The Holy Spirit distinctly and expressly declares
that in latter times
some will turn away from the faith,
giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits
and doctrines that demons teach,
Through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars
whose consciences are seared (cauterized),
Who forbid people to marry
(1 Timothy 4:1-3)
Dear Brothers David, Sam, Chase and Nick,
Greetings in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ!
I am writing today in response to your December 14, 2011 program entitled Faith Today #11 - The Radical Message of the Bible on Homosexuality and Sexuality to offer some considered comments that I believe will enhance the understanding of viewers on this topic.
First, I want to say THANK YOU for the sensitivity, respect and intelligent approach each of you demonstrated, and for your courageous leadership in broaching one of the most divisive issues in the Church over the last 20 centuries. While you raise many great points, I hope to help flesh out some of the details on the matter that seem to have gone unaddressed in the short amount of time you had to devote to the subject. I hope doing so will empower you with a greater revelation knowledge that has begun to recently emerge on the scene from God's Word, and that is already beginning to spread throughout Christendom around the world.
My name is Brian Anthony Bowen, and I am the author of an upcoming book, The Bed Keeper, which is a forensic Scriptural study that sheds additional light on the topic while relying on Scripture as sole authority. I write today to take some of the comments made on your broadcast and offer a response in light of what Scripture actually says and doesn't say--and to whom--in regards to this subject, and bring out some of the details I have found during the course of writing The Bed Keeper over the past 7 years.
As Chase opens the show, he says,
"One of the things I think generates a lot of discussion around Christianity is the Bible's position on homosexuality. Quite frankly, there are people that are outside of the church that take it as horribly outdated, horribly offensive, and as evidence that the Church is backward and full of bigots. There are people inside the Church that take the Bible's position on homosexuality and use it as something of a ram rod, or a tool of hate, or something to persecute people that maybe they shouldn't."
RESPONSE: While I greatly appreciate the honest approach being disclosed here, it is also important to note that at no point in the show did anyone actually review for the audience what the "Bible's position on homosexuality" actually is aside from a small portion of 1 Corinthians, which is actually addressed to preachers who were whoring the Church for money and keeping boys on the side, such as we have heard of many doing in the Catholic, Evangelical, and now even Jewish communities of faith.
It is part of a lengthy letter from Paul that actually begins in 1 Corinthians 5:1 and runs on through until 1 Corinthians 7:40. Please see Chapter 2 God Sanctioned Gay Marriage of The Bed Keeper for a detailed examination of that passage, as well as Chapter 19 Go, And Sin No More that discusses the differences between "homosexual people," "homosexuality," and "heterosexual married men engaged in same gender expressions as acts of idolatry, adultery and/or violent rape as reflected in these examinations of Leviticus here, Romans here, 1 Corinthians here, 1 Timothy here, and Sodom here, and here.
This will take some time to review, but I think it's imperative if we want to truly present an accurate view of the Bible's actual position on homosexuality. Many people have heard certain Scriptures so often, they believe they know what they say by heart, but many times folks are actually just repeating what they have "heard" the Bible says, instead of quoting it verbatim. While this may seem a technicality, it's an absolutely vital component to presenting an accurate view of what the Bible truly says (and doesn't say)--and to whom.
To be certain, The Bed Keeper is not another book about what Scriptures no longer apply today. I believe God's Word is eternal, inerrant and accurate, and is the complete revelation of God's will in relationship to man, Jesus and the eternal life He died to give us all, and that Scriptures stand on their own authority for any Believer. However, I also see that the context of Scriptures addressing same gender expressions are exclusively and consistently couched within the context of heterosexual married men engaged in acts of adultery, idolatry or rape/prostitution. I hope that after examining the material I present here that you will also watch this sermon from Pastor George Pearsons of Eagle Mountain International Church from November 6, 2011, entitled:
Also, please consider Brother Kenneth Copeland's prophetic utterance regarding our place in the Kingdom of God from November 11, 2011, (available from YouTube) which seems to confirm by the Power of the Holy Spirit, what I am about to share with you in this letter. You can review the transcript to Brother Copeland's prophetic utterance here.
Please consider also Sister Billye Brim's teaching from her series, "Daniel" wherein she (along with Pastors George and Terri Pearsons) reveal to Eagle Mountain International Church a prophecy uttered by God through Brother Justus Du Plessis regarding this new move of God way back in August 1996, and my interpretation of its meaning here.
Please also review other pertinent open letters to:
As you explore The Bed Keeper you will find a collection of revelations from Scripture pertaining not only to the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, but also how we interact prophetically in cooperation with the Body of Christ to prepare the Bride of Christ for His return, and how God has assigned us specific tasks within the church; most notably, the task of bringing our offerings to His altar, and how the traditional teachings of Christianity on this subject has inadvertently prevented our offerings from reaching God's altar. In the process of reading this material, you'll learn how Shepherds have inadvertently "robbed the tithes from God," by preventing LGBT people from coming to Church to include ours on His altar as well. Further, this has also prevented the manifestation of the Glory of the Lord to the extent witnessed and testified to in 2 Chronicles 7, when the fire fell from heaven and consumed the offerings on the altar, and the Glory of the Lord filled the temple. Please see Chapter 20: Fire From Heaven for a more detailed explanation.
Since first beginning to receive this revelation from Scripture nearly 7 years ago, this message has continued to grow and mature to the point it is today, as Scripture has testified to Scripture, and 2 or 3 witnesses from Scripture have been revealed that verify each word I share in The Bed Keeper. This has resulted in the book being rather wordy, but at least it doesn’t leave any room for doubt, though there will always be room for some amount of disagreement, especially when first examining the evidence, even though it comes directly from Scripture itself.
It is also my sincere hope that your ministry team will stand in prayer for this work of God in the Church today. I am praying that The Bed Keeper helps you and your ministry team to have as complete a revelation from God’s Word as is humanly possible, in order to dispel the myths traditional Christianity has held as truth in times past, but also in order to help the Church position herself in a place where she is at last the Glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. It just so happens as you’ll see from Chapter 20: Fire From Heaven, that until LGBT people are affirmed in faith bodies all over the world, and also contributing our offerings on His altar, Jesus is prophetically prevented from returning to the earth until all prophecies are fulfilled (in accordance with Luke 24:44), including God’s Own prophecy to eunuchs in Isaiah 55:11-56:12 (whom Jesus teaches includes eunuchs born so from our mother’s womb in Matthew 19:11-12), whom you and I today refer to as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. Please see Chapter 4: Messengers of The King for a more detailed explanation.
It is my hope that if you continue to address the question in public venues, that you will first take the time to study these findings from The Bed Keeper, and become more intimately acquainted with what the differences are between "homosexuality" and "homosexual people" and "homosexual acts engaged in by heterosexual married men," so that you can provide more thorough and Scripturally accurate responses that not only avoids condemning all gay people out of hand, but at the same time, address all the heterosexual men engaged in cheating on their wives with other men, who currently get off Scott free as the Church has traditionally only scapegoated gay people, without ever considering that both Scripture (and life itself) portray a very different reality; a reality that once confronted, may indeed prove to be the cure for HIV/AIDS as homosexual and heterosexual mixing comes to an end.
And now I'd like to address some of the specific points raised during your own broadcast as Nick, (acting as moderator) asks some of the same questions posed to "a Christian Pastor on the Piers Morgan show." I don't know if you're talking about him or not, but my Pastor's name is Joel Osteen, and he was recently asked some of these same questions on the Piers Morgan show himself. Please see the open letter I wrote to him in response here.
