© 2015 by Sihol Gianito Situmorang
All rights reserved
eISBN: 978-0-9906451-3-9
Author Photo : Shandy Rama Putra
Cover Design : Sihol Gianito Situmorang
Editor : Carol Henson
Page Layout : Sihol Gianito Situmorang
Lone Voice Publishing
P.O. Box 1484 Slidell, Louisiana 70459
Foreword
I am compelled by the love of Jesus Christ, our Lord, to write this book
primarily to help those who struggle with same sex temptation (SST).
As a person who used to identify as ‘gay’, I realize how confusing and
distressing it can be dealing with such a thing.
Same sex temptation (SST) is often the result of unresolved issues and
so the way to deal with SST is not to deal with SST itself but rather
the root problems which open the door for the SST. Once the roots
are taken down and the door is closed then the SST will diminish
immensely.
This is not a self-help book. This book is not meant to help someone
change his/her sexual orientation. Rather this book is a collection of
teachings which the Lord Jesus has taught me to consistently overcome
SST by uprooting the lies of the enemy planted deep in my heart and
replacing them with the truth of God.
Last, please pray beforehand as not even the most eloquent words can
bring healing and redemption but only the ministry of the Holy Spirit
through any means He chooses to use.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious
thoughts. In Jesus name, Amen.
Table of Contents
Introduction: My testimony
Chapter I. The Big Picture:
God is Our Teacher
Chapter II. Shame & Guilt:
God is Our Redeemer
Chapter III. Insecurity & Rejection:
God is Our father
Chapter IV. Singlehood:
God is Our Husband
Chapter V. Identity:
God is Our Creator
Chapter VI. Strange Love:
God is Our Lover
Conclusion:
Jesus is My Orientation
Extra:
For Parents, Family, Friends of Those
Who Identify as LGBT
NOT THE SAME LOVE
Introduction: MY
TESTIMONY
I was brought up in a ‘Christian’ family but even though my family
went to church once a week, our life was not at all Christ-centered.
My parents were sometimes too busy doing whatever they wanted
to do at that time. My mom physically abused me and as a result I
felt less of a human being in general and less of a man in particular. I
thought my existence was worthless and because of this I have made so
many bad choices. However I am not blaming anyone for my choices.
Even though what my mom did was wrong, I was still responsible for
my own choices regardless of what or who might have influenced me.
As for my dad, he was not around very often because he was in the
military and there were times that he said certain things that really hurt
my feelings. But by God’s grace my relationship with my parents has
been restored.
REPRESSION
In a way you can say that I grew up with a lot of spiritual hurt and
baggage. My spiritual wounds stayed there unattended leaving an open
door for evil spirits to influence me. I began having suicidal thoughts
to end everything several times and even got to the point where I had
a knife at my wrist, but God stopped me by His grace. Despite all that,
never once did I blame God. I believed that everything happened for
a good reason and that God was planning something good for me at
the end of this road. So I felt like there were two opposing sides in me.
The good side was hopefulness in God which gave me strength and the
bad side was despair, hatred and all the evil feelings which brought me
down.
Somewhere in my childhood, around the age of 6 or 7, I began having
sexual desires towards the same sex. And as I grew up, I became more
and more aware of the feeling and was troubled because it felt wrong.
So I decided to repress those desires. I pretended that they were not
there. I told myself many times, “This is not real!” and I kept repeating
that over and over. I also tried to ‘pray the gay away’. But after every
attempt, I only found failure at the end. So, I began to hate myself even
more as I was ashamed of having those feelings. Since I didn’t want
anyone to know about the sexual desires that I had towards the same
sex, I tried to act and look in such a way that people would not know
my ‘secret’. But that only made me even more insecure. I kept getting
scared of people finding out about it and making fun of me for that. It
got to the point where I hated people for no reason and decided to shut
myself off from them, because I felt like the whole world hated me and
was against me.
My thinking at that time was “people = problem”. Since
I had already enough problems, I didn’t intend to add more by knowing
more people. I had so much hatred towards myself and other people
because of the repression. I ran away from the struggle rather than face
it. Years of repression and a bundle of hatred really wore me down to
the point I decided to give up trying to change myself and to just accept
the fact that I had these sexual desires towards the same sex.
GRATIFICATION
After so many failed attempts to free myself from those desires, I began to
think that it’s futile to fight against them. So, I decided to accept them, live
with them, and simply enjoy them. After much consideration, I decided to
give myself over to these desires. And because I knew I could not serve two masters, I said ‘good-bye’ to God. I told Him that I was helpless, I couldn’t
change myself and that I fully realized the consequence of my decision. I
thought to myself if I was going to hell, I might as well enjoy my way there. I
really thought I was ‘ready’ for hell. But guess what? God was ‘not ready’ for
me to go there!
"Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign
LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but
rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn
from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’" Ezekiel 33:11
After I made that decision, I started to indulge myself with anything that
I wanted. For once I was able to watch gay porn while denying the guilt.
It gave me pleasure and it seemed good for a while. At first everything was
finally getting ‘better’. I was ‘happier’ or at least I thought I was. But the more
pleasure I got, the bigger the dose of porn I needed to get that pleasure. I was
at the point that I needed to masturbate at least 3 times a day. I’d become so
addicted to it. Sometimes when I had nothing to do and I didn’t know what
else to do, I just went back to porn, because I didn’t know anything else! And
even when I didn’t want to watch porn, that’s all I seemed to be doing. After I
got somewhat bored with porn, I switched to video games. I could play games
for hours and hours. The only time I was not playing was when I slept, ate, or
was in the bathroom. After I got bored with games and I moved on to movies,
especially gay themed movies. And somewhere in between games and movies,
I watched porn.
Aside from my addictions, I noticed that I had become quite an angry person
somehow. I was easily vexed, especially by my parents, and I shut myself off
even more from my family. My sister would joke and call me a ghost because
I would lock myself in my room. To top that, I was more and more enslaved
by the sexual desires towards the same sex, that watching porn was no longer
enough for me. I decided I wanted to do something about it. Although
—praise God!— I never got to have penetration out of fear of contracting
STDs, but I did some other things which I prefer not to specify due to their
filthiness. But even after all that, I still felt like I was missing something in life.
I felt lost, empty, and dry.
In mid-2010, I started to think about how my life had turned out. I was asking
the big question of life: the meaning of my existence. Being 30, I realized that
my life has been nothing but work, porn, masturbation, men, games, movies,
hanging out with friends and a cycle that most likely would repeat until the
day I die and then face oblivion. Mind you, even though I never labeled
myself as an atheist, at that time I had completely forgotten (or denied) the
notion of God. For me there was no god, no rules, no heaven nor hell. So I
thought to myself, “Is this the life I want to have into my old age? What’s the
point of all this? Why risk going through whatever life throws at us, if in the
end it’s just oblivion? We might as well kill ourselves and save ourselves from
meaningless and unnecessary pain and suffering, which it seemed most of us
have to experience to some degree.
”I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;
all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind." Ecclesiastes 1:14
The reality of suffering in this world demands the existence of God because
without God our suffering is meaningless. However, with God our suffering
has a purpose and meaning. And God showed this personally through the
suffering of Jesus Christ. He suffered with us and His suffering was not in
vain! He suffered to save the world. Hence I know that my suffering in this
world is not without meaning and purpose.
REDEMPTION
Deep down I wanted more in life and knew that there is something better
but I just didn’t know what. I was also shocked to realize how different I had
become in just a few short years. I felt like I was a stranger to myself.
And then on one ordinary day, God spoke to me. Yes, He still speaks. He
reminded me of His love and I’ve come to realize something that I had never
realized before or perhaps something that I had long forgotten. I realized that
God loves me no matter what. No matter how much porn I had watched;
no matter how many times I had rejected His call to repentance during my
indulgent time; no matter how sinful I was, He was always there loving me,
but not my sin.
"Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness,
forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness
is intended to lead you to repentance?" Romans 2:4
Despite my rebellion, God has been nothing but kind to me. He was gradually
restoring my family relationships. My parents had repented and became more
loving and caring. God also blessed me with good jobs, good health, and good
friends (Matthew 5:45). Basically, I came to realize God’s many undeserved blessings in my life. So I began to see this awesome unconditional love. I’d
never really been loved this way before. I had never experienced someone
loving me this much. Even after all the rejection I threw at God, after all the
wrong I’d done, knowing that it was wrong, He showed nothing but love to
me. I didn’t feel condemned or anything close to it. Instead I felt loved by
God.
At the same time I knew I was living in sin. I knew that I was rebelling
against Him.
And then I felt His love shattering my heart of stone and I was faced with two
options: first, to continue living the way I had been living, leading to eternal
damnation or second, to leave everything behind and follow God who invited
me into eternal life (Deuteronomy 30:19). I started to consider each of these
options and their consequences. I wanted to follow God, but at the same time
I felt like it was hard to let go of everything, especially the ‘gay’ identity which
I had fully embraced. I simply couldn’t make the decision.
Fortunately, God knew exactly what was going on in my heart and He
intervened to help me make the decision I needed to make. He spoke the
truth to me. This is what I believe Jesus said to me, “Only fools would reject
my perfect love over anything else.” And that was a wake-up call for me. I
realized that I really would have been a fool if I hadn’t made the right choice;
just like the fools who believe there is no God (Psalm 14:1) and the fools who
despise wisdom (Proverbs 1:7). The truth stings in some ways but it is also
very liberating.
So, with that incentive of truth from God, I decided to follow God at any cost,
including the loss of my ‘gay’ identity. However, I did ask God to let me stay
‘gay’ if He was okay with that. And then God led me to pray a simple prayer. I
prayed, “Father in Heaven, please forgive me for my past sins. Forgive me, that I have
hardened my heart towards You all this time. I am all Yours now. Make me who
You want me to be. And let Your will alone be done in my life. In the name of Jesus,
Amen.”
After that, I felt like a burden was literally lifted from me (cliché I know, but
true nonetheless). I knew I was given a new life. I was filled with something
so good, so innocent, and so pure. I felt God’s love overflowing in me and all
the hatred and all the bad feelings disappeared within me. And the first thing
I noticed, I had no desire for any of my past addictions and I had self-control
and patience like I never had before. God can truly change us from the inside
out.
"Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually
immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have
sex with men, nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards
nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of
God. And that is what some of you were. But you were
washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
CHAPTER 1
THE BIG PICTURE:
GOD IS OUR
TEACHER
Ever looked at a massively zoomed in image and try to figure
out what it is? No? Good! ‘Cause it’s really hard to figure out!
The sad thing is we often make the same mistake when we deal
with our struggles. We zoom in on the struggle so much that it is in our
face and we become so confused that we totally miss the big picture.
Let’s zoom out! There is a bigger picture here, bigger than sexual
orientation, bigger than normality, bigger than the politics of gay
marriage. We need to realize the graveness of our sins to God and the
punishment awaiting all sinners regardless of their sexual orientation or
sexual behaviors or even gender identity. God wants to save you from
the coming wrath and make you His child. And changing our ‘sexual
orientation’ or being ‘normal’ has little to do with our salvation. So let’s
focus on what really matters.
REPENTANCE
For many people repentance is an offensive concept because it means
that there is something wrong with them and hence there is a need for
a change. And in our self-centered world no one wants to believe that
there is something wrong with them. People tend to think highly of
themselves and see nothing really wrong about them. This is nothing
but pride. In reality we all have sinned or have sinful thoughts and
desires whether we want to admit it or not.
For others, repentance can be a really toilsome work. They try to stop
doing something and start doing something else in hope of changing
their behavior. It is not altogether wrong, but it is an incomplete
understanding of repentance.
"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will
be able to test and approve what God’s will is--his good,
pleasing and perfect will."Romans 12:2
In my opinion the Apostle Paul described repentance the best.
Repentance is the change of a person’s mind from a worldly thought
pattern to a godly thought pattern which leads to the transformation
of the person’s behavior and life. Sure we can modify our behavior, but
without changing our mind, I promise you it will be an extremely harsh
and weary battle. Most likely you will keep falling and failing. A true
change of mind will lead to a change of life.
Repent and let your mind be renewed by this truth. Stop focusing
on merely changing your behavior, but rather ask God to test your
thoughts and conform them to His thoughts. Transformation starts
from the mind. The battlefield is on the spiritual level, not on the
behavioral level.
DISCIPLES
Many Christians these days have the wrong idea of what it really means
to be a Christian. Some think that it means knowing a set of doctrines.
Some think a Christian is a church goer. Some think a Christian is
someone who only says nice things that pleases everyone. I’ve even
heard friends say, “Well, I’m just a normal Christian,” which makes me
wonder if there is an ‘abnormal’ Christian. The problem is Jesus never
even used the term “Christian”. Now I’m not saying we need to drop that label, not at all, but rather we need to repent from false ideas and
redefine that label so that it conforms to God’s will.
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20
Jesus never commanded the disciples to make ‘Christians’ or ‘church
goers’ or even ‘believers’ and definitely not ‘straight people’. He
commanded them to make more disciples. So, our objective should not
be to re-orient ourselves sexually, but rather to be His disciple. This is
what many people miss, including me in the past. We are so focused
on changing our inclinations and mannerisms without realizing
that it is not exactly what God wants. When you become a disciple,
everything else will then change, including your inclinations. External
or behavioral changes should not be the goal but, rather the result of
an internal change, a change of mind. Hence don’t try to reverse the
process. Be a disciple first, then you will experience the change.
During my 20 something years being a church goer, I’ve never heard of
being a disciple of Christ and I have the feeling I’m not the only one.
And so it’s very important for us to understand what it means to be His
disciple and fortunately to understand the kind of disciple that Jesus
wants is very easy. All we have to do is just look at the relationship Jesus
had with His very first disciples. And by observing the Gospel account
we can see that:
1.His disciples accepted His word.
2. His disciples were intimate with Him.
3. His disciples learned directly from Jesus.
4. His disciples followed His example.
This is discipleship. It’s an intense and close interaction, not a once a-week
meeting or a magical sinner’s prayer that will make all your
wishes come true. But it is still accessible to us in the present time
through the Holy Spirit.
Now you might wonder what this has to do
with homosexuality. Well, this has to do with everything. Without
discipleship we are bound to repeat the same old pattern over and over
again. Discipleship IS the bigger picture. God has not called us to be
‘straight’ or ‘heterosexual’ or ‘normal’, but He has called us to be His
disciples. Hence being a Christian should mean being a disciple.
As we
have learned that being His disciple is our real goal, let’s take a closer
look at the 4 points of discipleship:
1. His disciples accepted His Word.
"From this time many of his disciples turned back and no
longer followed him. 'You do not want to leave too, do
you?' Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon Peter answered him, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the
Holy One of God.'” John 6:66-68
Jesus’ teachings are often hard and may be offensive to many people
( John 6:60-61), especially to the carnal mind. I have to warn you, Jesus
is not impressed by big numbers ( John 6:66). He is not going to beg
you to be His disciple. He will continue to invite you to be His disciple
but keep in mind, you’re the one who needs Him and as His disciples
we are to take His teachings as they are and not to change (or reinterpret)
them, but rather let them change us. Do we really believe His
words are eternal life, like the first disciples did? If yes, then we ought
to be more serious in following Him. We ought to follow His words,
no matter what. His words must be our reality, not merely religious
doctrines.
Hence any other words or feelings that are not in line with
the words of our Master MUST BE rejected. Either that or we depart
from Jesus like the other ‘disciples’. There is no in-between.
2. His disciples were intimate with Him.
"Jesus replied, Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.
My Father will love them, and we will come to them and
make our home with them." John 14:23
Unlike the modern student-teacher relationship, the first disciples
of Jesus had a really close relationship with Him, to the point that
they even left their fathers for Him (Matthew 4:22). They spent their
days with Him and so being intimate with their teacher was rather
expected. They did everything together from the mundane, every
day activities such as eating and fishing, to spiritual activities such as
worship, healing, preaching, and casting out demons. They went from
place to place together. They didn’t just meet every now and then, they practically lived with Jesus and shared their lives with each other.
John
was probably the closest one to Jesus, so close that he reclined on Jesus’
bosom ( John 13:23). And this is still the same bond that Jesus wants
from us. He wants us to be with Him all the time. He wants to make
His home with us, not just weekend visitations.
Obviously we are not talking about sexual intimacy here, but rather
that spiritual closeness which we gain through the presence of the Holy
Spirit. We need to cultivate His presence during our prayer and worship
time, be it personal or corporate, and of course throughout the day by
obeying His teachings. Only then can we start being really close and
intimate with Jesus.
3. His disciples learned directly from Jesus.
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from
me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find
rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is
light.” Matthew 11:28-30
How lovely is God’s promise! But how many Christians out there get to
experience this promise? Even after being Christians for years they still
don’t find the rest they are looking for, including those Christians who
struggle with SST. How come they are not finding this promise true in
their life? Let’s take a deeper look on the promise:
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and
humble in heart, and (then) you will find rest for your souls. We often focus on God’s promises, but totally brush away the condition
that precedes it! We live in a society that is used to getting things easy
and instantly. No one wants to ‘take the yoke and learn’, they just want
the promise. Say the magic prayer and boom, they get their wishes.
I’m sorry, but that’s just not how it works with Jesus. He is not some
sort of genie that you can rub with some prayers and then He grants
your wishes. You want rest? Then first cast away your own yoke (your
expectations, your desire, your guilt, etc.), as you can’t carry two
yokes, and then take His yoke instead and learn from Him. And don’t
add extra burdens to His yoke, things like being “straight” or “manly”
or “married” etc. Just focus on His teachings first, otherwise you will
only be weary and burdened again.
