This article needs to be read after Part 1 to appreciate the context of the discussion. The Bible is not a tool to bash sinners, but it can be used to help us discover the root of a problem.
Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. 19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. 24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. 26 For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature; 27 and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error. 28 And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them. (Rom 1:18-31 ESV, emphasis added)
Again, Paul’s specific use of the word “unrighteousness” is a clear indication that this portion of scripture is addressed to sinners (unbelievers) and not to saints. Paul constantly refers to “them” in these verses, whereas he would normally refer to “us” and “we” when addressing issues pertaining to believers in his letters.
We see from verse 24 onwards that after repeatedly and fruitlessly attempting to reveal Himself to an unbeliever through His wondrous creation (verses 19-20), God would “give up” such a person to their own fleshly lusts, which would sometimes lead to men burning with desire for other men and women for other women (verses 26-27). So for someone to become a homosexual, they had to have made a conscious choice again and again to deny God’s existence. Their heart had to have been as hard as stone at some stage. The only point in God “giving them up” like this would be for the destruction of their flesh (just like Paul commanded that certain men had to be handed over to Satan – see 1 Cor 5:5 and 1 Tim 1:20), in other words to bring them to such a state of helplessness and despair that they would not have any other avenues of fulfillment to explore other than to accept Jesus into their life.
Homosexual Christians
So now a homosexual person becomes born again, what now? Well just like any other sinner, their spirit is instantly transformed into the image and likeness of Christ (Eph 4:24), they are seated with Christ in heavenly places (Eph 2:6), they receive remission of all their sins (Heb 8:12) and they are filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13). Their spirit is 100% holy from that moment on for all eternity. But their mind is not.
Our minds are trained to think according to the desires of the Spirit that lives in us, whether it is Satan or the Holy Spirit. Before a person is born again, their mind is programmed and trained to operate according to the desires of the devil. Thought patterns and habits are deeply engrained, depending on the level of surrender of the person to the evil which dwelled inside them. But when they are born again, this evil nature is circumcised out of them (Col 2:11) and buried with Christ (Rom 6:3-4). They are given a completely 100% righteous spirit man on the inside (Col 3:10). The only thing left to do now is to retrain or “renew” the mind (as Rom 12:2 calls it) according to the desires of the Holy Spirit who now lives inside them. Unfortunately this doesn’t happen overnight.
Habits which might have taken years to form (in the case of homosexuals there are distinct mannerisms, thought patterns and strongholds) most often take a good while to disappear. The rate of outward behavior change is directly proportional to the rate of mind renewal, which is directly related to the amount of time we give ourselves to communion with God through prayer, Bible study, listening to preaching on Grace and Righteousness, spending time in fellowship with other believers etc. What we previously spent time and energy on to put into our minds, we need to spend time and energy on to replace with new beliefs and convictions. Mind renewal is one of the things which God commanded us to do:
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. (Rom 12:2 KJV)
If God had to renew our minds as well when we were born again, we would have become zombies. But He didn’t – He left us with the choice.
What if a Born Again Christian Decides to “Become” Gay?
This is the same as a Christian who decides to start using drugs, or to start stealing, or lying, or committing adultery. It’s simply a sign that there is a part in their mind that has not yet been submitted under the authority and Lordship of Christ:
… pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ; (2 Cor 10:5 MKJV)
These thoughts may have been suppressed due to external pressure to conform to certain moral ethics or to start reflecting the “holy lifestyle” which is expected of Christians after they have come to Christ. Then, once the dust storm died down and the person neglected to give himself/herself to renewing their mind in this area, it is quite possible that the evil desires (which was programmed into their mind by the (now dead) evil nature which lived inside them before) could start rising to the surface again. If left unchecked a Christian can definitely fall back into their old ways. The only difference is that they now force the Holy Spirit (who lives inside them) to be a witness of whatever they do. Sin doesn’t make Him leave, since sin was conquered at the cross. But it does quench Him and grieve Him, since He is not allowed to manifest Himself in and through that person to the extent that He wants to.
The Cure
Homosexuality is simply a stronghold in the mind. It’s not natural. Like all the other sins mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 it does not belong in the life of a believer. But also, like all other sins, it has already been forgiven. There is now a vast ocean of Grace that covers all the mistakes that God’s children make as they discover their true new identity. For some it takes a simple few years of unlearning and reprogramming to start oozing with Holy Spirit love. For others it takes years of hard fought battles, long troubled roads, endless nights of anxiety and the loss of friends and family to start reflecting God’s light in their lives. And it all happens as we realize that He loves us.
