I am often amazed how accepting
our sexual orientation changes us, a religiously fervent ex-Baptist
Pastor became an ex-evangelical leaving God to
find “God” now reduced to religious laws - love commandments to
reconcile his conscience with him being gay. Often
Religion rules
our lives and
not freedom in Christ and that is
why many gay people don't attend inclusive churches.
I didn’t have such a drastic
coming out as the ex-Pastor
and did not have to leave wife, church, and kids for
discerning that it would cause harm to enter into such relationships
which I could not keep for life. My coming out was a coming upon of the
Holy Spirit, who spoke to my heart from Is 56:4 that I am a born Eunuch,
born from my mother’s womb in Mat 19:12 without attraction to the opposite
sex. I am blessed when I accept whom He had created me wonderfully as a
gay person. It was the compassion and love of Jesus that made me let go.
Jesus outed me and it has been a tough journey.
The Jesus the ex-Baptist pastor
knew was probably one which the disciples held onto after being with
Jesus for more than 3 years. When the soldiers came to arrest Him, they
drew arms and injured their captors. They held on to the Jesus as man,
whilst God I believe would like us to see Jesus being our sin at the
Cross of Calvary, and Jesus the resurrected at the right hand side of
God. The ex-evangelical didn’t lose religion nor gain God, his problem
was still religion and her laws and so is many gay Christians. In
Christ, we are free and that freedom is not found in being religious,
but with right believing and with fervent expectation of God’s grace and
mercy.
I have debated at length with very
religious fundamentalist, and liberals in my
younger days. They see God very rigidly hence often
could not discern the small gentle voice of the Holy Spirit. I too found
my escape not as Jesus being a replacement of a partner, but in reading
the bible, and the Holy Spirit led me seemingly to 1st
century Judea to be at Jesus footstools with the disciples. Jesus was
not the strict religious Pharisee nor the liberal rebel that was painted
by some.
1 Cor 13: 10 But when that which
is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. 11
When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I
thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know
in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. 13 And now abide
faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
It is now almost two thousand
years after Jesus death, or 2 days in biblical terms. We are entering
the 3rd day in which Jesus will come back again. After a “Christian
century” filled ironically with every conceivable denial of God’s love
and offer of eternal life, we are still playing religion. We can only
gain God when we lose religion. Religion is the worst enemy of gay
people, because zealous religious folks will use gays as the stepping
stone of religious self-effort. That is why, Love Singapore wore white,
not realising that the greatest sin is amongst straight people with
10,000 unborn babies killed every year, and not gays minding their own
business and space.
Jesus is knocking at the door,
the Holy Spirit is sent out to the lonely byways to pick up those who
would attend the Lord’s supper with a sumptuous feast to declare the
coming of the Kingdom of God for Christ has risen and is coming back
again. Yet, these byways in the deserts are the darkest places of
incredible pain, loss and judgement, where the devil have had a good
time deceiving people that Jesus is against them or that salvation is
found in a name other than Jesus. The message of the Rainbow church is
that God is for us, and not against us.
All are welcome
to find the real
Christ, into the Rainbow church as we are joined into the body of Christ
and where our gender, culture, race, sexuality, and sexual orientation
does not only define us. We are defined by our baptism and death to
ourselves at the Cross of Calvary that we may rise again into the
fullness of life to be who God called us as, a Gay Christian.
The Jews will proclaim, the Shema
of Israel, morning and evening, of loving God and loving others. Yet,
when Jesus proclaimed Himself as God, they put Jesus at the Cross of
Calvary. Love by itself without surrendering to God tantamount to the
self-effort by religious law. We have missed the mark and fallen short
of the glory of God. Religion is not the answer for love without
judgement is not righteous.
In 1 Cor 13, we see the Love of
Jesus that never fails. The pretext in 1 Cor 12 is the diversity of
spiritual gifts in the church which was operating in the supernatural
move of God of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirit and tongues. In
1 Cor 13, Paul urged them to abide in faith concerning Jesus, in the
hope of eternity, and lastly to remember the Love of Jesus Christ. For
we are childish when we fight each other as this world do for power,
control, and influence (as some mega churches did), rather than growing
up to understand that the church grows with the diversity of gifts and
ministries.
We even call it progressive when we no
longer operate in the supernatural gifts in the Holy Spirit. A Rainbow
Christianity should be founded on the Rock of Jesus Christ, an
unchanging Rock, that men have tried to deny, reject, persecute the
believers but could now quench the move of the Holy Spirit. For in Eph
4:7 “…to each one of us grace was given according to the measure
of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led
captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.” No longer are we captive to
death, but grace of God through Christ (Eph 4:11-14) giving us the grace
to become apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, so that
the church/beliers could be built up to be united based on the
centrality of Christ and not moved by the wind of doctrines and
deception of the devil
The bible in 1 Cor 12 called for
the diversity of supernatural spiritual gifts in the church as norm, and
being bounded by faith, hope and love, with love being the greatest.
Love is the greatest because it is the love of God that brought us home
to heaven and we have faith and hope that the Love of God will not
disappoint us. The bible doesn’t call us into diversity of theology
rather unity in common faith, hope, and love with diversity in the
different ministries giving freedom to the move of the Holy Spirit. We
are united in Christ, the revelation as the Son of God - the Servant
Lamb of God, the King of Kings, and the High Priest. It is His love, not
our Love.
In Eph 4:4, we are further
reminded that there is “4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you
were called in one hope of your calling; 5 one Lord, one faith, one
baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all,
and in you all.”. We have one God, the Lord God is One, not the many
different gods that were worshipped in ancient Judea and Rome, or the
unknown God of the Greeks. We have diversity of ministries (not
theology), but one body for Jesus offered us the way, the truth and the
life through faith and not by religious works. We therefore live by
faith, in the Hope of eternity and love of Christ. We love because He
first loved us. We are baptised into Christ, and not a distant mystical
universal god.
Jesus spoke in parables not
because He like to ask questions, but because His own rejected the
plain truth concerning His deity and messianic calling and tried to
stone Him. Amongst His disciples, Jesus explained the parables spoken in
public. This is the church, where the plain Gospel truth are preached
rather than hidden.
I have come to a realization that
I cannot love people, I cannot care for them for the gay sheep is too
wounded and hurt. Our hearts are deeply wounded by the rejection of the
church and society. Many have taken their own lives for our lives have
been made meaningless by the church. I can only preach to them Jesus
from the bible as their Saviour – Messiah that in the blood of the Lamb
there may be redemption, as King over all the powers on earth and
heaven, as High Priests before God that grace may come through Jesus,
the sinless and the righteous one of God.
I
long for a Rainbow church with the rain and
manna from heaven that we may move in miracles, prophecy, discerning of
spirit and tongues standing in unity on Christ finished work at the
Cross, and coming against the deception of the devil by the
strengthening of the church and right believing through the grace of God
in giving us the ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors,
teachers.
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