With Jesus it’s obedience first, then
understanding and that’s why faith is important.
You may ask yourself exactly how we can learn from Jesus. First we
must realize that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever
(Hebrews 13:8) and thus His methods as a teacher also remain the
same. Throughout the entire scripture, we learn that God has used
many means to communicate His message to people, including a
donkey! We know that anything is possible for Him who created this
magnificent world from nothing and so it’s important for us not to limit
God by expecting Him to teach us only with a single method. He may
send us people to teach us, just like He sent His apostles or prophets.
He may speak directly to us just like the apostle Paul who learnt that
“His grace is enough” (2 Corinthians 12:9) or we may learn through
things happening in our life just like Job did.
We have to make sure that everything we learn is in line with the
words of Jesus as His words are eternal life in that way we must read
them ourselves. We must verify everything for ourselves and not be
lazy. So the scripture should be our primary source for learning. The
apostle John has warned us to test every spirit (1 John 4:1) lest we are
deceived. Test this book and see if it’s in line with God’s word or not.
4. His disciples followed His example.
"I have set you an example that you should do as I have
done for you." John 13:15
What I really love from our great teacher is that He actually did what
He preached. He set an example for us to follow, not just a bunch of
rules. But before we can follow His example, we need first to know it
and many times a lot of Christians don’t. They only know snippets of
Jesus, because they are not taught to seek God’s character or nature
when reading scripture. Often they just read the scripture for the
sake of reading it, but they don’t really see God’s character from their
readings which make reading the scriptures quite meaningless.
As disciples we need to know more about Jesus, His character, His
words, His actions, in order that eventually we can follow the example
He has set for us. And again, you can’t expect others to tell you all this,
you need to discover Jesus personally. It’s a personal relationship you
want with Him, after all.
THE HOLY BOOK
While people, mostly women, who read the Twilight series fall in love
with fictitious characters in it, especially Edward or Jacob, how many
Christians out there fall in love with Jesus when they read the story
of His life? A few? How can this be? Maybe we should encourage
Christians to read the Bible as if they are reading some fictitious novel,
at least they seem to be more engaged when they do that.(just kidding).
We treat the Bible as a ‘holy book’, thinking that carrying the Bible will
scare the Devil, and we often end up missing the main message: to learn
the truth about God’s love for us and to love Him in return. It’s time for
us to stop treating the Bible as a ‘holy book’ and time to see it as an
actual historical account of real people involved in God’s salvation plan
for mankind. It’s God’s love story.
THE ENEMY
The big picture is incomplete if we don’t realize the presence of a real
enemy against which the apostle Peter has warned us.
"Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls
around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." 1 Peter 5:8
Unfortunately we are not alone in this universe and I’m not talking
about aliens. I’m talking about rebellious spirits, for which hell was
created (Matthew 25:41). These spirits want to drag us along to their
eternal damnation and we are no match for them. They possess greater
knowledge than any mere mortal. For them to mislead us is a very easy task; not only can’t we see them, but they have spiritual powers.
Their main weapon is deception and their goal is to rob life from us,
especially eternal life.
"You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry
out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the
beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in
him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is
a liar and the father of lies." John 8:44
The devil and his angels will always try to entice us to sin, just like he
enticed Eve to disobey God. This is not to say that we can just blame
the devil for our actions, like Eve tried to blame the serpent for
deceiving her (Genesis 3:13). Indeed Satan was guilty, but in the end
Eve was held accountable for her own actions. The point is not playing
the blame game, but rather we must be AWARE and SOBER that there
is an enemy lurking and waiting for the right moment to deceive us. Be
on guard!
Note: This does not mean every person that struggles with SST is possessed
by demons. If this were true then every type of people such as gossipers,
liars, thieves, hypocrites, etc. suggesting that basically every human being
is possessed by demons. Demons don’t need to possess us in order to entice
us to sin, they just need to deceive us. However there are cases of spiritual
possession or oppression. Those people usually were involved in occultism or
are under generational curse(s) or have ungodly soul tie(s) or other things
related to dark spiritual forces.
Such things will not be addressed in this book as you can find many resources covering these topics on the internet.
You may contact me personally if you want to know more about this.
As if one legion of enemies is not enough, we actually have another
enemy hidden in us.
"but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by
their own evil desire and enticed." James 1:14
Our evil desires must be put to death, in order for us to thrive
spiritually. In the words of Jesus, we are to deny ourselves and carry the
cross. It’s a commitment.
OUR HELP
Now you may feel discouraged realizing the plight we are all in.
Fortunately, we don’t have to face this fierce adversary alone. God
knows that by ourselves we will stand no chance against the devil and
his angels, not to mention our old self, and that’s why He has promised
His Holy Spirit to us.
"You, dear children, are from God and have overcome
them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one
who is in the world." 1 John 4:4
Yes, there are rebellious spirits out there, but the Holy Spirit in us is
greater than all of them put together. Hence we don’t need to fear, but
rather be bold in facing them, yet also stay humble in God. Through the
Holy Spirit, we are given the power to cast out demons in the name of Jesus (Mark 16:17) and we should exercise this authority as the Holy
Spirit leads us.
Remember, the main weapon that demons use to tempt us is deception.
Hence the only way to fight it is to counter it with truth which is why
we need the Holy Spirit to lead us to all truth ( John 16:13).
TRUTH
Jesus promised that the truth will set us free, but again, so many
Christians are still entangled by the enemy’s lies. Why is this
happening? Aren’t they supposed to know that the truth sets them free?
Once more, we need to pay closer attention to the much misquoted
verse:
"To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, 'If you
hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then
you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.'”
John 8:31-32
There is a prerequisite condition to this promise and that is to hold on
to the teaching of Christ. ‘Knowing truth’ is not merely knowing the
correct information. It’s not enough to just understand intellectually
the proper doctrines. You need to actually hold on to it, to the point it
shapes your heart and mind. I will give you an example. Most people
believe that the world is round, but this truth does not affect our life,
not in a slightest way. It doesn’t affect how we interact with other people
or how we view life. That is not ‘knowing truth’ that Jesus has spoken
of. What Jesus meant was knowing truth to the extent that it affects our entire life.
If we really believe that Jesus was indeed resurrected
and ascended to heaven, then that means His words are true. And if
His words are true, then hell is real. If hell is real, can we really be so
lax about knowing that people are going to eternal damnation, without
reaching out to them with the Gospel? No. No one in their right mind
would just watch someone on fire die so painfully. They will try to do
something. If we truly believe Jesus’ words, we would do what we can
do to reach out as many people as possible. Now that’s holding on to
His teaching.
CLOSURE
Now that we have set the proper foundations and see the big picture,
we can start addressing the issues that people who struggle with SST
may often experience. What we are going to learn is merely the rule
of the thumb and let the Holy Spirit teach us directly, as each one has
different personalities and may be tempted in a slightly, if not vastly,
different way. I want to emphasize once more that this book is not
meant to make people ‘straight’, but rather to help people to think more
like Christ and eventually live more like Him. That’s discipleship.
Discipleship:
▶ Repent from false ideas and allow your mind to be changed by
God’s truth. Don’t hold on to ideas that are not aligned with
the words of our Lord. It will only make things harder.
▶ Jesus warned us to first consider the costs (Luke 14:28-33)
before making any commitment. Ask yourself why you want to follow Jesus. Are you only following Him to get what you
want from Him? Or is it just a religion that was passed down
to you? Have you really considered seriously, the price Jesus
paid for you? What is the price you are willing to pay to follow
Him, who has already paid the price for your sins? Jesus said, if
we don’t deny ourselves, we are not worthy of Him (Matthew
10:38). How much are we willing to give up for Him?
Are
we willing to give up our friends, our job, our stability, our
comforts, or whatever it costs to follow Him? If you find it
hard to let go of something, meditate on what Christ has done
for you, what He has let go of in order to save you. Once you
make the decision seal it with a prayer. Commit yourself to be
a disciple of Jesus, don’t settle for less! You can be a protestant,
catholic, orthodox, messianic, etc. and still not be a disciple of
Jesus. Make sure that you aim to be His disciple above all else.
I personally have stopped calling myself a protestant, because I
find that limiting and unscriptural.
▶ If you can’t make this decision right now, that’s okay. Continue
reading and ask God to reveal to you the beauty of Jesus and
you will see that even though you have to give up many things,
you will receive even more (Mark 10:29-30).
▶ Examine the yoke that you are carrying. Are you carrying your
own yoke or His yoke? Write the things that you desire and the
things that are weighing you down and compare them with
Jesus’ teachings. Are they from Jesus, yourself, or maybe even
from the enemy?
▶ After repentance, ask for the Holy Spirit to dwell in you (Luke
11:13) if you haven’t already. Without Him you cannot do
anything ( John 15:5). It’s the power of Holy Spirit that will
change you from inside out. The Holy Spirit will give you a new
nature. You will be drawn to holiness and become disgusted by
sin. If your life is not showing any real change of nature, then
you should question whether the Holy Spirit is at work within
you or not. Perhaps you have been quenching the Holy Spirit?
If you have, then stop grieving the Holy Spirit and start obeying
Him again.
▶ If you find the teachings in this book to be in line with the truth
(after you test it yourself), then read it again and again until
you affirm the things you have learned and hold on to them
(Deuteronomy 6:7).
CHAPTER 2 SHAME & GUILT:
GOD IS OUR
REDEEMER
Childhood is what I call the formation period of my life. So
many things, both good and bad, happened during that time
that really shaped my thinking and perception about a lot of
things. As a child I was able to enjoy my childhood like most children
by studying and playing, but at the same time I also experienced
physical abuse. Anyone who has been abused will most likely know
the deep shame that comes out of it. As an abused child, I grew up
with a deep sense of shame about myself. The shame was so great
that it became self-loathing. I couldn’t see anything good in myself. I
didn’t believe that anyone could love me, because I thought I was just
ugly, inside and out.
My perception about myself was so broken that
whenever someone complimented me for anything, I assumed that
person was lying and just being condescending to me. I remember
once a lady told me what a good looking boy I was and I got mad at
her because I thought she was patronizing me. I simply couldn’t believe
that I could amount to anything good. That’s how badly deceived I was!
DEPRESSION
Even though at times I was a quite happy boy, at other times I was really
gloomy. It was so bizarre. I can’t say my life was completely terrible. Yes,
I was abused physically, but I had friends and family who cared about
me at the same time. Most of the time I felt gloomy when I was all
alone. I internalized a lot of things from shame to sexual desire. Even
though in the beginning the sexual desire towards men didn’t bother
me so much, but it was still troubling, as I was already dealing with so
many other things. I thought it was too much for a child of that age. I
often asked myself why I was feeling all of these emotions that I didn’t understand.
I felt like there was a big turbulence inside me, but I was
very good at hiding my feelings and not letting anyone know what was
really going on. Because I kept everything to myself, I began to feel
depressed which eventually led me to suicidal thoughts. I really needed
to reach out, especially to God! (1 Peter 5:7)
The reason why I wanted to commit suicide was not necessarily
because I wanted to end my misery, that too, but it was more because
I wanted to get revenge with my parents. I wanted to make them feel
as miserable as I was feeling.
I remember trying to kill myself several
times, but a small quiet voice always stopped me. One time I was about
to cut my wrist and I heard a whisper saying, “Don’t let them win.” At
that time I thought the voice was telling me not to let my parents win,
because I perceived them as enemies back then. Little did I know my
enemies were not flesh and blood.
"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against
the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of
this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in
the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12
Looking back, I believe that this small quiet voice was the Holy Spirit
helping me to overcome the suicidal thoughts which the enemy had
sown in my mind. O how faithful God is to us! It makes me wonder
how many times I have missed realizing His presence in my life,
probably countless times. He is always there guarding us, guiding us,
but most of the time we just don’t realize it.
Even though I had stopped considering the idea of killing myself, I was
still depressed because I still harbored a lot of hatred in me, against
myself and my parents as well. And I closed myself off more and more
from the outside world. That’s when I began to draw more and spend
more time on the computer. That was my primary outlet for expressing
myself. I must say that even though it was a very good outlet and it
helped me a lot at that time, it never really healed me. It only helped me
to channel my feelings in an acceptable manner. It never really helped
me to deal with the root of the problem. I still experienced a deep sense
of shame within myself and anger towards my parents.
SHAME
I realize now that what I was experiencing was false shame. It was
not my fault that I was abused physically. It was not because I was
ugly or evil. This was nothing but lies perpetuated by the enemy and
made convincing by the abuse. This is exactly how the enemy works.
Sometimes sowing seeds of lies or doubts in our heart is not enough,
sometimes the enemy needs to use external things to make his lies
more convincing. He can use other people to say certain things to us.
He can also use events happening in our life to make his lies seem true.
That’s why it’s important for us not only to know God’s word, but also
to abide in it, no matter what happens, no matter what other people say.
Here’s a very common method the enemy uses. First the enemy will
put seeds of deception in our minds, such as “you’re different” or
“you’re not manly like the others” then he might use other people to
speak lies such as “you’re gay” or “you’re a sissy”, which will make the initial lie look even more convincing. So many people have fallen in
the past because of this method, including myself. We begin to think
to ourselves, “Maybe, I am what they say.” And once you start believing
those lies, the next thing you know you accept yourself in terms of
that label.
At first you feel ashamed because people make you feel that
way, but after a while you get tired of those encounters. To cope with
the resentment from other people for the identity given to you, you
hardened your heart with pride. And we all know that pride goes before
destruction (Proverbs 16:18). It’s true when they say “give the devil an
inch, he will take a mile.” All this because of ‘one small lie’: “you’re not a
man, not like them”.
Yes, the devil will use false shame to bind us, but true shame is also
necessary. True shame helps us to discern between what is moral
and what is immoral.
Nowadays we see people in gay pride parades
identifying publically with sexual immorality, sporting their nudity
and immoral sexual acts without feeling any apparent sense of shame
or perhaps suppressing the shame they may be feeling. It’s one thing to
sin and feel shame, it’s another thing to sin and to be prideful about it.
Lord have mercy on them!
GUILT
Once a person wrote to me and said that he was now free from all the
guilt that religion has imposed on him. But the reality is that guilt itself
can be a good thing. Just like pain is an indication that something is
wrong, guilt is the indication that we have done something morally
wrong. And this indication serves as a warning to us to take some action before it gets worse. But the question is: what is right and what
is wrong. It’s important for us to know the answer because…
"Then I heard a loud voice in heaven say: 'Now have come
the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God,
and the authority of his Messiah. For the accuser of our
brothers and sisters, who accuses them before our God day
and night, has been hurled down.'" Revelation 12:10
Our enemy, the accuser, will try to make us feel guilty for things we
don’t need to feel guilty over. For example, some people will feel guilty
because they are still tempted with sexual thoughts or have sexual
dreams involving members of the same gender. But we don’t have to
feel guilty about that, because we didn’t choose to have that experience,
just like Eve didn’t choose to be tempted by the serpent. However, we
should feel guilty if we start to entertain those thoughts and let them
linger in our minds because then that means we have sinned. We have
committed adultery in our heart.
So there is true guilt and false guilt.
True guilt will help us to go in the right direction and bring us closer
to God, but false guilt will only drag us down. If we don’t do anything,
we will fall into a downward spiral of depression. A very common false
guilt is when you continue to feel guilty even after you have confessed
your sin or you start to fear that you have committed the unpardonable
sin. Don’t let feelings dictate your decisions, let God’s word transform
your feelings.
"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will
forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9
Have faith that He has forgiven you! There is no need to beat yourself
up. You don’t try to fast or do something to make up for your sin. God
has already accomplished that for you. Don’t try to do what only Christ
can do for you. Only He can make up for our sin by having paid the
price on the cross. What you can actually do is repent from this sin and
the false guilt, letting your mind be renewed by God’s truth.
The enemy
will always try to stop you from coming to God, but please know that
God always wants you to come to Him. He would rather have you
come to Him with filth, so He can clean you up rather than have you
run away from Him. Remember the parable of the prodigal son? What
did the son need to do to be accepted by his father? Did he need to
clean up? Did he need to do anything for his father? Not at all, in fact
the father came running to his son the moment he saw him. All God
wants is for us to leave all the sin behind (repent) and come to Him,
just like the prodigal son left his old life after hitting rock bottom. Sadly,
this is true for most of us. We often have to hit rock bottom before we
actually come to our Father.
On the other hand some people feel guilty about their sin but they are
not willing to give it up. Rather than allowing God’s grace to transform
them, they end up abusing God’s grace, using it as a license to sin or by
twisting God’s word. Someone in a lesbian relationship told me that she
‘knew’ she was ‘saved’ so it didn’t matter what she did. While another
one said that it’s okay to be ‘gay’ and that King David and Jonathan were a gay couple, just like Ruth and Naomi were lesbians. This type of
thought is dangerous, because it shows an unrepentant hardened heart.
This shows that the person has no love for Jesus at all.
The Gospel does
save, but the Gospel also commands us to love God (Matthew 22:37),
not to use God as a means of salvation and later dispose of Him. So
it’s not about ‘knowing’ you’re ‘saved’, it’s about loving God. Don’t get
confused. We don’t love Him in order to be saved —that’s religion—
we love Him because He has saved us. Religious people try to make
God love them with their good deeds, but disciples do good deeds
because they love Him and they love Him because He has first loved
them (1 John 4:19).
