I recently read a short article in Essence Magazine,written by CNN Anchor, Don Lemon, a very handsome and successful man. He talked about 'coming out' to his mother and how she prayed that he would be delivered from this 'lifestyle choice'. He mentioned other things in the article also but the part that got my attention the most was the things he said concerning ministers and church and the love of Jesus when it comes to the gay lifestyle.
If I could sit down with him over a cup of coffee, I would give him a little more to think about than the 'religious ostracism' he says occurred when he was a youth by ministers telling youth they would go to hell for this lifestyle. Mr. Lemon, people probably look up to you and admire you so that puts a big responsibility in your hands . You can be a young man's role model and his inspiration. You can cause him to want what is best for his life or what is worse for his life.
You are in a place where you can tell everyone that Jesus Loves them and they believe that . This would be a true fact, but while you are in this place, tell the entire truth about Jesus and his word not just part of it. The issue here is not about showing you that Jesus loves you it is about all of us sinners, showing Jesus that we love him. If we love him, we will keep his commandments. If we love him, we will do those things that are pleasing in his sight, if we love him we believe his Word and if we believe his Word we must believe that it is ALL TRUE.
If you know he loves you because the Bible told you or the preacher told you , then you also know he does not love sin. You also must know that he will not lie. If he told us in his Word that sin can and will cause us to spend eternity in hell then he is not lying. This is not religious ostracism this is the Truth, the Word of God. You believe in him you MUST believe in his Word. All Sin is hated by God no matter what it is but you concern me because you do not seem to 'own' that your lifestyle is sin. The way you live your life is not just about people 'showing the love of Jesus' by lying to you and accepting your lifestyle as being ok. It is about glorifying God.
Yes people should show you love regardless because we all have come short of the glory of God but, real love is telling someone the Truth and sometimes the truth does hurt. As much as you hate to hear the truth, it is in the Word of God and he will do what he says. You see, God does love us but we need to love him. Our love for him causes us to repent and to be delivered . Our love for him, causes us to strive to change our lives and remove the sin that is blocking us from growing stronger in the Lord.
He is a Free-Will God. He will not force himself upon us , he allows us to choose our God that we will serve(Joshua 24:15) and in doing so we choose our 'eternity' in which we will live. The responsibility of a minister is to preach the Word of God whether it makes you comfortable or not. God is a God of Love , but if you read all of his Word you will also find out he is a God of Wrath. He is not pleased with a sinful lifestyle. You don't want to hear that your lifestyle is wrong in the sight of God or that your soul could be in danger of eternal damnation but it is and the minister cared enough about the souls of folks to tell you all the truth !
Leviticus 18:22 says ,'Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination.' God wants man to be fruitful and to multiply the earth through the intimate act of sex which can bring about procreation of man but we can not do that when we perform a sexual act with someone of the same sex. If God's plan is to allow us to create more life, then doesn't that mean that we are against that plan if we lay with someone of the same sex knowing we can not do that EVER with that person ? To have a barren womb is one thing but to make your womb barren or cause your seed to be non productive because of an 'act of abomination' is sinful and of the devil !
As far as hearing that you can spend eternity in hell for this sinful lifestyle..you need to accept the truth of the matter.Your lifestyle and the lifestyle of any sinner can cause that person to spend eternity in hell away from God. Your sinful lifestyle does not get a pass just because Jesus loves you too. He loves us all but he HATES SIN. All Sin. We all are in danger of spending eternity in Hell if we do not repent from our wicked ways..but these ways are our choices..our free will and it will have consequences.
Take some time and read Romans 1:18-32 ask God for wisdom and understanding of these scriptures pertaining to your life and the lives of others. All have sinned but we can All repent of our lifestyles and be forgiven and delivered by the blood of Jesus Christ. Is this message of salvation and damnation popular ? No it is not. Is it the Truth according to the Word of God ? Yes. It is. God will do what he has said in his Word. We must choose where we want to spend eternity, that goes for the liar, the cheater, the fornicator, the adulterer, the lustful, the murderer , the person who will not forgive and hold iniquity in their hearts and all other doers of
evil imaginations.
God has chosen to make us and to love us regardless of our choices and our mistakes BUT he has given us the choice as to whether or not we will love him and keep his commandments that is why his Word says to choose this day whom we will serve. Our choice . He let's us decide where our lives will cause us to spend eternity. He let's us decide which God we serve in our Words, deeds and actions. God loving us does not excuse us from the Judgement and the final verdict.
He loves us but if we do not love him and live our lifestyles to show that we will spend eternity in Hell locked down in a fiery pit with the 'angel of disobedience' Satan. He went against God and even though he was once loved by God, given the privilege of praise leader by God and adorned in beauty by God, God still cast Lucifer and the disobedient and rebellious angels with him, away from him out of heaven. NOW. if he would do it to his angels why would he not do it to man ? Wake up Don Lemon and the rest of us that think God loving us is enough. It is not. We make the choice where we will spend eternity and that is not ostracism that is THE TRUTH !!!
So tell the World God loves you YES HE DOES but you do not LOVE GOD..for if you loved God you would keep his commandments. You would repent of your sinful lifestyle and ask God to clean your heart and mind so that it will be anew and you would live your life for him. You would strive to work out your soul salvation and get back up if you fall down..not just waddle in the mud and stay there because it is comfortable to you.
Satan wants to disguise sin as pleasurable to the flesh so that we will stay in it. He wants our flesh to crave it so that we don't want to release it. He wants us to be blinded to the ugliness of it and deaf to the revelation of it when the Word of God is released in the atmosphere over our heads but we must WAKE UP. If the enemy of mankind knows the Word of God and he knows it is true why is it that mankind does not ?
LOVE GOD and LIVE...As my pastor says, 'Milk does the body good, but GOD does it better.' Let us all fall down and humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God and beg his Mercy and Grace upon our souls. Ask him to deliver us from our wicked ways and save our souls from damnation that our names may be written in the BOOK OF LIFE. Even mine Lord. Even mine. Help me to turn from my evil ways whether in thought, word, deed or actions.
Show me myself, clean me up, make me whole and SAVE ME FROM ALL UNRIGHTEOUSNESS !-Felicia
