ON BEING PERSECUTED FOR RIGHTEOUSNESS SAKE-OUR REPLY TO PEOPLE TRYING TO TARGET OUR CHURCH

THIS IS THE PICTURE THAT SO DISTURBED THE COURT

READ LUKE 2:34 TO UNDERSTAND THEIR DISCOMFORT

IF EVERYONE HATES YOU, THEN YOU MUST BE DOING SOMETHING RIGHT...

When I was a little girl, (back in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth-ha, ha), my mother told me that people in ministry often make enemies. She knew having come from three generations of pastors through her father's side, the Rev. Samuel Peter Morrow II. "The more you push the Gospel, the more the Enemy is going to come after you," she used to say.

As a child I used to think that was silly. Why in the world would people come after someone for saying and doing what Jesus taught? As the years have come and gone, I have to admit that I still don't get it, but what she said was true.

THE FIRST TIME

The time was 1980. I was working with people in rural Wisconsin, working to unite the various Roman Catholic, Episcopalian and Lutheran churches for an ecumenical healing service. The Spirit was running high and the people were excited to think that the Lord could bring so many different churches and groups together in Christ.   I was thrilled to be in the middle of everything and there was great rejoicing and a sense of destiny behind it all.

Two weeks before the first service I was asked to give a talk on the role of politics and the Church. I remember teaching that while the Church must live in a political world, it must not allow itself to be manipulated or intimidated into evil in the name of the system.

"There were lots of good people in Germany in the 1930's," I said. "But, the people were willing to accept the extreme evil of Hitler in the name of patriotism. Some did it because they were afraid of standing up to the system. But most supported Hitler because they really believed in his cause. To think that so much evil swept over the country and the world all because people allowed themselves to be frightened into silence or brainwashed into hatred. Millions of Jews paid the price for that silence and stupidity. We must not let that happen here."

Now, I don't think what I had to say was very contraversial. It's usually a no brainer to denounce the Nazis. Everyone knows that Hitler had Jewish people murdered and that was a tragedy, right?

Wrong.

The minute I finished my little speech, a priest stood and started yelling at me. "Trimelda, I am tired of people saying that the German people are to blame for Hitler!" He stepped into the aisle and turned to face the congregation. He said, "My grandfather was in the SS and he told me that it was the Jewish bankers who drove Germany into becoming a bankrupt nation. You weren't there when these Jews walked around as big as life, looking down on everyone and treating them like dirt. There was no problem that the Jews didn't bring on themselves. So, stop saying that Nazis killed Jews.

These &*^&*#$$ really killed themselves. The Jews deserved what they got."

The whole room fell silent. The people all stared at me. The priest stood there in that silence, arms folded and lips tight. He was the head pastor of a large church and a powerful figure in Church politics. I didn't have much clout or standing. What was I going to say?

What could I say?

I prayed, took a deep breath, looked him in his eyes and said, "Father, I respect your right to your opinions, but to say the Jews deserved what happened to them is wrong. Hitler was evil and the people who supported him were either monsters or cowards. In both cases, they were wrong. And frankly, that kind of choice probably landed them right in Hell. Because racism and murder are wrong."

Well, the pastor stared coldly at me. And I saw a flash of absolute hatred flash in his eyes just before he walked out of the room without saying a word. I knew that I had made an enemy. But, even now, looking back on things, I don't think I had much of a choice. Either I had to stand up and tell the truth in love, or shut up like Judas and let the Lord's natural people be crucified all over again by his remarks.

I chose to speak out. The pastor made the next few weeks a living Hell, and he started out by making sure that the ecumenical service was cancelled. He simply told everyone that he would do anything he could to shut the service down because of that"$#@!&^ Jew lover." The end result was that the service never happened and I got called a lot of unpleasant names.

When I prayed about it, I had peace about what I had done. I knew that I did right by standing up to wrongful authority in a peaceful but firm way. But, I was alone in my stance and that made it very lonely and extremely painful.

NOW HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF...

Years later I am now in another mission field, working with people who have been through Hell. These men, women and children have gone through everything from neglect, emotional and even physical battering to starvation and child abuse.

As part of our on going Sunday School teachings, I had a staff member from Rape Crisis to come in and teach the kids about good touch and bad touch. We then followed up with a whole month teaching on self defense and not being afraid to say how you feel to people who hurt you.

