Monday, January 14, 2008

Being a Lion Surrounded By a Den Filled with Daniels

My former colleague, Harmon Smith, who taught at Duke Divinity School as a professor of Christian ethics, taught me this phrase for expressing what it feels like to be in a room of self-appointed, self-deciding righteous people: "It is like being the lion in a den of Daniels."

That is what it felt like when I entered and left the "Ministers in Training" classroom at Upper Room Church of God in Christ in Raleigh, NC.

Yesterday, I blogged the discussion we had in regards to a difference of interpretation in how we read the texts. I must say, in hindsight, I think I made cracks in the thin veneer of the Rev. Patrick Wooden and touched his very soul, especially when I kept asking him about Jesus, and not the Bible, being "God's love letter to the world." He couldn't disagree with me...or God.

This morning, I went onto Google (something I should've done before I went Sunday morning) to see what I could find about the Church and Patrick Wooden. Pastor Wooden has a history of speaking hate-laced rhetoric of all LGBT people. Lo and behold: the Church has gotten so involved in being against LGBT people that they took a chartered bus of 100 people to Chapel Hill, NC to protest against the Town Council when discussing endorsing marriage rights of LGBT people. They have a history of simply attacking all the advances made by the LGBT community in public places (Click here to see some of his sickness, and the sickness of the church).

What I came to find out while I was there, in his fortress, is how much control Pastor Wooden has of this church community. Sorry to say, but Pastor Wooden acted some times like a bully rather than a gracious host, trying to shout me down, which one never does with a "goy" from Brooklyn, New York. When I got into a discussion with a doctoral graduate from Duke University (who went to Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Duke University, both equally conservative), slowly tearing apart how Rev. Wooden reads and interprets Scripture, Wooden tried to break in, but I put him off, staying engaged with the young scholar. He tried some more, but I was starting to crack through the veneer of how to interpret Scripture using historical cultural criticism (a hermeneutic known well within the academy) with the other scholar (besides me) in the room. Patrick Wooden kept pushing his agenda, and I just kept pushing back. I soon came to see that there was really no interest in dialogue but only advocating his position...converting me was his goal.

The most fun was at the very end, when I was trying to pick up my books behind Patrick Wooden. Not knowing what I was doing, Wooden danced lightly upon his feet, hands in the air...even lighter than most drag queens I've seen and known. Hmmm...

While it is good to be out of the den of Daniels, I think it is important to go into that context and preach a Gospel of love and grace, leaning upon the "everlasting arms of God" at times, who stood with me throughout the 90 minutes. I saw some people questioning the pastor, and listening intently as I picked apart the pastor's blatantly anti-LGBT message with the young scholar's intellect. I saw the dawning sense of hypocrisy come upon one woman's face as I pointed out to her that Paul would be horrified to see her, a) being trained as a leader and, b) wearing gold necklaces, earrings, and braided hair (Read 1 Timothy). Yet she could rationalize a way of being in that room and being trained. I asked for hands of those divorced, and while at first there were none, I asked again: a good 10% of the class were divorced. And we all clearly know what the Bible says about divorce (Thou shall not, according to Jesus in all four Gospels), but still they found a rationalization for being in that class.

And trust me, 10-15% of the class members were part of the "club," the "family, "the community" known as LGBT, though they held their head's down low and asked no questions. But my "gaydar" went "ping" with many in the room.

Would I go back? Yes. It is important to keep engaging with those whose hearts and minds may be filled with hate or wish to express hurt and resentment toward those of us who are LGBT, because God's grace is stronger than any human wall we may build up to hide from God's grace. What is most important is to meet such resistance with grace and love. After all, it is all about embodying Christly gestures (a previous book I wrote).

Dean's wish is this: that one day, pink halos will descend from the heavens and alight upon the LGBTQ people in congregations and parishes, identifying who we are. It will be more than 10-15% of the Church.

Look up! Watch out! Here they come! Halos galore!

Peace, Brett

14 comments:

Unknown said...

