God Loves Fags

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” John 3:16

So many times I have seen and heard people hurt by misuse of faith. I have heard scare tactics to force someone to change BEFORE they accept Christ or even to say that they must fix themselves before they can accept Christ. We have all seen the “God Hates Fags” sign. God hates the sin, not the sinner.

God is perfect love. God is unconditional love. I have no place to say how God feels about someone being gay. I do have a commandment from God to Love all neighbors as I would love myself and that means loving the Gay couple down the street just as much as it would the atheist across the way. Judgment is not for us to do; we screw that up all the time.

Luckily God accepts all that come calling to him. That is something that I am truly thankful for, because I would not be here otherwise. You can look in the bible, no matter the version you will not find anywhere that God Hates Fags, but yet Gays are attacked by Christians on a nearly daily basis. They aren’t the only groups that are attacked. I’m sorry but my fellow Christians, if we spent all that energy on love the world would be a much better place.

Another story to share, I have a cousin that was starting to go to church after struggling with drugs and bad habits that come along with it. He came forward in the church he was attending and accepted Christ and asked the church to pray for him to get off of drugs. After the service, one of the Christians there and his aunt told him that Christ would not accept him as long as he was on drugs and messing around with the prostitutes in town. He hasn’t been back to church since.

Things like that hurt people in ways that is very wrong to me on many levels. This same kind of mentality hurt me when I was young and contributed to my wandering and seeking peace, understanding and divinity outside of the Christian faith.  We come to the cross broken, and we allow God to come in through us and serve as our guiding light to help us take step after step to become more of what God wishes us to be.

Brian “Head” Welch can tell you his testimony about how broken he came to the cross and what God did for him and through him. You can go out to YouTube and see thousands of videos about how God saved someone from Drugs, Sexual Addictions, and from themselves. Not one person can come to the cross perfect.

We were born into sin, the flesh that we wear is made of sin and thus it dies. So from the moment we are born we are not perfect. There is not one person alive today that can go to the cross perfect. If we were perfect we would not need the cross. So before you cast that stone at the woman at the abortion clinic, or the women walking down the road holding hands, or the guy on the corner begging for food, just stop for a moment and ask yourself, “What would it help?”

You’ll find that throwing stones does nothing but cause harm. Would it be better to love on people like that? The woman at the clinic might feel that this is the only way for her, or there could be a much larger story there. I do not believe that women that go to those places do it because they want to kill their baby. They are probably in a very bad spot and hurting with something that they see no way out of. Love her.

Those women walking together, you ever think they might just be friends. Even if they are not, how many times have these women been hurt by men? Even more than that, if you are truly worried about their salvation telling them they are going to burn in hell won’t help anything. Start your conversation like you would any other couple. Ask them how long they have been together and find out more about them. Then invite them to church, but do it only after you have loved them.

Do you love God? Do you love Jesus? Do you want everyone else to love them? I don’t think a lot of Jews loved Hitler. Don’t make the God we love out to be Hitler. Don’t help people that have a bad opinion about Christ and God have validation for that opinion. You and I know that God is Grace, Mercy and Love. Show that! Love people, show them mercy and grace. Be God in all you do. Stop the hate mongering. Stop the judging. Start the Loving. Start letting hope shine through you so people see the God we love and respect.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” Martin Luther King, Jr. 

A Doctor Needs the Sick

“But the Pharisees and their scribes were complaining to His disciples, ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?’ Jesus replied to them, ‘The healthy do not need a doctor, but the sick do. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’” Luke 5:30-32

How often do you see a doctor when you are well? How often do you see a councilor when you are in your right mind? Do you frequently call up a lawyer or a bail bondsman? Unless you have a friend that is one of these things, you would probably keep your interaction to the absolute minimum. How much time do you spend with the Lost? Are all your friends members of your church? How much time do you spend telling people that believe in Christ about Christ?

Now we know that Jesus spoke at synagogues from time to time, but where did he speak and perform his miracles most often? Always at church, or with his church friends right? No. No he was in the streets and on hillsides. He spoke to the people that were not at church the most. Look at his chosen disciples, how many of them were leaders of the synagogues? Yeah, so if we are going to be Christ-like where do we have to be? With the people.

Now then we get to the question of what people and which people. Well for each of us we have come from different places and walks of life. Our past shapes how we learn God to be. The walk that we walk with Christ shows us what God can do. Those of us that found God while locked in a cell can see how God can use a place like that to His Glory. Those of us that were saved from a drug overdose can see how God can use that to His Glory.

