Zap Gay Ministries MIsunderst
ZAP
Hopefully, this sheet will clear up some misunderstandings about our ministry to the gay community. Love In Action – San Rafael, was formed in 1973 to bring help and comfort to homosexuals emerging from the gay lifestyle. Through group meetings, gays were able to share their trials and difficulties, as well as their victories. As word of our ministry began to spread (through the media as well as the testimonies of our members), misconceptions began to come about. The world is not overly interested in hearing stories of suffering and pain, but likes to hear of miraculous cures. We all have been programmed to expect instant results. Daily, we are fed so much information that unless what we are hearing is startling news, it doesn’t warrant our attention.
The Instant Cure.
Not only the world at large, but the Christian world has come to expect immediate results.
Christians want to hear of instant healings. We long for the day when, in a twinkling of an eye, we will be changed into new creatures. Yes, we Christians along with the world expect “zap” results. We receive letters and phone calls with this view in mind. Can we or can’t we change a homosexual? One letter read, “I hear that you change homosexuals into heterosexuals.” A telephone caller said, “I just have three minutes. Please tell me what to do to change myself to heterosexuality.”
The Gay Response.
The gay community picked up on this idea also, and began to write articles depicting us as deprogrammers. The anti-gay rights groups began to use us to further their own ends. We became examples or role models, that gays choose to be gay and that anyone can come out of homosexuality. So what is the truth? Are gays living in a lifestyle that they have chosen? Do homosexuals become heterosexuals? If I answer an unqualified “Yes!” to these questions, the world will listen and take notice.
Gay to Straight ?
For the Christian world, a “Yes” answer is many times all they want to hear. Anything beyond that is just insignificant details. The anti-gay rights groups have already answered “Yes” for us and will not listen to anything that we have to say. Their ears are closed, for they fear the qualifications. Anything that will modify the answer is bad news and counter-productive to their cause. To the gay community, anything but a “Yes” answer is no answer at all. It’s either “yes” or it’s a lie. They recognize no conditional factors at all. Either we turn homosexuals into heterosexuals, or we don’t.
Our Answer.
At no time has Love In Action – San Rafael, stridently proclaimed a newfound cure for homosexuality.
We do not proclaim a method or a system, but a Person: Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that the world cannot receive the things of God, that caught up in its own vain imaginings and foolish reasonings, the world is blinded to the Truth. Although we are admonished to be a people set apart from the world (to be in the world but not of it), the world is still very much a part of Christian thinking. Along with the world, we Christians still look to the world’s wisdom for guidance. We expect and even demand that God respond in ways that are acceptable in the eyes of the world.
The Healing Process
If God heals someone over a long time span, we do not accept this as a miracle from God, but attribute it to the workings of “nature”. It’s “zap” or nothing. We will not accept anything less from our God. He is a miraculous God or He is not God at All. Unfortunately, this type of thinking has seriously prevented homosexuals from receiving help. Attending one of our group meetings can be very disillusioning to someone who comes expecting immediate results. They go away thinking that Love In Action – San Rafael is not much more than an ordinary Bible study group. Few people have the time or patience to learn of the trials and struggles in coming out of gayness. Few Christians stop to think that they themselves were not “zapped” into a new existence the day that they accepted Jesus into their life. Because change was not instant, does it therefore not exist?
From Glory To Glory.
Change can best be measured by looking back. Where were you one year ago today – – what were your thoughts, your attitudes? Change comes about silently, unknowingly. Job said “All the days I will wait, till my change and release shall come” (Job 14:14). Yet in many ways, Job was changing as he spoke those words. Change was happening within him at that very moment. Change is a constant, on-going process. The Amplified Bible says in II Corinthians 3:18, “We are constantly being transfigured into His very own image in ever-increasing splendour from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” Yes, change does come to the homosexual.
There are hundred of us who were formerly homosexual that can testify to this fact!
But change does not always come about in ways that are acceptable by the world’s standards. The world (and unfortunately, much of the Christian community) expects the former homosexual to prove in some way that he is no longer gay. His testimony is not enough; we ask for visible signs. Just as the scribes and Pharisees badgered Jesus, so Christians ask for signs that the homosexual is no longer gay. What can these signs be?
Signs of Change.
The world and the church find it imperative that the ex-gay be in a relationship with a member of the opposite sex, one that can clearly be seen as leading to marriage. Should his choice be to lead a single life, one solely devoted to serving his Lord, this is viewed as unacceptable and a sign that he is not really changed at all. He is distrusted. This option is not open to him. Even lust is viewed as healthy and a sign from God, just as long as it is heterosexual lust. Many articles written by Christians favour heterosexual lust for the former gay. Yes, the world still has strong inroads into the thinking processes of Christians.
Many former homosexuals do in time marry and raise a family.
Marriage is a real possibility and must not be discounted. But it must not be a sign that is demanded of the former gay.
Causes of Homosexuality.
What about the claims of the anti-gay groups that gays are that way by choice – – is this true? There is no easy answer here. Life patterns are said to be set by seven years of age. How can choice play an important part here?
But by that age, only the pre-conditioning exists for gayness. The reality is still years away.
Viewing my own life, had not my minister been homosexual, I am sure my homosexuality could have been diverted while I was in my early teens.
So a pre-disposition to gayness does not mean that homosexuality is inevitable.
Choice to some degree does exist. The initial choice is not one of accepting the whole gay lifestyle, but a simple one of accepting love from someone of the same sex.
The Lordship Of Christ.
“Gay by choice” is a harsh, condemning, damning, unrealistic statement to make. Few ever heard the word “homosexual” or had any knowledge of the lifestyle when they came close to someone for the first time. Do we change homosexuals into heterosexuals? No, Love In Action – San Rafael, does not do this, but Jesus Christ can! Yet even Jesus does not work against our will.
The change process only can come about through total submission to Christ as Lord, and a dying to self.
The height of victory equals the depth of submission. Dying to self is sometimes a long, painful, suffering process. Self stands in the way between us and Christ’s life-changing power. But “to as many as did receive and welcome Him, He gave the right to become the children of God.” (John 1:12, Amplified Bible).
- – Frank Worthen
For further information about homosexuality or about other areas of sexual brokenness, please contact:
LOVE IN ACTION
G.P.O. Box 1115
ADELAIDE SA 5001
Phone (08) 371-0446
This article is reprinted by permission from:
Love In Action
P.O. Box 2655
San Rafael California 94912
U.S.A.