Homosexuals Loving As Jesus Would

Years ago, I came across a website called God Hates Fags, produced by a man named Fred Phelps, who, incidentally, is a reverend. On God Hates Fags is all the usual rhetoric and condemnations of homosexuality. However, this site distinguishes itself by having an interactive “virtual scene” of a young boy burning in the flames of hell, and the header MATTHEW SHEPPARD HAS BEEN BURNING IN HELL FOR #### DAYS. The site automatically updates the number of days Matthew has supposedly been burning in hell, since the day of his murder in 1996.

This website, in turn, birthed counter sites claiming God Hates Fred Phelps.

These sites are more political than fruitful. They are also untrue.

But, Reverend Phelps, unless God has since surrendered the keys to heaven and hell into your mortal hands, your supposition that Matthew Sheppard is burning in hell is, at best, a biased personal hope and, at worse, enough to discourage a gay man to abandon his pursuit of Christ.

You were not present at the moment of Matthew’s death and this is significant. You see, Reverend, it is not unreasonable that Matthew may have cried out to Jesus as he was being murdered.

God’s Word tells us in Luke 23:39-43 that this has happened before:

One of the criminals hanging beside Him scoffed, “So you’re the Messiah, are you? Prove it by saving yourself---and us too, while you’re at it!”

But the other criminal protested, “Don’t you fear God even when you are dying? We deserve to die for our evil deeds, but this man hasn’t done anything wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your Kingdom.”

And Jesus replied, “I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Here we see someone whose lifestyle was sinful, calling out to Jesus, in the final moments of his life, for undeserved grace and receiving it from the One who actually does hold the keys to heaven and hell. This may have been Matthew’s story as well.

And, Reverend, while your faucet of grace may be clogged with emotion, Jesus, the Fount of Living Water, delights in showering the repentant sinner in quenching grace. You see, when a child invites Jesus into his heart, Jesus comes and He never leaves or forsakes the child. Even if the child develops homosexually, Jesus doesn’t abandon him. He stays.

He stays through the rebellion. He stays through the heartache of relationships gone bad. He stays through the promiscuity and He stays through the inevitable HIV tests which follow.

God’s love for us “fags” was shown on the cross, when He made a new covenant. And He didn’t wait to see who’d develop into a “fag” before putting the new covenant into effect. Because of Jesus, even a “fag” like me can call upon the Creator of the universe and have his petition for grace and mercy heard, truth revealed, and healing initiated.

Reverend Phelps, your mistake is believing that Satan’s power to break a man is greater than God’s desire to restore him; and your sin is convincing the “fag” that the only One who can save him, hates him.

There is a no-nonsense booklet out there called Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would, by author Chad Thompson. Finally we are being loved by the Church. However, this is merely a first step to proving ourselves capable of much more than just being “integrated”.

The Church is learning how to love us and we “fags” are running with it. But, just as the Black American climbed out of the back seat of the public bus and made his way up the aisle to prominent chairs in the Senate, the church, and the workplace, so it is with us “fags”. Good pastors are calling us out of the church’s back pews and up to the pulpit to testify to everyone that their outreach of love for us “fags” was not in vain, and to bear witness that it was not the misguided condemnation of a mere man that lured us out of sexual brokenness, but rather the aggressive love of Jesus, communicated through the Church, that made us want to pursue obedience.

Still, Reverend, the way I see it, just being integrated into the Church is by no means the culmination of our manifest destiny in the Body of Christ. As we homosexuals, one by one, surrender our lives more and more to God’s will, the day is coming (and what a glorious day it will be) when it will be commonplace to attend a Christian concert, a Mass, a marriage retreat, or a Bible study, and to hear the singer, the Priest, the keynote speaker, or the Bible teacher start by giving glory to God and then adding:

“I am here today as a minister of Jesus Christ because, years ago, a HOMOSEXUAL reached out to me in my despair, loved me, and brought me to Jesus for healing.”

The time is now, my fellow “fags”, to climb out of our comfortable back-of-the-church pews and take the love that has been extended to us in grace, and give it right back to a hurting and lonely world.

Let’s show the Reverend Phelps and the entire world that a “fag” who throws himself into the loving arms of Christ is just a viable as any sinner in His arms.

I predict that in a very short time, a new booklet will need to be written as a by-product of Loving Homosexuals as Jesus Would. It will be a compilation of testimonies written by redeemed drug-addicts, prostitutes, abuse victims, adulterers, and other broken women and men, telling of how a re-created homosexual led them to Christ. I dare say it might just be titled Homosexuals Loving as Jesus Would.

From Buggin’ Out ! Newsletter
www.bugginout.org

email: bugoutnyc@aol.com

Any enquiries about reproduction of content from this magazine should be directed to the Managing Editor
(email: bugoutnyc@aol.com).