What's Your Verdict? GUILTY or NOT GUILTY?

Over the past few days, I have written a series of blogs (Guilty or NOT Guilty PARTS 1-4)

I purposely kept these blogs simple and open to interpretation. This is a subject that could have easily become long...boring...detailed...and DEEP but I hope that, as you read them, they left you asking questions and even initiated you to do some personal investigation. You have a mind of your own, and all I hope to do is encourage you to FIND OUT for YOURSELF what Scripture says on the homosexual question...Is it in fact a sin?

I am not, by any stretch of the imagination, an attorney, judge, DA or even a court clerk....What I am is a gay Christian who has been wrongfully accused and convicted of what I believe, and hope to prove to you, to be the non-existing sin of homosexuality.

Thankfully I have survived these accusations relatively unharmed, only a few heartbreaks, but nothing that I can't overcome. Unfortunately that has not been the case of countless others in the LGBT community. Many deaths and deep soul wounds have occurred, due to the MISinterpretation of the Word and biased judgements from an uniformed jury....

Please read ALL 4 parts of this blog before going any further:

1) Who's The Abomination Now?

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/whos-abomination-now-guilty-or-not.html

2) What About Sodom and Gomorrah? 

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-what-about-sodom.html

3) ROMANS 1

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-romans-1-part-3.html

4) Homosexuals will NOT Inherit the Kingdom of God?

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-part-4-homosexuals.html

 Imagine your self as a registered voter, who has, by the luck of the draw,been called to jury duty. You have been called to hear the trial of a young gay woman who is facing death. If she is found guilty of the SIN of homosexuality she will be "burned at the stake". She will be forced to wear a "scarlet letter" around her neck until the date of her execution. The stigma that comes with this "scarlet letter" will assure that she will be considered a social outcast and will be rejected by all of society. She will be forced to join the other homosexual sinners who hide and live in colonies; denied any semblance of a normal existence.

 Now, as an impartial, unbiased, open-minded jury of her peers, with a mind of your own,  you have been presented with ALL the evidence, fully aware of the sentence that will surely be handed down if found guilty, you are asked to make a decision..... A LIFE ALTERING decision....

The only instructions that you have been given is, "After reviewing ALL the evidence, ask yourself the following questions."

1.  "Does this prove beyond a reasonable doubt that homosexuality is in fact a sin?"                    
2.  " Is there enough evidence here to convict someone to death by eternal damnation and fire?"  
3.  "What would the Judge (Jesus Christ) do?" 
4.   Guilty or NOT Guilty?

DO NOT decide until you have reviewed ALL the evidence.

What's your verdict?

SIMPLE REALLY......

It's LOVE....

Just Bb 


......This, of course, was a hypothetical situation, well....kind of.

The truth is, gay people are rejected, isolated, condemned and denied the rights that every other American has; the right to Marry the one we love. Think about it for a moment: Is homosexuality a sin? Or is rejection, isolation, condemnation, and denying one the right to love and be loved a sin?

Each time you "decide" that, in your opinion, same-sex marriage is wrong you are taking away someone's right to love.... Each time you "decide" that homosexuality is an "abomination" you are possibly aiding in a teen suicide...(24.6 % of homosexuals attempt suicide compared to only 2.4 % of heterosexuals) Each time you bully the gay community with Scripture you push them further from Christ, leaving them thinking, "That God hates them because they're gay, and there's really no hope for them" which ultimately leads to a soul unsaved....

So your "decision" is TRULY a  matter of LIFE and DEATH--choose wisely

Guilty or NOT Guilty? ROMANS 1 (PART 3)

This is PART 3 of the Guilty or NOT Guilty. If you haven't read PART 1-Who's the Abomination now? or PART 2 What about Sodom and Gomorrah... I strongly suggest you go back and read them before reading further......


In Romans 1 Paul is addressing the Roman Church and he is clearly speaking to them about idolatry (you know IDOLATRY mentioned about 4 times in the list of Sodom's sins) [Part 2 of this series]
Here Paul is speaking of the people who "knew" God and had turned away from Him to glorify idols. (v.21-23)

He then goes on to say that due to this wickedness, the idolatrous worship of these other gods, they were given over (without conviction) to worship them. These "vile affections" were, of course, the feelings and actions of the one's worshipping these gods and goddesses. Of course it was "vile" it was as if Christ's people were having an affair; they were giving themselves completely to a false god.

These verses are not condemning homosexuality, they are condemning idolatry (the REAL sin of Sodom).

Paul doesn't stop there, he goes on to make a complete list of the sins that resulted from their idolatry.

