LGBT[Q]-the official policy of the UMC, the United Methodist Church

LGBT[Q]-the official policy of the UMC, the United Methodist Church

Title: How must the church of Jesus Christ deal with the prevalent cultural mores towards sexual deviation?

I have meditated upon this topic for many years. I will share them with you,

First, here is a little background ...

I have been attending the Delphi, Indiana United Methodist Church.

Several weeks ago Pastor Todd Ladd informed the congregation that the national headquarters of the UMC will conduct a summit in February, 2019. This "Calling" of the Church would define its official position on what is today called LGBT (or sometimes LGBQT, for: "Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer").

Pastor Todd asked the body of Christ in the congregation to join in prayer regarding this topic.

After the service I briefly mentioned to Pastor Todd what the Spirit of God had taught me decades earlier:

"I understand that this is very important to this world, according to its priorities, but is this subject that important to God?

"Are God's priorities less important to the church than the priorities of this world?

"I know Him and His priorities, and I think that I have the Spirit of God.

"Don't you think that there are many, many issues which are more important to God than how the United Methodist Church addresses one, single carnal sin?

"I will pray as you asked, but please consider His priorities before we waste too much time and effort and money on things which the world thinks are important."

[To make a decision which has already been made. I do not know how much money this "special" out-of-order conference costs — these "callings" normally occur every four years and 2019 is not a regularly scheduled quadrennial gathering. But consider and estimate that attendees are (1) flying in from every continent and every region of the entire world to St. Louis, Missouri; (2) that there will be at least one thousand people in attendance including support staff; (3) that this "calling" is a four-day event and each of those called from around the world will need to be boarded and fed and provided transportation et cetera ... tens of millions of dollars ONLY to address this one single subject about which the scriptures leave no doubt or room for confusion what we must do, and against which the world has no authority or power to command to the church. We will let the Holy God decide how many speakers of "idle words" at this four-day event will be held accountable.]

I understand that their are legal ramifications in the United States today, as the enemy continues in his goals and objectives: opposing all that is good and holy.

This specific concern of the United Methodist Church is in response to earthly and cultural morals prevalent in America, this is not our God's priority.

This is a very easy and simple thing to achieve; it should be dealt with quickly and effectively without waste — there are too many truly important things in Delphi about which we should be concerned, please refer to any of you opening benedictions for a short list of God's Priorities for our church.

An aside for those people who will be making this decision

for the United Methodist Church, and for all Christian congregations.

This is not a good sign.

Because of this deviation and the importance which has been applied to this issue, we may know that the enemy has gained a foothold within the corporate headquarters of the United Methodist Church.

I understand that you may be concerned with the political aftermath of failing to obey the will of this world, the flesh and the devil; but please trust in God and His word instead: we were not given a spirit of fear ...

There is absolutely no doubt about this topic: God is against sin. All sin.

We know that He came to this world to save the sinners.

We do not hate sinners, rather we are commanded to love all sinners (as John the beloved wrote to us saying, 'If any man says that he has not sin then he is a liar; and the love of the truth is not in him.')

Yes we love sinners just as He has loved them and died to pay for their sins, too. All of their sins.

We love all of the sinners ... without separating sinners into different social-political categories as do the powers that be in this world in an attempt to foment dissimulation and conflict ... but He is the Prince of Peace and he has not given us a spirit of fear.

What worries me? That an entire year has been devoted to this minor issue by desk-jockeys in a distant building of administrators indicates to me that they - or at least some of them - are no longer serving our GOD; they are serving the enemy: whosoever will you do his servant you are.

I do not know in the natural, but I have discerned the spirit and am led to believe that this action by the UMC is not only about the doctrines and tenants of the church regarding LGBT(Q) in general; which is to say regarding the attendance of church functions by those who are openly engaged in, and will continue in, unrepented sin.

Rather: that the world is using the threat of regulatory action and the threat of removing 501(c)3 status from any group or corporation which does not endorse and obey the (non-constitutional) movement attempting to legalize, and to validate, same-sex marriages.

The threats of the enemy are two-fold:

(i) that if the church does not VOLUNTARILY follow a hiring practice which does not 'discriminate' against any person based upon their "sexual preference" ... then the powers and principalities and wickedness in high places will be accuse the church as being discriminatory against LGBQT job applicants and staff: political and judicial threats of the church falling into non-compliance anti-discrimination regulations.

(ii) that if the church does not comply with the (non-existent) law to perform same-sex marriages, and refuses to recognize a person who is engaged in the world's definition of a valid same-sex marriage in its employment practices; then the IRS will be manipulated to remove that church's tax-exempt status.

» but be assured that it is impossible that the US Supreme Court would ever fail to uphold the constitutional restriction of US Congress that it shall "make no law regarding an establishment of religion, nor restrict the free exercise thereof ..."

