Written Chris Woodward

A longtime Christian leader says the issue of homosexuality and homosexual marriage are acting like a “truth serum” for evangelical churches.

“Either you believe the Bible and you do not accept the morality of homosexual behavior, and you do not accept homosexual marriage,” Dr. Richard Land said Monday in an AFR Talk radio interview. “Or you have taken a position that you’re going to decide which parts of the Bible you’re going to accept, and which parts you’re not going to accept,” Land said, “and you accept homosexual behavior as moral and you accept homosexual marriage.”

Land made his comments Monday on American Family Radio’s “Sandy Rios in the Morning.”

Jackson and Land were discussing Weatherly Baptist Church in Alabama, whose pastor recently announced his support of homosexual “marriage” after a member of the church staff officiated at a homosexual wedding.

The church’s website describes the church as “inclusive,” which sometimes refers to a church that holds liberal views on homosexuality – and excludes more traditional ones.

Land is currently president of Southern Evangelical Seminary in North Carolina after leading the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, a part of the Southern Baptist Convention.

A lot of churches and institutions that have historically been evangelical and Bible-believing have drifted under the influence of the culture, Land claimed.

“Unfortunately, instead of being salt and light, they have been salted and lit by the culture,” he told the radio host. “They are now going to have the truth about them revealed by the way they respond to this issue.”

Land described the issue of homosexuality as a “truth serum.” That’s because it’s forcing churches to deal with the issue, and how the Bible addresses it, after churches have ignored it for many years, he said.

Some churches claim that the Bible isn’t clear on homosexuality since Jesus never denounced it in the New Testament.

“[Jesus] also said, ‘What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder,” Land pointed out. “So a lot of evangelical churches have already ignored what the Bible teaches about divorce. So why would they not ignore what the Bible teaches about homosexual marriage?”

Originally posted at OneNewsNow.com.

Over the Christmas weekend, you may have seen or heard the reports from the media  extolling the news that 260 clergy — mostly from the Chicago area — signed a petition in support of redefining marriage.  In response to this story, IFI’s Laurie Higgins had some very good quotes in a New York Times article, while I had a short quote in the WGN-TV report that aired four days ago.

It is important that we keep this “news” in perspective.  In the state of Illinois, there are over a thousand Roman Catholic churches, over a thousand Southern Baptist churches, more than 500 Missouri Synod Lutheran churches, and there are thousands of other churches of various denominations — including Reformed, EV Free, Nazarene, Assemblies of God, COGIC, Charismatic, Baptist, Eastern Orthodox, Greek Orthodox, Seven Day Adventists, Pentecostal, Mennonite, Independent — all of whom officially and publicly acknowledge that God ordained marriage as the union of one man and one woman, and that sexual activity outside the bonds of natural marriage is sinful.

It is no surprise to learn that a tiny fraction of religious leaders would compromise, distort, and misuse the Word of God for the praise of man and/or to achieve a political goal.  Kara Wagner Sherer of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Chicago was quoted in the New York Times article saying, “It doesn’t have to be a faith issue… We understand our Scripture in a different way.”  That statement really says it all.  She is correct, their stand is not a faith issue.  Divorcing God from the equation and dismissing thousands of years of Christian teaching, thought and understanding reveals their motives as distinctly humanistic and political.

Despite the holiday season, our state lawmakers need to hear from us — in person, by phone or by email.  Proponents of marriage redefinition are engaged in a full-court press right now, and they are planning to use the upcoming lame duck session (January 2-8) to accomplish their goal.

This past Saturday morning, I spoke to a state lawmaker — a Democrat — who expressed to me his concern.  He has been receiving more calls and emails in favor of same-sex marriage than he has been receiving against it.  I explained to him that the vast majority of Illinoisans were busy with family, church, shopping, cooking and traveling.  I assured him that after the Christmas weekend, that opposition to redefining marriage would certainly ramp up.  

Please prove me right!

Take ACTION: Click HERE to email your state lawmakers today, urging them to uphold natural marriage and not to cave to the politically correct and culturally destructive groups who are intent on altering society’s understanding of marriage.  Be assured, your calls and emails are important!  Legislators take very seriously the letters and the numbers of calls they receive – particularly letters that are written by their constituents (as opposed to pre-written form letters.) 

THANK YOU!

P.S.  Would you consider helping meet our $20,000 end-of-year matching challenge? It is vital that we raise these critical funds so that we are able to go into next year to fight marriage redefinition and many other anti-family proposals. 

Any donation given or mailed by December 31st will go toward this matching challenge and will be fully tax-deductible, lowering your 2012 tax burden.

Click HERE to support IFI and have your donation doubled!

 To make a credit card donation over the phone, call the IFI office at (708) 781-9328.  You can also send a gift to P.O. Box 88848, Carol Stream, IL  60188.