The Eunuch Seeker - whom religon has rejected but Jesus has set free

 

(Acts 8:26 NKJV) Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, "Arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza." This is desert.

(Acts 8:27 NKJV) So he arose and went. And behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians, who had charge of all her treasury, and had come to Jerusalem to worship,

The Eunuch unlike most in the community desperately sought True God. Yet, this attitude and determination even travelling two thousand miles from Ethiopia was not sufficient. For the Eunuch was condemned intrinsically for something not of His own doing. He believed God and wanted to worship God just like many Gays. But because He was a Eunuch just as Gays are born as such, he was disqualified. Just like gentiles were intrinsically disqualified not because they did not believed but because they are non-Jews. Jesus came to overcome this bondage of the law so that we can enter by our freewill into the kingdom of God. The call of modern day Christians is not to put back into bondage that which Jesus Christ has set free. To do otherwise, we would have negated the cross of Calvary and made it of no impact. Those who called being Gay as a result of a fallen nature just like sickness, must be consistent, and also call being a gentile i.e. a Chinese, an American, an Indian, a European, an Afican, a result of the fallen nature and intrinscally against the Law.

The minority groups are often outcast in society. With more than 95% heterosexuals, the gay minority is denied of basic rights such as marriage and acceptance. Religion has often been the forefront in discrimination against Gays using the bible as a tool of persecution. The form of Christianity which we preach and abide to in mainstream Churches remains a religion like the Jewish faith where men seek to please God through good works and following the law. The Jews rejected the Eunuch seeker, but in Christ, he was accepted. Because of Jesus, we have ascended beyond the carnality of religion. The mainstream churches behave in the same manner as the Jews as if Jesus death and resurrection made no difference at all. We used the law, not realizing that Jesus came to fulfill the demands however unfair the law maybe in the first place, and so opened the gates for the gay community. The door is opened, but Christians standing guard to block gays from coming in. Soon, God will have to intervene, for His son died for all.

In our western terminology, an Eunuch is a male with his external genitals removed. However, the Hebrew word translated eunuch could be used of any court official (At Gen. 37:36 and 39:1 the reference is to a married man). The Greek term translated eunuch is literally one in charge of a bed, a reference to the practice of using eunuchs as keepers of harems (Esth. 2:3,6,15). Such were excluded from serving as priests (Lev. 21:20) and from membership in the congregation of Israel (Deut. 23:1). Eunuchs were regarded as especially suitable in the Ancient Near East for the royal service in view of their inability to bear any children of the King’s concubines.

In the desert place, God met the Ethiopian Eunuch. Phillip would have rode passed his caravan except that he heard the Eunuch reading the book of Isaiah - a strange scene for only the very rich owned their own scriptures and very few would be so immersed and interested that they read aloud for the many days of the journey. In Acts 8:30-35 Phillip explained to him of the prophecies concerning the Messiah spoken in Isaiah that the Eunuch have sought so much to travel 2000 km to seek. And the prophecy has been fulfilled this day in Jesus Christ.

(Acts 8:36,37 NKJV) Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, "See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" Then Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God."

The question that Eunuch asked echoes in history "What hinders me [an Eunuch] from being baptized, to be a Christian?". The Eunuch is a very general term used. Although in modern terminology, it refers to male with their sexual organs removed, the word Eunuch is a general term to describe Gays. In Mat 19:12, Jesus describes Eunuchs not only as men who are forcefully castrated but also those who despite having their sexual organs intact, are born not having the desire to have a sexual relationship with woman, i.e. those who are naturally Gays.

The notion of Gays as as "natural" Eunuchs are consistent with the then Jewish writings. In the Jewish Talmud (Yebamoth VIII, folios 79b-84a), a Rabbi Eliezer describes how a natural eunuch ("Saris Chmeh") can be identified, including lateness or absence of pubic hair, the fact that his urine does not form an arch, the absence of a beard, the softness of his hair, the smoothness of his skin, the lack of froth in his urine, the wateriness of his semen, the lack of fermentation of his urine, the fact that his body does not steam after bathing in the wintertime, and finally the fact that his voice is so abnormal that one cannot distinguish whether it is that of a man or a woman. None of their tests involves checking for the presence of anatomical defects in reproductive organs.