NICK: "You're a Christian Pastor and you say you believe the Bible which means you're supposed to love all people. But it appears to me you have a rather unloving position when it comes to gay people. Are homosexuals welcome to come to your church? Are they welcome here at Agape Fellowship?"
DAVID: The answer to that question for me is YES! We've had over the time I've been here pastoring, we've had people here who have either privately confessed it to me, or even more openly have struggled with that issue, but they were in a place where they were saying, "I'm struggling with this. I've dealt with homosexual temptations, or I've been in that lifestyle. I believe I'm supposed to come out of it according to Christ, according to the Word (of God), and I'm trying to do that." We've walked them through that the best that we could, and so from that standpoint you can even ask the question someone that comes in who is homosexual, "are they welcome here?" ABSOLUTELY!
RESPONSE: With respect, your comments here indicate an unfounded assumption that the person who is "struggling with homosexuality" is also currently sexually active and is also gay. Many people "struggle with sin," even without having any sexual relations whatsoever. Saying "I've been in that lifestyle" should be clarified. For example, is the "lifestyle" about a heterosexual man who prostituted himself out to other men in order to fuel a drug habit? If so, it is highly unlikely he continues to "struggle" with being gay, and is more likely "struggling" to kick the drug habit for which he prostitutes himself through homosexual expressions, even though he is completely heterosexual.
Likewise, is this a heterosexual married man who seeks gay men for specific sexual favors which he is unable to obtain from his wife? Again, if so, it's unlikely he "struggles" with being gay, and more truthfully "struggles" with adultery.
If however, the people you were referring to as "struggling with homosexuality" are indeed gay themselves (and not heterosexual like the previous 2 examples I gave), then there is no "lifestyle" to "come out of." I realize it was most likely your intent to convey that someone confided in you that they are gay and no longer wish to be gay. That is perfectly fine to say, (and is very true of many gay people), but that is indeed what should be said if indeed the person you're referring to is gay. There is no "gay lifestyle" per se' unless you are referring to a lifestyle of picking people up at bars, in which case that would be equally applicable to the "heterosexual lifestyle." Further, a close examination of Chapter 2: God Sanctioned Gay Marriage and Chapter 3: For The Kingdom of Heaven of The Bed Keeper will reveal that a person is either gay or not, and according to Scripture there is no mandate from God to "come out of being gay," though a gay person may indeed choose to marry a person of the opposite gender to conceal that fact.
Further, Chapter 1: Born This Way of The Bed Keeper provides conclusive Biblical evidence that Jesus Himself confirmed we are born gay, and that God Himself demands gay people be included in His Congregation, and that we bring our offerings to His altar....even as we remain gay. I know that isn't what the Church teaches, but I think after examining the evidence presented more closely, you'll reach the same conclusion, even as I remain open to other interpretations if you'd care to discuss further. Key Scriptures: Matthew 19:11-12 Jesus proves we are born gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (See Chapter 1: Born This Way of The Bed Keeper for more details) Isaiah 55:11-56:12 God demands LGBT people be included and affirmed in church (and demands our offerings be included on His altar) before Jesus can return. (See Chapter 1: Born This Way, Chapter 3: For the Kingdom of Heaven, Chapter 4: Messengers of The King of The Bed Keeper for more details) 2 Chronicles 7:1-3 reads like a prophecy of what happens after our offerings get to God’s altar; the fire from heaven consumes the offerings, and the glory of the Lord fills the house (See Chapter 20: Fire From Heaven of The Bed Keeper for more details) Luke 24:44 Jesus confirms all prophecies must be fulfilled before He can return to the earth (See Chapter 4: Messengers of The King of The Bed Keeper for more details)
"Safe Space" can no longer mean "you're welcome to come to church if you're gay and bring your offerings." No, from this day forward, "Safe Space" can only be truly defined as "you're welcome to come to church if you're gay and bring your offerings because we see that Scripture does not condemn gay people themselves, but rather heterosexual married men engaging in adultery." After all Pastor, that's what the Bible actually says, and your unawareness of that fact will no longer provide you immunity from criticism and correction from the LGBT community, nor from judgment upon your entire congregation from God Himself:
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I will also reject you that you shall be no priest to Me; seeing you have forgotten the law of your God, I will also forget your children. Hosea 4:6
Ignorance to God's Word never changes God's Word, and He will hold blind shepherds to account, just as He said He would in Isaiah 56:10-12, 1 Corinthians 5-7, Malachi 2-3, and various other passages of Scripture. The Body of Christ can no longer afford to keep its head buried in the sand on this issue if we truly want to prepare the Church for the Return of Jesus Christ! Every Christian who ever lived and died before us and our own personal resurrections are on the line! God didn't just send Jesus to save us from eternal torment, but to raise us to eternal life. That will not happen without the Return of Christ, and He cannot return until all prophecies are fulfilled (Luke 24:44), and that includes Isaiah 55:11-56:12. See Chapter 4: Messengers of The King for a more detailed explanation.
Simply saying "homosexuality is sin" condemns all gay people (many of whom do not even have sexual relations of any kind), while at the same time ignoring the heterosexual married men who are actually engaged in the exact form of adultery that is actually being addressed specifically throughout Scripture. Of course they are also the ones who bring the tithes to the church (since most gay people have felt excluded by such public messages from the Church), and so it can take a brave Shepherd like Pastor George to shed light on this fact, and I hope you'll follow his leadership at Agape Fellowship. In short, homosexuality has been elevated to an 11th Commandment status, and has replaced God's Own Commandment against heterosexual adultery.
Doing so is to judge God's Own Law. But of course, I understand that is what traditional Christianity has always taught, and that traditions of men have long ago blindsided many Shepherds to the distinctions I hope to convey to you--and indeed the entire Body of Christ--throughout The Bed Keeper.
SAM: "Will your lifestyle be accepted here?" No. You will not feel comfortable in that lifestyle because you will be hearing the Scripture passages speaking against that kind of lifestyle. That lifestyle is not accepted here as far as actions, but the person who struggles with it, or the person who is professing homosexuality, is more than welcome and will not be treated differently. It's not like you have some disease or something.
RESPONSE: Actually, Romans 1 and Leviticus 18 both condemn heterosexual married men who cheated on their wives and/or worshipped idols, both of which are violations of the 10 Commandments. These passages also help us see the importance of not mixing heterosexual and homosexual interactions, and could quite possibly be the cure for HIV/AIDS. (See Chapter 16: Leviticus, Chapter 18: Romans and Chapter 19: Go, And Sin No More of The Bed Keeper for more details) 1 Corinthians 6:9-12 condemns preachers whoring the church for money (and for keeping boys on the side) in part of a lengthy letter that begins in 1 Corinthians 5:1 and goes all the way through till 1 Corinthians 7:40, even as Paul ordains single gender matrimony in the very same letter in 1 Corinthians 7:8-9 (See Chapter 2: God Sanctioned Gay Marriage, Chapter 17: Forbid to Marry, and Chapter 19: Go, And Sin No More of The Bed Keeper for more details)
DAVID: "You can take what you just said; if a person came in this fellowship who was in an open adulterous affair, and they came in with maybe the person they are having an affair with, the same thing is true: Are they welcome? ABSOLUTELY! Are we going to in some way accept what you're doing? No! The truth is going to be taught. We're gonna teach the Word and the Word stands against that, and so it is going to be an uncomfortable situation. But are you welcome? Are we gonna love you? Yes!
SAM: "Are we gonna love you? Absolutely! And we're gonna love you so much that we're going to show you what the Word of God says."
