Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Statement Of Faith

I Believe:

The Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, to be the inspired Word of God, without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for the salvation of men and the Divine and final authority for Christian faith and life.

There is but one true God in all existence, in all places, and in all time, who is the Creator of all things, infinitely perfect and eternally existing in three persons.  God is a Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus Christ is presently true God and true man, having been conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.  He died on the Cross as a sacrifice for our sins according to the Scriptures.  He arose bodily from the dead and ascended into heaven, where, at the right hand of the Majesty on High, He is now our High Priest and Advocate.

Jesus will return bodily to this world to fulfill His ministry and calling as God and Lord.

The Holy Spirit, like the Father and the Son, has a will, can grieve, love, hate, and is worthy of all worship and honor.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ and to convict men, regenerate the sinner, indwell, guide, instruct and empower the believer for godly living and service.

Man was created in the image of God but fell into sin and is therefore, unaware of his own spiritual nature.  Only through the Holy Spirit can the human spirit be regenerated, and salvation and spiritual self-awareness be obtained.

The shed blood of Jesus Christ and His resurrection provide the only grounds for justification and salvation for all people.  This justification and salvation is obtained by grace through faith alone for all who believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and only such as receive Jesus Christ, by faith, are born of the Holy Spirit and thus become children of God.

Water baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances to be observed by the Church during the present age.  They are not however, to be regarded as means of salvation or necessary for salvation.

The true Church is composed of all such persons who through saving faith in Jesus Christ have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and are united together in the Body of Christ of which He is the Head.

The paths of holiness are equally available to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people as they are to heterosexual people.

God ordains marriage for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people through His Apostle Paul, and provides us with the free will to choose between celibacy or life-long, monogamous, and faithful single gender marriage.

Jesus taught that gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people are born so from their mothers' wombs.

The passages in Scriptures condemning same gender sexual expressions are inerrant and correct, but are consistently and exclusively bound to the context of heterosexual, married men engaging in adultery, idolatry and/or rape, and are not a general condemnation of all forms of homosexual expression.

Same gender sexual expressions of life affirming love, comfort, and commitment are not only permitted by, but expected and blessed by God, for the purposes of maintaining sexual purity for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples within the bonds of single gender holy matrimony as a sacrament of, to, and before God.

There will be a bodily resurrection of the dead; of the believer to everlasting blessedness and joy with the Lord; of the unbeliever to judgment and everlasting conscious punishment which will not end.

The Lord and God possess an exhaustive foreknowledge of all things potential as well as actual and that there is nothing God does not know.

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Dear Valued Readers,
This blog is a work in progress. As events in the Church impact previously published posts, updates will be published at the end of each post in order to provide the utmost transparency and clarity to all concerned parties as this new move of God progresses. Readers may email thebedkeeper@gmail.com to discuss or comment on any posting. Please note that while all feedback is highly valued and appreciated, it may not be possible to reply to each email.

UPDATE 05.19.13: GREAT NEWS! Regarding the 04.29.12 UPDATE: After new considerations have come to light, I confidently continue my full personal endorsement of Lakewood Church as a SAFE SPACE for LGBT people to worship, and am pleased to encourage you to resume supporting this vibrant ministry financially. Details here.

UPDATE 03.05.13: GREAT NEWS! Regarding the 10.27.12 UPDATE: After new considerations have come to light, I confidently continue my full personal endorsement of Eagle Mountain International Church as a SAFE SPACE for LGBT people to worship, and am pleased to encourage you to resume supporting this vibrant ministry financially. Details here.

UPDATE 02.09.13: Listen in as Brian Anthony Bowen provides the NCK and Friends radio audience with valuable insights into Biblical support of Same Sex Marriage that the Church doesn't seem to want us to know!

Part One:
Part Two:

UPDATE 10.27.12:

Eagle Mountain International Church took an official position on gay marriage in a sermon on 10.14.12. While not in support of gay marriage, Pastor George reminds his congregation that "those considered to be gay" are equally worthy of love and compassion. Pastor Terri continues to consider being gay as "being caught up in bondage." Several passages of Scripture were quoted to support their views, but no mention was made of any Scriptures that disprove their view, such as discussed in Chapter One: Born This Way and Chapter Two: God Sanctioned Gay Marriage. While I am not rescinding my endorsement of Eagle Mountain International Church as a safe space for LGBT people to worship, I am officially recommending we no longer support them financially. It is clear we have a long way to go in educating the Church, and I remain hopefully confident that after the 2012 elections are over, we will have more opportunities to walk further into the new revelations from God's Word shared throughout this blog. I encourage all LGBT people and our families to continue to hold Pastor George and Terri up in prayer, so that the eyes of their understanding may be flooded with light, and they come to more fully understand the prophetic role that LGBT people play in the spiritual life of the Christian Church, and the return of Jesus Christ.

UPDATE 04.29.12:
My previous endorsement of Lakewood Church is hereby retracted due to this interview: wherein Pastor Joel Osteen declares that "being gay" itself is a sin. That is NOT what the Bible says, and I cannot support it, nor ask anyone else to. I explained this in a previous letter to Pastor Joel in response to his interview with Piers Morgan, which can be reviewed here. I apologize for the mixed messages my own comments may tend to manifest themselves as in this case, but it is an unfortunate result of Pastor Joel's own mixed messages, and his decision to tailor his messages to the audience to whom he is speaking at the time. Should he publicly apologize for his unScriptural comments, and declare he has come to understand the difference between saying "being gay is a sin" and "homosexuality is a sin" (to reflect Scripture's own narrowly defined context of married men who engaged in adultery on their wives to be with men...which has nothing to do with LGBT people), I hope to renew my endorsement of Lakewood Church at some point in the future....but not until then.

UPDATE 01.15.12:
Lakewood Church officially endorsed as a SAFE SPACE for LGBT people to worship! Details here.

UPDATE 11.22.11:
Eagle Mountain International Church officially endorsed as a SAFE SPACE for LGBT people to worship! Details here.

UPDATE 12.16.11:
Please also review the response shared with a debate panel regarding the Bible's position on homosexuality, that reveals the unScriptural stance "ex-gay" theology manifests itself as here.
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