Voice of the Voiceless founder André Becker responds to the recent decision by the general synod of the Dutch Reformed Church to allow gay ministers and gay civil unions.
Voice of the Voiceless Advocacy is a mouthpiece for former homosexuals in South Africa. Over the past few years, the politically-correct-but-scientifically-unfounded narrative has been created that one is born gay and cannot change.
We are, however, tangible proof that change is possible. As an ex-gay, I am deeply concerned about the decisions of the Dutch Reformed Church’s general synod regarding gays and the Church.
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Christ’s relationship with his broad Church is depicted in the New Testament by the figure of a head and his body. Ephesians 1: 22-23 says that Christ was “given as head over all things to the church, which is his body.”
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Christ, the head of the Church, has authority over it and indicates the direction for the Church.
A person gains access to the body of Christ at rebirth, when Christ connects the believer through one Spirit “to one body, whether we are Jews or Greeks, slaves or freemen; and we are all permeated by one Spirit, ”says 1 Corinthians 12:13. Paul declares in verse 12 “For just as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the one body, though many, are one body, so also is Christ.”
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Hand in hand with rebirth is conversion. This implies that a person’s life in Christ has changed. The change takes place due to the fact that he/she has undergone a complete change of mind and attitude regarding sin and righteousness.
Rom. 6:16 asks the question: “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?.” Verse 22 goes on to say: “But now that you have been set free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit for holiness and ultimately eternal life.”
This is the path an ex-gay has walked. 1 Cor. 6:11 declares: “And such were some of you; but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God.”
A converted ex-gay is therefore a full-fledged member of the Church, according to the standard of Scripture. This is also the only way in which one can become a member of any Christian denomination.
Importantly, this implies that the whole gay debate should never have been a discussion in the Church. One cannot be gay and a Christian who is truly born again. You deceive yourself if you think that way.
Proverbs 28:13 says: “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.”
It is strange, therefore, that in the entire debate in the Church, the ex-gay Christian is, for convenience sake, never mentioned. They are never asked for their testimonies and experiences in synod meetings.
There is never any reflection on the fact that Christ has renewed the lives of many many gay people by way of conversion and rebirth. Yet the Church consults those who “have the devil as father, and do the desires of their father.”
The Church proverbially bends its knee to Baal and becomes its own god, giving the status of “members of the body of Christ” to those disqualified ones, not having the blood of the Lamb at the doorposts of their hearts.
Christ is denied and betrayed, not for 70 shekels of silver, but for political correctness. And in the process, the work of Christ in the hearts and lives of ex-gays is made suspect.
Therefore, we cannot help but express a deep concern about the recent decisions of the general synod. Sin is approved with a “love is love” narrative, while people are lost.
We ex-gays were in such a lifestyle and can attest to the devastation that homosexual sin brings. The truth, however, sets a person free — and the truth is that sin is sin and we must confess it and let it go.
It is time for people to truly come to repentance and rebirth, then being gay will not be an issue. As ex-gays, we are examples of this and we give a serious warning to the church NOT to stray. Tell the truth as it is! Arrive at a place of freedom like us.
Nothing is better than the biblical precepts for sexual purity, believe me. At this hour, the Church MUST NOT welcome the behavioural patterns of the world in our own midst, thus contributing to the moral decay of the land!
The Church is the last remaining entity that sets standards in society. If we submit to the influences of this world, everything crumbles.
May those who worship God in Spirit and truth not remain silent at this hour! We as ex-gays prove your Scriptural view to be correct.
Amen Andre, I stand in agreement with you 100%.
Thank you André for bringing hope. …..for confronting the Church and revealing the spiritual poverty and how utterly deceived the church is. Choosing man’s desires above God’s word. True “Love” is to help and lead a person out of a sinful situation, and not to say: “come, we will assist you in your ways.” God is a holy God and it is His desire for His children to be holy, so how shall He not heal those who desire to be healed from sinful life. – so that He will receive all the glory!
I still feel that we are just generally throwing every single homosexual under the bus , not taking the time to hear their stories weather, gay , ex gay or whatever. Not every single person that identifies as homosexual has the same story to tell. While I do not deny that there are ex gay people that have truly come out of that persuasion and gone “straight” their stories are mostly the same. They got lurred into same sex relationships / attractions> I understand that what they experienced was what we refer to so often from scripture as “unnatural” but what about the stories of those who have always known they were gay from very young. It has always been 100% natural for them to be attracted to the same sex. We are far too quick to judge and throw hate speech at those people who need our love and Grace. I will never forget the words of a pastor from the “Jesus People” movement back in the 70s. He said Jesus will change those who need to be changed – you are welcome at our church no matter who you are. Let’s be more loving, more embracing and allow Holy Spirit to do the work in the hearts of those who feel that they are trapped in this “lifestyle” of homosexuality. I also have to wonder how many “ex gay” people still struggle silently with same sex attraction and are still living in denial and living a lie. Whom the Son sets free is FREE indeed…not sometimes or on certain days or after a good bible study or worship but Everyday, all day and everywhere you go. “Ministries” like “desert streams” and other ex gay movements in the USA have proven time and again to do more damage than good , the rates of suicide, depression and other issues are high, some of their leaders in recent years have come out of the closet admitting that nothing really changed and have publically apologised for the damage they have caused to men (and woman) both emotionaly and mentally. I still don’t feel that the DRC made the wrong decision. We don’t necessariy have to agree on every single doctrinal point as leaders, there should be room for dialogue, discussion and because of various interpretation of scripture (ps. the word homosexual does not even appear in early texts and most pastors are fully aware of this) we need to leave room to healthily agree to disagree. I am sure in many leadership teams there are pre trib , post tribe and mid trib beleivers, those who believe in divine healing and those who do not. The common ground is JESUS IS LORD, and nobody can say JESUS IS LORD except by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Patric, you make one big mistake. Jesus is not Lord where darknes, sin and the devil is served. When Jesus is Lord, He is to be obayed. Homosexual sin has no degree of acceptance in the same manner as fornication or adualtary has no degree. It is either sin or it is no sin. The Bible is very clear that all three are sins
I had these atractions from very young. You generelise grossly to say that those who came out of the lifestyle was lurred into it. I was never and so is it not true of many ex-gays. You can read my story here https://learntolove.co.za/testimonies/
This topic I find very interesting. Are you aware that the word “homosexual” does not appear in any of the earlier texts of scripture (1890 and before that) – it is a mistransliteration (do some research) so any particular verses you may refer to containing that word are being mistranslated and do not actually refer to anything at all ‘homosexual’ in nature. The original texts were Arsenekoi meaning bed boy or male prostitute. again we cannot generalize that all men who identify as ‘homosexual’ are male prostitutes. That also rules out woman who identify as ‘lesbian’ or ‘gay’.
I hear you Patrick and empathise, however, the bible says in Isiah “:… the Word of our God stands forever.” As Christians, we are supposed to live by “every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”? We either accept that the whole Bible is the word of God or else we have to reject it in totality – or do think that we are entitled to correct God by editing out the passages that we don’t want to accept. We might as well say that if we are broke, it will be OK to steal, or if we feel lustful it is OK to rape. If the Bible is the word of God, how can we pick and choose which parts of Scripture to accept and which to reject. If we deny or reject any part pf Scripture, we are basically saying that God is an idiot! And, in this case, we are saying that the God who created human beings doesn’t have clue how they function. If God calls an action or a behaviour sin, then it is sin – like it or not. I we can,t accept God’s word in His Scriptures them all that is left is to deny Him.