HomeAboutReviewsNewsCommentaryCCMThe PlanLinksStoreSearchRSS Feed

Atlanta’s Gay Pride 2005 Parade
(6/29/2005)
Click for video - 6MB requires broadband connection (gaypride2005.wmv)

Lamentations 1:16 “For these things I weep; my eyes run down with water; because far from me is a comforter, one who restores my soul. My children are desolate because the enemy has prevailed."

This year I went out once again with the Soul Winning Attack Team (SWAT)(http://www.swattracts.com/) to the Gay Pride parade in downtown Atlanta. I did this for several reasons:

  • These are people who (just like everyone else) need Jesus
  • To help offset the lie that homosexuality is acceptable to God
  • I have a good friend who is homosexual and I love and miss him dearly. I wish I had known what to say to him when he told me he was gay.
I met with Walter Howard (the founder of SWAT) and the rest of the SWAT team (pics) at North Avenue MARTA station at noon. The day was misty with drizzle on and off and it looked like the parade might be called off. However, people finally started to show up along Peachtree Street so we started handing out tracts. Walter has a tract which is specifically targeted to this audience and which was written by a former homosexual before he died of AIDS. Many people refused the tracts but many accepted the tracts and read them as they walked.

I handed one to an older black gentleman who was waiting for a friend and we began talking about the weather and this and that. Then I told him why we were out there and that we were looking to share Jesus with people. He said that he considered himself a Christian and I asked him what he thought that meant. I used a lot of the approach described by The Way of The Master (http://www.wayofthemaster.com/) including the courtroom analogy and how for a judge to be a good judge he can’t just let criminals go. Someone had to pay the price. We talked about how being straight or gay doesn’t change your eternal destiny because we’re all born sinners. We’re all condemned until we surrender our life to Jesus. I mentioned that according to God’s Word homosexuality is a sin just like lying, stealing, or adultery. I told him how repentance was an integral part of receiving God’s forgiveness. About then his friend showed up and that sort of broke up the conversation. I pray that the seed fell on good ground.

Shortly afterwards, the parade began. In some ways, it was like any other parade. Major corporations (pics) and politicians had floats in it. The marchers threw gifts, candy, and other things to the crowd. Many of them dressed and comported themselves just like anyone else. But the theme and many of the participants were anything but ordinary. Each group proudly promoted their homosexuality with banners and signs and their manner of dress and in their behavior. Along with the families with young children in the parade (pics), the group included young men in nothing but Speedo swimsuits, those into bondage and sadomasochism wearing leather and gimp masks, transvestites and transsexuals dressing like women, women dressed and acting like men, larger old men who referred to themselves as “Bears”, and a group of high-schoolers who were advertising their homosexuality (pics). And the mostly gay crowd that lined the streets cheered them on.

But the worst part were the churches (pics)that were in the parade. I counted seven of them of various denominations. They marched with their banners advertising how open and inclusive they were while marching, waving, and smiling to the crowd. It is to weep.

Romans 1:32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

The longer I was there, the more it wore on me. It was like one long, lurid nightmare. Towards the end I couldn’t muster up the strength to give out any more tracts. In my grief, all I could do was watch and take photos so others would know what was going on and try not to fall to my knees and weep.

I can at least understand the world acting this way, but the CHURCHES?! How could they claim to believe in the same Jesus that I do and believe the same Bible that I believe and still give “hearty approval” to this? In God’s eyes, it’s the same thing as having a Liar’s Pride, Thieves Pride, or an Adulterer’s Pride parade:

Romans 1:26,27 For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.

1 Corinthians 6:9,10 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Yes, we all stumble and sin. And we all have different sinful desires that we’re particularly susceptible to (Galatians 5:17). But we must be honest with ourselves and with God and acknowledge that it IS sin. And then we seek God’s strength to keep from repeating the sin and put it to death (Romans 8:13). That is VERY different from refusing to even acknowledge that a behavior is sinful, repeating it on an ongoing basis, and then having a parade to try and offset the guilt you feel for participating in it. 1 John 3:9 states that “no one who is born of God practices sin” (i.e., continues to do the things that he knows are wrong as a lifestyle).

It all boils down to repentance. For many years, I was one of those who told people “don’t worry about cleaning your life up…just accept Jesus and He’ll take care of all that.” But that’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that repentance is an integral part of receiving forgiveness.

Luke 24:46,47 and He (Jesus) said to them, "Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day, and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem.”

Acts 2:38 Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Luke 9:23 And He was saying to them all, " If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”

Repentance simply means to acknowledge that God’s view of your sin is the true one and to stop doing the things that you know are wrong. You can never earn your way to heaven or make yourself holy enough to be acceptable to God (Ephesians 2:8,9). That’s why Jesus (the only one who ever lived a sinless life) had to die on the cross to pay for our sins. But you can’t go on practicing sin and expect God to just overlook it.

Romans 8:12,13 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh-- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Romans 6:1,2 and 14-16 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness?

Galatians 6:7,8 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

1 John 2:4-6 The one who says, "I have come to know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked.

Jude 1:4 For certain persons have crept in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

Licentiousness comes from the word license which in this instance means “freedom to deviate deliberately” (WordNet 2.0) from the Word of God. This, in a nutshell, is what the church (as well as those in CCM) understand grace to mean today. They feel that grace means avoiding the “major” sins like murder and stealing but that God will forgive them for continuing to do other things that they know are wrong. But you will NOT find anything in the Bible to backup that belief.

That is not to say they we will not stumble on occasion. But when we do, we need to acknowledge our sin and ask God’s forgiveness. Then we get back up and continue to pursue the goal.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Hebrews 12:14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord

Proverbs 24:16 For a righteous man may fall seven times And rise again

Philippians 3:13,14 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Grace is NOT license. Without repentance, there can be no forgiveness of sin. If you’re not ready to repent of your sins and trust God to help you put them to death then it is impossible for you to accept Christ. And if you claim to be a Christian but you are refusing to repent of areas of sin in your life, then God says you are a liar and the truth is not in you (1 John 2:4-6).

I can’t really blame most of those at the Gay Pride parade for acting they way they do. They’re lost and repentance has no meaning for them. It’s not the world that needs to repent of what I saw that day…it’s the church.