COM Newsletter - April 2022
RAINBOW OF FREEDOM
Included in one of the first lessons that our toddlers learn when they enter Sabbath School is the rainbow. Against one wall they encounter a model of the ark filled with stuffed animals: squirrels, horses, pigs, and an assortment of two of each animal lining the deck waiting to see dry land. Painted on the wall behind the ark is a huge rainbow with seven colors, brightly painted to remind us of the promise that God provides for all who keep His covenant. (Genesis 9:13-15)
Who could have foreseen that a version of this rainbow would become the symbol of “gay pride” on the flag that is about to be waved for a month to celebrate diversity of identity and sexuality, rather than to encourage those who are safely under the protection of their Creator and Redeemer? What is the difference between the two versions you may ask? I believe that, because of his hatred of Jesus Christ, the devil has coopted the Lord’s symbol of holiness and purity in his campaign to steal, kill and destroy man, Jesus’ crowning creation. (Psalms 8:5)
My friend Bill Barrett’s home was the first one I visited when I moved to Tennessee. He had some wonderful Bible studies that we did in his home called, “The Bible Made Simple”. In one study guide was a pyramid of the primary and secondary (6) colors and their meaning according to the Bible. The primary colors are: red, blue and yellow. With the help of Scripture, we can discern that the meaning of these colors is the complete Godhead: Red -- God the Son, (1 Peter 1:18,19, John 1:29) , Blue -- God the Father (Numbers 15:38-40), and Yellow-- God the Spirit (John 1:32, Psalms 68:13). I was blown away! Then when you mix two of the primary colors together in 3 different formulas you get the secondary colors which are green, orange, and purple.
In order to clarify this in my own understanding, I changed the order from a pyramid to a color wheel, which is what I have used as a hairdresser for over thirty years. I now use this study to show that all the colors represent different characteristics and blessings that are extended to man from the Godhead. For example: when you mix red (the blood of the lamb to take away our sins) and blue (the Law of God symbolized by the ribbon of blue around the hem of the high priest’s robe, Numbers 15:38-40, John 1:29) you get purple, which is the color of royalty (Judges 8:26). Purple represents adoption, inheritance, and protection -- a beautiful example of how God has built attributes into these colors with His love and provision for man.
Now the rainbow that God uses on earth has seven colors, but the primary and secondary colors add up to only six. What is the color that is missing? Indigo. Indigo is a combination of blue (primary) and purple (secondary). Indigo is the last color of the rainbow making seven colors complete, but when I looked up the color, Indigo, there is no mention of it in Scripture. I prayed about it and thought, there must be something that I am missing. I prayed about where blue and purple might be in the Bible, then, as I searched the Bible, I found one place, and one place only, where these two colors are mentioned together. That is in the sanctuary (Exodus 26, 27). What I saw was the work that is going on in the sanctuary! The curtain separating the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place had blue, purple and red on it. Is it possible that the seventh color of the rainbow represents the work that Jesus Christ accomplishes in the Sanctuary -- that is, the mediatorial work that is going on in Heaven and Earth right now that centers on God’s people confessing and turning away from sin?
In that case, we can see that the six-colored flag leaves out the most important work of the Redeemer – giving His people the power to overcome sin. In other words, the six-colored flag denies that we can be saved from our attractions and the things that come naturally to us. If we allow our identity to be in our selfishness and in our sexual inclinations and attractions, we have cut ourselves off from the healing power that was accomplished on the Cross. How the devil must revel in this deception! The rainbow, the very symbol that represents our Savior’s power to save, now is a symbol of the enemy’s power to deceive –a symbol being waved in God’s face while rejecting the wonderful sacrifice, death and resurrection of our precious Lord and Savior.
