“It is better to be divided by truth than united in error.” – Adrian Rogers

Many people try to excuse their sin by saying, “I was born this way.” Which is why Jesus said, “You must be born again” (John 3:3).

Dr. Robert L. Spitzer, who passed away on December 25, 2015, at the age of 83, was considered one of the most influential psychiatrists of his generation. Many years ago I had the pleasure of meeting Dr. Spitzer and ultimately became one of his case studies with regard to freedom from same-sex attraction.

Despite the appeal that many in the gay community make about science being “on their side,” this isn’t accurate.

The article and video below, titled “Setting the Matter Straight,” capsulizes much of Dr. Spitzer’s study. My condolences to his wife and children.

Setting the Matter Straight
https://hiswayout.com/setting-the-matter-straight/

Today a relentless and often misguided focus of LGBTQ activists on being an ally in support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning individuals due to bigotry, malice, ignorance and mean-spirited jokes often perpetrated against the LGBTQ community continues.

I once sat on the receiving end of being clobbered with Scripture by well-meaning but horribly misguided Christians.

However, to simply quote a Scripture is not the same as to clobber.

I still find it more than intriguing when conservatives quote Bible verses against homosexuality it’s called clobbering, yet when the LGBTQ community quotes Scripture while arguing against conservatives, it’s just well, quoting Scripture.

God-given love is not primarily a feeling, but an action toward a person. I believe we often have a twisted picture of love, thinking that what makes a person feel love is how we should show love.

Therefore, to confront him or her with some unpleasant thing would not be loving. To this day, I, not unlike many other men and women, remain grateful our families did not lower the bar or dismiss the clarity of Scripture with regard to homosexual practice.

Thankfully and gratefully, my family, and many others continue to love their children while not putting a stamp of approval on a behavior that clearly runs contrary to the teachings of Scripture. Sexual behavior outside of heterosexual marriage, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is sin, and is forbidden by the Word of God.

Today, there are those wanting Christianity, but not without sexual expression. In short, they want it all, a common malady of our time.

Today, even knowing the Scriptural condemnations of homosexuality in both the Old and New Testaments as being clear and final, there are those on a continued quest to find some way to get around them. The proverbial and endless search for a ‘loophole’ that does not exist continues.

Personally, I have friends, acquaintances, and neighbors who are homosexual. All of these relationships can be described as gracious and respectful. Even though our stances may be dramatically different on the topic of homosexual practice, we enjoy a mutual respect.

It is possible to be right in one’s beliefs but wrong in attitude or approach. It is appropriate and good to say the right thing, but it must be said in the right way. To dismiss this part of telling the truth, is to make truth a weapon more than a tool, and even the best tool, when misused, can be destructive.

I would submit that many gay people have misconceptions about Christians, just as a lot of Christians have misconceptions about gays. The criticism is often raised that Jesus preached an ethic of love and would never utter harsh words of condemnation. To speak the truth in love is not to condemn the one to whom it is spoken. Heaven knows, it may feel that way.

It does not matter, in the end, whether we can explain why God has spoken in the way He has; the essential issue is what He has spoken. In the end, the Bible “speaks the truth in love” and pure, true, undefiled love seeks nothing more or higher than the welfare of people – all people.

Pastor Phillip Lee
Executive Director
His Way Out Ministries

Please consider making a donation at www.hiswayout.com/donate. Thank you, Pastor Phillip Lee

Being a professing Christian who adheres to and applies the truths of Scripture to the world around us has never been easy. That said, how do we stand up to an increasingly hostile culture that demands our silence? How do we truly speak truth with love? How can a Christian relationally and effectively address our present culture without compromising truth?

We must never be ashamed of the gospel – and we are told to proclaim its precepts.

God’s Word does not adapt to culture – it transcends it.

Youtube Link
No One Is Doomed to Be Gay — There Is a Way Out

Is there really a way out of homosexuality? Pastor Phillip Lee of His Way Out Ministries sits down with Brandon Holthaus for an honest conversation about same-sex attraction, the church’s silence, and the hope found only in Christ.

In this episode of Tip of the Spear, Brandon interviews Phillip Lee — who has spent more than 30 years ministering to men and women struggling with same-sex attraction — on what the Bible actually says, why so many churches and prominent leaders have gone quiet, the crucial difference between “gay” and “homosexual,” the real story on HIV/AIDS today, and why his teams take the gospel to the world’s largest gay pride events, including Tel Aviv. This isn’t about winning an argument. It’s about souls.

This conversation is for the parent, pastor, or friend who knows someone wrestling with this and wants a response deeper than “it’s wrong.”

An Inside View – Obedience vs. Success: Healing does not, nor has it ever meant an absence of struggle.

