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IS
HOMOSEXUALITY A
SIN?
What
does the Bible say?
by:
Pastor Max Solbrekken, D.D.
"Blessed
are they that keep his
testimonies, and that seek
him with the whole
heart." (Psalms
119:2)
Jesus
said, "But seek ye
first the kingdom of God,
and His righteousness; and all
these things shall be added
unto you." (Matthew
6:33)
 IS
HOMOSEXUALITY A SIN?
The
Bible says: "The joy of
the hypocrite is but for a
moment." (Job 20:5)
Could that apply to the
standing ovation afforded
newly consecrated Episcopal
Bishop V. Gene Robinson who in
a historic and divisive move
became the first openly
homosexual bishop in that U.S.
destination?
It
is clear from the medical
statements on the homosexual
lifestyle that much of the
sexual activity in that
community revolves around
men's or boy's rectums!
Benchmark
Ruling: In the 1995 Rosenburg
decision, A Canadian Federal
Court ruled that the age of
consent for sodomy must be
reduced to 14 years from 18,
since anal sex is "a
basic form of expression for
gay men."
Here
is what Psychiatrists,
educators, legislators and
'Men of God' have said about
homosexual practice since time
immemorial:
Dr.
Daniel Cappon,
psychiatrist at the University
of Toronto, who treated
hundreds of homosexuals over
the years, stated: "Homosexuality by
definition, is not healthy or
wholesome.. At worst, the
homosexual person will die
younger and suffer emotional,
mental and physical illnesses
more often than the normal
person. The natural
history of the homosexual
person seems to be one of
frigidity, impotence, broken
personal relationships,
psychosomatic disorders,
alcoholism, paranoia and
suicide."
HARRY
JAFFA, professor Emeritus
of Claremont McKenna College
writes: "From ancient and
Biblical times, anal sexual
intercourse has been regarded
by the greatest Legislators
and Moralists as a vicious
sexual perversion. It is
condemned equally by the Old
and New Testaments... Thomas
Jefferson, in a criminal code
written during the American
Revolution, made it a FELONY
to the same class as
RAPE."
JOHN
WESLEY - founder of the
Methodist Church - stated that
the judgment of God upon those
who practice the sin of
homosexuality, as found in
Romans Chapter 1:24-28, was
that God lifted His Spirit
from them and allowed an evil
spirit to bring darkness and
perversion into their minds,
so that they no longer knew
right from wrong! John
Wesley's Commentary on Romans,
Chapter 1 states: "Receiving the just
recompense of their error,
their idolatry, being punished
with unnatural lust; which was
as horrible a dishonor to the
body, as their idolatry was to
God."
MARTIN
LUTHER - leader of the
Protestant Reformation - declared that some Roman
Catholic priests committed
fornication with woman
worshippers. Referring
to homosexuality, Luther
stated: "Some of the
priests are committing a sin
among themselves that is too
horrible to mention by
name."
Pundits
who are 'homosexual crusades' (i.e. - one who hatefully
labels anyone disagreeing with
this viewpoint - homophobic;
one who is obsessed with
elevating sodomy to a place of
normalcy and above), often
write about "the love
that dare not speak its
name." Is that not
a misnomer? Should it
not rather be called "lust"?
I am
sure that the great 16th
century prophet Martin Luther
would agree.
THE
UNTHINKABLE HAPPENED
St.
Paul detailed the tragic and
hopeless condition of people
who had known God but forsaken
Him, in his 'Epistle to the
Romans.' The Sovereign
Lord had revealed Himself to
them through His creation.
Even though they had
fellowshipped with Him, they
became unthankful and
repressed the knowledge of God
(like our high schools and
universities), because of
their sinful lifestyles!
They
"held (repressed) the
truth in
unrighteousness",
therefore God sent them a
strong delusion that they
would believe a lie.
Since they had knowingly
turned "the truth of God
into a lie", He allowed
an evil spirit to cloud their
minds, rendering them unable
to differentiate between right
and wrong!