All of the children listened carefully and asked questions. One of these children had survived being kidnapped and raped to make a new life with her father in our neck of the woods. So, even though she missed the special session, she told the whole class what had happened to her and asked for their prayers to be able to forgive the people who had basically ruined her young life.

So, between Rape Crisis and our own catechism on GOD LOVES ME AND WANTS ME TO STAY SAFE, each one of the children learned to stand up and express their feelings without fear or shame.

Sounds reasonable, right?

Wrong!

This particular little girl has been tagged by the people who kidnapped her out of the custody of the State of Idaho. Their actions, attitudes and words have shown us that they want to force this child to accept her kidnappers and alledged abuser back into her life. She doesn't want to do this. Any sensible person would feel that way.

But she made the mistake of sharing the stories of her abuse and kidnapping with the members of this church. We told her to forgive her kidnappers and abusers, but that she should not allow them to scare her back into silence. "Tell your story," we said.

She did, loudly. And to our deepest surprise, while everyone said they believed her, they refused to do anything about investigating her allegations or respecting her right to say no to her kidnappers coming back into her life.

This brave little girl has a mind of her own. And once she was taught that Jesus respected her right to keep her body safe from attacks, she opened her mouth to denounce those who would intimdate her into silence. She has not shut up since then.

That made a lot of people angry. So, they forced this child out of her home once more on the pretense that her refusal to agree to being hurt and abused again was a sign that she had been "coached" into noncompliance.

Now, take two guesses just who these people say "coached her" into disclosing her feelings and refusing to agree with abuse? Yes, folks, the answer is Christ Charismatic Liturgical Church!

YES, YOU READ CORRECTLY...

Because our church had the nerve to invite Rape Crisis into our congregation to teach people about the evils of sexual abuse, rape and molestation, we're being accused of "brainwashing" children.

Because we had all the children learn how to kick, scream and run away from people who might grab or hurt them, we're being accused of "coaching" this child to hate others.

Because we told the children to stand up and tell the truth in love as the Bible commands, we're being accused of "teaching" anger.

And because I had the chutzpah to obey the law and report the girl's disclosures to the people who said they were there to protect this child, I have a bunch of lawyers screaming, "How dare she?"

Is it just me or does that sound as stupid to you as it does to me?

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE!

At the same time that certain legal powers were screaming, "Brainwashing", because a child refused to agree to be abused, these same people have now turned around and said that they will never allow this little girl to come near our church because we support pedophilia and teach that raping children is okay.

Yes, you read that right!

The same people who say we forced a child into avoiding the people who want to abuse her are the same people arguing that we are a church dedicated to supporting baby rapers.

SAY WHAT?

The legal brains(?) who are making this slanderous charge are doing it behind our backs in a court system that hides its decision making process in secret processes that have little to no accountability. Where are such courts in the United States? It's called Family Court. Unlike what you see on tv shows like "Judging Amy", this system has the power to snatch children without due process and defy anyone and everyone under the guise of protecting kids.

As anyone who has dealt with this system knows, abuse is in the eye of the beholder. And as anyone in Utah well knows those eyes are often blinded by other considerations.   In our case, the powers that be have decided that our church is "bad" and supports baby raping based upon our website and my teaching on and off the Internet.

I have taken the liberty of printing these letters and reports on this site. I am not ashamed of what I teach and preach. And I believe that anyone with a functioning brain can read these and figure out that Christ Charismatic Liturgical Church stands for Biblical sexual holiness. That does not include raping children. So, I also invite anyone and everyone to read through this website and find ANYWHERE that says that this church teaches that sexual impurity and fornication is okay.

It's just not there.

SO WHAT'S THIS ALL ABOUT?

Well, at the risk of making some people angry, let me tell you what I REALLY think is going on:

1) This little girl has been targeted to be turned over to people who have hurt and abused her. The other side admits to this abuse in their own legal depositions. Yet, the people who are supposed to be protecting this child from such actions, refuse to take a look at this court submitted evidence.

Why?  I don't know. Maybe we should ask all those other children who have spoken up about abuse and been silenced in this area-sometimes permanently. Is this the fate in store for this little girl? She was disappeared through the system once for the sake of her mother's comfort. Will it happen again, now that she has been spirited away?

2) The people involved in this matter have some interesting ties. To the people who know this case, I suggest that you put the names of the principal players into the search engine and see what pops up. It makes for fascinating reading.

