The Charlotte Observer headlined its story this Monday morning, February 13, 2012, “Country’s First Openly Gay Bishop Preaches Inclusivity Beyond Hospitality.”
V. Gene Robinson is widely known for being the first openly gay, non-celibate priest to be ordained a bishop in a major Christian denomination. He divorced his wife and two children in the mid 1980’s to live with his homosexual lover Andrew Marcus, and somehow the Episcopal Church in New Hampshire enthroned him as Bishop in March of 2003.
This enthroning shocked the entire world – not just the church world. It almost resulted in a split between the Anglican Church in England and the Episcopal Church here in America. Many conservative Episcopalians left the church as a result of the insanity of enthroning a practicing homosexual, who divorced his wife and children, to the office of Bishop. Nevertheless this Bishop, enslaved in perverted homosexual sodomy, was lauded yesterday in the openly pro-homosexual pages of the Charlotte Observer.
Several Christians attended the services at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in downtown Charlotte, to confront V. Gene Robinson in his sin, that he might come to know Jesus and true liberation from the bondage of homosexual sodomy. The Word of God, though often on the lips of Rev. Murdock Smith, Pastor of St Martin’s, has taken a severe beating under his headship over the past several years.
Here is one simple example from the mouth of Bishop Robinson who made it abundantly clear that he is the determiner of what the Word of God says. He exclaimed, “I believe the Bible to be the Word of God but not the Words of God.” Thereby granting himself license to shred the text of Scripture to make it say whatever he wants it to say. I sat amazed and deeply disturbed that his infantile and narcissistic presentation, meant to rationalize and justify his own blatant sin, was actually nailing Jesus Christ to the cross again. It was a direct frontal assault on His Truth, demanding that Jesus “shut-up or die,” and listen to Gene’s interpretation of the truth.
It was at this point that I spoke so that all could hear, but in the decorum of the service; “Gene, homosexual sodomy is called a sin everywhere in the Bible. Sin brings separation from God. Why do you call that which God calls evil, good? God hates sin because it destroys His people, brings death, and leads to an eternity in hell. If we truly love our neighbor who is lost in the bondage of sexual sin, the most loving thing we could do is tell him the truth.”
I realized that we were dealing with a very dangerous wolf. He had no desire to understand but only to express his own opinion. He was clothed in a beautiful Bishop’s smock and gave the appearance that he cared but he came only to scatter, confuse, and destroy Jesus’ lambs. He is confused and conflicted himself and is taking great pains to spread his malady and unbelief to others. He is a liar and a thief. He has made God’s house a den of robbers – him being the chief.
We left the service after the question and answer period, where my wonderful friend Ante Pavkovic stood and read Romans 1: 21-27 and asked the Bishop to please explain that section of Scripture. The Bishop had no explanation and simply pointed out that “…that was then and this is now.”
I next saw Gene in the parking lot standing right next to my car, sneaking a smoke. I asked him how long he had been sober, and he proudly announced that it had been six years since he had his last drink. I asked him about his wife and two daughters, and he told me that he now had two grandchildren. This man desperately needs Jesus. Unfortunately for him, He believes he already has him.
“They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.”
2 Thessalonians 2:10-12.
Flip
Below is Ante Pavkovic’s report of our Gospel Proclamation at St. Martin’s Episcopal Church:
As a Christian who sat through both the service and the question and answer time, I must say that I am appalled at the ignorance or deliberate deception V. Gene Robinson displayed during that time. His complete misrepresentation of what the Bible actually teaches was disturbing.
He loves to use logical fallacies to prove his foolish points. Just because some people PERVERTED what the Bible said in order to justify slavery does not mean we reject what the Bible ACTUALLY SAYS about slavery. Just because some, not many, PERVERTED THE BIBLE in order to oppress women does not mean we reject what the Bible says about men, women, family, husbands, wives, children and marriage. But this is just one of his many tactics—deception. The irony is that Gene is JUST LIKE those who misused the Scripture to justify the above wrong-doings. He has joined them in PERVERTING the Bible to justify his own sexual perversion and deviancy. He is just like the slave-owner and the oppressor of women that he says he despises.
His argument would be no different than if a group suddenly arose and said that the Bible does not condemn adultery, and that we need to be inclusive of this way of life, and that in the past people have used the Bible to condemn those who engaged in adultery. The arguments used to justify something the Word of the Lord plainly condemns—homosexuality , can be used to justify any sinful action. The position of Robinson is simply this, though he will never openly admit it—“I reject the Bible, I reject its teachings, I reject its God, but I come in the name of Jesus to PRETEND I don’t, so I can make you believe we are following the Bible while we blatantly disobey and encourage the things it says are an ABOMINATION in the sight of the Lord” That is what V. Gene is really about.
He is not a minister of God, but a servant of Satan-the great deceiver. The Bible tells us over and over that many false teachers would come in Christ’s name and would deceive many. Two of the signs of a false teacher is an adulterous life, or a homosexual one. In the books of Jude and 2 Peter 2, we are told that prior to the return of the Lord, that the Sodomites would be in the midst of God’s people, those enslaved by their unclean lusts, to deceive and seduce. St. Martin’s Episcopal Church is not a Christian fellowship, but a habitation of every unclean thing and demon-power. All those people are lost sinners who refuse to repent and follow the Lord in holiness, righteousness, and purity, which the Lord graces His followers with so as to live godly lives in this present adulterous and wicked generation.
If you want to see what “wolves in sheep’s clothing” look like, look no further than Bishop Gene and St. Martin’s. If you want to see unbiblical ceremonies that make a vain outward show—if you want to see people dressed up in lavish costumes and robes to pretend they are spiritual, then look no further than St. Martin’s. All the ceremony and pomp is a testimony to their spiritual bankruptcy and rebellion toward God.
Real Christians repent of their sin, their fingers point first to themselves, they seek to justify none of it. They come to the Lord filthy, and Jesus Christ washes our sin away with His precious blood. He fills us with His HOLY Spirit, and causes us to walk in His ways. We want to obey Him because we love Him. No one who justifies sin in their lives or in the lives of others is one of His. Those who promote sin reveal who they really are, no matter what they say. Paul the Apostle warned us about prophets who claim they are of God, but are not. Hear him:
“They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” Titus 1:16.