Their
precipitous fall from wisdom
to a depraved mind, becoming
reprobates and finally sexual
perverts (homosexual acts) as
terribly sad. "For
this cause God gave them up
unto vile affection: for even
their women did change into
that which is against nature.
And likewise also the men,
leaving the natural use of the
woman, burned in their lust
one toward another; men with
men working that which in
unseemly (shameful) and
receiving in themselves that
recompense of their error
which was meet their (due)."
"And
even as they did not like to
retain God in their knowledge,
God gave them over to a
reprobate (debased) mind, to
do those things which are not
convenient (fitting)."
(Romans 1:26-28)
THE
DOWNWARD SPIRAL
1.
They knew God and had been
endowed with wisdom through
their God-given gift of reason
and faith!
The
Creator had revealed to them
His great power through His
creation. Only a very
foolish person would reject
God after witnessing His power
in the earth, universe and
cosmos which He created for
His glory and our use!
They were endowed with
normalcy and a mental capacity
to know right from wrong!
(verse 19,20)
David
stated: "The fool hath
said in his heart there is no
God." (Psalms 14:1)
David was making the point
that a fool (idiot, imbecile)
doesn't know any better
because an idiot has no
reasoning ability. He is
not responsible for his
ridiculous statements about
God.
2.
They held down the truth in
unrighteousness. They
repressed the truth because of
advantage, compromise, fear or
cover-up
They
knew the truth, but didn't
embrace, practice or preach
it. They repressed it,
similar to preachers who know
that they should warn their
congregations about the
eternal consequences of
sinning and their need to
receive Jesus Christ as
Saviour and Lord, but repress
these truths for fear of
losing their position.
Similarly,
politicians voted against
defending the sacred rite of
marriage between one man and
one woman, to the exclusion of
all others, even though they
knew they were doing wrong.
3.
They stopped thanking God,
became proud and vain in their
imaginations and their foolish
heart was darkened
Professing
themselves to be wise, they
became FOOLS. In essence, they
became their own God! They
fell from being wise to
becoming fools when their
"foolish heart became
darkened". And they began
worshipping themselves and
created beings like birds,
animals and creeping things
like snakes and vermin!
4.
Then, God gave them up to
uncleanness through the lusts
of their own hearts, to
DISHONOUR their own bodies
between themselves!
They
changed the truth of God into
a lie, worshipping the
creature instead of the
Creator!
Because
of this, God allowed evil
spirits of perversion to
possess them, and they began
to burn with sexual lust after
members of their own sex -
homosexual lust - men with men
and women with women - being
filled with vile and unnatural
passions.
Since
they did not want God in their
lives, He removed His
protection from them. He let
them go their own way and do
their own thing and
consequently, evil spirits
filled the void by giving them
a reprobate mind. They brought
the judgment of God upon
themselves.
These
individuals digressed from
being wise to repressing the
truth. Being proud and
unthankful, they became fools
with a darkened mind,
believing that they themselves
were God. They expedited their
rapid descent by worshipping
birds, animals and creeping
things!
Being
beyond redemption, God gave
them up to pervert their
bodies between themselves!
Like the angels who "left
their first estate" as
angels, and assumed human
bodies to have sexual
intercourse with women, the
people St. Paul refers to also
"left their first
estate"
as men, and had sexual
intercourse with members of
their own sex (homosexual
sex). Their women did
likewise, bringing upon
themselves God's wrath and
condemnation!
THEIR
HOMOSEXUAL ACTIVITY HAD MADE
THEM BECOME REPROBATES IN
GOD'S EYES!
It
is noteworthy, that God's
judgment upon the fallen
angels who had sex with human
females was drastic. The
Scriptures say that they are
presently imprisoned in a
place called 'Tartarus',
awaiting final
judgment at the hand of the
Almighty! (Jude 6, 7)
The
perverts that St. Paul speaks
about here were also judged
and placed outside of God's
protection and given a
reprobate mind, not knowing
right from wrong! This is what
John Wesley referred to! Some
theologians believe that
homosexuals cannot be
redeemed, citing the Scripture
in Romans, as well as the case
of the fallen angels
imprisoned in Tartarus.