On Sunday, January 14th, Dr. Brett Web-Mitchell spoke to our minister’s class at the Upper Room Church of God in Christ about being a gay parent. We learned among other things that being a gay parent means that one can leave their spouse and children by reason of an unfulfilled drive for the same sex, and not be viewed as other men who carelessly destroy their families as dead-beats, good-for-nothing, irresponsible, so on and so forth. In fact, as a gay parent one can do such things and be counted as one who is praiseworthy for standing up and being true to who you are. Wow, there are a lot of advantages to being a gay parent.

To say that Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell is confused is a true understatement. If there was any thin veneer and any understanding that was shallow, it most certainly was his. He began by trying to convince us that Psalms 139:14 was the scripture that God gave him to justify his homosexual lifestyle and his decision to discontinue his marriage. Shortly thereafter, members of the class questioned the validity of his interpretation of this scripture based on the bible’s obvious assessment of homosexuality as abominable. The class sighted scriptures such as Genesis 4:1, which is the original portrait of the family. This family consists of Adam, Eve and their first son Cain. This was done in response to his assertion that the bible provides no framework for the family. We also discussed Genesis chapter 19 where Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed for perversion. Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell held to his view that these cities were destroyed for inhospitality although when Jesus was treated inhospitably by Simon in Mark chapter 14 he did not destroy that city or that house. Maybe by then God found a way to cope with inhospitality.

It was at this point that Dr. Webb-Mitchell decided to inform us that he does not believe in the Old Testament. This we found utterly confusing because by both his oral account and his book, the scripture that God used to permit him to live as an openly homosexual man was Psalms 139:14. This scripture is oddly enough found in the heart of the Old Testament. He, a Presbyterian minister and doctor of theology claimed to discount portions of the Old Testament because he sees them through New Testament eyes. But I would expect a doctor of theology to know that the Old Testament is the foundation upon which the New Testament is built. In fact the criterion by which Jesus is identified as the Messiah is in the Old Testament. For the prophet Isaiah in the Old Testament t prophesied of one born of a virgin. How can we know that Jesus is the true messiah without the Old Testament?

We also discussed New Testament text that deal with the sin of homosexuality. One of which was Romans 1:27 which deals with God’s wrath coming upon men who leave the natural use of a woman to engage in sexual practices with other men (sound familiar). We even discussed Jesus disapproval of homosexuality which he expressed by speaking of Sodom and Gomorrah, which always carries a negative connotation. So after he was shown the truth, that the old and new testament speak blatantly against homosexuality, then Dr. Webb-Mitchell changed his mind again and stated that the bible itself is not valid with the exception of John 3:16. (What happened to Psalms 139:14?) This means that the obviously intellectual man who is an author believes that one can believe that an entire book is invalid, with the exception of one scripture. Well if the book is invalid, is not every scripture in the book invalid as well? Surely an intellectual knows that the whole is the sum of its parts.

Well, once again the Doctor contradicted himself. When all else failed he decided to explain in a quite condescending way, that in order to understand the bible you must know the Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic languages. He explained that without this knowledge there is no way to understand the bible. It was at this point that the “young scholar” gave him a few words in the Hebrew and Greek from a familiar bible text and asked him to give their definitions. The Dr. Webb-Mitchell was utterly speechless. He made no attempt to answer the question in fact he said “you’re asking me this cold.” He simply didn’t have an answer and asked to go and do some background work and consult his scholar friends before answering. It appears that Dr. Webb-Mitchell had no idea what he was talking about.

It was abundantly clear that Dr. Webb-Mitchell has a cursory knowledge of the scriptures at best. A bible student would know that the bible does not say a “thou shalt not” to divorce. In Matthew 19 Jesus explains that divorce is allowable in the case of marital infidelity. I Corinthians 7:15 says, “but if the believing depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.” A true bible student knows that Paul was not against women in ministry because he worked with women such as Lydia, Phoebe and the women in Philippians 4:3 who were working in the gospel. And to put gold and braided hair on same field with homosexuality, is so trivial it does not warrant a response. Instead of being a student of the bible, it seems that Dr. Webb-Mitchell spends of most of his time studying the homosexual talking points. He does have a moral compass. In our discussion on Romans chapter 1 he stated that Paul was not talking about homosexuality but pedophilia and pornography. These actions he believes to be sin. I wonder how NAMBLA would feel about that.