IF the above is the UMC's true concern ... the fear of expensive but unfounded anti-discrimination lawsuits against the church and the threat of removal of its 501.C.3 status ...

THEN then maybe this is the mission which the Father wants the church to take — to take up this cross and to bear it?

Always remember that we are not given a spirit of fear, and remember the story of Jonah and the whale.

No matter how unreasonable God's commandment to Jonah seemed according to the wisdom of this world;

regardless of how 'impossible' any decision from God might seem to men,

still: in all things we must obey God.

If we fail to Hear God, Believe Him and Obey Him,

then this our local church is no longer HIS church,

rather it will become a church of this world, of the flesh, and eventually a Church of Satan.

Do you love Him?

Feed His sheep.

Do you love being His pastor?

Keep the gate to the sheepfold.

Do you love His sheep?

Protect them from the wolf in sheep's clothing.

Always obey God and trust in His strength and His wisdom.

Please let me know what you would have me to do.

~ Mark

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May I respectfully suggest that the February Calling should follow these guidelines: [Note: Click Here to Quick-Jump to the bottom of this page.]

1. Lesbian, Gay (homosexual), Bisexual and Transgender actions are sins ... but there are many sins.

2. The UMC is against all sin, because God is against sin and his servants we are.

3. We are for all sinners not against them, as is our Lord Jesus Christ.

4. All sin is addressed personally and initially privately at the local level.

5. If, after local counseling and prayer, any parishioner chooses to continue in any sin and does not repent of their sin(s); then the UMC will remove them from any position of leadership, administrative and/or ministerial positions.

5. They will not be prevented from continuing to attend worship services or other activities ... as long as they neither perform nor openly display their sin(s) while attending church functions.

6. Further, if any parishioner decides to willfully and openly boast of, or to flaunt their flesh in the sanctuary of the Living God, their decision to continue in their unrepented sinful activities; then the UMC may be compelled to remove that parishioner from all church activities until that person repents of their sin(s).

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Below is how I arrived at the suggestion above regarding this topic: this modest proposal ... which contains what God has said about the subject and what He has answered me regarding this specific topic ... is based upon the following scriptures.

As children of the Living God, disciples of the Risen King of Kings and Lord of Lords,

we must hear His words, both personally and through His written word,

we must believe what God has told us is true,

and we must do what He has told us to do.

Perhaps we should consider another doctrine of the faith in Jesus Christ, one of the Apostle's Creed with which the world also does not believe the wisdom of God, which the world does not believe nor not accept; the Savior of the World Jesus Christ?

How would we, must we, reply when we are asked, "Does the church accept other religions as being equally valid, or does Christianity insist that faith in Jesus Christ is the only way to Heaven?"

Our only possible reply is to cite what He said Himself, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man comes to the Father except through me."

Therefore our answer must always be "Yes, believing in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, confession of and repentance from our sins, being baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and audibly saying that He is our Lord and our God is the only way for a man to be saved."

If we were to answer in any other way, then we would not be replying on behalf of His Christian Church ... His body of which He is the head ... instead we would be taking ourselves OUT OF HIS CHURCH!

Perhaps the world, the flesh and the devil do not agree; and that is okay. We did not call Him into this world, He called us out of this world and into His Kingdom of God.

Regarding the exclusivity of Christianity ...

Here is one tenant of our Faith with which the world, the flesh and the devil greatly contend: Christianity, the belief in our Savior and our God JESUS Christ, is the only path to heaven, salvation and eternal life.

When we are asked whether other worldly religions are also equally valid then we MUST answer with the truth: There is no other way to the Father EXCEPT through Jesus Christ. Period.

Why must we?

Because our answer must be the truth; it is not a matter of our personal opinions,

neither does it matter whether or not we appear to be "exclusionary" (or any other anti-scriptural 'politically correct' creeds of the darkness) towards the world,

neither may we consider whether the world thinks we should behave or speak a certain way:

we do not serve the world, we are of the Kingdom of Heaven and we exist in HIM only.

This is the truth we must speak, what Jesus said to us:

"I am the way, the truth and the light. No man comes to the Father but by ME."

Because God Himself has said that He is the only way; and because it is impossible that God could lie,: therefore we must hear Him, believe Him and obey Him.

We have no authority to contradict the Word of the Holy God, neither does the United Methodist Church.

All other answers which we might make are in direct contradiction to His specific word ... and yes God is very exclusionary regarding this point.

But God through Jesus Christ does NOT exclude any person, He calls all to Himself and saves any who call upon HIS Name.

He does not exclude any PERSON, for God is not a respecter of persons.