*(Strong's definition)

1. Filled with unrighteousness (injustice)
2. Fornication (illicit sexual intercourse, worship of idols)
3. wickedness (depravity, evil desires and purposes)
4. covetousness (greedy desire to have more) 
5. maliciousness (desire to injure)
6. envy
7. murder
8. debate (strife)
9. deceit (craft, guile) 
10. malignity (bad character, depravity of heart and life,malicious craftiness) 
11. whisperers (secret slanderer, detractor) 
12. backbiters (defamer, evil speaker, [gossip-added by me]) 
13. haters of God (hateful to God, exceptionally impious and wicked) 
14. despiteful (one who, uplifted with pride, either heaps insulting language upon others or does them some shameful act of wrong)
15. proud (showing one's self above others, overtopping, conspicuous above others, pre-eminent
    with an overweening estimate of one's means or merits, despising others or even treating them with contempt, haughty)
16. boasters (an empty pretender) 
17. inventors of evil things (a mode of thinking, wicked, troublesome) 
18. disobedient to parents 
19. without understanding (unintelligent, stupid) 
20. covenant breakers (faithless)
21. without natural affection (unloving) 
22. implacable (non-committal)
23. unmerciful

Now, here in lies the problem--Because you have wrongly been taught that this chapter is about homosexuality you attach ALL 23 sins to ALL gay people. The truth of the matter is, most of the gay people I know are the most loving, loyal, committed, intelligent, merciful, satisfied with their lives, honest people I know... Oh and they haven't killed anyone....So let's see...that eliminates sin # 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12....YEAH most of them. 

I believe that these verses are the source of homophobic Christians, the stigma that is attached to homosexuality, and the misconceptions of the gay community. It's amazing to me how Christians immediately shout ROMANS ONE! and they stop there....

BUT Paul then goes on to say.... in ROMANS 2 (let's NOT forget Rom 2)

You may think you can condemn such people, but you are just as bad, and you have no excuse! When you say they are wicked and should be punished, you are condemning yourself, for you who judge others do these very same things.  And we know that God, in his justice, will punish anyone who does such things.  Since you judge others for doing these things, why do you think you can avoid God’s judgment when you do the same things?  Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Romans 2:1-3

To be honest we have ALL been guilty of one or two or seven of the sins mentioned in Romans 1....

So the message in Romans 1 is about Idolatry and it's consequences, and Romans 2 is about you being guilty of the things in Romans 1.... so DO NOT JUDGE, the previous chapter is really about you and me anyway.  GRACE--MERCY--LOVE--FORGIVENESS is the big picture of Romans 1 and 2...NOT homosexuality

Just Bb

Guilty or Not Guilty? (PART 4) HOMOSEXUALS will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God!!!

This is PART 4 of the Guilty or Not Guilty series...If you have not read PART 1 (Who's an abomination now?) and PART 2 (WHAT about Sodom and Gomorrah)  PART 3 (ROMANS 1) I strongly suggest you do so before moving forward....(DON'T WORRY they are very short and sweet)

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind--

1 Cor 6:9

For whoremongers, for them that defile themselves with mankind, for menstealers, for liars, for perjured persons, and if there be any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.--

1 Tim 1:10

*Some translations say: homosexual offenders; practicing homosexuals; and some just say homosexuals

Let's look at these verses that seem to clearly expose homosexuality as sin. 

The word that is used in both these verses is arsenokoites. It means male prostitute, or customer of a male prostitute, or boy molester. This does not refer to homosexuality, it does however seem to condemn prostitution and pedophilia (WHICH has nothing to do with homosexuality) 

The word "effeminate" comes from the Greek word malakos which literally means "soft. An interesting fact that might help you to come to your own conclusion about what Paul is saying is to know that Jesus used this same word in Luke 7:25 (But what went ye out for to see? A man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they which are gorgeously apparelled, and live delicately, are in kings' courts.) 

Now as that sinks in--

I want to show you two more Greek words that mean "effeminate".

1. kinaidos which means "effeminate" or "feminine love of men" 
2.  androgynos which also means "effeminate" or "being like a woman" 

Now I pose this question to you, "Why did Paul, in all his wisdom, use the word that simply means "soft" when describing homosexuality? Paul had, in his vocabulary, 2 more words that were much more descriptive and would have solidified his point. Being a preacher myself, I cannot fathom Paul, one of the greatest preachers EVER, using this word to convey the message that homosexuality is a in FACT a sin....

It JUST does not make sense when he could have simply said, "those that have a feminine love for men" 

The truth is that neither of these words (arsenokoites malakos) have been proven to translate into the word "homosexuals". 

What is not debatable are the others "sins" these verses refer to:

1. Fornicators (anyone having sex before marriage UH-OH) 
2. Adulterers (If you're divorced and remarried-according Jesus HImself-you are an adulterer) 

* Most of the world has had sex before marriage and at least half of the Church is divorced

My point is.....

 We have looked at all the possibilities (hopefully with an opened mind) and there is no SOLID proof that homosexuality is sin.....

STAY TUNED for my closing arguments....

