The sun started to rise as we traveled in Tom Cook’s Denali on our way to meet twenty other saints to deliver the truth to those attending the 2009 Atlanta Pride Parade. It wasn’t long that the four of us(Tom Cook, Jason Dellinger, Dion Woolfolk and myself) decided to read some Scripture. Jason had to catch up in his Bible reading schedule so we read from Saturday’s reading. We quickly realized that it was no accident that we read these particular chapters. No. In preparation for the grueling day we faced, God had a specific word for us straight out of Ezekiel, chapters two and three.
Before I get to the exact scripture that stuck out to us so much, let me first set it up with another passage from the same book. In Ezekiel chapter eight, The Spirit took Ezekiel to the temple so that he could see, for himself, the detestable things that were taking place. Ezekiel’s eyes were opened to the wicked and detestable things that were taking place in the temple of the Lord. The house of Israel was doing horrible things, but they were being led by the ruling seventy elders(the Sanhedrin). Ezekiel was blown away by the things he saw, but the Spirit kept telling him that he would see things that are “even more detestable.”
You might wonder what this passage has to do with the 2009 Atlanta Pride Parade. Well, here’s the point. Ezekiel was a prophet called to deliver God’s mail to the house of Israel. But, before he could go amongst them and proclaim His word, his eyes had to be opened. Likewise, today, the church of Jesus Christ has been called to be watchmen and proclaim God’s word to all. Therefore, we need to be able to see.
Hopefully, after reading this, you will get a glimpse of what goes on at these detestable events. When a Christian hears what we do at these parades, the most popular response is, “Don’t you think you should be more loving?” There are many problems with that question. But, instead of addressing all of them, let me just say that if they had eyes to see, they would not say such things. And I also have to say that they obviously don’t fully grasp the biblical concept of love (See Leviticus 19:17).
That gets us back to the scripture that stuck out to us on our ride down. There were several key words and phrases that stuck out to us. The word, “rebellious” was mentioned eight times in Ezekiel chapters two and three. God was also adamant in these two chapters that Ezekiel speak His words to the people. He also, repeatedly, told him not to be afraid of the people to whom he would be delivering God’s mail. All of those things were very applicable to our trip to Atlanta. But, more than anything, verse seven of chapter two really spoke to us. “You must speak my words to them, whether they listen or fail to listen, for they are rebellious.”
Beloved, we had been to this particular event in years past and we knew what to expect. We were going to be speaking the word of God to a people that, for the most part, would not listen to the things we had to say. Now, most of the church would say that we must not be going about things the right way. But, remember this, it’s not about success. It’s about faithfulness. We must speak the word of God to all the world, regardless of whether they listen or not. And trust me, for the most part, our message fell on deaf ears this year. Oh, they heard it. They just hated what we had to say.
Don’t get me wrong. When we broke up into pairs of two at this event, we ran into one divine appointment after another. When having these one-to-one conversations, it’s amazing to see the Holy Spirit breaking through the pride of individuals. Those conversations are fun and are very necessary in ministering at these kinds of events.
But, there is another message that must be brought: the public proclamation. And that’s where we get the message from the church, that we are not doing things right. But make no mistake about it, this message must be brought. While one-to-one witnessing is vitally important, so is this. We cannot allow hundreds of thousands of homosexuals to parade their sin like Sodom in the streets of our cities without boldly and sternly confronting them in their sin. Will you win many converts this way? Probably not. Not right off the bat anyway. But that’s what the one-to-one witnessing is for.
When you are witnessing to a homosexual, you usually don’t want to start off by dealing with his sexual perversion. No. You want to make a connection and swing it to the spiritual. If the conversation goes well, the Holy Spirit will open a door to deal with the specific sin of homosexuality (usually while you are going through God’s Law). Then you will have a wonderful opportunity to talk to him about his childhood, his sin and, most importantly, the Savior.
But when you are making a public proclamation, confronting the sin of homosexuality, you need to bring it down hard. Why? Because many believe that they can practice homosexuality and love Jesus at the same time. And what might that be called? A false religion. So, when Christians say that Jesus would never do it the way we do it, they simply don’t understand the Jesus of the Bible. Remember, it was Jesus who nailed the religious hypocrites of His day, by calling them hypocrites, vipers, whitewashed tombs, etc. Jesus didn’t pull any punches and neither should we. Especially, when you have churches participating IN the parade. That’s right. There are always a number of churches that actually march in the parade. Where did you think they were getting their affirmation from? None other than wolves in sheep’s clothing. And when you deal with these guys(and gals), you don’t start by setting up a friendly dialog. No. You bust them!
Now, just to warn you, when you go with this message, you will not go without great opposition. I am making no exaggerations when I say this, but had the SWAT team not surrounded us, I would not be writing this article today. I would be dead (probably after being brutally mutilated by this blood-thirsty mob). You can hardly believe the hatred spewing from their lips. What’s so odd about it is that, on many occasions, someone would be screaming obscenities, with spit flying all over the place, shouting, “God is love! You are full of hate!” I’m not joking. Then, Craig Gross, the founder of XXX Church decided to lecture Flip on how to be more loving in his approach. Craig Gross, aka the Porn Pastor, designed his emergent ministry to make the gospel more suitable for porn stars, porn addicts, homosexuals, etc. By the end of the conversation, he made a wonderful display of this “luv” he was talking about, by pouring his water on Flip’s shirt (Flip had all kinds of stuff dumped on him).
But the attacks got worse. In years past, we have been physically attacked, but one thing really got to me this year. A young lady that came with us was threatened by two girls. The threat? One of them held an object in her hand and threatened that they would rape her. But these same girls were also shouting about how WE were so unloving.
There are so many detestable things that take place at these events. I could go on and on. But why should I go on and on when you can come to see for yourself? And don’t say it’s not your calling. We are all called to confront sin. When we make that commitment to Christ, we aren’t just gaining Heaven, we are losing our lives. That’s right. Our lives do not belong to ourselves. And God is calling us to be the salt of the earth; to be watchmen over this once Godly nation. Will it cost you something? Yes. And it might even cost you your life one day. I have no doubt we would have lost ours had the SWAT team not protected us this year. But, remember, my life does not belong to me and neither does your life belong to you.
Posted by akatennant 
Posted by akatennant 
