Intro to ‘Trans-Faith Takes Over The Church: Transgender
Pastors & Renaming Ceremonies’
Intro by John R. Houk
© October 1, 2019
If you are a Christian, you must have noticed how organized
Church organizations are accepting or are being brainwashed into accepting
sexual impurity as normal contrary to God’s Word expressed in the Holy Bible.
You may have noticed so-called literary experts are making a reinterpretation
Holy Scripture to mean something entirely different than the way Scripture has
been interpreted for generations immemorial.
Unfortunately for those promoting sexual looseness of one
form or another, the Bible warns there are consequences unless these ungodly
reinterpretations are addressed. As to sexual immorality or sexual looseness,
here are some Scriptures as noted in the first three chapters of the Book of Revelation
- Revelation 1: 20; 2: 1-6, 12-15, 18-27
NKJV (
Book of Revelation Explained and/or
Introduction - Book of Revelation):
Revelation 1:20
20 The
[a]mystery
of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden
lampstands: The seven stars are the
[b]angels
of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands
[c]which
you saw are the seven churches.
Revelation 2:1-6
2 “To the
[a]angel
of the church of Ephesus write,
‘These things says He who holds the
seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden
lampstands:
2 “I know your works, your labor, your
[b]patience,
and that you cannot
[c]bear
those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are
not, and have found them liars;
3 and you have persevered and
have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
4 Nevertheless
I have
this against you, that you have left your first love.
5 Remember
therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I
will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you
repent.
6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Revelation 2:12-15 The
Compromising Church
12 “And to the
[a]angel
of the church in Pergamos write,
‘These things says He who has the
sharp two-edged sword:
13 “I know your works, and where you
dwell, where Satan’s throne
is. And you hold fast to My name, and did
not deny My faith even in the days in which Antipas
was My faithful
martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
14 But I
have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the
doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the
children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual
immorality.
15 Thus you also have those who hold the doctrine
of the Nicolaitans,
[b]which
thing I hate.
Revelation 2:18-27 The Corrupt
Church
18 “And to the
[a]angel
of the church in Thyatira write,
‘These things says the Son of God, who
has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass:
19 “I
know your works, love,
[b]service,
faith, and your
[c]patience;
and
as for your works, the last
are more than the first.
20 Nevertheless
I have
[d]a
few things against you, because you allow
[e]that
woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess,
[f]to
teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things
sacrificed to idols.
21 And I gave her time to
[g]repent
of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.
22 Indeed I
will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great
tribulation, unless they repent of
[h]their
deeds.
23 I will kill her children with death, and all the
churches shall know that I am He who searches
[i]
the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your
works.
24 “Now to you I
say,
[j]and
to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not
known the depths of Satan, as they say, I
[k]will
put on you no other burden.
25 But hold fast what you have till
I come.
26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the
end, to him I will give power over the nations—
27 ‘He shall rule
them with a rod of iron;
They shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels’—
as I also have received from My Father;
When I became a young Christian in 1978, it would have been
only in my wildest imagination the occurrences described above in Revelation
could become normal. Much of the sexual immorality described is self-explanatory,
but there are a couple terms that may be lost on present day Christians. Those
terms are the doctrine of the Nicolaitans and the doctrine of Balaam. For
clarity here are references on those terms:
Doctrine of Nicolaitans
Nicolaitans were one of the
heretical sects that plagued the churches at Ephesus and at Pergamum, according
to Revelation 2:6,15.
Irenaeus
identifies them as followers of Nicolas, one of the seven chosen in Acts 6, and
as men who "lead lives of unrestrained indulgence"^[1]^. He also
relates them to
Gnosticism:
"John, the disciple of the Lord, preaches this faith (the deity of
Christ), and seeks, by the proclamation of the Gospel, to remove that error
which by Cerinthus had been disseminated among men, and a long time previously
by those termed Nicolaitans, who are an offset of that 'knowledge' falsely so
called, that he might confound them, and persuade them that there is but one
God, who made all things by His Word"^[2]^. There is also historical
evidence of a Gnostic sect called Nitolaitans
[Blog Editor: I am unsure
if this is a misspelling of Nicolaitians or if “Nitolaitans” is a separate
group] a century or so later.