King or pauper, master of handmaid, the wise and the foolish alike ... He invites and calls all to come to His table and to become His children and heirs.

The correct answer to this question is:

We are not exclusionary towards any person, regardless of their past sins.

All are welcome and all are accepted by Our God.

Because we are part of His church, of which Jesus Christ is the head on this earth,

... therefore, when the world asks us, we must answer what Jesus Christ tells us the truth is.

Many years ago I faced a similar problem in my relationships with lesbian and gay coworkers: I asked the Lord How should I personally behave toward them and what should I say to those who are openly committing various form of sexual sins?

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This is what He taught me regarding sexual sins many years ago ...

I. We are commanded in the Eleventh Commandment (yes there are 11, count them): "A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another. Even as I have loved you so ought you to love one another; in this will the world know that you are my disciples: in that you have love one unto another." [ KJV]

II. There is no room for doubt within the Word of God that Lesbian, Gay (homosexual), Bisexual and Transgender sexual activity is a sin (i.e. participating sexual intercourse - feelings have nothing to do with it).

III. There are many other sins which are also hated by God such as: rape, kidnapping, forced prostitution, child molestation, cheating on one's taxes, capturing and selling people into slavery and on and on ...

IV. However none of those other sins made it into "God's Top Ten List" — The Ten Commandments.

V. These sins did make it into The Ten Commandments, those sins which God really, REALLY hates:

Lying,

Dishonoring one's parents,

Adultery,

Theft,

Bearing false witness about others and

Coveting (wishing that you owned) anything that belongs to another person.

VI. When asked which of the commandments is the greatest, Jesus replied, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, mind, soul and strength and Him only shall you worship; and the second is like unto the first: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself."

Notice that sexual perversion did not make it into The Ten Commandments.

Notice also that Jesus Christ often chastened and rebuked the nation of Israel and the Priests of the Temple for their hypocrisy, their lack of mercy, their failing to believe God, murdering and their failing to accept the prophets and seers whom God sent to them and many other sins ... however homosexuality and other forms of sexual perversion were not among them.

Sum:

Yes, in the Christian faith all forms of Lesbian, Homosexual, Bisexual or Transgender ACTIVITY are sins.

Yes, when one becomes a Christian they must repent of ALL of their sins ... which means they must regret having sinned and have remorse for having done those sins and promise to no longer perform them.

No, if a Christian is still actively and openly continuing in his or her sins then they must not be put into any position of leadership or ministry until they have repented of their sins.

No, we do not cast those persons out of the assembly of God, the gathering of the disciples of Jesus Christ.

Jesus did not do that, rather Jesus was criticized as a friend of sinners.

Yes, we continue to pray for them and to correct them and to accept them into our Church ... until and if the Lord specifically instructs us to do otherwise to any member of the Body of Christ: as did Apostle Paul cited below.

Fact: We do not keep the list of those who are Christians and members of His Body.

Only Jesus maintains that list, The Lamb's Book of Life which is in Heaven.

Fact: The church is ordered to keep His commandments.

"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him."

Fact: We are forbidden to hate our brothers and sisters in Christ.

"He that sayeth he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now."

Fact: We cannot deny that homosexual or lesbian activity is a sin.

A)The Word of God is replete with passages which state that any sexual activity outside HIS definition is sin, including but not limited to:

adultery (sex by a married person with a person to whom one is not married or sex by an unmarried person with one who is married to another),

fornication (sex by any person who is not married with any other unmarried person),

bestiality (sex with an animal),

homosexuality (sex by a male with another male),

lesbianism (sex by a female with another female),

... and many other types of sexual activities which are perversions (the twisting, altering or misuse) of that which is healthy and natural between a man and a woman who God has joined into One Flesh Body through holy marriage.

B) The Apostle Paul was very specific and detailed about this point:

"Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor durnkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.

"And such were you: but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." [I COR 6:9-11]

C) Note above: the sexual sins are not given more weight by the Apostle over what we today think of as lesser sins ... but that the continuance of sexual sins without repentance will prevent the sinner from entering into the Kingdom of God.

Question: Does the United Methodist Church also have a formal, codified and canonical policy regarding:

idolatry,

thievery,

covetousness,

drunkenness,

reviling

and extortion?

YES: These are all sins, both the sexual sins and non-sexual sins.

YES: Continuing in these sins will lead to damnation ... as will any person's failure to repent of any sin.

NO: There is no reason for the UMC to classify sexual sins as being any different than any other non-sexual sin, or to have any public position regarding any specific sin.

SIN: is sin.

ALL: sin has the same reward, eternal death.

