Our Weekly Devotionals

Part 8: Sexual Purity (Homosexuality)

When the Lord tested me on homosexuality

 

One weekend, the Lord randomly confronted me, as if setting me a test. He asked me something like: “What do you know about homosexuality?”

 

He asked me in a style as if I was in a court room or say on live TV in today’s climate and I was being put to the test to answer why homosexuality was a sin. What would I say?

 

I was so shaken when it seemed all my arguments were being “shot down,” I even asked my wife to help me answer the Lord’s test.

 

My wife may not be a Bible scholar but she is full of common sense. She simply told me something like:

 

“In the beginning he created them, Adam and Eve, not Adam and Bob or Eve and Lilith!”

 

After her answer, I went to do detailed research on this gay question and found that there are churches like the Anglican episcopal church which accept homosexuality and say it is no longer a sin and they even rebut many Bible passages on the subject. This really perplexed me.

 

I then found other sites saying the words used in the Bible to describe homosexuality really meant paedophilia- that is the Bible was condemning the practice of men and young boys (which was common in Ancient Rome) but it was not true it was against homosexuality. I even read claims that part of the change from the word in the Bible of “paedophiles” to the modern day “homosexual” term came with the ESV English translation being incorrectly translated and other English versions followed what was not there previously!

 

All these, I had to research following the Lord’s question to me, so I could know with certainty the things I had been taught (by the Holy Spirit) (Luke 1:4).

 

How to deal with the homosexuality matter.

 

So, having been trained by the Lord, what is a good way to explain the sin of homosexuality and by extension sexual immorality today?

#1. In the beginning, when God created the institution of marriage, he made it very clear: “A man will leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife”. Genesis 2:24. Therefore marriage is exclusive to male and female. This is also the basis for monogamy in marriage.

#2. Sex by virtue of God’s design is exclusively for married couples.

#3. Because marriage is exclusive to male and females, and sex is only to be enjoyed within the confines of marriage - any sex outside a marriage covenant of a male and female, INCLUDING homosexuality, fornication, cohabiting (yes even this), adultery, bestiality, polyamory, and any other form of sex is a sin against God.

#4. Non married Spirit filled heterosexual Christians, and Spirit filled homosexual Christians having sex outside God’s model of marriage are defiling God’s holy temple -our bodies. For such, if they do not repent, the wrath of God will fall on them and they will not see God’s holy kingdom (See 1 Cor 6:9-11, 1 Timothy 1:10, Rev 21:8). God is consistent, if you have been redeemed, you should leave the former sins behind - hence why the Christian position that homosexuals can change (see 5 below).

#5. Just because someone is homosexual or has these tendencies doesn’t mean they can’t be redeemed for in the early church, there were homosexuals who were turned (1 Cor 6:9-11). Who is to tell if any of the heroes of the faith (Hebrews 11) were former homosexuals or struggled with homosexual feelings? We Christians believe in the blood of Jesus being able to cover all sins and in the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to be holy, as God is holy and to be like him, so we believe homosexuals can be redeemed.

#6. Christians do wrong to discriminate against those who are homosexuals for Jesus would have died for 1 such person, if they were the last person on earth. The scriptures make it clear: “love your enemy” (Matthew 5:44” and “love your neighbour as yourself” (Mark 12:31). This means from a biblical perspective, discrimination because one is gay is a sin against God, for we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory. Besides, if you commit just one sin, even a “minor” one (say discrimination, envy, gossip), because God is holy, you have sinned in all sins (James 2:10) - even the “major” ones and hence in God’s eyes, a discriminator or gossip might as well be a homosexual, a murderer, a practiser of witchcraft! This calls for humility.

#7. Christians should in discussions about homosexuality, differentiate between “moral law from God” - such as those I have laid out above and “laws countries set.” We should “Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar and to God what belongs to God.” This means, for example if a country affirms LBTQI equality we should respect those laws. The reverse is true, countries are free to choose what laws they impose, and we Christians should respect these laws, while holding on to our convictions - for we would rather fear God.

#8. Any conversations on this topic or any discussion with non-Christians should be handled with grace, gentleness, and respect for that is the biblical pattern including for preaching the gospel (See Colossians 4:5-6 and 1 Peter 3:14-15).

 

The spirit of the antichrist at work today

 

After all is said and done, all Christians should be aware of this revelation: the spirit of the antichrist is already at work (1 John 4:3) and so we Christians see that any current cultural changes that say it’s okay for gay people to be married or it’s okay for men to become women and vice versa is against our God and so is part of the spirit of the antichrist.

 

Why? Because marriage is a mystery and is a picture of Christ and his church (Ephesians 5:22-23) and in numerous places in scripture the Bible makes it clear that Christ (male) is coming back for his bride, the church (female) and will finally marry his bride at the marriage supper of the lamb and so anything that distorts this picture is part of the antichrist agenda and this is why Christians must be alert of the signs of the times!

 

To be continued…

 

Till next time.

Lots of love – your brother in the Lord and a servant of the Lord Jesus.