RESPONSE: I certainly hope so, and I hope you will take the time to become more intimately acquainted with the audience being addressed in Scripture so as to not inadvertently go against the Word of God, sin against a "struggling" Brother or Sister, and thereby sin against Christ Himself. Actually, the Apostle Paul ordained marriage for the same people Jesus verified were born incapable of heterosexual marriage. Key Scriptures: 1 Corinthians 7:8-9 and Matthew 19:11-12 (See Chapter 1 Born This Way and Chapter 2 God Sanctioned Gay Marriage and Chapter 19 Go And Sin No More of The Bed Keeper for more details), as well as 1 Timothy 4:1-3 wherein the Holy Spirit warns that in the latter times, some Christians would fall away from the faith, having been seduced by doctrines demons teach, through the hypocrisy and pretense of liars whose consciences have been seared, who “forbid people to marry.” At no other time in human history has all elements contained in this particular prophecy been fulfilled as we see today right before our very eyes. (See Chapter 2 God Sanctioned Gay Marriage and Chapter 17 Forbid To Marry of The Bed Keeper for more details)
CHASE: "The first word to homosexuals, the first word to someone struggling with adultery, the first word to someone struggling with alcohol, or pornography, or anything that the Bible calls as something that deviates from God's will....the first word to them is not, "STOP being a homosexual!," "STOP pornography!," "STOP lying!" The first word is the Gospel, because the fact of the matter is apart from the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross, apart from the indwelling Holy Spirit, we're not able to stop. That's the whole reason for the cross. And far too often, the message of the Church is "stop sinning, and it's foolishness, because our message is not "stop sinning," our message is the Gospel.
RESPONSE: While I agree the Church's response has traditionally been "STOP being homosexual" and I appreciate you recognizing that, I would disagree with the part where you say the message of the Church too often has been to "stop sinning." Even Jesus said to stop sinning. John 8:7
My point though is to be certain to whom the Bible said was sinning, and who wasn't, and to not assume that a person is sinning simply because they identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender. Indeed the Church should be addressing sin, and if we're going to address the sin the Bible actually speaks to in regards to homosexuality, you'll find that it is heterosexual married men engaged in adultery, or idolatry, a heterosexual man who is prostituting himself to fuel a drug habit, or a heterosexual man who has raped other heterosexual men in prison, and (surprisingly) not gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people), even as it likewise does not give LGBT people some "license to sin" either. Please see Chapter 19: Go And Sin No More of The Bed Keeper for a more detailed explanation in order to understand the difference between homosexual expressions committed by heterosexual men, and being homosexual, and the importance of keeping the marriage bed (even a gay marriage bed) undefiled.
DAVID: And we do this. I admit there's a problem in the Church where I think when it comes to alcoholism, when it comes to lust, you know, we have the "Hey come here! Yes we understand that! We'll walk with you through that, and the response to homosexuality is "Hey you really need to fix that and then come." But on the flip side, it is not loving to someone to pat them on the back and say, "Anything you're doing is okay." It is hypocritical love, it is a hypocritical form of love to not tell someone that the path that they are going down is a dangerous path. And I don't mean homosexuality, I mean sin in general--unrepentant sin--It's not loving.
RESPONSE: Again with respect, what is not loving is failing to take the time to examine to whom the Scriptures are actually referring, and assuming that just because someone identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender that they are also automatically engaged in any sexual relations of any type at all. Please see Chapter 19: Go And Sin No More of The Bed Keeper for a more detailed explanation.
NICK: So how do you reconcile the command to love all people with the position of homosexuality, some would say is radically intolerant?
CHASE: I can understand why a homosexual person would see the position of the Church as intolerant. And the reason for that is because so many people in the Church have treated 99% of sins this way, and homosexuality in a completely different way. And I want to say this: The Bible does not do that. The Bible does not treat homosexuality as a separate category of sin, does not list it as at the top of a hierarchy, does not give special instructions for Pastors on how to deal with homosexuality or homosexuals. The Bible lists it alongside lying, greed, adultery...and by the way, lying and greed are pretty acceptable sins in the Church. Homosexuality? We don't know how to deal with that. That's a problem. The problem HAS been in the Church, but it's not in the Word of God. It's not in the Truth.
RESPONSE: AGREED and AMEN! I hope the findings presented throughout The Bed Keeper will help explain that it has been the blinding effect on Church Shepherds that 2000 years of traditions have done to prevent the truth in God's Word concerning gay people from coming to light, while at the same time keeping any light from being shed on the fact that Scriptures generally address same gender expressions engaged in by heterosexual married men, and not LGBT people.
DAVID: And you know, "tolerant" of what? We are to be tolerant of people. We're to be tolerant of sinners who are struggling. But if you guys know I'm cheating on my wife, or you guys know that I'm caught in a lifestyle of looking at pornography every night on the internet, you are not to be tolerant of that behavior with me. You are to come to me and try to help turn me from those things through the Word, through the Gospel. Are you tolerant with me as a Brother? Yes! And love me? Yes! I'm not to be tolerant with the couple who is seeking my counsel and is living together outside of marriage or having sex before marriage. We're not to be tolerant of sin, according to the Word, but we are to be tolerant people, helping them in their struggle, teaching them the Gospel, and doing it with love and with grace and with patience and the Truth of what Scripture says. But we're all lost without the Gospel, without Jesus.
RESPONSE: With respect, that is something of a stretch for your friends to know you're engaged in any sinful behavior unless you come to them and ask them for help. If you are suggesting they watch outside your window each night to see if you have illicit heterosexual relationships or watch pornography every night, you have more problems than accepting gay people in your church. I believe this response was simply a "stock response" that has little basis in truth or reality or practical relevance. I don't mean to insult you by saying that, but when using it as a comparison to someone's sexual orientation, it makes it sound like other people "know" that a gay person is "sinning" just because they are honest about being gay. Knowing someone is gay in no way equates to knowing they are "in sin." The same holds true for heterosexuals who are single. You don't automatically "know" they are "in sin," either. Just because you're married doesn't mean your Brothers "know" you are committing adultery, or indulging in pornography.
NICK: But who is the Church to condemn someone who doesn't line up with your personal beliefs about homosexuality?
SAM: I don't care about my personal beliefs. It doesn't HAVE to line up with my personal beliefs. The Church as a Body...has got to stop treating this as its own little special sin. We can do that, but it has to line up with the Word of God. It doesn't matter about our own personal opinion. It doesn't matter what we think, it doesn't matter how we feel about it....it matters most that this is a person, just like you....So you line up with Scripture, you love them, you lead them in the truth.
RESPONSE: AGREED and AMEN! I appreciate your candor and for having the spiritual courage to say so! The Church needs to hear this more often! However, at the same time, I believe the Church has some catching up to do on what the truth of Scripture actually conveys to both gay people, and to heterosexual men engaged in same gender expressions as acts of adultery, idolatry and/or rape/prostitution.
NICK: The fact remains Jesus didn't outright condemn homosexuality.
CHASE: No, he didn't. Jesus, to our knowledge, as far as written down in the Bible, did not outright condemn homosexuality, but He actually went a step further, and what He said was, "not only is sex outside of marriage sinful, but He said if you even look at a person with lust in your heart, it is as if you've committed adultery." So He raised the bar exceedingly high for us. And understand this is not Jesus saying "Don't do this, don't do this, don't do this...these are bad things!" What He said (this is motivated by love): It is damaging to us to walk in lust. It is damaging to us and it severs the relationship with God." So no, Jesus didn't outright condemn homosexuality. There's several specifics He didn't outright condemn, but He goes to the heart of the issue when He says, "Even lustful thoughts are things that turn you away from truth, turn you away from God, and you need to repent of it."