OUR POSITION: If any member of the church openly continues in any un-repentant sin, then that member will

1 ... be counseled privately regarding their sin(s),

2 ... which may lead to being counseled regarding their sin(s) within the congregation,

3 ... and which will lead to their removal from any position of Christian leadership, ministry or administrative function,

4 ... and if that person continues in their OPENLY DISPLAYED sin will lead to their removal from the gathering of the saints and they will turned over to God.

What does the Bible say we should do regarding a sexual sin which is known openly?

[I COR 5:1-5; 9-13] It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

[2] And ye are puffed up, and have not rather mourned, that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from you.

[3] For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already, as though I were present, concerning him that has done this deed.

[4] In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ.

[5] To deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus Christ.

[9] I wrote to you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

[10] Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous,, or extortioners, or with idolaters: for then ye must go out of this world.

[11] For I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat.

[12] For what have I to do to judge also them that are without?

[13] But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

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My suggestion to the annual meeting of the UMC in February, 2019 follows ... [and I think that I have the Spirit of God]

Dear United Methodist Church administrators, clergy and lay attendees of the 2019 Calling and decision makers,

Please do not waste too much of our time and money addressing the idle foolishness of this world.

Yes, LGBT[Q] actions are a sin.

Yes there are many other sins.

These specific sins are absolutely not greater than the many other, non-sexual sins which occur in this world every second of every day.

If the powers in this world (certainly it is not God), or if your Legal Department, has convinced you that The United Methodist Church must create and publish a public statement and/or a formal doctrine or tenant of the church which addresses a narrowly defined group of sins, then this is in fact a very simple matter; all that you must do is to simply write your reply in the following manner:

As disciples of the resurrected Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the United Methodist Church must hear, accept, believe and obey what God Himself has told us:

— Lesbian ACTIVITY is a sin.

— Homosexual ACTIVITY is a sin.

— Bisexual ACTION is a sin.

— Transgender ACTION is a sin.

Whereas we cannot, and will not, contradict the written Word of the Holy God; we must also acknowledge that there are many other sins, many other sins which God deems to be greater than the carnal sins of sexual perversions, among which are:

— Lying is a sin.

— Covetousness is a sin.

— Stealing is a sin.

— Grand Theft Auto is a sin.

— Worshipping anyone other than the Holy God [His name is Yeshua Messiah, or being interpreted into common English is "Jesus Christ"] is a sin.

— Failing to do unto others as we would have them do unto us is a sin.

— Failure to love our brothers and sisters in Christ as Jesus has loved them is a sin.

— Shoplifting is a sin.

— Spreading false rumors [gossiping] about others is a grievous sin.

— Drunkenness is a sin.

— Dishonoring anyone's mother and father is a sin.

— Coveting thy neighbor's ass is a sin.

— Telling lies about your schoolmates on Facebook is a sin.

— Short-changing a customer at the cash register and pocketing their money is a sin.

— Failing to believe in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, or the failure to acknowledge Jesus Christ as our Lord and our God is a sin [for the unbeliever not believing in Him is the only sin].

— As for sins there are many ... and all unrepented and unforgiven sins will result in eternal death.

Although it appears to this world that we are in this world, we are in fact citizens of the Kingdom of God who are sojourners and strangers in this four-dimensional space-time continuum.

We are ordered by the only Holy God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Everlasting Father, the God of our father Abraham, to keep His commandments; with His will we strive diligently to comply.

We love our brothers and sisters in Christ as Jesus Himself loves them, it is His commandment to us, His co-inheritors of the Kingdom of God.

This is our policy towards all sin, including sexual sins:

— if any parishioner in our congregation (the gathering of the saints of the One True Living God) is openly and willfully committing any sin, whether the sin is Grand Theft Auto, or is defrauding senior citizens of their life savings, or is cheating on their midterm exams or stealing a pack of chewing gum from the local convenience store ...

* or if they are continually and unrepentfully committing any grievous sin (as all sins are grave — each or any sin result in eternal damnation of the soul),

* and if they are openly and proudly parading their sins before the congregation of the saints,

— then we are commanded by the Holy God to correct that parishioner, to

* firstly, tell them privately that they must repent of their sins [i.e. regret and be remorseful of and vow to discontinue them]:

* and secondly .. if that parishioner refuses to repent and discontinue that sinful activity after first private counseling by the elders or the pastor of that local church ... to rebuke and correct them publicly in the gathering of the church;

* and thirdly... if the public correction and rebuke in the gathering of the church fails to convince them to repent of their sins ... to " ... put away from among yourselves that wicked person."

This is not news to the Church of Jesus Christ, although the truth is alien to the world.

We will treat all sins as what they are: disobedience to the commandments of the living God.

We will pray for and intervene for any person who requires love and assistance in following the resurrected savior, Jesus Christ.

And so also say all the communion of the saints and believers in the Holy God,

Amen.

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