The doctrine of the Nicolaitans
appears to have been a form of
antinomianism,
which makes the fatal mistake that man can freely partake in sin because the
Law of God is no longer binding. It held the truth on the gratuitous reckoning
of righteousness; but supposed that a mere intellectual "belief" in
this truth had a saving power.
Nicolaitans of the 2nd century seem
to have continued and extended the views of the 1st century adherents, holding
to the freedom of the flesh and sin, and teaching that the deeds of the flesh
had no effect upon the health of the soul and consequently no relation to
salvation.^[ [citation\
needed](Theopedia:Writing_guide#Reference_your_work)]^
Today, the doctrine is now largely
taught that the gospel of Christ has made God's law of no effect: that by
"believing" we are released from the necessity of being doers of the
Word. But this is the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which Christ so unsparingly
condemned in the book of Revelation. (
Nicolaitans;
Theopedia)
Doctrine of Balaam (excerpted)
Right before the Jews entered the
land of Canaan, they destroyed the kingdoms of Og, king of Bashan, and Sihon,
king of the Amorites. As a result, Balak, the king of Moab, outside of
whose land the Jews were camped, feared an attack from the Jews against his
country. Thus, he hired a prophet named Balaam (Num 22:1-6) to curse the
Jews, which he thought would give the Moabites an edge if they were to go to
war.
Balaam blessed the Jews instead of
cursing them (Num 23-24) and Balak was furious. Consequently, Balak
dismissed Balaam. Nevertheless, before Balaam returned to his place (Num
24:25), he gave Balak counsel (Num 31:16) that caused the wrath of God to come
against Israel. He counseled Balak to let the daughters of Moab commit
whoredom with the Jews and to get them to eat the things sacrificed to their
idols (Num 25:1-3).
The outcome of this doctrine was
disastrous. Twenty four thousand Jews died in a plague that came as a
consequence of their sin (Num 25:4-9). The Jews had been forbidden to
intermingle with the Moabites (Deut 23:3) and Balaam’s doctrine ran contrary to
this command of God. Even in Nehemiah’s day the Jews were forced to
separate from their Moabite wives (Neh 13:1-2).
…
While we are on the study of
Balaam’s doctrine we should also see that there is a WAY of Balaam and an ERROR
of Balaam. The way of Balaam is found in 2 Pet 2:14-15. Balaam coveted
wages and chased the money. In Num 22:7; 15-21, Balaam was offered money
for his services, which was typical. However, he wanted it so badly that
he disobeyed the command of God after stating that he wouldn’t even if the
reward were Balak’s house full of silver and gold (v18). Thus
covetousness will be the motive of the preachers who cause the folks in the
tribulation to follow Balaam’s doctrine.
The error of Balaam is found in
Jude 11. It is simply that Balaam was against God’s chosen people like
Cain was against his brother Abel. Likewise, the antichrist and his
followers will commit the same error. They will fight against God’s
chosen people to their own destruction, in the same way that Balaam was also
destroyed (Num 31:8).
Friends the institutional Church has been looking the other
way for unwed couples to “live together” for decades (aka fornication),
adultery though frowned upon is rarely rebuked in a Church setting (I mean, adultery
seems nearly an epidemic among Ministers of the Gospel), killing babies to
prevent unwanted births from promiscuous sex is rampant and so on.
NOW largely due to Leftist social proclivities and the LGBTQ
Agenda, all the ungodly practices emanating from a LGBTQ lifestyle are sifting
into normalcy into Christian Churches. Which leads me to the
Prophecy News Watch title, “
Trans-Faith
Takes Over The Church: Transgender Pastors & Renaming Ceremonies”.
JRH 10/1/19
Support this Blog HERE. Or support by getting in
**Blog Editor: Rather than
capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I choose to post
and share until the Leftist censors ban me. Recently, the Facebook censorship
tactic I’ve experienced is a couple of Group shares then jailed under the false
accusation of posting too fast. So I ask those that read this, to combat
censorship by sharing blog and Facebook posts with your friends or Groups you
belong to.**
****************************
Trans-Faith Takes Over The Church: Transgender Pastors
& Renaming Ceremonies
September 30, 2019
By PNW Staff
A pandemic of perversion has engulfed our society as LGBTQ
activists demand that we bow down at the altar of moral relativism. But,
instead of providing clear Biblical answers to this cultural chaos, many
churches have fallen in league with them by aligning the Gospel message to
conform with this twisted mindset.
