Influential Church of England evangelical comes out as gay Ruth Gledhill , Christianity today 02 February 2015

One of the Church of England's most influential evangelicals has come out as gay.

Jayne Ozanne, 46,(pictured right) was a founder member of the Archbishops' Council, the Cabinet-style body at the heart of the established church's governance. She has through a distinguished career and record of service worked closely and prayed alongside senior evangelicals including the former Archbishop of Canterbury Lord Carey of Clifton and the present Archbishop, Justin Welby.

Today, Monday, she is to be announced as the new director of Accepting Evangelicals, whose patrons include Baptist minister Steve Chalke and worship leader and commentator Vicky Beeching, who herself stunned the evangelical community worldwide when she came out last year.

Formerly from the Orthodox wing of the Church, holding strictly conservative views on sexuality, Ms Ozanne disclosed her sexuality in confidence a few years ago in a moving letter to a select group of church leaders. Not one of the few who knew has leaked details of her journey.

She has now decided to go public through Christian Today as part of what she believes will help the Church, currently deeply divided on the issue, to a better understanding of sexuality. She, along with many others, wants to see the Church end its infighting and move on to more pressing issues such as mission and social justice.

Comment:

If Miss Ozanne, claims to be an evangelical Christian and believes whole heartily what the Bible teaches, she and her supporters would know that the Bible clearly teaches that both homosexual practice and behaviour is clearly forbidden by Scripture. If the Bible teaches that Homosexuality in all it’s forms is wrong, surely for us believers  homosexual behavior and practice is also wrong.

  Read the rest of the story here:

1 Corinthians 6:9-20 New Living Translation (NLT)

9 Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, 10 or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or are abusive, or cheat people—none of these will inherit the Kingdom of God. 11 Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Avoiding Sexual Sin

12 You say, “I am allowed to do anything”—but not everything is good for you. And even though “I am allowed to do anything,” I must not become a slave to anything. 13 You say, “Food was made for the stomach, and the stomach for food.” (This is true, though someday God will do away with both of them.) But you can’t say that our bodies were made for sexual immorality. They were made for the Lord, and the Lord cares about our bodies. 14 And God will raise us from the dead by his power, just as he raised our Lord from the dead.

15 Don’t you realize that your bodies are actually parts of Christ? Should a man take his body, which is part of Christ, and join it to a prostitute? Never! 16 And don’t you realize that if a man joins himself to a prostitute, he becomes one body with her? For the Scriptures say, “The two are united into one.”[a] 17 But the person who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with him.

18 Run from sexual sin! No other sin so clearly affects the body as this one does. For sexual immorality is a sin against your own body. 19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.

1 Timothy 1:8-11 New International Version - UK (NIVUK)

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 1:24-32 New Living Translation (NLT)

24 So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies. 25 They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. 26 That is why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each other. 27 And the men, instead of having normal sexual relations with women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other men, and as a result of this sin, they suffered within themselves the penalty they deserved.

28 Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. 29 Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. 30 They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. 31 They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. 32 They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too.

Hebrews 6:1-12 New Living Translation (NLT)

6 So let us stop going over the basic teachings about Christ again and again. Let us go on instead and become mature in our understanding. Surely we don’t need to start again with the fundamental importance of repenting from evil deeds[a] and placing our faith in God. 2 You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And so, God willing, we will move forward to further understanding.

4 For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— 6 and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.

7 When the ground soaks up the falling rain and bears a good crop for the farmer, it has God’s blessing. 8 But if a field bears thorns and thistles, it is useless. The farmer will soon condemn that field and burn it.

9 Dear friends, even though we are talking this way, we really don’t believe it applies to you. We are confident that you are meant for better things, things that come with salvation. 10 For God is not unjust. He will not forget how hard you have worked for him and how you have shown your love to him by caring for other believers,[b] as you still do. 11 Our great desire is that you will keep on loving others as long as life lasts, in order to make certain that what you hope for will come true. 12 Then you will not become spiritually dull and indifferent. Instead, you will follow the example of those who are going to inherit God’s promises because of their faith and endurance.

Christian Singer/Worship Leader Vicky Beeching, says I'm Gay, Premier Christian Radio.

Worship leader and Christian commentator Vicky Beeching has opened up on her sexuality to a national newspaper.

The 35 year-old, who became known by performing at Christian festivals both in the UK and the US, says she's struggled with the issue her whole life but is now ready to go public.

Speaking to The Independent she explained how she first noticed her attraction to other girls at the age of 12.

She said: "Realising that I was attracted to them was a horrible feeling. I was so embarrassed and ashamed. It became more and more of a struggle because I couldn't tell anyone."