Many, many years ago, at the very beginning of my discipleship, I hit a major wall. The wall had a definite name – “Loneliness!”

Not truly desiring to face and deal with the underlying factors causing the loneliness; I contacted my pastor and began to share my grief. Really, I just wanted to whine.

You know, the “Oh, poor me syndrome.”

My pastor requested that I meet him at the church for a more personal face to face conversation. I agreed. I arrived at the church before my pastor and positioned myself in the sanctuary for my tale of woe.

Eventually, I heard my pastor pull in the church parking lot and he immediately proceeded to the sanctuary where I was waiting. He had no sooner stepped inside when out came the words…

“Now, if you’ve got one good reason, I’m here to listen, but do not give me one excuse!” I still hear those words today. They were extremely authoritative and delivered with great volume.

I was stunned and couldn’t say a word. After a few moments of silence and collecting my emotions, I realized that my pastor had told me exactly what I needed to know, but not necessarily what I wanted to hear. His words snapped me right into reality.

You see, I had been giving my greater attention and energy to being successful rather than being obedient. Thank God for pastors who truly have our best interest at heart.

C.S. Lewis once wrote, “No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep picking ourselves up each time. We will, of course, be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home, but the bathrooms are ready, the towels put out and the clean clothes are waiting. The only fatal thing is to lose one’s temper and give up. It is when we notice the dirt, that God is present in us – it is the very sign of His presence.”

The Apostle Paul writes in I Corinthians 6:11, “You were sanctified,” or better translated, “are being sanctified.” Sanctification is that process where sin’s power is broken and we are separated unto God, enabling us to come into the wholeness Jesus promises.

Is it any wonder Jesus said, “If any man come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me” (Mark 8:34).

Too often, when we think of salvation, we think of it in our initial choice to follow Jesus. But rarely do we view our salvation as a process, which entails many choices and often a string of many and various deliverance’s.

Healing does not nor has it ever meant an absence of struggle.

Our humanity, out of which our sexuality flows, will continue to bear the mark of the fallen age in which we live to some degree.
But that does not minimize God’s power. Experiencing temptation, feeling irrationally threatened, acknowledging the need for ongoing accountability, simply places us in a dynamic process of becoming whole.

For example, while God was helping me deal with homosexual sin, miraculously, I was spared the painful recognition of my broken masculinity, which was most definitely fueling my sinful behavior.

As I learned what it meant to be a man, and more importantly, a godly man, my masculinity began to be healed. The Lord revealed broken and hurtful aspects of how I related to family, friends, and people in general. God is faithful to reveal what needs to be healed. He does so in light of how much we can handle at once. And He always blesses obedience.

It isn’t enough to experience victory in sexual struggles. You might be saying, “it’s not…why?”

Because the victory will be very short lived if we don’t understand the specific characteristic of God on which victory is built. God wants us to know Him and trust His character, not just to use Him as a means to escape having to take responsibility for our choices.

A final thought…

To say that Christian love is unconditional is not to say that it does not encourage the one loved to do what is right. It is to say that Christian love continues even when that person fails to do what is right.

God help us to be encouraging rather than demanding.

In doing so, may many understand that obedience, not success, is your will and desire.

Pastor Phillip Lee
Executive Director
His Way Out Ministries

Please consider making a donation at www.hiswayout.com/donate. Thank you, Pastor Phillip Lee

The dam has burst, endeavoring to submerge basic Christian morality and ethics. At His Way Out Ministries/Rock Harbor Church we do not merely curse the darkness; we remain purposed to equip Christians in the art and science of conducting difficult discussions wielding the Christ-mandated gavel of grace.

Culture has and continues to embrace a new world vision, but true dedicated faithful followers of Christ Jesus have not.

At some point it is more than likely you will be charged with homophobia, sexism, racism, transphobia, and judgementalism, and you will need to know how to respond.

Will we faithfully – in our homes, pulpits, and lives – profess and steward the Word of God without adding to or detracting from it?

Our Perspective
Is culture influencing us more than we are influencing the culture?

Is culture influencing us, the Christian community, more than we are influencing the culture?

What we are facing is nothing short of a need for reform clothed in the hope of revival.

People I know, people you know, people in our churches, people in our families, having bought into the rhetoric and false teachings of pro-gay theologians, pro-gay apologists, and revisionists of Scripture regarding same-sex practice simply because they offer a so-called ‘enlightened understanding,’ an alternative that for some insane reason (sounds and seems) superior.

Any attempt at accepting or promoting homosexual practice in any form and to any degree requires abandoning the truth of God when trying to make the Bible agree with the gay is good notion.

Example: Pro-gay theology argues the Scriptures that clearly define same-sex practice as sin have been “mistranslated.”

