Paul4Jesus Ministry seeks to assist and motivate brothers and sisters who desire to overcome their homosexuality and restore sexual wholeness.
Our purpose is to proclaim that freedom from homosexuality is possible through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. We believe such freedom is increasingly experienced as the former homosexual matures through ongoing submission to the Lordship of Christ and His Church. This transformation process enables people to shed the old, sinful identity and in its place learn new ways of relating to self and others.
Paul4Jesus Ministry upholds heterosexuality as God's creative intent for humanity, and subsequently views homosexual expression as outside God's will. Paul4Jesus Ministry cites homosexual tendencies as one of many disorders that beset fallen humanity. Choosing to resolve these tendencies through homosexual behavior, taking on a homosexual identity, and involvement in the homosexual lifestyle is considered destructive, as it distorts God's intent for the individual and is therefore sinful.
Instead, Christ offers a healing alternative to those with homosexual tendencies. Paul4Jesus Ministry upholds redemption for the homosexual person as the process whereby sin's power is broken, and the individual is freed to know and experience true identity as discovered in Christ and His Church. That process entails the freedom to grow into heterosexuality.
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In this letter we will be addressing an issue that is uncomfortable for many of us. Homosexuality and abortion and the Church.
THE SIN - Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10
THE SINNER - Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" "No one, sir," she said. "Then neither do I condemn you," Jesus declared. "Go now and leave your life of sin." John 8:10-11
There is an old Christian adage, "Love the sinner and hate the sin." Most of us who call ourselves by the Name of Christ profess to agree with this concept (it is Biblical after all); however, as often as not I see something quite different in our lives and attitudes towards others. Especially so towards those involved in the more "evil" sins like Homosexuality and Abortion. Make no mistake, the Gay and Lesbian lifestyle is indeed serious sin and terribly destructive to all involved in it, and abortion is murder. However, before God, sin is sin, and "If we confess [repent of] our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins..." 1 John 1:9. Yes, Christians are to hate sin, but no matter how evil we perceive a particular sin, it is no excuse for Christians to dehumanize/demonize and attack the persons involved.
I was truly blessed to read of Dr. Jerry Falwell's conference at Liberty University last month. While I do not agree with Dr. Falwell's approach to many issues, it is times like this that I am indeed proud to call him brother. Dr. Falwell put his faith into action by first repenting of much of his former speech and behavior that had been aimed not at the sin but at the individual sinners. He then, without compromising the truth of the Word, opened a true loving dialogue intended to heal the hatred on both sides, while exposing the truth of the Gospel to the homosexual community. May each of us go and do likewise.
Bible believing Christians must follow Dr. Falwell's example and stop hating homosexuals and abortionists just because of the particular sin they are practicing. We do not hate our children because/when they live together in sexual immorality. Nor do we hate the drunk or the drug user. While we should rightfully hate these sins, we do not even consider hating the sinner. Instead we do all we can to express Christ's love to them and to help them give up the sinful behavior. The church must begin approaching the more "evil" sins of homosexuality and abortion in the same manner.
When was the last time you invited a "gay" acquaintance or co-worker to church? Do you bake cookies and take them to your local abortion clinic with simple Gospel (not anti-abortion) tracts? God's loving truth will conquer sin much more quickly than militancy and hatred. Think about it. Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit. 1 Peter 3:9
It is true that believers must NEVER condone, or worse, endorse or affirm sin. However, while we must unashamedly oppose all sin, including the current militant homosexual and pro-abortion social/political agendas, with our total beings, we are not called to condemn sinners. We are called to love them (the sinners) in Christ and to point them to Jesus that they may be saved from that sin.
Keep on lifting up the Name of Jesus!
God Bless you and yours
In Christ,
Pastor Rick
In February of 1930 my mother, who was 13 at the time, was sexually seduced by one of her playmates. On November 17, 1930, I was born. Some in the modern Church would say she wasn't a "bad" person: that she shouldn't be held accountable for her lapse of morality because she was "so young," because she "didn't know better," because "we have to show her 'God's love'" and "she was just overcome with passions that she couldn't control."