Finally, I must admit that I was quite surprised that Dr. Webb-Mitchell called me a bully. He is on tape stating before the class that he did not feel threatened and that everyone was very polite. It seems that the Doctor lied. Of course if he lied and deceived his wife for 12 years, misrepresenting my image is no big deal. The class warmly received Dr. Webb-Mitchell as an author and scholar. I am sure that they would be surprised to find out that his “gaydar” assessed 10-15% of them as homosexual. Now I’ve also learned that gaydar is the homosexuals’ free pass to be judgmental.

Now concerning the Doctor’s comment about the me being lighter on my feet than most drag queens; whether drag queens are light on their feet or not I don’t know. Dr. Webb-Mitchell is the expert on light footed drag queens. But in polite society when one is standing (as I was at the podium) and someone else is behind them and they bend over to pick up something, and their face comes near the individual whose standing rear end, the person standing in polite society would simply step out of the way. That’s what I did. However, given the good doctor’s sexual preference, I guess I shouldn’t have moved.

I treated Dr. Webb-Mitchell with the utmost courtesy and kindness. He was at my church at my invitation and we paid him well. In fact we paid him a third more than he requested. I had the ultimate sway of authority not to mention the physical advantage. Although his tone became very condescending, I did not disrespect him or call him a name from the long list of slangs that are used to describe homosexuals.

Here is a transcript of the live audio of our discussion: (this live audio will be made available on www.plwooden.org)

(Pastor Wooden) We appreciate the fact that you would come and we honor you for coming. It has been a tremendous experience for us. It has been a blessing actually hearing from you. Because we want to hear from people who disagree with us…and I think everybody’s basically going to leave more convinced that their position is correct. But what we wanted to do, it was our goal to present to you an environment that was respectful.

(Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell) It was great.

(Pastor Wooden) That would not be hostile in any way.

(Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell) No.

(Pastor Wooden) You’re not among people who have come to kill you or to break your neck or to do anything like that.

(Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell) (laughing) I never got that sense.

(Pastor Wooden) Good because we didn’t want you to get that sense. We do want you to come back.

(Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell) Well I think what you also saw was, if you will a wonderful discussion, passionate discussion about scripture. And how scripture speaks to our lives and how we understand that, how it shapes us, how we are formed by that. And so I want to thank you for this opportunity to be with you all today and to have this wonderful conversation. So thank you.

(Pastor Wooden) Yea man, we’ll see you soon we’ll be in touch with you. If Yvette and Bro. Williams, Bro. Cooper would see Dr. Mitchell to his car. Give him a hand.

Applause.

How did he get “being a lion surrounded by a den filled with Daniels” out of this “wonderful, passionate discussion about scripture”?

Dr. Patrick L. Wooden, Sr.

YT said...

I find it very interesting that an individual who defines himself as a scholar, a learned person, would resort to such name calling and embellishment of a story as Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell has done in his January 14, 2008 blog (“Being a Lion Surrounded By a Den Filled with Daniels”), speaking to his experience in the Ministers in Training class at the Upper Room Church of God in Christ on Sunday, January 13. He spoke of the Pastor, Dr. Patrick L. Wooden, Sr. as a “bully”, when in truth Pastor Wooden treated Dr. Webb-Mitchell with the utmost respect and professionalism from the time he arrived to the time he left. Being the initial point of contact for Dr. Webb-Mitchell on behalf Pastor Wooden, I personally can attest to the fact that he was treated, as are all guests who come to the Upper Room, with dignity and respect.

After his visit to the Upper Room, Dr. Webb-Mitchell expressed to me in an email exchange that he was hoping that the class would have stayed more on the topic of his book instead of getting off on a discussion of biblical interpretation, but I would pose this question to Dr. Webb-Mitchell: If in fact you quote scripture in your book as a means of proving your point or disproving someone else’s, doesn’t that open the door to discuss biblical interpretation, especially if the scripture appears to be taken out of context?
I would hope that someone like Dr. Webb-Mitchell would welcome this type of dialogue. As a matter of fact, in chapter 3 of his book entitled “Faith”, on page 51, he clearly states the following:

“…I can only speak from what I know best and am part of, but I look forward to the dialogue that this book will hopefully generate.”