Just Bb

  

Guilty or Not Guilty? WHAT about Sodom and Gomorrah? (PART 2)

This is PART 2 of the "Guilty or not Guilty" series..If you haven't read part 1 "Who's an abomination now" I strongly suggest that you go read it before you begin here.....

"I know homosexuality is wrong! I mean just look at what God did to Sodom and Gomorrah!" 

Have you ever stopped for a moment and asked yourself, "Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?" I used to think the same thing that you're probably thinking now... because of homosexuality... But if you dig a little deeper and look beyond the surface you will find that it wasn't homosexuality at all. 

“As I live,” says the Lord God, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done.  Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.--Ez 16:48-50

This verse clearly states that Sodom's sins were:

1) Gluttony (carried out at your local buffet)

2) Laziness (uh oh!)

3) Pride (how much did you pay for those shoes, nails, car etc)

4)  They didn't help the needy (did you just walk past a homeless man)

5) They were haughty (which sums up the previous sins) 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST

6) They committed abomination (uh hello it was right next to the sea, THEY must have been eating shellfish DUH (-:jk:-) 

NOT one time does this say, "God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because they were gay." 

MORE REF. To the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah....I searched them and not once did I find homosexuality on their lists of sins

OLD TESTAMENT

1. Gen 18:20 (wickedness)
2. Gen 19:13 (grievous sin)
3. Deut 29:17-26 (idolatry and false gods)
4. Deut 32:32-38 (MORE idolatry) 
5. Isa 1:9-23 (murder, greed, thieves, rebellion, covetness)
6. Isa 3:8-15 (mistreating the poor)
7. Isa 13:11-19 (haughtiness)
8. Jer 23:10-14 (adultery and lying preachers) 
9. Jer 49:16-18 (evil pride) 
10. Jer 50:2-40 (IDOLATRY...again and PRIDE...again)
11. Lam 4:3-6 (cruelty and mistreating the poor) 
12. Amos 4:1-11 (oppression and mistreating the poor) 
13. Zeph 2:8 (PRIDE...imagine that) 

NEW TESTAMENT

1. Mark 6:10-12 (JESUS speaks of inhospitality and the rejection of His disciples) 
2. Luke 10:10-16 (JESUS again speaks of inhospitality and the rejection of His disciples) 
3. 2 Peter 2:6 (Idolatry and ungodliness) 
4. Jude 1:7-8 (ALMOST!!! the Greek word translated here as "fornication" is "porneia" and had a distinctly heterosexual connotation; and the "strange flesh" was a reference to angels or "sons of God" that WOMEN had sex with [see Genesis 6:1-4] according to Jewish tradition

READ THEM FOR YOURSELF!!!! 

Now ask yourself once more, "Why did God destroy Sodom and Gomorrah?"

Find out what the Word really says before you convict someone to death, by eternal fire....

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...Hosea 4:6 

Just Bb

Guilty or Not Guilty? WHO'S THE ABOMINATION NOW? (PART 1)

This blog is the first of a series...before you make a judgement please hear all the evidence--

It is tradition, here in South MS, to find a buffet and graze. (maybe that's why we're the fattest state in the US) We tend to corral together, especially after church, to meet at our favorite feeding trough, and we call it "fellowship".

I was recently sitting at one of these super buffets, in my Sunday's best, and I was shocked at how high the food was piled on their plates....I remember thinking, "that's A LOT of food! (gluttons...hmmph)"

Then I took a closer look, and to my utter SHOCK I saw.... I saw... (I can barely stand to recall) I saw....CRAWFISH!!! Oh MY!!! and...and...and.... OH the horror of it...yep!! IT'S SHRIMP!!!

Oh Jesus!! ALL these people are an abomination!! These so called sanctified, Christians, are nothing more than SINNERS according to the Word of God!! THEY are an ABOMINATION...the whole lot of them!!!

I IMMEDIATELY jumped up onto the table in the center of the room and SHOUTED, "SINNER!!! YOU ARE AN ABOMINATION!!  You can't go against the Word of God---It says so right there....in Lev 11:9-12 

‘These you may eat of all that are in the water: whatever in the water has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers—that you may eat.  But all in the seas or in the rivers that do not have fins and scales, all that move in the water or any living thing which is in the water, they are an abomination to you.  They shall be an abomination to you; you shall not eat their flesh, but you shall regard their carcasses as an abomination.  Whatever in the water does not have fins or scales—that shall be an abomination to you.

GOD HATES SHELLFISH-- It's AN ABOMINATION!!! 

Sound ridiculous? That's because it is, and these are the same verses that you are condemning me with.... 

I am tired of hearing people say, "homosexuality is an abomination" If you will stop for just a moment and see that, according to the book of Leviticus or somewhere else in the Old Testament, YOU TOO are an abomination. It's probably not from homosexuality but there's something written in that book that condemns you...I promise 

Thank God for the blood of JESUS CHRIST! 

