Daily Devotional for Thursday June 5, 2014
Gay Days at Disney
(1 Thessalonians 4:3; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 6:9-11)
***ASK BILL: Pastor Bill, I need your help to answer questions of my teenage daughters. I read in 1 Corinthians 6:9 "the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God. Do not be deceived ........ nor homosexuals .....will inherit the kingdom of God. We all know what it is to be saved. We all know that a personal trust in the Lord Jesus Christ is the ONLY way to heaven. This verse says to me that those who engage in homosexual behavior are NOT saved. My daughters disagree - they both know a teen who claims to be homosexual and saved as well. I told them that is not possible. Help me to reach my daughters.
ANSWER: First, your daughters need to understand that NOBODY is a homosexual. The great lie is that people are "born gay," when that is not true. Homosexuality is a CHOICE to engage in acts of sex with someone of the same sex. When a person is saved, they have committed their life to Jesus. Jesus said if you love me you will obey me, NOT live in rebellion to me. Are there people who struggle with this sin like others may struggle with another type of sin? Absolutely! Will they go to Heaven when they die? YES, if they were truly saved in the first place, something only God knows for certain! However, they will forfeit so much of the joy, peace, and abundance they should enjoy from their salvation, never fulfill their purpose of serving and glorifying the Lord, and often their lives will end early. Let me also add this. While we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, I find it hard to believe a person was ever saved to begin with if they are blatantly sinning without shame or conscience, and have no remorse.
I have stated often that the only way a lie works is when it goes unchallenged. This weekend is "Gay Days" in Orlando, Florida. "Gay Days" is a week-long celebration of special events at all of the high-profile Orlando area attractions geared towards tens of thousands of people who choose to commit the sin of homosexuality who will be coming from all over the world. Of course, the most famous Orlando area attraction is Disneyworld which will open their gates and welcome men and women who proudly and, without shame, sin against God in this way.
Disneyworld, which promotes itself as a family-friendly entertainment mecca, will once again thumb their nose at families and the children they claim to care about, selling out for the few dollars they can make by catering to a group of people who openly display their deviant sexuality. People ask me all the time how an "event" like this could take place, how that is possible. Simple. The LIE has been told long enough and loud enough that enough people have believed it to be the truth. Those who possess the real Truth of God's Word have said nothing or very little while the lie has been told over and over, year after year, now generation after generation, until it has been ingrained in our culture as a perfectly acceptable choice.
That is why you now have states that actually have legalized men marrying men and women marrying women, as well as same-sex couples adopting children. That is why in over 3,000 SCHOOLS you have "gay clubs" that promote the sin of homosexuality to our children. That is why you have a 24-hour Gay cable television network, tons of pro-gay magazines and newspapers, an entire subculture that actually caters specifically to people who choose to sin against God in this way.
So what is the answer? TELLING THE TRUTH! My friend, the lie will always lose when matched along side the Truth! The only way a lie stands is when the Truth is missing. That is why those who sell this lie are FURIOUS when someone like me has the audacity to go on secular network television stations and expose their lies.
Nobody is "born gay," it is a CHOICE! You are born with white or black skin, you are born with blue or green eyes, taking off your pants to have sex is a CHOICE! Also, it is not 1 out of 10 who choose this type of deviant sexual sin, it is less than 1 out of 100 who will EVER make the choice to sin in this way. Again, the only way a lie stands is when the Truth is missing!!!
My heart was encouraged to hear of the recent move by groups of men and women who have found freedom from the bondage of homosexuality and are now going on the offensive. They are demanding and fighting legally for equal time in schools to tell kids that homosexuality is a dangerous, harmful, and often deadly choice to make. They have simply asked for equal time to tell the truth of this sin to the same students who are being told the lie by the pro-homosexual groups. Praise God! Pray for them and their efforts as they do exactly what I am talking aobut today, fighting the lie with the Truth!
Sin is sin in God's eyes. No sin is greater than another. The sin of homosexuality is no more, or no less a sin than murder, adultery, stealing, lying, gossiping, or gluttony. I get asked often if that is the case, then why do I deal with this issue several times each year. The reason this sin is being singled out and addressed more than others is because those who commit it are proud of their sin and promote it as an acceptable lifestyle!
People who commit adultery do NOT have parades to celebrate their sin. People who commit murder do NOT have political action committees to make murder legal and socially acceptable. People who steal do not have high school clubs and try to teach children that stealing is acceptable behavior. Homosexuality is a SIN in the eyes of God and is something to be ashamed of, NOT proud of.
Theologically this is not even a debatable issue. All through the Bible, from the Old Testament through the New, homosexuality is defined by God as a sin, PERIOD. God calls it an ABOMINATION! I have heard the tortured theological arguments homosexuals have made, but there is absolutely NO WAY to change the fact this act is a sin. Just because there is now a homosexual version of the Bible where they have literally changed the passages that call this act a sin, that does NOT change God's inspired, inerrant Word.
Of course, anyone who dares to speak up on this issue is labeled as "intolerant" and a "homophobe." This is an attempt to make people shut up and keep the Truth from being told. Sadly, we find it easier to keep our mouths shut than to speak out. We don't want the grief that comes with speaking out. We don't want to be attacked for speaking out. Those who call this sin what it is are labeled as "close minded" and "ignorant" by people who are engaging in totally unnatural and unhealthy sexual acts.
You don't need to get past page 1 of any basic sex education book to figure out that two men don't go together nor do two women. Yet, those who engage in these unnatural acts call those who point this FACT out "ignorant!"
I love you and care about you so much. Now is the time for those who know Jesus as their Savoir, who possess the Truth of God's Word to go on the offensive and become brave and bold enough to bring God's Truth to the lost and hurting in our world today. We cannot sit back in silence while the lie of homosexuality is told over and over unchallenged. We have done that for too long, it is time to speak up. The truth is that homosexuality is a sin. Like any sin, those who are involved in homosexuality need to find God's love and strength to turn from their sin and live in freedom.
God doesn't stop loving a person just because they commit the sin of homosexuality. He simply wants them to turn from their sin and follow Him. As those who know the Lord, we also have a responsibility to pray for those who are in this bondage. Only God can change hearts, and for those who are in bondage to the sin of homosexuality we must pray for them to open their hearts and turn from their sin.
Until Jesus returns, we will always have those who choose a perverted form of sex with those of their own gender, just like we will always have those who choose to pervert sex by having it outside of the bonds of marriage. While we can never accept their choice since it is clearly against God's Word, we must pray for them and love them enough to tell them the Truth.
For those reading this who are currently fighting homosexuality, let me tell you that God has never stopped loving you, and is simply waiting for you to turn from your sin and come back to Him. We serve a God of deliverance from sin, a God of forgiveness, and a God of restoration. Millions have turned from the sin of homosexuality and found complete restoration and fulfillment in living a life according to God's plan. What He did for someone else, He can do for you! I pray that you hear these words and choose to find freedom from your sin today. It is the TRUTH that will set you free!!!
In His love and service, Your friend and brother in His work,
Bill Keller