Tolerance or Christian Weakness?
Supposedly if Christians live according to the Word of God as it relates to homosexuality, they are branded judgmental, homophobic, bigoted, intolerant moralists. "Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you" (John 15:20). "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Timothy 3:12). True Christians are persecuted for supposedly not operating in love; however, the love of God "Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth" (1 Corinthians 13:6); homosexuality is iniquity, it is sin (cf. Romans 1:26-32). True Christians know that "If a man therefore purge himself from [iniquities], he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work" (2 Timothy 2:21). True Christians cannot take a stand against lying, hypocrisy, and fornication yet tolerate homosexuality because the world says so. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 2:15). "If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19). "For I am the LORD, I change not" (Malachi 3:6; Hebrews 13:8): "the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (James 1:17). Let the world do what they will--they are the children of disobedience; God will judge them. It is not for true Christians to dictate righteousness to unbelievers; homosexuality and other forms of uncleanness are only issues for Christians when they are tolerated within Christianity.
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. (1 Corinthians 5:11-13)
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:1-3)
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
The issue is that many that claim to be Christian are not even born again and therefore have not the Spirit of God in them. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). Without the Spirit of God, their ability to obey the Word of God is limited: "I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27). It is these false Christians that have infiltrated the ranks of true Christians and have seduced many to follow the ways of the world.
Update (05/15/2012):
Last Wednesday (May 9, 2012), President Obama said of he and the First Lady, in an interview with ABC: "We are both practicing Christians, and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others, but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing Himself on our behalf, but it's also the golden rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated."
True Christians put the Word of God first, not politics, civil rights, or the ways of the world. Loving others does not mean you have to agree with their sins (cf. John 3:16). Jesus said, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also" (John 15:22-23). A person cannot claim to be a Christian yet deny the Word of God. To deny the Word of God is to deny Jesus Christ and to deny Jesus Christ is to deny God the Father. "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son" (2 John 1:9).
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:32-38)
Thus, the message from the Lord is clear: "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Romans 16:17). "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong" (1 Corinthians 16:13).
Update (05/17/2012):
Current welterweight champion and politician Manny Pacquiao, a Roman Catholic, said recently (May 16, 2012), "I’m not against gay people ... I have a relative who is also gay. We can't help it if they were born that way. What I’m critical of are actions that violate the word of God. I only gave out my opinion that same-sex marriage is against the law of God." The first issue is that both homosexuality and same-sex marriage are against the law of God. Secondly, this popular claim that people are born gay also does not stand up to the Word of God.
There is a direct correlation between the spirits in us and what we know and obey. This correlation between a spirit that is in us and what that spirit enables us to know and do is expressed in Ezekiel 36: "And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27). It is also expressed in Paul's writings: "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Corinthians 2:11-12). Thus, just as it is necessary for us to have the Spirit of God in us to obey God and to know the things of God; it is necessary for us to have the spirit of Satan in us to know the things of Satan and to obey him: "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:1-3; cf. Colossians 3:5-7).
Scripture reveals that every human born after the flood, except John the Baptist and Jesus, are all born with three devils in them and a fourth—a lying spirit—is added immediately after birth. "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Psalm 58:3). Unclean spirits—a spirit of disobedience and a lying spirit—cohabit our spirit, which is called the spirit of man, and work together in opposition to the things of God.
A spirit of disobedience undergirds our carnal nature—our sin nature; it pushes us to resist the truth and emboldens us to refuse to obey God. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5). Spirits of pride and of lust both cohabit our mortal bodies: pride begets self-interest and causes us to love ourselves (2 Timothy 3:2) and our own purposes (Job 33:17); and lust begets self-gratification: to desire those things that satisfy the flesh and the carnal mind (Ephesians 2:3). Together, these devils provoke us to live to please ourselves (Romans 15:1-3) and drive us towards self-sufficiency. Ultimately, pride attempts to get us to deify ourselves and lust attempts to get us to deify our desires. A spirit of disobedience combined with pride and lust draws us to focus on ourselves and on fulfilling the desires of our flesh and carnal mind, and not focus on God. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (1 John 2:15-17). The lust of the flesh encompasses those things that the body desires: food, water, sleep, excretion, sex, comfort, safety, security, love and belonging, and respect. And, the lust of the eyes encompasses those things that we desire because we see them in the world.
With these four spirits in every human that is not born again, infestation by a fifth spirit is easy. It is a spirit of sodomy which "markets" fornication (heterosexual or otherwise), lesbianism, homosexuality (gay), bisexuality, transgender sins like cross-dressing, taking on the affectations of the opposite sex, and surgically altering bodies by sex reassignment surgery, bestiality, or other forms of uncleanness. This spirit—a devil—is the culprit not some innate trait or a lifestyle choice.
See Romans 1:22, 24-28, 31-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Colossians 3:5-7; 1 Timothy 1:9-11; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Leviticus 18:22-28; Leviticus 20:13, 15-16; Deuteronomy 22:5.
Hence, the need for conversion; disobedience and lying are vanquished when a child of disobedience—an unbeliever—is born again: repents and chooses Jesus Christ as Lord instead of Satan. "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him" (Proverbs 22:15). In this context, the rod of correction is the Word of God: "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3; 2 Timothy 3:16). God replaces the corrupt spirit of man in the person with a new spirit: "a new spirit will I put within you" (Ezekiel 36:26) and within this new spirit God puts his Spirit—the Holy Ghost. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). It should be noted that pride and lust will not be vanquished from our bodies until death or translation (1 Corinthians 15:51); hence, the need for resurrection: "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:53).