RESPONSE: First of all, once we are in Christ Jesus, Scripture tells us NOTHING can "sever our relationship with God." If our relationship with God became severed with each mistep, none of us would be going to Heaven. Secondly, the reason Jesus didn't condemn homosexuality per se' is because the Scriptures already covered the topic as being acts of adultery engaged in by heterosexual married men, which Jesus most definitely covered. However, when speaking of even looking at another person with lust equated to committing adultery, that again has to remain confined to the definitions Jesus Himself conveys, and to whom. He was speaking to married men (or it wouldn't be adultery). Finally, please see Chapter 16: Leviticus of The Bed Keeper for an examination of Leviticus specifically and how the acts listed therein (including same gender expressions between men) are also addressed to heterosexual married men engaged in various forms of adultery, including with other men. It is not, however, a wholesale condemnation of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.
NICK: So is the panel saying you can't be gay and be a Christian?
DAVID: You know, without Christ we are lost, we're in darkness. The Bible says strong things. Without Christ, you're an enemy of God. The Bible says that. You are lost. When you become a Christian, when Christ comes into your life, the Holy Spirit transforms your heart, and you are given a new identity. You are a new person. You are no longer defined by the things that used to define you, so you are not an alcoholic, you are not sexually immoral, you're not gay. You are a Believer. You belong to God. That's your identity.
RESPONSE: Again, you equate "sexually immoral" to "gay." They are not synonymous and this is one thing that has kept so many LGBT people out of Church. This prejudgement upon our sexual proclivities based on our sexual identity is ill conceived and counterproductive to advancing the cause of Christ to LGBT people. It's again like calling all heterosexual men adulterers simply because they are married.
Further, if what you say here was true, you'd have to tell every heterosexual person they are no longer heterosexual. On the other hand, in Matthew 19:11-12 Jesus confirms indeed we are born gay, and God demands gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people be included (and affirmed as such) in His House of Prayer for all people, or it would render His prophecy in Isaiah 55:11-56:12 null and void, even as Isaiah 55:11 prefaces His prophecy with "so shall My Word be that goes forth out of My mouth...it shall not return to Me void...." and goes on to promise the eunuchs who keep the Sabbath sacred, choose the things that please God, and take firm hold of His covenant, shall be given a name better and more enduring than "sons and daughters" (Brothers and Sisters), will be given a memorial in His House and within His walls (Holy Communion), and will be given an everlasting name that shall not be cut off (Jesus). Then He goes on to promise our offerings will be accepted on His altar. If we were supposed to become "ex-gay" there would be nobody left to fulfill this prophecy. Our God-given identity as born eunuchs (gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people) is vitally crucial to the prophecy's fulfillment, while we will indeed be children of God by believing Jesus is the Son of God, (for all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons (and daughters) of God). Romans 8:14
If the Church wants to truly teach LGBT people the ways of God, we see there's plenty to understand from that prophecy alone, such as "what is the New Covenant?" "What things please God?" "What is keeping the Sabbath sacred to a Christian?"...and also, "Who is the Holy Spirit" and "What is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?"
If the Church wants to truly teach LGBT people the ways of God, we see there's plenty to understand from that prophecy alone, such as "what is the New Covenant?" "What things please God?" "What is keeping the Sabbath sacred to a Christian?"...and also, "Who is the Holy Spirit" and "What is the Baptism of the Holy Spirit?"
Too many LGBT people have been pushed away from God long before anyone even had a chance to tell us about the Holy Spirit, even though (as you said), only the Holy Spirit can regenerate the human spirit. Also, please see Chapter 1: Born This Way of The Bed Keeper to ascertain with the Word of God that indeed Jesus taught gay people are born so, and also Chapter 3: For The Kingdom of Heaven, Chapter 4: Messengers of The King and Chapter 20: Fire From Heaven of The Bed Keeper to see WHY God creates gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in the first place, and the prophetic purpose in His Kingdom toward the Return of Jesus Christ which we fulfill because we are gay, not in spite of it.
DAVID: But here's the key and what the Bible makes clear: with conversion, with salvation through Christ is repentance. That's how the Bible describes it. There's nothing in the Bible about "ask Jesus into your heart." That is not in there.
RESPONSE: Just a technical point, but actually it is. When the Ethiopian Eunuch is baptized, the only requirement was for him to "believe with all your heart with a conviction, full of joyful trust, that Jesus is the Messiah and accept Him as the Author of your salvation in the kingdom of God, giving Him your obedience." And the Eunuch replied, "I do believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." And he ordered that the chariot be stopped; and both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. Acts 8:37-38
DAVID: What is in there is repent and believe. Believe in Christ, repent, turn from your sins, and turn toward Jesus. And so what I say is you must repent of sin in order for there to be salvation. They go hand in hand in the Word.
RESPONSE: That's also true. (Acts 2)
DAVID: Whether it is heterosexual sin or homosexual sin, there must be some repentance there. You're not going to be perfect overnight. You're not going to lose the (probably) the struggle with it overnight.
RESPONSE: If you're gay, you will be gay, just as the eunuch continued to be referred to by Scripture as a eunuch even after his baptism. Also in 1 Corinthians 7:24 again Paul rejects ex-gay therapy saying: So, brethren, in whatever station or state or condition of life each one was when he was called, there let him continue with and close to God. Finally, if Jesus thought we should stop being gay and become heterosexual, it would render His exemption for Born Eunuchs from heterosexual marriage a moot point. If Jesus thought these Born Eunuchs should "change," He would have said so, yet did not.
DAVID: Those things are not necessarily going to happen. But you will have a new relationship with that sin. It will move from being something you live into, to something you are trying to move past with the help of the Holy Spirit.
RESPONSE: Actually the only "relationship with sin" after conversion is to be "dead to sin, and alive to Christ." There is no "relationship with sin" thereafter, only continual cleansing by Jesus Christ: Even so consider yourselves also dead to sin and your relation to it broken, but alive to God [living in unbroken fellowship with Him] in Christ Jesus. Romans 6:11.
This insistence by many Churches to strive to become heterosexual is not only in direct contradiction of God's Word and His purpose for LGBT people in His Kingdom, but also is why so many gay kids commit suicide. It seems the Church just isn't going to be happy with LGBT people until they've all become heterosexual, even as Jesus (Matthew 19:11-12), God (Isaiah 55:11-56:12) and the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:26-40 and 1 Timothy 4:1-3) all confirm we are to remain who God created us to be. If the entirety of the Holy Trinity is in on God's plan for LGBT people, it would seem the Church is the only one who hasn't yet received that good news from the Gospel.
This practice of giving LGBT people no choice to be who God created us to be and to fulfill the purposes His Word clearly has in store and outlined for us in His Kingdom leads to the hopelessness and despair that leads to so many gay teen suicides (again, before they have sex, so they don't go to hell for expressing the sexuality God Himself granted unto each of us). And again, to even assume anyone could change their sexual orientation (or should have to) would be to say that every heterosexual person who received Jesus as the Author of their salvation would have to then strive to become homosexual. God is no respecter of persons.