3) If you take the implications of Point One and Point Two and put them together you might get the answers to the following questions:

-Why did one worker in the Dept of Health and Welfare in Idaho allow the mother to take a child out of court ordered custody to stay with her? So, she could "disappear' several days later?

-Why did a detective involved in the case stone wall the investigation and threaten me and the child's father for asking him to put out the kidnapping information to the nation wide missing children websites?

-Why did that same detective then lie about vital conversations to these missing children sites and to the FBI?

-Why did local law enforcement refuse to issue a press release on the girl's disappearence until our church wrote one up and took it to the newspapers ourselves?

-Why did it take months to get the state to deal with the NCIC for this child? (Gee, doesn't that sound like Elizabeth Smart?)

-Since the court had ordered custody for the child, this ceased to be a custody battle and turned into a kidnapping. Yet, the regional FBI was left out. Why wasn't the FBI involved?

-When a vaguely threatening letter and package was sent to our church suggesting that "we back off from this case", we took it to law enforcement, asking that it be dusted for prints. The package was never seen or heard of again. Why?

-When the child was found through the efforts of the father and a lot of truck drivers, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children wrote in their report that "law enforcement" was involved. What did they mean by that?

-How was a person who had no money able to get from Idaho Falls to Oregon to Minnesota to Indiana? This was the same route that was taken by another family coming from the east to the west. I know about this because the mother involved in that case is the mother of my one of my Godsons.

-Why wasn't the little girl ever asked about who was involved in her kidnapping?

-Why did the little girl have her hair dyed when she was found? Who dyed it? Who drove her mother and the rest of them out of the area?The little girl knows the answer. So do several people involved in this whole mess and I don't think they want her talking about it.

Ever.

Once these questions got asked seriously, and the girl started talking about the REAL abuse in her housegold, suddenly everyone wanted her OUT of the father's household, away from our church and into the Department of Health and Welfare of another state.

WHY?

What's going on here is a lot more than just a simple case of courts getting out of hand, or people in confusion. There is an agenda here.

That's why one parent can get away with admitting in a legal deposition that she allowed her boyfriend to sleep naked with her in the same bed with her daughter.

That's why that same parent can admit that she knew of that same boyfriend's admitted molestation of his sibling and another girl as a young boy, but that was accepted "because that was a long time ago." (?!)

On the other hand, this same little girl discloses attempted rape and molestation at the hands of a family member to several agencies in both the states of Idaho and Utah. BUT, NO ONE IS DOING ANYTHING ABOUT IT, "because that was a long time ago."

That's why one parent has avoided being treated for her own admitted history of severe sexual abuse-abuse that was covered up by the same states that just tried to swallow up her little girl.

But, the other parent can be raked over the coals to Hell and gone and have his money stripped and his reputation trashed at will. And that's okay because it's all being done "in the best interest" of the child.

Now, if you believe that, folks, I have a lovely beachfront property right here in Idaho Falls, Idaho that I would love to sell you for a dollar and change...

There is an agenda here that needs to exposed. And because we as a church dared to stand up and support a little girl's refusal to be treated like a commodity, the system wants to slander our church.

And as part of that slander, there is the additional factor of Racism involved here too. I am an African American pastor with a mostly Caucasian congregation. It is interesting to me that the lawyer involved on the other side of this case chose to label our church as dangerous by sending the judge involved my picture and the picture of the Suffering Face of Jesus, commisioned by the Vatican in the late 1800's as examples of our "dangerous" and "disturbing" tendencies.

WHAT DOES THE LORD SAY ABOUT THAT?

The people who do things like this have no fear of God in their hearts. As far as they are concerned, they can say and do anything to a small church because no one will see them or call them to account.

Well, I have news for you. GOD SEES. And God is not to be mocked. If the courts were just going to say bad things about our church and try to persecute us personally, then I would just laugh and blow it off. Jesus said to expect to be persecuted for standing up for the Word of God.

But, there are some things that really tick the Lord off.

CURSING THE JEWISH PEOPLE ANGERS THE LORD GOD.

Remember that pastor in Wisconsin who cursed the Jews in public? Well, about a year to the day after he said those things, he dropped dead of a heart attack right in the middle of consecrating Holy Communion.

EXPOSING CHILDREN TO RAPE AND ABUSE ANGERS GOD EVEN MORE!

I know a local man who raped his own niece. And from what we can tell she wasn't the first or the last child he did this to as an act of "love." No one would do a thing, including law enforcement. After all, he was such a nice guy and a real "pillar of the community." But, then God decided to pull the plug on him and he's been a limping, gimping, drooling freak ever since.

