A Real Message to Real People" with the CITN congregation, which has now become the most watched/heard/talked about message of my entire 40 years of ministry. In it I talked about my lifetime effort of trying to harmonize two personal absolutes which have been a part of me for as long as I can remember...one, the call of God on my life...the other, my sexual orientation. I explained how I didn't ask for either of them, and how that, through a series of events including the amicable divorce that Debye had sought a year earlier, I had come to terms with both of them.

The tape of the service went viral on the internet almost immediately after I delivered the message, became for a few days the video with the most hits on YouTube, and garnered an unbelievable amount of unexpected media exposure in the following weeks and months. The response to it was, for me, astounding. I suppose I was rather naive in my anticipation of the ultimate fall-out from it...I honestly did not expect it to be such a big deal for some reason. On that Wednesday night I had no plan or outline of what I wanted to say...no script or pre-meditation of it at all. I know that I communicate best when I just speak right from my heart, so that's what I did. I also knew that if I had over-thought what I was going to say, I probably would have talked myself out of saying anything at all.

Had I known beforehand that the video was going to become so high profile, I would have no doubt phrased a few things that I said that night differently. I have since then offered my apologies more than once to anyone who was offended by anything that was stated. But there has not been one day in the last year that I haven't heard from someone somewhere in the world who wanted to thank me for it, or to tell me that it changed their perception of God or of religion or of people with same sex attraction. Many have told me it changed or even saved their life. Atheists have told me that it made them want to believe in God again. Straight people have told me that it helped them come to terms with their gay friends and family members, or even with their own authenticity issues. Some gay teens have told me it kept them from considering suicide, and many of their parents have told me that it opened up broken lines of communication, and brought much-needed healing to their families. So even though the letter of the message wasn't perfect, the spirit of it apparently came through loud and clear, and for that I am very grateful.

So now I want to take this opportunity to set the record straight on several issues, and to inform those of you who sincerely care about me and my family and about CHURCH IN THE NOW of where we are on the journey.

There was a good bit of speculation a year ago about my real reason for coming out when I did. On many of the blogs that discussed me ad nauseum, the rumor was that there was a gay scandal about to come out on me, and so I used the opportunity to get in front of the story and do some damage control. But anyone who knows me knows that, if there had indeed been a scandal, I would not have assumed that it would end my ministry, so I wasn't afraid at all of that possibility. I have sown a lot of mercy over the years, and so I always expect to reap mercy.

But, as you can see, here we are a year later and no such scandal has ever surfaced for the very simple reason that one did not exist. No one outed me. No one threatened to out me. Even with Debye divorcing me, I could have gone the rest of my life and never publicly admitted to my sexuality...I could have just avoided the subject altogether, as many closeted celebrities and high profile ministers do. Truth be told, if anything at all outed me, it was my own life's message of building the Kingdom of God with Real People Experiencing the Real God in the Real World.

So I guess the first question is: Did you come out because of a scandal?

And the answer is: Obviously not.

OK, let's get on to the other questions...

Q: How is your family?

A: Everyone is doing very well.

It would be a lie to say that this last year didn't put us through some major changes, and it would be misleading to imply that it wasn't hard. It was very hard. But everyone is good. Really.

I came out to Debye before we were married, and I came out to my parents nearly a year before I did it publicly. I came out to my kids not long after that, and because I have been and am a good father, and because they were not raised with any kind of prejudice, including homophobia, all four of them are OK with me. They are OK in general. For Judah and Jonah (my two kids with Debye), our divorce was actually much more difficult for them than the disclosure of my sexual orientation. So October 13 of last year wasn't a shock for any of my immediate family.

