Mark Finley's Sermon: What The Bible Really Says About LGBTQ+

In our quest for truth, today we challenge a societal norm.

Does the message of the Bible

align with the current rise and acceptance of the LGBTQ community?

Or does it contradict it?

Join me as we open the Word of God and study the scriptures.

But before we do that, let's pray.

Father in heaven, we thank you for thank

you with all of our hearts for the message of scripture.

It is like a light on the road ahead.

It pierces the darkness.

It reveals to us your divine truths.

Guide us as we study.

Open our hearts to understand your word on this very vital and important subject.

Enable me to present it with love, kindness and compassion,

but with the clarity of truth in your word.

In Christ's name, Amen.

The wise man that ever lived other than

Jesus, Solomon, said this in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

We find it in Ecclesiastes Chapter 3 and Verse 7.

The last part of that verse, he says,

There's a time to keep silence and a time to speak.

And that verse has been echoing

in my head, a time to keep silence and a time to speak.

Why have I chosen to speak about this subject now?

There are some specific reasons for that.

First, I'm concerned.

Concerned about the direction that our society is going in.

Concerned about how that direction impacts the church I love.

I'm concerned about the next generation.

I'm concerned about young adults

who are imbibing a message that may not align and does not align with Scripture.

I'm concerned about children

whose minds are being saturated with information regarding LGBTQ community.

You see, I'm concerned.

And so it's out of that concern,

out of that care, out of that love that I speak today.

Now, there are certain things that have

led me to this conclusion that it's time to speak now.

Let me give you some examples of that.

Here are just a few recent incidents

that have motivated me to address this issue of human sexuality.

First, on July 3, 2023, the New York Post reported

that at the recent New York Drag Queens March,

activists chanted, and here are their words, We're here,

we're queer, and we're coming for your children.

This seemed outrageous to me.

It's shocking, but it's not surprising.

In recent years, such blunt, outrageous rhetoric has become commonplace.

Two years ago,

the San Francisco Gay Men's Ch chorus released a YouTube video in which 81

of its members sing a song with the refrain,

Will convert your children happens bit by bit, quietly and subtly.

You'll barely notice it.

Have you followed at all

some of the debates that are taking place in public schools today

where young children between four and eight years old are

required to receive and to read books

on transgender LGBTQ relationships

and being introduced to sexual fantasies at a very young age.

Children are learning about gay marriage, preferred pronouns, and gender identity,

thanks to these children's books that are intentionally placed in our schools

to indoctrinate our children in a non biblical agenda.

Now, here's just one example of that.

It's a book called I Am Jazz.

Now, I'm going to quote for the book.

I have a girl brain, but a boy body, the book I Am Jazz says.

This is called transgender, and I was born that way.

Now, that's fascinating and here's why.

In a recent study, 65 to 94 % of children

who claim a gender other than their biological birth.

In other words, here's a girl

that has gender dysphoria, and she claims that she's a boy.

She claims that she has a girl's body, but she's really a boy.

65 % to 94 % of them, later in life, as they get into their mid

or late teens, at that point, they recognize that they're

a girl in a girl's body or a boy in a boy's body.

They go back to their biological sex.

Now, if they were born that way, in other words,

if they were born transgender, that certainly shouldn't be happening, right?

Now, I am jazz.

This book is a book of 32 pages.

It was published in 2014.

It was placed in many of America's public

schools to target kids four to eight years old.

It received a number of awards,

including the American Library Association Rainboe Project Book List Award in 2015.

It was one of the first books to influence children for the LGBTQ plus lifestyle.

Now, if you do a Google for I am jazz, and you look for other books,

you're going to find scores and scores of books targeted at children to change

the mindset of these children toward their LGBTQ attitudes.

Jared Eckert, who's a research assistant for the Heritage Foundation.

Now, the Heritage Foundation is a prominent foundation

in the United States that tries to preserve American values.

Eckford is one of their key researchers.

And this is what he said.

Children are being increasingly targeted with sexual content in schools under

the guise of comprehensive sexuality education or inclusivity.

Beyond the sexual messages of the books

being inappropriate for children, there are mental health concerns involved.

Now, listen to what Eckford says about

what the research shows regarding these mental health concerns.

