2 Timothy 3:13: “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.”
The LGBT influence in the professing church is continuing to gain ground.
One need only look at the recent deplorable situation where a man who had entered a sodomite ‘marriage’, who also happened to be a Presbyterian elder in a church in the Republic of Ireland, was thrown out of the eldership and the consternation this met with from numerous figures in the Presbyterian Church.
Indeed, virtually every day the Belfast Telegraph is replete with letters from some professing Christian or another who is most irate a man whose lifestyle choice is described by God as an “abomination” was ejected from leadership in the church.
It is ironic they have been so critical and, gasp, judgmental about individuals making this decision, when they preach a gospel of “judge not” to any who condemn homosexuality for what it is – sin.
Many have raised criticisms over the process by which the matter was handled, though this is something we are not especially concerned with, asides from the question as to why it took so long to remove Steven Smyrl from the eldership (apparently around six months from the ‘marriage’)?
Also concerning is the fact that he was apparently known to be a homosexual before his ‘marriage’, certainly by his congregation, as he had been in a same-sex relationship for 20 years and obtained a civil partnership in 2011.
Regardless, it is emblematic of the growing acceptance of sodomy within the church that such a circumstance has occurred.
And further evidence of the increasing prevalence of spokespeople for the sodomite movement in the church came on Monday night this week, when the LGBT organisation JustLOVE held what was described as an “LGBT affirming faith event” at St Macartin’s Hall in Enniskillen.
This is the church hall owned by the Church of Ireland’s St Macartin’s Cathedral in Enniskillen.
The driving force behind this JustLOVE event was none other than sodomite ‘Pride’ parading Rev Andrew Rawding (pictured, top), who will tonight (Thursday) host in his rectory a meeting of a new LGBT group, Mid Ulster Pride.
We had been made aware of this meeting in Enniskillen prior to its taking place but knew few further details of it.
That was until we received a screenshot of the report placed by Rev Andrew Rawding on his Facebook page and we discovered the event was even more troubling than we had previously feared.
Indeed, the details of Rev Andrew Rawding’s post should be of grave concern to any Bible-believing Christian.
Not only was Rev Andrew Rawding the one behind this event, but he tells of an ordained Methodist minister in County Fermanagh called Rev Steven Foster who spoke of how he is a “gay man” and who called for churches to “provide liturgy which affirms queer people”.
It was also revealed that the Church of Ireland’s Bishop of Clogher, the Right Eejit (sorry, Right Reverend) John McDowell, closed “with a prayer of love for our queer brothers and sisters”.
This is the text of the post from Rev Andrew Rawding.
It says: “Another amazing and informative JustLOVE evening with Jo McParland of Cara Friend in St Macartin’s Cathedral Hall.
“In particular we need to show so much more unconditional love and acceptance to our transgender brothers and sisters.
“Thanks to Rev Steven Foster (Methodist Church Ireland) for his honesty, talking about praying a ‘suicide prayer’ as he struggled with isolation and loneliness as a gay man in the church.
“Steven challenged and encouraged churches to love (over legalism), listen, learn, be careful about language, show leadership and provide liturgy which affirms queer (LGBTQ+) people.
“Great to have Bishop John McDowell close with a prayer of love for our queer brothers and sisters and asking forgiveness for those times when we have not been loving.”
And, as you can see from the top of the screenshot which we have reproduced, below, Rev Andrew Rawding also ‘tagged’ Kenny Hall in his post, saying he had been with him at the event.
Kenny Hall, or Rev Kenneth Hall, is the Dean of the Clogher diocese and rector of St Macartin’s Cathedral in Enniskillen.
He is a rampant ecumenist, having previously held a service in his church in honour of a Romanist Jesuit who is en route to being ‘sainted’ by the Roman Catholic Church, as well as having vowed in a sermon at his church to continue to work “tirelessly and endlessly” with Romish priests in his pursuit of unity.
That is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his ecumenical compromise with the devilish deceits of Rome, but now he has added compromise with the utterly ungodly LGBT movement to his God-defying CV.
It would appear he was in attendance given the fact he was ‘tagged’ by Rev Andrew Rawding (otherwise that was mischief making on his part) but certainly he didn’t stand in the way of such an event taking place on his church’s property.
Indeed, reading back through the article we penned last spring detailing Dean Kenneth Hall (pictured, above) renewing his ecumenical vows, as it were, he points out that he was a minister in Coalisland and Stewartstown, exactly where Rev Andrew Rawding is currently a minister.
How neat and tidy is that?
The group Cara Friend referred to in the post by Rev Andrew Rawding is an LGBT support group, while Rev Steven Foster was, until recently, minister of Irvinestown and Pettigo Methodist Churches in Counties Fermanagh and Donegal respectively. He took up a post in Tipperary in the Republic of Ireland a few months ago.
As referred to above, he is a homosexual acting as a minister and has called on churches to “provide liturgy which affirms queer (LGBTQ+) people”.
What a sorry situation this is and what a damning indictment of the state of the Methodist Church in Ireland today.
Right Eejit John McDowell (pictured, below) was also along to sow his seeds of compromise.
Like Dean Kenneth Hall, he is a rampant ecumenist and has now added caving in to the LGBT agenda to his list of God-defiance as well.
Last year on Remembrance Sunday, Right Eejit John McDowell disgracefully preached from the Apocrypha in the supposedly Protestant St Macartin’s Cathedral, while he was also a guest of honour alongside the former Roman Catholic Bishop of Clogher, Joseph Duffy, a man found to have “failed to prevent clerical sex abuse”, at a Church of Ireland service in County Monaghan.
So it is perhaps not surprising to see this continued degeneration – one compromise tends to lead to another.
And yet in all this there is still cause for the believer to marvel at the gracious mercy of our Heavenly Father.
These individuals have obtained positions of seniority and respect, and little doubt they are at least financially comfortable, and this is a sign of God’s patience with those who disobey Him, as He bears their sin for a long time, giving them the chance to see the error of their way and come to Him in repentance.
Such mercy is referred to in Isaiah 26:10-11, which says: “Let favour be shewed to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness: in the land of uprightness will he deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when thy hand is lifted up, they will not see: but they shall see, and be ashamed for their envy at the people; yea, the fire of thine enemies shall devour them.”
However, as we can see, it will be reckoned with at last, and we can also rejoice in God’s justice while praying that He will not need to bring down His judgment on those who disobey Him and that instead there will be repentance.
The issue of sodomy is one which is really crystal clear to any who takes even a slightly honest or scarcely cursory view of Scripture, yet so many are deceiving and being deceived in this sinful day.
Numerous Bible passages deal with the issue.
These include, but are certainly not limited to:
Leviticus 18:22: “Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”
Romans 1:26-27: “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”
1 Corinthians 6:9-10: “Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.”
That is certainly not to say we are not to look upon those who fall under the man-made classification of LGBT with concern for their souls or care for their spiritual wellbeing, but we cannot wink at sin, we cannot sit idly by and let sin be endorsed and praised as noble, brave, honest or admirable.
We live in days as those spoken of in Isaiah 5:20, which says: “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!”
However, let us not be silent or reluctant in still declaring that which is evil still to be evil and that which is bitter still to be bitter.
Let us not sacrifice the goodness of God’s Word to protect the temporary feelings of the unconverted.
Psalm 119:103-104: “How sweet are thy words unto my taste! yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way.”
protestantrevival.wordpress.com 