COM Newsletter - February 2022
INSPIRATIONAL THOUGHT
“Great peace have they which love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.”
I find this to be a promise of great magnitude in our world gone mad. There seems to be wave after wave of distress washing over us in place of promised peace. Offense is embraced, our personal contentment is considered subject to the behavior of others and/or outside circumstances. This has held many far from the shores of a healing restoration to the image of God. To be sure, there is much unfairness and unkindness in society today (2 Timothy 3:1-13) yet we have no cause to despair. This verse in Psalms reveals a major defect within our present culture. The solution lies sandwiched right in the center of the text “they which love Thy law”; on one side peace is found, the other an inability to become offended. Conversely, the more we rebel against our Father and His hedge of protection, the less peace we experience and the more unresolved offense we accumulate.
How then, do we love God’s law? We understand there’s a wedding feast on the horizon, a Bridegroom returning to bless us in a ‘together forever’ ceaseless eternity. This application of God’s love for us is spelled out beautifully in Hosea 2:19. “And I will betroth thee unto Me forever; yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness and in judgment and in lovingkindness, and in mercies.” Yet no proper Hebrew wedding could have taken place without a Ketubah (marriage contract). When we begin to recognize the ‘commands’ of God as His holy vows of marriage, they truly become precious, personal invitations, no longer merely requirements to be met. God is drawing us into the most intimate relationship that exists, even recording His desires on stone and now in our very hearts. “Will you be Mine and Mine alone?” “Will you put Me first in your life?” “When you take my name in marriage, will you honor Me?” “Will you spend special sacred time with Me?” “Will you treat My family well?” For me personally, the moment I equated God’s moral code with the romance of holy matrimony, I became compelled to LOVE His law!
In 2009, a very close friend and I began praying that our church would have something to offer the LGBTQ+ community. We prayed there would be an avenue for God to provide shelter for those lost in a sea of sexual sin. We even prayed against the ‘tidal wave’ that seemed to be looming on the horizon. In 2014, we were delighted to find such a venue in Coming Out Ministries. With sadness, the very next year it became a support for my own family as our daughter divorced her husband to chase an ever-elusive happiness while identifying as ‘lesbian’. Since that time, the COM prayer support line has proved to be a blessing in countless ways, and I continue to praise God for His timely answer to our original prayer. That tidal wave has arrived, hundreds of individuals from our church are seeking help. (Please, continue to lift this movement up before God as more and more are requesting support, prayers for deliverance from pornography addiction and freedom from unwanted attractions and temptations.)
Some time ago, I had the privilege to attend a Freedom March event in Orlando, FL sponsored in part by survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting. Redeemed individuals from many denominations gathered to praise God and share stories of healing from all manner of sexual brokenness. There was a consistent theme, a thread that ran through the narratives: peace from a spirit of rebellion and sweet freedom from personal histories that no longer provided any lasting satisfaction. Release from depression, dispelled suicidal thoughts, anxiety lessened, healing through personal responsibility and a desire for restoration to sexual purity were undeniably the result of honest surrender to God, willing obedience to His ways and an outpouring of His Holy Spirit.
There is a lie the enemy has circulated for years; that being, if you do not act out upon your scripturally deviant temptations you will become miserable, tortured and suicidal, when in fact the opposite is promised and proving true for many. (Actually, while ‘Pride’ may go before the fall, peace will return after the surrender). Over the past 7 years, I have been blessed to bear witness of steadily growing numbers of spiritually defeated individuals who are now living within Biblical boundaries, experiencing true freedom and finding a joy that Christ’s righteousness alone can provide. God is doing in them what they could not do for themselves.
I love the quote “The mind and nerves gain tone and strength by the exercise of the will. The power of the will in many cases will prove a potent soother of the nerves.” T1p387 It reminds me that loving God means obeying His commands, which in turn blesses us with peace beyond measure. It’s a promise!
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Q&A
Question: Should we allow a gay partner of our son to stay in our home? Our family is struggling over this issue. Thank you.?
Reply: This is a very difficult and sensitive question to deal with. In their unconditional love for me and for my partners, I believe my parents erred in allowing us to stay (together) in their home. They did so many things right, but I do believe they compromised in this area.
What is the biblical principle in this matter? I think we can find it in the fourth commandment. God said regarding the Sabbath, “In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates” (Exodus 20:10).
The principle here is that our homes are Christian homes with Christian standards. We don't allow porno movies, smoking, drinking, drugs, orgies, or wild rock music. We have standards to uphold within our domicile, over which we are appointed by God to be priests, heads of family, kings and queens, and so forth.
When homosexual relatives are visiting, I think God expects us to just lovingly and politely lay it on the line with something such as, “We love you and we accept you, but God's standards are honored and upheld within these walls. We welcome you into our home, but we must ask that you refrain from sleeping together within these premises. We do not condemn you, but only ask that you respect the standards of our home while you are visiting in our home. Again, we love you and welcome you.”
I hope you find this to be reasonable and helpful counsel.
Victor
Q&A text taken from:
Author: “Victor J. Adamson”
(Ron Woolsey)
TESTIMONY
Hello, my name is Jackie. I was honored to be asked to write a couple of paragraphs about my journey from a life of homosexuality to the freedom from the bondage of homosexuality. Anyone that knows me, knows that to keep this at a couple of paragraphs will be very difficult but here goes.