In reality, Scripture speaks to this practice by saying,
They tie up heavy loads, hard to bear, and place them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not lift a finger to help bear them. Matthew 23:4
Let no one defraud you by acting as an umpire and declaring you unworthy and disqualifying you for the prize, insisting on self-abasement and worship of angels, taking his stand on visions [he claims] he has seen, vainly puffed up by his sensuous notions and inflated by his unspiritual thoughts and fleshly conceit.... Colossians 2:18
The only thing listed in these two passages the church does *not* do is demand we also then worship angels.
In essence, this traditional stance from the Church amounts to what Jesus said of the Pharisees: ...you shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces; for you neither enter yourselves, nor do you allow those who are about to go in to do so. Matthew 23:13
CHASE: So a person with homosexual desires, can they inherit the Kingdom of God? ABSOLUTELY! Can a person with heterosexual desires do that? ABSOLUTELY!
RESPONSE: First DAVID said earlier: "you're not gay. You are a Believer. You belong to God. That's your identity." Then CHASE says: "So a person with homosexual desires, can they inherit the Kingdom of God? ABSOLUTELY!"
These present two contradictory responses. On the one hand, DAVID says, "you're not gay," and then CHASE says: "a person with homosexual desires"
The fact that a person has homosexual desires means they are gay by definition. Again, if we clarify what "a person with homosexual desires" means and conclude that we are discussing a heterosexual married man who desires to seek gay men for the specific sexual favors he cannot obtain from his wife, then we aren't really talking about "a person with homosexual desires," but rather a "heterosexual man who seeks gay men for fellatio." That doesn't mean the heterosexual man has "homosexual desires," or even "desires to be with a homosexual man," but simply that he "desires fellatio." I apologize for the blunt language, but let's call a spade a spade and stop acting like it doesn't happen, or that it doesn't affect any heterosexual men in your congregation. With the easy access bathhouses and other venues where gay men seek each other provide them, it has become common place for heterosexual men to infiltrate them for personal pleasure seeking of their own that has nothing to do with "homosexual desires" per se' but rather desires of a much more specific nature that they actually desire to receive from their own wife (or are single and have no woman to turn to for any sort of pleasure at all, such as happens in prisons every day of the week).
It also happens among lots of Christian gay men who claim they are a new person and no longer gay, yet still "struggle" even as their wives wait for them back at home as he "goes to the gym." Nothing causes the spread of HIV more than for men who (at the behest of the Church) pretend to be heterosexual and hide behind a wife, and then visit the gayborhood to continue to express his true sexual orientation. I've been in that situation with a girlfriend in my (much) younger days, so I know what I'm talking about, and it's a devastating way for both the woman and the gay man to live their lives as they search for the faux acceptance the Church promises in return....not to mention, it's unScriptural at every level and involves the Ten Commandment violations of adultery, lying and often times divorce. How can that be the wisdom of God?
Also, let's pause here to consider that currently (2011), new infection rates of HIV/AIDS occur in the World Health Organization's MSM category (men who have sex with men, regardless of their identified sexuality). The second highest new infection rate is among women (particularly women of color) who contract the disease from heterosexual partners. As the Church focuses its energy (and blame) on gay men, it would seem that these types of transmissions are impossible without the intermingling of heterosexual men having relations with both women AND gay men. Ignoring this not only fails to address the situation as honestly as Scripture itself does, but also provides these heterosexual men with immunity from scrutiny (and correction) from the Church, and prevents LGBT people from coming to your congregation as the safe space for worship it claims to be.
CHASE: 1 Corinthians 6 addresses the question. It's a little stark, but it's the Word of God!
9 Do you not know that the unjust will not inherit God's kingdom? Do not be deceived: no sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, homosexuals,
10 thieves, greedy people, drunkards, revilers, or swindlers will inherit God's kingdom.
11 Some of you were like this; but you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (Holman Christian Standard)
Some of the Corinthians were homosexuals, some of them were greedy, some of them were revilers, but but Paul says, "you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." So no inveterate adulterer will inherit the Kingdom of God. No unrepentant homosexual will, but neither will an unrepentant greedy person, or a reviler or drunkard. The Gospel of Jesus as you said is we repent, we turn away, we're saved.
RESPONSE: Actually the original translation states "those who participate in homosexuality," not "homosexuals" per se'. Again, this is another reason it's so important to specify and various loose translations often help lead to the blurring of the lines between the two. Once again, this portion of 1 Corinthians is actually addressed to preachers who were whoring the Church for money and keeping boys on the side, such as we have heard of many doing in the Catholic, Evangelical, and now even Jewish communities of faith. Notice also, this is not a typical list of sins like murder, disobeying parents, or even lying, but were confined to address exactly what the preacher in the Corinthian Church whom Paul was addressing was guilty of (as are the many preachers and clergy members in modern times that continue to be).
It is part of a lengthy letter from Paul that actually begins in 1 Corinthians 5:1 and runs on through until 1 Corinthians 7:40. Please see Chapter 2: God Sanctioned Gay Marriage of The Bed Keeper for a detailed examination of that passage, as well as Chapter 19: Go And Sin No More that discusses the differences between "homosexual people," "homosexuality," and "heterosexual married men engaged in same gender expressions as acts of idolatry, adultery and/or violent rape as reflected in these examinations of Leviticus here, Romans here, 1 Corinthians here, 1 Timothy here, and Sodom here, and here.
DAVID: Temptation is not sin.
RESPONSE: AGREED! Jesus was tempted in every way in the wilderness, yet without sinning.
DAVID: Struggling is not sin. As a matter of fact, struggling with it, is a good sign because without the Spirit there's no struggle anyway. When you're struggling with it, there's a good sign that there's something God is doing in your heart.
RESPONSE: AGREED! But again it's important to not assume that just because someone identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender that they are involved in any kind of sexual activity at all, nor that sexual activity is the only thing they may tend to "struggle" with. It's also important to realize that one of the other damaging side effects of the church demanding people become "ex-gay" is that the gay person has to at some point confess their sexuality to someone....someone who often times then uses that information to keep the gay person "in check" and "under control," or who identifies them as a potential same gender sexual partner (or victim) for themselves, with the added perceived insurance of secrecy...and within the walls of God's Own House.
NICK: If someone is born with one orientation or another (or for instance an alcoholic), then how can it be loving to condemn one's orientation?
CHASE: That's a great question.
DAVID: David Platt said, we don't always choose our temptations, but we always choose our response. We all are going to struggle with different things. Some of us from birth. I'm not going to get into the science of it. I don't believe it's been scientifically proven that there is a gene that cause you to be born that way. There may be some studies out there that show that or have a certain slant on them, but from what I've read that's not hard scientific evidence. But even if they showed that it is, the bottom line is the Bible speaks that we are..David said, "I came out of my mother's womb a sinner." So regardless if you could show hard evidence that someone is born with a gene that links them to alcoholism or born with a gene that links them to homosexuality, or someone can say they were born with a gene that links them to...every man in this room can say, they've struggled with wanting to have sex with multiple women throughout their life, where you've had that struggle, or you've had that thought life.
SAM: Speak for yourself!
RESPONSE: HA! EXACTLY Sam! Speak for yourself, David! This drives home the point about David's continued expression of biased views that assumes that just because someone identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender (or in this case, HETEROSEXUAL), that it equates to them automatically "struggling" with sexual sin. Nobody is perfect, and I don't mean to beat up on David, but it's a good illustration of what the root cause in the Church surrounding this issue is: biases, preconceived notions, myths, fables, legends, assumptions--all of which are actually varying degrees of judging others. It's subtle, and definitely comes from the enemy, not from people. As you explore Chapter 4: Messengers of The King of The Bed Keeper you'll see this is a dark spiritual force that has enveloped the entire Church, not just David.