In the in-depth interview she talks about how she sought help to get rid of her same sex feelings firstly by going to confession with a Catholic priest then by asking for prayer at a large Christian event.

At the conference she said a group prayed over her that the demon of homosexuality would free her but she found the experience "degrading" and "humiliating".

Her career has seen her release several worship albums and tour the world but she exited the spotlight after being diagnosed with an auto-immune disease called linear scleroderma morphea.

Her condition required chemotherapy.

She was told by a doctor that it was stress induced and she believes her trigger was her battle with her sexuality.

It was a result of this part of her life that she vowed to tell friends and family.

Now a regular commentator on Christian issues on both TV and radio she says she's ready to let the world know and wants the Church to reconsider the way it views homosexuality.

Read more here:

Question:

Should Churches and Christians listen to and sing to Vicky Beeching’s songs since her public  announcement  that she is lesbian ?  My answer is no

Read the article in the Independent here:

Vicky Beeching, Christian rock star: 'I'm gay. God loves me just the way I am'

Comment:

Although like many of you, I have sing along to Vicky Beeching songs in various Church Settings,   I’m saddened to hear that she is claiming to be Gay(Lesbian) ,  the Bible clearly states that homosexuality and a homosexual lifestyle is both a sin and sinful, and there are no scriptures that support, encourage and confirm that the homosexual lifestyle  is a choice for the Christian, I’m sorry the Bible clearly states that you can’t be a Christian and Gay, the choice is yours,  but you can’t be both. Homosexuality is Sinful, anyone who lives this lifestyle or supports this lifestyle... the Bible is clear you need to repent of your sin.

1 Timothy 1:9-11The Voice (VOICE)

9 we also know the law was not designed for law-abiding people but for lawbreakers and criminals, the ungodly and sin-filled, the unholy and worldly, the father killers and mother killers, the murderers, 10 the sexually immoral and homosexuals, slave dealers, liars, perjurers, and anyone else who acts against the sound doctrine 11 laid out in the glorious, holy, and pure good news of the blessed God that has been entrusted to me.

1 Corinthians 6:8-10New American Standard Bible (NASB)

8 On the contrary, you yourselves wrong and defraud. You do this even to your brethren.

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.

Romans 5:16 -21 The Voice

16 His free gift is nothing like the scourge of the first man’s sin. The judgment that fell because of one false step brought condemnation, but the free gift following countless offenses results in a favorable verdict—not guilty. 17 If one man’s sin brought a reign of death—that’s Adam’s legacy—how much more will those who receive grace in abundance and the free gift of redeeming justice reign in life by means of one other man—Jesus the Anointed.

18 So here is the result: as one man’s sin brought about condemnation and punishment for all people, so one man’s act of faithfulness makes all of us right with God and brings us to new life. 19 Just as through one man’s defiant disobedience every one of us were made sinners, so through the willing obedience of the one man many of us will be made right.

20 When the law came into the picture, sin grew and grew; but wherever sin grew and spread, God’s grace was there in fuller, greater measure. No matter how much sin crept in, there was always more grace. 21 In the same way that sin reigned in the sphere of death, now grace reigns through God’s restorative justice, eclipsing death and leading to eternal life through the Anointed One, Jesus our Lord, the Liberating King.

Romans 6:1-12 The Voice

6 How should we respond to all of this? Is it good to persist in a life of sin so that grace may multiply even more? 2 Absolutely not! How can we die to a life where sin ruled over us and then invite sin back into our lives? 3 Did someone forget to tell you that when we were initiated into Jesus the Anointed through baptism’s ceremonial washing,[a] we entered into His death? 4 Therefore, we were buried with Him through this baptism into death so that just as God the Father, in all His glory, resurrected the Anointed One, we, too, might walk confidently out of the grave into a new life. 5 To put it another way: if we have been united with Him to share in a death like His, don’t you understand that we will also share in His resurrection? 6 We know this: whatever we used to be with our old sinful ways has been nailed to His cross. So our entire record of sin has been canceled, and we no longer have to bow down to sin’s power. 7 A dead man, you see, cannot be bound by sin. 8 But if we have died with the Anointed One, we believe that we shall also live together with Him. 9 So we stand firm in the conviction that death holds no power over God’s Anointed, because He was resurrected from the dead never to face death again. 10 When He died, He died to whatever power sin had, once and for all, and now He lives completely to God. 11 So here is how to picture yourself now that you have been initiated into Jesus the Anointed: you are dead to sin’s power and influence, but you are alive to God’s rule.

12 Don’t invite that insufferable tyrant of sin back into your mortal body so you won’t become obedient to its destructive desires