The same thing happened to a woman I knew who let her grandbaby get raped and abused by her boyfriends. She died a horrible death in great pain, screaming like an animal, half out of her mind with wild hallucinations and convulsions that twisted her body into fetal positions. At that last minute she kept saying, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." But, sometimes things come too little and much too late.

People, the Lord is not a joke! He is a God of great Love. But, the same God who so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son to save that world is also the same God who will burn people in Hell for hurting children.

GET READY TO DEAL WITH GOD

God is not impressed by titles, black or white robes, money, position or clout. In the eyes of the Lord we are either sinners redeemed by the Blood of Jesus, and then reborn by the Holy Spirit as children of the Father, OR we're sinners headed for a terrible eternity.

We have a choice to make between knowing this Lord as our Savior or knowing Him as our judge. If you are one of the people involved in making this child's life miserable I want you to know that there is no hole deep enough to hide you from His judgment. You can't bribe, scare, threaten, silence or lie God into letting you get away with it. You WILL be judged in this life and thrown into everlasting misery after you draw your last breath.

You may sneer at these words right now and call them, "dangerous", "disturbing" forms of "brainwashing." But, I'm telling you as a pastor that there is a punishment for people who are doing what you're doing.

FOR YOUR OWN SAKES, REPENT AND DO THE RIGHT THING BEFORE THE LORD STEPS IN AND DEALS DIRECTLY WITH YOU!

LETTERS FROM A PASTOR

The subject of the letters had to do with homosexuality. The author on the other side felt that same sex intercourse and "marriages" were okay. As you will see from these letters, I disagreed. My arguement was that ANY sexual intercourse outside of one man and one woman in marriage was sinful. These letters are being quoted by that batch of lawyers as "proof" that our church loves perverted sex. Read them yourselves, folks. Then e-mail me back at christcharismatic@cfaith.com with your comments.

THIS LETTER WAS IN REPLY TO THIS INQUIRY BY FATHER JOHN KROLL:

>From: "john kroll" <fr_john23@h...>
>Reply-To: EcumenicalCouncil@egroups.com
>To: EcumenicalCouncil@egroups.com
>Subject: [EcumenicalCouncil] opinions
>Date: Thu, 04 Jan 2001 14:13:02 -0000
>
>I guess ,just to add fuel to the fire, ill ask this. What are your (every
>one on this board) opinion of Gods Judgement of Sodom AND Gomora?
>Please not hateful judgement towards me for asking. I just want to get some
>WELL THOUGHT OUT OPINIONS. Fr. John Kroll
>
>MY REPLY:

From: "Pastor Trimelda C. McDaniels" <warriornun1@h...>
Date: Thu Jan 4, 2001 12:53 pm
Subject: Re: Opinions-What About Homosexuality?