I was born on a dark and stormy night…ok, may not have been dark or night, but it was in late July, hurricane season here in Florida, so the stormy part could be right.
How about we start at what I remember…
I remember that as a child, I would lay in bed at night and daydream. In my imagination I was the hero.
I would always be the one that would save the day, at some point injured in my rescue of the damsel in distress. Yep, I said damsel. I would think about women, but therein lies the problem…my father was an ordained Baptist minister, my mom’s dad was an old-fashioned preacher from the mountains of North Carolina, I wasn’t supposed to be having these thoughts. It went against everything I was taught, so I did what every child in a strict biblical upbringing did…I suppressed my thoughts and “feelings”.
Jump ahead a few years and I am out on my own so to speak, I joined the Army. I still remember my upbringing about homosexuality, so I dive headfirst in the opposite direction, again suppressing my desires for women. Mind you, this was also against my fine, upstanding Christian upbringing, but at least it wasn’t (at this point use your best southern preacher accent) the “sin of homosexuality”. This went on for quite a number of years until my mid-thirties when I finally come out of the proverbial closest.
Let’s jump ahead a bit to about 1999 and let me share something my mom shared with me. She had been listening to Focus on the Family and they were discussing homosexuality. The comment that my mom heard and shared with me was this: most women that are homosexual is a result of two things. One, a traumatic experience with a man, be it sexual child abuse or rape, or two, there was never a bonding with her mother. Mom picked up on that because I never had the mother/daughter bond with my biological mother, she walked out on us. (Mom, the woman that adopted me and my older brother had raised us as her very own from right before my 2nd birthday). She felt that was why I chose the gay lifestyle. I personally thought she was wrong, that I have always had these feelings so they must be from God. Many years later I thought about her words and started thinking about how I thought about things. Stay with me here, it will make sense…
My biological mother walked out on me and my older brother. Why? I was adorable, who would do such a thing? Was I not enough? Fine!
Dad raised us, Dad fought for us, Dad is my hero, I want to be JUST LIKE HIM!
About five years later I reenlisted into the Army where I found myself back in the closest, or in this case, the footlocker. I was ok with that, I was used to hiding things, besides, President Clinton passed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” No worries there. Later President Obama would pass the law allowing Gays to openly serve in the Military, Wooo-hooo, now I’m out of the proverbial footlocker. Problem is…I know deep down, not because of Baptist upbringing, but deep down, I wasn’t living as I should.
This was all in the span of 37 years. In November of 2011 I was transferred to Kentucky. Again, I started with these desires when I was around 12 years old (1975) and even though I attended church, I read my Bible, I did not act on my desires…the majority of the time… in 2012, I was reading a book and the author makes the comment “just because society is welcoming of homosexuality now, just because man’s laws protect the rights of gays, God’s words do not change. Hebrews 13:8 states: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” BAM! Ok, I added the Bam, that’s not in the Bible. But it was TRUTH. Not my truth, not society’s truth, but The Truth. We read in John 14:6, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
He didn’t say I am a way, a truth. Nope! Jesus said He is THE WAY, THE TRUTH.
I knew that verse, but I never let the truth part sink in. Jesus didn’t change the truth because it became popular. He IS the same yesterday, today, and forever. At that point I fell to my knees and asked forgiveness, which by the way…He did.
Now the question comes up, what about those same-sex desires? How do you deal with those?
I firmly believe that you believe in all the word of God or none of it. We can’t pick and choose which ones we like and which ones we don’t. God’s word is not a buffet table. In Luke 11:1-4 we read what is called the Lord’s Prayer. In verse 4 it reads “And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Trust me, I have no problems leading myself into temptation, but what I have learned is to step away from the temptation. Not to put myself in a situation, especially if I am mentally, and spiritually tired and weak. Satan is just lurking, waiting for that moment to attack. So, if I see something on TV that causes me to dwell, I change the channel, if there is a song on the radio that brings up a memory from my past… and I dwell on it, I change the station. I have learned to trust Jesus, especially during my weak times. You see, you may find yourself in a situation by YOUR OWN choice, a place you should not have gone to -either mentally or physically… stop whatever you are doing, pray and look around, God will provide an exit. It is up to YOU to take it.
If you are a parent reading this… I have good news for you also. God loves you; God knows your pain and frustrations. Think of it this way, we are his children, and we are not perfect, He KNOWS. In Proverbs 22:6 we read: “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” I am proof of that. My Dad was preaching from Hosea one Sunday… guess who was used as an illustration? Dad said that when you are at your wits end, when you have tried everything, do what you should have done from the start. Give it to God.
So, Mom and Dad prayed a Hedge of Thornes around me. I looked at Mom when Dad said that, and she flat out said, “Yes, we did!” As that child, I am so very thankful my parents loved me enough to do that. They did not condone my choice, but they let me know I was loved. Your child is a gift from God, who better to give your child to. Pray for them, love them, allow God to do His work in them. Trust Him with the results and never give up!
Jackie is retired from the military and currently lives in Clearwater, FL. She volunteers and attends a local church, messianic synagogue and working on her doctorate in Theology.
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