The “mistranslated” argument makes no sense. On something as important as sexual ethics, are we really to believe that the Bible translators we rely on got it wrong five different times, in two different Testaments? And ONLY on the Scriptures regarding same-sex practice scenarios? That’s just too convenient.

The fact is, in Leviticus, Romans, 1 Corinthians and 1 Timothy, same-sex practice is mentioned in the context of sexual and immoral behavior. The context is quite clear – a variety of behaviors are prohibited; same-sex practice, along with adultery, fornication, and idolatry, is one of them.

So, there is a group purporting to be of God and led of the Holy Spirit distorting and adding to the Gospel.

Tragically, fueling their fires are those that have embraced and adopted the silent-mode – say nothing, do nothing – received by the pro-gay camp as validation, acceptance, and approval of their quest.

No one can say they truly love people by standing by silently and allowing them to compromise their life in sexual sin, unchallenged.

That is not love!

Those having succumbed to human speculation, human knowledge, human understanding, and human reasons have dismissed and rejected the Bible as the Word of God.

If we, the Church, truly desire to function at our best, we must return to upholding the Truth and Authority of Scripture in all matters of faith and practice. This includes God’s original divine intent for human sexuality and His holy boundary lines for living.

This, I submit, would be a huge, considerable first step in reestablishing the Christian community to positively influence society and culture.

The Church fit to respond with grace and truth to our present culture will be one that is reformed by a return to basics and revived by a fresh wind.

Pastor Phillip Lee
Executive Director
His Way Out Ministries

Please consider making a donation at www.hiswayout.com/donate. Thank you, Pastor Phillip Lee

Why have LGBTQ issues been so divisive to the Church? Many mainline denominations have had a segment of their church split off and go their own way over their ‘celebration’ of same sex practice(s).

The dividing line seems to be whether the Bible is “inspired” and without error in its original delivery to the prophets from God, or whether it is a collection of myths and man-made opinions.

Do we follow only the “red print”, or are the teachings of Paul included in the Bible’s inspiration?

Peter had this to say: “…men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

Pro-gay theologians, apologists and revisionists of Scripture largely have a theology based on so-called “homophobia.”

They wrongfully claim, “Jesus had nothing to say about same sex practice(s),” and therefore reject Paul’s warnings and center their stand before God based on, in their view, Paul’s “homophobia.”

The enemy has accomplished much with his divide and conquer techniques. What we find today is that gay affirming churches are now worshipping “another Jesus.” Much like the golden calves, a man-created Jesus that requires no sacrifice, makes no demands of obedience and is silent on sexual sin.

The person struggling with unwanted same sex attraction is often completely confused about the Christian viewpoint. When he tries to be obedient, some so-called Christian influence is there to tell him he doesn’t need to make changes in his life, just change his church.

It is far easier to find a church that doesn’t require effort than to try to change your actions and attitudes.

With so many differing and mixed messages coming from churches, the gay-identified individual has little reinforcement in his battle to obtain a pure life and a right relationship with God.

“If the trumpet does not sound a clear call, who will get ready for battle?” (1 Corinthians 14:8)

Pastor Phillip Lee
Executive Director
His Way Out Ministries

Please consider making a donation at www.hiswayout.com/donate. Thank you, Pastor Phillip Lee

To be on the right side of culture can put you on the wrong side of eternity.

Speaking as one once ensnared and bound by the incompleteness and derailment of homosexuality, try and try as I have to get my head, heart and spirit fully around the above statement, I cannot.
I cannot because it does not make sense.

If, within the statement one is saying, “I am a Christian that struggles with the temptation of same-sex attraction.” This makes sense and I understand.

However, for a faithful follower of Christ Jesus to pronounce identity by first using ‘gay’ (based on one’s sexual orientation) then follow-up with ‘Christian’ – clearly, what is happening is a lack of conviction, practice and concern of how one is being shaped and led by a wrong and deceiving spirit.

If I were an individual self-identifying as a ‘gay Christian,’ I would at some point in all honesty and truth need to truly face myself and ask…

“Which am I more? Am I more gay than a Christian?”

One of the earmarks of liberal Christianity regarding homosexuality, is the rejection of the infallibility of God’s Word and the quest, if not determination, to find Scriptural acceptance (a canon) within the canon (Scripture) to validate, accept and endorse homosexual practice. Hence, enter pro-gay theology.

In all fairness, my considerable concern for many men and women today struggling, combating the unwanted brokenness of same-sex attraction is…

How are they to follow the Holy Spirit when much of what God has to say regarding homosexual practice is being dismissed, disregarded and withheld?

How are they to hear His voice when His words are being silenced?

