The Sin of LGBT - Part I

 

I know that I’m probably going to take a lot of flack for everything written in this new blog post of mine.  I’m sure that people on Facebook will de-friend me when I post this on Facebook.  That’s not what matters.  What matters is the truth.  What matters is the fact I want them to know I love them.  Love them so much that I want them to know what I believe to be true, and want them to have that same love.

Today, I’m bringing up a very touch subject.  This is going to be the first part of a few posts, as this isn’t just a simple topic, and does become quite complex.

The topic at hand today is this:  Homosexuality.

I’m not going to say that homosexuality is wrong.  Heck, if this was the me of 3 years ago, I’d probably be supporting you.  Unfortunately, I’m no longer the me of 3 years ago.  I’ve discovered the God of the Bible; the God that loves everyone on the face of this planet more than you know.  He desires a relationship with you.  There’s just one thing hindering you from that relationship – and that’s the sin in your life.  The sin of focus today is the sin of Homosexuality.  I’m not saying that liars, adulterers, fornicators are getting off the hook – oh yeah have I mentioned LIARS yet?  I just want you to know that I’m sure I’ve lied perhaps once today, perhaps even more than that.  I do my best to repent of this every day as I do desire to be loved.  I desire a relationship with my God and that relationship is brought to me through Jesus Christ.

For those that perhaps aren’t too religious – or Christian, I’m sure you’re already looking at a common passage from John

John 8:10-11 10 When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? 11 She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

What I find interesting – is most people forget about the last part of verse 11.  Go and sin no more.  People are quick to point out “you shouldn’t judge”.  Now, did Jesus judge this woman?  I’d have to say yes, but he did not condemn her – now if you go and look at Matthew 7 verse 2 it talks about with what judgement you judge, ye too shall be judged.  Jesus condemned not that He too would not be condemned.

My question to you all would be – why did Jesus tell her to go and sin no more?  Because she’s loved.  There is a relationship that Jesus wants her to have with God.  When Jesus stared her in the face – this adulteress woman she was – she probably saw love for the very first time. 

Go & Sin no more!

You see, the God that I’ve come to know, I know that he doesn’t like any form of sin, and one of those sins is homosexuality.

People say “Oh, but I was born this way” – I don’t believe that.  I believe there were influences in a person’s life, their upbringing, a series of decisions/choices that led the person to the thought that “Oh, I’m different from most people as I have a preference for people of the same sex”.  I don’t believe that it was “one day I decided to be a homosexual” – I don’t believe that at all.  I too don’t believe that you were born that way.  The part were you believe you were born that way – and if you combine that with the Calvinist(a Christian denomination/viewpoint) that says you have no say on whether you can go to Heaven or not – it’s no wonder that Homosexuals would hate Christians.  Then again – I have my issues with Calvinism.

To have the idea that you were born a way(eventhough you weren’t) – and then be told by a church that you have no say on whether you’re going to Heaven or not, like really?  Where’s the love in that?  How is this the God that everyone says “God is love”?

This God is jealous for you.  This God is zealous for you!  This God desires a relationship with you.  The thing that separates this relationship is a lack of God in your life, a lack of Jesus in your life, and because of a lack of Jesus in your life – most importantly the sin in your life.

I know this is a topic that many people never want to bring up as Christians.  I can honestly say I don’t blame them.  Having a good chance at people hating you, not wanting to be your friends and other stuff – who knows what.  I say the things I’ve said so far, and will say more in upcoming posts about this topic, as it has yet to be addressed in a proper manner.

Before I end this – I’ll use this example for those thinking “I don’t want to hear this, I’ve heard it before”.

Imagine we’re driving in a car.  We’re going down some road at a fast speed.  I decide to drive in the wrong lane because I’d like to know what it feels like to drive on the left side of the road like people in England and other countries do.  There’s a car approaching.  I’m driving high in adrenaline and am now ready to play chicken.  You’re in the car with me.  Would you stay silent?  Or would you be freaking out at me due to the fact that we’re about to get in a car accident and possibly end up dead if I don’t switch lanes?  What would you do?

This is the exact same example with our lives and our sins.  Of course people may freak out, I’ll try my best to do this in a better and loving way, because I really do love you as I love myself.

To Fast or not to Fast....Part I

Image by FontMeme

This is a topic within scripture, that churches seem to mention the least, other than perhaps through Lent, if you're part of a Catholic Church perhaps you're asked to not eat meat on Fridays, but other than this, it is a topic that is rarely discussed.

My question to this is why is this the case? Why is fasting not mentioned much throughout sermons and churches across the globe?

I honestly, do not have an answer...

So – do we fast, or do we not fast? We live in a world that lacks God. A world that has so many problems, yet people are “good”. I say unto you, that these are deceptions, and there are demons in all of our closets. Now – what did Jesus say about certain demons?

Matthew 17:19-21 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast [the demon] out? [20] And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. [21] Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

In past blog posts, we've briefly discussed how churches lack prayer, and here Jesus is explaining how this demon could not be cast out except by prayer and fasting.

We live in a world where people have demons in their closets. People dress up a certain way so they can hide who they are. People do things to make themselves seem better than others, while in reality hiding who they truly are. We all have our demons. Now some of these demons can only be cast out through prayer and fasting.