FAILURE
My first exposure to pornography was when I was only 9 or 10 years
old, but I didn’t get really addicted to porn until my second year of
university. Growing up with Christian values, I knew that pornography
and masturbation were wrong, but I was really powerless to stop my
addiction. I felt really bad after every time I finished masturbating
while watching porn. I felt a mixture of feelings ranging from guilt,
shame, disgust, etc. But I had faith that one day God will free me from
all this and I really tried to do everything in MY power to stop myself
from doing it.
I tried praying about it, I tried reading the Bible, I tried
making myself busy with other things, I even tried to put the Bible next
to my computer, hoping if I saw it, I would stop myself from watching
porn and masturbating. But alas, all that to no avail! Because I was only
trying to change my behavior while my mind remained the same. The
longest I was able to stay ‘clean’ was only about six months (and those six months were not easy). All too soon I fell again.
Every day I had
to battle against the temptation to commit the sin that I still enjoyed.
And every time I fell into the same sin, the bad feelings grew worse. I
remember I used to count how many ‘clean’ days I had and when I fell
again, I felt like it was just another disappointment for me and for God.
I had to start from day one again. But by God’s grace I have been free
from all that since 2010 and I no longer count how many days because
every day is supposed to be a new day in Christ. Day one begins again
and falling in love with Christ starts all over again.
Because of the cycle of trying and failing, I grew weary and tired and
started to question if there was any hope for me. Falling again after
six months when I thought I was doing ‘great’ was quite devastating. I
began to lose faith that one day I would be free from all this. Finally, I
decided to just say good bye to God because I felt tired of disappointing
Him, I felt tired of repeating the same cycle again and again. I felt tired
of feeling like a failure. But the truth is, I didn’t know God properly. I
thought I needed to appease Him with my good behavior. I felt like I
needed to fix myself before I could come to Him. I realize now that my
perception of God was so distorted, I was not able to see that He loved
me, even when I was still ‘His enemy’ (Romans 5:10). In reality, I didn’t
need to fix myself before I could come to Him. Instead, all He wanted
was for me just to come to Him as I am and let Him do the restoration.
DELIVERANCE
It’s crucial to have the proper expectation of what true deliverance is in
terms of SST, lest we get disappointed or feel guilty for things we don’t
need to feel guilty about and then fall again. Deliverance doesn’t mean that you won’t be tempted, because Jesus
never promised that. If our Master was tempted, what makes you
think you won’t be? We are delivered from sin, not from temptation.
They are two different things. Deliverance is not about the absence of
temptation, deliverance is about the presence of God’s grace in our life.
It’s the grace that teaches us to say no to all ungodliness (Titus 2:12).
That’s what deliverance is.
So we will be tempted whether through
people, thoughts, dreams, conversations, images, etc. but as long as you
stay in God’s grace, you can say no to all that. I’ve been tempted in so
many different ways and the enemy has tried to make me feel guilty
about it, but understanding the truth about deliverance and the nature
of temptation has kept me from being deceived into depression again
from unnecessary guilt because I know that being tempted is not a sin.
Temptation only gives birth to sin when I fall into it. The Holy Spirit
has kept me walking victoriously in God’s grace. Bottom line: we need
God’s grace like we need oxygen. We need it when we stand strong. We
need it when we stumble. We need it every day. That’s our deliverance.
Feast on it.
REDEMPTION
The biggest difference in terms of salvation between the way of Jesus
and the way of religion concerns redemption. According to any religion
we need to perform a set of rituals and follow a set of rules to redeem
ourselves, but according to Jesus we need only to trust Him. He will
redeem us. We sin because we have become slaves of sin ( John 8:34)
and for us to be free from that slavery, there’s a price to pay. As slaves
we cannot pay our own ransom and that’s exactly why Jesus came to
the earth.
"just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to
serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." Matthew
20:28
It’s not that God will torture us if we don’t worship Him. That’s religion.
But we will be tortured because of our wrongdoing and that’s justice.
Jesus didn’t come to demand worship. Why would He? He is already
worshiped by angels and the universe! He’s the King of kings for crying
out loud. Jesus came to save us and set us free from the slavery of sin!
He came to lift our guilt and shame which was caused by our sin. And
all He asks from us is to trust Him. Once we truly believe that we have
been set free, we will automatically worship Him —not out of fear nor
because we want to escape hell. No. We worship Him because we are
thankful to Him who has saved us from hell. We worship Him because
He first loved us. This is the beauty of the Messiah.
We are not our
own redeemer. He is! And our redeemer lives. He didn’t just die on the
cross. He was also risen and conquered death to redeem us!
So don’t let any guilt and shame stop you from coming to the Lord.
Know that your shame and guilt just indicates your need for Christ.
Let your shame and guilt die and be buried along with your sins
and let God raise you up to a new life. As Jesus paid our ransom, we
become His. No longer do we live for ourselves, for our lusts, or fleshly
desires. We live for Him who gave His life for us. We become slaves of
righteousness in Christ, not out of force, but out of gratitude. No longer
do we want to do the former things. Rather the good works that God
has prepared (Ephesians 2:10).
We may still get tempted every now
and then, but we don’t want it anymore. Why would we? What we have in Christ is so much better. We have been set free! We should proclaim
it with joy and live out our freedom. This is redemption.
Discipleship:
▶ Study the word of God and ask the Holy Spirit for discernment
so that you can distinguish between what is false and what is true.
Discernment is a mark of a mature Christian which is acquired
through spiritual training (Hebrews 5:14). Since it’s a training, it
doesn’t happen subconsciously. You actually must pursue this.
▶ Always measure everything according to God’s word. People will
always have opinions and we can’t change that. We surely can’t stop
them from expressing their opinion, but we can definitely ignore
them, or we can forgive them if we’re hurt, once it’s been proven that
their opinion is not true according to God’s word. For example, some
people who identify as gay have called me all sorts of derogatory
names because of my testimony. In the past being called a sissy
or queer or queen would have really bothered me. Now, I couldn’t
care less because I know it’s just lies. I’m not going to waste my time
dwelling on lies. I’m more concerned with God’s truth.
▶ Pour out your heart out to God (Psalm 62:8). Prayer is more than
just a request. Yes, God knows everything, but pouring your heart
out is not about letting Him know things, as if He doesn’t know
already. It’s about trusting Him with your burden. Learn to cast
everything on the Lord first and don’t pick up what you have already cast on Him. Relax. He’s got it covered. After you pour out your heart
to Him, then you may reach out to a trust-worthy human being. This
may be helpful, but be very careful when you do this. It could make
things worse. Ask God for His counsel on who would be a godly
friend.
CHAPTER 3
INSECURITY& REJECTION:
GOD IS OUR
FATHER
I used to really love art. Well, I still do to an extent, but not as
much as I used to because now I love Jesus more. And so I used
to spend a lot of time drawing because it was an outlet for me to
channel my feelings that were stirred inside. But unfortunately my dad
was not happy with this. I remember him saying that what I was doing,
drawing, was useless and that I could better spend my time doing other
things. I was really hurt and set out to prove my dad wrong. And I
actually managed to do that, but that still didn’t heal me from the pain
of rejection.
REJECTION
Instead of affirmation, I got rejection for the very thing that I was
passionate about. I remember one time I played in a theatre and all
my family was there except for my dad. But because I was very used to
(what I perceived as) rejection, when he was not there, it was sort of
expected and it didn’t consciously bother me as much. I just remember
wondering where he was when everyone else was there. And so there
was some sort of disconnection between my father and me. I am sure
that he didn’t mean it that way, but it didn’t really look that way to me
back then. So, not only was I still carrying hurt and shame from the
abuse that I received from my mom, I also felt rejected by my dad.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying my dad is some evil monster, but
like any other human being, he is prone to make mistakes. I’m not
blaming him for anything, but not having that affirmation from my dad
led me to look for affirmation elsewhere and not in very good places.
That’s just how it happened. However, later in life my mom gave her life to Christ and she changed
significantly and tried to be close to me. My dad actually gave his life
to Christ first and he began showing us more attention, but I still felt
disconnected. The funny thing is my dad and I are in so many ways the
same and yet different. My dad doesn’t talk much and I was sort of like
that. As a result, neither of us tried to talk to each other and we ended
up not talking to each other. I think the only communication that I had
with my dad back then was mostly in anger. I was really longing for a
connection to a father figure.
Aside from feeling rejected by my dad, I also felt rejected by my male
peers. Even though I managed to make friends with the kids at school,
mostly girls, some of the boys were calling me names like sissy. And I
remember wondering if I was really one, a sissy, but I never really took
that to the heart. This just created a bigger schism between me and
other boys. Manhood, or at least what I perceived to be manhood back
then, became something that was inaccessible for me and because of
this, men became something mysterious to me. Like a puzzle to solve,
men were very interesting to me. Girls on the other hand were not. I
understood them and they seemed to flock around me. So they were
not interesting at all to me back then.
BEING DIFFERENT
As I grew older, I had more male friends and they didn’t make fun of
me. But because I already felt disconnected from the ‘men’s world’,
I was not really sure what to do with my male peers. That’s why most
of the time I withdrew internally and preferred to avoid them. It was easier that way, because I didn’t have to deal with the feelings of being
different (which I had since I was little) from the rest of the group and
feeling less of a man. We had different interests and I remember I didn’t
like the way they talked about women, because it was degrading and
even back then, I knew it was a false form of masculinity. I knew for sure
that it was not at all manly to talk about women in a degrading manner.
I thought that my peers were being childish and needed to grow up.
That made me all the more reluctant to be around them or be open
with them. The only thing that we had in common was our interest
in games and gadgets. I don’t think you can have a deep meaningful
friendship over that.
For me the friendship was rather superficial. I had
no problem with it, other than the fact that I was not interested in it.
I still felt disconnected from my own manhood despite having more
male acquaintances. This disconnection is most likely caused by a heart
wound that has not been dealt with.
On the other hand, I realize that for some people it is quite the
opposite. They don’t feel comfortable with members of opposite sex
and feel more comfortable with members of the same sex. Usually this
is caused by unhealthy experience they had involving members of the
opposite sex which led them to finding comfort in members of the
same sex. It’s clear that in both cases there’s a heart wound that needs to
be healed through forgiveness and God’s love. As God’s creations who
have fallen in sin, we all need forgiveness.
BODY IMAGE
One of the most prominent things that I most hated about myself was
my body. Being very skinny, I used to get a lot of remarks which made
me think that there is something wrong with being skinny. That made
me feel insecure and uncomfortable in my own skin. I hated my body.
I wanted to gain more weight and more muscle mass. But it was really
hard for me to gain weight, even though I ate more than what most
people. I guess my body is just not wired that way. And so I became
even more insecure and feeling even less manly for not having that
“male physique”. I felt like I could never measure up to that standard
of “a manly man”, i.e. a robust body, muscular, etc. I was constantly
comparing myself to other men thinking, “Look at that guy, look at his
big arms” or “That guy has pecs, not like you Sihol,” etc.
And because of this, I began to believe that a ‘real’ man or a manly
man is someone who is not skinny or at least not as skinny as I had
been.
As a result, I was always very attracted to guys who were (much)
‘thicker’ than me. I realize now that I was not really in love with them.
I was more in love with the fantasy of the ideal man that I wanted to
be. And so being intimate with them would be the closest thing I
could get toward being the man I wished to be. This is how it works
more or less: In reality one is only using the other to fulfill that fantasy.
This is not love at all. This is more like a form of ‘vampirism’ where
one is trying to absorb a portion of “manliness” from the other to
make oneself feel manlier or to affirm one’s manhood. Most likely the
other person is trying to do the same. Such a sad interaction between
two people! No wonder those who identify as gay often focus so much on the appearance and hence the relationship is often unstable.
According to a research study in which Colleen Hoff was the principal
investigator, 50% of same sex couples involved in the study were in
open relationships and infidelity seems to be part of the ‘gay culture’ as
admitted by some people who identified as gay. Sadly I must admit that
even though I wanted to stay faithful, I just couldn’t for some reason. I
suppose you can only fantasize about one person for so long before you
move on to the next fantasy. The ‘gay’ life style is definitely unhealthy in
so many different aspects.
CAMP
Another thing that bothered me about myself was the way I looked,
talked and walked. I hated my looks to the extent that I did not like
looking at myself in the mirror or getting my picture taken. I remember
one time I had to take a photo for school and when I printed the photo
(back then there were no digital cameras), I did not like what I saw and
so I burned the photo.
I also thought the way I talked and walked were considered feminine by
society, at least that’s what I perceived. And I was so scared that people
would know that I was (what I thought I was) gay at that time, that I
tried to change my mannerism, hoping that people would perceive me
as being manly. Honestly, I ended up feeling awkward with the way I
walked and talked. You can only pretend for so long, at least in my case.
I also tried to ‘force’ myself to like girls as well. But it was tiring, because
let’s face it, the truth is I was just faking it. I was not being authentic
with myself or with God.
I became anxious all the time around other people and always
wondered if this person or that person knew that I was ‘gay’. It got to the
point that when I heard other people laughing, I thought that they were
laughing at me. That really made me angry and more insecure. I often
thought to myself, “Why are they laughing at me? What’s wrong with
me?” In reality it was all just in my mind because I was so focused on
myself. Those people didn’t even know me. I was trapped in a delusion.
I really thought if I could change my behavior, things would be better, at
least I would feel better. I was so focused on trying to be what I thought
a man should be, that in the end I felt even more ashamed of myself for
falling so short. I did not realize back then that my problem was not on
the exterior, but rather on the interior. My insecurity was only a fruit
of something much deeper inside me, my self-hatred. Hence, trying to
change my exterior in the hope of permanently fixing the problem was
like trying to pluck the fruits, hoping that they wouldn’t ever grow back
without actually cutting the root. It was indeed foolish.
AFFIRMATION
I think my desire for other men was just my way of trying to get
affirmation as a man in the wrong place from the wrong source. Feeling
rejected by my father (not necessarily saying he really did reject me)
and by my male peers, feeling different from the rest of the men I knew
and thinking that I didn’t have the so-called ideal male physique or
attributes convinced me that I could never be a real man. I felt like I
didn’t even know how to become one. I was quite lost until God came
into my life and rearranged everything. He gave me direction. He spoke
order into my life.
Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will
receive me. Psalm 27:10
One of the things that really amazed me about God was that even
though I knowingly sinned He didn’t reject me, He didn’t even
condemn me. On the contrary, He was drawing me to Him. He didn’t
want me to die in my sins, He wanted me to have eternal life in Him.
For the first time in my life I was accepted for who I was, even with all
my brokenness and sin, and not just by anyone, but by the Creator, the
Holy God Himself. That’s something! Imagine being accepted by the
most important person in the universe.
While some people feel very
proud when given the chance to meet the President, I feel very honored
to be loved by the Creator of the universe. The moment I realized fully
His acceptance for me, was the moment my search for affirmation
ended. I didn’t have to look elsewhere to be affirmed as a man. I was no
longer clueless of what it means to be a man. I was no longer concerned
about my body (as long as it’s healthy) because I realized this is the
body my Creator had given to me and it’s good. He said so (Genesis
1:31). The best part is God didn’t just accept me for who I was, He
fathered me, He guided me and He showed me the man of God that
He intended me to become.
Yes, God accepts us for who we are with
all our brokenness and sin. Thankfully He doesn’t leave us broken and
hurt. He washes away our sin, heals our hurt, puts our pieces back
together and He restores us to His original plan!
As mentioned before, my relationship with my earthly father has not
been the best father-son relationship. And even though our relationship has gotten much better but it still may not be the exemplary father-son
relationship for some people.
But it’s not a problem because that’s not the condition for complete
healing. God heals us in many different ways. Just like Jesus didn’t heal
the sick with just one method.
One time He just spoke, another time
He touched the sick, one time the sickness was gone instantly, other
time the sick was healed gradually, etc. In some cases God heals us
through other people but in other cases, like mine, He heals without
human agent. How God heals us, it’s up to Him, not us. Much like it’s
not the patient that decides how the doctor should do his job but the
doctor. And the patient needs to surrender to the doctor. If not, he
can find another doctor. We cannot focus on the method of healing
but rather on the Healer Himself.
So, what’s important is to know
God personally as our Father and surrender to Him. He is the Father
of spirits and we are spirits. My earthly father is a human being prone
to making mistakes just like me. That’s exactly why he can’t possibly
replace my Father in heaven and I don’t expect him to.
Whether you are really rejected or simply feel rejected and long for
a connection with a fatherly figure, know that God can and wants
to father you. He is the best Father you can get and He is more than
enough! I know the idea may seem abstract to you now, but once you
start trusting God as your Father, you will see Him guiding you every
step of the way. Walk by faith, not by sight, and you will actually see.
God has fathered me and given me the affirmation that I needed as a
man and I have learned so much about being a real man by modeling after Jesus.
What about the women? Jesus should be their model as
well. After all Jesus is the embodiment of the perfect human. He is
the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) which humans are
supposed to have initially. Hence even women should model after Jesus
to be a godly woman. Indeed, Jesus is the perfect example for anyone.
SURRENDER
Surrender is such a simple concept and yet a very hard thing to do,
because when we surrender, we are giving our complete trust. Have
you played the game where you let yourself fall and you have to trust
your friends to catch you? That’s what surrender is. You let yourself fall
and you trust that God will catch you. Most of us were too afraid to fall
and let Him catch us. We prefer to make everything feel safe and secure,
when in the end nothing is really safe and secure, because we are simply
not in control, which is a good thing because God is.