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1 John 2:15-17)
But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. (1 Corinthians 5:11-13)
And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. (Ephesians 2:1-3)
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)
The issue is that many that claim to be Christian are not even born again and therefore have not the Spirit of God in them. "Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his" (Romans 8:9). Without the Spirit of God, their ability to obey the Word of God is limited: "I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27). It is these false Christians that have infiltrated the ranks of true Christians and have seduced many to follow the ways of the world.
Update (05/15/2012):
Last Wednesday (May 9, 2012), President Obama said of he and the First Lady, in an interview with ABC: "We are both practicing Christians, and obviously this position may be considered to put us at odds with the views of others, but, you know, when we think about our faith, the thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing Himself on our behalf, but it's also the golden rule, you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated."
True Christians put the Word of God first, not politics, civil rights, or the ways of the world. Loving others does not mean you have to agree with their sins (cf. John 3:16). Jesus said, "If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. He that hateth me hateth my Father also" (John 15:22-23). A person cannot claim to be a Christian yet deny the Word of God. To deny the Word of God is to deny Jesus Christ and to deny Jesus Christ is to deny God the Father. "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son" (2 John 1:9).
Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:32-38)
Thus, the message from the Lord is clear: "Now I beseech you, brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them" (Romans 16:17). "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong" (1 Corinthians 16:13).
Update (05/17/2012):
Current welterweight champion and politician Manny Pacquiao, a Roman Catholic, said recently (May 16, 2012), "I’m not against gay people ... I have a relative who is also gay. We can't help it if they were born that way. What I’m critical of are actions that violate the word of God. I only gave out my opinion that same-sex marriage is against the law of God." The first issue is that both homosexuality and same-sex marriage are against the law of God. Secondly, this popular claim that people are born gay also does not stand up to the Word of God.
There is a direct correlation between the spirits in us and what we know and obey. This correlation between a spirit that is in us and what that spirit enables us to know and do is expressed in Ezekiel 36: "And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them" (Ezekiel 36:27). It is also expressed in Paul's writings: "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God" (1 Corinthians 2:11-12). Thus, just as it is necessary for us to have the Spirit of God in us to obey God and to know the things of God; it is necessary for us to have the spirit of Satan in us to know the things of Satan and to obey him: "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience" (Ephesians 2:1-3; cf. Colossians 3:5-7).
Scripture reveals that every human born after the flood, except John the Baptist and Jesus, are all born with three devils in them and a fourth—a lying spirit—is added immediately after birth. "The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies" (Psalm 58:3). Unclean spirits—a spirit of disobedience and a lying spirit—cohabit our spirit, which is called the spirit of man, and work together in opposition to the things of God.
A spirit of disobedience undergirds our carnal nature—our sin nature; it pushes us to resist the truth and emboldens us to refuse to obey God. "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me" (Psalm 51:5). Spirits of pride and of lust both cohabit our mortal bodies: pride begets self-interest and causes us to love ourselves (2 Timothy 3:2) and our own purposes (Job 33:17); and lust begets self-gratification: to desire those things that satisfy the flesh and the carnal mind (Ephesians 2:3). Together, these devils provoke us to live to please ourselves (Romans 15:1-3) and drive us towards self-sufficiency. Ultimately, pride attempts to get us to deify ourselves and lust attempts to get us to deify our desires. A spirit of disobedience combined with pride and lust draws us to focus on ourselves and on fulfilling the desires of our flesh and carnal mind, and not focus on God. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever" (1 John 2:15-17). The lust of the flesh encompasses those things that the body desires: food, water, sleep, excretion, sex, comfort, safety, security, love and belonging, and respect. And, the lust of the eyes encompasses those things that we desire because we see them in the world.
With these four spirits in every human that is not born again, infestation by a fifth spirit is easy. It is a spirit of sodomy which "markets" fornication (heterosexual or otherwise), lesbianism, homosexuality (gay), bisexuality, transgender sins like cross-dressing, taking on the affectations of the opposite sex, and surgically altering bodies by sex reassignment surgery, bestiality, or other forms of uncleanness. This spirit—a devil—is the culprit not some innate trait or a lifestyle choice.
See Romans 1:22, 24-28, 31-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; Colossians 3:5-7; 1 Timothy 1:9-11; 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Leviticus 18:22-28; Leviticus 20:13, 15-16; Deuteronomy 22:5.
Hence, the need for conversion; disobedience and lying are vanquished when a child of disobedience—an unbeliever—is born again: repents and chooses Jesus Christ as Lord instead of Satan. "Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him" (Proverbs 22:15). In this context, the rod of correction is the Word of God: "Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you" (John 15:3; 2 Timothy 3:16). God replaces the corrupt spirit of man in the person with a new spirit: "a new spirit will I put within you" (Ezekiel 36:26) and within this new spirit God puts his Spirit—the Holy Ghost. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17). It should be noted that pride and lust will not be vanquished from our bodies until death or translation (1 Corinthians 15:51); hence, the need for resurrection: "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Corinthians 15:53).
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever. (1 John 2:15-17)
Labels: bestiality, bigoted, bisexuality, cross-dressing, fornication, gay, homophobic, homosexuality, intolerant, judgmental, lesbianism, love, moralists, sex reassignment surgery, tolerance, transgender, uncleanness
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