(Acts 8:39 NKJV) Now when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing.

(Acts 8:40 NKJV) But Philip was found at Azotus. And passing through, he preached in all the cities till he came to Caesarea.

After the Eunuch received Christ and was baptized, Phillip was nowhere to be seen, His work was done to preach a liberating Christ who set people free and not one who teach them how to remain in bondage by following the law. It would be absurd if Phillip would have done what most mainstream Christians will do accordance to the law - i.e. to ask Eunuch to repent of being a Eunuch as if the genitals would miraculously appear or in the case of Gays to deny who they have been born as. Mainstram Christiniaty have conceniently forgotten that according to the law, as they are non-Jews, they can't enter the kingdom of God. Therefore, if they apply the same measure when condeming Gays, they have no right to enter God's kingdom. The role of Christians who follows after the heart of God is just to preach the gospel and no more. And certainly not to mix grace with the law of God. The Eunuch went away rejoicing. When will the Gay seeker at the gates of the Christian Church go away rejoicing instead of being rejected at the temple of Jerusalem by the law minded Jewish faith. The Eunuch Ethiopian seeker is no more in our times, and replaced by the rejected Gay seeker.

There is only way to break the strangle hold of our carnal minds, that is to walk in the Spirit of God just as Phillip did. Led by the Holy Spirit, Phillip was found in Azotus, the Greek name for an ancient Philistine city, Ashdod. The meaning of Ashdod is a stronghold. Ashdod was one of the major Philistine cities of ancient times. Although it was allotted to the tribe of Judah after the Israelites entered the Promised Land under Joshua, it was never fully taken and remained both a Philistine military stronghold and a major center for the worship of the pagan idol Dagon. In one of Israel's most serious military defeats, during the time of Eli and Samuel the Ark Of The Covenant was captured by the Philistines and taken to Ashdod. Just like the Jews, the Christian Church is facing defeat at Azotus. The god, Dagon is no more. But Christians without the centrality of Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit is like the Nation of Israel without the Ark of the Covenant which symbolizes Jesus and His sacrifice, the mercy seat which hid the vision of God from the law. Therefore, Azotus represents the need for supremacy of the Grace of God versus the law of God.

At Azotus, we worship a dead god. Phillip could have so easily followed the letter of the Old Covenant law and rejected the seeker. But because of Jesus, the living Ark of the Covenant, no longer can we be blamed like the Eunuch something that we are not at fault even though guilty under the law which is thoroughly without mercy nor grace. The Eunuch became one not because of its own fault, yet he was rejected. Gays, are born as such, and in Christ Jesus, the law banning them to enter the Kingdom no longer applies for God’s grace and mercy dealt once and for all with the requirements of the law. Today, the call for the Christian Community is to be like Phillip. The Azuza street revival is over 100 years old, yet we came very short of following the leading of the Holy Spirit and understanding the grace of God to the Eunuchs or Gays. By denying God's grace to Gays, we deny God's grace in our lives.

Let us declare freedom to gays, whom Christ has set free, who are condemned under the law for that which they were naturally born as, for whom Christ exhibited His abundance grace and mercy to set free through His death and resurrection at the cross that they may come into the presence of God through their free will. Let us not put into bondage what God has set free so as not the deny Christ Himself.

LET THE WEAK SAY I AM STRONG,
Let the poor say I am rich,
Let the blind say I can see,
It’s what the Lord has done in me.

LET THE WEAK SAY I AM STRONG,
Let the poor say I am rich,
Let the blind say I can see,
It’s what the Lord has done in me.

Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain;
Hosanna, hosanna,
Jesus died and rose again.

Into the river I will wade,
There my sins are washed away;
From the heavens mercy streams
Of the Saviour’s love for me.

Hosanna, hosanna
To the Lamb that was slain;
Hosanna, hosanna,
Jesus died and rose again.

I will rise from waters deep
Into the saving arms of God;
I will sing salvation songs:
Jesus Christ has set me free.

 

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