Homosexual “Lust Fest” Confronted in Charlotte, NC

Homosexual “Lust Fest” Confronted in Charlotte, NC

By Flip Benham

Saturday, May 7, 2005, will be a day to remember in the city of Charlotte, NC. On this day, the Church of Jesus Christ actually allowed her theology to become biography at the very gates of hell – the “Charlotte Pride” lust fest held in beautiful Marshall Park. It was here that the homosexual community paraded its sin like Sodom and expected everyone to applaud its new found liberation as they displayed nothing but filth and utter moral debasement. The celebration of sex was the one thing that united all in attendance.

That's right – sex! The “celebration” consisted of booths freely distributing condoms and lubricant (not to be used in or on a car), to transvestite dancers gyrating and grinding looking for adults and kids to lap dance with, to apostate churches actually condoning this behavior. Sex, no matter how perverse - men with men, women with women, men with beasts, men with children, men with themselves – was all the rage in downtown Charlotte with the blessing of our city fathers.

The pantless vendor of the Gay Naturists International (GNI) booth openly displays and sells obscenity in a public park. Several formal complaints were registered with the police.

After three meetings with the Charlotte city council this year, and two meetings with the Charlotte police department, gentle Christian warriors made up their minds to take their message to the streets of the city of Charlotte. We were told by the Mayor and the members of the council that their hands were tied. We reminded them that the hands of the Church of Jesus Christ were not. No one in our government would dare take up this “politically correct” sacrosanct lie and expose it for the destructive murdering spirit that it is.

The Word of God would become flesh in the streets – the theology of the church house would become biography at the gates of hell – Marshall Park! The battle was on! It would be a battle for life and genuine liberty. The mission? To bring the Gospel of Christ to the very gates of hell where precious human beings were being led to the slaughter by a diabolical lie - HOMOSEXUALTY!

We had made it very clear to both the city council and the police department that there were flagrant violations of the Charlotte City Code in Marshall Park last year as "Charlotte Pride" paraded its perverted sin before the eyes of children and parents. There were booths with large pictures of naked men in a fully aroused state in all sorts of "unusual" poses. There were performers on stage joking about having sex with kids and looking for "dykes on trikes." There were transvestite dancers, thrashing, gyrating, and grinding while young kids watched and placed dollar bills in places they shouldn't. This "festival" was shocking in its arrogant disregard for anyone's rights but its own, and totally depraved perversion.

This past Saturday, May 7, 2005, well-over 100 gentle Christian warriors converged on Marshall Park with their faces low to the ground, and the sharp double edged Sword of the Spirit (the Word of God) in their hearts and in their mouths. We met in the parking lot of the First Baptist Church of Downtown Charlotte and began with praise and worship, prayer, the proclamation of God's Word, the sounding of the shofar, and the march into battle.

God's army prepares for the battle with prayer and worship.

We had Bibles to give away, the powerful tract by Stephen Bennett entitled “I was Gay,” a DVD by Matthew Manning entitled “The Ultimate Journey,” and hearts filled with compassion for those lost in the bondage of homosexual lust. We also wore red T-shirts which had been given to us with the word “LIBERATED” on the front, and the words “Transformed by the blood of Jesus” on the back. When we left the parking lot to go to the park, it was like a sea of red (the shed blood of Christ) flowing toward the gates of hell. Jesus was going to do His work and we all knew it.

God had raised up the “Fire School of Ministry” to join with us this year and they were an absolute blessing. That's why there were so many of us to bring the Gospel to the gates of hell. The school itself is a break-off of the Brownsville Revival and is headed by Dr. Michael Brown, a Messianic Jew. The school moved to Concord, North Carolina, a little over two years ago and has been a blessing and a light to our community ever since. These young college students are absolutely sold out for Christ. They have been with us when we take the Gospel of Christ to the local high schools, and they have manned one of the local abortion mills here in Charlotte. These kids believe in the “Gentle Revolution.” They want to see our world turned right-side up for Jesus.

God's army worships right inside the enemy's territory. The police searched their paperwork to find an ordinace violation, but finally gave up realizing no laws were being broken.

I watched them as they plunged into the sea of those lost in sin at Marshall Park and was amazed to watch them engage in street witnessing almost immediately. They were not filled with fear, but with a love for those lost in sin – perfect love does indeed cast out all fear. For five hours they fought the battle for men's souls. They plowed the hard ground of those turned over to a reprobate mind. They were truthful witnesses to those conflicted about their own sexual orientation. They were an outright rebuke to those who called themselves “Christian,” yet support homosexual sodomy.

Doug Chandler witnesses to a lost homosexual.

The praise and worship teams and the preacher boys set up the sound system on the public sidewalk outside the park and began some of the most beautiful praise and worship I have ever heard. The preaching was powerful and effective. The men of God stood upon the Word of God and let the chips fall where they may. One young lady (Rebecca) who was playing in the band on the center stage of Marshall Park came to the Fire students and thanked them for the marvelous and loving way they were conducting themselves in singing praise and worship.

Many of you know Ante and Kathy Pavkovic from our last event in Columbus, Ohio. They have been so instrumental in bringing OSA together with FIRE. Ante and Scott Heldreth headed up the street preaching, and praise and worship. When the praise music is anointed by the Spirit of God, the preaching and witnessing becomes so much easier.

What prevented the police from throwing us out of the park as they had done the previous two years was a precious lady by the name of Sheryl Chandler. She is the one who set up all of the meetings with the City Council and the Police Department. One of the great things accomplished in these meetings was the fact that real police officers were at the park, not lesbians and homosexuals who wear police uniforms. This was a great aid because it enabled all of us to remain in the park so that the love of Christ might be made known.

Transvestite dancers accept tips from children as they perform. These children appear to be aged 2-10. Two formal complaints were filed with police concerning the "entertainment" at the festival.

Toward the end of the festival, however, the transvestite dancers began to flaunt their perversion in front of children. James and Bryan headed to the center stage area and began preaching the Gospel. This, of course, set off a firestorm of epithets, foul language, spit, ad nauseam, and it appeared as if these young men were going to be tarred and feathered. The police pushed through the mob and said they were going to arrest James for inciting a riot. James pointed out that he had kept his peace until he saw the transvestite dancers toying with the kids. He asked the officer if it was not illegal to solicit sex from a minor. The officer said no more.

There are many more absolutely incredible stories and pictures of what happened when the Church of Jesus Christ showed up at the gates of hell. We will post them as soon as we can.

Thank you all for your prayers and thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!