How can he put in writing that he hopes to generate dialogue from his book, but when the dialogue happens to be a different opinion than his, he resorts to immature name calling as he did in this blog? In the blog he also states the following: “I soon came to see that there was really no interest in dialogue but only advocating his position...converting me was his goal.” Based on the Webster’s Dictionary, the word dialogue is defined as (1) a conversation between two or more persons, or (2) an exchange of ideas or opinions on a particular issue. Pastor Wooden attempted to have dialogue with Dr. Webb-Mitchell, however, he saw the need to “put him off” as he also states in his blog

“…Wooden tried to break in, but I put him off …”.

The lack of interest in dialogue was clearly demonstrated by Dr. Webb-Mitchell and not by Pastor Wooden or any of us that sat in the classroom. His body language, Dr. Webb-Mitchell, when engaging in dialogue with the “young scholar” as he refers to in the blog, not only disrespected Pastor Wooden, but the rest of the class participants as well. Dr. Webb-Mitchell decided that he only wanted to have a conversation with the “young scholar” as if to imply that no one else in the room could speak on his level. That is rudeness on any level.

As it relates to biblical interpretation, Dr. Webb-Mitchell carried on with an attempt to prove his point with scripture that homosexuality is not a sin. This was based on his interpretation of the scriptures. Dr. Webb-Mitchell stated in his book on page 3 that he was “saved by the Psalms”, specifically focusing on Psalm 139. I thought to be “saved” one must do as it is written in Romans 10:9, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”

The scripture also states in the New Testament in Romans 1:26-27, that,

“For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet,”

the “natural use” being that a man desires a woman and that a woman desires a man. The sin of homosexuality distorts the “natural use” of this precious gift from God. Based on the Word of God, not my opinion, it is “against nature” and not from God.

There were many times during the class that Dr. Webb-Mitchell quoted scriptures as well as referenced scriptures in his book. One particular scripture he references on page 58 in his book is Matthew 22:37-39. To prove his own point, Dr. Webb-Mitchell states in his book the following:

“…..we do not worship the Bible per se, but Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God. While others treat scripture as if the texts are sacred unto themselves, we need to remember that the words found in between the covers are important, but they are not God.”

John 1:1 says “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Isn’t the Father, Son (Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God) and Holy Spirit “ONE”?

Dr. Webb-Mitchell then quotes in his book Matthew 22:37-39 and indicates that we all need to remember this being the greatest commandment. Does this mean that the scriptures are only sacred when he needs them to be? Isn’t the entire Bible, Genesis through Revelation, the Word of God? II Timothy 3:16 states that “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:” Jesus also said in His Word “But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”, Matthew 4:4, not a few of His Words, but “every word”.

Yvette Thompson

Lion's Den said...

Dr. Brett Mitchell, why would you go back to the lion den if it were so bad?
Your comments are very confusing about the meeting you had with the church. You praise the church for not being hostile then you make degrading comments about the audience, and you want to go back?
I support what Elder Wooden believes in and I wish other Christians would come out of the closet to support a growing group of people who is standing up for what is right.

Pastor Wooden) You’re not among people who have come to kill you or to break your neck or to do anything like that.

(Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell) (laughing) I never got that sense.

ITNOJ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ITNOJ said...

Click here to access the audio discussion between Dr. Brett Web-Mitchell and the Upper Room COGIC minister's class.

Vic Mansfield said...

One day, perhaps we can have dialogue, words together, instead of trying to win a debate.

All these comments seem to want to be about winning. Not winning souls, mind you, just winning.

Jesus weeps.

Reborn said...