Our identity and security is found in His unconditional acceptance, in the chambers and hallways of His love where we find that any habits, beliefs and attitudes in our lives that does not reflect Christ actually becomes meaningless and irrelevant. There is no anxiety about morality with our God – there is only welcoming arms. There is no fear of punishment, there is only perfect love (1 John 4:18).
Elgin says:
Loved the article. I submit to you an explanation that you may not have considered.
Some Homosexuals may be in fact, born that way. When I say this, I am not saying that God created them that way. What I am suggesting is this: The sin is on the gene, on The DNA. Paul in his reaatory letters talks about the mystery f inquiry. The kingdom f darkness is vast. and because it is supernatural, it\’s beyond our comprehension. It\’s possible that when man fell it effected his nature, his genetic makeup his mind a d his soul in ways we don\’t even understand on the surface. That sin manifests in different ways. There are some people who from the time they were children were perpetual liars, or who were unusually cruel, or violent, seemingly more so than the so called average person. Many of these people as they get older become full blown manifestations of what was only hinted at during childhood. It seems, at least from observation, the sae thing goes for homosexuality. Not everyone was molested, some actually exhibit this behavior during childhood.
The sin is on the gene.
Does that mean that they get a free ass? Of course not. In Christ they are new creations. And like all of us who have ben born again, we must continue to work our salvation with feat and trembling, renewing the mind, and casting down imagination.
Marisa says:
This was a great article. Much truth and quite well written. I would also like to see some real investigation into the millinium age, who will be there and its real purpose. I do not think much has been done today due to everyone thinking they will be raptured up and taken away, which I can see a possible deceptive side to this. We know when the antichrist comes there will be some legelistic side to him, as there will be a religous law inacted. There are way too many professing christians out there to have a works spirit, who are cursed, who are spiritually blind and deaf. They are the ones who mostly point fingers at everyone. What also seem odd is how so many of them are the ones with gay children comming from them, while I see gay couples raising kids who are comming out straight, I wonder if theres a message behind this. Evangelicals love to preach the sodem and gamorah story, yet they always stop right there. They never preach that gods own people became worst then sodom. I have never heard them preach that god said, if they had knew him, and seen his miracles as his own did, those two cities would of remained, and then god said they would be restored. I think these guys here have grace down pat, period. I knew the lord at an early age and loved him. Always knew he was close and held him high. I knew I was different as most in the gay community, and always prayed and looked up to him, even when i took my own path, I never lost sight of who he was. He even answered my prayers and did some good things in my life, and I also received his disipline. Listening to preachers like Pat Robertson, Falwell, Swaggerts, focus on the family was always a love and hate thing for me. I would hear them call gay folks evil, evil, and how they were out to destroy and so on and so on. I never believed these lies as I knew so many in the gay community did love the lord and wanted to do right, even in their broken state. I also knew there were some who did seem quite evil. Many wanted to find soul mates and be comitted, yet i seen many who were just taken over by lust and filth, the same things noticed in the straight community. As a child I never felt exactly male or female, just different. I experimented with both sexes always looking for love and sexual gratification from one or the other and never got it. They seemed satisfied, yet I never was, I was ok with just getting the affection in hopes of long term forever love. It never came. I became TS, as it enabled me to blend in and be more acceptable and have more peace in functioning in life, it protected me from violence and ridicule when I became looking like a reg. ole woman. though I still know I was different. I could never fall into either role or gender completely. I just came to the conclusion I was not meant to be just like the others, rather found comfort in all the scriptures about eunichs and decided I would again return to childhood and the relationship I had with Jesus of the cross and stay there. I have been celebate for many years, stopped self grat. and do not look at images to entice. Desires have fallen away, it has not been that hard to do. I wish I could of been fruitful, but it just did not seem to be meant for me as I could never be a husband or wife to anyone, nor did they desire me. I cannot wait to get a new body, I do have my own family with adoption, and much family and friends that I am fine with life. This so called war on gays to me, seems to be something created by satan, using the church as his hand, while he created this fire, and everyone remains focused on it, he has been able to do his real evil quietly in the backcground. Today you have christians in churches and tv ministeries