Just Bb 
This blog is part of a series....links to the rest below

2) What About Sodom and Gomorrah? 

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-what-about-sodom.html

3) ROMANS 1

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-romans-1-part-3.html

4) Homosexuals will NOT Inherit the Kingdom of God?

http://brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/guilty-or-not-guilty-part-4-homosexuals.html

5) Whats your verdict? 
http://www.brandiilyne.blogspot.com/2012/07/whats-your-verdict-guilty-or-not-guilty.html

God HATES me because I'm GAY.....

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.--1 John 4:18-21

Today I was talking with a wonderful young woman, whom I've known for many years, and she told me a secret that she had kept most of her life. She guarded this secret with her life and tried just as hard to disguise it. In her attempts to camouflage what she thought an abomination, she portrayed herself to be someone that she wasn't and in her failed attempts to conform to what society considered "normal", her heart was repeatedly broken.  As a consequent, she developed thick callouses that toughened her once delicate heart. 

She texted me and said, "BTW I'm gay, and I refused to acknowledge this because I am convinced that God will hate me for it!" My heart was immediately broken because I understood this horrifying feeling....The God that I LOVE with everything is going to send me to hell because I'm gay...He can't love me...I'm an "abomination".... THIS HOPELESS thought...this LIE is responsible for countless suicides in the LGBT community. "GOD hates ME because I'm gay!!" 

I must admit that I felt a holy indignation instantly rise inside of me and instantly I thought, how do we combat this deadly lie? Well, we first have to find it's source, and unfortunately the source is....yep, you guessed it Christians, not all Christians, but the uninformed, religious, zealous, 'christians' that so obviously DON'T know the heart of Christ! This rejection is NOT coming from my GOD.... this hopelessness is NOT coming from my God... this hate is NOT coming from my GOD...this condemnation is NOT coming from my GOD!!! MY GOD is LOVE....perfect love! This nonsense is coming from those who claim to know Him best...the church! 


I am grieved by the anguish that it this young lady, along with countless others, endure.... Just a couple of weeks ago this same young lady showed me her arm where she had, in a drunken stupor, cut herself. She has begun to drink and cut herself to try and relieve some of the pain that is tormenting her on the inside; pain caused by the unbearable thought that God hates her because she's gay!! What an injustice...a violation...an outrage!!



WAKE-UP people!!! In your wicked attempts to be "righteous" you are responsible for many deaths. When you convince someone that they are innately evil because they are gay and, in their dispair, they go hang themselves, their blood is on your hands!!! YOU ARE IMPARTING FEAR!!! and God's Word clearly says that there is NO FEAR in love!!! You are ultimately KILLING people!!! Jesus came to give us LIFE...abundant life!! It was the enemy that came to KILL...who's side are you on anyway?


If God wants me to change something in my life He will let me know because I have a personal relationship with Him. MY RELATIONSHIP!!!

What if I told you that you were an abomination because your eyes are green...or because you are black...or because you're white--ALL of these things you have no control over. YOU were born that way--AS are WE!!! I mean, just the thought that God hates you because of something that YOU CANNOT change would be devastating to you! It could quite possibly be enough to cause you to simply give up on life...[think about that for just a moment]

I'm sick of people saying that homosexuality is a choice... I've got news for you, I CHOSE to be heterosexual most of my life because I didn't feel as if I could truly be me because "God would hate me" and as a result I became a drug addict! I had to be high in order to have any relationship with a man simply because it was so awkward and unnatural to me (YES I said unnatural)! As long as I was on drugs I was able to cope, but when I got clean I was forced to examine my heart and I wrestled with myself for a long time, because of the FEAR that I would GO TO HELL! 


I DIDN'T choose to be gay I JUST AM-- This is not something that I just "decided" to be; who in their right mind would choose to be a social reject...an abomination...a ____________ you fill in the black with whatever slur you choose-- there are thousands!!! 


Jesus NEVER condemned homosexuals NOT EVEN ONCE, so NEITHER do I--and please don't pull out those 6 verses to try and convince me otherwise until you DO SOME research and read them in the  CONTEXT in which they were written!! 
OAN: Jesus did, however, address divorce and might I remind you that approx.. 50% of all Christian marriages end in divorce--and NO ONE rejects or condemns them to hell--OH NO they just embrace them and officiate their next wedding in 18 to 24 months! 


...AND please don't let me hear you say, "I love the sinner but hate the sin" This statement does NOT FLY with me or any other homosexual because YOU consider homosexuality the "sin" so ultimately what you're saying is I hate you... UH hello I'm gay---so I AM what you HATE--THERE's no love in that statement it's just the "spiritually correct" thing you say to try and make yourself look and feel righteous! 