ADVERTISEMENT
+Your Grace and Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ: I do not think that the orientation of sexual desire outside of marriage between a man and a woman is the same as being male, female, culturally non-European based or old. I disagree that this orientation is blessed by God and okay. As always, what lies in the heart of this disagreement is NOT what we think, but something much more profound. Here's the argument from the side that says sexual orientation of whatever type is okay: "Sexual orientation is something that is a)private b)beyond judgment and c)acceptable to God because he or she was created that way by God." MY ANSWER: If God creates people to have desires and perform actions that are totally contrary to the image and likeness of the Godhead, God is the author of sin, the source of evil and is either dualistic or a hypocrite. After all, what kind of parent would forbid that which He Himself taught the child to do? Therefore, either you must believe that God makes some people to condemned by birth, which would make God evil, or you must reject all that says homosexuality is evil as culturally biased. If homosexuality is something that is as right and good as hetrosexuality, then we should have gay priests, gay marriages, teachings on gay love, just as much as we have teachings on Black culture and Hispanic culture. We have Black priests, so why not gay priests? We do inter-racial marriages, why not gay marriages? If you embrace the first premise: that God created people to be both gay or straight as part of His plan, then the next proposals follow naturally. The problem is that the first premise is a profound heresy. Here's why: Creation is not an accident. We were not created by nothing for nothing to no end. Sexuality is not an accident. We believe that God created male and female deliberately as a mirror of Who the Holy One is. Women were not created as an afterthought. Sex is the natural expression and mirror of the supernatural love of God for Creation and the Eternal embrace and flow of Love in the Trinity. Sexuality therefore becomes a mirror of the Holy. For us that is why we believe that men and women have callings to the ministry of the priesthood-because men and women both reflect the Godhead and the reflection of who we are together in ministry was ordained to keep the understanding of God "straight". (A deliberate pun). To say that God would ordain the deliberate twisting of sexuality be it homosexuality, fornication, incest, sex with animals, etc as the Will of the Godhead is to assign the confusion of sin to God. That's a lie on God. That's all a heresy is-a lie on God. In Him there is NO shadow at all, regardless of what some people like to say. God does not ordain sin. Sin is that which lies on God. Saying sexual expression outside of marriage between a man and a woman is okay is a lie on God. Let's take something that we see as "natural." Eating and drinking is a mirror of the Holy. If not, why would God take this most natural and ordinary of needs and actions and make both eating and drinking and that which is eaten and drunk a cornerstone of our Faith in the act of Holy Communion? We don't receive Communion in wholeness without eating and drinking the elements of the Sacrament. Gluttony is the misuse of that action and need of eating. It is a sin because it misses the mark of what eating and drinking is for in this world. It offends God because it takes the need and action of eating and drinking and makes it more important than God. Everytime you or I shovel food uselessly in our mouths, and pile on the pounds, or we guzzle alcohol until we are pie faced, it is spitting and mocking the Lord Jesus Christ all over again. It makes a god of our bellies and elevates a function to be celebrated as a mirror of the Lord's goodness into something that curses us and our world. Gluttony drives people into addiction, robs money from the hands and bellies of the poor, oppresses the worker and swells up the minds of the rich and in general warps the good plan of God. Now, if a person has a problem with eating and drinking in the way God ordained, we call that person an addict. In the old days they called such a person a glutton. Is it not interesting that while we say that addiction is a disease, that the most effective way to deal with that "disease" is to make a moral decision to CHOOSE to ask a Higher Power for help and then follow moral steps to deal with your addiction? When you have cancer, a disease, your doctor does not recommend that you go to meetings and follow 12 Steps! They cut it, burn it, poison it, or change the immune system of your body to heal that disease of cancer. But, when you are addicted to something you put in your body, you are urged to follow a moral path of surrender, faith, reconciliation and healing. Why? Because we know deep inside that the heart of addiction is moral sickness. So we point to a moral solution. But what if the addict (glutton) said: "I was born that way. I can't help how I am. I MUST use drugs. I MUST overeat or I will be unhappy and unable to cope with life." So now some people say, "Oh, okay. Since so many people are addicted to drugs and alcohol and are obese, let's legalize drugs, lower the standard for drunkness and raise the weight standards?" Many people are arguing for that. Why? Because we figure since we can't do anything about gluttony (addiction), because it's so natural-then we might as well legitimize it. The world has no solution for sin. Let me state that again. The world system has NO solution for sin. If we miss the mark of the Lord's high calling and end up placing something on the altar of our hearts and worshipping it as God, then we're stuck with that idol controlling our lives forever, as far as the world is concerned. If you have a "natural" inclination towards Gluttony, Pride, Lust, Anger, Greed, Jealousy, or Laziness, then as far as the world is concerned, you're "just that way." Psychology can give you reasons as to why you might be proud, lazy, greedy, etc, but psychology CANNOT give you the