A few weeks ago, a video surfaced on YouTube called, “I Got Kicked Out of an LGBTQ Church.” What it revealed was even more shocking than a simple disconnect between the LGBTQ community and Christianity.
Bo Dittle, a Christian and conservative YouTuber went to Unity Church of the Cumberlands in Tennessee to listen to the sermon and ask questions, aware of the fact that the church was strongly aligned with the LGTBQ community. During the interview with the church’s pastor, a very simple question arose: “What do you believe as a Christian? Are you biblically born again?”
“We interpret what Jesus actually meant, not what’s been misinterpreted,” the pastor said.
This was an interesting point to bring up, especially since the answer in Scripture is pretty clear. During his meeting with Nicodemus, Jesus said, “Truly, truly I say to you, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God,” (John 3:3). Nicodemus didn’t fully understand this principle either, which led to the most famous lines in all of Scripture:
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that world through Him might be saved,” (John 3:16-17).
To be born again means to know the Son.
As the video continued, phrases like “The truth will set you free,” were used without the acceptance that Jesus tells us “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me,” showing a clear twisting of Scripture. It was also not uncommon to hear “We are all part of the same Christ-consciousness,” “We just interpret it differently,” which revealed the comment that the story of Christ is about finding the story within “me.”
This exposed something much deeper than an LGBTQ agenda. That is merely a blanket. The deeper root of the issue is steeped in universalism and a “me-centered gospel.” People genuinely believe they have found a way to receive love without understanding what love actually is. Love isn’t just something which permits us to hold tight to sin, but rather it is the acknowledgement that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us. We did not give the ultimate sacrifice for ourselves or for all of mankind, but rather He became sin who knew no sin that we might become the righteousness of God.
This universalist LGBTQ agenda doesn’t only cover up sin, but allows people to cling onto the pain of their past. When Dittle was asked if he was a “fundamentalist” by a man in the church, the man expressed the hurt he experienced growing up in the Baptist church.
And this might exactly be why universalist, LGBTQ churches are so appealing to many. Vision Cathedral, whose flagship church is located in Atlanta with two other properties in L.A. and Raleigh, recently spoke with NBC about their mostly LGBTQ church. The male bishop is married to another man, and Vision Cathedral’s “about page” describes more of their activism than their doctrinal values about the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and there certainly is no mention of sin and the reason for Christ’s atonement on the cross.
This is a group of people who are desiring more of the kingdom. However, the concept of crucifying the flesh, picking up the cross and following Him are either presented by many pastors so as not to hurt anyone’s feelings. If nearly half of all LGBTQ people are religious, then they need the truth of the gospel just like the rest of us. We all have sin issues, and all of us need the same Jesus. There’s no point in watering something down for one group of people just because it seems pleasing to those who don’t want to know about Jesus.
The church is meant to be a place of healing for the sick, not a meeting spot for the healthy. Healing can only come through the form of laying everything down in front of Jesus with a repentant heart, willing to give up doing things our own way and start allowing them to be Lord over their life.
At the end of the video a woman volunteers to show Dittle the “rainbow room,” and the members rise up in fury, one man pushing Dittle out the door, saying “I’m not the minister,” and “I’m not the church.” This action and statement put together is revealing in more than one way. A true church doesn’t cling to sin, but realizes that we are Christ’s body; we are the church. Now it’s time to step up, shed the truth of the gospel to those who are searching for it and refuse to fall for the apostasy of a watered-down version of truth. We all have fallen short of the glory of God, but there is a place of real healing, redemption and eternal life which only comes through Jesus Christ.
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Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator and Staff Writer intern for Charisma Media.