We, the modern Church, teach that what my mother did was acceptable to the Christian society, because there were myriads of reasons she could not have escaped the wiles of the devil: she was so immature: she hadn't have the proper teaching: perhaps she was neglected: she was in the wrong company: she, after all, was an individual with the right to "personal choices" and who are WE, to dictate our morals on another human? Somehow, we have come to think that "Christian society" should be loving and complacent with people that God Himself rejects except they repent.
When my mother was 13, there was a "stigma" attached to girls who were sexually promiscous: there was a "shame" instilled in society for people who produced children outside of wedlock. Because of that stigma and shame, there were far fewer illigetimate babies. There were far fewer sins of all kinds because people were simply ashamed to be labeled by the sin. It wasn't "nice" to be a thief. It was shameful to be a "homo." It was unacceptable to take something that didn't belong to you. A person's "reputation" determined his status in the community. And God was an "absolute." Today, absolutes are obsolete and approximations are "appropriate." We have "Ten Suggestions" instead of "Ten Commandments."
My Grandmother sent my mother away, out of the community, to give birth to the child she had conceived. She was hidden away, secluded from society so her shame would not be constantly evident to the friends and neighbors. My grandmother was "ashamed" of what my mother had done. In those days, actions had consequences: God was not a God of acceptance but a God of expectance. He "Expected" His creation to be righteous. He did not "love the sinner, but hate the sin" as we teach now, but demanded repentance and righteousness. There is a hell for the unrepentant sinner. It isnt the "sin" that spends eternity in hell, it's the "sinner." God doesn't punish the action, he punishes the one, the human person, who ignores His requirements. AND He doesn't change. What was sin in 1930 is still sin today.
After all, He had taken on mortal flesh and died the horrible death of cricifixion to bring mankind to repentance: Why shouldn't He expect righteousness and repentance? God, Himself, did not condone deliberate sin: He demanded a "turning away" from evil ways. We had to "come out from among them. be separate." The conditions He gave Nicodemus have not changed: we must all still repent. Or perish.
We teach that a true Christian is filled with Godly love: that we can not condemn or judge our fellow humans. The fact is that Christians (ministers in particular) are commanded to make judgements as a part of our daily life. Those places in the bible where "judgement" is forbidden are instances where Jesus or a disciple is talking to a "hypocrite." If you are a hypocrite, you are admonished to make no judgement on anyone until you have removed the sin from your own life. How can we "come out from among them" if we don't judge the righteousness of those whom we are to "come out from among?"
By the way, Jesus had no problem calling a hypocrite a hypocrite: a fox a fox: an adulterer an adulterer. He called them, whitwashed sepulchers, and children of hell. He violently attacked one group who were defiling His temple and threatened to cut another asunder and bury (appoint) him with the hypocrites. His favorite derogotory words were, "Scribe" and "Pharesee." He didn't care if He hurt their feelings: He required repentance and He wanted to save their souls.
If you are a hypocrite, don't judge: if you are NOT a hypocrite. you MUST judge. If you are smarter than God, you can condone people who practice any immorality whatsoever. If you are NOT smarter than God, you have to draw the line where God draws the line. No place in the bible records where God "accepts the sinner but rejects the sin." He always condemns the person, the soul, DOING the sin.
In the name of love we accept the homosexual: God does not. In the name of love we accept the adulterer: God does not. In the name of love we accept the abortionist: God does not. In the name of love we accept the murderer: God does not. We substitute "love" for "admonishment" and condemn the above group to eternal separation from God.
God requires "repentance" and a "turning away" from the sin and His principals are immutable: unchanging: "written in stone." We are not given authority to "edit" His requirements.
It is entirely possible for us, as Christians: as ministers, to "love" some lost, sinning soul straight into the gates of hell, to spend eternity separated from his Creator, because we haven't the guts to tell him his conduct is wrong and God requires him to repent. If we really LOVED him, we would try to save him. We WILL be held accountable when we fail to do this.
