PENTECOSTALS ACCEPT GAYS - It Begins
Posted by: prophetic <prophetic@...>
by Andrew Strom
It all started with a 2009 blog post by Rob Buckingham, pastor
of a large Pentecostal megachurch called 'Bayside' in Melbourne,
Australia. His blog post was entitled, "Is Jesus Anti-Gay?" and
made the case for 'acceptance' being the true Christian attitude
toward Homosexuals. Now bear in mind that this is not some
"liberal" church or 'liberal' congregation here. This fellowship is
part of the "C3" (Christian City Church) denomination - one of
the largest mainstream Pentecostal groups in Australia. That is
why the Gay community was so delighted by it all.
In the 'comments' section after his article, Rob Buckingham
made his views even clearer: "As a Christian, and pastor of a
church, I sometimes find the attitudes of fellow Christians
embarrassing. We have a number of gay men and women in our
church and they are accepted just the way they are - just like
everyone else is." So you are no longer willing to preach what
Jesus preached, Rob? "GO and SIN NO MORE."
Rob Buckingham later went on to preach a message at Bayside
that was entitled, "Real Christianity is Accepting". (You can find
it on Youtube). In it the pastor overturned the usual understanding
of the 'Sodom & Gomorrah' story and advocated "Christian
acceptance" of homosexuals. The Pentecostal congregation
literally gave him a standing ovation at the end of his sermon.
This message was heralded by the Gay press as a huge leap
forward inside the Pentecostal movement. One Gay activist called
it, 'The Bayside Breakthrough'. The Star Online trumpeted,
"Church Advocates for Gay Acceptance... minister at Melbourne´s
Pentecostal Bayside Church received a standing ovation earlier
this month for preaching just that in a special sermon on how
the church should embrace GLBT [Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual &
Transgender] people."
The official Bayside website also published the following statement:
"Bayside Church welcomes GLBT people to find God´s love and
grace and to worship Him freely within our community."
Even though this whole affair became very well-known, the
leadership of the C3 (Christian City Church) movement apparently
"declined to comment" on it - even though the C3 movement is
led by Phil Pringle, a very well-known preacher in Australia. It
seems Bayside is still welcome to be part of 'C3' and Rob
Buckingham remains a high-profile pastor in the movement. All
of his blog posts on this subject are still proudly featured on the
church website. Which surely leads one to believe that Rob
Buckingham's views must not be too different from the overall
church's views on this subject. Isn't that reasonable to assume,
since they have said nothing to the contrary? I wonder if Australian
Pentecostals are aware that this huge compromise is now taking
place under their own banner?
And so, Homosexual Acceptance is free to enter into the
Pentecostal movement by the back door, since leaders no longer
dare to actually make a stand on the issue. Please write to Phil
Pringle and the C3 movement if you would like to know why they
have been so "silent" about this - even to their own members.
Here is the email to write to- info@myc3church.net
Isn't it sad that "political correctness" is now overtaking even the
Pentecostal churches worldwide? Perhaps the fruit of years of
no real 'Repentance' being preached? And I have recently heard
of large Baptist churches in Australia also starting to head in the
same direction. Who will stand and defend the truth?
-PLEASE COMMENT on this topic at our website below-
Yours in Christ - Andrew Strom ( prophetic@revivalschool.com )