Franklin Graham Answers: Can Gay People Go to Heaven?

Franklin Graham Answers: Can Gay People Go to Heaven?

The Rev. Franklin Graham recently participated in an ABC News panel discussion on the religious right and mainstream American views, along with Russell More, Ralph Reed and Cokie Roberts.

When gay marriage was brought up, Graham, president and CEO of the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, said: "Maybe gays that are watching want to know, 'Can God forgive me? Or can I go to heaven as a gay person?' Absolutely. But the same for any of us. We have to repent of our sins in turn. A person cannot stay in adultery and be accepted by God. You’ll have to repent.

Words for the Wise, James 4 Christian Conduct

James 4

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

Warning Against Worldliness

4 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions[a] are at war within you?[b] 2 You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. 4 You adulterous people![c] Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. 5 Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, “He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us”? 6 But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” 7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

11 Do not speak evil against one another, brothers.[d] The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. 12 There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbour?

Boasting About Tomorrow

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

The Bible Panorama

James 4

V 1–3: WARS All wars and fighting come from wilful and wayward human hearts. How different is submission to God which seeks for what pleases Him, rather than what pleases us

. V 4–5: WORLDLINESS Those who are friends of the world and its standards, pastimes and entertainments show that they are enemies of God. This is equivalent to spiritual adultery, and God yearns jealously for His people, as a husband would for an unfaithful wife.

 V 6–10: WEEP Benefiting from God’s grace enables us to resist the devil, to draw near to God, and to weep over our sins and double-mindedness. God thus enables us to cleanse our hands and purify our hearts and minds. As we humble ourselves, God will exalt us

. V 11–12: WRONG It is always wrong to speak evil of Christian brothers. Christians should obey God’s law, not use it to judge other Christians. Who am I to make myself the judge?

V 13–17: WILL We should live in dependence on God’s will. We should not boastfully count the future as ours, but realise that God can take away the vapour of our lives instantly. To think otherwise is sin. In fact, whenever we fail to do what we know to be good, we sin.

The Bible Panorama. Copyright © 2005 Day One Publications.

Yours by His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside.

'God and the Gay Christian': Southern Baptist Leader Objects | Advocate.com

'God and the Gay Christian': Southern Baptist Leader Objects | Advocate.com

Matthew Vines's new book, God and the Gay Christian, hit shelves just this month, but one evangelical leader has already lashed out in an e-book against the young writer's views.

Vines first made headlines for an hour-long lecture he posted toYouTube in 2012 called "The Bible and Homosexuality," filmed at a church in Wichita, Kan. The video went viral, and it's now had 700,000 views.

Vines, a onetime Harvard student, writes in his book that "it is not gay Christians who are sinning against God by entering into monogamous, loving relationships. It is we who are sinning against them by rejecting their intimate relationships."

But Albert Mohler Jr., president of the largest Southern Baptist seminary in the U.S., disagrees.

In a lengthy blog post and e-book, Mohler wonders if "evangelicals will remain true to the teachings of Scripture and the unbroken teaching of the Christian church for over two thousand years on the morality of same-sex acts and the institution of marriage."

Some Honest Questions for Professing 'Gay Christians'

Some Honest Questions for Professing 'Gay Christians'

Today, however, more and more men and women who identify as LGBT are professing to be devoted Christians, believing that the church has wrongly interpreted the Scriptures through the centuries and claiming that committed, monogamous same-sex relationships can be blessed by God.

It is for those of you who identify as both gay and Christian that I’d like to ask some honest questions. You may take them as adversarial, but in reality, I ask these questions in the love of God and the fear of God, being jealous for your well-being in the Lord.

And while it’s easy for some people to throw around the hate word, you will not find a syllable of hate in these words, because there’s not an ounce of hate in my heart.

Words for the Wise, James 3, Conduct and Communication

James 3

English Standard Version Anglicised (ESVUK)

Taming the Tongue

3 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. 2 For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. 3 If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. 4 Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. 5 So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! 6 And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life,[a] and set on fire by hell.[b] 7 For every kind of beast and bird, of reptile and sea creature, can be tamed and has been tamed by mankind, 8 but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. 9 With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God. 10 From the same mouth come blessing and cursing. My brothers,[c] these things ought not to be so. 11 Does a spring pour forth from the same opening both fresh and salt water? 12 Can a fig tree, my brothers, bear olives, or a grapevine produce figs? Neither can a salt pond yield fresh water.

Wisdom from Above

13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct let him show his works in the meekness of wisdom. 14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast and be false to the truth. 15 This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. 16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every vile practice. 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. 18 And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.

The Bible Panorama

James 3

V 1–7: TONGUE’S WONDER Like a horse’s bit or a ship’s rudder, the tongue is a small member of the body with a gigantic and disproportional influence on the direction to be taken. It can be like a spark that ignites a forest fire. It is easier to tame wild animals than the human tongue. It is the hardest part of the body to tame, and may be influenced by hell itself. For this reason, those who use words in teaching other people will be judged more strictly about their own use of words.

 V 8–12: TONGUE’S WICKEDNESS The tongue is untameable by man. Its poisonous use reveals evil within, hypocrisy and double standards that make our conversation so inconsistent and dishonouring

 V 13–18: TRUE WISDOM How we need God’s wisdom! It is available from on high and is pure, leading to a holy and open lifestyle of gentleness and graciousness. Envy and bitter self-seeking come from worldly wisdom influenced by the devil. As God works in us, to make us wise and understanding, our conversation will reflect that.

The Bible Panorama. Copyright © 2005 Day One Publications.

Yours by His Grace

Blair Humphreys

Southport, Merseyside

Martin Lewis : Why you can’t trust your bank - Money Dashboard

Martin Lewis : Why you can’t trust your bank - Money Dashboard

Martin Lewis - the Money Saving Expert himself - is one of the most respected names in personal finance. Over the next five weeks we’ll share his opinions on everything from juggling multiple accounts to wasting money.

Here, Martin takes on the subject of banks, and whether they’re really there to help…

This is exactly why Money Dashboard was created. Martin Lewis knows that the banks aren’t your best mate, and don’t exist to offer you independent advice. While a bank is there to sell you a product, Money Dashboard is completely independent, totally secure and free of charge, so instead of trying to push you to buy a product, we simply give you a clear view of your financial life. No strings attached.

You can track as many current, credit and savings accounts as you like, and sit back while our secure, read-only system does the hard work for you. Some say that we’re trying to disrupt and revolutionise the banking industry with our easy to use software, but Money Dashboard CEO Gavin Littlejohn sees things differently…

Were Ananias and Sapphira Believers?

Were Ananias and Sapphira Believers?

8:00AM EDT 4/23/2014 MICHAEL BROWN

 

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Were Ananias and Sapphira believers who were judged by God because of their blatant sin? According to one prominent pastor, they were not, since things like this do not happen to believers in Jesus, to those under grace, since the Lord already took our judgment on the cross. Is this pastor correct?

Actually, the text does not tell us explicitly whether they were believers or not, but without a doubt, this account was recorded as a lesson for all of us, and the New Testament makes very clear that the Lord sometimes judges His own blood-bought people who engage in blatant sin.

Are we willing to accept the testimony of the Word of God?

This pastor, who is a gifted teacher with many good things to say, claims that in Acts 5, it is “very clearly stated” that Ananias and Sapphira were not believers, and for him, the lesson we learn from this passage of Scripture is that God will judge those who try to hurt the church, which is “very consoling” for him.