The Gay Rights Movement’s Extremely Offensive Comparison
I love to see diversity within the body of Christ. There is nothing better than to look down your row at church and see people of different ethnicities and backgrounds in one heart and voice praising Jesus! That’s what church should look like! I happen to be Caucasian, but some of my wife and my best friends are from different ethnicities. As a prophetic minister, I have the privilege of ministering in predominantly African-American churches around the nation. I sit on the board of directors of an amazing, city-shaking African-American church. I’ve had the honor to minister on multiple occasions in Africa. It brings me great joy to see the different expressions of worship in the body Of Christ.
Not long ago, I discussed life, ministry and the spiritual condition of America with pastor friends. As most ministers do, we discussed where we felt the nation was spiritually. The topic of homosexuality and the church came up, and one of the ministers said, “I just don’t want to be on the wrong side of history on this, like many Christians were on slavery.” His point of view surprised me. How has standing on the true Word of God ever put anyone on the wrong side of history? This “wrong side of history” phrase and philosophy have been spoon-fed to the church to try to frighten us into wavering from a biblical foundation. The problem with the statement is, to be on the right side of history can put you on the wrong side of eternity.
In my new book, Gay Awareness, I address the “Gay is the new civil rights” strategy, which attaches the sexual rights movement to the civil rights movement. To compare slavery to the mistreatment of the homosexual community is one of the most offensively extreme comparisons I’ve ever heard. How do you compare hundreds of years of forced labor, rape, murder and every kind of human rights injustice known to man with the hardships experienced by gays in America over the years? And how do you compare skin color with sexual desires and romantic attractions? You can’t choose the pigmentation of your skin. It is completely out of your control. God chooses that. But you can choose your sexual actions. The two are not comparable.
The homosexual community and those affirming of same-sex attractions (SSA) have chosen the comparison for two reasons. First, they would like to believe that being gay, like being African-American, is completely out of their control. For the sake of argument, I agree that you can’t choose the temptations that come to you, but you can choose how to respond to those temptations. Being African-American isn’t a temptation, it’s an ethnicity.
Second, the gay community identifies with the discrimination they have experienced over the years to the discrimination of the African-American community. Again, the two are not comparable. Without a doubt, evil atrocities have happened to individuals in the gay community, but besides the ongoing genocide of abortion, there is nothing in our nation’s history that compares to the generations of barbarism known as slavery.
I follow many outspoken professed “gay Christians” on social media. Almost daily, they post about racial injustice and equality. Every time a national story arouses racial tension, they are the first to post and comment about it, not because they care so much about the well-being of the African-American community in our country, but to use the civil rights movement as their vehicle to advance their sexual agenda.
I would like to respond to that minister’s comment about not wanting to be on the wrong side of history on the issue of homosexuality and the church. He was implying that white men, ministers and Christians generally approved of slavery and used biblical references to support their corrupt stance. Remember what Paul told Timothy: “For the time will come when people will not endure sound doctrine, but they will gather to themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, having itching ears” (2 Tim. 4:3). I believe men twist Scripture to support the wicked desires of their hearts. Those motivated by evil twisted Scripture to use and abuse people of color.
Even if you want to take the standpoint that the Bible doesn’t outlaw all slavery, it does outlaw the type of slavery perpetrated in our nation. The Bible gave clear instructions that evil slave owners who posed as Christians did not obey: “And masters, do the same things for them, no longer threatening, knowing that your Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him” (Eph. 6:9). Colossians 4:1 says, “Masters, give to your servants that which is just and fair, knowing that you also have a Master in heaven.” Slavery as practiced in our nation was never the will of God.
I believe the slave owners and traders were the ones originally on the wrong side of history. If we give in to affirming homosexuality, we will again be on the wrong side. God didn’t desire for His children (the Israelites) to be slaves. That’s why He used Moses to deliver them out of slavery in Egypt.
Exodus 3:7-8 says, “The Lord said, ‘I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. Therefore, I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey … .'”
The Bible also relates slavery to sin. Romans 6:17 says, “But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you have come to obey from your heart the pattern of teaching that has now claimed your allegiance.” Slavery relates to a life of sin. The heart of God isn’t sin or slavery for His people, but freedom and righteousness.
God’s heart was for His people to live in freedom, not slavery. Slavery isn’t the heart of God. Freedom is. Luke 4:18 says, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.” Over and over throughout Scripture, we see the theme of freedom. God’s desire is for His people to live free and obey Him freely. Gay is not the new civil rights movement, and the body of Christ needs to become dead to sin, blind to color and alive in Christ.
Landon Schott and his wife, Heather, founded The Rev Ministries in 2008 and launched REVtv.com, a 24/7 online youth and young adult network dedicated to turning the heart of a generation to Jesus through Christ-centered media. Landon received his Bachelor of Arts from Trinity Theological Seminary and authored Jezebel: The Witch Is Back, a spiritual warfare book. His new book Gay Awareness is set to be released March of 2016. Connect with Landon on Instagram or Twitter @LandonSchott