Please don’t think I am proposing that now we should shy away from using the rainbow because of it being a subject of controversy. Now is the time to study it and contemplate on what the seven-colored rainbow means in its entirety. We also need to make sure that our children study and know that the rainbow came from God, and that God’s rainbow has seven colors and that anything less or more is not representative of the true rainbow. Teaching the little ones that the colors in God’s rainbow are in a particular order, and that each color has a deep meaning. Representing the profound loving attributes of God for us -- those who keep His law and wait for His appearing, as He comes covered with a large rainbow around His throne. (Revelation 4:3)
Christ’s Intercession Soon to Cease
”The One who has stood as our intercessor; Who hears all penitential prayers and confessions; who is represented with a rainbow, the symbol of grace [power to overcome sin] and love, encircling His head, is soon to cease His work in the heavenly sanctuary. Grace [power] and mercy [love] will then descend from the throne, and justice will take their place. He for whom His people have looked will assume His right—the office of Supreme Judge. 7BC 989.11”
Michael Carducci has developed a program for pre-school and for older children to teach them to understand the rainbow with the different colors and attributes the Bible assigns to each. To find out how to schedule a program at your school or church, please inquire at: admin@comingoutministries.org
SPECIAL MESSAGE
Q&A
Follow-up Question: Some say the church should just stand back and let this young man come to the point of turning from all this on his own. Is this good or should there be a proactive approach? At what point do we apply Matthew 18:15-20? I believe steps one and two of Matthew 18 have already been taken, but the young man’s father is upset about confronting him regarding these issues. Help me, please! I’m confused and don’t want to back this young man into a corner like a caged animal. However, since he wants to continue in his old ways, I believe I have to say, “Not in my home.” Is this a wrong thought?
Reply: I don’t think it is biblical for us to stand back and just wait for a church member to turn from a life of open sin. Yes, there should be a proactive approach according to Matthew 18, as you have already stated.
Paul told young Timothy in 2 Timothy 4 to:
“Preach the word … reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” (verses 2-4)
Isaiah 58 is rather bold in stating, “Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins” (Isaiah 58:1).
If someone is professing to be a Christian and maintaining membership within the church, yet choosing to live in open sin, then we, as loving and caring brothers and sisters, have a duty, an obligation, to lovingly reprove, rebuke, exhort—to work with them to bring them to repentance and submission to the will of God. Our responsibility is to work with these people for their salvation from sin, not in sin.
The longer this young man goes without being confronted, the more deeply rooted he will become in his lifestyle of sin. In love, compassion, and mercy, he needs to be confronted by those who care so much about him and his eternal well-being.
“But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference: And others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.” (Jude 1:20-23)
Be of good courage!
Victor
Q&A text taken from:
Author: “Victor J. Adamson”
(Ron Woolsey)
TESTIMONY
Unfortunately, we as Christians have a reputation of being hateful and unloving to the LGBTQ+ community manifesting “intolerance” and a “not my problem” attitude. In order to de-fuse this accusation, we need to be divinely compassionate and respectful, letting the Holy Spirit direct us as to when is the right time is to share. We cannot afford to be condescending in our interactions with anyone. Only a loving approach can win the hearts of people.
I recently had the opportunity to give a Sabbath afternoon presentation to the youth at a church where, at the end of the event, a mother brought her daughter to me who was so distraught she gave me the “side eye.” I could tell this was about to be a discussion the daughter wasn’t interested in having. As the mother fussed with her daughter to ask me the questions, the girl finally started to share, saying to her mother, “I can ask on my own.”
We started off standing with very little eye contact; I wanted to make sure that I was covered with the Holy Spirit, so I continually asked silently for guidance and for the right attitude and facial expressions that would help her to realize that I wasn’t against her, but was trying to find commonality with her in our discussion.
Very clearly this sixteen-year-old was knowledgeable with all the terms - non-binary, queer, trans-phobic…. She was going to an Adventist school and had several friends who were in the same identities as she. As we were talking she explained that she had been angered by what I said in my presentation. She had gotten up and left the meeting at one point because what I said seemed intolerant. I asked her what I had said. She told me the term “same sex attraction” was the problem. “Why was that so offensive?” I asked. “Because it is homophobic and denies the LGBTQ+ community. It is an outdated term; the correct term should be ‘gay.’” I could see that there was a hypersensitivity about terminology here and a misunderstanding of my intention as someone who has left the gay culture. Earlier in the interaction, the mother hadn’t let the girl speak freely, so I made sure to listen to her, give her respect, and let her share what she wanted. In so doing, I often mirrored back to her what she had said to make sure that I understood her. I also tried to lighten the moment occasionally by joking or by referring to myself as the irrelevant “old man.”