That’s why we
should just trust Him. All we have to do is come to Him with all our
insecurities and learn to make Him our security by trusting Him. Will
we come to Him with our brokenness all exposed? It’s not that God
doesn’t know, He knows already. He just wants us to learn to trust Him
with everything, including our own brokenness. So the first step to
surrender is actually being authentic. Don’t try to muster your courage
up or think you can do this by yourself. Just be authentic to Him, tell
Him exactly what you feel and think. Then surrender all that to Him.
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not
my will, but yours be done.” Luke 22:42
Again Jesus Christ leads us not just with words, but with examples, the
perfect example of surrender. He was being authentic with the Father.
He was in anguish and He did not hide His distress. He certainly
did not hide His preference for the cup to pass, but eventually He
surrendered to the will of the Father. He trusted the Father to the
extent that He trusted His own life to His Father (Luke 23:46). And
through that the Father was glorified. Had Jesus not went through this,
we would have never known the joy of salvation, we would have never
known just how much God loves us.
So what do we learn from this? I didn’t ask God to make me straight or
pray the gay away, I simply asked God to make me who He wants me
to be (His will and not mine).
In fact, I told God that if He is OKAY
with homosexuality, please just let me ‘stay gay’. But once I surrendered
everything such as my insecurity, anxiety, self-loathing, hatred
against my parents, etc. to God, everything else started to change
supernaturally.
The problem is a lot of people don’t want to let go of their own will.
I often hear people tell me, “I just want to live a normal life and be a
straight guy. I just want to have my own family. I wish God would just
take this away from me.” Notice it’s MY will and not God’s will. They
want God to do something that THEY want. What if God doesn’t
want you to have a ‘normal’ life? Or what if His normal is different
from yours? What if God doesn’t want you to be married? You’re still
not surrendering to God.
I’m not saying you can’t desire those things,
but this is NOT about your will, it’s about His. We are quick to call
something a blessing when it accords our will but what about when it doesn’t? Going to a prison can actually be a blessing especially when it’s
in that place we finally stop playing God and start surrendering to Him.
Before I surrendered my life to Jesus, I didn’t know what to expect from
following Jesus. I even thought to myself, “Oh my goodness following
Jesus would be ever so boring, I will have to give up so many (carnal)
pleasures and I will be stuck with just singing hymns and praying. Oh my
gosh, it’s gonna be so boring! Not fun at all!”
I actually expected the worst from following Jesus. Nonetheless, I just
knew that I wanted to follow Him at any cost because He loves me way
too much for me to ignore Him. How can I not follow someone who
loves me enough to die on the cross?
Fortunately, it turned out that
following Jesus has been the best decision I ever made in my entire life.
I still have problems and get tempted in life every now and then, but
I have peace because I know I can trust my Savior in any situation. I
have a shepherd who guides me to the green pastures even though
sometimes I may have to go through the valley of death, but I don’t
have to worry because He is with me. I have gained so much more in
this life and will gain even more in heaven! (Matthew 19:29)
So, will you say to God, “Lord, I’m in a big mess right now? I need your
help. I would like for this mess to go away, but most importantly I would
like to surrender myself to You in this mess and let Your will be done in
my life, whatever that is even if it means something that I may not like or
understand now.”
STEREOTYPE
Once I surrendered myself to God, I was no longer concerned about
attaining that ‘manly man’ image, or about being straight. I just wanted
to be what God wants me to be. And I realize now that the image of
man that I had been pursuing previously was just a false image. I was
confusing between God’s truth and social stereotypes. Now I realize
that being a man does not equal to being Hercules nor a woman a girly
princess.
Should a woman be wearing girly dresses and accessories? If we actually
follow Peter’s advice for women, they are not supposed to adorn
themselves! (1 Peter 3:3) Does being a man mean we can’t cry at all?
If that was true, then was Jesus not a man for weeping? ( John 11:35).
It’s time we question the things we have been taught and test them with
God’s word. Remember, we are not to conform to the pattern of this
world, but rather to God’s word. What truly makes a man (or woman)
of God is Christ-likeness. The only stereotype we need to embrace is
the godly stereotype.
All this time I had been fixating on a false manhood and feeling
ashamed for something I didn’t need to feel ashamed about in the first
place! That’s false shame. I don’t need to be like most men, because I
am called to be like Christ, not like most other men. Other men cannot
possibly be like me and I can never be like them, because God has
created me uniquely, wonderfully, and fearfully. I no longer need to
compete with other men because I know who I am in Christ.
And I
don’t think I’m fearfully wonderfully made because I have what every
man wants, not at all. That would be putting my worth back in the game with other men, and not in God. But I believe I am fearfully and
wonderfully made because God made me for a purpose. I’m not some
cosmic accidental junk. I may not be perfect for everything, but I know
I am perfect for His purpose in my life. And so are you!
And because of that I’ve stopped comparing myself to other men (for
the record, comparing is a sign of envy; it’s sin). I’m becoming the man
that God intended me to be... not what people expect me to be. And
if ever I am tempted to compare myself again to another man, I will
instead give thanks to God.
Giving thanks may seem like a small thing
but if done obediently you will be surprised at how it can renew your
mind and hence transform your life. I practice giving thanks for the
body He has given me. It’s a healthy body used for His glory, not mine.
Sure I can work out if I want to be bigger and more muscular, but at
this time I find that trivial. I don’t see the need and I don’t really desire
it. However, I do try to stay healthy so I can keep serving God with this
body. My only pursuit is to be more like Christ.
The Son is the image of the invisible God…
Colossians 1:15
Every day we are bombarded with myriads of images. The world is
trying to tell us what we should buy, how we should look like, what we
should be, and a million other things. In time we get really confused
and start to pursue these images rather than the one image we should
follow, Jesus Christ. Why do we work so hard to attain these false
images when we can just follow the true image of God? Why do we
want to be like this celebrity or that celebrity? Why do only a few want to be more like Jesus? Why are we not looking up to God through
Christ?
Once I’ve forsaken those false images, I’ve become more comfortable
in my own skin. I don’t care if I twist when I walk or if my voice is not
deep enough. I don’t really care if people think I’m still gay. I don’t need
to conform to people’s expectation, I just need to conform to God’s
will. Such freedom is only found in Christ!
FACES OF MAN
A lot of us second guess our (wo)manhood because of the stereotypes
imposed on us. A lot of us feel inadequate as men and that could be
because of our physique, our voice, our mannerism, our preference,
or even a job that doesn’t live up to the stereotypes. We have our own
opinion, people have their own opinion, but in the end what matters is
what God says:
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image
of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27
God didn’t create a ¼ man or a ¾ man or ½ man or somewhere
in between man and woman or the 3rd or 4th gender. He created
(fully) man and (fully) woman. It’s not our attributes that define our
manhood. It’s actually quite the opposite. It’s our manhood that defines
our attributes. Whether you talk with a higher pitch or with a deep
voice, that’s the voice of a man, because you are a man. Whether you
are skinny or stocky, that’s the physique of a man, because you are a man. Whether you have a rough or graceful mannerism, that’s the
mannerism of a man, because you are a man. Whether you like sports
or art, that’s what men like, because you are a man. Whether you work
as a mechanic or a nurse, that’s what men do, because you are a man.
The world is telling us the lie that there is only one type of man and that
we all need to conform to this image. In reality there are different types
and we don’t need to conform to anything but God’s image in which
we were created. Believe it when God said that He created you as a
complete man and give thanks to God for making you the (wo)man He
wants you to be, not who you want to be. We don’t need anything to
prove our (wo)manhood. It is given by God. We need to simply accept
it!
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures
forever." Psalm 118:1
Once we have truly embraced this revelation, we will be free from
unnecessary anxiety and stress. No longer will we have to worry about
how we look, how we sound, what we do, which label we belong to, and
all other things, because we will be too busy giving thanks to God.
BELIEVE IN YOURSELF NOT!
Let me just be totally blunt: confidence is a deception. I’ve heard
people try to boost their confidence by telling themselves that they
are successful, good looking, smart, etc. It’s a lie. Really. You don’t
want to put your self-worth on temporal things that will pass. Our
value is found in Jesus, in the shedding of His precious blood, which means that we are precious and nothing can change this fact. The only
thing that will remain true is the word of God and that’s why He is our
Rock.
Hence the ‘secret’ is to know who we are in Christ, not to have
confidence in ourselves or believe in ourselves. Put your worth in Jesus.
Only then will you be free from all sorts of insecurities because you will
be putting your security in the God who is always in control. You don’t
need confidence. You need faith in God. So the next time God calls on
you to do something don’t be afraid, don’t be confident, but simply
believe in Him and marvel at His work through you.
This is what the LORD says:
“Cursed is the one who trusts
in man, who draws strength from mere flesh and whose
heart turns away from the LORD." Jeremiah 17:5
Discipleship:
▶ Jesus warned us that following Him does not mean we will not have
trouble. In fact, we may very well be hated and get into trouble, but
don’t be discouraged! Jesus has overcome! Our reward is beyond
your wildest imagination (1 Corinthians 2:9). Paul called our
troubles light and momentary and they are nothing compared to the
glory the Father reserves for us (2 Corinthians 4:17). We will gain far
more than what we lose by following Him. But don’t take my word,
take Jesus’ word instead and read Mark 10:29-30. It is really worth
it! Meditate on God’s promises. Imagine the glory you will receive
in Heaven and set your eyes on the things above.
CHAPTER 4 SINGLEHOOD: GOD IS OUR HUSBAND
“Have you met anyone yet?”
I think almost all —if not all— single people suffer with this
question, including myself. This kind of question used to vex me
a lot, then I realize that people are probably concerned when they
ask that question. And so I learned to bear with it and answer it like I
would answer any other question. Personally my problem is not so
much with the question itself, but rather with the thinking underlying
it. It seems to put single people in this category of incompletion,
making them look like sad human beings who need to attain the
supreme goal of every human being, to get married. Where did we
learn this? Certainly not from the word of God!
WHOLENESS
As society we are under the assumption that unless we have a
“significant other” then we will be ‘forever lonely’ (I am tempted to
put the meme here) or miserable or incomplete. I wonder if this is all
because of the stories we see on books, movies, and songs; how they
just revolve around romantic couples. I can’t remember any movie
that portrays a satisfied single. Even if there’s an unmarried character,
usually in the story that character is looking for someone or bound to
find “someone special” or worse, they are simply promiscuous. Perhaps
we do have an intrinsic longing for someone.
I personally believe the latter, but I also believe that the world has once
again corrupted what is really natural. In our pursuit for wholeness we
are often diverted and end up looking for things that make us happy but
don’t make us whole.
We have confused wholeness with happiness; we have exchanged something lasting with something fleeting. Happiness
alone doesn’t last forever and it will make you crave for more.
Wholeness will free you from any craving. Hence it’s very important
not to settle for mere happiness but rather to seek wholeness.
We have been so betrayed by the concept of “soul mate” and often
waste our time looking for “the one”. There is no scripture that teaches
this. Two incomplete human beings cannot possibly complete each
other. They are simply each a separate and different puzzle which needs
to be completed individually. God is not some cosmic matchmaker, He
is the Groom of His church.
For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on
earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or
rulers or authorities; all things have been created through
him and for him. Colossians 1:16
You were created FOR CHRIST, not for some guy or girl. I will say this
again: you were created for Christ. That’s why another created being
can never fully complete you because you were not meant for that in
the first place. It’s really important to repent and realize this truth, that
God created us first and foremost for Himself. And this is actually a
beautiful thing. This doesn’t mean that God is some egomaniac (which
some people accuse Him of), not at all. This means that you are wanted,
loved, cherished, and pursued by God. This means that only Christ can
truly complete you. Only God can give you everlasting pleasure (Psalm
16:11). No wonder Jesus said this,
If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and
mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes,
even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.
Luke 14:26
We need to love Him to the extent that our love for other people, even
ourselves, seems like hatred. This means that our love for the person
that we love the most is nothing compared to our love for Jesus. This
means that Jesus dwells in the Holy of holies (a very special place)
in our heart where no one can’t even come close to, much less enter
it. Shocking? Not at all! It makes total sense IF we believe only Jesus
can truly satisfy us and bring pleasure to our life. Why do we easily
accept and romanticize the idea that couples were made for each
other?
Couples blush just thinking they were made for each other but
do we blush realizing that God made us for Himself? Why do we find
the idea we were created for our Creator as less exciting? Isn’t that the
most romantic thing you can ever experience? That the Creator made
us especially for Himself? Do you know why? It is because carnal
minds seek carnal things. That’s what the world wants us to think. Thus
we need to repent from seeking completion in other people —that’s
idolatry by the way— and start realizing that only Christ can make us
complete.
You CAN be single and complete. You don’t need another
human being to complete you as a person. Once we are made complete
in Christ, then we can have a committed relationship that is not about
finding “the one”, but about being “the one” and making the other
party “the one.” It’s actually beautiful. It’s pure love. I love you without
expecting anything in return. I love you because of love. Isn’t that what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself ”? We love ourselves without
expectation and that’s how we should love others as well. Isn’t that how
God is with us?
Surely I’m not putting marriage down.
Whether we like it or not, Christ
is our real spouse and our highest devotion is to Him alone. The good
news is Christ has called us to love one another the way He loves us.
So it actually works for everyone and that’s why a Christ-centered
relationship will stand through anything because we have two whole
people giving love to each other without needing anything back. It’s
better than two incomplete people trying to make each other feel
complete. One makes the other the center of his/her life hoping that
the other will make him/her the center of his/her life. Not only is it
emotionally exhausting, it’s a form of idolatry.
"And you are complete in him, who is the head of all
principality and power." Colossians 2:10
FELLOWSHIP
Being complete in God does not mean that we don’t need to be in
relationships with other people. That is two different things. We are
relational beings because God is relational. He made us in His image
because we are supposed to be in a relationship, first with Him and
then with other people.
The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be
alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Genesis 2:18
Some people think that this verse shows that God is not enough for us.
In reality it’s a mistake that one commits for thinking carnally. David
clearly said that,
“The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want.” Psalm
23:1
God has never said, not even once, that He is not enough. Over
and over again He declared that He is all that we need. He is our Savior.
On the contrary, God reprimanded those who depended on mere flesh
and blood. There is no doubt that God is everything that we need.
He is sufficient, even more than sufficient for us. This verse (Genesis
2:18) is not a declaration of God’s insufficiency but rather His plan for
humankind. The keyword here is “a helper”. A helper in what way? Bear
in mind that we are here for a purpose to which God has assigned us.
Our life is not about ourselves. I need to remind you again that we are
created for Christ.
"God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and
increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over
the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every
living creature that moves on the ground.'” Genesis 1:28
This was God’s mission for both Adam and Eve: subdue the earth by
multiplying, not to merely grow old together or have that white picket
fence family while the rest of the world out there are dying in sin. No!
God wants us to subdue the earth! It’s an adventure. Eve could not have
done that by herself, nor could Adam have done it with ‘Steve’, cliché
I know. God created Eve for Adam so that TOGETHER they could
fulfill their God-given mission. They were supposed to raise up godly
children that will do the work of God and their children were supposed
to raise up godly children to do the work of God and so on. That’s how we are supposed to subdue the earth. Sadly many of us prefer to
live in our safe zone rather than taking part in the adventure that God
is preparing. We have reduced marriage into our own mere pursuit of
happiness and romance and completely ignored God’s original intent
for marriage.
Have you seen the movie The Fellowship of The Ring? Do you know
how Frodo and the gang worked hand in hand to achieve one purpose?
Marriage is supposed to be like that; it’s not a cure to loneliness nor the
purpose of life. God designed marriage to be a form of fellowship where
the couple works hand in hand to complete God’s mission in their life.
This is what marriage was initially all about, not about growing old
with “the one” or having someone to take care of us, etc. Don’t get
me wrong; those are marital blessings that you can receive (but not
always) through your obedience. And you should enjoy them, but
they’re not the focus.
Marriage is not so much about the celebration of
a relationship between two people, or about being part of the natural
course of life (implying that celibacy as advised by Paul is unnatural),
but rather about God’s plan for mankind to flourish, not just in
quantity, but also in quality (every parent wants his/her child to have
a better life than theirs and we know that there is no better life other
than the one in Christ for He is life). Marriage was meant to help us in
the adventure that God has prepared for us, the adventure of subduing
the earth! Hence it’s very important to get married with the correct
mindset, which is to stay faithful to God’s mission. And only through
obedience to His plan do we receive our highest pleasure in life.
Of course the mission we receive now is no longer to merely multiply
physically. That was for the first Adam and Eve. We —the church—
as the second Eve are commanded to multiply spiritually —to make
disciples— by Jesus, our second Adam. This is the mystery Paul talked
about in Ephesians 5. So for those who are physically barren, rejoice!
God wants us to be spiritually fruitful above all else. The absence of
physical descendant simply means that you have more time and energy
for God’s kingdom. God still wants and can use you.
And for this mission, we need an even greater helper namely the
Holy Spirit ( John 14:16).