He says,

Research shows that early exposure to sexual content is linked to poor mental

health, risky sexual behavior, and even pornography addiction in adulthood.

So he said there are three major problems.

One, poor mental health.

Two, risky sexual behavior.

And three, pornography addiction.

Now, even if kids don't fully understand what they're seeing or hearing at such

a young age, they still are being influenced

and impacted by that information in very significant ways.

By including or promoting books like these in the classroom,

schools are, according to Eckart, harming, not helping their children.

One of the things that I've been taking a look at is what is the master strategy

of some of the leaders in the LGBTQ community to influence America?

How do you change the culture of America?

What kinds of things do you do to accomplish that goal?

Marshall Kirk and Hearstin Pill, LGBTQ advocate kids,

wrote an article entitled The Overhauling of Straight America.

And I was fascinated as I read that.

This is what they said.

They talk about their master strategy

for changing American attitudes on the LGBTQ plus lifestyle.

And they say, where we talk is important.

The average American household watches over seven hours of TV daily.

These hours open up a gateway

into the private world of straits through which a tropey and horse might be passed.

So here's what they're doing.

They're trying to influence the public conversation.

And the idea is talk about, talk about, talk about this alternative lifestyle

every place you get, can, and particularly influence the media.

Because the more you influence the media,

the more you can change the mindset of individuals.

And they go on to say, so far, gay Hollywood has

provided our best covert weapon in the battle to desensitize the mainstream.

Bit by bit, over the past 10 years,

gay characters and gay themes have been introduced into TV programs and films.

On the whole, the impact has been encouraging.

Well, it's encouraging if you want

to influence and change the values of America.

Have you noticed the large number of characters

on television now that identify with this alternative LGBTQ lifestyle?

They are really significant.

So when I took a look at how

this lifestyle and the promotives of it were trying to change

the thinking of mainstream America and how they were attempting in every way

to influence media, to have their voice heard,

I felt that a voice from the Word of God should speak.

I felt that we should allow God's Word to influence our thinking

when there is a coordinated, concise effort to transform our culture,

impact our children, desensitize our consciousness.

Really, it's time to speak up.

When mass media is saturated with anti

biblical programming with the specific purpose of influencing our thoughts

regarding the LGBTQ plus lifestyle, it's time to speak up.

When books promoting this lifestyle are introduced into our schools

to influence our children at a very young age, one can't be silent.

It's time to speak up.

When major retailers

promote a pride agenda targeting our families, it's time to speak up.

When culture is impacting Christian young people and seeping into our churches

and our educational institutions, it's time to speak up.

So we ask the question, what does the Bible teach about sexuality?

What does the Bible teach about same sex marriages?

Are some people born with same sex propensities?

Are some people physically boys but psychologically girls?

Is change possible?

What is the Christian response?

Well, first, let me tell you what the Christian response is not.

As Christians, we condemn all violence against any human being.

Not only is it inappropriate, but it's a violation of God's moral law.

You remember that in Romans 5, verse 8,

Scripture talks about Jesus, and the Apostle Paul is talking about Christ.

He says, But God demonstrates His own love toward

us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Christ died in behalf of all humanity.

Every single one of us have a fallen human nature.

Every single one of us have drives or propensities toward evil.

So as a Christian, you and I cannot have any superiority over

another person and look at them with hate because of their actions.

Because every single one of us have drives or propensities that may not be in harmony

with God's will, and they are not in harmony with God's will.

Every single one of us, as Jeremiah says in Chapter 17, Verse 9,

has a heart that is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

So in Scripture, the Bible says,

All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.

But Christ, according to Romans 5 8

that we just read, in his divine love, in his grace and mercy, Jesus left

the glories of heaven and tabernacled in human flesh and came here and faced

every temptation that we would ever face and was victorious over the evil one.

So there is no place for hate.

If Jesus loved even his enemies,

who we were when we were sinners, we can reach out in love to all humanity.

We can reach out to love to others who may not live the lifestyle that we as

Christians believe is in harmony with God's Word.

Each one of us need God's grace.

As Christians, we're saved by grace and have nothing to boast about.

We rest in his love.

Here's another aspect of that, though.

In the Christian ethic, we respect others' freedom of choice.