Nevertheless, I was extremely excited for this young lady as she took her first step out of that lonely, dark, isolated, closet and I pray that she is met with LOVE, the kind of love in 1 John 4.... PERFECT LOVE! The kind of love found in 1 Cor 13 NEVER FAILING--not RUDE and LOVE that bears ALL things!!! 


I write this blog, a Christian, as a way of pleading her case along with millions of others...Please STOP trying to change people and turn them into something they're not--This is producing depression, anxiety, drug addicts, alcoholics, and even DEATH--If anyone's going to perform any transformation of any kind, it will BE GOD...not you!! Just do what Jesus commanded, LOVE your neighbor...your straight neighbor AND your GAY neighbor!! 


I pray that you hear my heart and not my hurt--I pray that this triggers compassion in you and not anger--I pray that you can step into this young lady's shoes for just a moment and experience her distress and despair-- and I pray that you hear Jesus' heart whisper, "I died for her, just as I died for you. I forgave her, just as I have forgiven you. When I said, "It is finished" I meant it is finished." 

...You really have no idea the agony that we endure from those that are called to LOVE like HE loves.... Open your heart and set your religion aside--

GOD CANNOT HATE ME.... how can you???       

A Word of encouragment for my girl:

For when we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man someone would even dare to die.  But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him.  For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not onlythat, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.--Romans 5:6-11

Just Bb

It's a beautiful LIFE!!!

I LOVE my life...All of it, the good the bad and the ugly. The way I see it is that it takes an assortment of the beautiful, the ugly, joy, tears, laughter, noise and quiet to make life interesting and stimulating. I have found that it's the moments of heartbreak that make me appreciate the instances of happiness. It's the chaos and noise that make the silence so peaceful. It's the ugliness that makes true beauty shine.

My life, as is yours,  is an array of all these things and I think it's foolish to try and avoid the "bad" or ignore the "ugly"...When we do this we take the beautiful things for granted; I mean it's the struggles in life that make the victories priceless ...It's the people that I have lost that make those that remain so valuable... It's the one's that have viciously broken my heart that cause me to cherish those who love and protect me...It's the darkness that makes the search for the light. 


You can't have the gorgeous without the vile...healing without pain....joy without tears.... illumination without the bleak shadows. It's the monstrous things in this world that make the finer things in life so EXQUISITE! After-all it is the black backdrop that makes a diamond shine!!! 

It's real easy to allow the difficulties and heartache, that is an unavoidable part of life, to harden us and make us bitter but it's these things that make the rest of life so sweet. I have found that if you love your life...it will love you back...and if you hate your life...well it will hate you back!

I read a quote that said, "We don't see things the way THEY are...we see things the way WE are." I'm happy with my life ALL of it, and because of this I see LIFE as a thing of beauty...simple really.

LIFE is too short to complain about what's gone wrong--CELEBRATE everything that's going right!! So when it's dreary and it rains just smile, because a colorful flower is just beneath the surface waiting to make it's debut!!!

Jesus says in Matt 5: 8-- Blessed are the pure at heart for they shall see God....Don't allow the bad things in this world to contaminate your heart, protect it from the ugly...KEEP your heart pure with forgiveness and full of LOVE and then....in EVERYTHING you will see GOD!!!

Just Bb

I'm coming out!!!!

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.” --Num 13:31-33


God told Moses to send LEADERS from each tribe to spy out the land that He was giving them. For this, Moses chose the heads of each tribe and those chosen men then left the wilderness and went into the land of Canaan. Each came back with reports of milk and honey; they even brought back proof positive that the land was abundant with FRUIT.....BUT they also reported that the  land had fortified cities and GIANTS! (Lions..Tigers..and Bears OH MY!!!!)

Despite the milk, honey, and fruit, and not to mention the promise of the Father, they refused to go into this land...Too much CHANGE...TOO many CHALLENGES...TOO many GIANTS!!! They simply refused to "come out" going as far as to rise up against Moses even threatening to stone the positive Caleb and Joshua who trusted the word of God and were trying to lead them into this more fruitful place!

These people chose to remain in the humble abode of their microscopic wilderness over God's immense promised land!!! Never receiving for themselves God's inheritance--Never being as FRUITFUL as they could be--missing out on the vast bounty that is the reward of this change....

Change is inevitable unless you're stuck in this "wilderness" mindset which can be defined  as refusing to open up to bigger and better things. It's keeping your thoughts confined to what is comfortable in the limited understanding of your small mind.  Its when the very thought of adjusting this mindset breeds anger and even wars. We have a "grasshopper" mentality when we close ourselves off to the open spaces that change offers. This is simply an attempt to avoid any uncomfortable confrontation or, God forbid, self examination...or..or..or

changing our minds!!!! 

AHHHHHHH!!!!

