Judge: This land is your land…
by Suzanne Bowdey
October 20, 2008
It’s been five years since the Episcopal Church consecrated its first openly gay bishop, but the shockwaves are still rippling through the national church. Across America, congregations have exploded in protest. Despite pleas from many in the 2.2 million-member church, Episcopal leaders stubbornly refuse to back down from their liberal, pro-homosexual theology.
After months of negotiations failed to bring the denomination back to its conservative teachings, a band of 11 Virginia churches took the unprecedented step to sever all ties and realign under the Anglican Church of Nigeria. Together, these congregations made the courageous-and costly-decision to separate from a denomination whose American roots are more than 300 years deep.
But the stand for Biblical truth has come at great price to the faithful in Virginia. They face financial hardship, eviction from their property, and a multi-million dollar lawsuit from Episcopal headquarters.
Since early 2007, the Diocese of Virginia has attacked the churches in a vicious suit that threatens to confiscate their church homes. With almost no resources, the 11 churches banded together in defense of their land, resulting in the largest property dispute in the history of the Episcopal Church.
At every stage of the Episcopal Church and Diocese of Virginia court battle (now four rounds old), Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows has ruled in favor of the breakaway churches. Last week, Judge Bellows rounded out this series of victories by ruling that Truro Church-the second largest parish-”could retain ownership of land sought by the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.” In a story of true David versus Goliath proportions, the news continues to stun the mainstream church.
But despite how far the Virginia parishes have come, the Episcopal Church shows no sign of giving up. Its national leaders have vowed to fight these decisions all the way to the Supreme Court, if necessary. In a press release, the Diocese says it “will continue to explore every legal option available” to seize these church homes. Despite the mass exodus this month from parishes in Pittsburgh and San Joaquin (see George Will’s Sunday column “A Faith’s Dwindling Following”) and the impending rift in Fort Worth, the Episcopal Church leaves no doubt that the legal battle has just begun. In fact, it could continue for years.
If you’re interested helping the churches at “Ground Zero” in the Anglican crisis, please log on to Truro’s website and consider standing with them for biblical truth.
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In January 2007, just as Truro and other ADV churches were ready to begin property settlement negotiations under the Protocol, the Diocese reversed itself, cut off negotiations, terminated the Standstill Agreement, and sued. On January 31, the Diocese sued Truro, its Rector, its Vestry members, and its trustees, demanding Truro’s real and personal property. It similarly sued ten other ADV churches. The Diocese’s complaint against Truro is available at http://www.trurochurch.org/files/LIT_2007.01.31_VA_complaint_Truro.pdf.
Less than two weeks after the Diocese sued, the Episcopal Church-apparently having decided that northern Virginia is ground zero in the battle for faithful Anglicanism in the United States, and rejecting its prior view that property disputes were to be resolved at the diocesan level-filed its own suit against Truro and the other ADV churches, and their leaders. Its complaint is available at http://www.trurochurch.org/files/Virginia%20Complaint.pdf.
The Episcopal Church is not the only church fighting the battle over homosexuality. It seems to be a problem in many denominations. I do not believe the dilemma will be resolved until we as a nation understand holiness. Christianity needs a better knowledge of holiness. Below is my understanding of what is required for a person, a Church, and a nation to become holy.
The Word Fornication
Word origin for the word fornication (porneioa):
The New Testament Greek Lexicon may be found at
http://www.studylight.org/lex/grk/view.cgi?number=4202
This lexicon has been developed to aid the user in understanding the original text of the Greek Old and New Testament. By using the Strong’s version of the King James Bible a deeper knowledge, of the passage being studied, can be gained.
Strong’s Number: 4202 porneiða
Original Word Word Origin
porneiða from (4203)
Transliterated Word Phonetic Spelling
Porneia por-ni’-ah
Parts of Speech TDNT
Noun Feminine 6:579,918
Definition includes:
Illicit (forbidden) sex , homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.
The body is not made for fornication.
This truth is simply stated in 1 Corinthians 6:13, “The body is not made for fornication, but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.” God never intended for the human body to be used for the sex of Sodom and Gomorrah, oral and anal sex. Either a person has God and no fornication or they commit fornication and do not have God, for God will leave. When God departs, truth leaves. The fact that God did not make the body for fornication reemphasizes the fact that a man and his wife are not to use their bodies for unnatural sex. The human body is not to be used in that way. Fornication, this forbidden sex, can be committed between a man and a woman (married or unmarried), a man and a man, a woman and a woman. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cites where not populated solely by homosexuals but by all those given to fornication including heterosexual married couples.
Fornication is the sin against the Holy Ghost – blaspheming.