In His Perfect Peace
Pastor James West
Article by Bob Davies
Reprinted from Moody Magazine, May 1994
Religious trends during the past few decades have made today's debate over homosexuality almost inevitable. In a growing number of denominations, the Bible's moral statements are increasingly seen as irrelevant to our culture. The latest findings of science and an individual's personal experiences are treated as higher authorities than the Scriptures.
Discussions about homosexuality frequently center around a few isolated Bible passages. Often overlooked is the foundational teaching on human sexuality found in Genesis 1:27 "So God created man in his own image...male and female he created them".
Jesus based His teachings against divorce on this passage (Matthew 19:4-6). God created man and woman for each other, and ordained sex only in the context of a lifetime commitment. The opening chapter of Genesis explains why fornication, adultery, and prostitution - as well as "homosexual marriage" - are all distortions of God's original plan for sex.
Some scholars have offered new interpretations for specific biblical passages that prohibit homosexual acts. In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19), Lot's visitors demand to "know" the angelic visitors (v.5). The explanation that they wanted merely "to get acquainted with" the strangers makes Lot's response most puzzling: "Don't do this wicked thing" (v.7). The context supports the traditional interpretation of homosexuality, and other biblical passages link Sodom with sexual immorality and perversion (2 Peter 2:7; Jude 7).
In Leviticus 18:22, God clearly commands, "Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." Pro-homosexual scholars argue that Christians are no longer under the Mosaic law. But we must carefully distinguish the dietary or ceremonial laws (abolished in the New Testament - Mark 7:19; Heb. 10:8-10) from the moral laws (reinforced in the New Testament and still applicable today - Mark 7:20-23; Matthew 5:27, 28).
Differentiating the two types of laws answers the question, "Why do Christians quote the Old Testament on homosexuality, then ignore the commands that prohibit eating shellfish or wearing clothing of mixed fibers?"
The important distinction between these laws is reflected in the Old Testament penalties for breaking them: Disobedience to the ceremonial laws resulted in uncleanness (Leviticus 11:24, etc.), while breaching the moral law meant death (Leviticus 20).
The first chapter of Romans is usually considered the most thorough and clear condemnation of homosexuality in the Bible. It also contains the only specific reference to lesbianism. But some people claim that Paul's statements are "culturally bound," addressed to first-century believers and therefore not applicable today. But God declares that His moral laws do not change and that His Word "stands forever" (Isaiah 40:8).
What did Paul mean when he stated that homosexual acts are "unnatural" (Romans 1:26, 27)? Contrary to what a person feels is natural? Not necessarily. Many homosexuals say that they have always felt attracted to others of their own gender. But we live in a fallen world; sin has distorted our perception of truth (Romans 1:18). So what someone feels is "natural" can still be wrong. Paul was referring to the natural order as God originally created it.
Those who practice homosexual acts receive "in themselves the due penalty for their perversion" Romans 1:27. Homosexuals reap a bitter harvest of emotional and physical suffering. Though AIDS is not necessarily a direct judgment from God, it certainly is a devastating consequence of sin.
1 Corinthians 6:9 mentions "homosexual offenders" in a long list of people who will not inherit the kingdom of God. This passage seems clear - until the discussions begin about the exact meaning of the original Greek word.
Does "arsenokoitai" refer to lustful, uncommitted male prostitution or to a loving, permanent relationship? The literal meaning is "a male who lies with a male." There are no qualifications. All homosexual behavior is forbidden, no matter what degree of love or lust is involved.
What about Jesus' silence on this issue? There are many sexual behaviors that He did not address (incest, rape, bestiality). That doesn't mean they are permissible. Jesus always upheld the Old Testament law (Matthew 5:17-19), which strictly condemned homosexual acts. And He affirmed celibacy as the only legitimate alternative to heterosexual marriage (Matthew 19:12).
This article is copyrighted © 1994 by Bob Davies. All rights reserved.