The fact is, the enemy wants these preconceived notions and other various degrees of homophobia (a type of fear) to keep the Church divided, keep LGBT people out of Church, keep our offerings off God's altar, prevent the manifestation of the Glory of God in the Church, prevent the fulfillment of Isaiah 55:11-56:12, and ultimately prevent the Return of Jesus Christ by keeping God's House from being a House of Prayer for ALL people, including gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. It's nothing to be frightened of, and I think your show made great strides toward confronting it, but the conversation reveals some of the finer points still left to be addressed, and I appreciate each and every one of you for having the spiritual maturity to address it head on. True spiritual warfare, my Brothers! True spiritual warfare!
DAVID: I'm sorry, but you know what, none of us would say "I was born that way, so it's okay for me to go have sex with whoever I want to because I was born that way." We're all born with struggles but the answer is still the Gospel.
RESPONSE: AGREED! And predicated on maintaining sexual purity among LGBT people, Paul ordained single gender marriage for those whom Jesus exempted from heterosexual marriage. Please see Chapter 2: God Sanctioned Gay Marriage of The Bed Keeper for a more detailed examination, as well as Chapter 17: Forbid To Marry that addresses the passage from 1 Timothy 4:1-3 that shows the Holy Spirit warning how Christians would become deluded and seduced by doctrines that demons teach in the last days, and would "forbid people to marry."
SAM: There is a gene within us that cause us to lean towards sin, and that gene comes from Adam. We were born into sin with the fall. You can trace it all the way back to there if you want a gene to trace it to. We are born in sin and we are born with a sin nature. And whether it expresses itself through alcoholism, through adultery, through homosexuality, through murder, through thievery, we are born into sin.
RESPONSE: This is an excellent point, because it also proves that God created Adam and Eve with the original DNA programming necessary to give birth to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people through their descendants, or no people would be born gay, as Jesus said we were. Please see Chapter 1: Born This Way of The Bed Keeper for a more detailed explanation. But as mentioned, just because someone identifies as gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender does not automatically mean they are "in sin" even if all are born into a sinful state, and all have sinned and come short of the glory. Again, there's more than just sexual sin and that's true of heterosexual and homosexual people.
NICK: The case could be easily made that this position on homosexuality fosters hate and encourages bullying. So as a people who are commanded to love, so what are we to do with a position that encourages bullying and fosters hate?
CHASE: I think it's true. In one sense I believe the Church's position--not the Bible's--the Church's position on homosexuality in America has fostered bullying. Not all of us, but we've treated it as a different sin, and it has fostered things that aren't right. We need to fix that!
SAM: Well bottom line is: If it is fostering a bullying mentality, or if you are struggling with homosexuality and you're being bullied by someone in the Church then that's not Jesus. That's not following Jesus. That's following some kind of personal indifference to that particular sin. That is not following Jesus.
RESPONSE: While I appreciate the sympathetic understanding of the plight of gay teens who are bullied in school, it is important to realize it is in school....not in church. Most people in church won't show outright hatred within God's walls, but let their children get on the playground, and the demons of homophobia are unleashed in a way that leads far too many kids to commit suicide. The problem is these kids are mis-taught what the Bible actually says about LGBT people while they are in church, and from their parents who were taught the same misguided teachings when they were growing up, or continue to sit under at their current church, and they continue to promulgate these teachings into their own children. These kids then feel empowered (backed by the church itself) to go bully other kids, usually because they are being bullied by their own parents on the subject, who are most definitely often times bullied by their pastors.
It's also important to realize the very young age of these kids who are committing suicide, and realize they are killing themselves at a young age so as to ensure they never have sex and therefore are not going to hell. In short, they find death is the only path into God's arms. However, if we can get the Church educated on how vitally important LGBT people are to God's plans for the return of Jesus Christ, the parents of these bullies will become likewise better educated, and the LGBT kids and their parents won't feel so shunned by the church that they fail to go to church themselves. Again, this is a spiritual battle between good and evil, and young gay kids are the collateral damage (as are the lives of those kids who bully these teens to suicide and therefore become as guilty of murder as Cain was, and have to live with that realization for the rest of their lives too).
Whether they are ever incarcerated or not becomes an immaterial point as the rest of their lives become a living prison of guilt and condemnation, and all because of some bad preaching at a church designed to garner some "amens" and fuller collection plates for the preacher (who more often than not is only trying to divert suspicion away from his own homosexual desires, or molestation of young men in his own congregation on the side). THAT's what needs to be fixed! While I agree this does not come from Jesus, I flatly reject the notion it is based on "indifference," unless you're speaking of the indifferent attitudes so many Christians have who remain silent while their preacher (or a politician) bashes LGBT people in the pulpit and in the public square, and never have the courage to stand up and call them on it....until now, that is.
CHASE: And it's bigoted! What I mean is to single out homosexuality as a greater sin than others is BIGOTED. It is bigoted pure and simple. But this is what you can't do: You can't say to all the other sinners "repent and follow Jesus" and to the homosexuals, "I'm sorry we treated you bad, you don't have to repent." Because that's not the Gospel. The Gospel to everybody is repent and follow Jesus. The Gospel is the base of the cross is level. There's no sin greater than the other. Homosexuals aren't loved any less or any more.
RESPONSE: Agreed! And most church folks know this, and say this...while they're in church. But that's where this attitude seems to stop. And gay teens are bombarded by anti-gay messages from politicians, family members, and peers until they feel compelled to decide to become a bully or become bullied themselves. It's a vicious cycle. On the other hand, there ARE truths that are vitally and spiritually important to recognize and teach to LGBT people (and indeed the entire human race) such as conveyed in Chapter 19: Go And Sin No More of The Bed Keeper).
NICK: The Bible says "all have sinned." Period. Point blank. We don't get to choose our temptations, but we get to choose our reaction, and the fact of the matter is we all have sinned. We don't get to decide what our opinion is. The Bible tells us what the truth of God is, and that is our dividing line. And it gives sinners the ways to correct, and it gives the Church the response to sinners, and that's our only measuring stick.
RESPONSE: AGREED! And I hope to have illustrated throughout The Bed Keeper how that applies to LGBT people, and how it's important to not consider a gay person as "in sin" just because they are honest about being who God created us to be. The alternative is to lie (which is exactly what ex-gay therapies and attitudes bid us to do, in direct violation of the Ten Commandments). Jesus said we must worship God in spirit and in TRUTH. Ex-gay theology has us lying to our potential spouse, our potential children, our friends, family, and even God Himself (as if God doesn't know).
He created us for a unique and prophetic purpose in the Body of Christ, and everyone's resurrections depends on our fulfilling our role. Each person (gay and straight) has a role to play in ensuring Isaiah 55:11-56:12 comes to pass. It's far more than just making sure the Door to God's House is open widely enough for ALL to come to worship, but is also prophetically dependent on LGBT people bringing our offerings to His altar. Without both, the prophecy remains unfulfilled, meaning we can be as saved and sanctified and filled with the Holy Spirit as we want to, and will all still rot in our graves as long as the Church continues to (inadvertently or intentionally) prevent the Return of Jesus Christ, and our subsequent resurrections that raise us bodily into the eternal life Jesus died to give us all. If we examine John 3:16 carefully, we see Jesus doesn't just save us from sin, but from death itself. But it depends on all prophecies being fulfilled, as Jesus Himself said in Luke 24:44:
Then He said to them, This is what I told you while I was still with you: everything which is written concerning Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.