1 Corinthians 6:18, “Flee fornication, every sin a man doeth is without the body, but he that committed fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which you have of God.” Fornication is the sin against the Holy Ghost – flee from it, take off, run from the sin of unnatural sex. You are holy before this sin is committed. “If sinners entice thee consent thou not.” If you consent the Holy Spirit will leave and you will become profane – unholy.
Sanctification.
1 Thessalonians 4:3, “For this is the will of God, even your sanctification; that ye should abstain from fornication.” Fornication makes a person profane, so abstaining from this unlawful sex will make a person holy again. A sanctified holy person abstains from sexual perverseness. God instructs us to be holy for he is holy. A holy God, a holy Jesus, and a holy person do not believe in committing fornication even once. Then it only stands to reason that there is no unnatural sex in holy matrimony (a holy marriage) between a male and a female. Holy people do not commit fornication. And it also stands to reason that those who engage in same-sex relationships, those who are joined together in a civil union or in a gay marriage do not have a holy union. They are not holy people and God is not found of that union.
Jacob and Esau.
Hebrews 12:16, “Lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.” As stated above, fornication is the difference between the holy and the profane. Because of fornication, the forbidden sex of Sodom and Gomorrah, Esau became profane which means unholy and unlike God. Fornication is not only the difference between Cain and Able; it is also the difference between Jacob and Esau. God said, “I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” But God is not the god of Esau the fornicator. Because these two brothers are mentioned over and over again in the Bible fornication is part of their story even when the word is not used.
The fall of man.
1 Corinthians 10:8, “Neither let us commit fornication, as some…and fell in one day 23,000.” A man and his wife (Adam and Eve) began the fall. Human beings falls one at a time. We are born alive, upright, and holy until this act of sin (oral sex) is committed. The first time sin is committed spiritual death occurs. Dead people do not stand upright. They fall. From this first act of sin a person has fallen and is bent to repeat the act again. He will become a slave to sin, captured by the devil, and sin will have dominion over him. Adam and Eve were the first to be deceived, die, fall, and become unholy. Many have followed this same path. It is the broad way that leads to destruction. – not good for mankind. All pain, suffering, sorrow, and wrongs are a result of going against this Eden law of God. God gave us the proper way to live, and if we had obeyed we would still have an Eden on earth without pain and sorrow. The curses are natural consequence of going against what is good.
Grounds for divorce.
Matthew 5:32, “Whosoever shall put away his wife saving for the cause of fornication.” When using the Greek in this verse it reads like this, “Whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication [porneia], causeth her to commit adultery [moichao]: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery [moichao].” Two different Greek words explain what Jesus means when he tells us, “It was Moses who said adultery is grounds for divorce, but I tell you that fornication (unnatural sex) is the only grounds for divorce.” Jesus changes the grounds for divorce from adultery to sexual perverseness, fornication. When a person who does not believe in oral sex is married to a person who does believe in unnatural sex, the one who does not is unequally yoked together with a nonbeliever.
Idolatry
Colossians 3:5, “Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Fornication is the sex of Sodom and Gomorrah, oral and anal. Evil concupiscence means evil abnormal sexual desires. Inordinate means perverse affection or contrary to what is normal. These words all refer to the sin that Satan introduced to mankind. To believe in and follow the ways of Satan is idolatry. All those who bow to their lustful desires are serving a god that is not God. The many passages pertaining to idolatry are in reference to illicit sex. This truth is explained more fully when an understanding of the sin of the Gentiles is brought to light.
The sin of the Gentiles.
The sin of the Gentiles is explained in 1Thessalonians 4:5, “Not in the lust of concupiscence even as the Gentiles which know not God.” Concupiscence and fornication have the same meaning, abnormal sexual desires. The Gentiles are given to evil sex. It is because of this forbidden sex that they do not know God. God has left. The only other god or power they have available to serve is Satan and that is stated in 1Corinthinans 10:20, “But, I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice they sacrifice to devils, and not to God.” Idolatry is worshiping, serving, reverencing, holding in high regard, and showing respect to. Evil sex is showing respect and loyalty to Satan. (Concupiscence means: a strong or abnormal desire or appetite esp. sexual desire.)
Many believe that Jesus says nothing about homosexuality. Yet, when one understands the sin of the Gentiles and realizes that Jesus is sent to the Gentiles (those given to evil sex) to bring them out of lustful sexual perverseness (which includes same-sex relationships) and back to God, then you must accept the truth that much of what Jesus says is in reference to evil sex. However, Jesus does not single out the homosexual for illicit/unlawful sexual behavior, for fornication is forbidden for everyone, not just same-sex partners. In Isaiah 42:1, we are informed of the main mission of Jesus, “My servant, whom I uphold; mine elect…he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.” He will judge all those given to unnatural sex. Judgment is for the purpose of correction, not punishment. “For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.” Salvation is not punishment, it is correction with love.