Marilyn Monroe once said, "Sometimes good things fall apart so that better things can fall together." The wilderness was a good thing for a short time--(If for no other reason than for some of the home born slaves to die off so that change could even be an option) BUT now it's TIME to COME OUT!!  I know how scary change can be, but GOD is in control..it may seem as if EVERYTHING is falling apart--but sometimes that's what it takes takes to catapult us into bigger and better places!!!

TIMES they-are -a-changin' and you can either change with them or miss the blessing... God's calling His church out of the small wilderness and into a VAST land filled with milk and honey...Granted there are still many GIANTS (religion and close mindedness) that need to be conquered...But I myself am armed and, like Joshua and Caleb, I believe that with God's help WE can take 'em!!!

We have been in the wilderness (closet) far TOO LONG...it's time to "come out" and let go of that "grasshopper" mentality and FIGHT for OUR inheritance...OUR place in the promised land...OUR milk and honey!!! We have to PUSH past the religious renegades that want to continue walking in the same ritualistic circles around the same ole' mountain and become revolutionaries!


-Someone's gotta take the lead!!! MIGHT as WELL be us!! A new generation--a JOSHUA generation that leads the church into the PROMISED LAND!! 
I mean the wilderness is just NOT big (nor exciting) enough for ALL of us!! 


The Church is heading into a new land... a land where EVERYONE is welcome and no one is excluded!! It's the land that Christ died for....A land filled with LOVE  and ACCEPTANCE--that produces the fruit Jesus intended...UNITY!!!  

Will you follow Him into the promised land? Or will you remain silent... stuck in the wilderness with the religious people... sitting silently hidden on the back pew... where there are no giants.. no challenges... no fruit....NO INHERITANCE!!! Change is costly...challenging...and often times painful, but the reward...SWEET

I KNOW that God has called me to a land flowing with milk (love)  and honey (acceptance)! He will go before me and take care of the giants! I REFUSE to be SILENT and isolated in the wilderness I WILL NEVER sit on the back pew I'M A FRONT ROW kinda girl!! ---I'm standing up and COMING OUT!!! I'M CROSSING OVER!!!

STAY in the wilderness if you want BUT I'M COMING OUT and  I'm just looking for a giant or two to behead!!! Will you stay or will you go????

I am a CHRISTIAN and I AM GAY and every promise in the Bible belongs to me too...AND I'm going to RECEIVE them!! and there is NO GIANT that is going to stop me!! 

Just Bb

“Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Num 13:30

That 'Love' thing...it does include gay people--JESUS

So...has anyone else noticed these annoying "Share if you love Jesus" FB statuses? Or "Like if you are a Christian" I think these are the biggest "cop out" any Christian can take part in. I mean it's easy to share a status but that's not what makes you a Christian at all...IT'S sharing the LOVE of Christ that qualifies you as a Christian. I am so sickened by sanctimonious pseudo christianity! People actually believe that if they wear a t-shirt or have a bumper sticker that says, "honk if you love Jesus" that they are Christians...UGH

People want to be all Christian on FB by sharing statuses & quoting Scripture and that's GREAT...FB can be used to encourage and exhort people...it touches a lot of people. BUT when you start BEATING people UP with The WORD of God--THAT'S BULLYING!!! PERIOD!!! FB is not a school playground where you can PUSH somebody around and make them feel like LESS of a human being (publicly) Because you THINK you're "right"!!! NOR is FB a PULPIT!!!!

 It's NO WONDER people are turning from Christianity--- I myself am a Christian...but I find myself apologizing for the actions of these renegades who are disguising themselves and justifying their actions with a STUPID.... "I love Jesus STATUS" ...so I can do or say whatever I want and be right all the while calling myself a Christian!! 

I can only imagine how Jesus would respond to the trendy "christianese terms" and "christian attire"... He would probably say something like, "Do you love me?" "FEED MY SHEEP" or "Love Me first, then LOVE EVERYONE...yes I mean EVERYONE as you love yourself." He would probably say, "Ugh...are you really wearing that, how embarrassing?" or "I want My people to hear My heart through your actions, not your horn." AND I'm certain He would say, "FB is the devil and that status about me is probably a virus that's going to crash your computer."


I read an awesome blog today... It was almost like I was reading about my life...(It's ironic that I have referred to myself as Jacob many times because of the wrestling match on the inside)..It will do you good to read it as well--MAYBE it will open your heart
http://www.danoah.com/2011/11/im-christian-unless-youre-gay.html <-----READ THIS BLOG


I have NEVER endured so much rejection and bullying as I have over the past month. I have been deleted and blocked by the people that I loved most! I have been mutilated by their "double edged" sword as they posted verses aimed DIRECTLY at me....beating me with their Bible-- I couldn't believe that my 'christian' family was doing this to me...they hung a scarlet letter around my neck and burned me at the stake. All because they found out that I am gay....

Today as I scrolled down my FB page I saw one of these "I love Jesus" statuses posted by one of the few renegades that hasn't deleted me...The hypocrisy infuriated me and I wanted to comment and say, "Then why don't you love me?" 