On
the contrary, I believe that
because of God's grace, all
homosexuals could be saved, if
they repented of their sins
and cried out to Almighty God
for mercy, and renounced their
wicked lifestyle.
He
delights in being merciful to
all who call upon His Holy
name in sincerity and truth!
Because GOD is love! The
people referred to by St. Paul
did not seek God in
repentance. They did not ask
for forgiveness or seek to
change their evil ways!
Also,
in the case of the angels that
"left their first
estate",
they did not have a free will
as we do. They were created as
angelic beings to do God's
bidding! They did not have a
sinful nature to deal with as
we do! Their terrible fall was
unforgivable and they have
suffered the consequences and
will do so forever!
Human
reprobates, however, like all
other sinners can be saved by
the mercy of God through the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ on
Calvary’s cross for us all!
Hallelujah! I have
personally witnessed the
conversion and transformation
of a number of homosexuals!
Like
all sinners, the miracle
happens when the seeking soul
calls out for mercy, asking
for God's forgiveness and
inviting Jesus Christ to come
into his heart!
Here
are three sins which God
cannot forgive:
I.
The Unpardonable Sin -
"Verily I say unto you. All
sins shall be forgiven unto
the sons of men, and
blasphemies wherewith soever
they shall blaspheme: But he
that shall blaspheme against
the Holy Ghost hath never
forgiveness, but is in danger
of eternal damnation: Because
they said He had an unclean
spirit." (Mark
3: 28-30)
The
Pharisees accused Jesus of
'casting out' evil spirit
from those possessed, by the
power of Beelzebub the prince
of devils. Jesus stated that
by calling the blessed Holy
Spirit a devil, they were
blaspheming Him!
This
is called 'The
Unpardonable Sin' "For
if ye forgive men their
trespasses, your Heavenly
Father will also forgive you:
But if you forgive not men
their trespasses, neither will
your Father forgive your
trespasses." (Matthew
6: 14-15)
"So
likewise shall My Heavenly
Father do also unto you, if ye
from your heart, forgive not
every one his brother their
trespasses." (Matthew 19:
35)
In
the LORD'S PRAYER, He
points out the seriousness of
refusing to forgive someone
who has wronged us. We have no
other option, but to forgive!
And in this parable, Jesus
paints a picture of the great
debt God has forgiven us in
comparison to the
insignificantly small debt
others owe us! If we who were
guilty of such a great sin
against God that He had to
send His Son to pay our
penalty, should we not be
willing to forgive those who
have wronged us?
If
we refuse to do so, He cannot
forgive us!
The
Sin Unto Death - "If
any man see his brother sin a
sin which is not unto death,
he shall ask, and he shall
give him life for them that
sin not unto death. There is a
sin unto death: I do not say
that he should pray for it.
All unrighteousness is sin:
and there is a sin unto
death." (1 John 5: 16-17)
For
years, I sought God through
prayer and Bible study for
enlightenment regarding the
"sin unto death". I have
come to the conclusion, that
it is the awful sin of
deliberately and knowingly
rejecting the divinity of
Jesus Christ, after having
believed on Him and having
known Him as Lord and Saviour!
In
his Gospel and throughout his
epistles, St. John majors on
the fact that Jesus was God in
human flesh! God the Son was
incarnated, begotten of the
Father, born of a virgin
woman, died victoriously as
our substitute on a rugged
cross and arose from the dead
effectively destroying the
power of sin, death, hell and Satan, having
thereby met the demands of
divine justice and purchased
our full salvation for time
and eternity!
The
writer to the Hebrews - probably St. Paul
- spells it
out in no uncertain terms:
"For it is impossible for
those who were once
enlightened, and have tasted
of the heavenly gift, and were
made partakers of the Holy
Ghost."