Mom and Dad are fine. Dad voluntarily turned in his credentials to the Assemblies of God (after 56 years of ministry) so that he and Mom could freely attend my church. They are on the front row at every service unless they're sick or are out of town. They have no agenda in attending (it's laughable to me that it has been said that my 78 year old Father is promoting the "gay agenda" by attending my church)...Really? My Dad? You know, I don't try to reason with religious people any more, but let me say to any of you who believe that nonsense that my Dad is just being my Dad. My Mom is just being my Mom. It's called unconditional love, something that religious bigots know practically nothing about.

Jared lives in LA and is doing great. Christina and her family live in Key West and they love it there. I don't get to see my girls as much as I would like, but I'm glad they're in a place where they're happy. Judah is the Youth Pastor at CITN EAST, and preaches for me when I'm out of the pulpit. He also has a really cool ministry in Athens now called Ignite Athens. Jonah is in his first year of college and lives in Athens with Judah. My kids are all beautiful, and their support for me in the last year has been one of the greatest blessings of my life.

Debye is still the Associate Pastor and CFO of CITN, and we work together as we always have. She also travels and speaks and is a certified Life Coach. She and I are still best friends, and she is doing very well. Any questions you have about her personal life is something you would have to ask her.

I was in a relationship for nearly a year with someone that I met just a few days before October 13 which has recently ended and I'm single again. That's all I'll say about that, except that it's all good, and I am very happy with my life as it is.

To be continued...

GET GOING!: Today's Affirmation from A Year In The Now

2011-10-06T12:53:00.000-04:00

Later He appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. And He said to them, “GO into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.”
(Mark 16:14-18)

1.Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I have a command to GO into all the world—into every part of the worlds of every man, woman, boy and girl...into every culture and counterculture...into every mindset and philosophy...into every system and network—and preach the good news without the preferential treatment of anyone!

2.Today I will embrace the call of Christ. Even though I may be rebuked for my unbelief or hardness of heart as the first disciples were, I have still been mandated to go—to go anyway—in spite of my weaknesses and vulnerabilities. The gifts and callings of God are irrevocable and, regardless of what I have or haven’t done, Jesus is still depending on me to give the inhabitants of His world some good news!

3.Today I will go to where the people are—not just where they are geographically, but to where they are mentally, spiritually, emotionally and philosophically. I will speak with the tongue of the learned (Isaiah 50:4), becoming all things to all men (1 Corinthians 9:22).

4.Today I will make some movement, knowing that my steps are ordered of the Lord and that God blesses whatever I put my hand to.

5.Today I will not preach religious tradition or anything that could possibly make people feel alienated from God. My declaration of the Kingdom (“The Kingdom is at hand!”) will make Jesus accessible to those who have been disconnected in their minds. I will go to where the breaches are—and I will repair them!

6.Today I will be a witness, telling my story, finding my voice.

7.Today I will be followed by supernatural signs confirming my words. God will bless my efforts because I believe. My faith will be irresistible to Him today, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me to get up and get going today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

CHECK THIS OUT!

2011-10-01T11:37:00.002-04:00

Hey...just a few things I need to tell you or remind you of...

For those of you in the Orlando area, I'll be ministering tomorrow at Oasis Fellowship Ministries...I have a lot of FB friends in central FLA that I haven't met yet, and this is a good opportunity for us to connect in person...hope to see some of you there!

Pastor Judah will be ministering in the 10 AM service at CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST...he has a really good word for you...those of you who are a part of CHURCH IN THE NOW ONLINE, don't forget to stream it live at www.churchinthenow.org...

And, speaking of Judah, those of you who are in the Athens, GA area should check out his new ministry there...it's called IGNITE ATHENS (www.igniteathens.com)...they meet every Monday night and some really cool stuff is happening there...

Also...

For those of you who attend CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN, don't forget to bring an hors d'oeuvre this coming Thursday night for a little time of meet and greet after the service...

Also, Oct 9 is our first Sunday service at CITNM! I'll be ministering and serving Communion there every Sunday at 8AM, and then will come out to Conyers and minister in the 10 AM service at CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST

...(btw, CITNE still meets at 1873 Iris Drive in Conyers for those of you who think we've moved...)