power of a solution. The heart of the heresy that undergirds blessing homosexuality is that what you naturally want to do or what you naturally like is therefore good. So then where is the need for salvation from the original problem and twistedness of sin? That our natural desires are good is a lie that is a direct slap in the face of Jesus Christ who died to save us from our "natural" selves! ("The natural person CANNOT receive the things of God"-remember? By the way, that's not inclusive language. That's what it reads in the Aramaic.) This heresy says: We're all naturally okay down here. Oh, we might be a little nasty and mean in some areas, but our natural desires are cool. Jesus didn't come to change us. He came to show how much God accepts us as we are. Sin is just confusion. Jesus is the Light in the Darkness that shows us the Way to love God and to love each other. Follow the trail from there. If we're all okay up in here, then Jesus didn't save us from anything except a bad feeling of rejection. We are now enlightened and brought to understand us as we are. Baptism isn't the saving power of the Holy Spirit that changes us. We're all okay! We're just making a few nips and tucks here and there and look, it's all good! Come on Holy Ghost, You can put Your stuff over there in the corner next to my Seven Deadly Sins. Don't move a thing, please. Why do we need Confession anymore? What's there to confess? We're all fine. Hell-well, that's as stupid as saying homosexuality is a sin. Why would God punish us for misunderstandings? Why would God punish us for doing what we were naturally made to do? We're all okay, so we're all going to Heaven. Purgatory is a scare tactic and Hell is just terrorism. The passion behind this argument is a good one. We don't want to make people feel rejected and unloved. So, we think that in order to make people feel loved and accepted we must love and accept what they do, since the world tells us that what we do is what we are. Love me, love and accept my behavior. Behavior is not sin. Intention is sin and if you don't intent sin, then do matter what you do-unless the behavior is socially unacceptable, that is-you're not really a sinner. (Isn't it fascinating that we can argue that someone who naturally likes to have sex outside of marriage is okay. But a person who naturally likes to hate Black folks is a disgusting bigot?) That's because the pet sin of the day is fornication and prejudice is SOOOOOO retro!) The problem with the passion is it's based on the same heresy-that natural is good and ordained by God. So, if enough people do it, it's natural and God supports it. Well, here's the real deal according to the theology of both the old and new covenants. Sin, the deliberate choice of people to take their desires and place them at the center of our philosophy and behaviors warps everything. What we see as "natural" and "normal" is sick at the worst and messed up at best. That's what the Word of God says and that's what logic tells us. Logic Before Christ came all the philosophers recognized that natural inclinations had been twisted in some fashion. That was the argument for why we needed natural law to control natural desires. The Law God gave on Sinai to the Jews is mirrored by the Code of Noah given to the Gentiles that forbids Seven Things-stealing, fornication, lying, murder, cruelty, idolatry and the lack of community courts to decide justice. If natural is naturally good, why does every culture have laws to regulate natural behaviors? The Law God saw that we had a need for standards that were pure and given from the Creator. Otherwise, right and wrong depends on public opinion and use. So, Moses was given the Law, which forbids both sexual use and desire(thou shalt not covet) outside of the marriage bed between men and women. The Prophets When people started dissing the Law and placing what they wanted to do as the basis for right and wrong, God sent the prophets to call people back to God's ideas of right and wrong. For their trouble, they were persecuted and murdered. God is not a liberal or a conservative. Therefore, God destroyed Sodom and Gommorrah for BOTH being sexually immoral and being socially unjust. We know this because of what both Saint Paul and Saint Jude say in the Scriptures, as well as Ezekiel about the cities.Those cities fried for both liberal and conservative sinfulness. God does not play favorites. Jesus People argue that the Lord never taught about sexuality. Those people must have problems being able to read or reason well. Jesus taught about divorce, marriage, lust, and purity of heart. How much clearer could He get than-"For that reason would a man (a male human being) leave his father and mother and cleave( adhere to, know sexually, embrace with passion) unto his wife, (woman, female human being)?" Jesus did not say man with man, woman with woman, person with animal, parent with child. Jesus further forbid the deliberate delighting in mental and emotional sex with anyone other than one's wife-if a man and husband-if a woman. He said that clearly too. In fact, Jesus suggested that if you have such a natural inclination towards lust that you MUST resist. It isn't a suggestion. Jesus made it a requirement for salvation. When it comes down to the fulfillment of lust even mentally or salvation, Jesus, not me, not the Pope, not Paul, not John, Jesus the Christ says that you must choose to resist that inclination. If Jesus thinks that this is "okay", then why would the Lord who loves us tell us that these "just natural" desires could take us straight to Hell, a place that was never made for us in the first place? I'll tell you what's really behind the heresy that the natural is good. It is the lie that there is no such thing as transformational Sanctifying Grace. Christianity without the transformational nature of Grace becomes a set of nice thoughts and fuzzy feelings. Jesus becomes just another guru who takes away our shame over what we like to do. We do not change when we accept Jesus, we simply get accepted just as we are. We are still messed up, but now