"And
have tasted the good Word of
God, and the powers of the
world to come, If they shall
fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance; seeing them
crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh, and put Him to
an open shame." (Hebrews
6:4-6)
It
has been written, that the
hatred for Jesus Christ by the
religious authorities was so
vehement after His
resurrection and because of
the split in Judaism and the
tremendous growth of the
Church, that anyone desiring
to be reinstated in the
synagogue had to renounce
Jesus Christ in a public
ceremony by walking over the
blood of a swine, as though it
were the blood of our Lord!
If
this were the case, you can
readily see what the Bible
refers to in these two
passages! "...seeing they
crucify to themselves the Son
of God afresh, and put Him to
an open shame." (Hebrews
6:6)
"Of
how much sorer punishment,
suppose ye, shall he be
thought worthy, who hath
trodden foot the Son of God,
and bath counted the blood of
the covenant, wherewith he was
sanctified, an unholy thing,
and hath done despite to the
Spirit of grace?"
(Hebrews 10:29)
THE
BIBLE IS THE WRITTEN WORD OF
GOD AND JESUS IS THE LIVING
WORD
Jesus
is the living word of God.
The Bible states: "In the
beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. The same
was in the beginning with God.
And the Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us, and we
beheld His glory as of the
only begotten of the father,
full of grace and truth."
(John 1:1, 2, 14)
St.
John declares: "Little
children, it is the last time:
and as ye have heard that
antichrist shall come, even
now are there many
antichrists; whereby ye know
that it is the last time.
They went out from us, but
they were not of us; for it
they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued
with us: but they went out,
that they might be made
manifest that they were not of
us."
"Who
is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ?
He is antichrist that denieth
the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son,
hath not the Father, but he
that acknowledgeth the Son
hath the Father also." (1
John 2:18, 19, 22, 23)
"Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God:
Every spirit that confesseth
not that Jesus Christ is come
in the flesh is not of God:
And this is that spirit of
antichrist, whereof ye have
heard that it should come; and
even now already is it in the
word."
"Hereby
know we that we dwell in Him,
and He in us because He hath
given to us of His Spirit.
And we have seen and do
testify that the Father hath
sent the Son to be the Saviour
of the world. Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is
the Son of God, God dwelleth
in Him, and He in God."
(1 John 4:2, 3, 13-15)
"Whoso
believeth that Jesus is the
Christ is born of God.
Who is he that overcometh the
world, but he that believeth
that Jesus is the Son of
God?"
"He
that believeth on the Son of
God hath the witness in
himself: he that believeth not
God hath made Him a liar;
because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his
Son. And this is the
record, that God hath given to
us eternal life and this life
is in His Son. He that
hath the Son hath life and he
that hath not the Son hath not
life."
"These
things have I written to you
that believe on the name of
the Son of God; that ye may
know that ye have eternal
life, and that ye may believe
on the name of the Son of
God." (1 John 5:1, 5,
10-13)
"And
we know that we are of God,
and the whole world lieth in
wickedness. And we know
that the Son of God is come,
and that given us an
understanding, that we may
know Him that is true, and
that we are in Him that is
true, even in His Son Jesus
Christ. This is the true
God and eternal
life." (1
John 5:19-20)
MY
EXPERIENCE WITH A HOMOSEXUAL
DYING OF AIDS!
More
than a dozen years ago, I was
on a flight from Toronto to
London, England. Sitting
next to me was a British man
who was drinking excessively.
After some small talk, I said,
"Sir, I'm sure it can't
be too healthy for you to
consume so much liquor,
especially since we're
airborne." He
replied: "It doesn't
really matter, since I'm dying
anyway. I have
AIDS!"