CHASE: There's probably people out there that are homosexuals or struggling with homosexuality watching this. Some of you have been bullied. Some of you have been mistreated by the Church. I want to say to you,
"We are sorry."
I don't know that I've ever done that, but we are sorry, we want to repent of that.
RESPONSE: On behalf of the entire worldwide LGBT community, I accept and appreciate that apology. I believe we all know this is a situation created by 2000 years of tradition, and I understand that steps are already underway to bring correction to the Church, just as we did in regards to slavery, women, healing, prosperity and the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. So again, THANK YOU! I hope it brings some solace to not only those of us who managed to live through the years of homophobia the Church has inflicted upon us, but to the family and friends of those who found death at the ages of 9, 11, 13 or 14 years old as the only path into God's arms.
CHASE: And I want to say this to you: Come to Jesus. Don't think you can clean up yourself. Maybe you're a homosexual and you're greedy. Or you're a homosexual and you're a gossiper. Look, you can't clean up one of them and not the other. Jesus is the One that does the cleansing. Come to Jesus. Follow Jesus. Let Him be the One that brings you sanctification and deals with all these issues. And if the Church discriminates against you find a place that won't. That will love you in Jesus and still call you to embrace the Gospel and repent.
RESPONSE: You'd be surprised how many LGBT people are already Christians just looking for a Church to call Home. I hope Agape Fellowship will take steps to ensure they are part of this new move of God. The fact you men took the time to tackle the issue, and took those first tentative steps toward reconciliation tells me you have a heart to address it in accordance with God's Word. You may not believe everything I share in The Bed Keeper right away, and that's okay. But unfortunately a "welcoming but not affirming" stance is not in line with God's Word, nor is it conducive to encouraging us to come to your church, nor to bring our offerings to God's altar there. Only by recognizing the Scriptures addressing same gender expressions and the heterosexual married men they are actually addressed to will qualify any assembly as a "safe space."
We've felt betrayed already by too many churches who have taken the stance that we are welcome to come to church as long as we're willing to denounce who we are, strive to become heterosexual, and if at all possible, marry a person of the opposite gender and have children to at least "keep up appearances." Only to find that those of us who do not choose that path are still condemned in the public square (and often by the same preachers we trusted to embrace us in the first place). But times are changing as we continue to receive progressive revelation from God's divine plans from His Word.
And let's take a moment to look at the downside to the traditional stance. First, we have all these gay men married to heterosexual women. As the marriage goes on, children are brought into the world, but the man is still gay, and that means the woman most likely continues to go long periods of time without the comfort that a healthy sexual component from a heterosexual man would provide. Eventually the gay man (also sexually frustrated from going long periods of time without the comfort that a healthy sexual component from a homosexual man--in a faithful single gender marriage--would provide, until either the gay man or the heterosexual woman begins to search outside the marriage for the companionship each of them are born to naturally seek and engage in, within the bonds of marriage (including single gender marriage that Paul ordained in 1 Corinthians 7:8-9 based on "it is better to marry than burn in our lusts" as he makes the same recognition of born eunuchs that Jesus exempted from heterosexual marriage in Matthew 19:11-12).
So now we have a lot of marriages that either have both partners committing adultery, or both are sexually frustrated, and in either case, often leads to divorce. At the same time, we have the gay man lying to his heterosexual wife (and God) by saying "I'm a new creation in Christ and so I'm now heterosexual as God intended." But as we'll see in Matthew 19:11-12, God never intended for a gay man to be heterosexual. Paul rejects ex-gay theology in 1 Corinthians 7:24 saying "So, brethren, in whatever station or state or condition of life each one was when he was called, there let him continue with and close to God." As we'll see in Chapter 3 For The Kingdom of Heaven of The Bed Keeper, after the eunuch was baptized by Philip, Scripture continues to refer to him as a eunuch. Philip didn't tell him to go sign up for the next "ex-eunuch" conference that rolled into town, nor did he tell him to go marry a woman...more importantly, neither did Jesus or God. In fact, Philip never even mentioned sexual sin.
All he did was read to him from Isaiah 53-56, which includes God's prophecy to eunuchs (which Jesus proves included born eunuchs, whom you and I refer to today as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people). In fact, in Eastern countries like India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Istanbul, the Supreme Court there in 2009 approved a separate legal recognition for LGBT people and referred to them as "EUNUCHS." The problem with Western society's understanding of Scripture is that the euphemism of eunuch that Jesus used has been primarily defined as celibate or castrated men, when in fact, Jesus mentioned a third type of eunuch (the born eunuchs), and God identifies some eunuchs as female by referring to us as "sons" and "daughters" in His prophecy to us in Isaiah 55:11-56:12.
Then we have to consider one more thing that happens because of ex-gay theology: All these heterosexual women who are married to gay men are now "off the market" for heterosexual single men who then turn to gay men because they have no woman. And we have the stats now to prove it when looking at the new infection rates of HIV in women who contract the disease from heterosexual partners. We have to break the cycle.
I have already begun sharing this message on Twitter, and through the blog version of the book, more than 27,000 people in 83 countries have already taken a glimpse into the future of the Body of Christ, and seen that it is indeed good! I hope you’ll follow me on Twitter where I am known as @TheBedKeeper so that you can see how I envision parts of this message can best be communicated to the LGBT community, and in the meantime, that you will begin the process of praying with your partners (and prayer ministers the world over) on the best practices for revealing this message to the congregation at your church as well as all your associate Shepherds and ministries in the Body of Christ, and come to lead them in the best way to reveal this message to members of their own flocks, and LGBT people in their own communities.
I wish your ministry every success and pray you will stand in prayer for these new revelations from God's Word and their successful implementation at Agape Fellowship and throughout the Body of Christ, and provide us all with an opportunity for this message to be revealed from within the Church outward, rather than be forced to reveal this message to the masses and hope the church catches up, and thereby sacrifice the last remaining shreds of Scriptural and moral authority the Church seems to have in the earth today, (and quite possibly push LGBT people even further away as their suspicions of the church’s errors are proven correct). Their reaction to the message will be dependant solely on the way the Church handles this; either as an “Angels and Demons” type expose’ from someone outside the Church, or as a responsible Body of Believers who are open enough to correction to right the ship ourselves, just as we did concerning the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, women, slavery, prosperity, health, and indeed the Protestant Reformation itself. Throughout the process, prayer will be the power that binds us in united purpose as we see prophecy begin to unfold in front of our very eyes.
It is my intent to publish this book on February 1, 2012 unless a strong ministry steps forward that is willing to lead this message from within the Church instead, because this isn’t just about the American Christian Church. God has placed LGBT people in every nation, every city, every race, every family, and every RELIGION (and denominations therein)! I sincerely believe as Christianity opens the path to God for Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish, Pagan, Wiccan, Universalist, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Black Israelite, and even Atheist and Agnostic gay people, He will use LGBT people themselves to spread the Word amongst ourselves, cross every religious dividing line, and invite them into the Christian fold. (Please see Chapter 21: GAZA: Holy Land for Gays for a more detailed explanation). It’s a big job, and we need a big ministry to pull it off. But no ministry can do it alone, and no ministry can succeed without a powerful force of intercessory prayers pleading on God's behalf for His Will to be done in the earth, and for His Word to go forth and accomplish that which He pleases and purposes, so it will indeed PROSPER in the thing for which He sent it.