Imagine that, God Himself becomes our
HELPER! I guess being a helper is not at all an inferior or degrading
position. And now it’s very clear why we should be married only to
someone who is equally yoked (2 Corinthians 6:14). It’s not merely so
that we can have a “good happy marriage”. How can someone who is
living outside of Christ help us to obey Him? It’s the same reason why
there cannot be “gay” marriage in Christianity, because the purpose of
marriage is to help us to obey God, while “gay” marriage is a blatant
disobedience to God’s plan. That’s why a great marriage is the union of
two people who love the Lord Jesus more than they love each other,
because they will continue to help each other to obey the Lord ( John
14:15).
As always, the enemy tries to confuse us by offering a cheap version of
marriage based on nothing but feelings and godlessness. And the end
result? High divorce rate. Surely if there is no sense of godly love and
fellowship in a marriage, we know feelings are fleeting, people can just
leave anytime. After all, if they were married only for the feelings, once the feelings are gone, what’s the point of staying, right? And this is the
so-called “love marriage”. Sadly many Christians have bought this false
idea of marriage. We make marriage about ourselves and not Christ. We
need to repent! Stop thinking like the world! We need to see marriage
not as a way to please ourselves, but rather to please God. Yes, we need
other people, not only to make us feel better about ourselves, but to
help each other complete God’s mission in our life.
FELLOWSHIP OF THE SAINTS
The problem that we now have is not only do we have the wrong idea
of marriage where it’s all about us rather than God, but we also put
marriage on a pedestal and totally set aside other types of fellowship
and perhaps even consider them of lesser value. We are often so hung
up with the idea that “being in a relationship” must mean marriage.
What about brotherhood or fellowship of the saints?
Marriage is surely a form of fellowship, but it is by no means the only
form of fellowship that we must or can have with other saints, because
obviously throughout the scriptures we see so many single people who
devoted themselves to God’s ministry in their life. Even Jesus spoke
clearly about eunuchs (whether by birth, made by other people, or by
one’s own choice, Matthew 19:12) —meaning “alone in bed”— who
live for the sake of God’s Kingdom. And these people live in fellowship
with other people. They may sleep alone but they don’t live alone.
Take Jesus for example. He was in a relationship with His disciples. He
practically lived with them before He sent them out. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and
to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2:42) The first century church had one thing that a lot of “churches”
nowadays don’t have and that is real fellowship. By fellowship it’s not
just a once a week meeting, but daily meetings with glad and sincere
hearts (Acts 2:46). They also stayed together and shared with each
other (Acts 2:44). Their fellowship was not merely fun and social, but
their fellowship was formed for one purpose: to fulfill God’s mission
—making disciples.
I suppose this is why as they shared the gospel,
their numbers were increased (Acts 2:47). This makes me wonder;
maybe evangelism will be more effective and convincing if we actually
have a real fellowship of the saints, those who have been born again in
Christ. What better way is there to convince people of God’s love other
than showing it through the fellowship of the saints? Maybe it’s time
for us to give fellowship among the saints more serious consideration.
A fellowship where saints can actually know each other more (perhaps
in a smaller number), care for each other, share with each other, keep
each other focused on God, teach each other to obey God and basically
just be one body, the body of Christ, working for one purpose:
making disciples. How can the body function properly if we are so
disintegrated, thinking only about our own life and not about other
saints and God’s mission?
Just like marriage, through the fellowship of the saints we can also be
fulfilled as relational beings, without loss of focus, the purpose is still to fulfill God’s mission in our life. Meaningful relationships are simply the
reward we get as we do that, they should not be the goal.
In reality, the nuclear family is not given an emphasis in the New
Testament, it has always been about fellowship of the saints. Jesus
sent out His disciples in pairs, but not married couples. What is one of
the marks of a disciple? It’s that we, His disciples, love each other the
way Jesus has loved us ( John 13:34-35). How did Jesus love us? He
sacrificed everything for us.
Jesus even went as far as saying that His
family are those who obey Him (Matthew 12:50). What a radical view
of family! I’m not saying we should forsake our physical family, but
the question we have to really consider is accepting other saints as real
family, as a part of our physical family?
Do remember that marriage is NOT eternal. We will ALL be single
when we are in heaven (Matthew 22:30) and the only form of relationship that we have for eternity, other than with the King Himself, is the fellowship of the saints. So why not start now?
[Dennis Edwards: Or at least we will not be married in the say way as we are on earth. Remember the fallen angels desired to have sex with the woman on earth, so they were capable of having sex. There may even be some sort of sex in heaven all within the law of love and all controlled by God's Holy Spirit.If there is sex in heaven, how it will work, and with whom, and why, and where, and when, will all be guided by God's Holy Spirit and not by the lusts and whims of our earthly desires.
I suppose, if we keep our male and female identities, then sex will continue to be between the opposite sexes as God has commanded. But God's ultimate aim with sex is not just relief from stress and pressure by providing us pleasure, but procreation, the creating of new life, new souls for His Kingdom. Could it be that there will be babies born in Heaven? All we know for sure is that eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the hearts of those that love Him, what God has prepared for us His children.]
LONELINESS
As you can see being single is NOT the same as being alone or lonely.
Jesus was single, but He was neither alone nor lonely. Paul was single,
but he was neither alone nor lonely. I’m single and I’m not lonely.
Normally people think that only single people suffer loneliness. This is
not true. Loneliness is a state of mind and not a state of being. We can
be surrounded by people and still feel lonely or alone. Even a married
person can still feel lonely while lying beside their spouse. And yet we
can be alone, but not lonely. So, why do we feel lonely?
Personally I believe we feel lonely because we feel disconnected or
isolated inside and maybe we are. And as stated earlier, God is what
makes us complete. So, when we feel lonely, it really means that we are
disconnected from God. Hence, whenever loneliness starts to flood our
hearts, our reaction should not be looking for another human being,
but rather seeking God.
But the world doesn’t want you to do that. The world wants to divert
our attention from our creator to His creation by bombarding us with
images and messages telling us that we are lonely and unhappy because
we don’t have a significant other.
We are told that happily ever after
only comes with marriage, while single people are mostly portrayed as
being either sad or lonely. But if you read the scriptures, this is not true
at all! Singles can live a fulfilled life according to the scriptures. Why
are we listening more to the world than to God? We are being sold out
to the false idea that there is someone who can truly understand us and
connect with us, someone who can make us happy. The truth is there
is no one who can understand us better than the one who created our
innermost being (Psalm 139:13) and only God can give us the utmost
pleasure.
Because of the constant bombardment of this “find the one” message,
we develop an expectation or a desire to actually “find the one”. That’s
how advertisements work. They create a need or want, if there isn’t
one already. That’s how vendors entice people to buy their products.
And when you don’t have someone, you feel like you have failed and
you become discontent with your singleness. This perpetuates the loneliness. Not to mention that you may start envying others who have
a partner. That’s sin by the way. This is truly a vicious cycle. We need to
break free from this thinking.
We need to realize that there’s nowhere in
the scriptures that tells us to “find the one”. If anything, the scriptures
are all about being found by the one who created us and our faithfully
seeking His face.
Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says,
‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ Luke 15:6
We need to repent from this carnal thinking and start thinking
spiritually. Our primary focus in life is Christ. Learn to be content
with what God has given you. Learn to be content with what you don’t
have.
Give thanks in all circumstances because this is the will of God (1
Thessalonians 5:18).
This does not mean you will remain single forever,
nor does this mean you will get married in a heartbeat. This only means
that you learn to surrender and acknowledge that God’s will is always
good for you, whatever it may be.
I now personally prefer to stay single because I feel like I can be more
effective in serving God that way, but I always tell God, “Lord I want to
remain single but not my will, Your will be done. If you see me fit to be
married, then so be it.” I really can’t see myself being married. But then
again 4 years ago, I didn’t see myself writing this. God sure can do some
amazing things if we surrender ourselves to Him. His plan is so much
better than ours. One thing we must keep in mind, whatever we do in life, we must do it
for Christ (Colossian 3:17).
Some people prefer to be single because
that allows them to do things that they probably couldn’t do for their
own pleasure if they were married or perhaps they have previously
been hurt. That should never be our motive for staying single. Rather
when we are single, we should be single for Christ. And when we are
married, we should be married for Christ. This is the calling of every
believer, regardless of their marital status. This is about living for Christ
and loving others with the love of Christ, a genuine love without
expecting anything in return. It’s no longer about satisfying our own
desires because Christ has already satisfied us. The purpose of our life is
to serve Christ and others. It’s only when we live for Christ that death
becomes a gain for us (Philippians 1:21).
So rather than merely seeking
a spouse, it’s better to seek opportunities to serve the Lord. It’s better to
ask people about their walk with Christ (and encourage them), rather
than focus upon their marital status. It’s better to pray for people to
draw closer to Jesus, rather than praying for a spouse for them.
I would like you to be free from concern. An unmarried
man is concerned about the Lord’s affairs—how he
can please the Lord. But a married man is concerned
about the affairs of this world—how he can please his
wife— and his interests are divided. I am saying this
for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may
live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.
(1 Corinthians 7:32-33,35)
Discipleship:
▶ We all need rest. That’s why we need to spend time with God,
especially when we start to feel lonely. Jesus took His rest from
ministry and spent time with the Father. We should do the same.
▶ Make special time with God. We can spend hours watching TV, but
why is it so hard to set a special time for God? And I’m not talking
about fitting God into our busy schedules. I’m talking about making
Him so important that we will sacrifice even the one thing we love
the most for quiet time with Him.
▶ Learn to give thanks to God for the things that you don’t particularly
like. At times when I have lacked income I have learned to simply
give thanks because without it I could never know what it means to
trust Him completely (Mark 12:44). Giving thanks is a bigger deal
than most people think. People who are bitter will complain a lot,
but people who are obedient in giving thanks will find peace in the
midst of any situation.
▶ For more insight into marriage, I highly recommend reading
the book entitled YOU AND ME FOREVER by Francis Chan.
It’s a must read for married couples or singles seeking God’s
will for their lives. You can download it for free (go to the FAQ
section in this website). But if you can pay for it, please do. The
money will go to various ministry projects (i.e. in Africa). www.
youandmeforever.org
CHAPTER 5 IDENTITY:
GOD IS OUR
CREATOR
One of the most frequently asked questions that I get from
people after giving my testimony is, “So what are you now?
Are you straight or bi or what?” I would just lightly say, “I’m
neither. I’m just a child of God.” This usually leaves people confused
because they expected me to put myself in one of the boxes that society
has created to categorize each individual. But since society did not
create the world, I don’t have to follow that pattern of thinking. God is
the only one who gets to define who we are because He is the One who
created us. He knows exactly who we are supposed to be. He is the one
who formed our beings and knit our parts together.
For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my
mother’s womb. Psalm 139:13
BY GRACE ALONE
There is so much to salvation than just escaping hell and going to
heaven. Yes, it starts with the forgiveness of our sins but that’s just the
beginning. Yes, we receive the promise of heaven but God’s salvation is
so much more exhaustive than that. And if we don’t understand the full
extent of His salvation, we are missing so many things.
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the
kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3
Whether someone was born gay or not, it’s really not important
because in the end we all need to be born again. Being born again into
God’s Kingdom means we are given a whole new identity and it’s not
something earned by good works but rather given by God’s grace and received through faith. However just like being a citizen of any country,
we are expected to follow the rules and regulations of that country or
kingdom.
I was born and bred in Indonesia and because of that being Indonesian
has become a nature for me. I don’t try to be Indonesian, I am
Indonesian. It’s the same thing with being born in God’s Kingdom.
When we’re born again in His Kingdom, we’re not born as sinners,
that’s our old identity. We’re born again as saints. We are born of His
Spirit ( John 3:5-6) and God’s Spirit is Holy Spirit, not sinful spirit. So
when we start realizing ourselves as saints, holiness becomes a nature
for us, not a task. And when we do sin, we don’t take it lightly. We don’t
like it because we know it’s against our very nature. Just like when I
went to visit my cousin who has been living in the states for quite a few
years, I felt a bit weird because we kept talking in English. It was weird
because Indonesian is our mother tongue, why were we then speaking
English to each other? So I just decided to start speaking Indonesian
to her because I felt that it was more natural for both of us.
Perhaps
she was speaking English because she has a new identity, now being an
American. Besides I suppose she speaks English most of the time now
and is trying to embrace her new identity. But my point is our identity
determines our nature and our nature dictates our behavior. So when
we realize we’re saints and we keep sinning, we will feel uncomfortable
because we know that’s not right. That’s not our nature.
The danger of seeing ourselves as merely forgiven sinners is that when
we actually sin, we don’t take it seriously because after all, hey we are
sinners. That’s what sinners do. That’s our nature, isn’t it? That’s why so many “Christians” sin so easily and think that they can just later confess
and be forgiven. This is WRONG. God is not interested in having
merely forgiven sinners. He wants holy people (saints) because He is
holy (1 Peter 1:16).
The whole point of being born again is for us to
start anew, including a new identity which we need to believe, embrace,
and eventually live out. What’s the point of being born again as sinners,
that’s not born again! Might as well call it born the same again.
The world wants us to think that in order to be something, we need to
achieve certain things. Take men who believe they’re actually women
for example, they think in order to be a woman they need to get breast
implants, nice long hair, and soft mannerisms with dainty accessories,
etc.
But we know that has nothing to do with being a woman. That’s just
social construct of a woman, not God’s. Being a woman is something
that is given by God’s grace, not achieved through surgery or make up.
You simply can’t take that away or earn it. And apparently it’s not just
men who want to be women who need to meet certain requirements,
men who want to be ‘men’ seem to have their own set of standards to
attain.
It’s like we need to prove our ‘manhood’ first but God doesn’t
work that way. He works by grace alone. Manhood or womanhood
is something that is given by grace, not something that we receive by
merit. All we have to do is receive it. We don’t try to become a man or
woman, we were born (again) as one. We just don’t realize it because
we have been fed with lies by the enemy through society. I used to feel
less of a man because I feel like I was not meeting the requirements to
be a man set by this world. But once I received that God-given identity
and realized that I’m a man’s man in God’s eye, I started to just naturally
act like one. I don’t need to fake it because it’s just who I am. It’s in me, it’s my nature. I’m a man. I exude manliness. It’s as simple as that.
And
I’m not talking about being a man as expected by society, I couldn’t
care less about that. I have no interest in conforming to man-made
conventions or societal expectations. I’m talking about being a man
of God. So, I’m not boasting my achievements as a man because they
don’t make me a man. I’m simply boasting God’s grace who made me
the man that I am today.
So in short this is how it works: He gives us a new identity by grace
and once we receive it through faith, a new nature and new behaviors
conforming to that new identity will spring forth. Doing good deed is
no longer a requirement for our salvation but rather it’s the fruit of our
salvation. That’s why it’s very important to know who we are in Christ
and repent from any work-based identity that the world imposes on
us! Start receiving God-given identity that no one can take away or
diminish. Receive God’s grace. Stop trying to work for your identity.
That’s idolatry.
TEMPTATION
Words are not just words. Words are very powerful tools that we can
use either for good or bad. It is so powerful that it is said that death
and life are in the power of the tongue according to Proverbs 18:21.
Words are not just a means of communication. They shape our very
foundation of thinking. This is why we should be careful with the words
we use.
The world wants to shape and change our thinking pattern to
conform to the pattern of this world by changing the very words we
use. For example, the word ‘feelings’. It’s such an innocent little word, right? It is and I’m not arguing whether there is such a thing as feelings
or not. I’m quite sure there is. However, when we start using the word
‘feelings’ for something that is clearly more than just feelings then we
have been somewhat deceived.
People talk about having gay feelings. Is it just a feeling? Or could it
be more than a feeling? Could it be that it’s actually a temptation?
What about a man who FEELS an attraction to multiple women?
Are we going to settle the question by saying that he is only having
‘polyamorous’ feelings? Apparently that’s what the world is trying
to push now. More and more we see polyamorous “couples” in the
media. There is no more discernment regarding whether the feelings
are right or wrong. This kind of labeling is nothing but an attempt
from the enemy to confuse us and to blur the truth.
When a man is
feeling (sexually) attracted to another woman other than his wife, for
Christians, it doesn’t mean he is just having polyamorous feelings and
somehow that justifies him to act on them. What he is experiencing
is not merely a feeling or an attraction, but more specifically and
clearly a temptation to commit adultery/fornicate, to be unfaithful.
Polyamorous is just another word that means adultery or fornication.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food,
that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to
make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. Genesis 3:6
She saw that that tree was good. In modern terms, Eve became
“attracted” to the tree after believing the serpent’s deception. To make
my point even clearer let’s just replace the word “she” and “tree” with other words. That married man saw that the other woman was good and
pleasant to his eyes, desirable, and he took her and consumed her. That
man saw that the other man was good, pleasant to his eyes, desirable,
and consumed him. The possibilities are endless!
So what we perceive
as a feeling of attraction in this case is actually nothing more than a
temptation. Again we must repent from our old thinking that it’s only
‘feeling’ or ‘attraction’ or ‘sexual orientation’. These concepts exclude
the threat of any real enemy we might have. These concepts themselves
are void of any direct sense of sin and holiness. It totally robs us from
seeing the big picture and when we can’t see the big picture, we are
easily confused.
That is why, if you noticed, I have been using the term
same sex temptation (SST) rather than same sex attraction (SSA). I
want to differentiate between temptation and attraction. When we
are attracted to things that do not violate God’s word, then it’s not
a temptation. It’s only a temptation when the attraction gravitates
towards things that take us out of God’s plan.