...and because several people have asked about this, let me remind you that the Sunday services at CITNM are IN ADDITION TO the Thursday services...hope to see you ATL people at both of them!

So, the new schedule of services is as follows:

SUNDAYS:
8AM: CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN
Biltmore House, Imperial Ballroom

10AM: CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST
1873 Iris Drive, Conyers

(MONDAYS: IGNITE ATHENS)

Wednesdays:
7PM: CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST

Thursdays:
7PM: CHURCH IN THE NOW MIDTOWN

And a big THANK YOU to all of you who continue to support this ministry and believe in (and understand) the unique vision of this house! We couldn't do what we do without you! I love you all!!!

Peace To You! (Re-post)

2011-09-30T20:03:00.004-04:00

This is a picture that I took the first time I went to Israel back in 1981...the morning that we were leaving to return to the U.S., I got up early and walked out on the balcony of my hotel room before I started packing, and saw this beautiful rainbow over the city of Jerusalem...

It had rained during the night, and in the light of dawn this colorful sign in the heavens became visible...I grabbed my camera and snapped this...it's been a favorite of mine for years...very meaningful and symbolic to me at the time, and even more so now...I had lost it for the longest time, but the other day while was looking for something else, I came across it, and posted it on Facebook (for those of you reading this on FB, this is a feed from my blog which can be found at www.bloginthenow.blogspot.com)...

On many levels it was significant to me that I found this 30 year old picture when I did...the pursuit of peace is very important to me right now...the Scriptures say to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, and indeed we should, now more than ever before...but this picture means more to me than the obvious...as you look at it, I pray for peace in your life...peace over your troubled circumstances...and I also post it as a reminder to you that God keeps His promises...shalom!

“Peace I leave with you; I’m talking about My own, personal sense of peace, wholeness and well-being; I’m actually transferring it to you. You see, My peace is unlike the peace that comes from this realm...the peace that is reactionary and temporal, dependent on outward circumstances to determine its strength and presence. My peace is other-worldly – settled, absolute – causing you to be in harmony with your whole life – past, present, and future – and ultimately with the whole of creation. It will empower you to refuse to let your heart (your inner world) become troubled, agitated, or upset, no matter what is happening around you, and you can be fearless because you will be at peace with the Father, with yourself, and with the universe."
(John 14:27 - John In The Now)

Today's 'A Year In The Now'

2011-09-20T17:00:00.000-04:00

CALM DOWN!

A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger. (Proverb 15:1)

Good sense makes a man restrain his anger, and it is his glory to overlook a transgression or an offense. (Proverb 19:11 AMP)

By long forbearing and calmness of spirit a judge or ruler is persuaded, and soft speech breaks down the most bonelike resistance. (Proverb 25:15 AMP)

1.Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I have the peace of God and am, therefore, at peace with my environment and in harmony with my peers.

2.Today I will manage my emotions, particularly my anger. I will learn what it means to be angry and sin not. I will be Christ-controlled and wise in choosing my battles. I will be passionate and righteously indignant over things that merit it, but I will not give place to the devil—and I will not wrestle with flesh and blood!

3.Today I will avoid unnecessary stress in my life by learning to let things go and knowing when to walk away from a situation. I will cast all of my care on Jesus because He cares for me!

4.Today I will remember that where envy and strife are, there is confusion and every evil work (James 3:16) and that God is not the Author of confusion (I Corinthians 14:33).

5.Today I will remember to take deep breaths...to relax...to laugh...to turn the other cheek when appropriate...to forgive...to not take life too seriously...to not let my enemies “get to me”...to keep everything in perspective...to not worry so much...to trust in God!

6.Today I will not be overcome with evil, but I will overcome evil with good! My proactive manner and “soft answers” will turn around negative situations for me today. My ways will please the Lord, and I will make even my enemies to be at peace with me.

