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| Stan Mitchell |
Elizabeth
Dias, a Wheaton College graduate and TIME magazine reporter, just gave notice
of another formerly-large church that has embraced “gay Christianity” as a
legitimate spiritual state. The church is GracePointe Church of Franklin,
Tennessee. The location of this one gets your attention: this is a Bible belt
church
.
The
pastor, Stan Mitchell, just preached for over forty minutes on Luke 24:13-16.
Here is the biblical text:
That
very day two of them were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles
from Jerusalem, and they were talking with each other about all these things
that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus
himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing
him (Luke 24:13-16).
The
connection Mitchell draws between the passage and the legitimacy of same-sex
orientation is that of “epiphany”: once God appeared to his disciples,
surprising them, and he now manifests himself afresh. The epiphany Mitchell
presents is that the church should, because of “a divine wind,” as he calls it,
embrace same-sex orientation.
Mitchell’s
rhetoric reaches fresh heights of self-congratulation: “One day I will write a
memoir, and a large portion of that memoir will be about this life-giving
experience. The book is not to be written yet, because the final chapters are
yet unwritten.” He speaks to the difficulty of the issue at hand: “I have been
broken almost to the point where I despaired of life, but I have been
encouraged.” Finally, he compares the struggle before him to the civil rights
cause: “Could you be a church in Selma and not march, just handle your own
community? I don’t think I can do that. We are on the front edge of a movement
that means so much.”
This shift will continue. We have not seen the
end of this trend. More pastors will capitulate, and will applaud themselves in
public for it. More of them will compare themselves to civil rights heroes.
More of them will tell us of impending memoirs. More of them will publicly weep
under the weight of their courageous decision. More will, without a hint of
self-awareness, congratulate themselves on their culture-sanctioned ethical
uprightness. More churches that have no confessional foundation, and that are
anchored in man-centered ministry, will travel this path.
Comment:
We build our Christian Life and Witness not on
the latest fads or fashions, the opinions or perspectives of others however
appealing or relevant they seem, we don’t build on what the non-Christian or
anti-Christian demands of our Society are. We build on God’s Word the
Bible that has been and still is God’s Inspired Word; there is nothing more
relevant to us today than God’s Word
Our
understanding of issues and our bench mark for all practices should be God’s
Word the Bible, for example if The Bible supported the idea that the Marriage
Union between a Man and a Man and a Woman and Woman was equal to the Marriage
Union between a Man and a Woman it would say so, in the Bible there is only one
definition of Marriage and that is between a Man and a Woman or a Woman and a
Man. So if we believe that the Bible is
God’s Inspired Word we Christians shouldn’t support or agree to a Marriage
Ceremony or Union that doesn’t involve a Man marrying a Woman or a Vice a
Versa, lets us examine some scriptures.
Ephesians
4:14 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
14
[a]As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves
and carried about by every wind of doctrine,
by the trickery of men, by craftiness [b]in deceitful scheming;
1
Timothy 4:1-2 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Apostasy
4
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will [a]fall away from
the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by
means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a
branding iron,
1
Corinthians 6:9-11 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
9
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do
not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
[a]effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor
thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will
inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but
you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
1
Timothy 1:6-11 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
6
Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk. 7 They want
to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or
what they so confidently affirm.
8
We know that the law is good if one uses it properly. 9 We also know that the
law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly
and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or
mothers, for murderers, 10 for the sexually immoral, for those practising
homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers – and for whatever else
is contrary to the sound doctrine 11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the
glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
Romans
1:21-32 English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)
21
For although they knew God, they did not honour him as God or give thanks to
him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were
darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory
of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and
creeping things.
24
Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the
dishonouring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the
truth about God for a lie and worshipped and served the creature rather than
the Creator, who is blessed for ever! Amen.
26
For this reason God gave them up to dishonourable passions. For their women exchanged
natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men
likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion
for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in
themselves the due penalty for their error.
28
And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a
debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all
manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy,
murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters
of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God's decree
that those who practise such things deserve to die, they not only do them but
give approval to those who practise them.
Hebrews
6:4-6 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
4
It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the
heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the
goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age 6 and who have
fallen[a] away, to be brought back to repentance. To their loss they are crucifying
the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Final
thoughts.
If
someone who calls themselves a Christian or indeed a Christian Leader and
they follow, supports, agrees to and encourages others to follow any false
doctrine or deception such as promoting homosexual practice and behaviour they aren't really a Christian.
