[Biblemat] A) QUESTION AND ANSWER

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  A very good Wednesday
morning to each and everyone.  May God bless you and yours.  Here
is a question and answer from my files:

QUESTION AND ANSWER

QUESTION: --  A friend of mine, who is a member of a denomin-
                            ation, tells me that his district conference is 
advo-
                             cating approval of gay men as ministers in 
their
                             church.  What does the Bible teach on this sub-
                              ject?

ANSWER: -- When Lot entertained the messengers of God in his
                         home in Sodom, the men of that city said to him:
                         "Where are the men who came to you tonight?
                          Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with
                          them" (Gen. 19:5, NIV).

       Lot offered his virgin daughters instead, but they wanted the
MEN (vss. 8,9)  From the city of Sodom comes the word "sodomy."  As 
homosexuality then was an abomination to God,
so, it has been ever since.  In God's Law to Israel it was written:
"Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abom-
ination" (Lev. 18:22).  In the writing of the apostle Paul, he lists a
catalog of sins:  He says:  "Lawless and rebellious, for the ungodly and 
sinners, for the unholy adn profane, for those who
kill their fathers and mothers, for murderers qnd immoral men and 
homosexuals and kidnappers and liars and perjurers, and whatever else is contrary to 
sound teaching" (1 Tim. 1:9,10).

       In attempts to "make respectable" the sexual perversions,
many claim that "they can't help it."  Others declare they have a
"right" to live as they please.  Some will blame society or "mom"
for their perversion, but this ignores God and His Will for us.  It
also ignores the responsibility of each person to live account-
ably before God.  When people refuse the Will of God for their
lives, God "Gives them up."  As the inspired apostle wrote:  "For
this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the 
natural use 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 unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that  recom-
pense of their error which was due.  And even as they refused
to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a repro-
bate mind, to do those things which are not fitting" (Rom. 1:26-
28).

       Modern society may cloak such perversions with respectab-
ility by calling it "gay," but God calls it SIN.  And what some call
"our own way of life," God calls it an abomination to Him.   And
He leaves no question as to His judgment, and the eternal desti-
ny, of those who practice such.  Churches that approve of "gay
persons" as ministers are openly declaring their defiance of God
and His Word.  They are openly admitting that  they are determin-
ed to serve Satan, and not God.  Will they next ordain those who
believe in murder, adultery, rape, robbery, idolatry, etc.?

       I am not personally interested in discussing the "equal rights" 
proposition in our society.  That is in the realm of politics.
But the Scriptures, both under the Old Testament and the New
Testament, show clearly that rebellious sinners (including sexual perverts 
who call themelves "gay") do not have any rights in the sight of God.  He 
calls on such to repent, and when
they will, He will forgive and accept them.  But when a "gay per-
son" persists in that perversion, God will not accept him or her.
And those who are striving to serve God cannot approve such
perverted actions among the membership of the congregation,
and especially allowing such to act in leading roles in the church.

       (The tribe of Benjamin was almost completely destroyed be-
cause of the perverted desires of the men of Gibeon.  You can
read of this matter in Judges chapters 19-21 JWS).

       The above question and answer is adapted from writings by
Clem Thurman in Gospel Minutes, Vol. 59, No. 29, July 19, 2010.</HTML>