Brett, your response to the roundtable discussion at the Upper Room church is quite typical of the homosexual community. I have found that whenever someone, namely Christians, offer strong bible-based opinions that are objectionable to the homosexual view, the homosexual community labels it as "hate" or "homophobia", or accuse Christians of being ignorant of the scriptures. Asking the audience about divorce or clothing apparel was just a diversion on your part to take the focus off of your own inadequecies when it came to maintaining a strong academic defense. The Christian community will continue to take a stand against homosexuality, as well as the attempt by homosexuals to ordain a new gospel or religion within Christendom. There is, nor will ever be a such thing as a homosexual Christian, just as there will never be an a Christian liar, Christian adulterer, or a Christian alcoholic. Jesus did not die so that we may continue in sin, nor did he come with another doctrine (Matthew 5:17-20). He came that we might have LIFE, and there is no life in sin, only death. God is still calling Christians to be righteous, and we will continue to uphold the holy standards that the bible has defined for us. This is something that homosexuals refuse to accept, and consequently it is the very thing that will bring condemnation and judgment on you.

YT said...

(Thanks, But No Thanks!)

Upon leaving the Ministers in Training class on January 13, 2008, Pastor Wooden extended an invitation to Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell to return to the Upper Room and continue the discussion about his book. In response, Dr. Webb-Mitchell indicated that he would like to come back to continue the discussion. Being the contact person, I followed up with Dr. Webb-Mitchell to confirm a date that would accommodate his schedule. He declined by responding “Perhaps another time”. As we are all now aware of, Dr. Webb-Mitchell decided to post a blog on his website that was, shall I say, less than tasteful and quite embellished in describing his visit to the Upper Room Church. After declining the invitation to return, Dr. Webb-Mitchell then decided to reconsider and followed up to say that he is “Still interested” in coming back to the Upper Room to discuss his book.


On behalf of Dr. Patrick L. Wooden, Sr., Pastor of the Upper Room Church of God in Christ, this is the official response to Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell’s “interest” to come back to the Ministers in Training class to further discuss his book.

Thanks, But No Thanks!

The reason for this response is that Dr. Brett Webb-Mitchell has proven that he does not operate in good faith. After coming to the class, and in his own words refer to the discussion as “…a wonderful discussion, passionate discussion about scripture.”, and then post a blog that misrepresents the entire event, you really can’t dialogue with someone who operates in this manner and is untruthful. Webster defines it as a liar. It’s good that we taped the session so that people can listen to it and decide for themselves who is telling the truth.

Pastor Wooden does admit that it was a spirited debate. We held to our beliefs. The intent was to discuss the book, but if Dr. Webb-Mitchell takes Scriptures out of context, and then attempts to have a discussion without dealing with the proper contextual settings of the Scripture, then what is the point of the discussion? To portray Pastor Wooden as a “bully” is most laughable when you consider that a traditional, Bible believing, Pentecostal, Holiness Church that believes in the inerrancy of Scripture, invited and paid an out of the closet homosexual to stand and speak to the class, and by his own admission, said that he did not feel threatened in any way, certainly suggest that Pastor Wooden is no “bully”. It is indeed a shame because we were excited about his return until we read the misrepresentations, mischaracterizations and outright distortions that Dr. Webb-Mitchell has written on his blog. And for a homosexual to accuse 10%-15% of the class of being homosexual is the height of arrogance, being judgmental and foolishness. Dr. Webb-Mitchell had not met the people sitting in the class, never had dialogue, interacted in anyway, shape, form or fashion, but only saw the people sitting in a class listening to him read from his book and take part in a Q&A, and based on his “gaydar”, made that assumption. How does this connect with being scholarly?

Until and unless the good Dr. matures to the point where we can have dialogue without misrepresentation and character assassination, THANKS, BUT NO THANKS!

YT

L.Cheston said...