Some people try to justify their wrong doing by saying they didn’t
choose to have these feelings. That is true, but don’t be foolish! There
are so many things that happen outside of our control and yet we still
try to control it.
For example, no one chooses to have cancer, people
don’t just give in to that sickness. No one chooses to be ‘attracted’ to
their own family member, multiple people or children, but should we
act on every feeling that we have simply because we didn’t choose to
have that feeling? Or have we become foolish in our attempt to indulge
our sinful and fleshly desires? No, we don’t choose to be tempted, but
we can choose whether to act on it or not. And it is by God’s grace
- alone that we can say no to sin. That’s why we need Him because we
can’t do this on our own.
The enemy tempts us with so many different things. And feeling is
quite a powerful tool that the enemy uses to lure us. Our feelings are
definitely real, but what we feel is not always true or good. For example,
there are actual people who feel like they should be disabled, they feel
fat when they are dangerously thin, or someone might feel they are in
the wrong body, be it the wrong gender or the wrong race. But is the
feeling true? The problem is not the situation or the body, but rather
the feeling.
When our perception does not match up with reality, we
should change our perception rather than reality. Any attempt to change
reality is futile, you can try to make it look real, but honestly… it’s just a
lie. Remember our problem is always in how we think. Everything else
is the result of that process. If we think right, we feel right and then we
do right. Eve was starting to think wrong because she believed in the
lie that the tree was good for her. Then she started to desire the wrong
thing and eventually did the wrong thing based on Satan’s lie.
Realizing this, we should never let ourselves be defined by what tempts
us. Should a former alcoholic identify as an alcoholic simply because
he/she is still tempted every now and then to drink? Not at all. But
rather he should identify as a free person and embrace that belief.
Hence, we should not feel guilty if we are still tempted. We should only
feel guilty if we give in to that temptation. Another thing you need to
know about SST is that
No temptation has overtaken you except what is common
to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be
tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are
tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can
endure it. 1 Corinthians 10:13
SST is COMMON. We like to think it’s special or different or worse
than any other temptation but it’s actually not true. People may not
realize this, but other people struggle as much, except in a different way.
We do not need to fear or worry when facing this kind of temptation
because this is something common. So don’t let yourself be a victim.
Yes, I was a victim of physical abuse but I refuse to remain as one and
to have a victim mentality.
What we experienced may not be easy but
it doesn’t mean that other people doesn’t struggle as much or even
more. We need to stop the pity party. One of the reasons why Jesus
commanded us to love and pray for those who hurt us is so that we
stop being a victim and start being a victor. Stop looking at yourself and
look at Jesus. It’s time we put our hope in God alone. Give God ‘some’
credit, He is bigger than any temptation! Be a victor in Christ!
SELF-CONTROL
What about self-control? Well, guess what? The world has a different
word for that and it’s called “suppression”. Nowadays self-control is
despised and treated with contempt, it’s seen as suppression or being
fake, no thanks to the egocentric culture, just as holiness is relabeled
as self-righteousness and legalism. It seems like we value our own
wants and pleasures over anything or anyone else. They say, “Follow your dream!” or “Follow your heart!”
But what about following God?
No, don’t follow Him because following Him means denying oneself
(Matthew 16:24). And when we want to justify following our dreams/
feelings, we would say, “God put this dream/feeling in me so that I
can be happy.” You can say whatever you want, but keep in mind that
God knows the truth.
I would just say that there is more to life than
happiness and pleasure. Happiness is actually not the goal of life. We
can be happy doing all the wrong things and it’s still wrong.
Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t have a problem with happiness. I
must say I have been very happy ever since I committed my life to Jesus,
but the problem arises when happiness becomes the goal of life rather
than the byproduct of doing the right thing.
Look at where this selfish
culture has led us: abortion, sexual immorality, divorce, etc. All these
things were done mostly in the name of our own happiness. One thing
that Jesus taught about the cross is that it’s God first, others second,
then lastly ourselves. That must be a staggering thing for our generation
to hear. I must admit it has not always been easy for me, but if we keep
justifying our sin then we’re not really advancing spiritually.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control. Against such things there is no law.
Galatians 5:22-23
So think about this: if a married woman for whatever reason, becomes
tempted by a man who’s not her husband and she chooses to ignore
that feeling out of love and respect for her husband, will you commend her for her self-control or would you scorn her for “being fake” and
“suppressing” her sexuality? And if I tell her to reject that temptation,
am I helping her to do the right thing or am I oppressing her? Let’s be
honest here. If we act on every feeling that we have, eventually it will
be a disaster for everyone. We really need to discern what it is we are
feeling; which one is right and which one is wrong. Surely we should
never act on wrong feelings. And our primary resource of discernment
is obviously the word of God, an objective morality, otherwise it’s just
our personal preference and anything goes.
REJECTING HETEROSEXUALITY
No, I’m not promoting homosexuality by denouncing heterosexuality.
I am simply denying the concept of immutable ‘predestined’ sexual
orientation that seems to be imbedded in those labels. When we reject
heterosexuality, automatically we reject homosexuality and other kinds
of ‘sexuality’. In reality God never created heterosexuals or homosexuals
or asexuals or whatever sexual predisposition you can come up with.
So God created mankind in his own image, in the image
of God he created them; male and female he created them.
Genesis 1:27
As you can see God only created man and woman in His image. There’s
no mention of sexual orientation. Is God heterosexual or homosexual
or asexual? There’s no mention of gender identity either, other than
male or female according to their own body. Once we enter the realm
of sexual orientation and gender identity, we are assuming that a person must be either one of the given immutable orientations and gender
identities. The problem with this concept is that there is no scientific
evidence for this (no gay or transgender gene has ever been found).
Also note that empirically speaking, people do change in regard of their
sexual activities and gender identity. Hence to say someone is hetero or
homo would be wrong. If anything, hetero and homo should refer only
to the sexual activity and not sexual identity, no such thing exists in the
Christian worldview. God is not concerned about sexual orientation;
He talks about sin and holiness. He doesn’t see people as hetero, homo,
bi, or any other label you can think of. That’s just not God’s vocabulary.
The only division He sees in mankind is between the lambs and the
goats (Matthew 25:31-46). That’s it. There is no straight lamb or gay
goat. There are just lambs and goats. Lambs are those who follow Christ
(and His teachings, of course) and goats are those who reject Him.
We
also can conclude that no one goes to hell for “being gay”, because
there is no such thing as that concept in the Christian worldview, it’s
just a societal construct. People go to hell for being sinful. The bad
news is we are all sinful in different ways. The good news is Christ and
Christ alone can make us holy by His blood. This is why there cannot
possibly be a gay/lesbian/transgender Christian, because when you
become a Christian, you adopt a Christian worldview and in that
viewpoint there is no such thing as straight, gay, lesbian, transgender,
etc. In the Christian worldview we are only defined by Christ, hence
the name CHRIST-ian. And that is enough. Christ is all we need and
His teachings are our only guide for living.
You then may ask, what about the term homosexual in the Bible? Well,
in the New Testament the original word for homosexuality literally translates as “man-bedder”, a man who sleeps with another man. There
is NO hint of sexual orientation there, it is simply referring to the
action of sinning itself. The point is that for a man to indulge his lust
over another man, is sinful, regardless of the relationship. And that’s the
perspective we need to use.
This is why it’s important for us to repent from this faulty way of
thinking. The battle here is not for heterosexuality or normality, the
battle here is for holiness. And holiness is a calling for every follower
of Christ, not just those who struggle with SST.
It may seem to be an
arduous task for so many people especially in a world where carnality
seems so rampant, but nothing should make us waver, for we are not
trying to overcome this by our own strength, but rather by the Spirit of
God sent by Jesus to those who believe in His name.
I can’t stress enough that; God desires holiness, not heterosexuality
nor normality. As a matter of fact, a person who is considered very
much heterosexual can be very much a sinner. And a person who lives
a ‘normal’ life can still live an unholy life.
God doesn’t expect us to be
normal. On the contrary, He has called us to be set apart and different
from this fallen world. Once we start adopting the wrong thinking
behind these worldly terms, we will start becoming conflicted about
our faith, because we are trying to combine God’s concept of holiness
with the world’s obscure concept of sexual orientation and normality.
If we want to come to God, then we must come on His terms (pun
intended). We need to change our minds and the words we use and
start seeing things from God’s perspective.
Before my repentance, I was not a broken heterosexual, I was a sinner.
And now I’m not a restored heterosexual, rather I’m a child of God. My
goal has never been to be straight, my goal has been and always will be
Jesus, the Holy One. And as I pursue Jesus, my life will supernaturally
conform to His will in every area. As for sexual relationships, God has
only two options for me: to be married (with a woman, of course) or
to stay single. Should I be married, then God will naturally give me the
attraction to the right woman and so I do not need to develop those
feelings myself, because my identity is found in Christ, not in what I
feel towards a certain gender.
MORE THAN EX-GAY
To be honest I don’t really like to use the label ex-gay, because people
seem to have different ideas about what ex-gay means. The only reason
I still use the term ex-gay is because I believe that’s the term that
quickly communicates to the world the general idea that I am no longer
interested in sexual engagement with men. So for me personally, an ex-gay
is someone who has been set free from the sinful bondage of lust
towards the same gender or someone who is FREE from any worldly
label.
At the end of the day, I fully realize that I am more than an ex-gay
I am a child of God. I have been set free and redeemed not just from
one type of sin, but from many other sins. And I encourage all saints
to simply adhere to this label when it comes to their relationship with
God, because Jesus didn’t die so we could be merely ex-gay or ex-this
or ex-that, He died so that we could be God’s children and that’s more
magnificent than anything else, to be the children of the Holy God!
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in
his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John
1:12
MAN OF GOD
Once I stopped thinking about myself as being gay or homosexual and
just started to think of myself as a man of God, which is my identity,
things began to unfold supernaturally. Since I was not constraining
myself to a certain disposition other than Christ’s, I was being open to
any possibility that God may bring into my life, including a wife. And
one day I just started looking at girls in a different way that I don’t
think I’ve ever experienced before. And so, it’s really important to
remove anything that may constrain us from experiencing what God
can do in our lives. However, this is NOT the goal, it’s a byproduct and
sometimes you get it and sometimes you don’t, depending on God’s
will.
Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as
you believed it would.” And his servant was healed at that
moment. Matthew 8:13
People who experienced healing at the time when Jesus walked on earth
had one thing in common: they believed. This is why it’s dangerous for
a person to identify as ‘gay’ because you are basically saying you don’t
believe God can actually change you. However, once you start to have
an open mind about this and surrender to God, He will do what He
usually does —a miracle. You will see a miracle. And again don’t expect God to make you heterosexual, because as explained earlier, sexual
orientation is non-existent in God’s eyes.
Hence, to expect God to do
that would be to expect something that God never promised and that’s
just unreasonable. Expect that God will make you the man or woman
of God He intended you to be originally before sin corrupted you. And
that man or woman of God can be either married or single. Expect that
God will equip you with what you need while walking with Him on the
narrow path, which is not always easy. God didn’t promise to remove
every difficulty in our lives, He promised to help us get through the
difficulty. Don’t expect what God has never promised or you will be
disappointed.
Once we have the proper expectations and really believe in God’s
promises, we should also express it externally.
Whether you realize it
or not, coming out is a big deal. Keep in mind that the tongue has the
power of life and death.
External expression coming from a sincere faith is very important.
I remember the first time I said, “I’m not gay.” It felt weird because at
that time I had already embraced that identity for sometimes. But at
the same time it felt good to proclaim my freedom from that label. I
was no longer confined in that false identity and I embraced the person
that God made me to be. So go ahead, believe in your heart what God
has promised you and declare that fact wholeheartedly to God, not
necessarily to people. Know that you are not just a man or a woman,
but you are a new person born of His Spirit. Don’t settle for less!
NOT THE SAME LOVE
FILTER
It’s hard for our mind to be renewed if we let the world influence us
daily. It’s like trying to put both clean and dirty water in a glass while
hoping that you will end up with clean water only. Let’s be rational here,
that’s just never going to happen. So if we really want to be renewed
daily, we need to remove anything that serves as a hindrance to that
reality.
I gradually stopped watching secular movies and listening to
secular music. I chose to be filled more with things that are in line with
God’s word. And the result is walking with Jesus has been so natural,
because my mind is less filled with ungodly concepts. I see now how a
lot of things I used to hold on to in the past are just wrong. But I didn’t
see that back then because I unknowingly adopted worldly thinking. So
it might be hard for you to grasp some of the concepts presented here
because it’s in direct opposition to what you have been fed all along.
That’s exactly what repentance is all about.
In the previous two chapters we have learned that the world is trying to
persuade us to believe a false concept of marriage, manhood, identity,
soul mate, singlehood, etc. The world is doing it through the media,
because what we see and hear will eventually shape our perception.
That is why you are seeing more and more gay characters on TV shows.
The world wants to indoctrinate us into believing that it’s okay. Are
you going to allow yourself to be influenced even more? Nowadays I
still watch some secular movies, but rarely. When I do watch secular
movie, I’m always careful with what I see (and hear). I just don’t accept
everything that is being presented to me in the film. I always check
which idea is in line with God’s word and which idea is not. And if the film is utterly against God’s agenda, I will not watch it at all.
For
example I will not watch any show that encourages homosexuality in
the slightest way or are filled with tempting scenes.
Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do
flows from it. Proverbs 4:23
We always try to protect our possessions, our house, our cars, our cell
phones, but sadly we often let the enemy spoil our heart. One thing
is for sure, the more we are exposed to something, be it good or bad,
the more it becomes ‘normal’ for us and the more we are inclined to
that something. This is why it’s important to keep our guard up. We are
after all soldiers in a battle against the devil. Our enemy is prowling and
looking to devour anyone who is not on their guard. So, if you want to
have a more consistent walk, then yes there are things you need to give
up, but trust Jesus when you give up things, He will bring new things
even better than what you think. You just need to trust Him and seek
Him.
Discipleship:
▶ Unnecessary labels result in unnecessary division. In reality,
outside Christ we are all sinners in need of Jesus Christ. If we
learn to see from this perspective, it will be so much easier for
us to reach out to anyone because that way we don’t feel like
they are so different from us. Practice thinking outside of the
box of carnal labels (like gay, lesbian, transgender). Learn to see people as people who need Christ. I’ve had two Christians who
told me they are bothered by people who identify as LGBT.
Why? Are they not just people who need Christ the same as
the rest of the world? Why are we so bothered by them, but not
by liars or blasphemers, or thieves?
▶ Earnestly ask God if there is anything that you need to filter in
your life. I watched a documentary where even secular people
felt so much better about themselves once they stop reading
certain magazines they used to read, because the magazines
contain fabricated images that make us seem so insecure and
buy the product that is supposed to make us look like the
models. It’s hard to look at a well prepared image and then look
at ourselves in the mirror and feel content.
▶ Surround yourself with things that glorify God and remind
yourself of His goodness constantly.
▶ Whenever the enemy challenges your identity, whether through
thoughts or people, remember Matthew 4:1-11. Twice Satan
tempted Jesus by challenging His identity. “If you’re the Son of God,
do this…” Satan wanted Jesus to question His identity but our Great
Teacher knew better. He didn’t need to prove anything to anyone
because He knew who He was. That’s why Jesus didn’t bother turning
stone to bread or jumping off the temple. Hold fast to this truth. I
have been challenged before by some people who doubted my
repentance. They asked me, “If you’re no longer gay, then why don’t you get a girlfriend?” Sounds familiar? Yes, that’s the enemy speaking.
But just like my Teacher, I don’t need to prove anything to anyone.
I know, God knows, and that’s enough. I don’t need people’s seal of
approval. We’re all going to be judged by God. The only approval we
need is His. Other people’s approval means nothing!
CHAPTER 6 - GOD IS OUR LOVER
We often hear things like “we don’t choose who we fall in
love with” or “homosexuality is the same love”. But the
problem with these statements is that it’s suggesting we
get to define what love is when in reality we don’t have that privilege.
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is
love. 1 John 4:8
People say because God is love and homosexuality is love, then God
must be okay with homosexuality. Unfortunately the fact that God is
love, means that it’s God who gets to define what love is, not us. Hence,
whether homosexuality is love or not is up to God, not us. So whatever
ideas or presuppositions that we might have about love should be
measured by God’s definition of love because then again HE IS LOVE.
SEX
Many people believe, including Christians, that sex is an expression
of love and that it is a gift from God. This, however, is something that
God has never taught us directly. If sex is indeed a ‘gift’ from God, then
breathing, eating and drinking are definitely much greater gifts that we
should cherish even more, because without them we simply cannot
survive, while we can still live without sex. So why don’t we hear people
say eating, breathing and drinking are gifts? Why the emphasis on sex?
I’m not saying that sex is totally unimportant into our lives. It is, but
maybe not in a way we thought it is. As an individual, we CAN survive
without sex and still live a fulfilled life. Jesus did it, Paul did it, and
many other people have done it before. Individually speaking, sex may not be as important as breathing, eating and drinking, but collectively
speaking sex is quite important, because it is only through sex that we
as the human race can multiply and survive. There’s no other natural
way to do this. And so from this we learn that the main purpose of
sex is actually more procreative (Genesis 9:7) than recreational or
even romantic.
But the problem that we have nowadays is that many
people want to abuse the recreational part without the procreative
consequences and we end up confusing the purpose with the process.
Yes, sex can be made romantic, but then again eating can be made
romantic as well and yet the main purpose remains: eating is nutritive
and sex is procreative. The process should not define or change the
purpose.