Does your love come with limits?
Do you love people..until you get a glance inside their closets? Jesus loves me...He always has and He always will and He's always known WHO and WHAT I am. It's funny how your love for me changed when you met the real me....That my 'friend' is not Christlike at all!!! Jesus doesn't have a delete button...

Don't be STUPID.... 
Posting a status doesn't make you a Christian...being Christlike does. 

Just Bb  

JUST B...YOU

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”
― André Gide

Life is a peculiar thing... We tend to strive to have a cookie cutter life... to live the American dream--whatever that is-- Sometimes we get so caught up in conforming to the dreams of others that we lose, or even worse never find, our true selves. We get SO caught up in trying to live a "normal" life that sometimes we give up the things that make us who we are...we surrender them for the "greater good" letting go of our personal dreams, falling into the trap of society norms. 

What is normal anyway?--I'll tell you what "normal" is....it's ORDINARY....it's REGULAR....it's COMMON!!! Ick!!! All those things are so...so... NORMAL! I'm NOT normal and neither are you; you weren't created to be normal...you were created unique. You were created to be.......yeah you guessed it--- YOU!!

STOP trying to be "normal" because you're far from it--You're not ordinary--you're EXTRAORDINARY!!!! 

I was talking with a friend yesterday and I told him that all the things that he was trying to "fix" about his personality are the the very things that make him who he is... he's quirky and high strung and just FULL of personality I told him to STOP trying to be normal!!! It would be a shame for a colorful person like yourself to become dull and common... What a loss the world suffers when we lose our originality and SPICE--WE need a society FULL of colorful people, gray is sooo depressing and uneventful!! 

Trying to conform breeds insecurity and insecurity is crippling...it's an enemy that consumes people who are striving to be something that they are not. If people could just learn to embrace "who" they are (quirks and all) insecurity would be a thing of the past. I am who I am and I REALLY enjoy being me...there's no one else I would rather be! Granted I have some things in my personality that could use some improvements, I always want to grow and become a better 'ME'... but I refuse to be the me you want...that's not me at ALL!!! 

When you embrace who you are...you achieve an indescribably inner peace, and you step into LIFE an EXTRAORDINARY life--- YOUR LIFE! Be YOU...no one else will do.

I refuse to live a "normal" life...I'm going to live MY life...MY extraordinary life-- with the one that I love... with the people that love ME...It may not look like much to you...BUT I really don't care because it's mine.. 

Love me or hate me.... But ME is all you're going to get! 

Just Bb        

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous--how well I know it.--Psalm 139:14

                           

"OFF WITH IT'S HEAD!"--death to discrimination

OFF WITH IT'S HEAD!!!

The other day some friends and I were having a casual conversation with a stranger (emphasis on strange) we didn't know this lady from Adam yet she was telling us great details about herself and her recent trip to Mexico...THEN suddenly and without warning out came a despicable racial slur against not one but two ethnic groups and immediately I was outraged!! I heard one of the voices in my head shout, "OFF WITH HER HEAD!!" and I visualized myself jumping to my feet to defend those whom she was insulting!!!

I of course, having some tact...not to mention the fact that I had just driven down "deliverance road" and was surrounded by strangers...remained seated and exercised self-control. I was astounded at the audacity of this woman to assume that I too was an ignorant jackass that would accept and join in her bigotry. When in reality I wanted to say to this woman, "ma'am I am bi-racial" (just to watch her face drop) But again I kept my mouth shut and my sword sheathed. 


Racism--Bigotry--Discrimination of any kind infuriates me. I HATE hate...plain and simple whether it be against race, gender, religion, or sexual orientation (If this lady only knew who she was talking to:) I'm at a place in my life where I am wielding a sword and I'm prepared to draw it each time discrimination of ANY kind rears it's ugly head!!!  The longer we tolerate "intolerance" the longer we have to listen to it... 

I say, "OFF WITH IT'S HEAD!!!"                

Just Bb

Love is a verb....

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”
Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’...Matt 22:36-39

A verb is a word the describes an action or occurrence or indicates a state of being...
Love is a verb

Love is so much more than a mere word, it is an action. LOVE is the deepest and most guarded part of our very being. Love is the one thing we desperately search for and we fear it almost as much as we desire it!!!

 --Some people have locked love up behind walls that have been built to protect their hearts because the "actions" of others have caused them to go into a lonely self preservation mode...
--Others love with reckless abandon; embracing the unlovable. They NEVER allow past hurts to change or altar their pure and honest love for others....

I have been both. (and probably everything in between) 

Through a series of events in my life I decided at very young age that love was painful and I would protect myself from it at all costs...I would hurt anyone who tried to love me--I would "hurt" them before they could "hurt" me--this was my reasoning. (I thought I had it all figured out)...I refused to be a "victim" of love EVER again...

