WHILE LOVE MUST PREDOMINATE, FEARS ARE LEGITIMATE THAT GAY
'RIGHTS' COULD LEAD TO PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS
We are in a time when we believe there is good in anything
that is seen as "progress." We justify all that's "new,"
that seems "modern." Aren't we so much smarter than everyone else in
history?
In reality, of course (see Ecclesiastes), there is little
new "under the sun" and this goes for trends like same-sex marriage.
Here, there are many precedents. The legitimization of gay relationships may go
back to ancient Egyptian, Greek, and Roman times, according to a Yale study,
while open homosexual behavior dates back long before, to (for example) Sodom
and Gomorrah.
There's nothing new under the sun even though every era and
generation believes there is and (to repeat) believes there's always good in
"progress."
When it comes to homosexuality, we can try to rationalize it
as moral in public forums (while opposition to it is immoral) and attempt to
legalize it in our wayward courts, but here is an inconvenient truth: it is
impossible to justify or rationalize it biologically. One man can marry
another, or one woman another, but they cannot consummate a marriage. It
contravenes the human apparatus. And difficult as it is to say, practicing
homosexuality inherently abuses parts of the organism. According to one study
the longevity of the average gay man is forty two and of lesbians forty-nine,
which are not good fruits. (Source: Cameron, Playfair, Wellum, "The
Longevity of Homosexuals: Before and After the AIDS Epidemic," Omega
Journal of Death and Dying," 1994.) (Besides AIDS, there are numerous
bacterial and parasitic illnesses that are prevalent in this lifestyle; in
addition, the study found practicing homosexuals to be ten times more prone to
accidents and twenty-six times more prone to suicide.)
A spirit moves here; it is a prayer need.
Rather than condemn, pray.
Many homosexuals are good, caring, sensitive people (also
very talented) who struggle as we all struggle with certain proclivities and if
they act on the impulse -- wherever it comes from -- cause themselves problems
physically and morally. We are in a time when such conduct is being twisted by
the deceptive spirit into being an unavoidable pattern of behavior; it is not.
And when those who resist that idea -- who oppose open homosexual behavior --
are considered the abnormal and intolerant ones, there is a threat, a huge
potential problem. Suddenly, a major opportunity opens for the persecution of
religions (especially Christianity, and in particular Roman Catholicism).
During Christmas, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of protecting
traditional marriage from “attempts to make it juridically equivalent to
radically different types of unions” and mentioned “a crisis that threatens
[the family in Western society] to its foundations,” condemning “a new
philosophy of sexuality” which teaches that “sex is no longer a given element
of nature” but a “social role to choose for ourselves.” In the current climate, it is even a heroic comment. It's astounding how much attention homosexuality receives,
given that it comprises two-to-three percent of the population. A week or so later, the semi-official Vatican newspaper,
L'Osservatore Romano, likened mandates
that homosexual marriage be treated as the equal of heterosexual marriage to
Communism, saying it is similar too “the
egalitarian utopia that did so much damage during the 20th Century . . .
deceiving humanity as socialism did in the past.”
The Vatican speaks the truth -- but does so (as we all must)
without hate.
Homosexuals are often very kind, loving, and as we said
talented people who are "gay" for various reasons -- spiritual and
temporal (rare is he who acknowledges the "spiritual" part). They are
to be loved, not judged. Period.
Here is another truth: Much of the hullabaloo over "gay
rights" -- including now the incredible right to "marry" --
comes from the urgent need in practicing homosexuals to convince themselves,
via public acceptance, that what they do is justifiable.
That we are at a point where religious leaders must be
careful in what they say about gays or they will be accused of "hate
crimes" (recently, there was even a petition in the U.S. to declare the
Catholic Church as such) is absurd but also chilling. Suddenly, an opening has materialized for de-legitimizing
Christian precepts. That can quickly lead to censorship and persecution.
There is no other way of expressing it. We are watching a
great danger rise in our midst. Hate crimes? Who is it that holds placards with
profane images of Jesus and Mary during the Mardi Gras or in the annual San
Francisco pride march, often half-naked but wearing a partial habit or collar? It rises with a speed that is breath-taking. Anyone who detests homosexuals is at fault, as are those who
criticize them more than pray for their deliverance. For deliverance is the order of the day.
Despite frantic attempts to convince the public otherwise,
homosexuals often can be converted into heterosexuality -- sometimes through
psychological and moral counseling but most effectively through deliverance,
for various spirits (demonic and disincarnate, as when a deceased female spirit
persuades a man) are often involved. Ministries in New York and elsewhere
testify to the many homosexuals who have found happiness once they rose from
the homosexual temptation and deception. The devil plays on our weaknesses; we all have them. We can
be prone to anger. We can be prone to alcohol. We can be prone to perversions
that are heterosexual. These are "crosses." There are temptations.
They too are sins. We progress in the spirit when we overcome them (carrying
them alongside Christ). Instead, our society now nurtures their continuance. It
justifies evil. And so we face a new danger. Opposing same-sex marriage is all
but a hate crime, and in countries such as England preaching against it or at
least disallowing homosexual couples to adopt babies (which has to have a
profound affect on the child) could soon be met with legal repercussions, as
can refusing to hire practicing ones.
Ironically, the Church has suffered horribly already -- a
white martyrdom -- due to abuses perpetrated in main part by homosexual
priests. Where is the media in those cases? Why is nothing said (by
those who so stridently claim the oppression of homosexuals) about the
thousands of young abuse victims? Don't they count? Haven't their rights (and lives) taken a hit?
This is a very great danger indeed.
Will it one day (soon) be that standing up for the spiritual
normality of biology is viewed as a punishable crime? Is there not already more
discrimination against those who oppose what the Bible clearly says is a sin
than against those who are committing what is defined as that sin?
Very, very dangerous. Last weekend, hundreds of thousands
marched against same-sex "marriage" in France. A thousand priests -- citing persecution fears
-- petitioned in England. It is time for mass rallies in Canada, Australia, New
Zealand, and the United States. It is time for letters to congressmen, to senators, to
editors.
Write, dear friends. Make your voices heard. To love one who
transgresses can not be to accept the transgression itself. Yet, this is what
we are being called -- and forced -- to do by a modern society that can best be
described as disoriented.
GENE