Other various chapters of The Bed Keeper are geared toward helping LGBT people understand Christian principles such as the New Covenant (Chapter 5), Keeping the Sabbath and Understanding the Significance of Pentecost (Chapter 6), Baptism of the Holy Spirit (Chapter 7), Bearing Fruit for God (Chapter 8), FAITH (Chapter 9), Creation and Evolution (Chapter 11 and Chapter 12) the Significance of the Rainbow Flag and God’s Rainbow Covenant (Chapter 13), the Destruction of Sodom (Chapter 14 and Chapter 15), and understanding the difference between homosexual expressions committed by heterosexual men, and being homosexual, and the importance of keeping the marriage bed (even a gay marriage bed) undefiled (Chapter 19).
It has been my intent to not only reveal the message from God’s Word to the churches regarding LGBT people being affirmed in every church and bringing their offerings to God’s altar in order for Jesus to return, but also to train up LGBT believers in the very basic principles of the faith as I have learned from Pastor Joel and Victoria Osteen, Brother Kenneth and Sister Gloria Copeland, Pastors George and Terri Pearsons, Sister Billye Brim, Joyce Meyer, as well as many others in the Charismatic move of God. I pray you will especially lift these leaders up in prayer as they take those first brave steps into the future of the Body of Christ.
I also wanted to help you understand my motivation. I do not see myself becoming a preacher. I think my time is better spent staying at home, staying in the Word, praying, and simply sharing my findings as the Holy Spirit continues to lead me through Scripture. I believe I am called to teach, not preach. I am at a point where I believe the message is mature enough to be iron clad (Scripturally speaking) and I know in my spirit there is much more that will “hook up” to it as I move forward. My hope for now is that you can simply begin helping the church get prayed up, and that I can hopefully be assigned a contact within your ministry that provides a conduit from me to you without having to go public with everything just to get the Church’s attention, or without having to disturb your own anointing every time I get something new.
I know that I can’t be in all places and all churches at one time. I am not able to do a lot of travel or speaking engagements or book signings, although I am willing to make myself available for occasional person-to-person visits here in Houston to discuss various points, if absolutely necessary. Hopefully most questions, comments and concerns can be addressed via email, where nobody can interrupt each other, and a written train of thought can be assembled and referred back to for all to consider as time moves on and the message continues to “gel.”
I am open to correction, and alternate interpretations of the findings I’ve shared herein, and hope to (if nothing else) at least catch any serious doctrinal errors PRIOR to publishing. But in 7 years of study and sharing aspects of this message with other pastors and lay people in online venues, I have yet to come across any that either don’t ignore certain passages of Scripture, or contradict others. Many have proven that it’s easy to simply disagree with the message. None thus far have been able to provide Scripturally sound alternate interpretations. Perhaps you can put your best in-house theologians on this and begin a respectful dialogue between as many parties as are necessary in an online private venue, such as an intranet or private message board, where people can contribute as time permits, and encourage your pray-ers to keep these revelations and this new move of God mentioned in their prayers. I don’t really know how God is going to reveal this message to the masses. I only can share how I prefer He does so, and what I am willing to do to make it happen in a way that keeps it (to a large extent) “private church business” until such time all parties are comfortable with rolling it out to pastors’ conferences, and eventually the world wide Christian church.
One can put 1,000 to flight, 2 can put 10,000 to flight….and we NEED thousands of pastors sharing the message at about the same time, in order to foil Satan’s plot to keep these findings shrouded in misguided fear and homophobia to prevent the fulfillment of Isaiah 55:11-56:12, and prevent the return of Jesus Christ for as long as he can. Overcoming the enemy's plots against these revelations is of utmost importance, and as a partner of Prayer Mountain, I hope you share their mission to "pray in the plans of God, and to thwart the plans of the enemy against them."
This isn’t just another book about how the church is wrong, or what Scriptures LGBT people can feel free to ignore. No, this is a forensic look at Scripture AS IS, as we allow it to help us all come to a more nuanced and detailed understanding of the insights, ideas and concepts contained therein as pertains to the return of Jesus Christ, and the role LGBT people play in that Great Day. What I have found time and again is that the church has indeed not been “inaccurate” about many of Her traditional teachings on the subject, but she has been “incomplete,” and has suffered from a lack of specificity (and honestly from the lack of perspective from serious students of God’s Word, who just happen to be gay as well). As I always tell my LGBT friends:
It’s not about “THE GAY!” It’s about “THE DAY!”
If there is anything I can do to help you reach an affirmative decision, or anything I can unite with you in prayer over, please feel free to contact me via Twitter @TheBedKeeper, or through email at thebedkeeper@gmail.com. Thank you so much for your time and consideration. I pray the material you are about to explore will prove to be a blessing to you personally as a member of the Body of Christ, but also as a ministry to a world full of lost, hurting, and rejected people. LGBT people have a God ordained place in the Body of Christ. Jesus, God, and the Holy Spirit have all confirmed it is so. But tradition has set the Word of God aside, deprived it of authority, and made the Word of God inoperable…at least until now.
Then those who feared the Lord talked often one to another; and the Lord listened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him of those who reverenced and worshipfully feared the Lord and who thought on His name.
And they shall be Mine, says the Lord of hosts, in that day when I publicly recognize and openly declare them to be My jewels (My special possession, My peculiar treasure). And I will spare them, as a man spares his own son who serves him.
Then shall you return and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him who serves God and him who does not serve Him. Malachi 3:16-18
The writing of the "Book of Remembrance" has begun, my Brothers, and I just know by the Spirit that Agape Fellowship will be included in it! The only question is when. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to make sure it's sooner, rather than later!
God bless you, Brothers!! I hope to hear from you or a contact in your ministry soon!
God loves you! I love you! And remember: JESUS IS LORD!
Sincerely,
Brian Anthony Bowen
Author, The Bed Keeper
PS: I encourage Church leaders and ministers to read this manuscript in reverse order, beginning with the last chapter first (Chapter 21: GAZA: Holy Land for Gays). It will provide incentive to continue studying, take readers back through to undo the traditional understandings of the subject, and end up where LGBT people are as defined by Scripture. For LGBT people, I encourage them to read it in the order in which it appears, beginning with our birth, and moving forward to the culmination of the Church Age as Jesus Christ cracks open the sky and catches away the Church!
See ya there!
PPS: The easiest way to get started exploring may be to review Frequently Asked Questions which addresses the most common traditional teachings regarding the issue of homosexuality, with convenient links that take you directly to the pertinent chapters of The Bed Keeper for complete and Scripture based responses.
PS: I encourage Church leaders and ministers to read this manuscript in reverse order, beginning with the last chapter first (Chapter 21: GAZA: Holy Land for Gays). It will provide incentive to continue studying, take readers back through to undo the traditional understandings of the subject, and end up where LGBT people are as defined by Scripture. For LGBT people, I encourage them to read it in the order in which it appears, beginning with our birth, and moving forward to the culmination of the Church Age as Jesus Christ cracks open the sky and catches away the Church!
See ya there!
PPS: The easiest way to get started exploring may be to review Frequently Asked Questions which addresses the most common traditional teachings regarding the issue of homosexuality, with convenient links that take you directly to the pertinent chapters of The Bed Keeper for complete and Scripture based responses.
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Let him who receives instruction in the Word of God share all good things with his teacher, contributing to his support. Galatians 6:6
10% of all donations received by this ministry are tithed to my personal Home Church.
The remaining 90% are used exclusively to purchase necessary equipment, to cover fees related to funding our ministry website, to produce, advertise, publish, and distribute teaching media, books, and videos, and to fund regular operational costs incurred in the process of reaching out to Churches and Pastors to share these teachings with their Congregations.
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