From non-binary deacons that refuse to accept that they are
either men or women to hyper-sexual, church-sponsored drag shows, to
transgender baptisms and renaming ceremonies, the assault on Biblical values
has intensified.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is a message of compassion and
salvation but, in some churches, that message has been warped to take the shape
of explicit support and even promotion of gender confusion and sin rather than
an ethic of faithful marriage between men and women.
The Bible sternly warns against leading little ones astray:
"But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it
would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and
to be drowned in the depth of the sea" (Matthew 18.6).
The Church of England, however, has instituted renaming
ceremonies for the new identities/names of those confused individuals who have
decided to identify as the opposite sex that God made them, including young
children.
The UK's mirror newspaper recently featured the story of a
7-year-old child who had recently 'transitioned' and the mother commented how
important the church's 'rebaptism' ceremony was in affirming this change,
noting that the vicar was even wearing a silk rainbow scarf in support of LGBT
rights during the ceremony.
The Church of England's new pastoral guidance advises clergy
to refer to transgender people by their new name. The guidance, which was voted
on wasn't even close, showing how far the Church of England has sunk. The vote
was overwhelmingly in favor of the new ritual.
The House of Bishops came down 30-2 in favor with two
abstentions, the House of Clergy voted its assent 127-28 with 16 clergy
abstaining and the House of Laity showed 127 votes in favor with only 48 in
opposition and 8 more marked as abstentions.
The guidance for the ceremony, while stopping short of
calling it a baptism, details how elements including water and oil can be
incorporated into the service as well as how the 'candidates' can be presented
with gifts such as a Bible inscribed in their chosen name, or a
certificate.
The guidance further notes: "For a trans-person to be
addressed liturgically by the minister for the first time by their chosen name
may be a powerful moment in the service".
As a central part of the new service, called the Affirmation
of Baptismal Faith, the minister lays hands on the candidate or candidates,
addresses them by name, and prays for them. Whereas the Church is clear that
this does not constitute a second baptism, it explains that the Affirmation of
Baptismal Faith enables people to "renew the commitments made in baptism
and in a public setting and provides space for those who have undergone a major
transition to re-dedicate their life to Jesus Christ".
The Anglican bishops declare their warrant for the new rite/adaptation to be an
"unconditional affirmation". Baptism, however, is not meant to be an
"unconditional affirmation" but an act of obedience after one has
responded to the call of repentance and conversion.
In fact, the Anglican ceremony specifically asks the
candidate for baptism, "Do you turn away from sin? do you reject evil? do
you trust Christ as Savior? do you trust Him as Lord?" Incredibly, under
the new ritual the candidate is expected to answer "I do" to each question
while, at the same time, 'affirming' to live just the opposite.
It is a warping of baptism to treat it as a celebration of
"I'm OK, you're OK" when the fundamental Christian message is that,
absent the transforming grace of Jesus Christ, no one is "OK".
A member of the same clergy that once presided over the
coronation of her majesty Queen Elizabeth II, has now had the effrontery to ask
the faithful to pray that her great-grandson, Prince George, age 6, might
become a homosexual in order to increase tolerance for the LGBT
community.
Earlier this year, Anglican clergy urged the British
government to ban so-called "conversion therapy" for those with
gender dysphoria, and announced their intention to attempt to recruit
transgender clerics.
It should not surprise us that the youth are following the
example of Church leadership. The congregation of St. Matthew Trinity
Lutheran Church in Hoboken, New Jersey now refer to their pastor as Peter.
'Peter', formerly Rose Beeson, was the center of one of the first renaming
ceremonies in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The ceremony, according to witnesses, was conducted in the
same style as a christening or baptismal ceremony with the bishop blessing
Beeson and pronouncing her newly-chosen name.
Some compared the renaming ceremony to what God had done
with Abraham and Peter, a comparison that Beeson and her church would
undoubtedly be quick to support. Voices in the liberal media, such as the
Huffington Post, were quick to lend their support to such a radical expression
of gender fluidity. But a closer study of the examples of Abraham and Peter
reveal stark differences as opposed to Beeson's case.
God commanded the change in Abraham's name from Abram to
Abraham as his new name meant "father of many" or "father of a
multitude". The name was God-given and an important symbol of God's
promise to Abraham as the father of a nation. Likewise, his wife Sarai became
Sarah, "mother of nations."