Once we start stepping out of God’s protective plan for sex, expect to
reap unpleasant consequences. This goes both for fornicators of same
gender or opposite genders. According to a CDC report in America,
men who identify as gay make up only 2% of the total population and
yet they accounted for 63% of all newly diagnosed HIV/AIDS cases in
2010. More than half of all AIDS-sufferers in the U.S. are homosexual,
and most of them contracted it by engaging in anal sex.
This should
underscore the idea of how unhealthy this life style is. There is no such
thing as ‘safe sex’ (a subtle term for fornication), other than sex within
the safe boundary of marriage. It’s only in a faithful marriage we can
satisfy our sexual desire in a healthy and godly way.
Sex does feel good and is enjoyable, as God made procreation that way,
but it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an expression of love. Sex can be
good for the relationship, just like spending quality time in any other way can be good for the relationship. Sex can be ‘fun’, but it’s definitely
NOT for fun. But to say that sex is an expression of love is undermining
love itself. If anything, God taught us that the expression of love is...
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for
one’s friends. John 15:13
Love is expressed at the utmost through sacrifice. And so for us to love
someone we don’t show it by merely having sex with them, but rather
we can express it by the things we are willing to sacrifice for the other
person. It can be our time, our attention, our pleasure (on the contrary
sex, generally is supposed to generate pleasure for us), our comfort
zone, and maybe even ourselves. Love is measured by sacrifice, not sex.
You can have sex without love, but you cannot truly sacrifice without
love.
Once we put sex in its proper place, we realize that the world has put
way too much emphasis on sex, under the pretext of love. Sex will
not and cannot fulfill us, because it was never intended to serve that
function. It only gives us certain, if not great, temporal pleasure, but it
certainly does not define our lives. It’s time for us to take sex down from
the pedestal and replace it with what love is really all about, sacrifice.
Let’s repent from that carnal thinking.
Most importantly under the procreative purpose, it’s clear that the
only proper place for sex is in the confinement of a life-time covenant
between a man and woman (Mark 10:8) who will serve as the father
and mother to their child(ren) for the child(ren)’s best interest. It’s only in this scope that we can say that sex is an act of love. For that reason
we should never intentionally deprive a child’s need for a mother and
father over our own selfish desires. That is unfair to the children. If we
really love these children, we will sacrifice our desires and give them
what’s best: a father and mother. That’s love. It may not be ‘fair’ for the
parents, but then again it was not fair for Jesus to die in our place, but
He did it anyway out of love. And it was worth it.
FORGIVENESS
Love has been so shrouded with so many things that we forget the
essence of what love actually is. We often equate love with this bubbly
feeling or like having butterflies in our stomach. Love has been
mistaken for romance. Romance is easy, but love is not always easy.
But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in
heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good,
and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. If you
love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not
even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only
your own people, what are you doing more than others?
Do not even pagans do that? Matthew 5:43-47
Still think love is that bubbly ‘fluttery’ feeling? I don’t think so. Loving
those who are nice to you is easy, even sinners do that, but Jesus is
challenging us to love those who are not merely different from us, but
different in direct opposition to us. Now that’s divine. This is how Jesus defines love and as His disciple we have to embrace this definition and
forsake our old perceptions of what love is. So based on the teaching
of Jesus we know when we love someone is when
A. We are willing to
sacrifice for them,
B. We forgive and love them even when they hurt us.
Not so easy, huh?
So how do we exactly love our enemy? There is not much to say about
how to love and forgive someone. There is no 12 step program for
forgiving someone. There is only one step and it’s called repentance.
Although it doesn’t always happen overnight, it can, depending on the
condition of our hearts; the softer it is, the easier it becomes. But let’s
not excuse our tardiness, rather fervently pray for a softer heart.
Bear in mind, repentance is when you have a change of mind, not
merely when you do something wrong and you stop doing it. Even if
we do the nicest things for a person, but if we don’t have love, we have
gained nothing (1 Corinthians 13:3). Not being forgiving may not
be an action, but it is a wrong state of mind, an attitude that we need
to forgo. To forgive means to change how we think of our offenders.
When a person offends us, we tend to focus on the hurt done to us
and the punishment that person deserves for hurting us. Sometimes
people actually act on these thoughts and that’s what we call revenge or
retribution. That’s wrong (Romans 12:19). And at other times for some
reason they don’t act on those thoughts and feelings, but keep them in
their heart, that’s called a grudge and that’s wrong as well (Ephesians
4:31).
Now forgiveness does not mean we pretend the person didn’t do
anything wrong and everything is nice and peachy. In fact, to forgive
means to acknowledge first the offense. This is why it’s important to
NOT excuse someone’s wrong doing, but rather to acknowledge it
in order to forgive afterward. Sometimes the victim, a child, of sexual
molestation thinks that it happened because of him/her or even thinks
that it was not really a molestation because his/her body got aroused
during the molestation and enjoyed it. This is an erroneous thinking!
When our innocence is snatched from us, it’s a crime. We need to call
what is evil: evil. However, we should not hold any bitterness but rather
forgive. This of course means we need to change the way we think
about it. No longer do we persist in focusing on the hurt done to us and
the punishment the offender deserves, but instead we focus on God’s
grace. No longer do we hold that person accountable, but we release
that person from any condemnation. Just like God no longer hold us
accountable once we are in Christ, we are to show the same grace God
has shown us to anyone who offends us (Matthew 18:32-35).
If you are
still holding grudges against anyone, don’t be surprised if deliverance
seems so far away or the battle seems exasperating. Forgive! Not only
because it will free and heal yourself, but most importantly because
that is what God wants you to do and what He has done for you.
Don’t get God wrong when He commands you to forgive. It’s not
that He does not understand your pain. Far from it. On the contrary
it’s because He does and He wants you to be more like Him. If anyone
understands pain, it’s God.
We serve the God who is familiar with our
mortal lives filled with struggles and temptations (Hebrews 4:15) not
simply because He is omniscient, but because He has experienced it first-hand. Jesus was rejected by the very people He created and whom
He came to rescue. He was abused, slandered, sexually humiliated
(the Romans crucified people in total nudity), and to top that, He
was betrayed by His own disciple, Judas, and was deserted by most of
His disciples during the crucifixion. Yes, God is very familiar with the
pain of rejection, pain of betrayal, and any other kind of pain you can
imagine. And you know what else He is familiar with? Forgiveness.
Even after all that, Jesus was still able to say,
“Father, forgive them for
they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)
We have all sinned against the Holy God, so holy that even a single sin
that Adam and Eve committed has broken their communion with God.
And yet He chose to forgive us. Not just that... He chose to provide us
the way to bring us back into a relationship with Him once again. So,
how can sinful people choose not to forgive others? Are we claiming to
be holier than God?
For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their
sins no more. Hebrews 8:12
If anything, we learn from God that when He forgives, He forgets,
meaning He doesn’t dwell on the sin. We don’t always forget the
transgression, I doubt I will ever forget the abuse I experienced, but
when we truly forgive, we no longer feel the hurt, even though every
now and then the memory of the transgression may come to our
mind. And most likely the enemy will try to attack by reminding us
of the hurt, which is why sometimes you need to “forgive” over and
over again, to keep that forgiving mindset.
I remember one time this person lightly said that I deserved the beating and that it should have
been my dad doing it, because apparently he said that women don’t
beat children as hard as men. That really hurt my feelings and coming
from someone who claimed to be a fellow saint, it hurt even more. I
was really infuriated by his statement! Who wouldn’t?
Thank God I was already in Christ, so I knew that it was nothing but
a lie from the pit of hell! But still… in all honesty, suddenly my mind
was filled with violent thoughts of beating him. Was I being fake
for not yielding to these thoughts that I didn’t choose to have? Does
having these thoughts make me a violent person?
Fortunately the Holy
Spirit helped me to do the right thing, to forgive, and I did. That night
I was able to sleep after I wrestled with the ungodly violent thoughts.
I thought it was all over, but I was wrong. The next morning I was still
attacked by those violent thoughts. But I didn’t give up, every time
the ungodly thoughts popped into my mind I confronted them with
God’s truth and grace. I refused to succumb to those ungodly thoughts.
And as I submitted myself to God and resisted the thoughts, finally
the attack stopped. Now, I can tell this story and I don’t feel the hurt
anymore. Stay in that ‘grace zone’ and RESIST the enemy (don’t just
ignore him! Counter attack him!) until God delivers us!
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he
will flee from you. James 4:7
TRUTH
Here is another unpopular expression of love: doing the right thing—
not doing what feels right. Nowadays people talk a lot about tolerance
and acceptance, but apparently the one thing that they cannot accept
and tolerate is the truth. The moment we say ‘unpopular truth’, they
will accuse us of being unloving and bigoted. I guess people forget that
tolerance goes both ways.
What would be the most loving thing to do to a boy who wants nothing
to eat but candy? Should we just comply ‘out of love’? Or should we tell
him the dire consequence that awaits him if he persists on doing this?
He cannot foresee the damage, because he is just a child, but as an adult
we know this and that’s why we must warn him. Of course, he may not
be willing to listen, because all he cares about is satisfying his desires,
but it doesn’t change the fact that the most loving thing to do is to let
the boy know of the danger.
Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
1 Corinthians 13:6
We cannot really love someone without the truth. True love will
always do the right thing. True love will not compromise the truth.
So to love someone means to do what is right even though it may
spark controversy. After all, Jesus is the embodiment of love and yet
controversies followed Him. Over and over Jesus caused commotions
because of His statements ( John 10:30-33).
Now, I’m not saying we
should be looking for trouble or that we can justify being a total jerk
or that we always have to debate, not at all. What I am saying is that there will be a moment when the most loving thing to do may not be
the most pleasant thing to do for us and for other people, but we still
have to do it anyway if we truly love.
Hence, another way to know that someone really loves us is to see if
that someone is encouraging us to do the right thing, even if we don’t
like it. If a person is making you do the wrong thing, then definitely that
person does not love you or at least he/she doesn’t really know what
love is.
I bet this brand of love feels so foreign to most of us. Don’t be surprised!
The enemy will always try to trick us into believing the cheap version of
love, the kind of love that never says “no”, that always gives in, even if
it’s bad, that always accepts even if it’s wrong. This really is not love at
all. At least not love as defined by God. And that’s exactly why we need
the renewal of our minds. We need to be free from carnal thoughts and
start thinking spiritually. We need to love the way God wants us to, not
the way our flesh wants to or what the world is telling us to.
Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is
not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.So
then, those that are carnal cannot please God. But you are
not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of
God dwells in you. Romans 8:7-9
LOVING OUR LOVER
A lot of people have this false idea about God that if we don’t make
Him ‘happy’, He will send us to hell. But the truth is God doesn’t send anyone to hell, because they don’t make Him happy just like a judge
doesn’t send a criminal to prison, because the criminal doesn’t make
the judge happy. Even though yes, when we break His law, we also
break His heart but we go to hell for our trespasses and that’s called
justice. And we should love justice.
Hence, the accusation that God
is some sort of a maniac who demands us to make Him happy under
the threat of hell is simply untrue. This is what happens when people
don’t know God properly. They come up with these false ideas about
God and reject or are angry at the god they falsely created. That’s
why it’s important to know Jesus, because He is God revealed in flesh
(Colossians 1:15). Thus don’t look on other believers, pastors, David,
Moses, Paul, etc. They are all men of God, but they are not the Godman.
Look on Christ and marvel at the beauty of the Father.
If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.
From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
John 14:7
Once you realize how beautiful Jesus is, you will want to fall in love
with Him and that’s exactly what God wants from you. He doesn’t
need you to make Him ‘happy’. His happiness is not dependent on you,
but He does want you to love Him. God’s first commandment is not
to make Him happy. His first and great commandment is to love Him
(Matthew 22:37), but He will not force you. Love cannot be forced.
If you love me, keep my commands. John 14:15
When you try to obey God without loving Him, I guarantee you that it
will be very grueling. But when you love Him, things may still be hard,
but you will have the strength to obey Him. I remember when I was
still very passionate about art I was doing a lot of things from drawing,
acting, playing organ, and singing. I would spend hours and hours
practicing to be better at it and it was not always easy. There were times
that I got tired and frustrated, but I didn’t give up because I loved what
I was doing. Sometimes I wonder how in the world I was able to invest
so much effort in that pursuit. And it’s the same thing with God. When
we are passionate about Him, our obedience comes supernaturally and
even though at times it’s hard to obey Him, He becomes our strength.
It’s no longer based on fear or trying to get to heaven, but it’s based on
our love for the One who has saved us from sin.
PERVERTED LOVE
Some people say that sex with the same gender is okay as long as it’s
between consensual adults and it doesn’t hurt anyone. The problem
with this kind of reasoning is that it makes morality relative and pretty
much loose and misguided. It implies that a father and his son (who’s
considered mature enough) can consensually have sex and that’s ok, or
telling a lie is considered morally correct as long as the person being
lied to does not know and hence remains unhurt. This cannot be!
Morality should be absolute and objective. Hence morality must come
from an external source. God is the law giver, not us. He is the designer;
He gets to decide how things operate, not us. The reason why same gender sex is wrong is simply because that’s not
how God designed sex. Can we love members of the same sex? Yes, in
fact we should love members of the same sex in ways ordained by God,
which is through fellowship. What the so-called ‘homosexuality’ does
in fact is perverting that godly same sex love.
If we want to know love then we must learn to obey God who is love.
To know God is to know love. To obey Him is to love.
UNCONDITIONAL LOVE
The odd thing about my testimony is that I had lost the desire or hope
to be ‘straight’. I was not looking for a change. I never went to a certain
therapy or counseling, not that I’m against therapy or counseling,
especially not against the Christ-centered ones. But I was just not
pursuing any shift in terms of how I perceived my sexual attractions at
that time. And people often tell me that I changed because of my will
power or that the human mind can do anything. But that is simply not
true, at least not in my case.
I did not have the will power or the mind to
change who I was. I was already comfortable being ‘gay’. Why change? I
had no reason to.
So, what changed?
The moment I came to the full realization of my own sinfulness and my
need for God’s grace was the moment I realized that Jesus is the one I
had been looking for all my life. His love is what I had been searching
for in other men. How could He still love me despite my sins? How
could the Holy One see my sins, which I committed knowingly, and yet love me still? This kind of love is divine. I did not want to be straight, I
just wanted... Jesus. My desire changed. I started desiring God and not
sin.
What changed me, you ask? It’s His unconditional love. His love
changed the way I see everything, including the way I see myself. I used
to hate myself, the very being of myself, my body and everything. But
once I realize that my creator loves me, I no longer have any reason to
hate myself. How can I hate myself when He lavishes His love on me?
Just think about what He has done for us on the cross. It’s on the cross
that He paid the price, so that we can be free from the curse of our sins.
Think about the resurrection, His victory over death, that He is offering
to us and all He asks from us is that we repent and trust Him. His love is
truly unconditional; He is offering it to anyone who is willing to receive
it, but salvation is conditional upon your choice; whether you receive it
through faith or not ( John 3:16). This is the kind of love He is offering
you. It is greater than anything you can dream about. We don’t need to
fix ourselves before we can come to Him. No, it’s quite the opposite. He
comes to the broken so He can restore them. He calls the hurt, so they
will be healed. Come just as you are and let Him cleanse you, restore
you, heal you, and most importantly let Him love you.
The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those
who are crushed in spirit. Psalm 34:18
REAL LOVE
I have heard some people say that what happened was 2000 years ago
and hence it’s not really relevant for us now or in other words, His love is not very real now, not pertinent to our times. But consider if 20 years
ago an actual person died to save your life, would you be able to say,
“Well, that was 20 years ago, I don’t see how that is relevant to my life
anymore.” Really? If that person hadn’t died for you, you wouldn’t have
been alive in the first place. That’s how relevant it is!
If Jesus had not
died for your sin, you would have had no choice, but to reap the terrible
consequences of your sins for ETERNITY in hell, which would render
anything you did in your earthly life quite meaningless. Even if you had
the best life here on earth, what’s the point if you go to hell at the end?
But no matter what challenges we may face in this life, it will be worth it
once we’re in heaven. Try to see this from an eternal point of view and
you will realize just how relevant His love is. Don’t be distracted by the
fleeting things of the present times. Our time here on earth is nothing
compared to what awaits us in eternity.
Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven--as
her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven
little loves little. Luke 7:47
The problem is that we often take issues like sins and redemption
way too lightly or we don’t really believe that these concepts apply to
us. We’ve turned them into sheer religious doctrines that we ascribe
to as believers of a particular religion, rather than treating them as
the primary reality of our lives. This is why so many people can’t feel
the love of God, because they don’t fully realize the severity of their
transgressions and their desperate need for redemption. They don’t
realize how much they have been forgiven. They think they only have
sinned a little and that’s why they only love a little. But if only they really realize what they have been saved from, they would live their lives
for the One who saved them from such a terrible fate.
BROTHERLY LOVE
Once I saw a photo from a gay pride parade and I saw two women
holding hands and I thought to myself, “So what? There is nothing gay
about it.” See, in my culture two women can hold hands and it doesn’t
mean anything, other than they are close friends. It’s a shame really
that in some societies affection between members of the same gender
(especially between men) is often considered a “queer” thing; reserved
only for ‘homosexuals’. That attitude often scares men from having a
deeper relationship with other men and limits them to having only a
superficial friendship in order to keep their “masculine” appearance.