Enough Said...
It appears that God's Holiness and TRUTH has won again, as it will always prevail.
One must realize that the WORD of God not only brings about graciousness and merciful utterances , but also and most importantly, it must/will bring about "correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, THROUGHLY furnished unto all good works"--II Timothy 3:16-17. THROUGHLY unmistakeably means completely; over and over; through and through... not partially furnished in all good things, which is what is obviously hailed as acceptable by those that find it a hobby to take scriptures that "specifically apply" to them and none other form out of the INFALLIABLE Word of God.
I don't understand how one could quote, not even 3 lines apart from the other that one does not believe in the Bible, but in Jesus Christ; that he is THE living WORD of God, and put in quotations John 1, when clearly John 1 states that God IS the Word. So, in your your journey to "draw" nearer to Jesus Christ, how can you discount and denounce the very Word that he stood on, in red letters in KJV (making it obvious that Jesus is talking) of Matt. 5-18 where Jesus states that: "..Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled"
So, Dr. Webb-Mitchell, if Jesus said thus and so, then why are you "predicating" and/or harping so hard on the "thus" of Jesus and not walking in reality that THERE is a SO in Jesus' Gospel.
Jesus said THUS and SO. The THUS being how he came as God in flesh to love on us and save us from our sins so that we may get into heaven, and the SO being that because He did all these marvelous things for us, that we HAVE to give up our sins and wicked ways SO that we may have the unworthy chance to live with our Father God which art in heaven.

AND, in response to screen-name: "Bear me out"...I say, that this is the way to winning souls. To walk in love enough to tell someone when their wrong. not necessarily to call them out in public, but when one presents an issue like this that pushes against the grain of what Christianity stands for AND deem theselves to be Christian and just/ righteous in their abominable acts, we as true Christians must be apologetic in manner, and rather candor in speech so that those who don't know about our Jesus and his principles given by his Father can be enlightened the correct way.
Jesus weeps you say, and might I ask, exactly who has brought tears to His eyes???
I pray that Dr. Webb-Mitchell, and other persons like yourself, "Bear me out" begin to realize your innate souls search for the truth is not in oneself, but in Jesus Christ who IS the Only way, the Only truth, and the Only Life. and may you realize that he beckons His children to diligently and truthfully (worship in spirit and in truth)seek Him, not this Pilgrimage post-modern doctrine that's trying to rear its ugly head.

I,too was apart of that 7 o'clock audience Sun January 13, and I thank God for allowing Dr. Webb-Mitchell to come and speak to the class and share with us his opinions, so that I can better understand the homosexual agenda, and stand a great deal taller in my defense on Jesus christ and how he most certainly sees that homosexuality is perversion at its best.

LaShanda Cheston
A faithful "7 o'clocker"

Andre said...

Dr. Brett Web- Mitchell; I have a few short points to add after reading this material.

As an ordained clergy you must spend time in the Bible and I am quite certain you have read the scriptures. I can add many scriptures but I will start with a few.
Genesis 1:26
And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

What is image: Likeness and exact copy or representation.

What's one word we can relate to as God's image? HOLY

What is the meaning of HOLY? Godly,Sacred,Sacred Place,Purity, Set Apart,Sanctuary of Deity.

If we are made in God's Image and God is Holy are you relating to the fact that you are an exception to the creation of God or are you stating that God's Image and Holiness includes homosexuality?

In the spirit of holiness, another great scripture is in Leviticus 11:44-45. For I am the Lord your God: ye shall therfore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy: for I am holy: neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of creeping things that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy for I am holy.

This scripture related to the instructions of clean and unclean foods. This instructions was given for the cleanliness of the body. The principles of this scripture holds a high validity today regarding separation of holiness and living unholy. It is the charge of Christians to clearly glorify God by living the commandments given by the Alpha and Omega. A few key words in the scriptures listed above:
1. Sanctify- Make clean; to purify
2. Defile- To soil; To stain; To desecrate; to be morally contaminated; to ruin; sodomite
3. Creepeth- to glide swiftly; crawl; to sneak in; (crept- to slip in secretly)

Homosexuality is not pure or does not relate to living in a sanctified manner. Defile is certainly a standard of living that has been outlined by the "LGBT" community. Creepeth is clearly one of the motives that the "LGBT" community is working hard to accomplish. It is known that the homosexual agenda are but not limited to actions such as Gay Marriage, Gay Adpotion rights, Gay Protections, Media time in movies and TV series; whether its a 15 second introduction and a long series. The goal is to quickly promote your lifestyle to convince the people to accept or adapt your immoral behavior.