7.Today I will remain calm by seeing the big picture and by keeping my eye on the prize. I will keep it real today, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me stay cool today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

9/11 REFLECTIONS

2011-09-12T13:38:00.007-04:00

Happy Monday...

Thanks to all of you at CITN EAST who came out yesterday for the service...it was a good day. I'm very excited to anounce that we will begin Sunday services at CITN MIDTOWN on October 9, where I'll be ministering every week at 8 AM before coming to Conyers for the 10 AM service. A lot of great things are happening in both locations...check out www.churchinthenow.org for details...

I ended up watching 9/11 stuff for hours on TV last night until I was saturated with it, and I still cannot believe it's been ten years! But I do want to say that I hope the Memorial brought some healing and maybe a little closure to those who lost loved ones on that terrible day. The picture above really touched me...I think the Memorial will at least give those who have lost so much a place to go and reflect, especially because they have no cemetery plots to visit. And I'm also very grateful that we got through the day with no problems or incidents at any of the ceremony sites in NY, Washington D.C. or in Pennsylvania...maybe it's a new day...at least I pray it is...

I referred to this yesterday in my sermon, so I wanted to re-post it:

OSAMA BIN LADEN IS DEAD (Originally posted May 2, 2011)

As an American, I join in with the rest of the country in breathing a collective sigh of relief in knowing that Osama Bin Laden has been removed from the world stage, and I applaud the obviously successful efforts of our (American-born) Commader-In-Chief (who has had a very good week, by the way) and the amazing soldiers who executed a virtually flawless raid on Bin Laden's Pakistani mansion/compound. I wish it hadn't taken so long to find him, especially since he has obviously been hiding in plain sight, and I regret that we are still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan...but at least he's gone, and at least it happened before the up-coming 10th anniversary of 9/11.

Being as patriotic as the next guy, I was moved by the spontaneous celebrations that broke out at the White House and in Times Square and at Ground Zero last night, and I certainly don't want to be insensitive to the pain of the families who lost loved ones on that horrible September morning a decade ago...families that will never have full closure from the attrocities of that day, no matter who is assassinated...but I am sober today. Relieved? Yes. Happy? Not really...at least not totally...

Just yesterday I preached on "The Fruit of the Spirit is Kindness", and how we live in such an unkind world...people killing one another...hating one another. Even though what was done in Pakistan in the last few hours apparently had to be done, I can't in good conscience really rejoice in the death of anyone, no matter how evil they are. Am I glad he's gone? No doubt about it. I'm glad to know that we don't have to dread another of his videos coming out that shows he's still alive and still a threat to our safety. But I am grieved that we live in a world where this kind of thing still has to happen at all.

The President gave a short but brilliant speech last night, in which he pointed out that Osama Bin Laden does not represent Islam, and he's right about that. In fact, Bin Laden has killed more Muslims than he has any other group. But where my mind is today is that the real enemy is not Osama Bin Laden or any other person, for that matter...it's religious fundamentalism.

Fundamentalism kills...be it Muslim or Christian or that of any other religious persuasion. The Crusades, The Spanish Inquisition, the Holocaust, the violence between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland, the Ku Klux Klan, the Taliban, etc...it's all about religious intolerance that stems from fundamentalist interpretations of holy writ.

Today I'm proud to be an American. I'm proud of our President and of our troops. I love this country, and I want it to be safe. But I'm really, really tired of religious fundamentalism, and all the hatred and death that it inevitably causes.

Terrorism happens every day in the name of religion...believe me, I know of what I speak.

Just wanted to share some thoughts.

Love never fails...

The Fruit of the Spirit is Kindness...

God bless America...

And since I also mentioned Katharine Lee Bates yesterday, I wanted to share something else I posted a while back. Here is the first verse to her song...one of the most beautiful ones ever written, in my opinion. I love the Star Spangled Banner, but I'm one of those who would vote to have this awesome hymn become our national anthem. It's interesting to think that a woman who could write something like this would not be accepted in most mainstream churches today...

O beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain,

For purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea!

SELF-HELP!

2011-09-06T18:41:00.001-04:00

Today's affirmation from A Year In The Now...

He who is loose and slack in his work is brother to him who is a destroyer and he who does not use his endeavors to heal himself is brother to him who commits suicide.
(Proverb 18:9 AMP)

1.Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I know that God has given me real and tangible ways to help myself. I am dependent on Him, but He has not left me helpless!

2.Today I will make my own way prosperous and will possess my promised land by observing God’s commandment to Joshua. It is written: “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then YOU WILL MAKE YOUR [OWN] WAY PROSPEROUS, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8).

3.Today I will take up my bed and walk concerning my own health and healing.

4.Today I will get busy with accomplishing the task of making my dreams come true. God will do what only He can do concerning my dream, but I will do what only I can do about it—faith without works is dead!

5.Today I will not waste valuable time by being jealous of others or by feeling sorry for myself for any reason. My life is unique to me and I, alone, am responsible for the quality of it.

6.Today I will make my words work for me (“A man’s [moral] self shall be filled with the fruit of his mouth; and with the consequence of his words he must be satisfied [whether good or evil]. Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and they who indulge it shall eat the fruit of it for death or life” – Proverb 18:20, 21 AMP). I will take full responsibility for my words and for their consequences today. I am what I say that I am.

7.Today I will work hard, with a good attitude and a positive self-image. I will do something to make my life better today, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me to help myself today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

2011-08-26T08:30:00.000-04:00

Most of us have faced times of experiencing an abrupt and unhappy ending to a chapter of our lives. Even though we are not ready to move on, we are forced to.

David wrote Psalm 3 when he was forced to flee from his son, Absalom. David at this stage was a mature but still highly capable king. He had made mistakes and people were aware of his flaws, but to be evicted by his upstart son was initially beyond belief.

This is a good Psalm to read in moments of internal pain and painful public humiliation. It reminds us that when we get knocked off our secure pedestal, the God of all hurts is there to nourish us. No matter what happens to us, God’s comfort can still reach down and touch us.

-John Grant

The Heavens Declare...

2011-08-23T13:43:00.002-04:00

"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broad-casting station,
through which God speaks to us every hour,
if we will only tune in."
- George Washington Carver

MENTAL HEALTH!: Today's Affirmation from A Year In The Now

2011-08-17T15:49:00.004-04:00

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a SOUND MIND (2 Timothy 1:7)

1.Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because the God Who has recreated my spirit is renewing my mind and restoring my soul. It is written: “Fear not, for you shall not be ashamed; neither be confounded and depressed, for you shall not be put to shame. For you shall forget the shame of your youth, and you shall not [seriously] remember the reproach of your widowhood anymore” (Isaiah 54:4 AMP).

2.Today I will be far from oppression or any other dark thing that tries to come against my mind. It is written: “You shall establish yourself in righteousness (rightness, in conformity with God’s will and order): you shall be far even from the thought of oppression or destruction, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you” (Isaiah 54:14 AMP).

3.Today I will walk in the light of the glory of God, and that light will shine into every remote corner of my mind and will bring revelation, clarity and understanding to me concerning my circumstances. It is written: “ARISE [from the depression and prostration in which circumstances have kept you—rise to new life]! Shine (be radiant with the glory of the Lord), for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you!” (Isaiah 60:1 AMP).

4.Today I will remain stable, settled and stress-free, even in the midst of confusion and insanity all around me, by keeping my mind stayed on God. It is written: “You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You” (Isaiah 26:3 AMP).

5.Today I will meditate the Word of God, and whatever is good and edifying, I will “think on these things” (Philippians 4:8 KJV).

6.Today I will think positively and remain optimistic, regardless of the influence of negative people in my life.

7.Today I will walk in the blessings of the Mind of Christ, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me to hold it together today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

CELEBRATE DIVERSITY!