Those little wake up calls in life are when we see God for who he is. I’m not talking about every earth shattering event in your life. I’m talking about every day in life. The music you listen to, the hobbies that you have, and the books you read are all things that you can use to establish relationships with people. We are given a charge by God to be his ambassadors. Before people will listen to us about God they really have to be seeking or have a vested interest in hearing our story.

“How come you are always smiling and happy? You’re in Jail shouldn’t you act like it?” Not when you know that God has control of the situation and it will end exactly as he wishes it to end. “Come on man, you listen to Heavy Metal and dress like that and you go to Church? You don’t actually believe that crap they preach on Sunday do you?” God uses us all. Judge not or you will be judged. You will be measured by the same measure you put to others. God uses all.

I grew up listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd, AC/DC, Bad Company among many other things listed as Classic Rock. I also listened to Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Metallica, Megadeth which eventually lead me to KoRn, Staind, P.O.D., Type O Negative  and many other bands of that era.  Why do I bring this up? Well for one of my first examples of Christians going to where Christ is needed. The Whosoevers is an organization that are set to influence those that they have influence with to share what God has done in their lives and what God can do in theirs.

The lead guitarist of KoRn, Brian Welch, better known as Head, gave his life to Christ quit drugs and actually ended up quitting the band to play music for Christ. P.O.D. was actually a Christian band, but very few actually knew it. The name of the band is Payable On Death. These people are involved with this movement that is growing.

They hold concerts and worship services to talk to people that would not come to church. They are taking the word of God to these people. They are a great example of going to the sick. They are not the only ones. Missionaries I do not discredit what you are doing, you are doing what God has called us to do as well. You are bringing the word of God to people that would not be reached otherwise. It is because of you that people are becoming educated to Christ.

The second group that I wish to speak about are those that do Prison Ministry. These people walk into environments that most would be scared to go to. They are casting seed and water to people that life would say are in the worst situation that one can be in. I would disagree with that statement, but many that find themselves in this place see it as a low point in their life. Sometimes the lowest parts of their lives.

You are going into places to shed light upon these lost souls that have little hope. So many people in these places turn to the Word of God when they would not touch it otherwise. There are many of these people that will not step foot in church once they get back out, but there are those that will try and hold onto the Word to keep them from going back down the roads that they have walked down before. Then there are those that God will fully change. Again, the sick in need of medicine that is the Truth of the Word of God.

Now I recently watched a sermon by Steven Furtick, the pastor for Elevation Church. He had a quote in his sermon that really rang true with me, “Truth registers best on the other side of complexity.” Only after you have crossed the chasm do we really know how hard the chasm was to cross. So you know best how God works only through what God has done in your life. You get a good idea with close friends and family going through hard times, but nothing substitutes life experience.

If you have not been addicted to drugs or alcohol you have a good idea how hard it can be to break free from that addiction, but you don’t know. If you haven’t been through jail, you can imagine what it’s like, but you don’t Know. There is power in that knowledge. God will use what we have been through to get his greatest glory out of us. So how were you sick?

Was it sex? Was it alcohol? Was it abuse? Was it addiction? Was it disbelief? Was it anger? Now who can benefit most from hearing your words? People that are like you were might be a good place to start. Could it be the people that you were going through this stuff with? How about your own family? Now that you have been shown the Grace of God, who can you share that with? What talents do you have and how can you use them for God? That’s what God calls us to do. Use what we can to share his story and his glory.

What has he done for you? Are you healthy now, or do you still struggle with things? I don’t care if you have been raised in church all your life and have been a Christian all your life. There is something that you have had to struggle with in your relationship with God. 

You have a story to tell.  If you have a story of addiction, abuse or personal weakness you should check out a local Celebrate Recovery to visit and see what people have to say. You will be encouraged, and even more you might be able to encourage others.

You have a talent, how can you use it for God? Talk to your friends, family, or your church to see if there is something going on. Is there an outreach that another church in the area is doing that you feel called to participate in? It’s not your church, but that’s part of our problem. We are all part of God’s body. You feel the calling to do something and someone else is involved with it, get involved.

We can busy ourselves to the point that we cannot listen to what God might want for us. You have too many obligations at your Church to do what God is telling you to do… you might want to check in on that. The message is simple, how can you glorify God? Where can you be a doctor? Where can you be a friend to those in need? Where are the sick that you are called to help? What can you do to share the God of your life with others?

What can you do to love others and show them God’s Grace?

Secondly, be careful who you judge for you cannot see their heart. Which of these would you think are Christians or closest to God?

Billy Joel –The Piano Man

Demon Hunter– Dead Flowers

An open heart ready to do God’s work is one of the greatest things in the world. Open your heart to glorify God and ask yourself then God what can you do to Glorify God and tell the story of how God has been influential in your life.

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” Joel A. Barker