March 27, 2014

The following excerpts are from the testimony “My Journey In and Out of Transexuality Through Christ” by Susan on the PFOX website: … “The road to Wholeness in Christ means a break from the flight from pain. When we receive Christ we are broken vessels. As we continue to grow in Him, He takes these broken pieces and makes an object for His pleasure as He heals the pieces. In order to create the object the pieces have to be moved — they have to submit to the Potter even if it means they go through the fire again. Most importantly they don’t react in the same way they did before. As we desire the Lord to set us free we must realize that whatever coping mechanisms we used for our suffering must be submitted to Christ. Continuous surrender. Wholeness in Christ means to give God the final say. He is the only One who can be our all in all.”

“This began the journey of discovering the lies I believed about myself, lies I believed about others, the damaging effect of labels, (more…)

March 27, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “World Vision, Same-Sex Marriage and Us: Responding or Reacting?” on Joe Dallas’s website: “Many of you e-mailed me privately or messaged me about my response to World Vision over their policy change towards hiring people in same sex marriages … The first question some of you raised was whether or not I felt a gay person is fit to serve children. Well of course he is. Like every believer I know, I have no problem with a secular company hiring anyone, gay or straight, for this kind of charitable work. But when an organization claims, as World Vision does, to be specifically Christian in both its mission and function, then we expect it to maintain Biblical standards in its hiring practices. Those standards don’t just take into account the competence of an individual; they also consider whether he or she is living a life in line with Biblical guidelines. For a Christian organization, that’s a reasonable expectation. That’s why I believe WV erred seriously in its decision to hire people engaged in same-sex relations, then corrected the error by reversing the decision.” (more…)

March 24, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “Downward Ascent 5: Heart of God” on Andrew Comiskey’s website: “‘Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy’ (Matt. 5:7). Mercy is the heart of God. Fittingly, mercy is the core theme of the Beatitudes: the poor, the mournful, the meek and hungry welcome mercy like rain on broken dry ground. Jesus then exhorts such receivers to extend that unfailing love to those who fail them.” …

“How can I not forgive another and yet claim to be named by the God who forgave me over and over for gross acts of sexual immorality with no guarantee that this confession would be the last? To bear the name of our God means that we act as He does—mercifully. Jesus said it simply, and best. ‘Be merciful as Your Father is merciful.’ (LK 6:36)” (more…)

March 21, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “Fred Phelps: The Symptom of our Sickness” on Joe Dallas’s website: …”Fred Phelps, founder and head buffoon of the Westboro Baptist God-Hates-Fags cult, has exited, and tears are few. His notoriety was achieved through a putrid combination of street theater and sadism, as he and his small following of family members picketed the funerals of AIDs patients and American soldiers, hoisting signs that celebrated the deaths being mourned as good, even delightful. No one was spared his bile, neither the parents of openly gay Matthew Shepherd, whose murder Phelps made an industry out of, nor the families of innocent children gunned down by a madman in an Amish school. The guy was, in true satanic form, an equal opportunity tormentor.”

“Two days ago he went to meet his Maker whom he never represented and, quite possibly, never knew. I cannot say rest in peace. I’ll only say God’s will be done.” (more…)

March 11, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin” on the Homosexuals Anonymous website: … “We are supposed to love the sinner, but hate sin (i.e. what he/she does or fantasizes about). At first glance this sounds perfectly right. And yet I’ve come to really dislike that statement and I ask my brothers and sisters to refrain from using such commonplaces, especially when it comes to people with same-sex attractions. And this for the following reasons:” …

“3. … Throughout my whole “gay” time (which was many, many years!) I had the feeling that this is not only how I am, but most of all who I am. This is my identity – (more…)

March 4, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “Downward Ascent 1: Blessed Poverty” on Andrew Comiskey’s website: … “Today the real poverty of homosexuality masks itself as a kind of wealth—a boast, a right, a celebration of new civil liberties. The morally homeless have found a home with secular powerbrokers of all types: political, academic, in popular arts. But no amount of human advocacy can remove our shameful nakedness.”

“This Lent, I urge you to go with me to the source of our poverty: the sin and disorder that impacts us all, beginning with our first family. Lent insists that we go back to the secrets and lies between Adam and Eve. (more…)

March 3, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “A Doll’s Lesson” on Joe Dallas’s website: “Jan Frank, a terrific author, speaker and therapist dealing with women’s issues, made a point decades ago during one of her presentations that I’ve never forgotten. … ‘When someone’s wounded they need healing, when someone’s in rebellion they need to repent, and when they’re bound, they need deliverance. So before advising what action to take, be sure you’re noticed what the need really is!’”

”That stuck with me. To this day, I hear people refer to rebellion as something a person needs to be healed of, or wounds as something someone needs an exorcism for, or bondage as something to repent of. In all these cases, the proposed cure isn’t applicable to the problem. An approach that matches the need is critical, whether we’re dealing with someone we’re ministering to, or dealing with ourselves.” (more…)

February 27, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “Wrestling with Arizona” on Joe Dallas’s website: “I’ve been wrestling with the rightness or wrongness of SB 1062 the controversial bill passed by the Arizona Legislature but vetoed by the state’s Governor Jan Brewer which would have granted private businesses protection if they chose not to offer services that violated their religious beliefs.”

“Usually I find myself firmly on the conservative end of controversies like this, but I’m finding it hard to land foursquare for or against this type of legislation which has been, by the way, considered in Kansas, Tennessee, Idaho, South Dakota, Mississippi, and Utah.” … (more…)

February 24, 2014

If you have a porn habit, Joe Dallas has 5 questions to ask yourself before you indulge the temptation. The following excerpts are two of the five questions Joe listed on his blog “Before You Use:” … “3. How long will you enjoy this time of viewing the porn, in contrast to how long you’ll feel badly about it? Because if the length of time you enjoy is significantly less than the length of time you’ll regret it, isn’t that a rather stupid investment you’re about to make?” …

“5. Are you trying to give yourself something – comfort, relief, distraction – by viewing this porn? Because if you are, is it really so hard finding more legitimate ways to get what you’re looking for?” …

February 24, 2014

The following excerpts are from the blog “Friend John” on Andrew Comiskey’s website: … “You could say the ‘gay self’ and its addictions were John’s way of easing pain and navigating desire. That ‘self’ thickened and became prickly as years passed. He became more remote. Phone calls consisted of his rambling monologues that resisted real conversation. Possessing the frustration level of a child, John could not say he was sorry.”

“I saw John a few years back and could see the shadow of death on him. I asked him of faith: he admitted he had started going to a Catholic Church but said ‘he believed none of it.’ Just like him: never admit the need for common grace.”

“We lost track of John until we discovered a couple months ago that he had been hospitalized, was belligerent, and soon discharged. We flew to San Francisco where we found him living in near squalor. Suffering softened him a bit; his ‘bad boy’ bluff was fading. (more…)