2011-08-14T22:52:00.000-04:00

The affirmation for August 15 from A Year In The Now...

In this new life one’s nationality or race or education or social position is unimportant; such things mean nothing. Whether a person has Christ is what matters, and He is equally available to all.
(Colossians 3:11 Living Bible)

1.Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I can confidently celebrate my complete freedom from prejudice, bigotry and all forms of narrow-mindedness. Because I understand the beauty of the diversity of the people of the earth—the spectrum of individuality that God has created for His world--I can enjoy life to the fullest. Diversity is a part of the natural order of things—as natural as the colors of the rainbow or the infinite number of shapes, shadows and shades of spring flowers or autumn leaves. God is good and so is His creation.

2.Today I will recognize that diversity brings new solutions - Kingdom solutions - to the ever-transient environment. I will appreciate the individuality of others, as well as that of my own, because God has called us all to rise above the uninteresting and limiting parameters of sameness. “Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually”
(1 Corinthians 12:27).

3.Today I will exalt life by exalting diversity with all of the opportunities that it presents. I will do what I can to pull down the strongholds of intolerance and division when and where I can, taking dominion and overcoming evil with good!

4.Today, when I look at people, I will be able to see beyond their natural, fleshly appearance.

“Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer” (2 Corinthians 5:16).

Man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart, so today I will choose to see things in the world from God’s perspective.

5.Today I will live and let live, look for the best in others and will love people unconditionally because there is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear!

6.Today I will treat everyone with the respect that they deserve. I will do unto others as I would have them do unto me and, in so doing, I will show respect for myself and, ultimately, for the Creator of all the people of the earth.

7.Today I will show the real Jesus to the real world, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me to be a bridge-builder today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

2011-08-10T11:28:00.000-04:00

“I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”
- Michael Jordan

CHILL OUT!

2011-08-08T00:54:00.001-04:00

Today's affirmation from A Year In The Now...

Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully. (1 Peter 5:7 AMP)

Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved.
(Psalm 55:22)

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
(John 14:27)

Do not fret or have any anxiety about anything, but in every circumstance and in everything by prayer and petition (definite requests), with thanksgiving, continue to make your wants known to God. And God’s peace [shall be yours, that tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and being content with its earthly lot of whatever sort that is, that peace] which transcends all understanding shall garrison and mount guard over your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
(Philippians 4:6, 7 AMP)

1. Today I will live in the now! I will live in the now because I believe the word of God that tells me that I possess supernatural peace, given to me by Jesus Himself; in fact, it is actually His own, personal peace that He desires to share with me!

2. Today I will not worry about tomorrow. The Kingdom is in the NOW (Matthew 6:33, 34).

3. Today I will relax, casting all of my care on Him.

4. Today I will believe I receive when I pray. I can’t worry and believe at the same time.

5. Today I will let go of the stress and pressure. The government is on Jesus’ shoulder.

6. Today I will respond to whatever comes my way with these three words: “It’s all good!” God is perfecting that which concerns me, so I know that everything will always, ultimately, turn out all right with His help.

7. Today I will choose the good part and sit down with “laid-back Mary” at the feet of Jesus instead of working up a sweat in the kitchen trying to help “stressed-out Martha” get her dinner ready! I don’t have to worry about preparing a meal because Jesus is the Bread of Life—the Manna from Heaven! Today I will walk in the peace that passes understanding, and today I will live in the now!

Father, help me to keep it all in perspective today. In Jesus’ name, amen.

AUGUST PROMISES: Snow In Summer

2011-08-01T11:35:00.004-04:00

From A Year In The Now...

AUGUST

A month to be restored and refreshed.

The heat is on, but help is on the way!

These dog days afternoons are the days the Lord, your Shepherd has made.

He is faithful to lead you to where the cool, green pastures are, and to cause you to lie down beside the peaceful, still waters...