Is it possible far too much of the Church is now relying on (feelings) which are very, very often completely disconnected from what the Bible says?

I have shared before it was Christians that held me to the truth and authority of Scripture throughout my discipleship. Admittedly, it was not always an easy road to travel. However, I understood they were holding me accountable because they truly had my best interest at heart. Thank God they never once lowered the bar on the truth of Scripture.

If God’s truth had been withheld from me, what would I have been left with?

My walk, your walk with God is not about personal sensibilities.

The gay Christian identity does not exist in the Kingdom of God. There is a much, much better way.

It isn’t new. It isn’t even really profound. It is the willingness and posture to let Scripture have its unhindered way. Most assuredly, humility (how we approach and receive the truth of God’s Word), is the ingredient necessary for transformation enabling you and I to give way to God’s Word, even when it is unpopular.

“O God, make me know your ways. Teach me your paths. Lead me in your truth and teach me, for you are the God of my salvation, and for you I wait all the day long.” (Psalm 25:4-5).

Pastor Phillip Lee
Executive Director
His Way Out Ministries

Please consider making a donation at www.hiswayout.com/donate. Thank you, Pastor Phillip Lee

God’s Word does not adapt to culture, it transcends it.

Pro-gay theologians, pro-gay apologists and revisionists of Scripture continue their march, their relentless campaign attempting to gain support of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning individuals by largely, but not entirely, due to bigotry, malice, ignorance and mean-spirited jokes often perpetuated against the LGBTQ community.

I get that having once sat on the receiving end of being clobbered with Scripture (Genesis 19, Leviticus 18 and 20, Romans 1, 1 Corinthians 6 and 1 Timothy 1) by well-meaning but horribly misguided Christians.

That said, to simply quote a Scripture is not the same as to clobber.

I still find it more than intriguing when conservatives quote Bible verses against same sex practice it’s called clobbering, yet when the gay community quotes Scripture while arguing against conservatives, it’s just well, quoting Scripture.

Biblical fact and truth dictate that not one Scripture in the entire Bible promotes same sex practice in any form or to any degree.

Any attempt at validating, promoting or accepting same sex practice as Ok with God requires rejecting all of the above-mentioned Scripture passages as well as ignoring over 31,000 verses in the Bible in which Jesus, Abraham, Moses, Paul, all the prophets, apostles, and disciples universally endorse heterosexuality.

God-given love is not primarily a feeling, but an action toward a person. I believe we often have a twisted picture of love, thinking that what makes a person feel love is how we should show love.

Therefore, to confront him or her with some unpleasant thing would not be loving. To this day, I, not unlike many other men and women, remain grateful our families did not lower the bar or dismiss the clarity of Scripture with regard to same sex practice.

Thankfully and gratefully, my family, and many others continue to love their children while not putting a stamp of approval on a behavior that clearly runs contrary to the teachings of Scripture. Sexual behavior outside of heterosexual marriage, whether homosexual or heterosexual, is sin, and is forbidden by the Word of God.

Today, there are those wanting Christianity, but not without sexual expression. In short, they want it all, a common malady of our time.

Today, even knowing the Scriptural condemnations of same sex practice in both the Old and New Testaments as being clear and final, there are those on a continued quest to find some way to get around them.

Personally, I have friends, acquaintances, and neighbors who are homosexual. All of these relationships can be described as gracious and respectful. Even though our stances may be dramatically different on the topic of same sex practice, we enjoy a mutual respect.

It is possible to be right in one’s beliefs but wrong in attitude or approach. It is appropriate and good to say the right thing, but it must be said in the right way. To dismiss this part of telling the truth, is to make truth a weapon more than a tool, and even the best tool, when misused, can be destructive.

I would submit that many gay people have misconceptions about Christians, just as a lot of Christians have misconceptions about gays. The criticism is often raised that Jesus preached an ethic of love and would never utter harsh words of condemnation. To speak the truth in love is not to condemn the one to whom it is spoken. Heaven knows, it may feel that way.

It does not matter, in the end, whether we can explain why God has spoken in the way He has; the essential issue is what He has spoken. In the end, the Bible speaks the truth in love and pure, true, undefiled love seeks nothing more or higher than the welfare of people – all people.

We absolutely can love men and women with same-sex attraction and even walk with them through the myriads of trials and temptations. But we cannot promote a behavior that God calls sin.

If the Bible doesn’t promote same sex practice, how can Christ-followers promote it?

When God speaks a word on any subject, He speaks the final word.

What would Jesus really say to a homosexual?

True love cannot be about sexual preference. It must be about biblical obedience.

Pastor Phillip Lee
Executive Director
His Way Out Ministries

Please consider making a donation at www.hiswayout.com/donate. Thank you, Pastor Phillip Lee