In the case of the apostle, Jesus gave Simon the surname
Peter to distinguish him from many others having the name Simon, including the
father of Judas Iscariot, as well as one of our Lord's half-brothers, along
with another Simon who was also one of the twelve apostles.
Jesus identified the name Peter with the confession that
Simon had just made, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living
God". It was upon this foundational 'rock' that Jesus would build His
church. (Matthew 16.16-18; John 8.24; 20.31; Acts 8.37; I John 4.15)
It is something altogether different to compare the change
of Rose Beeson to Peter Beeson. Rose Beeson's desire to change her name stems
not from any incredible, divine calling but simply her own impulse to swap
genders.
It should come as no surprise that we then also have another
church leader who refuses to be identified as male or female. Methodist
Deacon M. Barclay is now accepted by his church as a non-binary Deacon in
Chicago, which means that she prefers the pronoun "they" rather than
"she" and doesn't identify as either gender.
Deacon Barclay studied theology for 12 years and had originally tried to become
a deacon in Texas but was rejected due to her personal and un-Biblical views on
transgenderism. It was only after moving to Chicago that she was accepted into
this leadership role, demonstrating the approval of the Methodist Church for
transgenderism.
A member of any congregation struggling with gender identity
confusion is understandable, but when that person both embraces this
transgenderism and is elevated to the role of deacon, an entirely different
message is sent, which is to say that the church and God support this
lifestyle.
Methodist churches are not the only protestant denominations
that are starting to welcome the gender-confused into leadership roles. First
Baptist Church of Greenville began accepting LGBTQ ministers and weddings in
2015. It broke away from the Southern Baptist Convention in the 1990s but is
now a part of Cooperative Baptist Fellowship.
Another Baptist church in Ohio this last summer called a
transgender pastor to lead its church. Peace Community Church called Erica
Saunders, a graduate of Wake Forest University School of Divinity, and then
held an official welcoming service this month for Saunders, according to
Baptist News Global.
The congregation was founded as First Baptist Church of
Oberlin in July 1866 and is affiliated with the Baptist Peace Fellowship of
North America, the Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists, and the
Alliance of Baptists. Saunders was promoted to the church as "one of the
first openly trans-women ordained in Baptist life." Saunders' passions
were featured as "preaching, the study of Christian origins and LGBTQ
education and advocacy".
Naturally, a church that approves of transgender leadership
is going to indoctrinate its people with other pro-LGTBQ messages such as
sponsoring Drag Shows in the church.
The Ames United Church of Christ in Iowa, which has
considered itself open and affirming of LGBTQIA people since 2000, likes to
hold these events on an annual basis.
Last year's event, published on the church's Facebook page,
assured parents that there would be "adult supervision" for the drag
queen and king contest as the youngsters dressed in drag and paraded around,
skirting the legal line of child sexual abuse. With every step the church
is working to recruit more teens and preteens into that lifestyle.
In First Congregational United Church of Christ of Portland,
under Minister Michael Ellick, an event was previously held called "Drag
me to Church" and the proceeds (a $5 entrance fee) were donated to a local
LGBTQ community center.
The church brought in the cabaret group Caravan of Glam to
perform. One could be excused for not realizing that First Congregational is
merely masquerading as a church upon seeing the four scantily dressed drag
queens performing erotic dances to music.
The First Church Somerville UCC in Somerville,
Massachusetts, has made their drag event a yearly affair since 2011. A multi-day
celebration of the transgender lifestyle, it begins with a benefit concert
given by performers in drag, the equal of any adults-only night club.
On Sunday, the pastor then delivers a LGBTQ-focused sermon
interspersed with so-called gospel music and followed by church members, both
children and adults, cross dressing as they eat brunch.
More than ever before, many of today's churches have become
a plague on society as they embrace and promote the prevalence of gender
confusion.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Blog Editor: Rather than
capitulate to Facebook censorship by abandoning the platform, I choose to post
and share until the Leftist censors ban me. Recently, the Facebook censorship
tactic I’ve experienced is a couple of Group shares then jailed under the false
accusation of posting too fast. So I ask those that read this, to combat
censorship by sharing blog and Facebook posts with your friends or Groups you
belong to.
__________________________
Intro to ‘Trans-Faith
Takes Over The Church: Transgender Pastors & Renaming Ceremonies’
Intro by John R. Houk
© October 1, 2019
____________________
Trans-Faith Takes Over The
Church: Transgender Pastors & Renaming Ceremonies