It took about an hour of our two hours together before we really started communicating. A friend of mine was there, who also came out of the LGBTQ+ culture. She joined us to help give meaning and understanding to where we were in our relationship with Jesus Christ. When the conversation was over, we three were laughing and agreeing that, while we hadn’t come to a similar opinion, we were aware that we have a lot more in common than we initially thought. She let me hug her, and even take my picture with her. I gave her my contact information, and she was in a totally different frame of mind than when we met.
While her journey is far from over, I believe that seeds were planted. I felt that God was glorified by the conversation, and that He had provided, not just my words, but also the words of my friend who helped initiate compassion and understanding as well as another option when it comes to the difficult topic of gender identity and sexuality.
Finally, I believe that I have done my part to challenge her thinking. I gave her two testimonies of people who have found a connection between their attractions and a relationship with Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 13:1) I am asking the Holy Spirit to intervene and “finish the work that He started” (Philippians 1:6). I leave it with Him, praying that I have done what was expected of me.
Friends, there is an explosion of identity diversity in our schools and churches! This girl, a student at an Adventist school, is just one of the many young people about whom I hear stories on a weekly basis. Get ready, folks; this issue is exploding in our church more now than ever! I believe that, because we have not done our due-diligence when it comes to protecting our youth from the onslaught of what the internet and media does to appeal to our children, we have lost precious ground, and now our youth are more educated by contemporary sexuality and identity than by what our Bible teaches. If your children have unlimited access to the internet, no amount of Bible study and family worship will counter the world wide web of lies. It’s like giving a razor blade to a toddler.
UPDATE: I just got an update from a friend of a friend of the mother of this young girl that I spoke to. After our meeting the young girl attended a spiritual revival and has been markedly less “contentious on her stance about LGBTQ+” with her parent. We don’t always know how conversations can turn out, but we trust that the Holy Spirit knows how to bring fruit from the seeds we plant.
“I asked the meaning of the shaking I had seen, and was shown that it would be caused by the straight testimony called forth by the counsel of the True Witness to the Laodiceans. This will have its effect upon the heart of the receiver, and will lead him to exalt the standard and pour forth the straight truth. Some will not bear this straight testimony. They will rise up against it, and this will cause a shaking among God's people.—Testimonies For The Church 1:181 (1857). LDE 175.3
There are those among us who will make confessions, as did Achan, too late to save themselves. ... They are not in harmony with right. They despise the straight testimony that reaches the heart, and would rejoice to see everyone silenced who gives reproof.—Testimonies for the Church 3:272 (1873). LDE 175.4”
Help is Available
Go to covenanteyes.com Promo code: COMsafe for a free month of an annual fee for internet accountability.
Have you tried our prayerline? We meet three times weekly with the purpose of creating a community of believers who are inspired and equipped to pray for their loved ones -- those who have decided to pursue their attractions and contemporary identities. Go to our website, comingoutministries.org to find the times and days when our UPLIFT group meets together. We have people around the world who come and join us to be lifted up and to lift up the ones they love. If you are from another country, contact us to find a telephone number that you can access without a fee.
Are you looking for a community where you can safely share your own journey and find others who are looking for freedom from the LGBTQ+ identity? Email your phone information to admin@comingoutministries.org and someone will contact you about joining the “Former’s Prayerline”. This is a private group and can be joined only by invitation.”
SPECIAL MESSAGE
Please consider making a donation to our ministry to help spread the message of God’s love and redemption! Kindly visit our website www.comingoutministries.org and select the Donate button,
or you can send a check or money order directly to
‘Coming Out’ Ministries at PO Box 107, Tilly, AR 72679.
May God bless you for your support!