My heart was hard, and I was completely alone...I had decided that something must be horribly wrong with me as a person, so I had a very low opinion of myself...I mean, if I could not love myself, how on earth could someone else love me--It was a miserable existence that lasted for 28 years.  

Then on Sept. 26th 2003 I met God...That was the first time I experienced love in my entire life. I felt His perfect "AGAPE" love for me and I realized how wrong I had been. It was overwhelming and perfect...It was unconditional... I remember thinking WOW, how beautiful...I wanted EVERYONE to find this love!!!!

I was so "in Love"  and it was that love that demanded action...I couldn't keep this all to myself--I had to tell everyone...

I was a young Christian who had just found love...true love and this was all I could think about and all I could talk about. I quickly realized, as I was telling everyone about this love, that I had to do more than just say, "God loves you and so do I" I had to express this love through my actions... I mean I, like everyone else, have grossly overused the word "love" by saying things like, "I love shoes, and I love chocolate"

But this....THIS WAS SO MUCH MORE...this was true love...not a strong admiration or desire. This really meant something, and I desperately wanted people to feel the purity of Jesus' love through me so I began to look at what He did to show His love for people...

AND

That leads me to the woman at the well...Jesus didn't rebuke her for the 5 husbands or even for "shacking up" with the latest man in her life....NO He accepted her and LOVED her--NOR did He participate in the discrimination and hate that His fellow Jews had toward her and her people...Love is a Verb

AND

Then to the woman who was caught committing adultery.  Jesus didn't condem her though she was completely exposed... Caught in the very act of adultery...the "religious" people said STONE HER....but Jesus SIMPLY loved her and said I don't condem you, now go and sin no more; (something that I'm sure she, as a human, was completely unable to do) so He went a step further and DIED so that even SHE could be with Him for all eternity...Love is a VERB. 

Jesus NEVER turned His back on anyone EVER--as a matter of fact He made a special effort to be at that well--heck He even went into the tombs to minister to a man full of demons...a man that the entire community had isolated and condemned.--LOVE is a VERB

The Word clearly says...Love the Lord your God with all your heart and love your neighbor as you love yourself--I'm convinced that the way we love others is a direct reflection of how much we love ourselves and, ultimately, how much we love GOD--

People are always searching for that "God experience"...that special "encounter with God" They are going from church to church....one revival after another....But they just can't seem to find it. 

I suggest you go stand by a well or in a tomb, where the broken, unwanted, and undesirables are--Go accept a human that an entire people has rejected--THAT is how you experience God--Go protect someone from the religious NUTS who have their hands full of stones...cocked and ready to kill.--THAT is how you experience God.--Go love someone that no one else will--THAT is how you experience God

After all, God is LOVE...
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.--1 John 4:8 

LOVE...that is how you experience GOD

Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.--1 Pet 4:8

LOOK beyond, what you perceive to be sin or a fault, --GO DEEPER-- find their needs... 

Do you make people feel LOVED or victimized? 

Just Bb

....Change

change  /CHānj/
Verb:
Make or become different: "a proposal to change the law"; "beginning tochange from green to gold".
Noun:
The act or instance of making or becoming different.
Synonyms:
verb. alter - exchange - vary - shift - convert - transform
noun. alteration - shift - variation - exchange - mutation

"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another."--Anatole France

I hate change... Despise is probably a more accurate word to help me describe just how I feel about change--most of the time.-- Just to give you an example, I ALWAYS park on row 13 when I go to Wal-Mart...If for some horrifying reason I am unable to park there I will ride around the parking lot until a spot opens, or just go home and come back another time! Once someone sat in "my seat" at Church, I was in the choir, and as soon as I saw this I broke out into a cold sweat! I HATE CHANGE...most of the time. 

There are instances that I love change...I love to see change that improves my life, someone else's life, or yes even the world... What I love more than just seeing that change, is being a part of the revolution that brought about that change. I think this gets me more excited than chocolate...(true story) 

I understand that MOST people are not as enthusiastic as I am about life altering change...simply because it stretches their beliefs and forces them to get up out of their usual spot and change locations. It forces people to "bury" some things and exchange the old for the new, and unknown...I understand what kind of fear & anxiety this induces, but I believe that's where we are in our society and yes in the church. 

Over the years the church has 'changed' significantly... Each time this change was met with fierce renunciation, and disapproval....BUT it came. Change is often like child birth--you just have to keep pushing until you have a breakthrough...I'm sure that some who read this will immediately say, "Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever." (Heb 13:8) and with that I completely agree...WHAT I'm talking about is the church changing and becoming more like Christ...RADICALLY INCLUSIVE

"Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of living. Out of our over-confidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress." --Bruce Barton

Gandhi said it best "Be the change that you want to see in the world."---Join me in this revolution...

Just Bb