we are covered up by the Blood of the Lamb-if we even bother believing in the saving Blood of the Lord anymore at all. I mean, why bother, since there is no sin except what we decide is sin? Nothing changes when you become a Christian as far as this theology goes. If you believe this, then what in the world are you preaching Jesus and Him crucified and risen for? I come to you and ask if Jesus can save me not only from the shame of sin but also the power of sin over my life-what would you tell me? I'm okay and you're okay. Love yourself as you are and "don't go changin'?" What if you're a child molester? Should we lower the age of marriage and consent so they feel okay about their desires? Rome did. What if you're a thief? Should we stop having property so that property doesn't cause theft? (I'm sure we all recognize where that philosophy came from) In contrast, God says that we may have once BEEN thieves, liars, fornicators, homosexuals and drunks, but now we are NO LONGER because of what Jesus did for us. If anyone should be able to hold out the hope of change it SHOULD be a liturgical priest or bishop. We take bread and wine and believe because of the power of the Holy Spirit and the words of Jesus that these things become the Real Body and Blood of Christ Jesus. Why? Because God says so and we believe the Lord can do so. Why then do we not believe that God can change someone who naturally wants to love someone of the same sex or love someone other than his or her spouse or love someone who is a child into someone who loves what God loves? Do we now believe that God cannot save, deliver and change you, me or us into the heart of Jesus Christ? Then what is the nature of salvation and Grace? What do we really believe about Sanctifying Grace? What do we believe about Confession? Do we really believe when we ask for an Act of Contrition that purpose of change is necessary for true sorrow? Or should we now change the prayer to say, "I can't really say that with the help of God's Grace that I can avoid the near ocassion of sin. I might do it again and I'm not really sure what I did was wrong in the first place." I think we are lying and cheating people when we offer a Jesus Who cannot and does not offer transformation through Grace in our churches. We exhibit faithlessness and cowardice when all we can tell people is nothing can change in them and for them. Just accept who you are-even if that's not who God says you are-and damn the people who say that's not so. Homosexuality is no better or worse a sin condition than the other sins it is grouped with in the New Covenant. I don't tell thieves they can't stop stealing. I don't tell adulterers that they can't stop cheating on their spouses. Do you? Then why should homosexuality be any different? The Word of God says they can change. Why would I believe God's Word that says the Lord can change Bread and Wine into the Body and Blood of Jesus, and yet doubt that this same Holy Spirit cannot change a person's desires? That doesn't make sense. I know people who have screamed in my face that they were gay and would always be gay and they would forever stay gay and now years later they aren't. People can say, "Well, they're just fronting." But I find it funny that a straight person can have the hots one time for the same sex and get told to "get out of the closet." But, if a gay person has the hots for a person of the opposite sex then he or she is "fronting and not being honest." These are people who have married, had kids and lived passionate lives with a person of the opposite sex. These are people who have become nuns and priests without having the need or actions or desires for the same sex anymore. I know one person who has never lusted after the same sex for over twenty years, after being told he would never "go straight." I didn't use electric shock, guilt, anger. I did nothing but point to Jesus and say if Jesus could change me from a lap dancer in a bar to a celibate for the past 25 years, then God could transform anyone. When I told everyone I had fallen in love with the Lord and was going totally for Him, my friends said, "As much as you love sex? You can't do without a man for more than a month." That would be true, except for one thing-Jesus Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is Lord. Jesus can and does do anything. Jesus changed me. Hasn't He changed you? Stop teaching the heresy of God forgiving sin by covering sin and saying it's okay. Teach that God can and does transform us through His Grace into people who are willing to do what God wants through His power. I used to have such a problem with lust that I would think about sex with any man I saw all day long. I used to look at anything shaped like a penis and go off for hours in my head on fantasy sex. I would wake up next to men and wonder how I got there. I tried the shrinks. You know what I was told back in the Sexy 70's? "You're just too uptight. Your sexual drive is natural and normal."When I told them I thought it was out of control, they assured me that "you're just being a prude." They couldn't help me. My own efforts couldn't help me. Even having a regular boyfriend didn't help me. I just had sex with him every chance I got. The only thing that helped me was Jesus Christ. And guess what, when I fell in love with Him, it turned out that I actually created to be celibate! But if I had listened to the world, I would decided that I was "just that way" and stayed messed up forever. I didn't give up sex. I just found out that I didn't need it when I found Him. Focus on Him and let God love you into changing through the Sacraments and guess what-you'll change. Anyone who wants to talk to me further on this subject, email me. I have lots of people who have gone through all sorts of problems who have been delivered by the power of Jesus. Grace is not just acceptance. Grace is the Divine Power of Change to change you! It is amazing and it is real. Trimelda C. McDaniels Pastor,Christ Charismatic Liturgical Church Inc. Does that sound like I approve of ANY sexual contact outside of marriage?????