whatyareckon

http://www.towleroad.com/2016/01/methodist-pastor-came-gay-sermon-faces-possible-discipline-video/

Doesn’t a person have the right or the freedom to be what they believe themselves to be sexually? Well….to some extent. Allow me to try to explain. In the everyday affairs of life it is none of my business how someone votes, spends their income, what takes place in their bedroom, etc., etc. However, we are not talking about just anyone but someone who claims to be a spokesperson for God and a minister of a United Methodist congregation in Kansas.

Cynthia Meyer is “…pastor of Edgerton United Methodist Church” and “told her small-town congregation that her coming out was ‘an act of civil disobedience’ against the denomination’s ban on gay clergy.” http://www.towleroad.com/2016/01/methodist-pastor-came-gay-sermon-faces-possible-discipline-video/

Meyer also told the United Methodist News Service (UMNS) that she has “been an ordained United Methodist pastor for 25 years. At last, I am choosing to serve in that role with full authenticity, as my genuine self, a woman who loves and shares my life with another woman”. http://www.umc.org/news-and-media/kansas-pastor-comes-out-during-sermon

Now if Cynthia Meyer was just a person on the street and not a supposed Reverend and (I am assuming) a member of a United Methodist church her coming out would not have prompted me to write this article. So why am I writing this? Well, here we need to turn to the Bible.

Again I am assuming that the United Methodist denomination and its ministers believe the Bible. In 1 Corinthians Paul is writing to a local church. This church was composed of all sorts of people who had lived numerous types of lifestyles. In the sixth chapter and verses 9 -11 Paul writes “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 (these are sodomites, homosexuals, lesbians), 10 Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”

Since the discussion is homosexuality (sodomy) we will limit ourselves to that sin which does not according to this passage allow the person to “inherit the kingdom of God”! In other words they will not enter Heaven. However, Paul says four things have occurred to these people which makes them worthy to enter Heaven when they die.

Firstly, take note that Paul uses the past tense saying “such WERE some of you”. Some of these Christians HAD BEEN sodomites but because of their new relationship with Jesus Christ their old life was passed away and all things had become new, 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Secondly, they had been “washed..from our (their) sins in his own blood”. This blood of the Lord Jesus is called “precious blood” by Peter in 1 Peter 1:19. As John said He “loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood”. Then Paul wrote to another local church saying “But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ”Eph 2:13.

Thirdly this person is said to be “sanctified”.  Strong’s Greek concordance says this word “agiazw hagiazo, hag-ee-ad’-zo” means “to make holy, i.e. (ceremonially) purify or consecrate; (mentally) to venerate:–hallow, be holy, sanctify.” One of the characteristics of a sanctified person is holiness. The Lord calls Christians to holiness, purity in 1 Peter 1:15 & 16 “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; 16 Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Now, daily or what is often called progressive sanctification comes via the reading and study of God’s Word; John 17:17 “Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth”.  Surely sodomy does not fit with sanctification?

The fourth work of God in this person mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6: 11 is he or she has been “justified”. Now, because of Christ we have been made as though we had never committed those sins for “such WERE some of you”. Now when God the Father sees the Christian He sees them in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

If you have taken the time to read this far and still hold the view that homosexuals and lesbians can continue in that lifestyle and still be considered a true Christian Paul had you in mind when he wrote in the ninth verse “Be not deceived”! People who say they love you and water down the Word to fit your lifestyle are simply deceiving you and when the enemy, death comes (as it does to all of us) you will enter eternity without the Saviour, without hope and never to “inherit the kingdom of God”. You have been deceived!

Be assured one cannot continue to live a life as “abusers of themselves with mankind” and when death comes enter Heaven as one of God’s children! It is self-deception to reinterpret God’s Word to fulfill the lust of the flesh! When a man/woman reinterprets the Bible to fit their sin they are only cheating themselves of eternal life. This is not a minor matter for the eternal soul of a person is at stake. We cannot sow to the flesh and yet reap everlasting life!

Worse yet some of these deceivers are deceiving others by claiming to be a follower of Christ, even ministers, when in reality they are nothing but “full of all subtilty and all mischief” and are a “child of the devil” and an “enemy of all righteousness” and not ceasing “to pervert the right ways of the Lord” Acts 13:10.

Coming out will not spiritually change anything for the homosexual. Coming out will only entrench a person in their sin. BUT, there is HOPE. No matter what sins a man or woman commit there is no barrier to keep them from being born again and reconciled to God. The precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will  purge away all guilt and defilement for “…when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”.

However, holding on to the sins mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6 is to make a mockery of sin and the grace of God. There MUST be “repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.” Yes, it is as simple as what the preachers said to the jailer in Philippi “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.”

In closing please remember that all those who are made righteous in the sight of God are made holy by the grace of God.