"Like the cold of snow in time of harvest is a faithful messenger to those who send him, for he refreshes the soul of his masters."

(Proverbs 25:13)

No sweat...

Be cool...

Chill out...

Get ready...

Good news is coming like an unexpected arctic breeze from the north.

A miracle is in the making...

Welcome to the surprise of a summer snow!

The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon at night.

(Psalms 121:5, 6)

PERSPECTIVE

2011-07-26T20:33:00.000-04:00

"What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly."
- Richard Bach

2011-07-24T00:21:00.002-04:00

Couple of things...

2011-07-20T18:56:00.001-04:00

I'm about to go into the Wednesday night service @ CITNE (we're finishing Luke In The Now, Chapter 1 tonight)...but I wanted to tell those of you streamers who have asked about getting/hearing the full blessing at the end of the service...as it turns out, the streaming has been going to the end all along...at the end of the teaching, you will notice a “fade to black” and loss of sound that is necessary for closing out our DVDs...for viewing the entire service, if you'll just wait a few seconds, the stream will return, and you can get the whole thing...

And others have asked about MP3 capability for all recorded services...here's the deal on that...while we upgrade all of our media systems, all products and media, including MP3s, can be ordered by calling (770) 922-5334 x113...the new website is a little different from the old one, so we're gradually adapting all of that for the current system...

One more thing...many of you have asked about the daily A Year In The Now returning to the church website, and we're actually working on an AYITN app for your cell phone so you can have it wherever you go!

Remeber, we're receiving Communion tomorrow night (out first) at CITN MIDTOWN...got to go...church is starting...

THE "G"- FORCE (re-post)

2011-07-19T14:44:00.002-04:00

G - OD IS LOVE...This foundational truth is the source for all of my gratitude...the GIL concept is ground zero for everything that I believe...

R - EALITY IS PERCEPTION...The reality in which I live is created through the gratitude paradigm...

A - TTITUDE IS EVERYTHING...My grateful heart informs my daily attitude, which, in turn, determines the quality of my day, every day...

T - HANKFULNESS IS CREATIVE...The more that I openly express my gratitude, the more that I have for which to be grateful...

I - NGRATITUDE IS DESTRUCTIVE...I do not complain, because I know that if I do, I will destroy that for which I am grateful, and will create more things about which to complain...

T - ODAY IS ENOUGH...I believe that I will be given this day my daily bread, and for that I will be grateful. Period...

U - NAWARENESS IS BLINDNESS...My eyes are wide open, and so I am able to observe the abundance of miracles swirling all around me...I am not unaware that ALL THINGS (even when the Lord speaks to me, as He did to Job, through the whirlwind/storm/hurricane) are working together for my good...

D - ISCONTENTMENT IS DECEPTION...I only express my gratitude, because I know that to do anything else would create a false sense of my existence...gratitude keeps me grounded in the truth, and the truth is that I live an abundant life...to believe anything else would be to embrace a smokescreen...

E -VERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL...It is written:

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 - AMP)

True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time...(Ecclesiastes 3:11 - The Message)

DON'T GIVE UP!

2011-07-17T20:34:00.000-04:00

What a great day today at CHURCH IN THE NOW EAST! In case you missed it, here's the acrostic/outline from my teaching...

D - are to keep believing in what's left of your dream...
O - wn your mistakes and then move on from them...
N - ever say never...
T - rain yourself to rise above it all...

G - et up after every fall...
I - magine the end result...
V - alue the investment you've already made...
E - xpect the best, but be prepared for the worst...

U - nderstand that time is not your enemy...
P - ush yourself to try once more...

In the Mouth of Two or Three Witnesses...

2011-07-12T11:56:00.009-04:00

Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or, whine, Israel, saying, "God has lost track of me. He doesn't care what happens to me"? Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine.He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall.

But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles, They run and don't get tired, they walk and don't lag behind.
(Isaiah 40:27-31 -The Message)