“I kissed a girl and I liked it,” was the lyric she sang (yes, she) from the rafters of Gold’s Gym. I had heard the tune before but not noticed the words. All I wanted to do was work out and drop a few pounds, but instead I got a hard core dose of homosexual propaganda.

Continue Reading »

I had been planning this meeting for some time. Julie and I had a couple of brief occasions to talk about spiritual things in her office, but we had always run out of time to get into serious matters. Now the time had finally come: Julie and I were meeting for lunch to discuss some business between our two companies and I hoped this would be the spiritual opportunity I was looking for.

After we placed our drink orders, Julie surprised me by saying, “Wes, I’m glad we got to meet today. I know you’re a spiritual guy and there’s something I’d like to talk to you about.” Wow! Let’s go, I thought. Then the hammer fell. She went on, “I have Christians in my office. They gossip; they don’t turn in their time cards on time. Why would I want to be one of those?”

Continue Reading »

Although the New Testament does not record an instance of Jesus meeting a person engaged in the sin of homosexuality, it does record examples of Jesus interacting with people immersed in other sexual sins. You may recall the adulterous woman of Samaria whom Jesus met at Jacob’s well (John 4), and the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her hair, likely a prostitute (Luke 7). And who can forget the woman caught in the act of adultery in Jerusalem (John 8)?

From these examples, we can start to form a picture of how Jesus would respond if He walked into a homosexual bar or visited a homosexual marriage ceremony in our day. Here are a few of the things we can gather about Jesus’ behavior in such a situation:

1. He would not shy away from confronting their sin directly. The woman at the well is a good example. Although she did not want to talk about her life, Jesus dove in head first (John 4:17-18). We could learn a thing or two from this approach.
2. He accepted them, forgave them, taught them, and used them in His work. Read these stories and you will see that Jesus loved and received people regardless of the type of sin that plagued them. Sexual sins for Him were no more a barrier to relationship than extortion, drunkenness, pride, or idolatry.
3. He invited them to become true worshippers of God. The adulteress at the well was schooled in what it means to worship God genuinely and, it appears, she took Him up on His offer-as did many of her friends.
4. He didn’t make this sin any worse than any other for which He came to die. He didn’t ‘freak-out’ when He met a woman who slept with different men all night, or another who treated marriage like a disposable party plate.

A Startling Reaction

There is one other reaction Jesus had when faced with perverted sexual sin that is worth noting, and this one might make you squirm a bit. When the adulterous woman was brought to Him by the Pharisees, Jesus had a startling reaction. Instead of stoning her to death-which, by the way, is what many of us seem to want to do to homosexuals-He turned the tables on the religious ‘gotcha’ squad. Continue Reading »

Businesses often have golf outings for customers and vendors during the summer season. In this type of event, a large group of people separate into groups of four and play 18 holes of golf. Often, at each hole, vendors will set up a table and show their newest products as the different golf foursomes come around. And, as you might expect in our increasingly secular world, many have not only large quantities of beer at their table, but hard liquor as well.

At the end of the day, these events degrade into basically a drunk-fest, set up by the local business and paid for by their suppliers. For those of you who are naive…yes, this is the way business is done in America today.

I attended one of these recently and, although I was not surprised at the foolishness and abundance of alcohol (which comes first, I wonder?), I was struck by the role many Christians played in the affair. There was one vendor table in particular that especially caught my attention. It was a table run by a man I know to be a Christian. On his table was a sample kit showing some of his latest products…and four bottles of whiskey.

You’re probably asking the same question I am, What was he thinking?

Although most Christians don’t find themselves in a situation like this everyday, there are nonetheless frightening parallels between this man’s actions and many Christians today. I see it far too often–Christians with one foot in the world and one foot in the Kingdom. They are too afraid to stand up or too greedy to take the risk of offending someone who puts money into their pocket. If it isn’t drinking, it’s nasty language or perverted talk or pornography. Does one of these describe you?

Have you ever stopped to count the cost of this type of hypocritical and worldly behavior? Here are a few of the ill effects of sacrificing your holiness on the altar of the world:

1. It denies Christ and the Father their glory. When you act like the world, no one can see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven (Matt. 5:16).

2. It devastates outreach. When the world sees no difference in your life–when you act just like they do–what incentive is there to become a Christian? And when your real witness is to hypocrisy, why would they want to become a hypocrite? (Rom. 2:19-24)

3. It stunts your spiritual growth. Enduring persecution for the sake of righteousness will foster amazing spiritual growth within you, not the least of which is an awareness of Christ’s sufferings, increased trust in God, and increased power through a clear conscience.

4. It risks Christ’s judgment. Jesus is the Master of the church and its holy Judge. Let’s not forget that. You may want to read through Revelation 1-3 again and be reminded that Christ brings harsh judgments upon His people when they disobey. In fact, judgment is already underway in our nation now–80-85% of churches in North America are dying!

How about you? Examine your own life carefully. How are your life, actions, and words inconsistent with your profession of faith? In whatever ways you are embracing the world by your lifestyle, stop today and repent. You are only putting yourself, the church, and our nation at risk by continuing.