Genesis 1: 27-28
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

And God blessed them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

This scripture clearly is an instruction from God to do the following:
1. Charged Male and Female to replenish. The charge given was to have many children; multiply and form family relationships. If God wanted a family to be formed by anything other than male and female, I believe at the very moment he would of outlined his plan for man. It is clear, this instruction was given to MALE AND FEMALE. If God wanted the "LGBT" community to have the rights of a family then it would be safe to assume that two women can be fruitful and multiply or two men would be able to be fruitful and multiply. The truth stands that men cannot conceive children and two women can not produce the necessary formula to conceive between themselves.

Also key not in this scripture. the word subdue. Subdue means to conquer. It is our jobs as Christians to be conquers over the works of the flesh and to overcome and defeat immoral behavior whether it relates to our own personal struggles or issues that contradicts the instructions of Jehovah.

Leviticus 18:22
Thou shall not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.

What is the meaning of abomination:
To be a moral stench. Detestable or in other words a strong dislike; Sexual relationship with the same sex; Repugnant;Offensive

With this in mind Leviticus 18: Verse 24 states: Defile not yourselves in any of these things: for in all these nations are defiled which I cast out before you. Continue to Leviticus 18-29;
For whosever shall commit any of these abominations, even the souls that commits them shall be cut off from among their people.

Leviticus 19:1-2
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto all the congregation of the children of Isreal, and say unto them, Ye shall be holy; for I the Lord your God am holy.

I say unto you; If you worship the God of the Bible, Our Alpha and Omega, the Author and Finisher of the Faith, The Holy One, The Way, Truth and Life--- YE SHALL BE HOLY; FOR THE LORD, YOUR GOD IS HOLY.

I call for you to follow Roman 12 verse 1-2. I BESEECH you therefore brethen, by the mercies of God, that ye presnt your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Dr. Brett Webb- Mitchell, I will leave my final thought to you and your followers:

To the LGBT People:
It is stated in 2 Chronicles 7-14
If my people, which are called by name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and then turn from their wicked ways: then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

St. John 3:16-17
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world: but the world through him might be saved.

Romans 10 Verse 13
For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

I offer to your community this day the Saving Power of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

I believe my comment can reach someone to offer a life changing experience and I know that God can deliver.

Pamela said...

Dr. Web-Mitchell did not answer any question. I waited for a answer but he ran away from directky answering a question. I notice that Dr. Web left well after "5 min" to take his children to church. I think it was getting to hard for him. Dr. Web was a bully. Dr. Wenb told the pastor to "hold on" several times during the talk. Dr. Web is a liar! Nothing Dr. Web wrote on this blog is anything near what I heard on the recorded session.

Unknown said...

Wow, very interesting how you interpreted that nights events. Funny how you conjured up most of those things you've written here.

District Supt. Harvey Burnett said...

Not only are you a SODOMITE, you're a LIEING SODOMITE...

The foolishness of Mel White, John Elliott and yourself are beyond belief. Both he and you know that "ARESENOKOITAI" found in 1 Cor.6:9 means male sexual union with males. You know Paul joined "Arseno"-{lying with} and "koitai"-{another man} to reexpress the word of God found in Lev. 18:22 and 20:13. These words to indicate exactly that God has condemned your SIN of homosexuality.

You well know that if Paul was talking about a pedephile he would have used the term "paiderastis"...but yet you choose to cover your sins and use God to do so...then LIE on godly people...

One thing is for sure hell won't be your home because of homosexuality...Hell will be your home because of unbelief and the defiled heart that you value and hold on to.

Repent and DO YOUR FIRST WORKS OVER AGAIN.

Non-Tither said...

This was a very inappropriate invite. How dare you invite a practicing homosexual to minister or speak to a minister's class.

I could easily come and show you all how TITHES have nothing to do with New Testament practices. Anyone care to take the Bible on?

We must be careful that we do not allow arrognace to slip in and cause us to slip up.