Because of that, the common friendship known two men these days
is either to be competitive with each other or to stay on the surface
without any level of caring or commitment. The idea that two men can
be affectionate is unthinkable in so many cultures, yet it is very much
accepted and considered normal in other cultures.
Look at the image to the left. If you’re not careful,
you may think it’s an inappropriate image. In
reality, it’s only a photo of a lamp. Often times our
mind are filled with presupposed ideas that change
how we see things. A mind filled with sexual thoughts will see things
more sexually.
There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples,
whom Jesus loved. John 13:23
As I was reading interpretations on this verse, I saw on one side of the
pendulum you have people saying that John was simply sitting next
to Jesus because for them it’s queer and disrespectful for a disciple, a
man doing this to another man, his teacher. While the other side of the
pendulum says that this shows that Jesus had a “special” relationship
with the disciple, that this was a show case of homoerotic affection.
It’s so sad that we are often so wrapped up in our own thinking that we
twist everything to fit our opinion.
The reality is in many other cultures
this is considered a brotherly affection there is nothing sensual, sexual,
or erotic about this. In other cultures two men can hold hands and that
is not a “gay” thing, it’s just a friendship thing. Honestly, when I started
to learn about this, I felt uneasy. I came from a rather rigid culture
where even hugging or any kind of intimacy is not something that you
show or do.
After the boy had gone David got up from the south
side of the stone and bowed down before Jonathan three
times, with his face to the ground. Then they kissed each
other and wept together--but David wept the most.
1 Samuel 20:41
Again this will make some of the self-proclaimed straight folks feel very
uncomfortable. Two guys kissing each other and weeping together?
How ‘gay’! And then there are those who want to justify acting on
their lust for the same gender by saying that this just shows that ‘homosexuality’ is perfectly biblical. Again, the reality is that two men
kissing in this setting has nothing to do with lust. In a sex crazed society
where everything seems to revolve around sex, where friendship is
taken for granted, gestures like this are often taken wrong. Even being
nice is often mistaken as flirting these days!
Now I’m not saying that
men should start kissing other men, not at all. I’m just saying let’s be
open minded here, in some cultural setting two men kissing doesn’t
necessarily mean they are in a sexual relationship. Certain kissing is not
sexual. Kissing is basically a display of affection, just like you can kiss
your family without turning that into something sexual or erotic.
I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother; you were very dear
to me. Your love for me was wonderful, more wonderful
than that of women. 2 Samuel 1:26
O wow! This would make most “masculine” men of today cringe. To be
able to show such emotion to another man, a brother is considered ‘gay’.
There is nothing homoerotic or effeminate about this kind of affection.
Why are men taught to be detached from their emotions? Having
emotions and showing emotions are part of the human experience, it’s
neither masculine nor feminine. Mind you King David had led battles
and had hundreds of women (not that it’s a good example to follow
because God actually desires monogamy for His people: Deuteronomy
17:17) and yet he was a very sensitive man. He wrote poems for crying
out loud!
The faulty thinking that men must be emotionally closed with
each other is what caused so much confusion and isolation for many
men, including myself in the past. I thought if I had a strong liking
towards a guy then I must be ‘gay’. Jonathan gave up his right as a successor for David. Not only that,
Jonathan was willing to do anything for David (1 Samuel 20:4) and
had saved David’s life twice. Of course his love was better than that of
the women around David. I don’t recall any woman who had sacrificed
as much for David. So, in this case Jonathan’s love does exceed that of
the women around David.
But it does not mean that they were having
sex or married. Remember sex and love are two different things! This
is just a godly portrayal of a real friendship or brotherhood. It’s not
something that is built on superficial things like sports, games, gadgets,
etc. It’s built on a real connection between two people, regardless of
their gender.
But why do we think that this kind of love and affection are only
available between sexual couples? Let’s face it, the media plays a great
role in our life in shaping our perspective and ideals. In most movies
(or music) ‘love’ and affection are only shown between sexual couples.
“I love you” is almost certainly followed by an erotic or romantic scene.
That’s the world’s portrayal of love and again we fell for this stereotype.
Rarely do we see love as portrayed in the scripture, where sacrificial
love is not reserved only between a husband and wife, but also available
between friends, family, and even for enemies:
For if, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled
to him through the death of his Son, how much more,
having been reconciled, shall we be saved through his life!
Romans 5:10
Jesus was willing to give up His life even while we were still His
enemies. Try to understand the severity of being God’s enemy. This is
something that is very frightful but because of His love He has given
you the opportunity to be His child! Wow! This is real love, nothing
sensual or erotic about it. How love has been perverted! We need to be
free from this false concept of love and learn that a close connection
of two human beings is not accessed through sex, as a matter of fact
people can have sex and they still don’t have a true connection.
Real
connections are based on selfless love.
After discovering God’s selfless love, I began to see things in a different
perspective. My views on men began to change. I see them no longer as
some sort of sexual beings, but rather as my brother or friend whom I
love. And because of this I have stopped desiring to have sex with them.
Not just that, I can seem to relate to them better, where as in the past I
just didn’t know how to express those feelings. Before, I hardly had any
meaningful relationships with the same gender, but now I can safely
say I have a lot of more male friends on personal levels.
These are men
with whom I can talk and share just about anything, their emotions, my
emotions, their life, my life, their problems, my problems, etc. This is
not a feminine thing. Don’t confuse social construct with God’s truth.
Nowhere does God say that two men can’t connect deeply. As a matter
of fact, in the case of Jonathan and David they became one in spirit and
Jonathan loved David as he loved himself! (1 Samuel 18:1)
Someone told me once that his father said that if two men talk more
than five minutes, there must be something “more”.
Faulty thinking like
this is exactly what perpetuates the confusion among men who struggle with SST. This causes them to resort to thinking that if they enjoy the
company of other men for more than five minutes, they must be ‘gay’.
What a lie from the enemy! Yes, as a man you can actually talk to
another man for hours and no, it doesn’t make you less manly or more
feminine or ‘gay’, it just makes you human. You can even miss other
men. Again it doesn’t make you ‘gay’, it just makes you a human being.
I have said it and I will keep saying it, homosexuality is actually the
perversion of true same sex love. What we do learn is that close nonsexual
relationships among the same gender are perfectly acceptable for
God, not just acceptable, it is even encouraged:
Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one
another in showing honor. Romans 12:10
Remember when Peter said that he would die for Jesus? Of course we
all know later he denied Him three times. The point is that desire to
protect is not only to protect your wife, but also anyone around you
including your friends. It’s really sad that we have celebrated the love
between husband and wife (which is very beautiful) at the expense of
the love between friends (whatever gender involved). It’s actually very
odd because Jesus and His apostles talked more about brotherly love,
than the love between husband and wife. Do you still remember what
the greatest love is?
Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for
one’s friends. John 15:13
No, it’s not when one lays down their life for their spouse, but for their
FRIENDS. Of course, our spouse should be our friend, but our friend
doesn’t have to be our spouse. This shows that the greatest love can also
be found between friends and not only between husband and wife. This
is the love of Christ, a love that is not defined by sex.
I’m not saying that we should adopt the culture which Jesus and David
had and men should start being so physically affectionate to each
other, not at all. That is not the point here. I’m also not saying that we
should have a non-sexual spouse as suggested and done by some “gay”
Christians. The idea is not found in the Scripture. The point is we do
not distort the stories in the Bible to justify our worldview, but rather
we should let God’s word change us.
Secondly, love and (non-erotic)
affection are not limited between husband and wife. Saints should show
brotherly love. And this is not something to be afraid of, but rather to
be embraced. In fact, by doing this we are showing to the world the real
same sex love which David and Jonathan shared.
JONATHAN
For every David out there, I know you are looking for your Jonathan. I
know because I was looking for mine. I prayed about it. The friendship
that David and Jonathan modeled is indeed desirable. Who doesn’t
want someone who is willing to be there through thick and thin, to put
other’s interest before his own, and to protect? Even an ‘evil’ person
would want that.
However in my own pursuit for Jonathan, God has revealed to me that
Jesus is my Jonathan. He left His throne for me, He clothed Himself
with humanity and He gave His life for me. I mean, isn’t that a lot more
than what Jonathan ever did for David? So now I realize that I don’t
need to look for Jonathan, I already have had one all this time. What
I need is to be Jonathan to others, just like Jesus has been Jonathan to
me. And the result of this type of thinking is that my happiness and
existence is not defined by another person because by being Jonathan,
I’m merely paying it forward without expecting anything in return.
No longer am I seeking love and attention from other people as I am
already loved by Christ, but rather I am offering a love that is Christlike,
a selfless love, that we can only give once we have received the
same love from Christ. So, I would just say it’s time to stop the search
for Jonathan and simply find rest in Jesus because He is our Jonathan.
Start being Jonathan to others the way Jesus has been Jonathan for us.
If we embrace this thinking, we will have a healthy relationship out of
purity and selflessness, rather than being exhausted and disappointed
all the time for giving, but not receiving what you expect. Be Jonathan!
Discipleship:
▶ Learn to express your love to Jesus. First ask the Holy Spirit
to give you the words to express your love. Then you can look
to psalms for expressions of love. You can also find songs or
hymns that praise Him. Make sure the words are in line with
the truth of God’s word. We are free to worship Him, there is
no fixed liturgy or order, but there are still boundaries. God is
truth and so we must worship Him in truth.
▶ If you are unable to ‘feel’ God’s love, start by meditating on
the things God has done for you starting from the creation,
crucifixion, resurrection, all the way to how He has preserved
you until this very day. Acknowledge His love through prayer.
Ask Him to reveal His love to you, not just as truth that you
know intellectually, but as truth planted deep in your heart.
Meditate on God’s character, how patient He is to us who are
often stubborn, how loving and forgiving He is, etc. And finally,
don’t let your feelings change your mind, but rather let your
mind be renewed, so you will feel differently. I’m not saying
feelings are not important, but they are fleeting and we simply
cannot base our faith on mere feelings.
▶ Ask God to help you renew your mind and to unlearn old
perceptions about other men by replacing them with brotherly
love. Ask Him to help you to love them as your own brothers.
▶ Always stay alert! Be very careful in relating with those of the
same gender. Don’t turn your friendship into an emotional
codependency. Make sure that your friendship is Christ-centered
and inclusive. If the relationship is becoming more
and more exclusive, then it’s a very good sign that it’s turning
into an unhealthy relationship.
▶ A lot of people don’t realize that prayer is not just a petition,
but also a manifestation of love. Notice that Jesus commanded
us to love our enemy and to pray for them at the same time.
Why? Because we cannot genuinely pray for someone we hate.
So pray for those who hurt you and show some love!
CONCLUSION - JESUS IS MY ORIENTATION
Obviously reading this book alone is not enough. It will
practically do nothing without further action. You must
respond to the truth that has been presented in this book
by making a decision that leads to an action. If we only hear and not do
anything, then we are like the foolish man who built his house on sand
(Matthew 7:24-27). There are several decisions for you to make and
unless you make one and commit yourself, nothing will ever change.
1. There is a change of orientation that needs to take place and
it’s not a sexual orientation. You don’t need to start pursuing
the opposite sex. Remember God created you for Himself.
So your orientation should be toward Jesus. You should be pursuing
Jesus. Will you make the decision to change your life’s orientation from
now on? No longer are you going to live for your desires, your dreams,
but you are going to live for Him who loves you like no one else. This
is not a one-time decision, but a decision that you will have to make
every day for the rest of your life (Luke 9:23).
2. There is an enemy that needs to be dealt with and it’s not the
people who hurt you, it’s Satan and his angels. We have been
given the authority to rebuke demons in the name of Jesus,
use that authority and fight demons that try to tempt you. Sometimes it
will take more than one time because the enemy is persistent and that
is why we must be resistant ( James 4:7).
3. There are doors in our life that need to be closed. It’s quite
ironic if we try to resist the enemy at the same time we
fraternize with evil by allowing certain things or people to influence our life negatively (1 Corinthians 15:33). Maybe there
are friends or media or other things that we need to avoid until we
are stronger spiritually. Ask God to show which doors that we have to
close.
4. There are spiritual needs to be met and only God can meet
those needs. This is why it’s important to spend time with
God, to praise Him, to meditate on His word and His love.
If you are not doing this, then you are not getting your needs met and
when your needs are not met, you will start looking elsewhere and
that’s when you will get in a deeper mess. Put God first; He is more
than worthy for this honor, because He has put us first.
5. My testimony didn’t end with “happily ever after doing
whatever I want to do.” My testimony actually continues up
to now by doing God’s will in my life. I remember not long
after my repentance, I asked God, “What now God? What do I do now
after I’m redeemed?” This is a question that every believer must ask. We
should not be complacent with our salvation and faith. God didn’t save
us so that we can just do whatever WE want or plan our next vacation.
He didn’t create us without purpose. We actually have a mission here.
And if we don’t know the direction of our life, we will be easily lost and
back slide.
I believe that’s why so many Christians are still struggling,
because they are too busy thinking about what THEY want to do and
how to achieve that. They have become spiritually weak because they
lack spiritual food —doing the Father’s will ( John 4:34). You can call it marriage. You can call it civil unions. You can call it
partners. You can call it longtime companions or significant others.
You can describe yourself as boyfriends and girlfriends. You can call it
“shacking up.” You can even call it love but it is not the perfect love that
God promised you. Love outside of God’s plan is simply wrong.
Discipleship:
▶ Christ must increase, I must decrease. We should always consider the
things we do. Will they bring glory to Jesus? Will they defame Him?
The more we do for His glory, the less likely we will be living for
ourselves. Christ becomes more important for us, not out of religious
duties, but out of love.
▶ When faced with temptation, it’s always important to remind yourself
of who God is, what He has done for you, and the joy when you
overcame temptation by His grace. Rather than being overwhelmed
by temptation, start praying, deal with the enemy by rebuking that
spirit in the name of Jesus and speak truth against any lies presented
to you.
For example, when you start getting thoughts like, “Look at
that guy, he is better than you. You are nothing. Look at his body,
look at his face. He’s a real man. You’re not.” Don’t just listen, be
aggressive with the enemy! We are worthy soldiers of Christ. When
the enemy attacks, we NEED to counter! Jesus didn’t keep silent
when the devil tried to tempt Him. He silenced the devil’s lies with
truth (Matthew 4:1-11). Follow His example.
You don’t have to
speak it out loud, but you need to respond to it by confronting it with the truth, for example “God created me a complete man, just
like that man. He made me different for a different purpose. I will
not compare myself with another person! Be gone in the name
of Jesus!” or you can also say, “He is my brother. I will not commit
sexual immorality against him.” Ask God for wisdom on what to say
to resist every lie from the enemy.
▶ The great commission is not just for ‘special’ Christians, it is for
every disciple. Hence you must be active in making disciples.
You can start by praying and asking God to reveal which is
the best way for you to start getting involved in discipleship.
Obviously we first need to be a disciple before we can start
making disciples. Seek and seize every opportunity. If doubt
ever creeps in your mind, just remember you can’t actually
yield to temptation. You can only do it in Christ. So, it’s not a
matter of your capability, it’s a matter of Christ in you. Depend
on Christ!
Extra
FOR PARENTS,
FRIENDS, AND
FAMILY
-
As someone who never struggled with SST, you may find it difficult
to deal with a loved one with SST. But I assure you it is not that
difficult. I pray that the following advice will help you in handling
this better:
1. Those who struggle with this particular temptation are like any
other people dealing with any other temptation. And just like any
other people, they want to be loved. Let’s start with that. Let’s love
them. Love them the way Jesus has loved you. You can give the best counsel or
even speak in tongues, but without love, your words will be empty. Love them
where they’re at. Don’t make them feel any more different than they already
do. Let them know that you are in this together with them. Keep in mind that
in the bigger picture outside Christ we are all sinners like everyone else.
2. Praying is definitely what we must do in every situation, including
situations like this. Pray for the person to draw closer to Jesus,
don’t pray so that he or she will become straight. That is NOT the
goal. Change should be the result of drawing near to Jesus, NOT the goal. It
is not necessary for people to be attracted to the opposite sex. It is however
necessary for every person to submit to Jesus.
3. Please stop propagating false ideas about manhood and
womanhood. Don’t say things like, “I knew you were gay because
you were always liked this or that.” Those seeking understanding
do not need you to impose cultural stereotypes, we have the whole world
imposing these pressures. They need you to point them to Christ. Don’t make
them feel like they have to attain the cultural stereotype, but rather help them
to know who they are in Christ, not in society. And just remember, maybe you yourself need to find who you are in Christ first. Maybe all this time you have
only been following society and not Christ.
4. We need to speak truth to them, not mockery. Don’t compromise
the truth, but speak it with compassion. The truth about sin, but
also don’t forget the truth about hope and redemption of Christ
(1 Corinthians 6:11). You can do that by telling them about testimonies of
God’s changing grace or giving them resources like books and videos, but do
not force these items upon them. On the internet, there are already tons of
testimonies of people being freed from this particular sin.
There is so much we can do, but deliverance is between that person and God.
Have faith in God. Keep your hope in Him, not in a book or therapy, etc.
Those are just means to an end. God is the deliverer.
If you have enjoyed reading this book and think it would be helpful for some one you know, you can buy a copy at the following link: https://www.thebookpatch.com/BookStore/not-the-same-love-a-love-revolution/050de0b5-5ec2-4240-bdc3-9aad011be968
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