Not only does Jesus come to put an end to fornication, but He will also give those instructions to his disciples. In Romans 15:16 Paul is speaking, “That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost (truth).” A person is sanctified holy when they abstain from fornication. When sanctified holy they will be acceptable to God.
Paul will also say this, “As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols…and from fornication, Acts 21:25.” Keep yourself from committing fornication, the sex of Sodom and Gomorrah.
And Peter will do this, “Peter rose up, and said unto them…that the Gentiles [those given to evil concupiscence/fornication] by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe, Acts 15:7.” The Gospel of Jesus Christ is all about the end of fornication – the end of the original sin that began in Eden with a man and his wife and to all the wicked imaginations of the mind that occurred after that first sin – anal sex, group sex, sex with animals, etc. The list of all the evils that come out of the minds of the sexually perverse are listed in Romans 1:28-31.
The purpose of Christianity is to put an end to the forbidden sex that God has outlawed since Eden. Christians do not commit this evil sex; they are obedient to the ways of God. Ephesians 5:3, “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints.” So when you hear a person defend unnatural sex, even within a heterosexual marriage, and then claim to be a Christian, don’t for one minute believe them.
Fornication corrupts the earth.
Revelations 19:2, “For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication.” Perverseness was the corruption on earth in the days of Noah and sexual perverseness is corrupting the earth today. The fornicators are the people who are going to be judged by Jesus and this truth is stated in many different passages, such as, Jesus will judge the Gentiles, those given to evil concupiscence. He will judge Sodom and Gomorrah, those given to fornication. He will judge the mount of Esau the fornicator. He will judge Babylon, full of fornication. Please keep in mind judgment is for the purpose of correction, not punishment. “Hearken unto me…and give ear unto me, O my nation: for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people.” The law is light. The law, oral sex is forbidden for all mankind, is light and will bring those in darkness back to God.
Wine and drunkenness.
Revelations 17:2, “With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”
Be sober! The wine man makes (fermented fruits and grains) affects the reasoning of the mind and so does sin. A drunken person does not have his good senses about him. The wine of fornication (evil concupiscence) affects the mind. It causes wrong thinking, backward thinking, and base thinking. To be spiritually sober minded one must abstain from fornication. To be of sound mind, a person cannot be a fornicator. When looking at our society today the evidence of wrong thinking is everywhere. Again, the list of what comes out of the minds of those given to unnatural sex can be read in the first chapter of Romans. The list is long and covers all the social ills of our culture today.
The end of “the World.”
Babylon is not a city to be found on the map of the world. Satan is the creator of Babylon. Overall the word Babylon means “confusion” and stands for the confusion into which the whole social order of the world has fallen under Gentile world-domination as a result of the unnatural sex almost all fell for. In the last days this one sin will have overwhelmed the human race until it has grown to cover the earth. All the earth is drunk with the wine of fornication.
Babylon is sometimes referred to as “the world” in the margin references of my Bible. And throughout Scripture “the world” is referring to Babylon. The end of “the world” is the end of fornication on earth. The end of fornication, which began in Eden, will end Satan’s rule on earth. The best thing that can happen to mankind is for Babylon to fall, for the end of evil concupiscence, fornication will bring a better life for everyone. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, Revelations 14:8.” As Babylon begins to fall, as people come out of “the world,” out of darkness into the light, this will necessitate a change of mind.
The gospel of Jesus Christ requires that we renew our minds. “And be ye not conformed to “this world” but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, Romans 12:2.” “Come out of the world” is to come out of the world of the sexually perverse and return to the ways of God. The purpose of Christianity is to put an end to “the world,” therefore anyone who believes Jesus will say nothing about evil sex doesn’t understand the purpose of a Jesus. The end of “the world” will bring heaven to earth. Isaiah 1:10, “Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom: give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.” In the last days, a law from God will go out to all those given to fornication the sex of Sodom and Gomorrah. The law is that the human body is not made for oral and anal sex.
The Gentiles (given to fornication) will come to God. They will come from the ends of the earth, bringing their children and say we have been listening to lies but now we will hear the truth. Jeremiah 16:19, “O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.”
Sincerely,
Marilyn Taplin
May you find my study of interest.
Author of A Law from Eden, Solving the Mystery of Original Sin
http://www.jordanriverpress.com
By: Firm Stand | October 20, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Who filed the first lawsuit in 2007, the Diocese or the breakaway churches?
do some factchecking…