We say the world is so bad and that there's evil everywhere, yet how often do you go and fast? How often do you go and pray? No – I'm not talking about that normal before bed prayer. No, I'm not talking about how you had to skip lunch because you had to rush to that meeting at work. I'm talking about taking time for God – taking time to go and pray. Making a decision and asking God to be your spiritual food while you restrain yourself from physical food. When's the last time you did that?

Let's not just stop at the last time, but how long did you fast for? Or, what type of fast did you do? Go start planning a fast, pray to God about it with intention of advancing his Kingdom, and sanctifying his Name, and start a fast.

If you restrain yourself of physical food and ask God to be your spiritual food – truly your eyes will start to open to the truth. The deceptions of this world will start to become known to you. You will gain much wisdom.

Yes, there will be temptation throughout the fast, go a few days and see how it goes. You will see after a day or so, perhaps a headache(just drink more fluids, if needed maybe take a pain killer), maybe after another day or so, you're stomach will really start to feel empty. Go another day and perhaps someone will get word of you fasting and start telling you a bunch of lies(it's not healthy to not eat, etc). Continue on until your goal – and when you reach that goal, you'll finally get your feast!

Sound familiar? Does this not sound like the life we live? We go through pain, we go through times of loneliness, we go through days of people giving us bad advice because they don't know what's right, and it doesn't help when our mind wanders like a thousand miles a minute. Now – if we remain faithful until the end we will get to the Feast of feasts!

Nowhere does it say in the Bible that life will be easy and simple. Yet when we disconnect our bodies from our Spirit and allow God to be our Spiritual food – we get a better glimpse of who God is. We allow God to come in and be with us. God casts out our demons and through God being our Spiritual food – our faith can grow.

Have you ever grown a garden? Plant some seeds, and/or the plants. What happens if you leaven them in the earth on their own? Well they grow, perhaps not super beautiful, perhaps just ok. What happens when you add fertilizer or Miracle Grow or something? It's pretty much like a miracle. They grow and they're super beautiful and perhaps the best plants and/or garden you've ever had.

This is how God works. When we allow God to be our food throughout a fast – he transforms us much faster and we become much more beautiful and are shaped the way he allows us and wants us to be.

To fast – or not to fast.....

Ask Jesus into your heart...

WOW – what a week....Last weekend I was blessed to go to a concert called “Rock the River” - part of the Billy Graham Evangelical group. All I can say is it was quite the experience. As Franklin Graham delivered a message of Hope to everyone there, and the people who went up and prayed and asked God for forgiveness and for Jesus to enter into their heart.

Whenever I hear that sentence now – would you like to ask Jesus to come into your heart – I almost get shivers, like it's such a bad thing.

Anyways – I had a talk with my dad about it, and here I am reading another blog and it's highlighting how the Gospel has become diminished into a few brief things: Forgiveness, Salvation, etc.

To read this blog – feel free to check it out: http://daveharder.ca/2012/10/i-am-just-going-to-say-it/

Anyways, the whole concept of asking Jesus to come into your heart is all too well known to me. When you come to Christianity and your newfound favourite preacher is a man named Paul Washer, you learn a thing or two about the other extreme.

Now – don't get me wrong, having an evangelical type event and asking people to come up and pray and get right with God – yes, it should be the centre of attention of the whole concert. There's just one problem – after the prayers were done, it seemed people were on their way back to their seats, forgiven of their sins, but never talking about how these people need to now walk in a different way, in a new way of life. So instead the concert continues on.

Now – I do believe that some people get “saved” at one of these events, but it's not just because of them going up and praying. It's because they knew they had a bad life, and they knew they were living in the wrong way, and they didn't know there was a way back to God – but now that they've been forgiven their relationship has been restored with God, through Jesus Christ.

What I remember about Paul Washer and his preaching, is him asking “can you tell me where it says in scripture to come and ask Jesus into your heart and he will come in?” - it's not there, you won't find it. Now, the teaching of someone to “ask Jesus into your heart” goes much deeper than just getting forgiveness.

Let's picture your heart as a dark room. Now that room is dark, but the only way to change it is to put a light in it or to put in a window. Now the room has light. The room has changed. Now, take your heart, the core of your life and values, as evil as we've been in our past, ask Jesus into it, it would be like putting that light or window in your room. You'd never be the same. You'd be a new creature in Christ.

Unfortunately, these are details that are rarely explained, because we live in a democracy(majority rules) and we live in a Capitalist world(where the bottom dollar is where it counts), so, if you end up with a Pastor who is influenced by these things, of course you'll never be told these things. They want you to keep coming to church – paying tithes and other stuff, when in reality it should be about you being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ(Romans 8:29)

If anything – I know there are lots of people who lack Jesus in their lives. I too know that there are lots of church leaders who lack Jesus in their lives. I pray that many leaders would pray and ask Jesus into their hearts, and that they'd pray without ceasing until it happens.

A person who lacks Jesus in their heart is someone that lives as though the world revolves around themselves. In reality, the World revolves around God – on his terms, at his command.

A person who has Jesus in their heart is someone that lives as though the world revolves around God. In reality, they are just walking the earth doing the will of God.

Well, if you want to hear more about Jesus coming into your heart and what that would look like – I suggest watching this video from Paul Washer.