worshipping money, prosperity, name it and claim it witchcraft prayers, you have penecostals handing out demons like candy and promoting revivals I feel are not of the real God. Its to the point now, nobody knows what gifts and healings are from Jesus Christ of Naz. or the other Jesus, babylon for sure. You got folks speaking in unknown tongues that could be speaking curses. You have so called annointing that are taking people into transes and visions and divination, hearing voices , I feel are NOT of god. The institutional church has made a mockery of God, put him on a marketplace to such a degree its awful. Christians releasing demons like crazy and I pray its out of ignorance for their sake. Religon has made a mockery out of the gospel. I believe satan created religon to destroy the finished work of Jesus on the cross. satan created it, divided it, and in the end will unite it looking like the savior. Christians today are worried about fags and dykes and trannies looking to marry? It seems rather mild, compared to what christians have done letting satan move into the pulpits, using so many different kinds of deception and made made theologies, docterines, traditions all created by men. Its a good thing to me now that the self professed christian community has rejected gays and closed doors, who wants to be partakers of the evils they do, or take on a works spirit that leaves them blind, deaf and veiled. Christians think gays have beeen sent a strong delusion, well they better take a second look. No gays want to hear the gospel message from some 1950s looking preacher talking of hell fires and damnation, though it is biblical its for those who hate God and refuse him only. The gospel needs to be preached to th gay community by someone that understand and is one of them, fighting the good fight. You boyz running this website and your ministeries, God bless you and your work for our lord Jesus Christ of Nazereth.
Andre van der Merwe says:
Wow brother, I am astounded by the honesty, transparency, love and exhortation in your words. I will point people to your comment in future. You’ve raised some powerful principles here.
STAY blessed!
Happy Love says:
Hey Andre, this is Happy Love (aka “Christian Grace Preacher” on Facebook). I loved your article and agree that homosexuality is a stronghold of the mind that can be overcome with the undoing of wrong thinking. Until I was 19 I was an atheist, despite twelve years of Roman Catholic schooling, because I was always taught that all fags burn in hell, if they believed in Jesus or not, and I was truly a “fag” and had identified myself as one since having relations with other boys at a young age. This is a hard topic to discuss, because as you said, persecution comes no matter what stance you take. Like you, I agree that the person who chooses Jesus as Savior is born again and going to heaven when their body dies if they “get delivered” from homosexuality or not. Heaven forbid I would ever want to join my temple with a prostitute, straight or homosexual, and make the Holy Spirit bear witness. I choose celibacy for now until marriage for that reason, and while for years I claimed to be a gay Christian, I have since learned to call things which be not as though they were in order for them to be made manifest by faith – as God called light into darkness, I call heterosexuality into my life, and I have begun vigorously becoming attracted sexually to the OPPOSITE sex since committing to that faith statement. Let the weak say I am strong and the gay say I am straight! Again, this is not an easy subject to discuss. Before confessing I was straight by faith, I do not remember even once in my lifetime being aroused physically by the opposite sex. Yes, what I’m saying in contradiction to your article is that I believe I was born gay (though I’ve been wrong about other things and admit I CAN be wrong, though I’ll say why I believe this is…) Isaiah 19:14 talks about perversion being an evil spirit. We all know infirmity is a demonic spirit, and people are born with IT all the time, this is a fallen world. Some are born blind or crippled, both being evil spirits that Jesus drove out. I was born with chronic asthma which the Lord healed when I received His Spirit. I also believe that it is possible to be BORN with a perverse, homosexual, spirit. Did GOD make me asthmatic, or gay, before I was born? Certainly not. Demons did. Either way, neither asthma or homosexuality are part of the inheritance of the saints, and I profess to be delivered from both in agreement with God’s Word. From the perspective of someone who hated all forms of faith BECAUSE they said all fags burn in hell, I am careful when telling gays about Christ in that I always make clear we are saved by what HE did not what WE do. CAN a person go on living in contrast to the nature of a son or daughter of God and still be one? Yes, but that won’t change their DNA. Ok this post is long enough I’ll stop there.
Ricky Malone says:
In all honesty,This is the best article that I have ever read that explains the issue of homosexuality from a Grace perspective.I have always believed about this the same way but could never quite articulate it this way.Someone who is born again can commit homosexual acts if that is something that was a stronghold in their lives.But I am sure that the HolySpirit is convicting them of their righteousness and trying to get them to believe that that is not who they are.