I
informed him that I was a
Minister of the Gospel and was
heading to Norway to preach
the Word of God. And
that the Sovereign Lord Who
had created him and given him
life, cared for him and loved
him. He listened
politely and then divulged
that many years earlier he had
attended a Billy Graham
crusade in England and "gone forward to receive
Jesus Christ as his
Lord". In the
morning he had felt no
different and therefore
decided that although he
believed in God, he did not
believe in the saving power of
Jesus.
"You
didn't give the Lord much
time, did you? And you
didn't contact a church or
pastor for help and
instruction, did you?"
I queried. Then the
gentleman looked me straight
in the eye and said: "I'm
homosexual, and you probably
will say that I'm getting what
I deserve and that I'm a great
sinner because I'm a
homosexual."
I
replied: "No Sir, I would
not say that! Rather, I
would say, You are a
homosexual, because you are a
great sinner!"
Our
conversation continued for
several hours, and ended up
with him allowing me to pray
that God would show mercy upon
him and save and heal him,
although he refused to invite
Jesus Christ to come into his
life.
ALL
SINNERS ARE PRECIOUS TO GOD,
INCLUDING THOSE WHO HAVE BEEN
DECEIVED BY LYING PREACHERS
The Bible
says: "As it is written, THERE
IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO NOT ONE:
For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of
God." (Romans 3:23);
"For the wages of sin is
death; but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord." (Romans
6:23)
The
lying demons that have
convinced preachers to water
down the truth concerning sin
and its deadly results and to
condone homosexuality in the
Church, are the same unclean
spirits that will deceive
people into accepting the
ANTICHRIST when he appears.
I
close with these words of
warning: "For the mystery
of iniquity doth already work:
only He (Holy Spirit) Who now
restraineth will restrain,
until He be taken out of the
way (at the rapture). And then
shall that Wicked (antichrist)
be revealed, whom the Lord
(Jesus) shall consume with the
Spirit of His mouth and shall
destroy with the brightness of
His coming:
"Even
him (antichrist), whose coming
is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and
LYING wonders, and with all
deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that
perish; because they received
not the love of the truth,
that they might be
saved."
"And
for this cause God shall send
them strong delusion, that
they should believe a lie:
That they all might be damned
who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in
unrighteousness." (2
Thessalonians 2:7-12)
I
urge you, my friend: DO NOT
DELAY. Come to our
Heavenly Father through His
Son JESUS CHRIST today, and
you will receive eternal life
!
(John 3:15-18)
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Bible
study scriptures / verses on
IMPORTANCE
OF BIBLE STUDY
Matthew
6:33
Jesus
said, "But seek ye
first the kingdom of God,
and His righteousness; and
all these things shall be
added unto you."
1
Peter 3:15
The
Bible instructs: "But
sanctify the Lord God in
your hearts: and be ready
always to give an answer to
every man that asketh you a
reason of the hope that is
in you with meekness and
fear."
1
Timothy 6:17-19
"Charge
them that are rich in this
world, that they be not
high-minded, nor trust in
uncertain riches, but in the
living God, Who giveth us
richly all things to enjoy;
That they do good, that they
be rich in good works, ready
to distribute, willing to
communicate; Laying up in
store for themselves a good
foundation against the time
to come, that they may lay
hold on eternal life."
Psalms
119:2
"Blessed
are they that keep his
testimonies, and that seek
him with the whole
heart."
Isaiah
55:6
"Seek
ye the LORD while he may
be found, call ye upon
him while he is near."
Proverbs
8:17
"I
love them that love me;
and those that seek me early
shall find
me."
Isaiah
1:18-19
God
invites: "Come now,
and let us reason
together... though your sins
be as scarlet, they shall be
as white as snow; though
they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool."
(Isaiah 1:18-19)
MARK
8:34-38
Jesus
said, "What shall it
profit a man, if he shall
gain the whole world, and
lose his own soul?"
(Mark 8:34-38).
JOHN
3:16-17
"For
God so loved the world, that
he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever
believeth in Him should not
perish, but have everlasting
life."
"For
God sent not his Son into
the world to condemn the
world: but that the world
through Him might be
saved:"
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